[Readers desiring to obtain their own hardback copies of volume one of I Know He Lives: How 13 Special Witnesses Came to Know Jesus Christ can find copies on sale here Softbound copies can be purchased here, on sale. An ebook (Kindle) edition is available on Amazon here, for cheap. The Amazon page also includes the Introduction and first chapter of volume one for free.]
(by Dennis B. Horne)
I bear my
testimony to you, . . .
that from the
center of my heart to the ends of my fingers and toes
I know that Jesus is the Christ.
“I humbly
bear my testimony to you that I do know that God is my Father, that Jesus of
Nazareth is my Redeemer and my friend. I thank him for the blessed privilege of
engaging in the ministry, and I praise his holy name that through his servants
he has shown his willingness to use the weakest of us to do some little good in
that ministry.”[1] So stated Elder Hugh B.
Brown to the assembled members at general conference.
Early Years
Hugh Brown
was born in 1883, growing up in Granger (now West Valley City), Utah, and later
near Cardston, Alberta, Canada. As a teenager he worked the family orchard,
farm, and cattle. He was obliged to leave school at sixteen to keep up the
farm, so his early education was limited.
In 1900 he
met Zina Card, the girl he would marry five years later, after completing his
mission. Hugh was able to go to school at the Brigham Young College (this later
became Utah State University) in Logan, Utah, for a short time, but was soon
called on a mission.
A Terrifying but Sublime Missionary Experience
As a brand-new
missionary, serving in England (Norwich), Elder Brown began tracting (door
contacting and passing out pamphlets). He received only rejection during his
first few days. Then a man came to his apartment with news that his and
seventeen other families had left the Church of England. Feeling that Elder
Brown’s presence and pamphlet was the answer to their prayers, he asked him to
become their “Pastor.” Elder Brown said he would meet with them the next
evening.
Having been
a missionary for only three days, he was terrified and could only think to fast
and pray. “I knelt at my bedside, and for the first time in my life I really
talked with God. I had been taught to pray, and I had always said my prayers,
but as I knelt by my bed that night, I really talked with the Lord. I told him
of my situation; I told him that these people were leaving the Church of
England to search for the truth, that they were calling for it, and that I
wasn’t prepared to give it to them. I asked him to please take the
responsibility off my hands. He didn’t seem to answer.”
This humble
struggle in prayer went on all night and all the next day, until Elder Brown
forced his feet to take him to the home where the families were met. He first
sang, and then he prayed with them. “They knelt, and I prayed. And for the
second time in my life, I talked with God. I talked with him as one man talks
with another on serious matters. I told him again of the situation. I told him
that these people had assembled to hear the truth, and I remember saying, ‘Oh
God, wilt thou teach them the truth tonight; if I can be an instrument, all is
well. But, oh God, take over.’ As soon as I started to pray, all fear and
concern left me, and I did not again worry about what was going to happen.”
Then Elder
Brown gave a talk. “I spoke for 45 minutes. God spoke through me such a sermon
as I had never heard, and those people had never heard anything like it. When
the meeting closed, they flocked around me and held my hands and kissed them. I
told you that I had to drag myself down to that place to attend that meeting. I
can tell you now that I think I only touched the ground once on my way home. I
was so elated that God had heard my prayer. Within three months every man,
woman, and child in that room became members of the Church.”[2]
From Marriage to Seventy
Returning
from his mission, Hugh was able to break up Zina’s engagement to another fellow
and marry her himself. President Joseph F. Smith performed the ceremony in the
Salt Lake Temple in 1908. Over the following decades, Hugh would live in
Canada, study law, and serve a mission in the military. In 1927 he moved back
to Salt Lake City, where in 1930 he was called as stake president. He became
afflicted with “tic douloureux” a painful condition that affected the nerves in
his head. He campaigned for United States Senator from Utah in 1932 but lost. He
served a turbulent term on the Utah State Liquor Commission, trying to limit
alcohol distribution and consumption in Utah. In 1937 he was called as the
president of the British Mission, when World War II interrupted his service.
