"The anti-Mormons have got you! You can't stay in the country! Everything is in confusion! You can do nothing! You lack a great leader! You want a head; and unless you unite upon that head you're blown to the four winds. The anti-Mormons will carry the election. A guardian must be chosen."
Such was the situation at Nauvoo when Brigham, Heber and their companions returned. Parley P. Pratt and George A. Smith had arrived some time before.
The great day came which Sidney Rigdon had set apart for the choosing of a guardian for the Church—August 8th, 1844. Sidney had spoken, urging his own claims as "the identical man whom all the prophets had written and sung about" with their eyes upon that very hour and occasion; which vain-glorious remark provoked from Parley P. Pratt the humorous retort that he, himself, was "the identical man that the prophets had not sung or written one word about." Brigham Young was now addressing the vast congregation which assembled on that memorable day, in the grove where the Prophet had so often given the word of the Lord to Israel:
"If the people want Brother Rigdon to lead them, they may have him," Brigham declared. "But I say unto you, the Twelve have the keys of the kingdom of God in all the world. The Twelve are pointed out by the finger of God. Here is Brigham; have his knees ever faltered? Have his lips ever quivered? Here is Heber and the rest of the Twelve, an independent body, who have the keys of the Priesthood, the keys of the kingdom of God to deliver to all the world; this is true, so help me God! They stand next to Joseph, and are the First Presidency of the Church."
It was the voice of "one having authority." The dullest ear could detect the difference between such tones, such words, trembling with power, and the vain and empty babblings of the special pleader, Sidney. Which of these men the Spirit had chosen, was already manifest to the pure in heart among that mighty multitude.
But a still more marvelous manifestation awaited them. As Brigham proceeded his whole being became transfigured; his face shone like an angel's; his form seemed to dilate and expand, as though he were being lifted from the floor; his voice changed; his look, his very manner was that of another.
IT WAS JOSEPH, NOT BRIGHAM, WHO WAS SPEAKING!
Thousands saw it and testified of its truth. The mantle of the dead Prophet had fallen upon the shoulders of the living. Joseph, from behind the vail, had pointed out his own successor. God spake that day through Brigham Young, "and all the people said Amen!"
No truer friend had Brigham Young than Heber C. Kimball.[A] "Brother Brigham" had been his choice from the first, for he knew that he was the chosen of the Almighty, and as he had before stood by Joseph, he now stood firm at the side of his successor, a pillar of faith and power not to be broken.
[Footnote A: Heber often said that his love for Brigham exceeded his love for any member of his own family.]