John Taylor

“ Do I not know that a nation like that in which we live, a nation which is blessed with, the freest, the most enlightened and magnificent government in the world to-day, with priviliges which would exalt people to heaven if lived up to—do I not know that if they do not live up to them, but violate them and trample them under their feet, and discard the sacred principles of liberty by which we ought to be governed—do I not know that their punishment will be commensurate with the enlightenment which they possess? ”

“ I have been mobbed before to-day for my religion, I have been shot at and hit before to-day for my religion; and my religion is just the same to-day as ever. It produces the same joy, confidence, hope, and reliance as in any other day; and these are not only my feelings, but they are also those of my brethren. There is no faltering, no trembling of the knees, no shaking in the feelings with us. God is our God; we are his people. This is the Zion of God; this is the kingdom of God, which our judges tell us the United States is making war against. ”

“ As American citizens and patriots, and as sons of those venerable sires, can we, without disgracing ourselves, our fathers, and our nation, submit to these insults, and tamely bow to such tyranny? We cannot do it, and we will not do it. We will rally round the Constitution, and declare our rights as American citizens; and we will sustain them in the face of High Heaven and the world.
No man need have any qualms of conscience that he is doing wrong. You are patriots, standing by your rights and opposing the wrong which affects all lovers of freedom as well as you ”

“ I have seen, in my wanderings over the earth, hundreds of such cases as the one we have listened to this morning. I have heard men speak in different nations—in Germany, France, England, Scotland, Wales, the United States, in the Canadas;—no matter where, go where you will, and let a man receive the truth, and his heart is filled with joy and rejoicing. I see people around me here from all these parts that I have heard testify the same things as our brother this morning.
It is this spirit, intelligence, and the gift of the Holy Ghost and its operations on our minds, that has made us one. ”

“ I expect that he will stand by Israel, maintain his kingdom, uphold his people, and lead them on from victory to victory, from strength to strengh, from power to power, from intelligence to intelligence, until "the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our God and his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever," until a universal hosannah shall go up from the nations of the earth, and "blessing, and glory and honor, and power, and might, majesty and dominion shall be ascribed to him who sits on the throne and unto the Lamb forever." ”

“ That which we see here to-day, will be our case in a short time. Myriads who have lived before us have gone the same way. Where are the statesmen, warriors, orators, princes, potentates, emperors, philosophers, and great men whose names are found upon the pages of history? They have gone! gone! gone! and we are all sliding down the plane of time and hurrying into eternity. This is the position of all men that ever have lived on the face of the earth. Is this our abiding place then? Is this the land of our immortal, eternal inheritance? ”

“ No power can resist a law of God. It is omnipresent, omnipotent, exists everywhere, in all things, through all things and round about all things. We read:
"O the greatness of the mercy of our God, the Holy One of Israel! For he delivereth his saints from that awful monster the devil, and death, and hell, and that lake of fire and brimstone, which is endless torment. O how great the holiness of our God! For he knoweth all things, and there is not any thing, save he knows it. And he cometh into the world that he may save all men, if they will hearken unto his voice ”

“ They can ill afford to be the foremost in tampering with human rights and human freedom, or in tearing down the bulwarks of safety and protection which that sacred instrument has guaranteed. It is lamentable to see the various disordered and disorganized elements seeking to overthrow the greatest and best government in existence on the earth. Congress can ill afford to set a pattern of violation of that Constitution which it has sworn to support. The internal fires of revolution are already smouldering in this nation, and they need but a spark to set them in a flame. ”

“ Who that has the spirit of revelation—the spirit of truth—ever dreams that this kingdom will ever be overthrown? They quake in the north, and in the south; they wonder what the end will be—whether they will gain that victory or lose that battle; whether we are going to be divided into two separate nations, be consolidated in one, or divided into a great many. These are matters that puzzle the wisest of our statesmen. If we have any wise men in the United States, and in the nations of Europe or the earth, let them manifest their wisdom and put the world right. ”

“ The kingdom of God exalts the good, blesses all, enlightens all, expands the minds of all, and puts within the reach of all the blessings of eternity.
Do you repudiate education, then? No—not at all. I appreciate all true intelligence, whether moral, social, scientific, political, or philosophical; but I despise the folly that they hang on to it and the folly that they call education.
What did any of us know as rational, eternal beings, until we were educated in this Church?
It is true that we are eternal beings; but did we know or understand anything about the principles of eternal life? ”

“ The principle of right is implanted in the human bosom and inherent in the human family, among all governments that have ever existed, and men of virtue, honor and truth have always arrived at the same conclusions that we have. The founders of our government, under the inspiration of the Almighty, and goaded by an oppressive power, discovered the same elements, the same principles, the same ideas that we have, and enunciated those eternal principles and made them known to the world,—"that all men are born free and equal and have a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." ”