After some years he returned (in 1945) as both mission president and as the Latter-day
Saint Serviceman’s Coordinator in Europe. President Brown’s son was killed
during the war.
From 1946
to 1950 Hugh taught religion at Brigham Young University. Following that, he
returned to Canada seeking an improved living, but troubled and uncertain as to
what the future held.[3]
Call as an Assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve
Hugh Brown
was working in Canada, this time for an oil company, when he received a call to
full-time church service as a general authority.
In
October 1953, I was up in the Canadian Rockies, supervising the drilling of an
oil well. Although my family were in good health and good spirits and I was
making good money, I was deeply depressed and worried. Early one morning I went
up into the mountains and talked with the Lord in prayer. I told Him that
although it looked like I was going to become wealthy as a result of my oil
ventures, if in His wisdom it would not be good for me or my family I hoped He
would put an end to it.
That
night I drove from the camp up at Rocky Mountain House down to Edmonton still
spiritually disturbed and depressed. Without having dinner that night, I went
into the bedroom by myself, told my wife that she should stay in the other room
as I felt I would have a restless night and did not wish to disturb her. All
night I wrestled with the evil spirit. I was possessed with the spirit of
wishing that I could be rubbed out of existence. I had no thought of suicide,
but wished the Lord would provide a way for me to cease to be. The room was
full of darkness and an evil spirit prevailed, so real that I was almost
consumed by it. About three o’clock in the morning my wife [Zina] came in,
having heard me moving about the room and asked what was the matter. Upon
closing the door, she said, “Oh Hugh, what is in this room?” and I replied, “It
is Satan.” We spent the balance of the night together, much of it on our knees.
The next morning upon going to the office (there was no one there, it being
Saturday), I knelt in prayer again and asked for deliverance from this evil
spirit. I felt a peaceful spirit come over me and phoned my wife to that
effect.
That
night, while I was taking a bath about ten o’clock, the telephone rang and she
called me and said, “Salt Lake City is calling.” Upon going to the phone, I
heard a voice which said, “This is David O. McKay calling. The Lord wants you
to spend the balance of your life in the service of the Church. The Council of
the Twelve have just voted that you should take the place made vacant by the
recent death of Stayner Richards, and you are to become an assistant to the
Twelve.”
Although
mother and I had spent a wakeful night the night before, and a terrible night
it was, that night we stayed awake as well, rejoicing in the thought that the
Lord would reach out so far to touch us in time of need.[4]
When Hugh
was finally able to get to church headquarters, he told President McKay of his experience
with the devil the night before his call as a general authority: “I told the
president when I came down thirty days later about this experience, and he
said, ‘As far as I know, every man who is called into the General Authorities
has to wrestle with the devil.’”[5]
Call to the Quorum of the Twelve
Sunday,
April 6, 1958, proved to be a memorable though overwhelming day for Elder
Brown. He began it as an Assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve but ended it as a
member of the Quorum itself. In the morning session of general conference, he bore
his witness during his address: “I bear my testimony to
you, my friends, and brothers and sisters, that from the center of my heart to
the ends of my fingers and toes I know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of
the Living God. I know that he came forth from the tomb with his body, which he
displayed to his disciples, and invited them to feel of the wounds. I know that
he has spoken again. I know that the gospel has been restored to the earth.”[6]
Then,
between conference sessions, the prophet of the Lord sought an interview with
him. His biographers narrated the story:
President McKay asked to see him in
the Tabernacle office of the General Authorities immediately after the Sunday
morning session of the April 1958 general conference. There the Church leader
said: “The Lord wants you to be a member of the Council of the Twelve. How do
you feel about it?” President Brown remembers saying, “Well, if I was ever
justified in criticizing what the Lord wants, I am in that position now because
I feel that I am unprepared.” President McKay answered: “We don’t agree with
you. We have submitted it to the Twelve and they have approved, and now we want
you to tell us whether you will accept.” The reply was predictable. “Of course
I will accept any call that comes from the Lord, and I will do the best that I
can. . . .”[7]
After
assuring President McKay that he would accept the call, he was asked to speak
again, and give something of an acceptance:
My
dear brethren and sisters, I respond to this call in deep humility, with a keen
sense of my own inadequacy, but with confidence in my Brethren who have thought
me worthy of it. I shall spend the balance of my life trying to make their
judgment good. . . .
