What Revelations Did John Taylor Receive?

John Taylor received at least nine recorded revelations as president, ranging from administrative instructions regarding Brigham Young’s estate to doctrinal declarations on plural marriage. Occasionally called “John the Revelator,” Taylor favored a first-person style of dictation that echoed the “Thus saith the Lord” language of Joseph Smith. While his 1882 and 1883 revelations formally called new apostles, other documents—like the disputed 1886 revelation on plural marriage—remain the subject of debates. In this article, Chad Nielsen explores the documentary history and debunked visions associated with the Church’s third president.

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John Taylor’s Uncanonized Revelations

— Although his recorded revelations would remain uncanonized, John Taylor used these formal documents to address pressing administrative needs and restore the first-person prophetic voice to the Church’s leadership.

How many uncanonized revelations do we know about John Taylor recording?

Following Brigham Young’s death in 1877, John Taylor led the Church for three years as President of the Twelve before being sustained as Church President in 1880. Unlike many later presidents, Taylor frequently used a formal, revelatory style. Between 1877 and 1884, he recorded nine generally accepted revelations, though only two were published during his lifetime. Most were preserved in a booklet by George F. Gibbs. A separate, controversial revelation from 1886 remains a pillar for Fundamentalist groups; notably, while its authenticity was long questioned, the Church History Library published images of the original document in June 2025.^[1]

What are the revelations that John Taylor recorded like?

John Taylor’s written revelations are styled after the revelations of Joseph Smith, Jr., such as those recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants. They are presented as being in the voice of the Lord, speaking to Latter-day Saints. This style of revelation was called “covenants” or “commandments” by early Latter Day Saints. Christopher Blythe has also offered an academic label as “dialogic revelations.”^[2]

Scholar Finds Brigham Young Revelation

Take, for example, the revelation that John Taylor wrote in May 1884, after the dedication of the Logan Temple:

As thou hast asked Me concerning this temple, thus saith the LORD: I accept this house which thou hast built; and also the labors of the Committee, the Superintendent, and the Architect thereof, and of those who have in anywise contributed to the building or beautifying the same, by their labor or by their means; and inasmuch as it shall be preserved pure and not by defiled, My presence shall be there, even the power of My Spirit, the Gift of the Holy Ghost; which shall in this house hereafter be more fully understood; and I will acknowledge the ordinances which shall be administered therein, both for the living and the dead; and My blessings shall attend the administration of the ordinances, and shall rest upon those who administer therein, inasmuch as they comply with the order of My house, and act with purity and singleness of heart before Me, according to My word, My ordinances and My law; and this house shall be a house of prayer, a house of learning, a house of God, wherein many great principles pertaining to the past, to the present, and the future shall be revealed.

And My word and My will be made known, and the laws of the universe, pertaining to this world and other worlds be developed; for in these houses which have been built unto Me, and which shall be built, I will reveal the abundance of those things pertaining to the past, the present, and the future—to the life that now is, and the life that is to come, pertaining to law, order, rule, dominion, and government; to things affecting this nation and other nations. The laws of the heavenly bodies in their times and seasons, and the principles or laws by which they are governed, and their relation to each other, and whether they be bodies Celestial, Terrestrial, or Telestial shall all be made known as I will, saith the LORD.

For it is My will and My purpose to place My people in closer communion with the heavens, inasmuch as they will purify themselves and observe more diligently My law; for it is in Mine heart to greatly bless and exalt My people, and to build up, exalt, and beautify My Zion, inasmuch as they shall observe My law.

Even so, Amen.
John Taylor Revelation, May 1884

Why is John Taylor an outlier in how he recorded revelations?

John Taylor was one of the few presidents to consistently use “dialogic” revelation—the direct voice of deity—long after the practice had faded. Even Joseph Smith moved toward letters and sermons in his later years, with Section 132 being a notable exception, written to persuade Emma Smith.^[3]

Brigham Young purposefully avoided this style, famously arguing that “Thus saith the Lord” commands brought greater condemnation upon the Saints if they failed to obey. He preferred giving “encouragement” rather than direct divine decrees.^[4]^[5] While Wilford Woodruff kept private dialogic records and Joseph F. Smith had his 1918 vision about the redemption of the dead (D&C 138), neither published revelations in the voice of the Lord. In this light, Taylor’s approach was a deliberate return to the Church’s earliest prophetic traditions.

