170 years ago today - Dec 31, 1844

[Brigham Young] He also spoke of the relation we held to our Father in Heaven and to our Mother, the Queen. If we are faithful we will come in their presence and learn of our first estate. He also spoke of the children of Promise, what they were, that they were very scarce, there is not two or three at present but we should know more about it when the temple was completed. ... Hence, he said a man who cannot preside over a wife and children, much more over a quorum. Therefore, it was our indispensible duty to set ourselves in order that we might become as saviors unto the children of men, for we were placed in high and responsible positions. ... If we were faithful it would be but a short time before we could come up in the same places that the Twelve are and so on until we were very great men, so therefore, we must treasure up knowledge while it is a good time. He also said that in order for a man to save his dead friends he would have to go through the same ordinances to save himself. Hence, it was a great thing to come up in such a responsible place. In the work for the dead the man would act as proxy for the male friends and his wife for the females, by so doing they became a king and queen. He concluded that we had done well in building a house to meet in and God would bless us. -- Nauvoo, Illinois

[Source: Joseph G. Hovey Autobiography as quoted in The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, Ed. Richard S. Van Wagoner, Smith-Pettit Foundation, Salt Lake City (2009), http://bit.ly/BY-discourses]