I
thank President McKay for his confidence. I love him with all my heart. It has
been my privilege to do some little work with and for him to help to take a
little of the burden from his heart. I thank God for that association. I love
and honor his Counselors and the members of the Quorum of the Twelve, each one
of whom I know, in each one of whom I have absolute confidence. I restate my
faith. I rededicate my life. I thank you for your confidence. I pray for
forgiveness of my weaknesses and sins, and ask for your charity and tolerance
and for God's blessings.[8]
In his
diary, he wrote: “This calling was very humbling indeed, but in fulfillment of
a life-long ambition of my beloved mother, who predicted it when I was but a
boy. I was ordained an apostle in the Salt Lake Temple in the meeting of the
Council of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve, by President David O.
McKay, on April 10, 1958.”[9]
In his address as the newest apostle, at the following October conference, he
said: “I wish to bear my testimony with those that have already been borne that
the Church today, the kingdom of God, is being led by revelation. God is not
the author of confusion. He does not work in dark places. He makes it known to
the world when he appoints a prophet, and I testify that I know as I know I
live, that this Church today is guided by prophecy and by revelation, and that
these men whom we honor are prophets of God.[10]
At the time
of his ordination, he was counseled to act his part: “One of the things that
President McKay says to all the men who are called to the Council of the Twelve
is this: ‘You are to become a witness of Jesus the Christ, a special witness.
Wherever you go you are to bear that witness and bless the people.’ My young
friends, with all the solemnity of my soul, speaking from the very center of my
heart, I say to you, knowing that I am on the very brink of eternity, that
Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world. . . . He is the
Son of the living God.”[11] And:
“We believe this is the message for which the world has been waiting. We
declare it is the very truth of God, and for my own self I bear witness to that
effect and say to you in humility, but without any equivocation, by the same
power and authority with which Peter spoke, I say, with him, ‘Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God.’ (Matt. 16:16.) I know this to be true, and
I plead with men everywhere to hearken; for it is a message from the heavens,”[12]
Serving in the First Presidency
In 1961
President McKay called Elder Brown to serve in the First Presidency, in what
began something a little unusual in Church leadership. At a meeting of the
First Presidency and the Twelve, “President McKay also submitted the name of
Hugh B. Brown as a counselor in the Presidency to help the Presidency now that
President Clark is almost incapacitated. President Clark remains as first counselor
and President Moyle as second counselor and Hugh B. Brown as a counselor in the
Presidency.”[13]
This arrangement
lasted until President J. Reuben Clark Jr. died in 1961, when he became the second
counselor, serving with President Henry D. Moyle. When President Moyle died two
years later in 1963, President Brown became the first counselor and N. Elden
Tanner the second. With the years passing and President McKay becoming
increasingly old and ill, President Brown carried great responsibility for the
Church. In the years before his death, President McKay also called Joseph
Fielding Smith, Thorpe B. Isaacson, and Alvin R. Dyer as additional counselors
to the First Presidency. (These men returned to their former positions when
President McKay died.)
