Origin of the 'Reorganized' Church and the Question of Succession

by Joseph Fielding Smith

TESTIMONY OF WILFORD WOODRUFF.

"Has the Prophet Joseph found Elder Rigdon in his councils when he organized the quorum of the Twelve, a few months before his death, to prepare them for the endowment? And when they received their endowment, and actually received the keys of the kingdom of God, and oracles of God, keys of revelation, and the pattern of heavenly things, and thus, addressing the Twelve, (Joseph) exclaimed, 'Upon your shoulders, the kingdom rests, and you must round your shoulders, and bear it; for I have had to do it until now. But now the responsibility rests upon you.'"—Times and Seasons, 5: 698

And also President Woodruff's testimony given in 1892. (Succession, page 101).