The Mantle of the Prophet Joseph Passes to Brother Brigham: A Collective Spiritual Witness

BYU Studies Quarterly Volume 36 | Issue 4 Article 8 10-1-1996 The Mantle of the Prophet Joseph Passes to Brother Brigham: A Collective Spiritual Witness Lynne Watkins Jorgensen BYU Studies Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq Recommended Citation Jorgensen, Lynne Watkins and Studies, BYU (1996) "The Mantle of the Prophet Joseph Passes to Brother Brigham: A Collective Spiritual Witness," BYU Studies Quarterly: Vol. 36 : Iss. 4 , Article 8. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol36/iss4/8 This Document is brought to you for free and open access by the All Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in BYU Studies Quarterly by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact , . Jorgensen and Studies: The Mantle of the Prophet Joseph Passes to Brother Brigham: A Col the mantle of the prophet joseph passes to brother brigham A collective spiritual witness joseph smith many of the saints reported after the death of ofjoseph that they received a strong spiritual witness that convinced them the mantle of ofjosepb jullen joseph hadfallen had bad jailen fallen on brigham young lynne watkins jorgensen and BYU studies staff we would like to acknowledge the help of those who when learning of this research project informed us about mantle accounts in their therr family records without such help we might theirfamily not have located those accounts any readers aware of documented testimonies 0of the mantle experience that are not included in this collection are invited to contact BYU studies or torgensen lynne jorgensen lynnejorgensen ed foreword on august 8 1844 six weeks after the prophet joseph smiths martyrdom a meeting of the saints was held in nauvoo illinois brigham young president of the quorum of the twelve and several other apostles had just returned from missions the purpose of the meeting was to determine by vote who had the right and responsibility to lead the church sidney rigdon first counselor in the first presidency or the quorum of the twelve with brigham young at their head 1 in the course of the two meetings held that day many in attendance received a divine witness that brigham young was to be the next leader some saints specifically state that as brigham young addressed the congregation he sounded and appeared remarkably like joseph smith others simply YU studies 336 B YU 6 no 4 1996 199697 9977 Published by BYU ScholarsArchive, 1996 125 1 BYU Studies Quarterly, Vol. 36, Iss. 4 [1996], Art. 8 126 byustudies BYU Studies say that the mantle of joseph or of the prophets rested on brigham young and others state that they were given a witness by the spirit that brigham was to lead the church this spiritual experience which has come to be known as the mantle of the prophet falling on brigham young served to unite and comfort the saints as they mourned the death of their beloved prophet and to direct them when they voted to support brigham and the twelve as leaders of the church some saints who were not present at the august 8 meetings reported experiencing a similar mantle witness on later occasions at least one hundred people wrote or otherwise passed on their remembrances of this witness most mormon historians acknowledge the mantle story agreeing that something important happened in august 1844 for example ronald K esplin states though there is no contempomany in remarkre rary diary account the number of later retellings tellings able detail argues for the reality of some such experience 2 leonard J arrington notes that an important event took place but observes that there may be psychological explanations for the phenomenon 3 and reserves judgment regarding whether a miraculous transfiguration 4 occurred 5 others however have concluded that it is unlikely that a miraculous spiritual manifestation took place richard S van wagoner for instance writes when 8 august 1844 is stripped of emotional overlay there is not a shred of irrefutable contemporary evidence to support the occurrence of a mystical event van wagoner concludes that a more likely scenario was that it was the force of youngs commanding presence his well timed arrival at the morning meeting and perhaps a bit of theatrical mimicry that swayed the crowd 166 in order to enable readers to examine the evidence underlying these interpretations for themselves numerous accounts of the II of mantle experience have been compiled in appendixes 1I and 11 this article the evidence presented in these accounts demonstrates that many people testified powerfully that they had received a convincing sensory or spiritual witness of the mantle of the prophet joseph falling on brigham young https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol36/iss4/8 2 Jorgensen and Studies: The Mantle of the Prophet Joseph Passes to Brother Brigham: A Col mantle of the propbetjoseph prophet joseph 127 the symbolic mantle elijah and elisha the image of the mantle as a symbol of the passing of authority is at least as old as the well known old testament story of the prophet elijah and elisha his young follower 7 the lord told elijah that he was to anoint elisha to be prophet in thy room elisha afisha was efisha ellsha plowing in the fields when elijah walked past him and placed his rough mantle cloak or cape across the younger mans shoulders elisha left the fields to follow elijah and to minister to him 1 ggs kgs 1916 21 As the story continues the time came for elijah to leave his earthly mission and it came to pass when they were gone over the jordan river that elijah said unto elisha ask what 1I shall do for thee before I1 be taken away from thee and elisha said 1I pray thee let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me and he said thou hast asked a hard thing nevertheless if thou see me when 1I am taken from thee it shall be so unto thee but if not it shall not be so 2 ggs kgs 2910 29- 10 when the veil parted there appeared a horse drawn chariot of such brilliant glory it was called a chariot of fire this vehicle swept between elijah and elisha and elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven 2 ggs kgs 211 and elisha saw it and he cried my father my father the chariot of israel and the horsemen thereof and he saw him no more and he took hold of his own clothes and rent them in two pieces he took up also the mantle of elijah that fell from him and went back and stood by the bank of jordan and he took the mantle of elijah that fell from him and smote the waters and said where is the lord god of elijah and when he also had smitten the waters they parted hither and thither and elisha went over and when the sons of the prophets which were to view at jericho saw him they said the spirit of elijah ellsha and they came to meet him and bowed themdoth rest on elisha selves to the ground before him 2 ggs kgs 21215 212 15 like the sons of the prophets many of the saints in nauvoo experienced a witness of the lords designat (...truncated)