PERSONAL APPEARANCE AND CHARACTER—HIS BROAD VIEWS—FAITH AND CONFIDENCE IN GOD—DEVOTION TO HIS RELIGION—MORAL LIFE ABOVE SUSPICION—LOVE OF LIBERTY—"I WOULD NOT BE A SLAVE TO GOD!"—THE RICHES HE SOUGHT—"I PREFER A FADED COAT TO A FADED REPUTATION"—SKILL AND MAXIMS AS A WORKMAN—POWER AS A WRITER—A POET—A PREACHER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS—SOCIAL QUALITIES—A GREAT MAN.

The story of President Taylor's life is before the reader. We may now consider his character as reflected in that story.

In person President Taylor was nearly six feet in height and of fine proportion, that combination which gives activity and strength. His head was large, the face oval and the features large, strong and finely chiseled. The forehead was high and massive, the eyes gray, deep-set, and of a mild, kindly expression, except when aroused, and then they were capable of reflecting all the feelings that moved his soul, whether of indignation, scorn or contempt. The nose was aquiline, the mouth well formed and expressive of firmness, the chin powerful and well rounded. In early life he was of a fair complexion, but with age the face grew swarthy, and even in middle life his abundant hair turned to a silvery whiteness, which but added beauty to his brow and made his appearance venerable.

In his manner he was ever affable and polite, easy and gracious, yet princely in dignity. In his intercourse with others he was familiar but never vulgar. He was not a man whom a friend, however intimate, would slap familiarly on the back or turn and twist about when shaking hands; such proceedings with him would have been as much out of place as with the proudest crowned monarch in the presence-chamber. Yet there was no affectation in his deportment, no stiffness; his dignity was that with which nature clothes her noblest sons. It did not spring from self-conceit, or self-sufficiency, or any spirit such as

"I am Sir Oracle, and when I speak
Let no man ope his lips!"

Nor was it studied, or copied, or put on for state occasions. He carried it with him wherever he went—into his own home, into the homes of his friends. It was with him in courts and palaces, among the refined and the titled nobility of this world; he never plucked it off on entering the humblest cottage of the poor. He was to his manners born, and they were suited to the man. In any assembly he would have been a striking figure.

There was a beautiful harmony in the character of his mind and the lineaments of his person. If the habitation was splendid, the inmate was worthy of it. His noble form and bearing were but the outward expression of the spirit within. A universal benevolence, powerful intellect, splendid courage, physical as well as moral, a noble independence of spirit, coupled with implicit faith and trust in God, a high sense of honor, unimpeachable integrity, indomitable determination, and a passionate love of liberty, justice and truth marked the outlines of his character—in short, the elements were

"So mixed in him, that Nature might stand up
And say to all the world—'This is a man!"'

President Taylor believed absolutely in the universal Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. From that grand cardinal doctrine sprang his liberal views as to the hand dealings of God with His children. He despised anything that savored of narrow-mindedness or bigotry. Who does not remember with what scorn he treated the spirit which led the man to pray:

"Lord, bless me and my wife,
My son John and his wife,
Us four, but no more. Amen."

"I think sometimes," he would remark, "that as a people we are a good deal sectarian in our feelings, and it is necessary for us occasionally to look at the pit from whence we were dug, and the rock from whence we were hewn. We are all too ready to cry out, as the sectarians do in their different orders:

"'The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord,
The temple of the Lord are we!'

"We say we are the children of God. That is true, we are. We are sparks struck from the blaze of His eternal fire. But what of the rest of the world—whose children are they? They are also the children of our Heavenly Father, and He is interested in their welfare as He is in ours; and as a kind, beneficent Father towards His children, He has been seeking from generation to generation to promote the welfare, the happiness and the exaltation of the human family.

"We sometimes talk about the hand of God being over us. Of course it is, and will be over us for ever, if we will only serve Him, for He is always true. But His hand is over the nations of the earth also. He is interested in the welfare of this nation, and all other nations, and all other peoples, as well as in our welfare.

"I believe in God, in Jesus Christ, and in the exaltation of the human family, and consequently have acted and do act in accordance with that belief. If others choose to do otherwise, that is their business. 'But,' says one, 'don't you want to send them all to hell?' No, I don't; but I would be glad to get them out of it; and if I could do them any good, I would do it with pleasure. I do not believe in this wrath and dread, but if a man acts meanly I will tell him that he is a poor, mean cur. Then if I find him hungry, I would feed him; or if I found him naked, I would clothe him; for the gospel teaches me to do good and benefit mankind as far as lies in my power.