While serving
as second counselor in the First Presidency, President Brown was assigned to
tour the missions established in South America. One of these was in Brazil,
where William Grant Bangerter was serving as the mission president. He later
became a general authority. He recorded his observations and experiences with
President Brown in 1963:
I
can remember the impressiveness of his instruction, especially to the
missionaries. In Sao Paulo during the conference with the members his speech
was interpreted by Remo Roselli, a Brazilian who had formerly filled a mission
in Brazil and who was not a particularly active member of the Church. However,
he had an unusually fine ability to translate or to interpret. President Brown
there told his special parable of the currant bush. Brother Roselli was able to
interpret for him in such a way that the interpretation seemed to enhance the
presentation and the testimony that was attached to it. It was a very spiritual
occasion. President Brown’s method of speaking lent itself to an easy
interpretation, and the spirit and the understanding of his message came
through in a very powerful way, impressive to everyone. The spiritual level at
that meeting was something almost unequaled in our experience. The same was
true in the meeting he held with the missionaries, where he projected a
spiritual influence to them that was unequaled in my experience with other
General Authorities. We felt very much the closeness of the Holy Ghost in the
meeting. He was able to uplift and inspire the missionaries. He made a comment
that I understand he may have made on other occasions. He said near the close
of his remarks that there were those in the group who would someday be in
bishoprics and stake presidencies, and he said, “There will also be some of
this group who will be among the General Authorities of the Church.” I don’t
know whether it was out of a brief moment of ambitious thinking or whether it
was a true touch of the Holy Spirit that said to me, “You might be included in
that group.”[14]
That same
year, at the October general conference, Elder Brown testified: “From the very
center of my heart I bear witness to the divinity of the gospel of Jesus
Christ. [He has been so good to me as to give me a special knowledge of His
existence.] I do not claim to have had visions or [spectacular] revelations,
but I do claim that he has stamped upon my soul a knowledge of the divinity of
this work which did not come through my natural senses but through the Holy
Ghost.”[15]
Some four
years later, in another supernal conference address, President Brown employed
what seems to be specially and carefully selected wording to convey his special
witness—words that may or may not mean more than one might think—for “the
Spirit beareth witness.” They may refer to a special interview with the Christ
(something entirely possible with apostles), where Brother Brown was allowed to
“touch” His resurrected body. Or they may not; perhaps referring instead to
some other mighty manifestation from the Holy Spirit:
When
those eleven downhearted men suddenly become aware that Jesus was in their
midst—the Jesus who only hours before had been scourged and stabbed on the
hill—they, as Luke said, “believed not for joy.” (See Luke 24:41.) It was too good
to be true, and then came his marvelous challenge and demonstration as he said:
“. . . handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me
have.
“And
when he had thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet.” (Luke
24:39-40.) They saw; they touched, and were touched by his glorious resurrected
body. That was the great revelation—Christ was real and touchable.
What
I say here now reflects not only Bible study and prayerful meditation, but also
actual experience that defies a thousand and one traditions and assumptions. I
would not be standing here if it had not come to life within me when I was on
the edge of my own abyss.
The
hands, feet, and side of Christ had bled in the awful turning of his solitary
winepress [in Gethsemane] before they were pierced at Golgotha. His whole body
bled in the midst of his vicarious pain. This was an actual experience; it was
not a myth.
When
the eleven apostles were celebrating an extended Easter at Jerusalem, they were
overwhelmed by the implications of his final instructions and seemed moved by
an endowment of the Spirit, for they witnessed not only his own unforeseen
immortality but also their own immortality. It was the reality of reunion of
their lives with his life; it was knowing him again, in their midst, being with
them. It was his ministering, dining, sharing with them. It was being
close—closer than ever before. They became aware of his great power—indeed, all
power both in heaven and in earth had been given unto him.
We
bear witness to these New Testament insights, the newest of which is his
present touch. To be in touch with Christ means today what it meant to John and
Peter and Paul: to see, to receive, and to prize the actual ministrations.
We
witness that his voice, his person, has been manifested today in our time and
culture. And more: that he will now, as then, manifest himself to those who
will come as John came not counting the cost. He can be and is touched by the
power of his divine Sonship.
We
bear witness that Christ was the revelation of God, the Father, and I dare
proclaim what some creeds have forbidden us to say: that when the disciples
knelt at Jesus' feet, embraced his knees, looked into his face, they were
beholding and touching a personality who had become absolutely like the Eternal
Father.
