The matters which have been laid before you this afternoon are inseparably connected with our spiritual well-being. There is no man on this earth who can receive the Kingdom of God in his heart and be governed according to the laws of that Kingdom, without being governed and controlled in all temporal matters. If you […]
Monthly Archives: May 2017
219. Babylon – Zion’s Antithesis, Orson F. Whitney, 1889
How was this miracle of Enoch’s city accomplished? Not by an empty and vain profession of righteousness; not by men seeking themselves, and their own honor and glory; not by heaping up gold and silver and precious stones; not by making a golden calf and bowing down and worshiping it; not by the rich grinding […]
218. Early Utahns Were Building Zion, John Taylor, 1881
But as a people we are not of the spirit of the world; we are here not to pattern after the follies of the world, but to build up Zion…. – John Taylor, 1/9/1881
217. Central to The Gospel, John Taylor, 1884
We are here for the purpose of becoming acquainted with the will of God, with the law of God, with the order of God, with the dominion of God; and we are here to establish the kingdom of God. We are here to be taught in things pertaining to the Church of God, and its […]
216. Economic Independence, George A. Smith, 1862
I hope all that has been said by the brethren in reference to the culture of hemp, flax, indigo, and in fact all that will tend to build up Zion will be attended to, for let it be remembered that it is coming to this necessity of producing for ourselves or to go without, and […]
215. Early Utahns Were Building Zion, Brigham Young, 1876
We have donated towards the deliverance of the poor from foreign lands, bringing them here, where they have the privilege of being taught further in the plan of salvation, and where they can assist more materially in the establishment of Zion in the earth. – Brigham Young, 8/15/1876
214. What Zion is and is not, Wilford Woodruff, 1880
This Church has continued to rise. It is the only true church upon the face of the whole earth. Its history is before the world. It has continued to grow and increase from the day it was organized until the present time. This is the Zion of God. We see an embryo of it in […]
213. Babylon – Zion’s Antithesis, Erastus Snow, 1868
…cease to feed and build up the wicked who will not labor with us to develop the resources of the country and help to build up Zion. God has called us to turn away from the folly of sustaining and building up Babylon—the worshippers of mammon—those who have no interest in common with us in […]
Thoughts on Zion #51: Zion – One of 3 Grand Foundations

Ten months ago, this column included quotes by early LDS apostles and prophets showing that they saw Zion as something other than the Mormon Church or the prophesied New Jerusalem. Among the now-700+ quotes gathered from talks given during Utah’s territorial years, are eleven which strongly indicate that the same leaders saw Zion as one […]