[Sermon] John Taylor: All Things Governed By Law - All Intelligence and Blessings Have Emanated From God - Man's Free Agency Should Not Be Interfered With - The Opponents of the Kingdom of God Should Not Be Allowed to Teach Our Children - Necessity of All Being Subject to Legitimate Authority, JD 20:129 - 137 (1)
-- Dec 8, 1878
[Sermon] John Taylor: The Perpetual Emigrating Fund - How to Settle Difficulties - Should Be Governed By the Laws of God - Cooperation and Brotherly Kindness - The Proper Training of Children, JD 20:102 - 109 (1)
-- Dec 15, 1878
[Sermon] John Taylor: All Intelligence Comes From God - Life and Immortality Brought to Light Through the Gospel - Gathering - Temple - Building - The Elders Messengers of Salvation to the Nations, JD 20:219 - 229 (1)
-- 1878
Church Membership at end of year: 125,046
New Converts : 9,981
Percent Change from previous year: 8.67% (2)
The Liberal Party majority disappears in Tooele County. They lose the next election, although the new winners are not seated until next year. (3)
[John Taylor] Primary organization established. (4)
[Lucy Mack Smith] William Smith is received in the Reorganized Church as a high priest on the basis of his original baptism and ordination. (5)
-- During circa 1878
[Sermon] Orson Pratt: God is Light - God Our Father - God a Personage - The Holy Ghost - The Earth As Part of the Universe - The Purpose of Experience - The Resurrection - Zion Taken From Each of the Creations - Spiritual Faculties, JD 19:280 - 294 (1)
-- Jan 4, 1879
Elder Hugh Findlay, first missionary to the Shetland Islands, begins preaching the gospel there. (6)
-- Jan 6, 1879
U.S. Supreme Court upheld 1862 antibigamy law in George Reynolds case. [See Antipolygamy Legislation; Reynolds v. United States.] (7)
U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of antipolygamy legislation in the George Reynolds case. (8)
In the first case before the Supreme Court regarding the first amendment, the court upholds the 1862 Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act banning plural marriage in Reynolds v. United States. George Q. Cannon, representative of the territory, states concerning this decision:+"Our crime has been: We married women instead of seducing them; we reared children instead of destroying them; we desired to exclude from the land prostitution, bastardy and infanticide. If George Reynolds [the man who was convicted of committing bigamy] is to be punished, let the world know the facts . . . . Let it be published to the four corners of the earth that in this land of liberty, the most blessed and glorious upon which the sun shines, the law is swiftly invoked to punish religion, but justice goes limping and blindfolded in pursuit of crime." (3)
[Sermon] John Taylor: We Should not Boast of Superiority Over Our Fellow Creatures - God is Interested in the Welfare of All Mankind - The Relation and Amenability of All Men to the Laws of God - We Should Be Courteous to Those Whose Views Differ From Ours - The Servants of God Are Messengers of Salvation - The Restoration of the Priesthood - The Judgments of The Almighty - Absurd Theories of Learned Men - Only the Righteous Among the Saints Will Be Saved in the Kingdom of God, JD 20:109 - 122 (1)
Footnotes:
1 - Journal of Discourses, http://jod.mrm.org
2 - Wikipedia, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Membership History, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Church_of_Jesus_Christ_of_Latter-day_Saints_membership_history
3 - Wikipedia, 19th Century (Mormonism), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/19th_century_(Mormonism)
4 - Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Teachings of Presidents of the Church: John Taylor, Salt Lake City, Utah
5 - Anderson, Lavina Fielding, Editor, Lucy's Book: A Critical Edition of Lucy Mack Smith's Family Memoir, 2001, Signature Books
6 - Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, United Kingdom, "On This Day," https://www.lds.org.uk/show_oda.php
7 - Ludlow, Daniel H. editor, Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Macmillan Publishing, Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Vol. 4, Appendix 2: A Chronology of Church History
8 - Hemidakaota, "Church Chronology from 1800-2000," http://www.lds.net/forums/scripture-study-forum/12108-church-chronology-1800-2000-part-1-a.html#post214550
Mormon History Timeline /Chronology
http://lds-church-history.blogspot.com/