John Taylor’s revelations may have benefitted from his skills as a writer in the early history of the Church.

Recording and Publishing the John Taylor Revelations

— Most John Taylor revelations were recorded through direct dictation to his secretary George Reynolds, a process that resulted in the publication of the 1882 and 1883 revelations concerning Church administration and leadership.

What role did George Reynolds play in the John Taylor revelations?

George Reynolds is most famous for his role in the legal battles over plural marriage as the subject of a test case that made its way up through the court system to the Supreme Court of the United States. His role in the revelations, however, is more directly connected to his position as secretary for the First Presidency. When John Taylor was recording his revelations, he generally dictated them to Reynolds.

As Reynolds explained in an article he wrote for the Juvenile Instructor:

It was my privilege to write from President Taylor’s dictation nearly all the revelations that he received. When I reported at the Gardo House in the morning I would occasionally find him writing at a table either in his bed room or in the small office on the west side of the building, occupied by myself. On my arrival, he would arise, I would seat myself where he had been sitting, and he would continue the revelation he had commenced to write by dictating it to me. While so doing he generally walked backwards and forwards along the room. When the writing was finished I read it to him, generally more than once, and he would say, “Yes, that’s right.” On only one occasion do I remember that he made any alteration in that which was written. There was one short phrase that did not appear quite plain. I read it over to him three times, he then slightly changed it, and when I again read it, he said, “That’s right.”^[6]

Reynolds was the scribe who recorded most of John Taylor’s revelations.

Why Did Belle Harris Go to Prison?

What were the two John Taylor revelations that were published during his lifetime?

The two revelations that were published were recorded on October 13, 1882 and April 14, 1883.

1882 revelation

The October 13, 1882 revelation was received in response to the need to call two new apostles to the Quorum of the Twelve, among other administrative concerns. George Teasdale and Heber J. Grant were appointed to fill the vacancies in the Twelve. The revelation also offered other guidance, including an emphasis on Church leaders practicing plural marriage, “for it is not meet that men who will not abide My law shall preside over My Priesthood.” It was published as a three-page pamphlet.^[7]

1883 revelation

The April 14, 1883 revelation had to do with the organization of the Quorums of the Seventy. The seventies were more akin to missionary-focused elders than the general authority role that is implied today. Men were called to specific quorums, and those quorums were not organized geographically.

The move from Illinois to Utah and the subsequent colonization efforts of the Saints wreaked havoc on these quorums, with each quorum scattered across the Intermountain West. The First Presidency outlined a plan in writing to adjust their organization to reflect the realities of 1883 and discussed this plan with the Quorum of the Twelve and the First Seven Presidents of the Seventies.

Afterwards, John Taylor prayed to know the will of the Lord and recorded a revelation that declared, “What ye have written is my will, and is acceptable unto me.” It also offered a few words of comfort and guidance to leaders of the Church. The document outlining the adjustments and the revelation were published together in a booklet shortly afterwards.^[8]

Both of these revelations were printed in several European editions of the Doctrine and Covenants. They continued to be part of the Swedish, German, and Danish Doctrine and Covenants through the 1920s.

Why were many of the John Taylor revelations never published?

George Reynolds offered this brief explanation: “Only a few of the revelations given through him have been published, as the greater portion were not addressed to the Church as a whole, or to the world, but to individuals or special bodies of brethren.”^[9]

The greater portion were not addressed to the Church as a whole.

While the same could be said of many of the revelations included in the Doctrine and Covenants (the publication of which allows others to “overhear” conversations with the Lord), it makes sense to limit the receipt of the revelations to those for whom they were intended.

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Why were John Taylor’s revelations never added to the Doctrine and Covenants?

The primary obstacle was their explicit focus on plural marriage. In Taylor’s era, phrases like “My law” referred specifically to polygamy, which he framed as a divine command essential for exaltation and leadership.^[10]^[11]^[12] However, as the Church sought to distance itself from polygamy following the Manifestos of 1890 and 1904, Taylor’s revelations became doctrinally problematic. By the 1920s, new policies from leaders like Heber J. Grant effectively rendered Taylor’s specific instructions on plural marriage obsolete, leading to their omission from the official English canon.

