The Life of John Taylor

Key Takeaways

Under Consideration — to be added.

Interconnections

Under Consideration — to be added.

Highlights

• The praise of the world, however, is a small matter. It often praises those least worthy; it neglects or abuses those who are its chief benefactors.
• But the praise or censure of the world had little influence over the mind of John Taylor where truth was concerned. The more men despised it the more intense seemed his devotion.
• The author has but one reason to give for undertaking the pleasing task of writing this book—he loved the subject. To him John Taylor was the embodiment of those qualities of mind and heart which most become a man.
• It has become proverbial that all great movements, all reformations, all revolutions must produce their own leaders; and this is as true of the great work of the last days, the establishment of the Church of Christ on the earth, as it is of any other great movement.
• From the very nature of things it must be necessary that men whose minds are unwarped by prevailing customs and traditions, should be selected to establish a new order of religion, of government or of society. How could the Jewish priests and rabbis, bound by long custom to a slavish adherence to the outward forms and ceremonies of the Mosaic ritual, the spirit and purpose of which had long been made of no effect by the rubbish of false traditions, open their minds to receive the larger and nobler doctrines of the gospel of Christ, unmixed with the pomp and circumstance which they of that age and nation considered essential to religion?
  • It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it. - Upton Sinclair
• Such a work was too large, too high and too deep for minds filled with false, sectarian ideas. Hence God chose His servants in these last days from men whose minds were unwarped by false education, but men of large capacity; possessing breadth and freedom of thought, of sanguine, fearless temperament:
• Indeed, it may be said that part of the Church of England’s creed in those days, though unwritten, was “down with the Pope.” He learned the catechism and the prayers of the church. In a fine vein of satire he says: “I repeated week after week—‘We have erred and strayed from Thy ways like lost sheep… We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; and we have done those things which we ought not to have done, and there is no health in us… have mercy upon us, miserable sinners.’
• Most of his leisure hours were spent in reading the Bible, works on theology and in prayer. For the latter purpose he usually resorted to secluded places in the woods and fields.
• As a preacher in the Methodist church, both in England and Canada, he was very successful, and made many converts. “My object,” he remarks, “was to teach them what I then considered the leading doctrines of the Christian religion, rather than the peculiar dogmas of Methodism.” His theological investigations had made him very much dissatisfied with existing creeds and churches, because of the wide difference between modern and primitive Christianity, in doctrine, in ordinances, in organization and above all, in spirit and power.
  • Seeker
• True, they might organize a church with apostles and prophets, and all other officers, and teach the letter of their principles; but whence should they look for the Spirit to give it life, and make their dream of a restored, perfect Christian church a reality? It was evident to them they could not perform this work unless called of God to do it, and they were painfully conscious of the fact that not one among them was so called. They could only wait, and pray that God would send to them a messenger if He had a Church on the earth.
  • Coke his hands on ___ hath laid, but who laid hands on him?
• It was a strange message the Apostle had to deliver—this story of the revelation of the gospel: how God had passed by the great, and learned, and eloquent theologians of the day, and had revealed Himself to an unlearned youth,
• “We are here, ostensibly in search of truth. Hitherto we have fully investigated other creeds and doctrines and proven them false. Why should we fear to investigate Mormonism? This gentleman, Mr. Pratt, has brought to us many doctrines that correspond with our own views. We have endured a great deal and made many sacrifices for our religious convictions. We have prayed to God to send us a messenger, if He has a true Church on earth.
• If I find his religion true, I shall accept it, no matter what the consequences may be; and if false, then I shall expose it.”
• Among others, Parley P. Pratt was floundering in darkness, and coming to Elder Taylor told him of some things wherein he considered the Prophet Joseph in error. To his remarks Elder Taylor replied: “I am surprised to hear you speak so, Brother Parley. Before you left Canada you bore a strong testimony to Joseph Smith being a Prophet of God, and to the truth of the work he has inaugurated; and you said you knew these things by revelation, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. You gave to me a strict charge to the effect that though you or an angel from heaven was to declare anything else I was not to believe it. Now Brother Parley, it is not man that I am following, but the Lord. The principles you taught me led me to Him, and I now have the same testimony that you then rejoiced in. If the work was true six months ago, it is true today; if Joseph Smith was then a prophet, he is now a prophet.”
• “From whence do we get our intelligence, and knowledge of the laws, ordinances and doctrines of the kingdom of God? Who understood even the first principles of the doctrines of Christ? Who in the Christian world taught them? If we, with our learning and intelligence, could not find out the first principles, which was the case with myself and millions of others, how can we find out the mysteries of the kingdom? It was Joseph Smith, under the Almighty, who developed the first principles, and to him we must look for further instructions. If the spirit which he manifests does not bring blessings, I am very much afraid that the one manifested by those who have spoken, will not be very likely to secure them. The children of Israel, formerly, after seeing the power of God manifested in their midst, fell into rebellion and idolatry, and there is certainly very great danger of us doing the same thing.”
• The course of the Prophet was in marked contrast with that of the self-sufficient high priest, Sampson Avard. The latter at once assumed the presidency of the churches, and commenced regulating affairs without consulting or even seeing Elder Taylor; the former, though acknowledged and sustained as the President of the Church in all the world, and Prophet, Seer and Revelator thereto, called for him, and would not move in any business concerning the churches in Canada until he had seen him. Although Elder Taylor was some distance from Toronto, the Prophet sent for him, and patiently awaited his coming. On his arrival, to the great surprise of Elder Taylor, the Prophet began to counsel with him as to the best mode of procedure in relation to holding some conferences during their visit.
