https://www.academia.edu/32783018/The_C ... _Fall_2017_
Sample:
This claim, the rolling off the responsibility to the Twelve, was argued by Hyde
more than by anyone else in Nauvoo. He wrote this claim in the form of a certificate
with the intent to have other members of the Twelve and Council of Fifty attest to
its truthfulness. This certificate, which ended up in the Brigham Young papers in the
Church History Library, states in applicable part
We, the undersigned, do hereby solemnly, sincerely, and truly testify before God, Angels,
and men, unto all people unto whom this certificate may come, that we were present at a
Council in the latter part of the Month of March last, held in the City of Nauvoo in the
upper part of the brick building situate[d] upon Water Street, commonly known here
as “Joseph’s Store,” in which Council Joseph Smith did preside; and the greater part of
the Twelve Apostles were present. Namely, Brigham Young, Heber C Kimball, Orson
Hyde, Parley P Pratt, Orson Pratt, John Taylor, Amasa Lyman, Willard Richards, and
Wilford Woodruff. These we feel confident were all present on that occasion, besides
many others who were of the quorum of high Priests to which we ourselves belong.
In this Council, Joseph Smith seemed somewhat depressed in Spirit, and took the
liberty to open his heart to us concerning his presentiments of the future. His own
language to us on that occasion, as nearly as we can recollect, was as follows.
Brethren, the Lord bids me hasten the work in which we are engaged. He will
not suffer that you should wait for your endowment until the Temple is done. Some
important Scene is near to take place. It may be that my enemies will kill me, and in case
they should, and the Keys and power which rest on me not be imparted to you, they
will be lost from the Earth; but if I can only succeed in placing them upon your heads,
then let me fall a victim to murderous hands if God will suffer it, and I can go with all
pleasure and satisfaction, knowing that my work is done, and the foundation laid on
which the kingdom of God is to be reared in this dispensation of the fulness of times.
Upon the shoulders of the Twelve must the responsibility of leading this Church hence
forth rest until you shall appoint others to succeed you. …
After this appointment was made, and confirmed by the holy anointing under the
hands of Joseph and Hyrum, Joseph continued his speech unto them, saying, while he
walked the floor and threw back the collar of his coat upon his shoulders, “I roll the
burthen [burden] and responsibility of leading this Church off from my shoulders on to
yours. Now, round up your shoulders and stand under it like men; for the Lord is going
to let me rest a while.” Never shall we forget his feelings or his words on this occasion.4
Because this certificate was contained in the Brigham Young Office files, Latterday
Saint historians seem to have accepted the claims made by Hyde. This appears to
have started in 1981 with historian Andrew Ehat in his groundbreaking thesis, Joseph
Smith’s Introduction of Temple Ordinances and the 1844 Mormon Succession Question.5
He stated that “when the Council of Fifty met two days later, Tuesday, 26 March
1844,… Joseph Smith gave his so-called “Last Charge”—a charge by which the
Twelve Apostles inferred their right to leadership[.]”6
Ehat claimed that an “analysis
of more than one hundred sources showed that on this date” the “Last Charge” was
delivered. However, he failed to cite even a fraction of these one hundred sources
and failed to produce a contemporaneous source that specifically stated the date of
March 26, 1844.7