We
bear witness that the touch of Christ, as he is presently glorified, is the
touch of the highest nature of God. When he entered the presence of God, the
Father, he was transformed into the express image of his person. He became not
only the revelation of the Father but also the revelation of redeemed man. . .
.
With
Job of old and with the apostles I humbly bear witness that I know that my
Redeemer lives, and that he shall stand at the last day upon the earth.[16]
Also in
1967, President Brown spoke to a gathering of newly called “Regional
Representatives of the Twelve” (an obsolete calling since replaced by Area
Presidencies). Elder Rex C. Reeve, one of those present to receive the counsel
and direction given by various members of the First Presidency and the Twelve,
made excellent notes of what President Brown taught. What he said to those
gathered then echoed similar teachings he had given on other occasions—that
they could call on God the Father through earnest prayer and would receive some
kind of answer:
Today
was the first day of the intensive Seminar for the Regional Representatives of
the Twelve and the General Authorities of the Church.
This
was a never-to-be-forgotten day; the spirit was so powerful and the fellowship
of these choice brethren so good. . . .
Pres. Hugh B. Brown [taught]:
“O
God, if thy presence go not with me, carry me not up hence, O Lord”; we need to
keep in mind the indispensability of the constant association and direction of
the Holy Spirit. . . . All who are here this morning have been assigned to
responsibilities, sacred responsibilities, heavy enough to cause any of us to
quake, and yet if His presence [Spirit] is with us we shall not need to fear.
But we may not suppose that His presence [Spirit] will be constantly with us
unless we constantly seek it. Speak His name. Call for His help.
If
you will call out, “Father, are you there”; if you will make that call, I
promise you that He will reply. You may not hear the voice, but you will have
the assurance of His presence and you will know that He is there, standing by
to help you. And whatever may happen—you will be disappointed; you will be
heartbroken at times; you will not get the things that you think you ought to
have at times—in any circumstances know and believe you are there, if you are
conscious of His presence you will not be permitted to do any great evil. “Father,
are you there?” I bear witness that He will respond.
Experiences
have come [to me] that are heartbreaking; others have come that are
exhilarating and uplifting and glorifying. Always I have felt if I could keep
close to Him that there was nothing that He and I could not handle. With that
presence we have been able to control our own natures, refrain from criticism
of our brethren, been able to refrain from sin to which we are often subjected.
. . .
If
we could surround ourselves with the Spirit that envelopes us this morning; if
in all the activities of life we could be in touch with Him and know that He is
in touch with us, and know that we can rely upon Him; then we will constantly
be aware and reminded again and again for the need of His help and our
dependence upon Him, that we would be strengthened and fortified and made equal
to any task by the simple knowledge that we are in His service, that He is
sustaining us and if we keep ourselves clean, we will be equal to anything
asked of us. That we may rededicate ourselves and all we have to His Kingdom,
ready to go when and where called with His Spirit to accompany us then our
missions will be successful. God bless you and peace be with you, and may we be
as one as we undertake the stupendous task of preparing for the Savior of the
World.
He
is coming again. He will appear and those who are worthy will see Him and be
caught up to meet Him. And remember always the Adversary is not dead; neither
does he sleep and he will be ready to attack us any time and we must not let
down our guard or yield to the temptations to which you are subjected in this
life.
[Elder
Reeve:] This was a great spiritual experience to meet in the upper room of the
Lord’s House and be enveloped by His Holy Spirit, beyond anything I had known
before.[17]
Such
counsel indicates that President Brown’s special witness had gradually
strengthened as the years of his ministry passed. He testified with absolute
sureness; his special witness was unimpeachable: “God has been so good to me as
to make known to me, in ways [so sacred] that I cannot explain, that Jesus of Nazareth
is the Son of God. I know that he is the Redeemer of this world. I have been
close enough to him to get from him a convincing testimony of that fact, which
has been sealed upon my soul. I leave you this testimony, and I say, as Peter
of old said in answer to the question, ‘Whom say ye that I am?’ [I say with
Peter,] ‘Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ (See Matt. 16:15-16.)