"I remember reading a few lines of some very zealous Protestant who wrote over some public building:

"'In this place may enter
Greek, Jew or Atheist,—
Any thing but a Papist.'

"Now, I say, let the Papist come in, too, the Moslem, the Greek, the Jew, the pagan, the believers and the unbelievers, and the whole world. If God sends His rain on the good and the evil, and makes His sun to shine on the just and the unjust, I certainly shall not object. Let them worship as they please and have full freedom and equal rights and privileges with us and all men."

It will be seen from the foregoing that while he claimed absolute religious liberty for himself, he accorded the same right to others. "There are two things," he remarks, "that I have felt very decided upon ever since I could comprehend anything; one is that I would worship God as I pleased, without anybody's dictation; and that I would dictate to no man his faith, neither should any man dictate to me my faith; the other is that I would vote as I pleased."

Of the deep religious convictions of President Taylor it is scarcely necessary to speak. His whole life demonstrates how deep was the religious soil in his nature, into which the seeds of truth were sown to bring forth an hundred fold. His devotion to his religion was not only sincere, it was without reserve. He gave himself and his whole life to it. His faith, his trust and confidence in God were complete. "I do not believe in a religion that cannot have all my affections," he would sometimes remark, "but I believe in a religion that I can live for, or die for.

"I would rather trust in the living God than in any other power on earth. I learned [while on missions] that I could go to God and He always relieved me. He always supplied my wants. I always had plenty to eat, drink and wear, and could ride on steam-boats or railroads, or anywhere I thought proper: 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."

Such were his sentiments, such his devotion to his religion, such his testimony to the goodness of God.

"He was a man," said one who knew him well nigh half a century, "that could not get down to grovel with the low-lived, the vicious, the ribald, nor any who indulged in the follies and vanities of mortal life." Referring himself to those who did love the abomination of wickedness, with all its crookedness, deceitfulness and crime he ever exclaimed: "My soul, enter thou not into their secret; and mine honor, with them be thou not united!" In all these things he not only lived above reproach, but above suspicion.

The most prominent feature of his character, doubtless, was his ardent love of liberty. For this he was distinguished even among his brethren who as a group were remarkable for their love of and devotion to freedom. To other men the love of liberty was a principle; with him it was not only a principle but a passion: others may have been educated to love it; he loved it instinctively.

In a letter to one of his brethren, answering one that had laid rather hard conditions upon him, he expressed the following sentiments, in which it is difficult to determine which most appears, his love of liberty or his detestation, his utter abhorrence of slavery:

"I was not born a slave! I cannot, will not be a slave. I would not be slave to God! I'd be His servant, friend, His son. I'd go at His behest; but would not be His slave. I'd rather be extinct than be a slave. His friend I feel I am, and He is mine:—a slave! The manacles would pierce my very bones—the clanking chains would grate upon my soul—a poor, lost, servile, crawling wretch to lick the dust and fawn and smile upon the thing who gave the lash! Myself—perchance my wives, my children to dig the mud, to mould and tell the tale of brick and furnish our own straw! * * * But stop! I'm God's free man: I will not, cannot be a slave! Living, I'll be free here, or free in life above—free with the Gods, for they are free: and if I'm in the way on earth, I'll ask my God to take me to my friends above!"

He never devoted himself to money getting. He never bowed at the gilded shrine of mammon. The yellow god of this world found in him no devotee. "Many men could see a sovereign or a half eagle a long way farther off than he could," remarked one who knew him. Yet the amount of property he accumulated at Nauvoo, and which he sacrificed in order to flee into the wilderness with the Church of Christ, is sufficient to prove that he was not without financial ability. But he had his eyes and heart fixed upon the better riches, those which moth and rust could not corrupt, neither mobs break through nor steal. These things filled his soul, engrossed his attention and left but a small margin of time to him in which to fall in love with the wealth of this world. His motto was—"Money is of little importance where truth is concerned."

"It is the crowns, the principalities, the powers, the thrones, the dominions, and the associations with the Gods that we are after, and we are here to prepare ourselves for these things—this is the main object of existence."

Still it must not be thought that he was indifferent to financial enterprises and the development of the resources of the country. His efforts at establishing sugar works after his return from France; building and running the first nail factory; the contracts he took and filled when the Union Pacific railroad was building; his interest in the mining industry of the Territory; his association with Z. C. M. I., all give evidence to the contrary. He merely gave financial affairs a subordinate place to the interests of the kingdom of God.

