Doctrine and Covenants Seminary Teacher Manual

Contents
Title Page
Introduction to the Doctrine and Covenants Seminary Teacher Manual
Doctrine and Covenants Lessons
- The Restoration Proclamation
- Doctrine and Covenants 1
- Joseph Smith—History 1:1–26
- Doctrine and Covenants 2; Joseph Smith—History 1:27–65
- Doctrine and Covenants 3–5
- Doctrine and Covenants 6–9
- Doctrine and Covenants 10–11
- Doctrine and Covenants 12–17; Joseph Smith—History 1:66–75
- Doctrine and Covenants 18
- Doctrine and Covenants 19
- Doctrine and Covenants 20–22
- Doctrine and Covenants 23–26
- Doctrine and Covenants 27–28
- Doctrine and Covenants 29
- Doctrine and Covenants 30–36
- Doctrine and Covenants 37–40
- Doctrine and Covenants 41–44
- Doctrine and Covenants 45
- Doctrine and Covenants 46–48
- Doctrine and Covenants 49–50
- Doctrine and Covenants 51–57
- Doctrine and Covenants 58–59
- Doctrine and Covenants 60–63
- Doctrine and Covenants 64–66
- Doctrine and Covenants 67–70
- Doctrine and Covenants 71–75
- Doctrine and Covenants 76
- Doctrine and Covenants 77–80
- Doctrine and Covenants 81–83
- Doctrine and Covenants 84
- Doctrine and Covenants 85–87
- Doctrine and Covenants 88
- Doctrine and Covenants 89–92
- Doctrine and Covenants 93
- Doctrine and Covenants 94–97
- Doctrine and Covenants 98–101
- Doctrine and Covenants 102–105
- Doctrine and Covenants 106–108
- Doctrine and Covenants 109–110
- Doctrine and Covenants 111–114
- Doctrine and Covenants 115–120
- Doctrine and Covenants 121–123
- Doctrine and Covenants 124
- Doctrine and Covenants 125–128
- Doctrine and Covenants 129–132
- Doctrine and Covenants 133–134
- Doctrine and Covenants 135–136
- Doctrine and Covenants 137–138
- The Articles of Faith and Official Declarations 1 and 2
- The Family: A Proclamation to the World
- The Living Christ
Life Preparation Lessons
- Doctrinal Mastery: Finding Answers to My Questions
- Scripture Study Skills
- For the Strength of Youth: Making Choices
- Building Self-Reliance
- Physical and Emotional Health
- Preparing for Future Education and Employment
- Succeeding in School
- Missionary Preparation
- Temple Preparation
- Teachings of Church Leaders
Appendix

Lesson 136—Doctrine and Covenants 126: The Lord Accepted Brigham Young’s Service

“Lesson 136—Doctrine and Covenants 126: The Lord Accepted Brigham Young’s Service,” Doctrine and Covenants Seminary Teacher Manual (2025)

“Doctrine and Covenants 126,” Doctrine and Covenants Seminary Teacher Manual

Lesson 136: Doctrine and Covenants 125–128

Doctrine and Covenants 126

The Lord Accepted Brigham Young’s Service

On July 9, 1841, the Lord gave a revelation to Brigham Young through the Prophet Joseph Smith. After Brigham served multiple missions in the United States, Canada, and England, the Lord said his missionary journeys were acceptable to Him. He said it was time for Brigham to take special care of his family. This lesson can help students increase their desire to labor diligently for the Lord as Brigham Young did.

Possible Learning Activities

Serving the Lord

Write the phrase Serving the Lord on the board, and invite students to do the following:

Imagine that a stake or district leader surveyed teenage Church members in your area and asked the following questions. What might some of their answers be?

In what ways do you try to serve Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ? Why do you serve Them?
What gets in the way of serving the Lord? Why might we not always want to serve Him?

After students share, ask them to ponder how they personally might answer the questions above.

