John Taylor

“ But I never would submit to be gulled with the nonsense that exists in the world, under the name of religion.
What is it, then, that we believe in? We believe in the restoration of all things. We believe that God has spoken from the heavens. If I did not believe He had, I would not be here. We believe that angels have appeared, that the heavens have been opened. We believe in eternal principles, in an eternal Gospel, an eternal Priesthood, in eternal communications and associations. Every thing associated with the Gospel that we believe in is eternal. ”

“ And how many millions of mankind are there who have never heard the Gospel? And are they going to be damned for not believing in a thing they have not heard, and that never came within their range, and that they have not the slightest knowledge of? No. What is it we have to do? We must spread forth the light of the Gospel. Why? Because God has communicated a system of religion which is calculated to ennoble and exalt the human family.
The world is confused, it is in darkness and ignorance, and knows nothing about God, His purposes, designs, or the object of His creations. ”

“ If I am an eternal being, I want to know something about that eternity with which I am associated. I want to know something about God, the devil, heaven, and hell. If hell is a place of misery, and heaven a place of happiness, I want to know how to escape the one, and obtain the other. If I cannot know something about these things which are to come in the eternal world, I have no religion, I would not have any, I would not give a straw for it. It would be too low and grovelling a consideration for a man of intelligence, in the absence of this knowledge. ”

“ And what is it which they had wisdom to make? Something like a man, or a beast. But break off an arm or a leg, and you discover that it is but a lifeless piece of matter, though the outlines may be true to nature; and in this alone consist the beauty and skill of the artist. But there is no life in them, and they fall far short of perfection, beauty, and symmetry, as it is seen in the human system, or that of any other animal. Look upon a man, he is a perfect being, he is perfect inside and outside. ”

“ I do not believe that 350,000,000 of people that live in China in a state of heathen darkness are created to live in this state, and be damned because they have not the right religion. I do not believe that all the nations that worship various kinds of idols, in different parts of the earth, and know nothing about the true God, will be consigned to be burned in fire hereafter, because they know no better than worship as they do. ”

“ Not only so, but he is an intelligent being, capable of reflecting and acting. We profess to know a great deal, but what of our philosophy? Who is there can tell me by what power I lift my right arm? If that cannot be told, what do we know? How far short, then, are we of that intelligence that governs the universe, and regulates all the works of nature. ”

“ We believe that God has set His hand in these last days to accomplish His purposes, to gather together His elect from the four winds, even to fulfill the words which He has spoken by all the holy Prophets, to redeem the earth from the power of the curse to save the human family from the ruins of the fall, and to place mankind in that position which God designed them to occupy before this world came into existence, or the morning stars sang together for joy. ”

“ This is one of our first estates, or it is our second estate, if you please, and so we move on from state to state, with a knowledge of the true principles of the eternal world revealed to us, which principles are eternal—eternal truth, eternal life, eternal intelligence, leading us on to the possession of celestial kingdoms of God. From intelligence to intelligence, from glory to glory, from power to power we proceed onward, until we possess thrones, and powers, and dominions in the eternal worlds. ”

“ I have often been amused at the narrow contracted ideas of men, when I have looked abroad in the world, and seen their cogitations and calculations in their writings. One man believes in justification by faith, another in justification by works. ”

“ We can see some painters who have managed to make rough daubs in imitation. One of the greatest feats that a painter ever did, was to paint a curtain so perfectly as to deceive another painter so, that he went forward to draw it aside to exhibit a picture behind it. There are millions of curtains in the works of nature, which spring forth from the works of God by that light which is in them, which is imparted to them by the great Eloheim.
We see men who are considered very talented, whose names are handed down to posterity as great sculptors or painters. ”

“ If we look at men, with the best and most exalted talents you can find what do they know or comprehend, or what can they do in comparison to the works of God. What is there that is worthy of notice in all the mechanism of men, with all their intelligence and science combined, upon which they have been improving from year to year, and from generation to generation? ”

“ If you look at their governments you see none of them pursuing their legitimate object of promoting the happiness of the world, but they are engaged in watching each other for evil, and destroying themselves. ”

“ It is necessary, also, inasmuch as we profess that we are aiming at the same glory, exaltation, power, and blessings in the eternal world, that we should pass through the same afflictions, endure the same privations, conquer as he conquered, and overcome as he did, and thus by integrity, truth, virtue, purity, and a high-minded and honorable course before God, angels, and men, secure for ourselves an eternal exaltation in the eternal world, as he did. ”

“ I can gaze upon an elephant, as it now is, a mighty, ponderous moving machine, with strength and energy. Who planned and contrived these mighty beings? I look again at the animalcula, a thousand of which can float in a drop of water, and I see, by means of a powerful glass, the veins, muscles, and everything that is perfect to constitute a living, moving creature, invisible to the naked eye. He who organized the one, regulates the other. ”

“ As men and women of intelligence, as those who profess to be the servants of the Most High, we all have more or less reflection pertaining to the kingdom of God. The ideas that we have entertained, relative to this kingdom, have brought us here; these feelings and principles have caused us to leave our native homes, our former habitations and associations, and to mingle with the Saints of the Most High in the valleys of these mountains. ”