He was cautious in his business methods, and scrupulously honest. During a period that he was in straightened circumstances, a member of his family was out of fuel, and without the means to purchase any. She sent word of the situation to him; having no money, and not wishing to go in debt as long as he saw no prospect of repaying it, he sent to her his new overcoat as that was the only thing he had at hand which could be turned into money. It was accompanied with a kind note that directed one of his sons to dispose of it, and deplored the rather close circumstances in which they were placed. "I can get along very nicely with my old coat this winter," he wrote: "it is a little faded, but then I prefer a faded coat to a faded reputation; and I do not propose to ask for accommodations that I am not prepared to meet."

He was a skillful workman in his business of turner, and when not engaged in the ministry, like Paul, "his own hands administered to his necessities." We have already seen him in the saw-pit day after day manufacturing lumber with a whip saw before the erection of saw mills; building his own house, cultivating his own garden, fencing his own farm, constructing the first bridge over the river Jordan.

He had adopted in practice some most excellent maxims which would have insured him success in any business he might have chosen. What they were may be seen in this: If he plowed a field it must be done well. He was not content to skim over the ground merely. If the ground was hard or rocky in places, some one must ride on the beam and the plow made to do its work. Moreover, the furrows must be straight. If he planted trees the holes must be made large; in setting them in, the fibres of the roots must be spread out and the soil placed round them carefully, and then be well watered that they might have every chance to live.

He had some skill in drawing and was an adept at wood carving for which his patterns were of his own designing. Of this kind of work as of all other kinds he would often say: "If a thing is done well, no one will ask how long it took to do it, but who did it."

Of his skill and power as a writer, the reader who has followed us through this volume, has seen some evidence from the extracts from his writings. These, however, have been mainly from his discussions, editorials and newspaper articles in the defense of Zion and her interests; and from his theological works. Powerful as he was in his style of composition, he also had ability in other departments of literature. He wrote in part a drama founded on incidents recorded in the Book of Mormon. He never completed it, and the manuscript of it, unfortunately, is lost; but those who heard it read, speak of it as giving evidence of considerable dramatic skill in its construction, and applaud the speeches of the characters for vigor and elegance of diction.

President Taylor was also a poet; and from the deep religious nature of the man, it could but be expected that the grand themes suggested by the gospel would inspire his muse. The restoration of the gospel, the going forth of messengers of glory with it to the sons of men, furnished him with inspiration for several hymns published in the Latter-day Saints' Hymn Book. The one on page 295, beginning—

"The glorious plan which God has given,
To bring a ruined world to heaven,"

suggested by this passage of scripture—"For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one; and there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, the water and the blood; and these three are one"^[1]—is not only a poem, but a discourse in which the harmony and beauty of the Triune witnesses in heaven and in earth are made to stand out in bold relief.

Friendship also inspired his muse, and his "Response" to Parley P. Pratt's "Fiftieth Year;"^[2] and "The Seer,"^[3] written in memory of the Prophet Joseph Smith, are two of his noblest pieces in verse.

His friends speak of a number of his poems that were never published, written in different strains from those with which the public is familiar, especially of one written while crossing the Atlantic, highly humorous and exhibiting an extensive knowledge of mythology. This is not to be found among his papers.

The following in blank verse is worthy of preservation for the grandeur and sublimity of the theme. It was written September 5th, 1846:

LINES WRITTEN IN THE ALBUM OF MISS ABBY JANE HART, OF NEW YORK CITY.

ABBY: knowest thou whence thou camest? Thine
Origin? Who thou art? What? And whither thou
Art bound? A crysolis of yesterday:
Today a gaudy, fluttering butterfly—
A moth; tomorrow crushed, and then an end
Of thee. Is this so? and must thou perish
Thus, and die ingloriously without a hope?

Ah, no; thou art no such thing. Thou in the
Bosom of thy Father bask'd and liv'd, and
Mov'd thousands of years ago. Yes, e'er this
Mundane sphere from chaos sprung, or sun, or
Moon, or stars, or world was fram'd; Before the
Sons of God for joy did shout, or e'er the
Morning stars together sung—thou liv'd'st.
Thou liv'dst to live again. Ah, no! thou liv'd
But to continue life eternal—to
Live and move, and act eternally. Yes;
Long as a spirit, God or world exists;
From everlasting, eternal, without end!
And whilst thou dwelt in thy paternal home,
And with thy brethren shar'd extatic bliss,
All that a spirit could, not clothed in flesh,
Thou through the vista of unnumbered years
Saw'st through the glimmering veil that thou would'st
Dwell in flesh—just as the Gods.

Tread in the
Footsteps of thine elder brother, Jesus—
The "Prince of Peace," for whom a body was prepared.

