LABORS AS PRESIDENT—SAMPLE TOURS—CHARACTER OF SERMONS—LESS OF THE POET BUT MORE OF THE PHILOSOPHER—A REVELATION.

Although President Taylor, at the time he became President of the Church, was two years past the three score years and ten allotted by the Psalmist as the life of man, he was not bowed down by their weight. His form was erect and his step elastic; and he entered upon the performance of his high duties with a zeal and vigor only to be expected of a younger man. He visited the Stakes of Zion in Utah and the surrounding territories, setting them in order, teaching, counseling and encouraging the Saints with all the energy and kindness of his great soul.

As a sample of his travels and labors among the people I give the following summary of two of his trips during the year 1881: In the latter part of July, in company with several of the Apostles and other brethren, he started on a tour to visit some of the northern Stakes and settlements. He was absent from Salt Lake City seventeen days, during which time he visited five Stakes of Zion, viz., Cache, Rich, Summit, Wasatch and Utah, traveling much of the distance in carriages. Twenty-three meetings were held by the party. President Taylor attended all but three, and spoke at the most of them.

In the latter part of November of the same year, he visited the southern Stakes and settlements, accompanied by his Counselor Joseph F. Smith and several of the Twelve Apostles. This tour occupied five weeks and four days. The party held sixty-eight meetings; besides many council meetings where advice and instructions to Presidents of Stakes, Bishops and other officers of the Church were freely given. Thus he labored incessantly among the people from his accession to the Presidency until he was driven into retirement by the judicial crusade waged against the Saints some years later.

The subject matter in the discourses of President Taylor in these years dealt very largely with the duties of the Saints in all the relations of life; as husbands and wives, parents and children, neighbors and citizens; unity, honor, integrity, honesty, purity in thought and act were his themes—in one word he preached righteousness as essential to the favor of God, and with the favor of God he assured the Saints they need not fear what man or nations could do. "God will be on the side of Israel, if Israel will be on the side of right," was his oft-repeated, confident assertion.

He was particularly careful to set in order the quorums of the priesthood, and charged them to walk in holiness before the Lord. Who does not remember with what earnestness and power in conferences and other public meetings, he was wont to admonish Presidents of Stakes and bishops of wards to set in order the priesthood and institutions under their supervision? And how he urged them to labor with all diligence, long-suffering and kindness for the reformation of the wayward! But if they would not reform, how he then strictly charged the authorities having jurisdiction in the case to sever them from the Church, that God, angels and the world might know that Israel had no fellowship with drunkards, debauchees, thieves, liars or the dishonest.

Alluding to the Priesthood and its organization he would say: "These things are given to us for what? To gratify our ambition? to enable us to ride over and trample under foot our fellow-creatures? to place power and authority upon us? No; not for any man's emolument or aggrandizement. Although there is nothing more honorable, nothing more dignified, nothing to which a man ought so much to aspire to as to be a servant of the living God, and to be commissioned by Him to do His work upon the earth. And what for? To spread correct principles among men; to combat priestcraft, statecraft, oppression, fraud and iniquity of all kinds; and to introduce among men those pure and holy principles by which the Gods are governed in the eternal worlds."

In addition to these things he taught implicit trust in God, showed the Saints their dependence upon Him, and frequently alluded to the source from whence they derived their knowledge of truth. "Any intelligence which we may possess," he would say, "and which we may be able to impart, is not of ourselves, but of God. It did not originate with Joseph Smith, with Brigham Young, with the Twelve Apostles, nor was it received from any institution of learning, or of science, either religious, political or social. Our philosophy is not the philosophy of the world; but of the earth and the heavens, of time and eternity, and proceeds from God."

How like in spirit is this to that famous reply of the Son of God to the Jews, who marveled at his doctrine, saying, "How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?" What humility, what deep reverence for God there is in the reply of Messiah—"My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent me!"

