John Taylor

“ The world of mankind, whether in this nation, or in any other nation, form very strange notions in regard to our reasons for thus gathering together. Although we have been striving for a great many years to enlighten the world in relation to this and other matters, still they seem very much at sea in regard to the position which we occupy, and to our moral, social, religious and political status. ”

“ We are called of God to be an upright people, a virtuous people, an honorable people. We are called upon to maintain correct principles, and to introduce them among the peoples of the earth, and especially among the people of this nation. ”

“ Jesus told His disciples to pray in His day, "Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Did He understand what He was saying. I think He did.
The Lord has gathered us together in these valleys of the mountains, that He might have a people who would be prepared to receive the eternal truths of heaven, and be governed by them. Instead of your being deceived to get you to come here, you had the pure principles of the Gospel of the Son of God preached unto you, in the various nations from which you have come. ”

“ We do not cherish any ill-will or ill-feelings, but they would not like it to be said that they are doing the works of their father, the devil: but that is what Jesus said about people of the same kind in His day. We need not be angry with them. Jesus, at the very last, even when hanging on the cross and expiring, said, as it were with His last breath, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." ”

“ If we do not know these things, we ought to know them, and we shall know them if we only humble ourselves, and ask according to the light of the Spirit of the living God, even the gift of the Holy Ghost. ”

“ Let us walk in the light, and be governed by the principles of truth and righteousness, virtue and honor, and seek to cleave to God in our bodies and in our spirits, which are His. If the Latter-day Saints throughout the land of Zion, would only fear God and work righteousness, there is not a power on this side of hell, or the other side either, that could harm them; for God will carry out His work and His purposes, and if He suffers us, at any time to be chastened, it will be for our good ”

“ If this is the case, then, with your most intimate friends—with your relatives, with your fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, uncles and aunts, with whom you had been on the most friendly terms heretofore—how can you expect the world to look at things in any different manner. I reflect sometimes upon the position occupied by the ancient Christians, and upon the character, position and standing of Jesus, the Son of God. We all profess to reverence Him. ”

“ It is pleasant, for the Saints to meet together to commune with each other, to listen to the words of life, to reflect also upon their position and relationship to God, to His Church and Kingdom, as well as to examine into their own feelings, and, under the guidance of the Lord and of His Holy Spirit, try to find out what relationship they sustain to their Heavenly Father, and whether they are performing the various duties devolving upon them, and are seeking to carry out the word, the will, and the law of God. ”

“ From the members of His Church He expects a higher state of morality than He does from those that are outside. All men will be judged according to the deeds done in the body, whether they be good or evil. The Gospel has been sent to them from time to time. The old disciples were told to go to every nation, kindred, tongue and people, and proclaim its glad tiding, and the people on this continent had the same testimony delivered among them. In the last days there was another angel to fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth. ”

“ They have removed slavery out of the way, but polygamy seems to be rather a hard nut for them to crack. It seems to bother them. They are in a good deal of trouble about it, and the religious people are very much exercised over it. Their pure souls are very much agonized about things of that sort, and about impurities which exist among the Mormons. They cannot see or say anything about the licentiousness, the corruption, the foeticide, the infanticide, the rottenness, hypocrisy, lying, fraud and deception that exists among themselves ”

“ Some of the literary men who come along here, express to me the opinion that we have been maligned and misrepresented a good deal. I tell them that in an age like this people ought to know better; that they ought to be better informed; that they ought to make themselves acquainted with facts within the reach of everybody ”

“ It frequently becomes a question in the minds of many—How and in what manner did these things originate, and what is the object of our being thus gathered together as a separate and distinct people? By what motives are we actuated? ”

“ Others say that we are gathered here for licentious purposes—to carry out polygamic ideas, to corrupt, demoralize, and trample under foot the women who come and associate with us, and to destroy their virtue; whereas you know there is not a place in the world where women are better protected and their virtue more sacredly guarded than in Utah. ”

“ Now, neither of these political parties are our friends. Neither of them are the friends of God. They think that we are democratic. We are to a certain extent, and then we are republicans to a certain extent. ”

“ The crimes, in [i] quities and corruptions committed by the small minority of outsiders in our midst very far exceed, perhaps by twenty to thirty times, the crimes of the Latter-day Saints. This excess of crime on the part of outsiders is what might be reasonably expected; for we profess to be a better people, and we ought to be a better people than those who make no pretentions to be guided by divine revelation. ”

“ But the republicans are afraid that the democrats are going to make use of us in some way or other, and they are determined to crowd the Mormons down their throats, and the democrats gulp at it; they don't like to swallow it. It is worse than the apple that stuck in Adam's throat. They don't want to shoulder the responsibility, and so the democrats will join with the republicans on a question of this kind, just the same as the Scribes and Pharisees, the Herodians and Sadducees, did when Jesus was to be crucified. ”

“ We are engaged in a work of importance. We are immortal beings. We are dual beings associated with time and eternity; I might say associated with the past, the present, and the future. We have a work to perform here upon the earth, and with the help of Israel's God we expect to do that work. ”