Thou heard; thou look'd; thou long'd; thou pray'd;
Thou hop'd for this, at length it came; and thou
Appeared on this terraqueous ball,
From the hands of Eloheim—eternal
As himself—part of thy God. A small spark
Of Deity, struck from the fire of his eternal blaze.

Thou cam'st! thou cam'st to live! of life thou art
A living monument; to it thou still
Dost cling—eternal life! To thee all else
Are straw and chaff, and bubbles light as air;
And will be all, until thou gain'st once more
Thy Father's breast; raised, quickened, immortal;
Body, spirit, all; a God among the Gods forever bless'd.
Abby, and hast thou dared to launch thy
Fragile barque on truth's tempestuous sea;
To meet the pelting storm and proudly brave
The dangers of the raging main; and through
The rocks and shoals, and yawning gulfs pursue
The nearest way to life, in hopes that thou
Woulds't speedily gain a seat among the Gods?

See'st thou the multitudes who sail in
Guilded barques, and gently float along the
Silvery stream? Downward they go with sweet,
Luxurious ease, and scarce a zephyr moves
The tranquil bosom of the placid stream.
Unconscious of the greatness of the prize
They might obtain, they glide along in peace;
And as they never soar aloft, nor mount
On eagle's wings, nor draw aside the veil
Of other worlds, they know none else than this—
No other joys. They dream away their life,
And die forgot, just as the butterfly,
They gaily flutter on; today they live—
Tomorrow are no more.

And though, like thee
In them is the eternal spark, thousands
Of weary years must roll along er'e they
Regain the prize they might with thee have shar'd.
Regain it? Never! no! They may come where
Thou wert, but never can they with thee share
Extatic bliss.

For whils't in heaven's progressive
Science skilled, thou soard'st from world to world, clad
In the robes of bright seraphic light; and
With thy God, eternal—onward goest, a
Priestess and a queen—reigning and ruling in
The realms of light. Unlike the imbeciles
Who dared not brook the scorn of men, and knew not
How to prize eternal life.

Abby, the cup's within thy reach; drink thou
The vital balm and live!

How priceless the album containing such a gem!

It will be as a preacher of righteousness that President Taylor will be best remembered by the generation who heard him. His published sermons would make several large volumes if collected; but those published are insignificant in comparison with the number he delivered. The Saints who listened to him for half a century will remember as long as they live his commanding presence, his personal magnetism, the vigor and power of his discourses and the grand principles of which they treated. He spoke extemporaneously as indeed do all the Elders of Israel. The formal, set discourse, so common in the world, has never been favorably received in the Church of Jesus Christ. It may be said that in that Church a new school of oratory, quite distinct from the strictly scholastic oratory of the world, is being formed; a manner of speech which depends for its success rather upon the presence and operations of the Holy Spirit than upon the cunning or ability of the speaker. When the Lord sent the first Elders out to preach the gospel He gave them these instructions:

"Neither take ye thought beforehand what ye shall say, but treasure up in your minds continually the words of life, and it shall be given you in the very hour that portion that shall be meted unto every man."

"Verily I say unto you, lift up your voices unto this people, speak the thoughts that I shall put into your hearts, and you shall not be confounded before men; for it shall be given you in the very hour, yea, in the very moment, what ye shall say. But a commandment I give unto you, that ye shall declare whatsoever things ye declare in my name in solemnity of heart, in the spirit of meekness, in all things. And I give unto you this promise, that inasmuch as ye do this, the Holy Ghost shall be shed forth in bearing record unto all things whatsoever ye shall say.

"This is an example unto all those who are ordained unto this priesthood, whose mission is appointed to go forth [to preach the gospel]. They shall speak as they are moved upon by the Holy Ghost, and whatsoever they shall speak when moved upon by the Holy Ghost, shall be scripture, shall be the will of the Lord, shall be the word of the Lord, shall be the voice of the Lord, and the power of God unto salvation; behold this is the promise of the Lord unto you, O ye my servants."

This makes the kind of oratory which obtains in the Church of Christ today resemble closely that which existed in the Church among the first Christians. The reader will doubtless remember that the great apostle of the Gentiles said:

"And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power."

In the primitive as in the modern Church the reason for instituting this manner of discourse, is the same: That the faith of believers should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

These instructions from the Almighty, President Taylor carried out as implicitly as any man engaged in the ministry; and while his discourses may lack the polish, the faultless rhetoric, the studied climax to be found in the set speeches of the learned orators of the world, they are full of great thoughts and the inspiration of God—an excellence which more than repays for the want of smoothness and the fine finish that a carping criticism demands.

