to but the fifty will stand at the head and control the whole matter. Formerly one man stood at the head, now the Twelve stand there. One thousand men might be in this council, and know all that is known here and the fifty would overrule the whole. He knows it is perfectly proper for us to say how many and who shall come here but the fifty will still rule the whole. Brother Joseph while he was living had fifty-four, for after the fifty was made up there was a saul and a Barnabas who must also be admitted. If Brother Joseph had lived he would have had the full of confidential men. As to their knowing what is going on in this council, the whole church knows what we are doing here, the spirit dictates it to them and you cant [p. [280]]
At the council meeting on 25 April 1844, JS proposed that his brother William Smith be added to the council “as a Paul, or as one born out of due time,” following which Hyrum Smith “suggested the propriety of having a Barnabas also” and recommended Jedediah M. Grant. The council accepted both William Smith and Grant as members. (Council of Fifty, “Record,” 25 Apr. 1844.)