John Taylor

“ If the heavens had always been, as many would have us believe they are now—as brass over our heads, and God had been deaf to the entreaties of humanity, we should have had no Christian or Mosaic religion, or any religion giving any knowledge of God or his purposes.
We profess, forsooth, in this generation of enlightenment, with all its latitudinarianism, with all its diversities of opinions, ideas, theories and dogmas ”

“ Now I say let the Papist come in too, the Moslem, the Greek, the Jew, the Pagan believer and unbeliever, and the whole world. If God sends his rain on the good and evil and makes his sun shine on the just and unjust, I certainly shall not object. ”

“ We are not satisfied, as many men are, with simple theories, because this, that or the other man or bodies of men have told us they are true, we are governed by no man's ipse dixit. We have not any particular dogmas to sustain, or any special theory to establish. Living in the world of mankind, surrounded by the works of nature, walking, as it were, in the presence of the Great Eloheim, we wish to comprehend and embrace all truth and seek for and obtain everything that is calculated to exalt, ennoble and dignify the human family ”

“ How do men at the present day learn anything pertaining to God? Who puts them in possession of any information relative to the holy angels, to a heaven, to the plans and purposes of God pertaining to the earth whereon we live, and its inhabitants? Who revealed anything pertaining to future rewards and punishments, and how did the theologians of the day become acquainted with these principles? ”

“ People may take their philosophy, and their Christianity, and their morality, and their intelligence, and chuckle over their supposed superiority for what I care if I can only get acquainted with God and know something of his law, of the principles of eternal truth, if I can learn to save myself and my posterity; be placed in a position that I can obtain promises from God as Abraham did, that should reach down through every subsequent period of time until the final winding up scene, and then stretch forward into the eternity that is to come. ”

“ We are after the truth. We commenced searching for it, and we are constantly in search of it, and so fast as we find any true principle revealed by any man, by God or by holy angels, we embrace it and make it part of our religious creed. ”

“ I want to search for a tangible reality, "a city that hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God," as the scriptures speak of a city that one of those ancient men of God, when under the inspiration of the Almighty, had a vision of, and contemplated its glory. ”

“ Others may be glad to "Sit and sing themselves away," as they ignorantly sing sometimes, "to everlasting bliss." They may worship a God without body, parts and passions, or go to a heaven somewhere "beyond the bounds of time and space" I would like to be associated with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jesus, the prophets and those honorable men who had communication with God and that he was not ashamed of, and as one of the apostles says, "God was not ashamed to be called their God, for he had provided for them a city." ”

“ And acting in the fear of God, and with a reference to eternal realities, we try to square our conduct and regulate our actions, in such a manner, that we may stand approved of all good men, and of the holy angels; that we may be approved of the virtuous and good who have lived on the earth, and of the virtuous and good who may hereafter live upon it; for we consider, as we are eternal beings, that things pertaining to eternity are of a great deal more importance than the evanescent transitory things pertaining to time and sense, which speedily pass away. ”

“ There is a principle of freedom planted in the human mind that has always existed there, and no man, nor any power has yet been able to obliterate it. Believing as we do we take the liberty to believe the Bible, which our fellow Christians, generally throughout the world, profess to believe in, whether they do so or not. ”

“ We want righteousness and truth and equity and honor and integrity, and men to be governed by correct principles, and to seek the well-being of the people they live among and rule over. And who are these men they are now prosecuting and persecuting? ”

“ We carefully scan, investigate, criticize and examine everything that presents itself to our view, and so far as we are enabled to comprehend any truths in existence, we gladly hail them as part and portion of the system with which we are associated. We are quite willing that others should be governed by the dogmas, theories and notions of men just as much as they please: we do not have confidence in them. They may worship God as they please, it is none of our business, it is a matter between them and their God. ”

“ We are seeking, in the first place, to regenerate ourselves, and then, under the guidance and direction of the Almighty, to regulate the world in which we live. We know that this is not very popular; but that makes no difference to us. So far as we, ourselves, are concerned we know precisely where we stand; so far as the world is concerned, as to the reception of our ideas by them, that is their business, and God's business. ”