“ It was because He was not of the world. "If ye were of the world," said the Savior to His disciples, "the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, therefore the world hateth you." That is the cause. The world loveth its own. And the world is to-day, was then, and always will be, until it shall be regenerated, opposed to God, opposed to righteousness and opposed to the principle of truth. Paul makes the following statement: "For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is at enmity against God ”

“ I say that, notwithstanding all these things, if there is one subject about which the human family to-day is grossly ignorant, it is on the subject of the principles of the Latter-day Saints. A short time ago a very distinguished European gentleman, after eulogising the appearance of our city, the quiet and order that prevail, etc., said to me, "President Taylor you can scarcely conceive how impossible it is, outside of your Territory, to obtain correct information regarding you as a people;" ”

“ We have a right to expect, of course, that they would abide by the Constitution, because that is an instrument gotten up by themselves, and that they profess to be governed by, and that men in authority swear to uphold. ”

“ Every imagination of their hearts was evil, and that continually. They were raising up a corrupt progeny, and it was an injustice to the spirits that dwelt in the heavens that wished and desired and had a right to have tabernacles here upon the earth. Those corrupt men and women were not fit to be the producers of those tabernacles, and they had to be cut off. ”

“ We can afford to do right, whether others can or not. We can afford to maintain the Constitution and institutions of the United States, and all laws, as it is said in the Doctrine and Covenants, that are constitutional. ”

“ The powers of darkness have always been in antagonism to the light, truth and intelligence that proceeds from God, and till Satan is bound, and his power is curtailed by a superior power, that state of things will continue, and instead of getting better and better, we are told in the Scriptures, that the wicked shall grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. ”

“ There is nothing new, therefore, in any of these matters that we hear bruited around from place to place—from the east to the west, from the north to the south, and spreading abroad among the nations of the earth; nothing new, nothing strange, nothing very remarkable in any of these things. The carnal mind knows not tire things of God, and is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be. They form all kinds of opinions, even, with regard to our gathering. "Why don't you stop at home as other folks do?" ”

“ Why, bless your soul, how can they send better men than they have? We need not expect good men, virtuous men, honorable men; they can only send such as they have, consequently, we need not look for any better. ”

“ In the Penitentiary, out of fifty-one prisoners only five were Mormons, two of whom were there for polygamy. * * Of the population of Salt Lake City, about 75 per cent is Mormon, and 25 per cent non-Mormon." He further says: "These figures conclusively prove that the Mormons are a sober, law-abiding people, and singularly free from the grosser forms of vice; whatever may be alleged by ignorant or prejudiced enemies. Of the two hundred saloons, billard, bowling alley, and pool table keepers, not a dozen even profess Mormonism." ”

“ They compare plural marriage to their whoredom, seductions, their social evils, and the many kinds of iniquity, corruption and rottenness that prevail among themselves. Reasoning from their own standpoint, they consider that we are a very wicked, corrupt and licentious people. ”

“ Now, then, men assume to judge the acts of others, but they don't judge their own acts, and they strive to falsify us, and to make evils of those things that God has ordained according to His economy, and that men of old, who were considered men of God, and the friends of God, practiced under His direction. ”

“ But God felt merciful towards all the human family; for they are all His children, and His design was to benefit and bless them, so far as they would let Him, and sometimes He has had to deal with them very severely. ”

“ There is nothing in this to be proud of; for it would be a pity if we could not live better than they do. We have gathered here, not for speculative purposes, as is sometimes charged, but to worship God, to keep His commandments, and to be instructed in the laws of life. ”

“ It is the will of God that we should obey them, and sometimes we obey laws that we think are not constitutional. I expect, like the Catholics in this respect, we shall have to do some works of supererogation. ”

“ Do not let us be mistaken in relation to all these things—that is as the world are mistaken. We complain sometimes about the injustice of men. I expect to find unjust men, many of them. We refer to certain laws that are being enacted by our Congress as unconstitutional, etc. ”

“ They hardly know themselves. They think they are going to do a great deal. They will do just what the Lord will let them, and no more. But we understand their ideas, I presume, as well as they do. Here are two political parties. The republicans long ago put into their platform that there were two twin relics that had to be moved out of the way—the one was slavery, and the other polygamy. ”

“ Sometimes they do a little; sometimes they don't do much; sometimes they are very angry with us, and get up quite a furore. A Presidential election is coming on, you know, and they are preparing things for that, and the "Mormon question" is as good a thing as they can have on both sides of the House—on the republican side, and on the democratic, too. ”

“ Some say that it is an emigration scheme gotten up to make money, and that missionaries are sent out by us to deceive the weak and the ignorant, and to gather them together that they may be made merchandise of. ”

“ He prepared a prison house for them, and when Jesus came He went and preached to the spirits in prison that sometime were disobedient in the days of Noah.
God has always felt interested in the welfare of the human family ”

“ They look upon Him as being the Son of God, and they look upon His Apostles as men of unblemished reputation, of pure lives, holy, virtuous and upright. You cannot travel anywhere in Christendom but you find churches erected to St. ”