History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

THE GIFT OF TONGUES. 195
About two years later he himself was converted 4 by
the preaching of Elder Samuel H. Smith, brother of
the prophet; on the 14th of April, 1832, he was bap-
tized, and on the same night ordained an elder, his
father 5 and all his brothers afterward becoming proselytes.
During the same month he set forth to meet
the prophet at Kirtland, where he found him and
several of his brethren chopping wood. " Here," says
Brigham, "my joy was full at the privilege of shak-
ing the hand of the prophet of God . . . He
was happy
to see us and bid us welcome. In the evening a few
of the brethren came in, and we conversed together
upon the things of the kingdom. He called upon me
to pray. In my prayer I spoke in tongues. As soon
as we rose from our knees, the brethren flocked
around him, and asked his opinion. . .He told them
it was the pure Adamic language; . . . it is of God, and
the time will come when Brother Brigham Young
will preside over this church." In 1835 he was chosen,
as will be remembered, one of the quorum of the
twelve, and the following spring set forth on a missionary
tour to the eastern states. Returning early
in the winter, he saved the life of the prophet, and
otherwise rendered good service during the great
apostasy of 1836, when the church passed through its
darkest hour. 6
Brigham was ever a devoted follower of the prophet,
and at the risk of his own life, shielded him against
the persecutions of apostates. At the close of 1837
he was driven by their machinations from Kirtland, 7
church, Phineas had wrought a miracle, 'whereby a young girl on the point of
death had been restored to life. ' Pemy does not give his authority.
4 At a branch of the church at Columbia, Perm. Tullldge's Life of Young, 78.
5 John Young was made first patriarch of the church. He died, at Quincy,
111., Oct. 12, 1839. Waite's The Mormon Prophet, 2.
6 Tullidge's Life of Brigham Young, 83. In a speech delivered after he
became president, Brigham says: 'Ascertaining that a plot was laid to waylay
Joseph for the purpose of taking his life, on his return from Monroe, Michigan,
to Kirtland, I procured a horse and buggy, and took brother William
Smith along to meet Joseph, whom we met returning in the stage-coach.
Joseph requested William to take his seat in the stage, and he rode with me
in the buggy We arrived at Kirtland in safety.'
7 ' On the morning of Dec. 22d I left Kirtland in consequence of the fury