What’s in the New Joseph F. Smith Biography?

John Taylor and the Apocalyptic Vision of the Destruction of Cities in the United States

— Despite popular folklore, John Taylor did not record the famous “December 16, 1877” vision of blood in the streets of U.S. Cities. The claim is based on an anonymous entry in Wilford Woodruff’s journal that has been attributed to both Joseph F. Smith and John Taylor over the years, despite repeated denunciations by church leaders.

Did John Taylor have an apocalyptic vision on December 16, 1877?

The short answer is no, but that hasn’t stopped people from claiming that he did, similar to the Horseshoe Prophecy.

This myth stems from an anonymous document copied into Wilford Woodruff’s journal on June 15, 1878. The vision describes a person who had been reading revelations in French, witnessing the “desolating sickness” and horrific destruction of major U.S. cities like New York and Salt Lake City. It concludes with a heavenly scene in Independence, Missouri. While its vivid imagery has fascinated apocalyptic-minded readers for over a century, the document is anonymous and of dubious validity. There is no historical evidence linking it to John Taylor.^[20]

The old Ogden Tabernacle was the specific setting for the dramatic 1877 apocalyptic vision that has long circulated as Mormon folklore. Although the “desolating sickness” account is now known to be anonymous rather than an authentic John Taylor revelation, its vivid description guaranteed its survival.

Who else has this apocalyptic vision been linked to?

It is a recent development in the history of this vision to attribute it to John Taylor, likely on the basis that the author was reading in French and that President Taylor had recently become the leader of the Church at the time the vision supposedly occurred. For most of its history, the Church leader to whom it was connected was Joseph F. Smith.

For over 50 years, however, Joseph F. Smith and his son, Joseph Fielding Smith, fought to distance themselves from this “pretended vision.” In 1880, Joseph F. Smith labeled it a “fraud” and noted he was “wholly ignorant of its author.” By 1918, he pointed out a logical flaw: the vision was written by someone fluent in French, a language he did not speak.

Joseph Fielding Smith likewise denounced the revelation in 1918 and then continued the defense into 1931, expressing astonishment that the “lying spirit” of this rumor persisted. He warned that true revelation follows the “proper channels of the Church” rather than being “concocted in some corner” and distributed surreptitiously. Despite these high-level denials, the vision remained in circulation, eventually being misattributed to John Taylor.

What Is the White Horse Prophecy?

What have historians said about this 1877 vision of destruction in United States cities?

The fact that the vision persistently has attached itself to presidents of the Church, despite repeated denunciations of authorship and content, led the late historian Ardis E. Parshall to call it the “vision that will not die,” while writing her own denunciation of the vision:^[21]

There is no record that John Taylor spoke up and claimed the vision as his, in 1878 or in 1880 or at any other time. When the “vision” was repudiated as being Joseph F. Smith’s in 1880 – with the Deseret News notice being given wide circulation by being reprinted in the Millennial Star – John Taylor did not claim it as his own. No church official associated it with John Taylor when it was discussed in 1880 … or in 1918 … or in 1931. …

Know it for what it is: a “manifestation that proceeds out of darkness, concocted in some corner, surreptitiously presented, and not coming through the proper channels of the Church.”
Parshall, Ardis E. “”Concocted in Some Corner”: A Bogus “Vision” Surfaces Again … and Again … and Again.” Keepapitchin.org, 29 Oct 2012.

The John Taylor 1886 Revelation on Plural Marriage

— The 1886 revelation is an uncanonized document attributed to John Taylor, which states that the ‘New and Everlasting Covenant’ of plural marriage could not be revoked. While not official LDS scripture, it remains a foundational text for Mormon Fundamentalist groups.

What is John Taylor’s September 27, 1886 revelation?

John Taylor spent the last couple of years of his life in hiding to avoid arrest for practicing polygamy. The secrecy about his location and activities during that time created room for confusion and rumors about what he was saying and doing—both at the time and later on.

One of those rumors was that President Taylor received a revelation on September 27, 1886, that read as follows:

My son John, you have asked me concerning the New and Everlasting Covenant how far it is binding upon my people.