If in these discourses preached in the latter years of his ministry there were fewer of those poetic flights of eloquence so characteristic of his earlier discourses and writings, there was a deeper solemnity, a calmer but more intense, earnestness. If there was less of the poet, there was more of the philosopher. The flower and bloom had fallen, perhaps, but it was only that the ripening fruit and golden grain might appear.

Finally, his counsels, his warnings, his doctrines and promises received the most direct approval by the voice of God Himself, demonstrating that his teachings had all along been inspired. The approval above referred to is contained in the following revelation:

REVELATION GIVEN THROUGH PRESIDENT JOHN TAYLOR

AT SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH TERRITORY,

October 13TH, 1882.

Thus saith the Lord to the Twelve, and to the priesthood and people of my Church: Let my servants George Teasdale and Heber J. Grant be appointed to fill the vacancies in the Twelve, that you may be fully organized and prepared for the labors devolving upon you, for you have a great work to perform; and then proceed to fill up the presiding quorum of Seventies, and assist in organizing that body of my priesthood who are your co-laborers in the ministry. You may appoint Seymour B. Young to fill up the vacancy in the presiding quorum of Seventies, if he will conform to my law; for it is not meet that men who will not abide my law shall preside over my priesthood; and then proceed forthwith and call to your aid any assistance that you may require from among the Seventies to assist you in your labors in introducing and maintaining the gospel among the Lamanites throughout the land. And then let High Priests be selected, under the direction of the First Presidency, to preside over the various organizations that shall exist among this people; that those who receive the gospel may be taught in the doctrines of my church and in the ordinances and laws thereof, and also in the things pertaining to my Zion and my kingdom, saith the Lord, that they may be one with you in my Church and my kingdom.

Let the Presidency of my Church be one in all things; and let the Twelve also be one in all things; and let them all be one with me as I am one with the Father.

And let the High Priests organize themselves, and purify themselves, and prepare themselves for this labor, and for all other labors that they may be called upon to fulfill.

And let the Presidents of Stakes also purify themselves, and the priesthood and people of the Stakes over which they preside, and organize the priesthood in their various Stakes according to my law, in all the various departments thereof, in the High Councils, in the Elders' quorums, and in the Bishops and their councils, and in the quorums of Priests, Teachers and Deacons, that every quorum may be fully organized according to the order of my Church; and, then, let them inquire into the standing and fellowship of all that hold my holy priesthood in their several Stakes; and if they find those that are unworthy let them remove them, except they repent; for my priesthood, whom I have called and whom I have sustained and honored, shall honor me and obey my laws, and the laws of my holy priesthood, or they shall not be considered worthy to hold my priesthood, saith the Lord. And let my priesthood humble themselves before me, and seek not their own will but my will; for if my priesthood, whom I have chosen, and called, and endowed with the spirit and gifts of their several callings, and with the powers thereof, do not acknowledge me I will not acknowledge them, saith the Lord; for I will be honored and obeyed by my priesthood.

And, then, I call upon my priesthood, and upon all of my people, to repent of all their sins and short-comings, of their covetousness and pride and self-will, and of all their iniquities wherein they sin against me; and to seek with all humility to fulfill my law, as my priesthood, my saints and my people; and I call upon the heads of families to put their houses in order according to the law of God, and attend to the various duties and responsibilities associated therewith, and to purify themselves before me, and to purge out iniquity from their households. And I will bless and be with you, saith the Lord, and ye shall gather together in your holy places wherein ye assemble to call upon me, and ye shall ask for such things as are right, and I will hear your prayers, and my Spirit and power shall be with you, and my blessing shall rest upon you, upon your families, your dwellings and your households, upon your flocks and herds and fields, your orchards and vineyards, and upon all that pertains to you; and you shall be my people and I will be your God; and your enemies shall not have dominion over you, for I will preserve you and confound them, saith the Lord, and they shall not have power nor dominion over you; for my word shall go forth, and my work shall be accomplished, and my Zion shall be established, and my rule and my power and my dominion shall prevail among my people, and all nations shall yet acknowledge me. Even so, Amen.