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John Taylor (Church President: October 10, 1880 - July 27, 1887)
By and by, you will find they will tear the Constitution to shreds, as they have begun now; they won't have to begin; they have started long ago to rend the Constitution of our country in pieces; ...but we will stand by and maintain its principles and the rights of all men of every color, and every clime. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
We are living in a critical and an important age. Men sometimes are astonished when they see the corruption, wickedness and evil, the departure from honesty and integrity, and the villainy that everywhere exist; but why should they be? ... Has it not been preached to us that the nations of the earth had the elements of destruction within themselves and that they were bound to crumble? And when we see honor trampled under foot, and integrity and truth standing afar off, while the wicked, corrupt and [disobedient] manage and direct affairs, we may expect that the axe is laid at the root of the tree and that [the tree] is decaying and will soon fall [see D&C 97:7]. And that is what is being accomplished among the nations today. We need not whine or think there is anything strange or remarkable about it. We have expected these things to transpire, and they will be a great deal worse than they are to-day. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
... And if they love the devil better than God, they can do so and sup trouble and sorrow and calamity and war and bloodshed. For nation will rise against nation, country against country, and thrones will be cast down; and empires will be scattered to the four winds, and the powers of the earth everywhere will be shaken; and the Lord will come forth by and by to judge the nations; and it behooves us to know what we are doing ... = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
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." = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
"Talk about melancholy in the fear of God, and in his service! It is the corruption of the world, that has made men unhappy; and the corruption of religion that has made it gloomy: these are the miseries entailed by men, not the blessings of God. Talk about gloom!" = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
"Too many of us feel after the world. Can the world give you the light that you have received, and the gospel and the hopes of heaven you have received, and the priesthood you have received? And will you barter these things for a mess of pottage, and wallow in the filth, corruption, iniquity, and evils which abound in the world?"
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The Kingdom of God or nothing!
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