John Taylor

“ But then I very, much question men and women's getting into the celestial kingdom of God who have no more knowledge about the principles of life and salvation than to go and tamper with the sacred offspring, the principle of life which God intrusted to your care, to thus shuffle it off to imbibe the spirit of unbelief, which leads to destruction and death. ”

“ Money is of little importance where truth is concerned. I would not care if all the money was out of existence, but I do care about the principles, and the laws of God, about men being what what they profess to be, and not hypocrites, belying their profession. ”

“ We should be governed by correct principles in the fear of God; and should righteously, uprightly, and virtuously preserve our bodies and spirits pure, and keep all the laws of God and seek to comprehend his will in regard to all things, and feel that we are here to build up the kingdom of God and not ourselves, to establish the principles of righteousness and of truth and the laws of heaven, and not our ideas and theories ”

“ To men who do not believe the Gospel, to men who, according to your faith, are never going to the celestial kingdom of God. They will get as big a glory as they are prepared for, but they are not going there. And you will turn your children over to them. And you call yourselves Latter-day Saints, do you? I will suppose a case. You expect to be saved in the celestial kingdom of God. ”

“ We are told to pay our debts, to meet our obligations, to deal justly and righteously one with another. And I wish we had no debts to pay; I wish we could so live as to keep out of debt and meet our obligations day by day. ”

“ I believe that this kingdom which the Lord has set up will grow and increase until the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our God and his Christ. And this you believe as well as I do. We believe in celestial glory ”

“ If we sustain co-operation, we will call upon co-operation to sustain us; and all the settlements throughout the Territory will be represented, just the same as the Saints to-day are represented in the Church through the Presidents of Stakes, and we will try to do right ourselves, and then we will try and see that they do right. We will sustain them with good, honest efforts, and we want square up and down operations on both sides, carrying out the principles of co-operation honestly and truthfully before God and man. ”

“ I never thought money and property worth enough to go to law about. I think so yet, I think it rather too small an affair to break up those fraternal relations that should exist between brother and brother. Then do you believe in owing people and not paying them? No, I do not. I believe in meeting engagements honorably and honestly before God. But will men be blessed for being forgiving? Well, I think so. And I think that, as Latter-day Saints, we will have a good chance of obtaining quite a blessing on account of our forbearance in relation to those having obligations before referred to ”

“ But we cannot bear it, it seems too much for us, as much as we talk and boast of our intelligence we cannot come to some of these little principles of the Gospel. Some of us can manage to pay our tithing, and some of us cannot. And then some of us can believe a little in co-operation, and we think that it is a terrible stride; to me that is one of the least things that God ever instituted among men and I sometimes think if we cannot do that we had better quit. ”

“ But I wish people would do nearly right. I wish they would act honorably and uprightly and consistently and properly, and all meet their obligations and pursue an upright course. But there is again another question to be adjusted in this matter. It is not the value of the money alone nor how it will affect me; but how are others affected by it? A perpetual fund was established, which fund contemplated a continual help, a continual return of the money loaned and perpetual fund kept always on hand, for the assistance of those requiring aid. This fund was not designed as a gift, but as a loan ”

“ I think that as Latter-day Saints we ought to have our minds fixed on something else—something more elevating, more exalting, more honorable, and more in accordance with the position we occupy and the principles we profess to believe in. ”

“ I am desirous to ascertain the will of God and if I know that, I want to do it regardless of my opinion, that does not amount to much. But if we can know the will of God and understand the principles of life, and then abide by them, all will be well. ”

“ We expect to see these things carried out in honesty and truth, because it is the order which God has introduced as a stepping-stone to something in the future. We build temples and administer in them. ”

“ Now we are engaged gathering together, or separating ourselves from the world and building our temples and administering in them for the living and the dead, and we spend millions of dollars in the accomplishment of this object, that we may become united and linked together by eternal covenants that shall exist in all time and throughout eternity. ”

“ It is not therefore a matter as between ourselves, but one that affects hundreds that are very much worse off than those who owe these debts. The cry is continually coming to our ears for help. The poverty, distress, and trouble in Europe are on the increase, and we have continually to hear the wails of the poor ”

“ But for the time being it is expected that as honorable men and women, we will honestly and truly carry out our covenants in regard to these little temporal things; and let us be one, for the Lord has plainly told us, if ye are not one, ye are not mine. ”