John W. Taylor

Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (May 15, 1884 – April 1905)

General Conference Addresses

• October 1903 General Conference
  • The Only Path to Salvation
    • “Is the fact that we may be temporarily happy going to save us in the kingdom of God? Have we not got to abide in the doctrines of Christ, or we have not the Father and the Son?”
    • “You may say, “I am happy in this religion.” Bless your soul, is not the Mongolian happy when he is lying upon his couch smoking the deadly fumes of opium? In the hallucination of his mind, does he not imagine that he is having pleasure and joy? I tell you there is no true happiness except that which comes from a faithful performance of duty, under the gift and power of the Holy Ghost.”
    • “I ask how the Lord could ever have built up His Church in ancient days by somebody simply saying they felt happy? People with such ideas may be enjoying the happy hallucinations of dreamland, but they are sleeping the sleep of death.”
    • “Hypnotism is displeasing in the sight of the Lord, and those who practice it may be likened unto the charmers, soothsayers, sorcerers, and idolaters of ancient times.”
• October 1902 General Conference
  • Ancient Prophecies Fulfilled
    • “As Jesus himself has prophesied, they will cry for the rocks to fall upon them, to hide them from the wrath of Him who shall come; for no man can stand in the presence of God, except he be cleansed every whit from sin.”
• April 1902 General Conference
  • Blessings of Obedience
    • “If you wish to live a long time, my young brethren and sisters, honor and obey your fathers and mothers, and the Lord will bless you with this desire of your heart; but if you disobey your parents, you are not entitled to a long life; you are not entitled to the blessings of God upon you and upon your posterity.”
  • Hypnotism
    • “We have had a number of young men go east to study medicine and other branches of knowledge, and some of them have come back, not only as graduates in the science they studied, but as professors of hypnotism. I say it is not of God, and is an abomination in His sight, and if they do not repent of their sins, as sure as God lives, the judgments spoken of in the revelation, from which I have read, will come upon them, and they will wander away into darkness, and will not be acknowledged of the Lord.”
• October 1901 General Conference
  • Revelation
    • “How many millions of people there are today upon the earth who would walk across this earth for the privilege of knowing that God lives; Well, we heard yesterday from Apostle Clawson that there are thousands of men here who hold the key to a knowledge of God.”
• April 1901 General Conference
  • The Gospel is Restored
    • “I say unto you that if you are not building your foundation strong and of good material, the greater the house you put upon it the greater will be the fall when it shall come.”
    • “If we determine to have our own way and work out our own will, we will stand condemned; for the Lord will not justify any man in becoming a law unto himself.”
• October 1900 General Conference
  • Binding, Sealing and Blessing
    • “I say again that the Lord never informs people when he is going to make a change. In his own time he comes and makes the change.”
    • “I want to tell you that there would be very few Patriarchal blessings unfulfilled, if those who received them would remember that no blessing can be vouchsafed unto the children of men, excepting- through their faithfulness in keeping the commandments of God.”
  • Building Up the Kingdom
    • “Blessed are the honest in heart. Blessed are they whose hearts are to build up the kingdom of God. My testimony is, and it will always be, if you will sustain the authorities of this Church, God will bless you. If you do your duty, God will bless you and prosper you in the land of Zion. If you do not do your duty, the Spirit of God will not be with you, and you will not be prospered.”
• April 1900 General Conference
  • Salvation Through Obedience
    • “The gift of prophecy will not save any man. It is not a saving principle; it is a gift. It is to comfort our hearts. It is to give us the testimony of the mind and will of God concerning things which are to come.”
    • “Any man that receives a gift from God will have to get it by earnestly seeking after the Father.”
    • “I exhort you, my brethren and sisters, to seek for the best gifts, but not to put your dependence upon them. You may raise a man from the dead by the power of God, and that will not save the man you raise up and it will not save you.”
• April 1899 General Conference
  • Restoration of the Gospel
    • “I know that this is the work of God; I know that the Lord has again established His work in the day and age in which you and I live, and I know that every man that will humble himself and go. down into the waters of baptism with a desire to serve God and keep His commandments, rorsttklng all his sins, that he will receive the gift of the Holy Ghost when the hands of the servants of God are laid upon him; he will know that God lives and that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God, as you and I know it, because we have been founded upon the rock of revelation.”
    • “I know that God loves those that are humble and contrite in their spirit. I know that God loves those who work for the redemption of mankind.”
  • Obedience
    • “If you will listen to the words of the Prophets of God, and will walk in that straight and narrow path, you can have a testimony of this Gospel. There are a few that enjoy these gifts and blessings, but it is a rare occurrence where a man can go among this people and see these gifts and blessings manifest in their midst. I feel that there is a responsibility resting upon this people.”
    • “What is that oil? It is the Holy Ghost, the power of God unto salvation; it is that spirit that will lead you into the ways of truth; it is that spirit which partaketh of the things of God and reveals them unto the children of men; it is that spirit that makes children obedient to parents.”
    • “Every father and every mother if they are doing their duty, will have that inspiration they should have, and will have that knowledge, to counsel their sons and daughters to walk in that straight and narrow path that leads to eternal life, and you will not make any mistakes if you will listen to their advice.”
• April 1898 General Conference
  • Divine Agencies at Work
    • “Now, you wonder why so many Gentiles are turning their hearts toward the truth. We can learn that there is a change brought about by agencies in addition to the witnesses that were spoken of yesterday by Elder Roberts.”
• October 1897 General Conference
  • Modern Revelation Necessary
    • “When the children of God understand true wealth and that which will make them as God, they will find it in presiding over their posterity in their turn, as our Father is now presiding over His, and in the fact that they have wives and children, their posterity increasing and multiplying, and the principle of the continuation of lives committed unto them for ever and ever.”
    • “I tell you there might have lived in ages past hundreds and thousands of prophets, but that is not sufficient for the day and age in which we live.”

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