I know it. I know it better than I know anything else, and for that knowledge I
am grateful to him.”[18]
Return to the Quorum of the Twelve
President
Brown had mixed feelings about no longer being in the First Presidency when
Joseph Fielding Smith did not select him as a counselor. On one hand he wrote
in his diary that he felt thankful to be relieved of some of the “onerous”
responsibilities that he had shouldered for so many years, plus his health was
in decline and kept him from functioning adequately under the intense burdens
of high office. However, he also loved being in the center of things and
associating with his Quorum. As the months passed, and his health worsened, he
found himself with little to do and little contact with the general
authorities. While much less stressful, his last few years also proved to be somewhat
depressing and miserable for him. Yet there were sublime and glorious
compensations, for the Lord did not forsake His special witness.
There are
two known narratives of President Hugh B. Brown being visited by Jesus. They
are probably largely accurate, though they may or may not refer to the same
visitation. One includes some odd wording that may be in error.
One account
was written by Elder Brown’s nephew, President N. Elden Tanner, in his diary,
but no date is given other than it occurred after President Brown had been back
in the Quorum of the Twelve for some time. President Tanner recorded: “He said
it was not a vision, but the Lord appeared to him, very informal, the same as I
was sitting talking to him. The Lord said, ‘You have had some difficult times
in your life.’ Uncle Hugh responded, ‘Yes, and your life was more difficult
than any of us have had.’ In the conversation Uncle Hugh asked when he would be
finished here, and the Lord said, ‘I don’t know and I wouldn’t tell you if I
did.’ Then He said, ‘Remain faithful to the end, and everything will be all
right.’”[19]
Obviously Elder Brown was worthy of such a visitation. But for the resurrected Lord
Jesus Christ to say, “I don’t know” is contrary to all the revelations which
teach that God “knoweth all things, and there is not anything save he knows it”
(2 Nephi 9:20; see also Alma 26:35; Moroni 7:22; D&C 38:2; 88:6, 41). So we
cannot be sure this visitation account has been accurately preserved.
The second
(shorter) account, also undated, found in President Brown’s memoirs, relates
that, “One night he dreamed he was in the Savior’s presence. No words were
exchanged. He said none were necessary. ‘His love enriched me, and I felt his
understanding acceptance of me despite all my imperfect ways.’”[20]
Since there was conversation in one narrative but not in the other, it is probable
that they relate two separate appearances to this humble, faithful apostle.
These same
memoirs inform us that on occasion, Brother Brown experienced sacred dreams in
which he was visited (from the Spirit World) by the spirits of old friends from
his past: Stayner Richards, Marvin O. Ashton, and Harold B. Lee. While we are
aware of no further record of the first two names, we do have more about
Brother Lee. Dr. Russell M. Nelson, before he became an apostle and then President
of the Church, related his witness of what Elder Brown said to him in his
autobiography:
When
President Kimball extended an invitation to President Brown to attend the
dedication, he indicated that due to his advanced age and feeble condition, he
felt he could go only if a doctor went along. Fortunately, I got that
assignment, . . . My responsibility was to be available for whatever President
Brown might need. I checked him each night and morning. . . .
On
the morning of the temple dedication, President Brown greeted me with the news
that he had been visited during the night by President Harold B. Lee (President
Lee had died the year before). He described it as a glorious visit, one that
meant much to him, . . .
Later
that morning, as we took President Brown to breakfast, Sister Harold B. (Freda
Joan) Lee approached us. As we exchanged greetings, President Brown said to
her, “I had a glorious visit with Harold last night. He is just fine. It was so
good to visit with him.”
This
was such a moving experience for us all. We felt the presence of President
Lee’s spirit in the temple through the witness of President Brown.[21]
The
Washington D.C. Temple dedication occurred in November 1974 and Elder Brown viewed
it as the culmination of his mortal ministry. In his remarks on that occasion,
he again avowed his special witness: “My brethren and sisters, with all the
earnestness and solemnity of my soul I say to you that Jesus of Nazareth is the
Son of the Living God, our Redeemer, who won and made the atonement for us. . .
