John Taylor

AUTHOR PROFILE

John Taylor

John Taylor was the third President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A convert in Canada, he became an apostle, writer, missionary, and editor. He was wounded in the attack at Carthage Jail that killed Joseph and Hyrum Smith, and later led the Church during a period of intense federal opposition to plural marriage.

FEATURED QUOTE

So far as I am concerned, I say, let everything come as God has ordained it. I do not desire trials; I do not desire affliction . . . but if . . . the powers of darkness are let loose, and the spirit of evil is permitted to rage, and an evil influence is brought to bear on the Saints, and my life, with theirs, is put to the test; let it come, for we are the Saints of the Most High God, and all is well, all is peace, all is right, and will be, both in time and in eternity.

— John Taylor

Biography at a glance

Born: 1808 in Milnthorpe, England
Joined the Church: 1836 in Canada
Church service: Apostle for four decades; President of the Church from 1880 to 1887
Work: Missionary, editor, and writer

Writing and missionary service

Taylor joined the Church with his wife, Leonora, while they lived in Toronto. His later assignments took him through Britain, Europe, and North America. He edited Church newspapers and published defenses and explanations of Latter-day Saint belief. The Church’s historical overview places this work alongside his experience at Carthage.

Church president in a contested era

After Brigham Young’s death, Taylor led the Twelve before reorganizing the First Presidency in 1880. His presidency included new organization for children and women as well as growing conflict with the United States government over plural marriage. He spent much of his final years in hiding and died in 1887.

Explore related people and topics

Joseph Smith, whom Taylor knew and defended
Brigham Young, his predecessor
Wilford Woodruff, who followed him

Sources and further reading

Quotes by John Taylor

7 quotes

So far as I am concerned, I say, let everything come as God has ordained it. I do not desire trials; I do not desire affliction . . . but if . . . the powers of darkness are let loose, and the spirit of evil is permitted to rage, and an evil influence is brought to bear on the Saints, and my life, with theirs, is put to the test; let it come, for we are the Saints of the Most High God, and all is well, all is peace, all is right, and will be, both in time and in eternity.

(John Taylor, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 5, 115-116)

— John Taylor

“If you do not magnify your callings, God will hold you responsible for those whom you might have saved had you done your duty.”

— John Taylor

“A man who has not paid his tithing is unfit to be baptized for his dead. … If a man has not faith enough to attend to these little things, he has not faith enough to save himself and his friends.”

History of the Church, 7:282.

— John Taylor

“[There were persons during medieval times who] “could commune with God, and who, by the power of faith, could draw aside the curtain of eternity and gaze upon the invisible world . . . , have the ministering of angels, and unfold the future destinies of the world. If those were dark ages I pray God to give me a little darkness, and deliver me from the light and intelligence that prevail in our day.”

Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. (Liverpool: F. D. Richards & Sons, 1851–86), 16:197

— John Taylor

“Parents, treat your children aright; train them up in the fear of the Lord; they are of more importance to you than many things that you give your attention to.”

— John Taylor

“This church fail? No! Times and seasons may change, revolution may succeed revolution; thrones may be cast down; and empires be dissolved; earthquakes may rend the earth from center to circumference; the mountains may be hurled out of their places, and the mighty ocean be moved from its bed, but amidst the crash of worlds and the crack of matter, truth, eternal truth, must remain unchanged, and those principles which God has revealed to his saints be unscathed amidst the warring elements, and remain as firm as the throne of Jehovah.”

— John Taylor

“But as an intelligent being, if I have a mind capable of reflection, I wish to contemplate the works of nature, and to know something of nature’s God, and my destiny. I love to view the things around me; to gaze upon the sun, moon, and stars; to study the planetary system, and the world we inhabit; to behold their beauty, order, harmony, and the operations of existence around me. … everything is beautifully harmonious, and perfectly adapted to the position it occupies in the world. Whether you look at birds, beasts, or the human system, you see something exquisitely beautiful and harmonious, and worthy of the contemplation there was a God, [even] if there was no such thing as religion in the world.”

Journal of Discourses, 1:151-52.

— John Taylor