• “The work seemed great, the duties arduous and responsible. I felt my own weakness and littleness; but I felt determined, the Lord being my helper, to endeavor to magnify it. When I first entered upon Mormonism, I did it with my eyes open. I counted the cost. I looked upon it as a life-long labor, and I considered that I was not only enlisted for time, but for eternity also, and did not wish to shrink now, although I felt my incompetency.”
• A little before meeting time a number of the brethren came running to the house where he was stopping with the information that the whole town was gathering and that a number of men had proposed tar and feathers, and boasted they would dress him with them if he undertook to preach. The brethren advised him not to attempt it as they were not strong enough to protect him. After a moment’s reflection, however, he decided to go and preach. The brethren remonstrated; they knew the tar and feathers were prepared and that he could not escape. He replied that he had made up his mind to go; they could go with him if they chose, if not, he would go alone.
• A very large concourse of people had assembled to listen to him. He began his remarks by informing them that he had lately come from Canada—a land under monarchical rule; that standing as he then did on free soil, among free men, he experienced peculiar sensations. “Gentlemen, I now stand among men whose fathers fought for and obtained one of the greatest blessings ever conferred upon the human family—the right to think, to speak, to write; the right to say who shall govern them, and the right to worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences—all of them sacred, human rights, and now guaranteed by the American Constitution. I see around me the sons of those noble sires, who, rather than bow to the behests of a tyrant, pledged their lives, fortunes and sacred honors to burst those fetters, enjoy freedom themselves, bequeath it to their posterity, or die in the attempt.
• “But, by the by, I have been informed that you purpose to tar and feather me, for my religious opinions Is this the boon you have inherited from your fathers? Is this the blessing they purchased with their dearest hearts’ blood—this your liberty? If so, you now have a victim, and we will have an offering to the goddess of liberty.” Here he tore open his vest and said: “Gentlemen come on with your tar and feathers, your victim is ready; and ye shades of the venerable patriots, gaze upon the deeds of your degenerate sons! Come on, gentlemen! Come on, I say, I am ready!” No one moved, no one spoke. He stood there drawn to his full height, calm but defiant—the master of the situation.
• Although some of the Saints were, doubtless, unwise in much of their talk, they were guilty of no overt act against the peace and good order of the community in which they settled; nor did they in any way interfere with the old settlers, further, perhaps, than to remonstrate with them on their manner of life, and surely that was no act that called for violence.
  • Find the David Whitmer quote about the saints being at fault for talking about taking over the county and being given the land by God.
• “My mind wanders back upwardly of thirty years ago,” he says, “when in the state of Missouri, Mr. McBride, a gray-haired, venerable veteran of the Revolution, with feeble frame and tottering steps, cried to a Missouri patriot: ‘Spare my life, I am a revolutionary soldier, I fought for liberty, would you murder me? What is my offense, I believe in God and revelation?’ This frenzied disciple of a misplaced faith said, ‘Take that you God d—d Mormon,’ and with the butt of his gun he dashed his brains out, and he lay quivering there, his white locks clotted with his own brains and gore, on the soil that he had heretofore shed his blood to redeem—a sacrifice at the shrine of liberty!”
• This speech filled many with exceeding great rejoicing, some even wept for joy, while others were equally filled with zealous rage. The class so affected demanded to know if they were not Mormons. “No,” replied Elder Taylor, “we belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, called by our enemies the ‘Mormon Church.’ ”
• Elder Taylor’s text was from Jude: “It was needful for me to… exhort you, that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was delivered to the Saints.” He referred to the laudable efforts of such reformers as Luther, Melancthon, Calvin, Wesley, Whitfield and others who had tried to bring about the ancient order of things, but by reference to the gospel as contained in the New Testament, showed that they had failed to accomplish it. This was followed up by an account of how the gospel had been restored to the earth in the present age by the ministration of angels and the revelations of God to the Prophet Joseph Smith. He showed them how what they had been praying for was now accomplished, and exhorted them to receive it.
• He inquired if his visitor intended calling upon all the ministers in the city, to which the Elder replied that it was his determination to deliver the message he had been commissioned with; he had called upon some ministers and intended to see others; and if there was liberality enough among the Methodists or other denominations to open their chapels, he would preach. To this the minister replied that he thought the doctrines Elder Taylor had to advocate would not agree with theirs, and that he would have to do as the venerable founder of Methodism had done—go into the highways and the fields.
• There was present at this interview a Miss Brannan, from the Isle of Man, who expressed a fear of Elder Taylor’s religion; and who, as the conversation drew to a close, ventured to censure him because he condemned others. “No, he does not,” said Mr. Radcliff, “he only says they have been wrong ignorantly, and that they have doubtless lived up to the best light they had.”
  • “Bring all the truth you have and let us see if we can add to it.”
• She would be glad to see him, but not as a religious teacher. Or if he was like other preachers, she would be pleased to receive him. To this the Elder replied that he should visit the Isle of Man whether she desired him to or not; that there were others there who would receive the gospel if she rejected it, and as to the matter of being like other ministers, it reminded him of the story of the Prophet Micah, who was told to speak as the other prophets of king Ahab had spoken, and it would be well with him; but Micah replied: “As the Lord liveth, even what my God saith, that will I speak.” So, likewise, he could only declare that which God had revealed; if that came in conflict with the doctrines and practices of men, so much the worse for their doctrines and practices.