“ Well, then, if we are the only people that God acknowledges as a nation, have not we a right to the privileges which we enjoy? Who owns the gold, the silver, and the cattle upon a thousand hills? God. Who, then, has a right to appoint rulers? None but him, or the man that he appoints.
Who has ruled the earth? Who has borne sway? Man, who, by the power of the sword, has got possession of thrones, powers, and dominions, and has waded through seas of blood. ”

“ Where, then, is the boasted intelligence of man? Science reveals the beauty and harmony of the world material; it unveils to us ten thou, sand mysteries in the kingdom of nature, and shows that all forms of life through fire and analogous decay are returned again to its bosom. It unfolds to us the mysteries of cloud and rains, dew and frost, growth and decay, and reveals the operation of those silent irresistible forces which give vitality to the world. ”

“ But then, we will stop at the wheat. If we cannot do that we are not so very important, are we? There needs a superior power to give this vitality. You look at it. You see to-day the trees are leafless, there are no flowers in bloom, everything is seared and withered and apparently gone to decay. By and by according to the principles of nature, or the laws of God, spring comes along, and the birds begin to sing and feel happy, the grass begins to shoot forth, the flowers begin to bud, the trees begin to blossom. And who gives this vitality and maintains it? ”

“ It is a sorrowful reflection to feel that liberty is only a name and that protection and even equal rights, is only a figment, an exploded theory; and we may say, how has the glory of this nation become sullied! How has the fine gold become dim! How have the high and noble principles that inspired the founders of this nation, in whose breasts burned the spirit of freedom been desecrated, and those glorious principles for which they battled been trailed in the dust. ”

“ I want a principle that will maintain, uphold, and stand by the rights of man, giving to all men everywhere equal rights, and that will preserve inviolate the fundamental principles of the Constitution of our country.
After all, we, as a people, have not much to complain of; we have a great deal of liberty here, and we can do pretty much as we have a mind to if we will only do right. We can think, write, and worship as we please, and we are free from some things that some portions, even of our nation, are perplexed with at the present time. ”

“ I will tell you what the wisdom of men will come to by and by, and it is not so far in the future as many people think, "when the wisdom of the wise shall fail, and the understanding of the prudent shall be hid," their power and glory will fade, and you will see their thrones totter to their base; it is not long before you will see war, desolation, carnage and death run riot through the nations, plagues, pestilence and famine depopulating the earth. And then where will their wisdom, philosophy and intelligence be? ”

“ We look again at the works of God, and see nothing exhibited there but perfection, harmony, symmetry, and order. If we look at the planetary system, we see this principle beautifully and most perfectly maintained. Immense planets revolve round our sun, and this system; and other suns, with their systems, round another; and that, and innumerable other suns and systems, with our own, around another yet greater and more magnificent; and so, millions of systems more in their order, until it is past our comprehension, and yet every thing is beautiful, perfect, and harmonious. ”

“ Let us come nearer home; can any of you regulate the affairs of this nation and put them right? I do not believe you can; and if you cannot do such small things, that are associated with time, things that we can see, know, and understand, how are you going to put in order the things of God? How are you going to order ends that are to come? to know what will be the best course to pursue, when the nations shall be convulsed, thrones cast down, and empires destroyed; when nation shall rush madly upon nation, and human blood shall flow as rivers of water? ”

“ If God's works had done so, what tumult and ruin there would have been in the immensity of space! Instead of the order that now prevails, man would have been sometimes frozen to death, and at other times burned up; one or two seasons of irregularity, even in climate, would depopulate the earth. But what if the planets, irrespective of the power by which they are controlled, were to rush wildly through space, and, with their mighty impetus dash against each other? "What fearful consequences would ensue." There would be "system on system wrecked, and world on world." ”

“ We are at the defiance of the world to bring forth any better, purer or more exalting principles. What would they give us in return for that of which they seek to despoil us? Would they introduce all the institutions of a pseudo-Christianity, with its prostitution, the houses of assignation, its social evil, its foeticide and infanticide and the political and social hypocrisy and depravity, and its debauching, demoralizing, and corrupting influence, and call this a fair return for virtue, purity, honor, truth and integrity? ”

“ I wish we could sympathize with our brethren, and be full of loving-kindness and generosity one towards another. I wish that we could feel that brotherly love continued, and that it was spreading and increasing, flowing from the fountain of life—from God—from heart to heart as oil is poured from vessel to vessel, that harmony, sympathy, kindness and love might be universal among us. This is what the Gospel will do for us if we will only let it. ”

