The Life of John Taylor. B. H. Roberts

that career peculiar to himself, and of a character, too, to make it worthy of a separate volume.

      The author is of the opinion that John Taylor would have had a remarkable history even if Mormonism had not found him; for he possessed those qualities of mind which would have made him a leader and a reformer among men. It is quite probable, too, that in the event of Mormonism not finding him, he would have won more of the honors and applause of men; for while his connection with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints threw him into prominence, the disrepute in which that Church is held brought reproach and odium upon him from the world. Had the courage and unselfish devotion which he brought to the support of Mormonism been given to some reform movement less odious in the estimation of mankind, his conduct would have called forth the highest encomiums from all men; but as those virtues were displayed for the interest and advancement of Mormonism, the world either refused to recognize them at all, or accounted them fanaticism merely, for which no praise was due.

      The praise of the world, however, is a small matter. It often praises those least worthy; it neglects or abuses those who are its chief benefactors. Our generation like many that have preceded it, garnishes the sepulchres of the ancient prophets, saying, "Had we lived in their day, we would not have persecuted and killed them." And yet with strange inconsistency they hunt to the death the living prophets whose memory future generations will honor. But the praise or censure of the world had little influence over the mind of John Taylor where truth was concerned. The more men despised it the more intense seemed his devotion.

      In that most beautiful of all his poems entitled "An Irishman's Address to his Mistress"—the poem is an allegory, the mistress is the Irish Catholic Church—Thomas Moore represents the Irishman as saying that through grief and through danger the smile of his mistress had cheered his way, till hope seemed to spring from thorns that round him lay; the darker their fortunes, the brighter their pure love burned, until shame into glory and fear into zeal was turned. The mistress had a rival. That rival was honored, while the mistress was wronged and scorned; her crown was of briars, while gold the rival's brows adorned. The rival wooed him to temples, while the mistress lay hid in caves; the former's friends were all masters, while the latter's, alas! were all slaves. "Yet," said the faithful devotee, "cold in the earth at thy feet I would rather be, than wed what I love not, or turn one thought from thee!" Such was the love of John Taylor for the Church of Christ to which he devoted his life.

      The author has but one reason to give for undertaking the pleasing task of writing this book—he loved the subject. To him John Taylor was the embodiment of those qualities of mind and heart which most become a man. He therefore applied to the family of the late President John Taylor—they being the parties most interested in such an undertaking—for the privilege of writing his history. They gave a ready assent, and the work was begun. Of the difficulties attending the production of this history I need not speak. They are such as attend all similar undertakings. The journals of President Taylor were very incomplete, covering only fragments of his life at best; but the chief events of his life were so closely interwoven with the history of the Church that his movements and labors could be followed in the Church publications; so that I feel reasonably certain that no important fact is omitted.

      To George J. Taylor—the eldest son of President Taylor—I am indebted for many valuable items of information; and he has taken an abiding interest in the work from its commencement.

      At my request the first Presidency of the Church appointed a committee to read the manuscript and pass upon it critically in respect to its doctrinal and historical correctness. That committee was Elders John Jaques and L. John Nuttall, the former assistant Church historian, the latter for a number of years secretary to President Taylor. The position these brethren occupied made them intimately acquainted with the subject, and they were enabled to render me valuable assistance in my work, for which I am deeply grateful to them.

      The work is now presented to the public in the hope that it will meet with approval, and preserve to the present and future generations a true history of John Taylor, the third President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

      THE AUTHOR.

CHAPTER I.

       Table of Contents

      INTRODUCTORY—BIRTH AND ANCESTRY.

      The leading spirits whom the Prophet Joseph Smith gathered about him in his brief but glorious career, were remarkable men. Not remarkable for illustrious birth, for they were of humble origin; not for scholarly attainments, for such were the conditions of their early life that scholastic education of a very high order was out of the question: but they were remarkable for character—that mysterious something which exists independent of birth, education or fortune.

      It has become proverbial that all great movements, all reformations, all revolutions must produce their own leaders; and this is as true of the great work of the last days, the establishment of the Church of Christ on the earth, as it is of any other great movement. Leaders in established usages and institutions, political, social or religious, are very seldom converted to innovations. They usually consider it to their interest to oppose changes, especially those changes which from their very nature cast any shadow of doubt upon the correctness of existing customs or institutions with which they are connected. Hence it happened that the Jewish rabbis, the priests, the scribes, the members of the great Sanhedrin—leaders in their nation—did not accept the doctrines of Messiah and become the chief apostles, seventies and elders of the new church. On the contrary, this class were the stubbornest opponents to the doctrines taught by the Son of God, and His most implacable enemies. It was the common people who heard Him gladly: and from their number He chose the apostles, who, through the God-given powers of the priesthood conferred upon them, shook the old systems of morals and religion from their foundations.

      Nor can it be doubted that the hand of the Lord is in this matter of choosing men to be His messengers, His prophets and His rulers. Many of them are chosen before they are born in the flesh. The messenger that was to prepare the way for the coming of the Son of God, John the Baptist, was so chosen. Jeremiah was ordained a prophet to the nations before he was born. Cyrus the Great, the war prince of Persia, was selected to be the deliverer of Israel from Babylonian bondage more than a century before his birth. Indeed, we are given to understand from the revelations of God, that from among the nobler class of spirits that dwell in His presence, the Father hath chosen those who are to be His rulers.

      From the very nature of things it must be necessary that men whose minds are unwarped by prevailing customs and traditions, should be selected to establish a new order of religion, of government or of society. How could the Jewish priests and rabbis, bound by long custom to a slavish adherence to the outward forms and ceremonies of the Mosaic ritual, the spirit and purpose of which had long been made of no effect by the rubbish of false traditions, open their minds to receive the larger and nobler doctrines of the gospel of Christ, unmixed with the pomp and circumstance which they of that age and nation considered essential to religion?

      Can men educated to an attachment for despotic government, and whose interests are bound up with its maintenance, be expected to look with favor on democratic principles, or become the champions of a republic?

      Finally, to wander no further from the subject in hand, were the religious leaders of the early part of the nineteenth century, educated to the idea that revelation had ceased; that the voice of prophecy was forever silenced; that the ministration of angels was ended; that the miraculous powers of the Holy Ghost were done away; that the ancient organization of the church was no longer needed; and further, believing that God was a substance merely, without form, without a body, or parts, or passions—were such men, filled with pride which the learning of this world too often infuses into the hearts of those who possess it—were such men qualified to stand at the head of, and become the leading actors in, the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times? A dispensation which was to be opened by the personal visitation of the Father and the Son, followed by numerous visitations of angels, the re-establishment of the church of Christ, with all its doctrines, ordinances, priesthoods, powers, promises and blessings; and ending, eventually,