“ Standing in this capacity there is a work which we have to perform—to save ourselves, our progenitors, our posterity, and to act as saviors upon Mount Zion, to build the temples of the Lord and to administer in them, and as eternal beings to watch after the eternal interests of humanity. This is the position that we occupy.
We find men come along among us sometimes who think we are fools, and that they could improve matters considerably. ”

“ We are in his hands, and all the world of mankind are in his hands, and he will manage and control them and dictate and regulate them according to the dictates of his will, and not according to my theories or yours or any other person's, and, "The judge of all the earth will do right." ”

“ Considering ourselves immortal as well as mortal beings, and having to do with time and eternity; with things future, as well as present, it has been our study for years to try to form correct opinions and ideas in relation to those things which pertain to our everlasting welfare. ”

“ But until we see something better than the kind of civilization that we are having introduced here, we beg to be excused from it. We saw enough of that before we came here; and the examples that are exhibited in our midst are too revolting, too degrading and humiliating for decent men and women to have anything to do with. ”

“ We find one thing literally true, as spoken of by the scriptures,—that "It is appointed for men once to die," and that the teeming millions who now inhabit this earth have only existed upon it for a very short time, and will only continue to exist for a short time to come; and as we have supplanted the millions who have gone before us, so also shall we be supplanted by millions who will follow after us; and as we believe in an eternity and in future rewards and future punishments, and in future exaltations and future degradations ”

“ Societies convulsed, rending apart, vilifying and abusing one another; full of corruption and rottenness, evil and iniquity of every kind, socially, morally and religiously. Plenty of room for all philanthropists and for all men who desire to benefit the human family. ”

“ We are engaged in a great work, we are seeking after our own salvation and the salvation of our friends, the salvation of our forefathers, the salvation of our children and posterity who shall come after us, the salvation of the world wherein we live and its everlasting happiness and exhaltation, "hinder us not." ”

“ People now-a-days think the religion they had in those days might do for a barbarous age, but we are so enlightened, so intelligent, so philosophical, that we are altogether ahead of those "old fogies" who lived some time ago and conversed with God and had angels minister to them. ”

“ Pursue your own course, worship as you please, do as you please, follow your own inclinations in any other way, only do not interfere with the rights of men nor violate the laws of the land. That is all we ask, and you have full liberty to carry out any views and feelings you please. ”

“ While on the one hand we are willing that others should worship him in what manner they please, we have a right to the same privileges, rights and immunities, and possessing ourselves of this idea we take the liberty to do so. ”

“ We are after more honorable aims, more exalted feelings and principles and views than those that are imported into our midst here. I used to believe in that scripture, and I have a good deal of faith in it yet, that "an impure fountain cannot send forth pure streams;" that "a bad tree will not bring forth good fruit;" ”

“ But we do feel, in regard to moral and religious ideas, that we are engaged in a sacred cause, and that while men, with all their combined wisdom and intelligence, have been unable to introduce and establish systems that are good, happifying, elevating and ennobling ”

“ They have had plenty of opportunity in the world to do that, why haven't they accomplished it? There is room enough for all the philosophers, and all the theologians, and all the wise men and philanthropists to benefit mankind outside of us. ”

“ They cannot show such a record in any part of the world as we can exhibit in this Territory in relation to these matters; and they cannot find another Territory that has been so well managed in its financial matters. Our city here is out of debt; our cities throughout the Territory are out of debt; our counties are out of debt and our Territory is out of debt. ”

“ Nobody need be concerned at all by the events that have been transpiring here, or that may transpire. There is nothing new in relation to these matters. It is only a little piece of the same material that we have experienced in years gone by, and that the Saints of God have always had to cope with. ”

“ Well, they have got such good, smart, intelligent men in other places that they manage to keep things right, and we are fools here! A good many people think that Mayor Wells is not half smart enough, and that if they were in his place they could manage the municipal finances a great deal better. ”