John Taylor

“ There is and always has been a spirit abroad in the world which is really a portion of the Spirit of God, which leads mankind, in many instances, to discriminate between good and evil, and between right and wrong. ”

“ Those men that prate so much about our affairs and ignorance, we might build Temples for them, but would they know how to administer in them? No; they would not; and there is not a man living in the world outside of this Church who could perform the first ceremony in a Temple of the Lord of Hosts, and we would not ourselves have been in possession of that knowledge had God not revealed it to us. But having this knowledge we can enter into these Temples and administer for the living and for the dead. ”

“ They don't comprehend things as we comprehend them. We profess to be acquainted with the Spirit of God, as I before said, and with the light of revelation, they don't. And furthermore, "The things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God." ”

“ To do so, many wives have had to leave their husbands, many husbands have had to leave their wives, children have had to leave their parents, and parents have had to leave their children. But we are gathered together that we might learn the laws of life and the word of God, and that we might comprehend the duties and responsibilities that devolve upon us—that we might learn how to save ourselves and how to save our wives and children, our fathers and mothers, our uncles and aunts, our grandfathers and great grandfathers, who did not have the privilege which we enjoy. ”

“ This is the position we occupy, that is, if we are living our religion, keeping the commandments of God and obeying those eternal principles which He has revealed to us. There are no people living upon the face of the earth to-day, who enjoy the privileges that this people enjoy, nor that have the light, the truth, or the intelligence which we have The world does not understand us, nor the principles we have received, and consequently we are persecuted, opposed, and abused on all hands. ”

“ But we must humble ourselves before the Lord, we must put ourselves right, we must teach our families the principles of life, we must do right by our neighbors and by everybody, we must magnify the Lord and observe His law, purge ourselves from everything that is wrong, and say, "O God, try me and prove me. ”