• In this manner Elder Taylor continued to labor day after day, neither avoiding the poor and lowly nor shunning the high and the learned. Conscious that he possessed the truth, he fearlessly came in contact with all sorts and conditions of men; and so gentlemanly and pleasing was his bearing that it compelled men to listen to the message he delivered with respectful attention.
• An appointment was given out for the next evening, but only a few attended, and Elder Taylor turned the meeting into a sort of conversational, promising to explain anything those present wished to know respecting the message he had delivered to them the night before. Thus the evening was passed.
• RETURNING to Liverpool Elder Taylor delivered his course of lectures in the Music Hall, Bold Street. The course covered the principal events connected with the work of the Lord in these last days. The transgression of the laws of the gospel; the changing of its ordinances; the breaking of the covenant thereof after its introduction by the personal ministration of the Son of God; the restoration of the gospel through the ministration of angels; the restoration, and the powers and authority of the Holy Priesthood; the coming forth, character and value of the Book of Mormon; the gathering of Israel and final redemption of the earth, etc., etc. The lectures were numerously attended and created considerable interest in religious circles.
• Mr. Matthews and his chief supporter, Mr. Aitkins, were the principals in this opposition. They had been very near the truth at one time—not far removed from the Kingdom of God; but having made up their minds to reject it, the light they once possessed departed from them. They were filled with bitterness, jealousy and hatred, and in their madness descended to methods of opposition unworthy of those who profess to be gentlemen, to say nothing of men who professed to be followers and ministers of the Son of God.
• His reverend opponent stoutly objected to Mormonism because it was based on a new revelation, and in his view the day of revelation had passed—the volume thereof was complete; and he maintained that the Bible itself forbids any more revelation being added to it, and as Mormonism claimed to have come into existence through revelation, it violated the prohibitions of the Bible, and therefore Mormonism was an imposture.
• According to his own interpretation of the above scriptures, in quoting from Proverbs, he would reject the New Testament and all the prophets that prophesied after Solomon’s day; and in his quotation from Deuteronomy, he would reject all the Bible but the five books of Moses. But let Mr. Hays take care that he himself is not incurring the curse by altering the meaning of the words of the very books to which the prohibition positively and particularly refers!”
• By adopting this policy there was a candidate in the field the Saints could vote for conscientiously; and if their candidate from the beginning was sure of defeat, they had at least removed themselves and their religion from the filthy vortex of political controversy.
• The only force employed was the breaking in of the doors to the Expositor office when admittance was denied. Some of the leading apostates set fire to their houses and fled to Carthage, the county seat of Hancock County, with the lie on their lips that their lives were in danger. Fortunately the police in Nauvoo discovered the houses of these men on fire and extinguished the flames before any material harm was done, so that they had no blackened ruins to point to as a witness of Mormon atrocity.
• Elder Taylor then stated that in consequence of the excitement prevailing, it would be extremely unsafe for Joseph to come to Carthage; that they had men and arms to defend themselves, but if their forces and those of their enemies should be brought into close proximity the most probable result would be a collision. In reply to this the Governor “strenuously advised us,” says Elder Taylor, “not to bring our arms, and pledged his faith as Governor, and the faith of the state, that we should be protected, and that he would guarantee our perfect safety.”
• The Prophet had suddenly changed his mind and had determined on going to Carthage to give himself up; and he wished Elder Taylor to accompany him. “I must confess that I felt a good deal disappointed at the news,” says Elder Taylor, “but I immediately made preparations to go.”
• Influenced by these entreaties to return, and stung by the taunts of cowardice from those who should have been his friends, the Prophet said: “If my life is of no value to my friends, it is of none to myself.” And against his better judgment, and with the conviction fixed in his soul that he would be killed, he resolved to return.
• It was on the occasion of meeting Captain Dunn and his company that Joseph uttered those prophetic words—“I am going like a lamb to the slaughter, but I am calm as a summer’s morning. I have a conscience void of offense toward God and toward all men. I shall die innocent, and it shall yet be said of me, ‘he was murdered in cold blood.”’ Hyrum Smith that morning, before leaving Nauvoo, and in spite of an assumed cheerfulness, had also left evidence that the fate awaiting himself and brother at Carthage had been foreshadowed in his mind. He read a passage in the Book of Mormon, near the close of the 12th Chapter of Ether: “And it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord that he would give unto the Gentiles grace that they might have charity. And it came to pass that the Lord said unto me, if they have not charity, it mattereth not unto thee, thou hast been faithful; wherefore thy garments shall be made clean. And because thou hast seen thy weakness thou shalt be made strong, even unto the sitting down in the place which I have prepared in the mansions of my Father. And now I——bid farewell unto the Gentiles, yea, and also unto my brethren whom I love until we shall meet before the judgment-seat of Christ, where all men shall know that my garments are not spotted with your blood.” On this passage he turned down the leaf, and there it is, a silent witness that he, too, knew he was going “like a lamb to the slaughter.”
• As our Prophet he approached our God, and obtained for us His will; but now our Prophet, our counselor, our general, our leader was gone, and amid the fiery ordeal that we then had to pass through, we were left alone without his aid, and as our future guide for things spiritual or temporal, and for all things pertaining to this world or the next, he had spoken for the last time on earth!”