As they study about the example of Brigham Young during this lesson, invite students to seek the Holy Ghost to help them overcome any obstacles to serving the Lord diligently.

How the Lord felt about Brigham Young

Consider giving the following information to a few students at the beginning of class. Invite them to summarize what was meaningful or interesting to them about Brigham Young.

Brigham Young grew up poor, the ninth of eleven children.
At age 14, his mother passed away.
At 16, he set off to make his own way in the world, becoming an apprentice carpenter, glass worker, and painter.
At 23, he married Miriam Works, and they later had two daughters.
Brigham studied the Book of Mormon for two years, comparing it to the Bible, before he joined the Church. He later reported, “I knew it was true, as well as I knew that I could see with my eyes, or feel by the touch of my fingers” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young [1997], 2).
Brigham served 10 missions in the United States, Canada, and England.
He became a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles at age 33.
On July 9, 1841, the Lord gave a revelation to Brigham Young through the Prophet Joseph Smith.

Read Doctrine and Covenants 126:1–3, looking for what the Lord told Brigham about his service.

What did you like or learn from these verses?

Listen carefully as students share. If you find it useful, ask follow-up questions like these: “What words are used in the revelation to refer to Brigham?” “How do you think these words would make Brigham feel?” “What do these verses teach you about the Lord?”

If students do not naturally identify a principle, consider asking, “How could the Lord’s instructions to Brigham Young apply to us?” Students may use different words but should identify a principle similar to the following: If we labor diligently for the Lord, then He will accept our righteous offering. You may suggest that students record this principle in their scriptures.
What do you think people like Brigham Young know that motivates them to serve the Lord so diligently? How might that help us?

The example of Brigham Young

The Example of Brigham Young

Discussion 1

The Challenge of Public Speaking

Begin by asking questions like the following:

How do you feel about public speaking? Why?

Read or summarize the following:

One of Brigham Young’s greatest challenges was public speaking. He said, “I was about as destitute of language as a man could well be” (in Journal of Discourses, 5:97). He recalled a time one week after his baptism when he expected four experienced speakers who were members of the Church to preach, but they did not. He said:

I was but a child, so far as public speaking and a knowledge of the world was concerned; but the Spirit of the Lord was upon me, and I felt as though my bones would consume within me unless I spoke to the people and told them what I had seen, heard and learned—what I had experienced and rejoiced in; and the first discourse I ever delivered I occupied over an hour. I opened my mouth and the Lord filled it. (Brigham Young, in Journal of Discourses, 13:211)

What was difficult about what Brigham Young did?

Invite students to read Doctrine and Covenants 100:5–6 (see also Exodus 4:12; Proverbs 16:1). Then ask:

How was Brigham Young’s experience related to these verses?
What do you learn about the Lord that could help you?

Share how you feel about trusting in the Lord and being willing to share what you know.

Discussion 2

Brigham’s Sacrifice to Serve

Begin by asking a question like the following:

What sacrifices does it take to serve a mission?

Read or summarize the following:

The same year Brigham Young was baptized, his wife passed away. At great sacrifice, he arranged for the care of his two children and served missions to New York and upper Canada, where he baptized several people.

After serving a mission for about a year, Brigham described his arrival in Kirtland, Ohio:

If any man that ever did gather with the Saints was any poorer than I was—it was because he had nothing. … I had two children to take care of. … I was a widower. … [I had] not a shoe to my foot, except a pair of borrowed boots. I had no winter clothing, except a homemade coat that I had had three or four years. … I had travelled and preached and given away every dollar of my property. (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young [1997], 243)

Invite a student to read Luke 18:18–23, looking for how Brigham Young’s response to invitations to serve was different from the man who interacted with the Savior in this account.

What do you know about the Lord that may help us be willing to make sacrifices like Brigham Young did?
In addition to serving missions, what are some other ways the Lord may want us to sacrifice to serve Him?

Share how you feel about being willing to sacrifice to serve the Lord.