“ On the other hand if any man has got any principle of truth, whether moral, religious, philosophical, or of any other kind, that is calculated to benefit mankind, I promise him I will embrace it, but I will not partake of his errors along with it. ”

“ Then if you have got a thing that nobody can overturn, but can be sustained everywhere; that bids defiance to the wisdom and intelligence of the world to find one fault in it, you must say it is right, until it is proven to be wrong. ”

“ The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not. They understand many things, perhaps better than you do, but they do not understand the principles of the Gospel as you do, for want of the light of the Spirit of God. No man can understand that without the Spirit. A great many among the prevailing sects of the day have to some considerable extent encompassed sea and land to make proselytes, and in the majority of instances where they have been successful, they have made them ten fold more the children of hell than they were before. ”

“ I shall not, at the present, examine particularly their philosophy or politics; these things you are already acquainted with, for you have had more or less to do with them; you have seen their weakness, and incompetency to accomplish anything they desired in times past. There is no project they have put on foot, to the present time, if carried out to the furthest extent, according to the most sanguine desires of its advocates, that would be capable of producing happiness to the human family. ”

“ Changes have been going on continually, and the ambition of man has desolated nations, overturned kingdoms, depopulated empires, overthrown countries, and millions have had to welter in their gore. This has been the wisdom of Gentile governments, with all their intelligence and philosophy. ”

“ Although I was going to say I am not a Universalist, but I am, and I am also a Presbyterian, and a Roman Catholic, and a Methodist, in short, I believe in every true principle that is imbibed by any person or sect, and reject the false. ”

“ It is necessary, then, that we pass through the school of suffering, trial, affliction, and privation, to know ourselves, to know others, and to know our God. Therefore it was necessary, when the Saviour was upon the earth, that he should be tempted in all points, like unto us, and "be touched with the feeling of our infirmities," to comprehend the weaknesses and strength, the perfections and imperfections of poor fallen human nature. ”

“ I do not want to make a profession, and worship a God because this one, that one, or the other one does it, and I not know whether I am right, and those whom I imitate not know, any more than myself, whether they are right or wrong. ”

“ But I believe, furthermore, that there are eternal grades of progression, which will continue worlds without end, and to an infinity of enjoyment, expansion, glory, progression, and of everything calculated to ennoble and exalt mankind. ”

“ We had similar feelings to these ourselves; and we united with this people because we considered there was truth associated with their religion, otherwise we never should have become converts to it, we should never have been here, but we should have been with the world, and following in their path. But we are here; the world have their ideas, and we have ours. ”

“ He knows how to estimate and put a proper value upon human nature, for he having been placed in the same position as we are, knows how to bear with our weaknesses and infirmities, and can fully comprehend the depth, power, and strength of the afflictions and trials that men have to cope with in this world, and thus understandingly and by experience, he can bear with them as a father and an elder brother. ”

“ For instance—the old world was cut off through their wickedness and corruption. I could not think it right of the Lord to take all those wicked fellows straight to heaven, because they were wicked and unworthy, and leave Noah and his family to combat with the troubles of earth because they were righteous. But such are the ideas of men; while some are all charity, others have none at all. ”

“ If we have suffered afflictions and privations, if we have passed through troubles or sorrows, if we have had to do with the chequered scenes of this life, more particularly as it is associated with the kingdom of God, it is because we have been stimulated by thoughts, feelings, hopes, and desires, pertaining to the eternal world, and those things associated with our everlasting welfare. ”

“ And notwithstanding we may have a few trials and difficulties, and various things that frequently perplex and annoy our minds, and disturb our feelings, yet the polar star of our minds, the strong and deep feeling of affection, and the principle of truth within us, still point to the same thing for which we started at the commencement of our career ”

“ This is the way things exist down in the world. If it was not for the religion I profess, which gives me to know something about the matter, by revelation for myself, I would not have anything to do with religion at all. I would worship God the best way I knew how, and act justly and honorably with my neighbor; which I believe thousands of that class of men called Infidels do at the present day. ”

“ It will prove that you do not live by the truth because you love it, but if you follow the truth, you are actuated to do so by a dastardly fear of hell. If that is the case, I would not give the ashes of a rye straw for ten thousand such "Mormons." If a man cannot stand up in the defence of truth, to the death, it is not worth having, and he is not a man who is acknowledged or considered worthy among the Saints. ”

“ I do not believe that an all-wise Being would ever make a beautiful earth like this, and people it with man, and a multiplicity of other kinds of beings designed to exist upon it, and all for no purpose. ”

“ God knows how to touch my understanding, and how to touch theirs; and if they live and die without a knowledge of God, and His law, we are told that they will be judged according to the light they have, and not according to that they have not. ”

“ At the present time, take Christians in general, which, you know, we all suppose to be the best people in the world, and one half of their time is spent in polemical essays and strife; and I think sometimes our Elders engage too much in that matter. But I am not surprised at it, because they have come from that school, and have been trained in that element. They seem to have the bump of combativeness well developed, for almost the very first thing that men do when they go out to preach, is to run against these Christians, and their principles. ”

“ The world, at the present time, is all confused, and it seems to me, sometimes, that even we have made very little improvement indeed, according to the light and intelligence God has communicated to us. ”