Take any man in this kingdom and if the people say that they will make him a president or a bishop or elect him to fill any other office and the faith of the people is concentrated to receive light through that officer or pipe laid by the power of the priesthood from the throne of God, you might as well try to move the heavens as to receive anything wrong through that conductor. Instead of the Bishop’s being wrong and the people right or the people wrong and the Bishop right, they are all wrong there is little or no right there. If you see a Bishop and his ward in contention and confusion, you may understand that the pipe or conductor which conveys the light of that people is out of its place.
Your bishop is laid down by the master workman as the conductor of the Holy Ghost to you, if you put that conductor out of its place the connection is broken between you and the fountain of light. Take a joint of one of those pipes up, which, in the comparison, we will call a Bishop, and how are the inhabitants of that ward to receive the light? Place him to one side, despise his counsels and how are you to be taught? Will you teach each other? You are not called to do it in that capacity. “I will liken the Bishops to some of those side pipes laid down to conduct the gas. Please forgive the length of these excerpts, but it is crucial to provide ample context for the relevant selections. Here are my own transcripts of the relevant sections of Brigham Young’s words from these original sources.
FOLLOW YOUR FEAR QUOTE PDF
So I was able to take a look at PDF images of the actual newspaper pages cited as sources for this quote.ĭeseret News December 9th, 1857, 317 (PDF)ĭeseret News February 12th, 1862, 257 (PDF) Fortunately, the University of Utah has digital copies of the weekly editions of the Deseret News from mid 1850 through the end of 1889 available on their website. Several of the online citations of the quote attribute the source to two issues of the Deseret News, one published in December 1857 and the other in February of 1862. But where did it come from? When did Brigham Young say it? What was the context? But, having recently had multiple people cite it in response to my blog posts, and having seen it played like a trump card in past discussions, I became curious. Like everyone else, I took the quote’s accuracy for granted. But there is one problem: Brigham Young never said it. Dissenters see it as a powerful sound-bite in support of the notion that members of the church must be continually vigilant that the fallible leaders of the church do not lead the church astray.Īnd as a soundbite it is reasonably effective. This quote is probably familiar to many members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who have participated in online discussions about the church.įaithful members have had it thrown in their faces by dissidents and detractors on numerous occasions. “ The greatest fear I have is that the people of this Church will accept what we say as the will of the Lord without first praying about it and getting the witness within their own hearts that what we say is the word of the Lord.” – Brigham Young
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