Thus saith the Lord: All commandments that I give must be obeyed by those calling themselves by my name unless they are revoked by me or by my authority, and how can I revoke an everlasting covenant, for I the Lord am everlasting and my everlasting covenants cannot be abrogated nor done away with, but they stand forever.

Have I not given my word in great plainness on this subject? Yet have not great numbers of my people been negligent in the observance of my law and the keeping of my commandments, and yet have I borne with them these many years; and this because of their weakness—because of the perilous times, and furthermore, it is more pleasing to me that men should use their free agency in regard to these matters. Nevertheless, I the Lord do not change and my word and my covenants and my law do not, and as I have heretofore said by my servant Joseph: All those who would enter into my glory must and shall obey my law. And have I not commanded men that if they were Abraham’s seed and would enter into my glory, they must do the works of Abraham. I have not revoked this law, nor will I, for it is everlasting, and those who will enter into my glory must obey the conditions thereof; even so, Amen.^[13]

In the years following the Second Manifesto of 1904, John Taylor’s son—Elder John W. Taylor of the Quorum of the Twelve—continued to perform plural marriages, going against the will of the First Presidency to do so.

When he faced disciplinary action in 1911, he claimed to have found the revelation in his father’s papers after President John Taylor had died, and John W. Taylor used it as justification for his actions.^[14]

A portion of the handwritten John Taylor 1886 revelation manuscript, courtesy of the Church History Library. While this physical document was used to justify continuing plural marriage, a separate controversy exists regarding the miraculous vision that allegedly occurred during its dictation.

What is the vision associated with John Taylor’s 1886 Revelation?

Later on, the revelation came to be associated with an elaborate vision in the accounts of Joseph W. Musser, John W. Woolley, Lorin C. Woolley, and others. They claimed that there was a meeting in September 1886.

The revelation came to be associated with an elaborate vision.

Before the meeting, John Taylor is said to have met with Jesus Christ and Joseph Smith, and to have received the revelation and been commanded that plural marriage should be kept alive by a group separate from the Church hierarchy.

In these accounts, as they evolved in the 1910s and 1920s, the following day, the Woolleys, George Q. Cannon, and others were said to have been set apart to keep “the principle” alive, including sufficient priesthood authority to perform marriage sealings and pass on that authority.

These claims became the foundation of many of the fundamentalist groups that descend from this Council of Friends (also known as the Woolley Group or the Priesthood Council), including the FLDS church, Apostolic United Brethren, Righteous Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Davis County Cooperative Society, etc.^[15]

Who Was Joseph W. Musser?

Is the September 27, 1886 Revelation real?

Yes. The document exists, and copies are housed in the LDS Church History Library. Whether the revelation should be regarded as coming from God is another, more polarizing question, since fundamentalist Mormon groups view it as their founding authority, while the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints rejects it.^[16]

Historically, the document’s defiant tone matches the rhetoric of the era; even Wilford Woodruff recorded a similar “no compromise” revelation as late as 1889.^[17]

However, a major hurdle remains that some Latter-day Saint scholars have noted: none of the men with Taylor in hiding—such as George Q. Cannon or L. John Nuttall—mentioned the revelation or the purported meeting in their journals. Without further corroborative documentation, its authenticity remains an open question for historians.^[18]

What is the significance of the John Taylor revelations?

The revelations of John Taylor are a testament to the principle of ongoing revelation to the presidents of the Church. As John Taylor observed in 1847:

From the time that Adam first received a communication from God, to the time that John, on the Isle of Patmos, received his communication, or Joseph Smith had the heavens opened to him, it always required new revelation, adapted to the peculiar circumstances in which the church or individuals were placed.^[19]

The same applied during John Taylor’s administration as leader of the Church.

Another reason the revelations are important is that they were received in response to specific circumstances and concerns, so they also provide a window into the issues with which John Taylor was dealing during the 1870s and 1880s.

The First Presidency—George Q. Cannon, John Taylor, and Joseph F. Smith—navigated the intense legal and spiritual trials of the late 19th century. Their leadership remains a primary window into how the Church utilized formal, written revelations to address the unique challenges of the 1870s and 1880s.

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