. I am glad to make this declaration to you this day because in the ordinary
course of events it will not be my privilege very long to declare these things
on this earth. . . . When Peter replied, ‘Thou are the Christ . . . ,’ the Savior
said: ‘Blessed art thou, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee,
but my Father which is in heaven.’ From the same source and with the same
authority that he spoke, I declare unto you that I know that He is the Christ.
. . . I am very grateful that in the course of human events I have been led
into circumstances and conditions where I have had to defend the truth even
without wanting to save my own life. And now, rather than deny it, I would ask
Him to take my life. . . .’”[22]
(Elder Brown lived little more than a year after uttering those words.)
Though his
opportunities to declare his special witness diminished as he grew older and
more incapacitated, he still found occasion to bear testimony and did: “I want
to tell you, my brethren and sisters, as is my calling as a witness of Christ,
that I too know, and I know it from the same source that Peter knew it, for
flesh and blood have not revealed that knowledge unto me, but our Father which
is in heaven. And from the bottom of my heart I say to him and to you, . . . , ‘Thou
art the Christ, the Son of the living God,’ and I know it as I know that I
live.”[23]
Elder Hugh
B. Brown died on December 2, 1975, at age ninety-two after an extended illness.
[1]
Conference Report, April 1955, 83.
[2]
“Will You Be Our Pastor?” Ensign, April 1974.
[3]
The preceding summarized biographical information is taken from, “Elder Hugh B.
Brown, 1883–1975,” Ensign, January 1976.
[4]
“In Memoriam: Elder Hugh B. Brown, 1883–1975,” Ensign,
January 1976; this account is also included in Eugene E. Campbell &
Richard D. Poll, Hugh B. Brown: His Life and Thought (Salt Lake City:
Bookcraft, 1975), 218-19 and also, “Father, Are You There?” BYU Speeches,
October 8, 1967.
[6]
Conference Report, April 1958, 111.
[7]
Campbell & Poll, Hugh B. Brown, 233-34.
[8]
Conference Report, April 1958, 130.
[9]
Campbell & Poll, Hugh B. Brown, 232.
[10]
Conference Report, October 1958, 64.
[11]
Hugh B. Brown, “Father, Are You There?” BYU Speeches, October 8, 1967.
[12]
Conference Report, October 1961, 98.
[13]
Marion G. Romney diary, June 22, 1961.
[14]
William Grant Bangerter, These Things I Know: The Autobiography of William
Grant Bangerter, comp. Cory Wm. Bangerter (Printed by BYU Print Services:
Voices and Images, 2013), 212-13.
[15]
Conference Report, October 1963, 88. The first bracketed sentence is in the
audio version of the talk, but for some unaccountable reason was removed from
the printed conference report. Further, I inserted the single bracketed word in
order to clarify Pres. Brown’s meaning; of course he had had personal
revelations; many of them. That is how he obtained his testimony—that of a
special witness—by receiving much revelation from the Holy Ghost. In this
instance he means dramatic revelations of an unusual kind, or for the guidance
of the Church, or perhaps written revelations. Over and over he declared he had
received revelation from God on the fundamentals of the Church and gospel and
to strengthen and amplify his special witness.
[16]
Conference Report, April 1967, 53.
[17]
Rex C. Reeve diary, September 27, 1967.
[18]
Conference Report, April 1969, 114.
[19]
G. Homer Durham, N. Eldon Tanner: His Life and Service (Salt Lake City:
Deseret Book, 1982), 255-56.
[21]
Russell M. Nelson, From Heart to Heart (Salt Lake City: Privately
Printed by Quality Press, 1979), 188.
[22]
Campbell & Poll, Hugh B. Brown, 320.
[23]
“This Same Jesus,” Ensign, December 1971.
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