Salt Lake City, Utah Territory.
4 March 1871.
Elder Stephen Taylor.
England.
Dear Brother:
Your note of February 10th has been received and perused with much interest. I am ever pleased to hear from the Elders who are abroad amongst the nations, preaching the Gospel, especially when their communications breathe the Spirit of their Holy religion and of devotion to the cause of God. Our prayers are continually for yourself and the elders on missions preaching the word of salvation, that you all may be sustained, blessed and prospered in your labors by our Heavenly Father and return again in safety to your friends and home in Zion.
All is peace with us here, the Lord is multiplying our blessings exceedingly We rejoice continually in the mercies of heaven, and acknowledge the hand of our Creator in all things. The world loves its own, and the hatred of Satan and his emesseries is unabated towards the Priesthood and the Saints. Yet we have here in our midst, men who were once of us, who see no necessity for the Latter-day Saints having the ill will of the world, and so they have denied the faith, forsaken the Church, turned traitors to the truth, and to their brethren, have gone over to the world, and hold in fellowship its ways, its sins and its darkness. But their folly is daily becoming more manifest, even in the eyes of the unbeliever and the little strength they once thought they possessed is diminishing daily. It would appear that such men fancy they know more than the Redeemer, who said "If ye were of the world, the world would love its own, but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of <the world> the world hateth you."
My stay in our Dixie this winter, is but the for-runner of other and still longer visits to the saints in that region in future days, should such be in accordance with the will of God. We intend to build a temple at St George, that the saints in Southern Utah may officiate for themselves and their dead in the ordinances of the house of the Lord. The growth of the Kingdom, the stretching out of the stakes of Zion and the increase of the Saints, Even now require the building of this and other temples to the name of the Most High.
My health during my stay at St George was very good with the exception of the rheumatism, with, which I have been troubled, more or less, every winter for several years. This has now left me, though my feet still remain a little tender, otherwise I am in good health. The health of the brethren associated with me is also good; bro. Geo. A. Smith has been troubled with a severe cold since his return to Salt Lake City, but he is now much better. The rate of Mortality is now in the city, yet there is considerable sickness, of a rather distressing but, not as a rule of dangerous character, manifesting itself in affections of the lungs and throat and severe colds.
There will no doubt be a large influx of strangers into our peacful valley this season, gathered hither by the thirst for gold so wide spread and absorbing at the present time. Many will seek fortunes by mining, other by preying on the miner or supplying his wants, others to speculate on the supposed gullibility of the saints. Already agents of all kinds of companies, lawyers pettifogers, vendors of patented articles are trying to establish themselves and get our money, but we are warning <the people> to let them alone and we believe they will be wise enough to do so.
You have permission to emigrate one or two persons as you request, this coming spring. I see your wife and little ones pretty often when they pay my folks a visit and believe they are all well.
With continued prayers for your welfare and for all the Israel of God
I remain, as ever, Your Brother,
Brigham Young