• They protested that he was safe with them; it was a shame that he and his friends had been treated in the manner they had; they swore by all the oaths known to the damned that they would stand by him to the death. “In half an hour every one of them had fled from the town,” says Elder Taylor.
• Some time after his recovery, too, when publishing an account of the assault upon the jail, a lawyer of the name of Backman stated that he prevented the desperado Jackson, before mentioned, from ascending the stairs of the jail and dispatching him while he lay there unable to move. Backman at the time of making the statement expressed his regrets at having prevented the deed. There were others also who said that he ought to be killed; but that it “was too d—d cowardly to shoot a wounded man.” “And thus,” remarks the Elder, “by the chivalry of murderers, I was prevented from being a second time mutilated or killed.”
• Being unable to ride in a wagon or carriage, a litter was prepared for him, and a number of men living in Carthage, some of whom had been engaged in the mob, assisted in carrying him. Once on the way, word was sent to some of the Saints living along the route, not far from Carthage, to come and meet them. Meantime the men from Carthage made one excuse after another for leaving until all were gone, much to the relief of the wounded man, who expressed himself as glad to get rid of them.
• At any rate, be this as it may, he stands responsible for their blood, and it is dripping on his garments. If it had not been for his promises of protection, they would have protected themselves; it was plighted faith that led them to the slaughter; and, to make the best of it, it was a breach of that faith and a non-fulfillment of that promise, after repeated warning, that led to their death.
• Capitalists were invited to Nauvoo to establish manufactories, and were assured that the people there had sufficient skill and ingenuity among them to carry on nearly all kinds of industry. Elder Taylor took a prominent part in these temporal affairs as well as in things spiritual. On his recommendation and under his supervision a “Trades Union” was formed, an organization having for its object the establishment of industries that would produce, as far as possible, everything needed by the people of Nauvoo, and a surplus for exportation.
• They had always been subject to law. They had always sustained it and still felt disposed to do so. “But I wish to make a few remarks concerning my own individual feelings,” said Elder Taylor. “I have endured as much as I feel willing to endure under this government. I feel myself oppressed and wronged. I have never violated any law in the United States, and to be vexed and annoyed continually with vexatious lawsuits and illegal prosecutions I do not feel disposed tamely to submit to. If it is not enough for me to be deprived of my rights and my liberty; if it is not enough for me to sacrifice my property and to become an exile; if I cannot have the short space of six months to dispose of my effects and to leave the state—if the governor will only tell me, I will leave now; but I cannot and will not endure a continuation of these wrongs.
• All this—to say nothing of breaking up his printing and book-binding establishment—he had been compelled to leave with but small hope of ever receiving anything for it; while he himself was driven forth an exile to wander, perhaps to perish, in the wilderness, a victim of religious intolerance. This was in an age of boasted enlightenment—in the 19th century! In the great American Republic—the vaunted asylum of the oppressed!
• Because you have been deceived by your former leaders, do not mistrust those (footnote 2) you have now, but let them have your confidence and your prayers… I say again have confidence in your presidency; neither condemn one man for what another has done, neither be afraid of him. Give all good men your confidence; if they betray it, judge them according to that which they have done—not what they may or may not do.
• In all these anxieties, labors, fears, hopes and rejoicings, Elder Taylor took part. Many leaned on his strength in those days. When despair settled over the colony he infused it with hope; when the weak faltered, he strengthened them; when the fearful trembled, he encouraged them; those cast down with sorrow, he comforted and cheered. His faith and trust in God, and in His power to preserve and deliver His people were as unshaken in the midst of the difficulties they encountered in settling the desert valleys of Utah, as it had been in the midst of mob violence in Missouri and Illinois; as unmoved as it was amid the confused shouts and curses, groans and shriekings, and murderous bullets which, all mingled together, made up that scene of hell and death in Carthage jail.
• We so frequently have seen him sacrifice the association of family and the comforts of home to carry the gospel to distant lands, and doing it so cheerfully, that it is just possible that those acquainted only with his public career may regard him as being indifferent to the fond endearments of home life. If such there be, let them read the following letter and learn that Elder Taylor possessed strong native attachments for his home and its holy relationships; and that his love for wives and children was not less intense because he sacrificed their companionship for the gospel’s sake. It was not because he loved home and wives and children less, but that he loved the gospel more that he left them for its sake:
• When the discussion turned upon the doctrines and authority of his opponents, he made short work of it. He proved very clearly that they were without authority to act in the name of God; that their doctrines were out of harmony with the scriptures and their religion a mere form of Godliness without the power thereof. To his statements and arguments they refused to reply, but still continued harping on the character of Joseph Smith. Paying no heed to their vain repetition of the slanderous charges against the Prophet, to which he had once made answer, he continued to unmercifully bombard their religious citadels, until, seeing them tumbling about their ears, the reverend gentlemen sought safety in flight.
• Besides all the advantages of having everything made ready to his hand, M. Cabet had a select company of colonists. He and his company went to Nauvoo—what is the result? I read in all your reports from there—published in your own paper here, in Paris, a continued cry for help. The cry is money, money! We want money to help us carry out our designs.