It was not his manner to deal with nice distinctions of words, their derivations or the various shades of their meanings. His was not the skill to

"Distinguish and divide
A hair 'twixt South and South-west side."

He chose rather to deal with general principles, great truths and build on them such arguments, and draw thence such sound deductions as convinced the judgment, appealed to the feelings, increased the faith, reformed the wayward or more firmly established the convictions of those who believed. He was deliberate in speech, almost slow, but not more so than the great principles he was wont to treat of required. His voice was clear, strong, resonant, and of wonderful compass; and whether it sank, as it often did, to the tender tones which give expression to the deep pathos that sometimes moved his soul, or calmly reasoned upon some heavenly doctrine, or was raised to its grandest swell or thunder tones to denounce injustice or oppression, no one could grow weary of listening to it.

His eloquence was a majestic river full to the point of overflowing its banks, sweeping grandly through rich regions of thought. His discourse was mainly argumentative and abounding with occasional colloquialisms, not unfrequently of a humorous turn: for among his other qualities of mind he had a keen sense of the ridiculous. His gestures were few, but very significant. His manner was, in the main, calm and dispassionate, but when a train of thought more than ordinarily sublime stirred his emotions, he became more animated and impressive; the form dilated, the utterance was more rapid and the whole man was aglow with enthusiasm that it was impossible to resist.

If, as it often chanced, his theme was the wrongs of the Saints, or if he spoke in defense of the broad principles of liberty and the rights of man, he then had a theme which called forth all his powers. His denunciations of injustice and tyranny were terrible. At such times his brow, usually beaming with mingled intelligence and benevolence, grew dark as the coming storm approached. The form was drawn up to its full height, the gestures were majestic—the word suited the action, the action the word; eye and arm, voice and movement—the whole man, with the love of liberty burning like consuming fire in his bones, poured out impassioned utterances against tyranny in all its forms; and the demonstrations of the congregation as the climax was reached, is sufficient evidence that they were irresistibly borne along by that tempest of passion. Yet in these bursts of eloquence he never seemed to put forth all his strength. He always appeared to have still more force in reserve that he could have used had he so minded. Moreover, he had that rare faculty which in the very torrent, tempest and whirl-wind of passion exercised a temperance that gave it smoothness and never permitted it to become strained or incongruous.

These qualities in him sprang from nature, not from training. There was nothing of the schools, nor of the studied elocutionist in his manner. His style of speaking was peculiarly his own and was well suited to the man, and to him alone.

The great body of the Saints knew him principally as a public man; and so prominent was he as such that his private life and domestic virtues have attracted but little attention. Yet it is pleasant to know that his private life was in every sense as praiseworthy as his public career. The letters to his family published in this volume give all necessary evidence to the existence of deep solicitude for their welfare, comfort and happiness; as well as a true parental interest in the mental, moral and spiritual development of his children; an interest so intense that it was an anxiety, such as only generous, manly bosoms, big with hopes that reach beyond the grave, are capable of experiencing. While he was willing and did labor for the good of the human race, and possessed brilliant talents and a universal sympathy which eminently qualified him for that work, he looked upon his own family as being the nucleus of that kingdom over which he would reign as priest, as king, as God! He loved his family, but that love was sanctified and made devoid of all selfishness by the hopes and aspirations awakened in his breast by the glorious gospel of the Son of God. Love so sanctified could only result in making him a kind, noble father, a gentle and loving husband.

He possessed superb self-control, which, with his nice sense of justice and honor, enabled him to be remarkably successful in the patriarchal order of marriage. Each wife was treated as the equal of the others, and with her children shared equally in the blessings and material advantages he was able to bestow upon them.

The social circle offered him an opportunity for the exercise of all his generous impulses. He delighted in family gatherings, in neighborhood feasts, and the reunions of friends, especially of those tried and true. His genial manners, his delightful conversation, his powers as a vocalist, together with his great experience, and an inexhaustible fund of humor made him a central figure and often the very life of these social gatherings.

Such was the character of President John Taylor; such the qualities of his mind; such his public and domestic virtues: and if, as an old English writer hath it, the great man is he who chooses the right with invincible resolution; who resists the sorest temptations from within and without; who bears the heaviest burdens cheerfully; who is calmest in storms, and most fearless under menace and frowns; and whose reliance on truth, on virtue, and on God, is most unfaltering—the name of JOHN TAYLOR must be written high up on the column of fame where the names of the great are enshrined, for in all these things he was pre-eminent.

Footnotes

1. I John v., 7, 8.2. The poem will be found in Parley P. Pratt's Autobiography, p. 500.3. The Seer is published in the Latter-day Saints' Hymn Book, p. 337.