John Taylor

“ God has revealed unto us great and glorious truths, and He is prepared to reveal more if we will only place ourselves under His guidance and His direction. Let us seek to follow the principle that Jesus inculcated—to do the will of our Father who is in heaven, who said, "I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me." ”

“ We feel that we need the help of the Almighty. We will try and be humble, and be faithful and true to our covenants. And if we listen to counsel, and obey the laws of God, and do the things that He requires at our hands, He will help us and bless us, and He will bless Zion and preserve Israel, and woe to them that fight against Zion, for God will fight against them. ”

“ God always opened my way, and so He will that of every man who will put his trust in Him. I would rather have God for my friend than all other influences and powers outside; for in God we live, in God we move, and from God we derive our being and our existence. ”

“ We have started in, and we will try by the help of God and the light of His Holy Spirit, and the revelations that he will give to us from time to time—we will try and operate and co-operate with the Priesthood in the eternal worlds, either on this earth or in the heavens. We shall operate until the work that God has designed pertaining to this earth shall be accomplished, and the living and the dead saved so far as they are capable of being saved according to eternal laws that exist in the heavens, and according to the decrees of the Almighty. ”

“ We are living, as I have said, in an important day and age of the world. We have gathered to this land because God has decreed it. He has reserved us for the latter days, that we may perform that work which He decreed from before the foundation of the world. ”

“ Well might it be said to Joseph Smith, "You are laying the foundation of a great work"—so vast that very few can begin to comprehend it. We read sometimes about the millennium. But what do we know about it It is a time when this work will be going on, and Temples, thousands of them, will be reared for the accomplishment of the objects designed, in which communications from the heavens will be received in regard to our labors, how we may perform them, and for whom. This is the work devolving upon us. We have to build up here a Zion unto God. Who are Zion? ”

“ We should subject ourselves to the law of God, the word of God, and the will of God. I say continually, "O God, lead me in the right path: O God, preserve me from all error; O God, I am a poor, feeble, weak, erring human creature, surrounded with infirmities. ”

“ We have to wrestle against flesh and blood, against the powers of darkness, the Adversary, who rules in the hearts of the children of disobedience, and leads them captive at his will, and against the power of wickedness in high places. ”

“ For that labor it requires strong, able-bodied men, men that are able to cope with the world, the flesh and the devil, as they say. We want men who are full of vigor, life and vitality. We want men to cleave unto God, and seek for more of His Spirit, that they may go to the nations of the earth to proclaim the glad tidings of salvation to a fallen world. That is what we are gathered together for, that we may be instructed in the laws of life, and then go and teach these laws to others. Our Elders go out to preach the Gospel without purse or scrip, and when they return we help them back. ”

“ The Priesthood has been restored, with which is connected all the blessings that ever were associated with any people upon the face of the earth; and if we know to-day so little in regard to the things of God, and the principles associated with eternity, with the heavens and with the angels, it is because we have not improved our privileges as we might, nor lived up to those principles which God has revealed unto us, and because we are not yet prepared for further advancement. ”

“ It is reserved for us to do a work for those who have passed away, who have not obeyed or had the Gospel in their lifetime. We are here to do a work connected with the redemption of the dead. When the Temple was commanded to be built in Nauvoo, after the Temple had been built in Kirtland, and after so many keys had been turned, and after so many manifestations, visions and ministrations had been had, yet it was said then that there was not a place upon the earth in which to perform the ordinance of baptism for the dead, and Joseph was commanded to build a house for that purpose. ”

“ He is prepared to unfold all things; all things pertaining to the heavens and the earth, all things pertaining to the peoples who have existed, who now exist or will exist, that we may be instructed and taught in every principle of intelligence associated with the world in which we live, or with the Gods in the eternal worlds. ”

“ We are living in a very important day and age of the world, in a time which is pregnant with greater events than any other period that we know of, or any other dispensation that has existed upon the earth. ”

“ They are developed within us, and this Temple is a proof of it, just the same as we are a living proof of the gathering dispensation. We have received the gift of the Holy Ghost, and a knowledge, so far as we have progressed, of the things of God. You have been baptized, you have had hands laid upon you for the reception of the Holy Ghost, and you that have lived your religion have received this Holy Ghost, and I want, as an evidence before God and this people—I want to see how many of you can bear testimony to that. All who can, hold up their right hands. ”

