“I have come out of the reading of the sermons of Brigham Young with a somewhat changed attitude toward the pioneer president. Like many others, I had heard of the occasions when he disciplined his brethren, and feared that perhaps in his nature was a vein of autocracy that overshadowed everything else. So far, that opinion has been changed, and before me is growing the figure of a Brigham Young kindly in disposition, generous in his sentiments, a good but honest trader, loving God and his fellowmen first of all, and the things of this earth after, possessed of keen sense and high practical judgment, which made him prophetic in many of the things he undertook. His constant return to the greatness of the Prophet Joseph was almost the most notable thing among his utterances. He must have loved the Prophet devotedly and without guile.” – John A. Widtsoe (1920)