• While your colony in Nauvoo with all the advantages of our deserted fields and homes—that they had only to move into—have been dragging out a miserable existence, the Latter-day Saints, though stripped of their all and banished from civilized society into the valleys of the Rocky Mountains, to seek that protection among savages—among the peau rouges as you call our Indians—which Christian civilization denied us—there our people have built houses, enclosed lands, cultivated gardens, built school-houses, and have organized a government and are prospering in all the blessings of civilized life. Not only this, but they have sent thousands and thousands of dollars over to Europe to assist the suffering poor to go to America, where they might find an asylum.
• “The society I represent, M. Krolokoski,” he continued, “comes with the fear of God—the worship of the Great Eloheim; we offer the simple plan ordained of God, viz: repentance, baptism for the remission of sins, and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. Our people have not been seeking the influence of the world, nor the power of government, but they have obtained both. Whilst you, with your philosophy, independent of God, have been seeking to build up a system of communism and a government which is, according to your own accounts, the way to introduce the Millennial reign. Now, which is the best, our religion, or your philosophy?”
• The scriptures say, that, ‘it is more blessed to give than to receive,’ and if in making the above move, I may have deprived some of an anticipated blessing, I hope they will excuse me; for perhaps there may be an opportunity afforded them of assisting some of my brethren in another way. If not, the world is large, and there is ample opportunity to do good.”
• “At the very time they [the French people] were voting for their president,” Elder Taylor remarks, “we were voting for our president; and building up the kingdom of God; and I prophesied that our cause would stand when theirs is crushed to pieces; and the kingdom of God will roll on and spread from nation to nation, and from kingdom to kingdom.”
• A year or two after this conversation, the Icarian society at Nauvoo miserably failed. It also failed in France.
• The author defines the kingdom of God to be the government of God, on the earth, or in the heavens; and then in his first two chapters proceeds to place the magnificence, harmony, beauty and strength of the government of God, as seen throughout the universe, in contrast with the meanness, confusion and weakness of the government of men.
• “If skepticism is to be the basis of the happiness of man, we shall be in a poor situation to improve the world. It is practical infidelity that has placed the world in its present condition; how far the unblushing profession of it will lead to restoration and happiness, I must leave my readers to judge. It is our departure from God that has brought upon us all our misery. It is not a very reasonable way to alleviate it by confirming mankind is skepticism.”
• Neither has man been able to devise any form of government that is a panacea for the numerous ills with which the world is cursed. Poverty, iniquity, crime, injustice, greed, pride, lust, oppression, exist in republics as well as in kingdoms or empires; in limited monarchies as well as in those that are absolute. Our author maintains that neither religion nor philosophy, the church nor the state, nor education nor all of these combined, as they exist among men, are sufficient to regenerate the world; “our past failures,” he writes, “make it evident that any future effort, with the same means, would be useless.”
• No writer in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has yet, in any manner worth mentioning, undertaken to establish the divinity of the Jewish Scriptures, or made answer to the indictments brought against the Bible by infidels; but no one can read the “Government of God” without being convinced that its author was pre-eminently qualified for such an undertaking.
• Of this work the historian, Hurbert H. Bancroft says: “As a dissertation on a general and abstract subject it probably has not its equal in point of ability within the range of Mormon literature. The style is lofty and clear, and every page betokens the great learning of the author. As a student of ancient and modern history, theologian, and moral philosopher, President Taylor is justly entitled to the front rank.” History of Utah, p. 433, note.
• Elder Taylor called upon the Saints to come to his assistance in publishing a paper, but it reminded him of a man, he humorously said, in describing the result to President Young, who said, “I can call spirits from the vasty deep;” “So can I,” shouted another, “but they won’t come.”
• But it is as a defender of the faith and character of the Saints that Elder Taylor in The Mormon is most conspicuous. He leaped into the public arena, threw down his gage of battle and dared the traducers of the Saints of God to take it up. The very name Mormon—which they had derided and made the synonym for all that was absurd in religion, impure in social life, or disloyal to government, he took up and made the title of his paper—wrote it in bold letters and surrounded it with the symbols of liberty, intelligence and truth, and defied its slanderers to pluck from it the emblems in which he enshrined it.
• “We have said before and say now, that we defy all the editors and writers in the United States to prove that Mormonism is less moral, scriptural, philosophical; or that there is less patriotism in Utah than in any other part of the United States. We call for proof; bring on your reasons, gentlemen, if you have any; we shrink not from the investigation, and dare you to the encounter. If you don’t do it, and you publish any more of your stuff, we shall brand you as poor, mean, cowardly liars; as men publishing falsehoods knowing them to be so, and shrinking from the light of truth and investigation.”
• Elder Taylor promptly announced his willingness to meet those ministers in such a gathering and defend the character and doctrine of the Saints. The meeting was not called. The ministers of the several churches were not fighting Mormonism that way. Slander, vituperation, denunciation, falsehood uttered at times and places where no answer could be made, not discussion open and manly has ever been the methods of Christian ministers against Mormonism.
• This boldness in rejoinder to all opponents reminds one of the tone of Tertullian’s defense of the early Christians. Of him it is said: “His was not the tone of a supplicant pleading for toleration. He demanded justice.” So with Elder Taylor.
• Did they ever reflect that it might be possible for the Lord to be unchangeable? That He had not learned much from man in a few thousand years; and that possibly He was not in error then; and if not then, the same principles might probably be as correct now as they were at that time? It is well for us not to be too hasty.”
