The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young: Volume 2, 1853 to 1856

This five-volume series makes available every known published and previously unpublished sermon (discourse, speech, or public teaching) of Brigham Young, second president of the LDS Church. The texts are drawn from various manuscript collections at LDS Church Archives: Brigham Young Addresses, Brigham Young Minutes, Brigham Young Diaries, Brigham Young Office and Secretary Journals, Thomas Bullock Minutes, Willard Richards Diary, John D. Lee Journals, and Heber C. Kimball Journals, as well as from the “History of Brigham Young,” “Journal History of the Church,” Deseret News, History of the Church, Journal of Discourses, and Millennial Star. The series is limited to 350 copies and is available only as a complete set, not as individual volumes.

Even those who are very familiar with Young’s life and teachings may be surprised to hear him say that God removed Elder Parley P. Pratt from his mortal existence because Pratt had committed adultery (“blood was spilt for adultery”), that Latter-day Saints should not eat pork and should probably refrain from meat altogether (“the use of beef, mutton, and pork should be dispensed with entirely”), and so on. Nevertheless, as Van Wagoner says of the collection, “As I worked on these transcripts, my esteem for President Young grew. His facility for language and ability to address complex issues on the fly rank him among the most able preachers and, as Utah’s governor, most talented politicians of the day—just as capable, I think, as any U.S. president of his time.”