The church was no more disorganized by the death of Joseph and Hyrum and the rejection of Sidney Rigdon than the government of the United States becomes disorganized when the president dies, or is impeached. The Twelve possessing equal power and authority with the First Presidency, in case of the death or removal of that Presidency, have all the keys and authority necessary to preside over all the church, direct in all the affairs thereof, and move right on with the work of God.
When the Lord stretched forth his hand to establish his church in these last days, and for the last time, committing unto men the keys of his kingdom, and a dispensation of the gospel for the last time; and for the fullness of times, in the which God will gather together in one, all things, both which are in heaven and which are in earth—it is not to be supposed, I say,[A] that in a few years he would permit that church thus brought forth out of obscurity to become disorganized, and fall back into darkness. The thought is preposterous. There is nothing in all that God has revealed to indicate that he ever contemplated its disorganization; but on the contrary, there is every encouragement to believe that it will go on from grace to grace, from faith to faith, from one victory to another until, like the little stone of Daniel's vision, it shall become a great mountain and fill the whole earth.
[Footnote A: Doc. and Cov. sec. xxvii, 13.]
The position of Josephite writers that it was an usurpation for the Twelve to assume the Presidency of the church when the First Presidency was removed by the death of Joseph and Hyrum and the rejection of Sidney Rigdon, is false. The other position that the high council at Nauvoo was the proper authority to succeed to the functions of the Presidency is equally false.[A]
[Footnote A: In proof that Josephite writers assume both these positions, see The Saints' Herald, Vol. XXXIX, pp. 407-8]
In support of their first position, viz., that it was an usurpation for the Twelve to assume the Presidency of the church at Nauvoo after the death of the prophet, Josephites rely upon the following:
The Twelve will have no right to go into Zion, or any of her stakes, and there undertake to regulate the affairs thereof where there is a standing high council; but it is their duty to go abroad and regulate all matters relative to the different branches of the church. When the Twelve are together, or a quorum of them, in any church, they will have authority to act independently, and make decisions, and those decisions will be valid. But where there is not a quorum they will have to do business by the voice of the church. No standing high council has authority to go into the churches abroad and regulate the matters thereof, for this belongs to the Twelve.[A]
[Footnote A: Hist. Joseph Smith, Mill. Star, Vol. XV, p. 261. The instructions are from the prophet Joseph.]
Wherein the usurpation lies, according to Josephite argument, is in this: The Twelve came to Nauvoo, where there was a regularly organized stake, and undertook to regulate the affairs thereof. The reply to that sophistry—no, it is not even sophistry—it is simply an inaccurate, not to say untrue, statement. The Twelve did not come to Nauvoo to regulate the affairs of that stake independent of its standing high council. Their action was in relation to the whole church of Christ, and not to the affairs of Nauvoo stake. It was a matter which affected all the stakes of Zion and all the branches of the church throughout the world, as much those branches scattered throughout the United States and Great Britain as those in the stake at Nauvoo, that the Twelve came to Nauvoo to regulate. Matters of such high importance were considered and decided upon which the Twelve and the Twelve only, in the absence of the First Presidency, could deal with; and in those matters the Twelve not only consulted with the high council of the Nauvoo stake, but they called a general assembly of all the quorums and arranged them in their order[A] to act as the highest spiritual authorities in the church. The quorums sustained the action of the Twelve in every particular, and from the united action of the assembled quorums of the priesthood there is no appeal.[B]
[Footnote A: Mill. Star, Vol. XXV. Nos. 14, 15, 16.]