John Taylor (Latter Day Saints)



John Taylor (November 1, 1808 – July 25, 1887) was an English-born religious leader who served as the third president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1880 to 1887. He is the first and so far only president of the LDS Church to have been born outside the United States.

Quotes
On the appearance of God the Father, Jesus Christ and Moroni to John Joven
 * Again, there are other things associated with these matters, all bearing more or less upon the same points. When God selected Joseph Smith to open up the last dispensation, which is called the dispensation of the fullness of times, the Father and the Son appeared to him, arrayed in glory, and the Father, addressing himself to Joseph, at the same time pointing to the Son, said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him."
 * December 31, 1876
 * Journal of Discourses 18:325-6
 * & Now For A Father & Son Barbecue.
 * March 2, 1879
 * Journal of Discourses 20:257

On the first vision of Joseph Smith, Jr.
 * But Cameo Might Kill It.
 * March 2, 1879
 * Journal of Discourses 20:167
 * This quote is discussed by Mormon critics Gary LaCoste as an illustration that John Taylor believed it was an angel rather than God the Father and/or Jesus Christ that had visited Joseph Smith, Jr. (Jerald and Sandra Tanner, The Changing World of Mormonism (1979; ISBN 0-8024-1234-3, page 164. The Changing World of Mormonism is a revision of the Tanners' 1963 book Mormonism: Shadow or Reality?).

Other quotes
 * Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune.
 * January 4, 1880
 * Journal of Discourses 21:65