JOD Vol. 1 - John Taylor's Mission: Was He There During the French Revolution?!

Did you know that President John Taylor (an elder at the time) oversaw the translation of the Book of Mormon in French and German?

Did you know he refers to being in France days after the revolution?

Now there are some of you that will immediately dismiss Taylor and his experiences in this talk because it seems like it doesn’t chronologically line up with the 1848 revolution.. because it doesn’t. I had to do some digging and went down a rabbit hole of my own.

I found out that when Taylor mentions the revolution and the presidential vote, he’s talking about the coup d’etat in December 1851. On Dec 3, 1851, 1,000 insurgents were met against 30,000 troops and 300-400 opponents of the coup were killed.

On Dec 20, 1851, a vote was taking place to question the authority of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte. This same day John Taylor had organized a conference where about 400 people attended, and Brother Curtis Bolton was made the mission president over France. It was a brilliant move to do this the same day as the vote because at the time, if there were more than 20 people congregating, you were arrested. Does this sound eerily familiar – anyone?

Be aware, I pronounce several French and German words hideously wrong in this episode – eek! Forgive me.

Journal of Discourses Volume 1
Pages 16-28
John Taylor
Elder John Taylor’s Mission to Europe in 1849-1852
Aug 22, 1852

Just a human reading complete with tone and inflections – no A.I.

The Journal of Discourses is considered public domain.