“ If there have been any blessings enjoyed by men in former dispensations of the world, they will also be given to you ye Latter-day Saints, if you will live your religion and be obedient to the laws of God. ”

“ Yet God has conferred upon us great, inestimable and eternal treasures, even the gift of eternal lives, and upon many of us are conferred these promises of thrones, principalities, powers and dominion in the eternal worlds. God has conferred those rich and precious treasures upon us, but we have them in earthen vessels. ”

“ And thus we will go on, and God will assist us in the work in which we are engaged. He will yet make us the richest of all people. He will pour wealth into our laps, inasmuch as we keep His commandments. ”

“ Men talk and boast of their intelligence and their knowledge—why, there is not a man breathing on the earth, outside of this Church, who has any knowledge of those things to which I have referred, and nobody in this Church either, only as God has revealed it. We are all of us indebted to the revelations of God, through the medium of the Holy Priesthood, for these things. Joseph Smith before his death, was much exercised about the completion of the Temple in Nauvoo, and the administering of ordinances therein. ”

“ The nations of the earth have yet to be preached to. The work is not all through. It is hardly begun. We are just getting ready for the labor, and so you may prepare yourselves, you Seventies, you High Priests, and you Elders, for missions to the nations of the earth. ”

“ Then what about the payment of those men who are to be employed in Temples? There are three or four men that will have to be provided for, and others will have to take care of themselves, find their own bread and dinner, and think it a privilege to work for God, for the interests of His Kingdom, and to act as saviors upon Mount Zion. Supposing there are forty required to labor in this Temple. Many of you are pretty well off. ”

“ It means that He is interested in their welfare, in their prosperity, in their happiness, and in all that pertains to their exaltation in time and throughout the eternities that are to come. Being thus interested, and so little of the Gospel having been revealed in the different ages, and so much of the power of darkness and iniquity having prevailed among men, it was necessary that something should be done for the dead as well as the living. God is interested in the dead as well as the living. ”

“ Seth, Enos, Enoch, Mahalaleel, Methuselah, Noah, and all the prominent leading men of God, as well as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, the Prophets, Jesus and His Apostles, together with the Prophets and Apostles who lived on this continent, and who stood at the various times or epochs as the representatives of the nations, and as thousands of these peoples have passed away having held and now holding the Priesthood; all these ancient fathers feel interested in this great work, and their hearts are turned toward the children, being interested in their welfare, happiness and exaltation ”

“ We must be faithful to our calling, for there is a great work for all of us to perform. Some men who have been ordained to the Priesthood have remarked that they have nothing to do. I have heard some foolish remarks of that kind. They will find plenty to do before they get through. ”

“ It places men in communication with God our Heavenly Father, whereby through its influence, ordinances, powers and blessings, they can approach the presence of God, the Eternal Father, and come, as it was said by one of old, "To the general assembly and church of the first born, which are written in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel." ”

“ By and by, Joseph Smith sent word that the Saints were to gather to Nauvoo; that they had a gathering place there, and the Saints were to be directed to that land. I then went and told this sister the interpretation of her dream or vision. I mention this to show that you cannot prevent these manifestations: they are associated with the Gospel. If men and women receive the Spirit of God and the gift of the Holy Ghost, it reveals those things unto them. ”

“ There will be plenty for them to do if they are only prepared to do it. There is a great work to perform in preaching the Gospel to the nations of the earth. Then as we build our Temples we shall want a great many people to administer in them, and I have seen some people quite pleased at the idea. ”

“ And what else is said? "Sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee." Men shall call you the ministers of our God. And we want to minister for God in time and throughout the eternities that are to come. ”

“ Why? Because the Priesthood had been introduced after the order of Aaron and after the order of Melchisedec which is after the order of the Son of God, and after the power of an endless life, and that officiates and operates in time and in eternity, and by which Priesthood and through which authority the worlds were framed by the power of God. ”

“ Because the keys of the gathering of Israel from the four quarters of the earth have been committed to Joseph Smith, and he has conferred those keys upon others that the gathering of Israel may be accomplished, and in due time the same thing will be performed to the tribes in the land of the north. ”

“ Some of you have got more means than you know what to do with, and it is a bother to you. We will have to fix upon the number of men and women—for the sisters will be required as well as the brethren—that will be needed. ”

“ Here President Taylor inquired of Bishop Preston how they were progressing with the missionary farms, and was answered that they were progressing satisfactorily. We don't want the aged and infirm to go out to the world. ”