History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

THE GODBEITES. 647
While the controversy between the prophet's sons
and the prophet's nephew was at its height, an article
appeared in the Utah Magazine, a periodical first issued
in 1867, and of which elders W. S. Godbe and E. L.
T. Harrison were proprietors, wherein appeared the
following passage: "If we know the true feeling of
our brethren, it is that they never intend Joseph
Smith's nor any other man's son to preside over them
simply because of their sonship. The principle of
heirship has cursed the world for ages, and with our
brethren we expect to fight it till, with every other
relic of tyranny, it is trodden under foot." While
speaking thus boldly, the magazine essayed the part
of umpire between the disputants, and otherwise gave
sore offence to the church dignitaries. 11 About the
same time an article was published urging the development
of the mineral resources of Utah, a measure
which found no favor with Brigham, for thus would
the flood-gates be opened to the gentiles, while the
saints might be tempted to worship at the shrine of
Mammon. "I want to make a wall so thick and so
high around the territory," he once exclaimed in the
tabernacle, "that it would be impossible for the gentiles
to get over or through it." 12
Finally the elders
were summoned before the school of prophets, by
Mag., Aug. 1880. 'The Salt Lake Mormons. When Joseph Smith was
killed on June 27, 1844, Brigham Young assumed the leadership of the church,
telling the people in the winter of 1S4G that all the God they wanted was him,
and all the bible they wanted was in his heart. He led or drove about two
thousand people to Utah iu 1847, starting tor upper California and landing at
Salt Lake, where in 1S52 Brigham Young presented the polygamic revelation
to the people. The true church remained disorganized till 1860, when Joseph
Smith took the leadership or presidency of the church at Amboy, Illinois.
We [thirty thousand] have no affiliation with the Mormons whatever. They
are to us an apostate people, working all manner of abomination before God
and man. We are no part or parcel of them in any sense whatever. Let
this be distinctly understood, we are not Mormons. Truth is truth, wherever
it is found.' For further particulars as to apostate sects before the year
1869, see S. F. Alta, May 21, 1857, July 3, Aug. 2, 1867; S. F. Bulletin,
May 22, 1857, Aug. 10, Nov. 15, 1867; Sacramento Union, Apr. 22, May 20,
June 8, Sept. 3, 18, 1857, Dec. 3, 1859, June 28, Aug. 5, 1867.
11 In the De-ieret News of Nov. 3, 1869, is a notice signed by the members
of the first presidency and three other apostles, cautioning the saints against
its teachings, and stating that it is unfit for perusal.
12 Godbe's Statement, MS., 2.