• These were bold measures. The “army of Utah,” as the invading force was called, marched under the United States flag; it was commanded by United States officers; it had been ordered to Utah by the President of the United States; and to resist it might be construed into rebellion or even treason—that meant hanging, to the leaders, who opposed it. Yet bold as these measures were, and fraught with such serious consequences to the leaders who adopted them, they were fearlessly proclaimed, and would have been as promptly executed on occasion.
• “In the Declaration of Independence, it is stated [as one of the just causes of complaint against the English government] that the people had rulers placed over them, and they had no voice in their election. Read that instrument. It describes our wrongs as plainly as it did the wrongs the people then labored under and discarded. Our government is doing the very things against us that our fathers complained of—‘They send armed mercenaries among us to subjugate us.’ What is our government doing? The same thing.”
• The Mormons were not religious enthusiasts—fanatics—rebels—seeking to become a law unto themselves; but patriots demanding their rights—rights based upon the broad principles of liberty as set forth in the Declaration of Independence, and guaranteed in the Constitution of their country. They were contending for the right to regulate their own local affairs in their own way, and to be governed by men of their own choosing—they were but walking in the footsteps of their Revolutionary Fathers.
• Permit me here to say, however, that it was the revelation (I will not say assumed) that Joseph and Mary had, which made them look upon Jesus as the Messiah; which made them flee from the wrath of Herod, who was seeking the young child’s life. This they did in contravention of law which was his decree. Did they do wrong in protecting Jesus from the law? But Herod was a tyrant. That makes no difference; it was the law of the land, and I have yet to learn the difference between a tyrannical king and a tyrannical Congress.
• “If a revelation from God is not a religion, what is? “His not believing it from God makes no difference; I know it is. The Jews did not believe in Jesus but Mr. Colfax and I do; their unbelief does not alter the revelation.”
• His zeal was for the Holy Mother Church. The Nonconformists of England and Holland, the Huguenots of France and the Scottish non-Covenanters were not persecuted or put to death for their religion; it was for being schismatics, turbulent and unbelievers. All of the above claimed that they were persecuted for their religion. All of the persecutors, as Mr. Colfax said about us, did ‘not concede that the institution they had established which was condemned by the law, was religion;’ or, in other terms, it was an imposture or false religion.”
• “When Jesus was plotted against by Herod and the infants were put of death, who could complain? It was law: we must submit to law. The Lord Jehovah, or Jesus, the Savior of the world, has no right to interfere with law. Jesus was crucified according to law. Who can complain? Daniel was thrown into a den of lions strictly according to law. The king would have saved him, if he could; but he could not resist law. The massacre of St. Bartholomew was in accordance with law. The guillotine of Robespierre, of France, which cut heads off by the thousand, did it according to law. What right had the victims to complain? But these things were done in barbarous ages. Do not let us, then, who boast of our civilization, follow their example; let us be more just, more generous, more forbearing, more magnanimous.
• ‘Ours,’ says Mr. Colfax, ‘is a land of civil and religious liberty, and the faith of every man is a matter between himself and God alone,’ providing God don’t shock our moral ideas by introducing something we don’t believe in. If He does, let Him look out. We won’t persecute, very far be that from us; but we will make our platforms, pass Congressional laws and make you submit to them. We may, it is true, have to send out an army, and shed the blood of many; but what of that? It is so much more pleasant to be proscribed and killed according to the laws of the Great Republic, in the ‘asylum for the oppressed,’ than to perish ignobly by the decrees of kings, through their miserable minions, in the barbaric ages.”
• But to be serious, did water tunnel through our mountains, construct dams, canals and ditches, lay out our cities and towns, import and plant choice fruit-trees, shrubs and flowers, cultivate the land and cover it with the cattle on a thousand hills, erect churches, school-houses and factories, and transform a howling wilderness into a fruitful field and a garden? * * * * * * * Unfortunately for Mr. Colfax, it was Mormon polygamists who did it.
• “The whole foundation and superstructure of American ethics or jurisprudence is based upon the popular will. That its executive, legislative and judicial powers originate with the people, and that the people having granted to the men of their choice, certain powers, agencies and authorities, to act for and in their behalf; limiting all of them by the provisions of the Constitution which all of them take an oath to support, they reserve to themselves, to their state or to ‘the people,’ all the remainder.
• If all just powers are derived from the consent of the governed, then the powers exercised by them [the Territorial officials appointed by the President] must be unjust.
• Charles Warren, Esq., acting commissioner of education at Washington, to write him a letter of commendation, in which the following occurs: “The example thus set is a good one, and only by this means, while Congress limits the circulation of our reports, can the statistics, laboriously collected at this central office, reach the vast body of minor school officers and teachers, for whose benefit they should be spread abroad. It is to be hoped that other superintendents will follow the pattern thus presented, and thus enable all school officers and teachers in their several states or territories, to compare their own statistics with those of others elsewhere.”
• The work, called by the world “Mormonism,” is God’s work. He is its founder and its Grand Head. Earthly leaders,—Joseph Smith, Brigham Young and others, operate under His directions. They are but instruments in His hands; and as one passes away, He raises up another competent to carry out His purposes. Brigham Young was dead, but the Church of Christ still lived; and its Great Head, the Lord Jesus Christ, though in heaven,—far above the power of death, of mobs or any earthly accident,—was watching over its interests and guiding its destiny.