“ God has gathered us from among all the nations of the earth. He has called us together by the light of his truth—by the light of his Spirit—by the light of his Gospel of peace. He has gathered us together into one fold; he has given us revelation; he has given us a knowledge of ourselves, and a slight knowledge of himself, so far as we have lived up to our privileges, and so far as we have cultivated the light of the Spirit he has given to us. He has given us a knowledge of our weakness and of our strength and of our imperfections. ”

“ Have we any light, any intelligence, any knowledge? Have we advanced in the principles of truth communicated to us? Yes. How did we get our intelligence? Tell me, ye wise men of the world—you that have mixed with the world and have studied their laws, principles of government, usages, habits, and customs, and have made yourselves familiar with their erudition. What do you know of the relation and fitness of things, of the position man occupies to his Maker? What do you know in relation to yourselves as individuals? What do you know in relation to the purposes and designs of God? ”

“ I was unable to comprehend religion until it was taught me by the Priesthood; and anything in opposition to their teachings is not worth the ashes of a rye straw. Like Moses' serpent, which swallowed up all other serpents, "Mormonism" has banished all our preconceived notions of religion, and has made us one. Why do we believe and feel as we do on these points? Because God has spoken, and we have believed Him. We are are aiming at something more than religious unity. We have a political existence that none can ignore nor destroy; they think they can, but they cannot. ”

“ Men are raging and have been raging against us; but I will say, as I have often said, Woe! to them that fight against Zion, for God will fight against them, and He will have His own way of doing it. It is for us to pursue the even tenor of our way, and if we will work righteousness and fear God, and keep His commandments, the wilderness and the solitary places shall be made glad, (as it has been already abundantly among us) and the desert shall blossom as the rose. But it will not be to me, or to Brother Cannon, or to President Young, or to anybody else, that the glory will belong. ”

“ What then is our duty here, say as a people—leaving religion out of the question altogether? As men and as American citizens, we have the right to all the privileges, and immunities, protection and rights of every kind that any men in these United States have, and no honorable man or men would seek to deprive us of them. When we talk about rights, these are the rights, as I understand them, that we possess in this nation. Is it proper, therefore, for us, as men and as citizens of the United States to look after our rights? ”

“ The philosophy of the world tells us that the spirit dies with the body, and like it is dissipated in surrounding nature, but as an entirety no longer exists; and all the power the being ever had was to propagate its own species and to impart the powers of the body and the mind to its posterity. Such philosophers can comprehend nothing pertaining to the future—no glory, no exaltation, no eternal progression, only as developed by a succession of manhood. If, then, there is a spirit in man which reaches into futurity, that would grasp eternal progress, eternal enjoyments, and eternal exaltations ”

“ Are we not favoured ten thousand times more than any other people under the heavens? Are we not put in a position to have communication with the Lord? Have we not the principles of life given unto us from day to day and from week to week? Have we not the opportunity of hearing the word of the Lord from his chosen servant—the only mouthpiece to lead the people that he has under the heavens? ”

“ Those private, jarring interests have kept the world in one continual ferment and commotion from the commencement until the present time; and the history of the world is a history of the rise and fall of nations—of wars, commotions, and bloodshed—of nations depopulated, and cities laid waste. Carnage, destruction, and death, have stalked through the earth, exhibiting their horrible forms in all their cadaverous shapes, as though they were the only rightful possessors. ”

“ Your fathers and grandfathers have met the tyrant when he sought to put a yoke on your necks; as men and true patriots, they came forward and fought for their rights and in defence of that liberty which we, their children, ought to enjoy. You feel the same spirit that inspired them; the same blood that coursed in their veins flows in yours; you feel true patriotism and a strong attachment to the Constitution and institutions bought by the blood of your fathers, and bequeathed to you by them as your richest patrimony. ”

“ Congress will soon have something else to do than to proscribe and persecute an innocent, law-abiding and patriotic people. Of all bodies in the world, they can least afford to remove the bulwarks that bind society together in this nation, to recklessly trample upon human freedom and rights, and to rend and destroy that great Palladium of human rights—the Constitution of the United States. Ere long they will need all its protecting influence to save this nation from misrule, anarchy and mobocratic influence. ”

“ When shall the blood of the Righteous be shed, that all they that mourn may be sanctified, and have eternal life? And the Lord said, It shall be in the meridian of time, in the days of wickedness and vengeance. And behold, Enoch saw the day of the coming of the Son of Man, even in the flesh; and his soul rejoiced, saying, The Righteous is lifted up, and the Lamb is slain from the foundation of the world; and through faith I am in the bosom of the Father, and behold, Zion is with me! ”

“ Thousands more from morning till night are immured in pits, shut out from the light of day, the carol of the birds, and the beauty of nature, sickly and weak, in many instances for want of food; and yet, in the midst of their wretchedness, gloom, and misery, you will sometimes hear them trying to sing in their dungeons and prison-houses, in broken, dying accents,
"Britons never shall be slaves." ”