"We [the Twelve] seemed to put off, as far as we could, what might be termed the evil day.
"Some time after these things were made known unto us, I was riding out of Nauvoo on horseback, and met Joseph Smith coming in, he, too, being on horseback. * * * I bowed to Joseph, and having done the same to me, he said: 'Stop;' and he looked at me very intently. 'Look here,' said he, 'those things that have been spoken of must be fulfilled, and if they are not entered into right away the keys will be turned.'
"Well, what did I do? Did I feel to stand in the way of this great, eternal principle, and treat lightly the things of God? No. I replied: 'Brother Joseph, I will try and carry these things out."'
So indeed he did, for within two years, in Nauvoo, he married Elizabeth Haigham, Jane B. Ballantyne and Mary A. Oakley. Subsequently, in Utah, he married Harriet Whitaker, Sophia Whitaker and Margaret Young. [2]
By tongue and pen, as well as by the force of example, he defended this celestial order of marriage against all who assailed it; and among all who have advocated it in the face of the fierce opposition it provoked, or who spoke out in its defense both at home and abroad, there was not one whose arguments carried more weight than did his.
Meantime Nauvoo had arisen from the bogs of Commerce, and was now an incorporated city, divided into four wards, with a population of nearly five thousand. A glorious temple and other public buildings were in course of construction, a periodical--the _Times and Seasons_--was being published, and there was every prospect of the city becoming a commercial and manufacturing center as well as the headquarters of the Church.
It is scarcely necessary to say that the Twelve were heartily welcomed home by the Prophet. He at once rolled on their shoulders much of the responsibility he had carried during their absence; and called upon them to assist in gathering the people to Nauvoo and to build up the Stakes of Zion.
The Twelve forthwith published a proclamation to the Saints in the British Isles, calling upon them to gather to Zion and to assist in founding manufactories and other enterprises. Another was issued denouncing thieves who began to infest Nauvoo, and whose villainy was charged to the Saints; another calling for aid in the construction of the temple. In all these labors Elder Taylor took a prominent part. He was also elected a member of the City Council, made a member of the Board of Regents for the Nauvoo University, and chosen Judge Advocate with the rank of colonel in the Nauvoo Legion, a position that made him the responsible adviser of the court and also the public prosecutor in affairs military.