• President Taylor then rose behind them and said: “The Lord commanded His servants to go forth to all the world to preach the gospel to every creature. We have not yet been to all the world, but here are twenty-five nations represented today, and thus far we have fulfilled our mission; and it is for us to continue our labors until all the world shall hear us, that all who are desirous may obey, and we fulfill the mission given us.”
• The Church had survived the ridicule of the worldly wise, the clamor of bigots, the intrigues of demagogues, the violence of mobs, its banishment from civilization. Neither fire nor sword, nor intrigue, nor ridicule, nor banishment, nor its journey through the wilderness, nor any other thing had prevailed against the Church of Christ.
• President Taylor now saw an opportunity to use it, and give a practical illustration of the wisdom that had counseled storing up grain. “Inasmuch as the brethren,” he remarked, “had been careless and slow to heed the counsel of President Young in relation to storing away wheat, he [President Young] requested the sisters to do it, and some of us ‘lords of creation’ thought it a very little thing for our sisters to be engaged in. But we find now they are of some use, and that the ‘ladies of creation’ can do something as well as we ‘lords.’ They have 34,761 bushels of wheat? Who of you men can raise that much? Where’s your wheat?” (Laughter.)
• “I testify as my brethren have done, that this is the work of God that has been revealed by the Almighty, and I know it. God will sustain Israel; no power can injure us if we will do what is right. This kingdom will roll on, the purposes of God will progress, Zion will arise and shine, and the glory of God will rest upon her. We will continue to grow and increase, until the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our God and His Christ, and He will reign forever and forever.”
• There is no man-created office but what is insignificant in comparison with it. Monarchs with powers usurped, the fruits of conquest, or inherited from a long line of princely ancestors, at the best held by the sufferance of those they rule—monarchs who fret and strut out their brief hour upon this world’s troubled stage, who come, and see, and conquer and then vanish, are but fools in power compared with him who attains to the God-created office of President of the High Priesthood.
• The princes of this world win and sustain their dominion by the sword; he by the preaching of peace on earth, good will to man; they trust to force—to armies and navies—for the perpetuation of their power; he to love unfeigned, persuasion, long suffering, gentleness, meekness, kindness and pure knowledge—reproving with sharpness at times, it is true, but afterwards showing forth a double portion of love towards those reproved, lest reproof be taken for enmity.
• Moreover, the princes of this world exercise dominion over their subjects, and they that are great, exercise authority upon them—arbitrary, often cruel, authority— and, as one of their own poets hath said, “Play such fantastic tricks before high heaven, as make the angels weep.” The Lord hath decreed that it shall not be so in His government; but he that would be chief in it, let him be the servant of all, even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister.
• Although there is nothing more honorable, nothing more dignified, nothing to which a man ought so much to aspire to as to be a servant of the living God, and to be commissioned by Him to do His work upon the earth.
• Our philosophy is not the philosophy of the world; but of the earth and the heavens, of time and eternity, and proceeds from God.”
• How like in spirit is this to that famous reply of the Son of God to the Jews, who marveled at his doctrine, saying, “How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?” What humility, what deep reverence for God there is in the reply of Messiah—“My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent me!”
• “Husbands, do you love your wives and treat them right? They are given to you as part of yourself, and you ought to treat them with all kindness, mercy, and long suffering … not to be harsh and bitter, or in any way desirous to display your authority.
• “Wisdom is better than wealth To be great, be good; To be rich, be contented, And to be respected, Respect yourself.”
• The efforts of sectarian ministers who have come to Utah as missionaries to convert the Mormons to their creeds, have always ended in dismal failure. Even those Saints who through neglect of religious duty, or for other causes have become indifferent as to their connection with the Church, could not be persuaded to feed upon the dry husks of the dead theology preached by sectarian ministers.
• Bishop Fallows, at the meeting in Chicago, declared that if the measures then pending in Congress were not sufficient to heal the “political cancer,” there were three hundred thousand swords ready to cut it out. I leave it to the reader to judge how much sweet Christian charity there was in a meeting where such a remark was applauded.
• “We shall abide all constitutional law, as we always have done; but while we are God-fearing and law-abiding, and respect all honorable men and officers, we are no craven serfs, and have not learned to lick the feet of oppressors, nor to bow in base submission to unreasoning clamor. We will contend inch by inch, legally and constitutionally, for our rights as American citizens… We stand proudly erect in the consciousness of our rights as American citizens, and plant ourselves firmly on the sacred guarantees of the Constitution… We need have no fears, no trembling in our knees about these attempts to deprive us of our God-given and constitutional liberties. God will take care of His people, if we will only do right.”
• Mr. Phil Robinson who remained three months in Utah writing a series of letters for the World. They are now published in book form under the title of “Sinners and Saints.” Mr. Robinson is one of the few writers who have endeavored to tell the truth about the Mormons.
• In chapter XXIII he will also find a most valuable reference to the doctrine of evolution as believed in by the Darwinian school of philosophers—a school of philosophy which professes to trace living phenomena to their origin, and which, if it were true, would at once destroy the doctrine of the Atonement.
• The Prophet Joseph gave a special charge to me while living, as near as I can remember as follows: ‘Brother Taylor, never arise in the morning or retire at night, without dedicating yourself unto God and asking His blessings upon you through the day or night, as the case may be, and the Lord God will hear and answer your prayers; and don’t let any circumstances prevent it.’ I had been in the habit of doing so, for years before this; but since that time I have not omitted, to my knowledge, the observance of this duty, morning or evening.
