"Now if you want Sidney Rigdon or William Law to lead you, or any body else, you are welcome to them both, but I tell you in the name of the Lord that no man can put another between the Twelve and the Prophet Joseph. Why? Because Joseph was their file leader and he has committed into their hands the keys of the Kingdom in this last dispensation for all the world. I ask, who has stood next to Joseph? I have; and I will stand next to him. We have a head and that head is the Apostleship, the spirit and power of Joseph, and we now can begin to see the necessity of that Apostleship. "President Rigdon was at his side, not above. No man had a right to counsel the Twelve but Joseph Smith. Think of these sayings. You cannot appoint a prophet; but if you let the Twelve remain and act in their place, the keys of the Kingdom are with them, and they can manage the affairs of the Church and direct all things aright. "Now all this does not lessen the character of President Rigdon. Let him magnify his calling and Joseph will want him behind the veil. Let him be careful what he does lest that thread which binds us together be cut asunder. May God bless us all." Following the remarks of President Brigham Young, Amasa Lyman spoke a few words fully sustaining President Young and the Twelve. Elder Lyman had been chosen as a counselor to the Prophet Joseph and in reference to the matter pending said: "I am gratified with the open, frank, and plain exposition {221} of President Young. He has seen the relation I bear to our deceased brother. I never did conceive that it gave me a right to stand above the Twelve. I make no exceptions, whatever, to anything he has said. President Young has stood next to the Prophet Joseph with the Twelve and I have stood next to them and will be with the Twelve forever. We have a head here. What is that head? The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles." The words, the appearance, and the spirit of Brigham Young were so convincing and so like those of the Prophet Joseph that the people knew the voice of their new shepherd. President Rigdon next called upon W. W. Phelps to speak for him as he could not speak for himself. Although Elder Phelps spoke at some length, he did not advocate the claims of Elder Rigdon. He sustained the right and duty of the Twelve Apostles to stand at the head, and expressed his hope that Elder Rigdon would submit to that authority.