Discussion 3

Brigham’s Mission to England

Begin by asking a question like the following:

What are some reasons a missionary needs the Lord’s help?

Read or summarize the following:

After remarrying and serving five other missions, Brigham was called, with other Apostles, to serve a mission to England.

Brigham described his mission:

We landed … as strangers in a strange land and penniless, but through the mercy of God we have gained many friends, established Churches in almost every noted town and city in the kingdom of Great Britain, baptized between seven and eight thousand, printed 5,000 Books of Mormon, … and have left sown in the hearts of many thousands the seeds of eternal truth … : in all these things I acknowledge the hand of God. (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young [1997], 6)

Invite a student to read Ammon’s words in Alma 26:12–13. Then ask:

How does Brigham Young’s statement compare to Ammon’s?
Why do you think relying on the Lord is essential when striving to serve Him?
How have you tried to rely on the Lord as you serve Him?

Share your thoughts or feelings about relying on the Lord as you serve Him.

What you have learned

After the discussions, you might encourage students to seek the guidance of the Holy Ghost and write down what they are learning and feeling about serving the Lord. They might answer these questions:

What have you learned from the example of Brigham Young and how the Lord helped him?
What has increased your desire to serve the Lord?

Conclude by inviting students to share some of the thoughts and feelings they wrote. You could share as well.

Additional Resources

What else do we know about Brigham Young’s journey to England?

Brigham and other Apostles followed the Lord’s instructions to depart for the England mission from Far West, Missouri, on April 26, 1839 (see Doctrine and Covenants 118). They spent the next few months in Iowa and Illinois, making further preparations to travel to Great Britain. An epidemic of malaria struck the area in the summer of 1839, and they became ill. Brigham was so sick, he could not get into a wagon without help. He recorded:

I was determined to go to England or to die trying. My firm resolve was that I would do what I was required to do in the Gospel of life and salvation, or I would die trying to do it. (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young [1997], 5)

After his first wife’s death, Brigham married Mary Ann Angell in 1834. She supported him, though she was also sick and had a newborn baby. This was the fifth mission Brigham served since they were married. He would serve 10 in total.

Once, while Brigham was traveling by steamboat from Fairport, Ohio, to Buffalo, New York, a storm arose that hindered the ship’s progress. He related the following:

The wind rose about one o’clock in the morning. I went upon deck and felt impressed in spirit to pray to the Father, in the name of Jesus, for a forgiveness of all my sins, and then I felt to command the winds to cease, and let us go safe on our journey. The winds abated, and I felt to give the glory and honor and praise to that God who rules all things. (Brigham Young, “History of Brigham Young,” Millennial Star, Oct. 17, 1863, 663–64)

Doctrine and Covenants 126:3. How did Brigham Young take “especial care” of his family?

After his mission to Great Britain, Brigham Young followed the Lord’s command to “take especial care of [his] family” (Doctrine and Covenants 126:3). He spent time daily teaching and praying with his children.

Even before hearing the Doctrine and Covenants 126 revelation at the age of 40, Brigham demonstrated devotion to his family. This is illustrated by the following account:

At age 23 he married Miriam Angeline Works. Two daughters were born to the young couple. Brigham supported his family by making and repairing chairs, tables, and cupboards and installing windows, doors, stairways, and fireplace mantels. …

When Miriam contracted tuberculosis, Brigham assumed much of the burden of her work in addition to his own. As she became progressively more bedridden, he regularly prepared breakfast for the family, dressed his daughters, cleaned up the house, and “carried his wife to the rocking chair by the fireplace and left her there until he could return in the evening,” when he cooked supper, got his family into bed, and finished the household chores. (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young [1997], 2)

What other blessings did Brigham receive from following this revelation?

After this revelation, Brigham Young was of course able to spend more time with his family. He was also near the Prophet Joseph Smith for 28 of the last 36 months of Joseph’s life. This time helped prepare Brigham to serve as president of the Church after Joseph’s death.