• “Never do an act that you would be ashamed of man knowing, for God sees us always, both day and night, and if we expect to live and reign with Him in eternity, we ought to do nothing that will disgrace us in time.
• “While we seek to God our Heavenly Father for His blessings, let us be careful to so live that we can secure and claim them, by our obedience to His laws. Be merciful, and kind, and just, and generous to all. Preserve your bodies and your spirits pure, and free from contamination. Avoid lasciviousness, and every corrupting influence; that you may be indeed the sons of God without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.
• It is a sad comment on the subserviency of our national legislators to have it to say that they yielded a ready submission to the clamors of the multitude, and steadily refused to investigate the charges against the Latter-day Saints before enacting the proscriptive legislation under which President Taylor and men of like character suffered.
• “I think sometimes,” he would remark, “that as a people we are a good deal sectarian in our feelings, and it is necessary for us occasionally to look at the pit from whence we were dug, and the rock from whence we were hewn. We are all too ready to cry out, as the sectarians do in their different orders: “‘The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord are we!’
• “Now, I say, let the Papist come in, too, the Moslem, the Greek, the Jew, the pagan, the believers and the unbelievers, and the whole world. If God sends His rain on the good and the evil, and makes His sun to shine on the just and the unjust, I certainly shall not object. Let them worship as they please and have full freedom and equal rights and privileges with us and all men.”
• “I do not believe in a religion that cannot have all my affections,” he would sometimes remark, “but I believe in a religion that I can live for, or die for.
• “I would rather trust in the living God than in any other power on earth. I learned [while on missions] that I could go to God and He always relieved me. He always supplied my wants. I always had plenty to eat, drink and wear, and could ride on steam-boats or railroads, or anywhere I thought proper: God always opened my way, and so He will that of every man who will put his trust in Him.
• To other men the love of liberty was a principle; with him it was not only a principle but a passion: others may have been educated to love it; he loved it instinctively.
• “I was not born a slave! I cannot, will not be a slave. I would not be slave to God! I’d be His servant, friend, His son. I’d go at His behest; but would not be His slave. I’d rather be extinct than be a slave. His friend I feel I am, and He is mine:—a slave! The manacles would pierce my very bones—the clanking chains would grate upon my soul—a poor, lost, servile, crawling wretch to lick the dust and fawn and smile upon the thing who gave the lash! Myself—perchance my wives, my children to dig the mud, to mould and tell the tale of brick and furnish our own straw! * * * But stop! I’m God’s free man: I will not, cannot be a slave! Living, I’ll be free here, or free in life above—free with the Gods, for they are free: and if I’m in the way on earth, I’ll ask my God to take me to my friends above!”
  • Connect to poem from Collective Writings - “when you see an outstretched hand you exclaim that is an enslaving band.”
• “It is the crowns, the principalities, the powers, the thrones, the dominions, and the associations with the Gods that we are after, and we are here to prepare ourselves for these things—this is the main object of existence.”
• “I can get along very nicely with my old coat this winter,” he wrote: “it is a little faded, but then I prefer a faded coat to a faded reputation; and I do not propose to ask for accommodations that I am not prepared to meet.”
• The formal, set discourse, so common in the world, has never been favorably received in the Church of Jesus Christ. It may be said that in that Church a new school of oratory, quite distinct from the strictly scholastic oratory of the world, is being formed; a manner of speech which depends for its success rather upon the presence and operations of the Holy Spirit than upon the cunning or ability of the speaker. When the Lord sent the first Elders out to preach the gospel He gave them these instructions: “Neither take ye thought beforehand what ye shall say, but treasure up in your minds continually the words of life, and it shall be given you in the very hour that portion that shall be meted unto every man.”
• This makes the kind of oratory which obtains in the Church of Christ today resemble closely that which existed in the Church among the first Christians. The reader will doubtless remember that the great apostle of the Gentiles said: “And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power.”
• He possessed superb self-control, which, with his nice sense of justice and honor, enabled him to be remarkably successful in the patriarchal order of marriage. Each wife was treated as the equal of the others, and with her children shared equally in the blessings and material advantages he was able to bestow upon them.
• Even among the Christian portion of the human family, thousands and tens of thousands, though they are not willing to confess it because of being unpopular, do not believe that God has anything to do with the children of men. We have to stand forth and make sacrifices in order that that belief and knowledge may come to the children of men.
• The kingdom of God moves forward. It is not dependent upon one man or a half dozen men. It was thought by some in the days of Joseph that this Church could not prosper except Joseph guided its destinies; and when the time came that he was to pass away from this world as a martyr, into the spirit world, the Saints throughout the kingdom of God were greatly agitated. It was something unexpected. They hardly knew how things would then move. The responsibility then devolved upon the quorum of the Twelve Apostles; and through the blessings of God upon them and the spirit of inspiration that dwelt in their bosoms, and under the guidance of the Almighty, the kingdom moved forward. And so in regard to the time when our beloved Brother Brigham Young was called from this state into the spirit life. He passed away almost unexpectedly. The Saints were hardly prepared for it. And yet the kingdom of God moved forward.
• “President Taylor was a man who in his bearing and nature was onward and upward. Who that is before me ever heard him indulge in ribaldry or light and trifling and vain conversation? He was always looking forward, from the moment he embraced the gospel, for a higher platform upon which he could climb, and raise until he could go back, a son of God, and associate as he did here upon the earth, with the prophets of the Most High.