The Saints a Charitable People

My brethren and sisters, I have been unexpectedly called upon to make a few remarks and as I have not premeditated upon what to say, it is just occurred to me to follow some of the remarks that have already been made to us this morning, by reading from the fourth chapter of Mosiah: ¶

"Believe in God; believe that He is, and that He created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that He has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend. ¶

"And again: Believe that ye must repent of your sins and forsake them, and humble yourselves before God; and ask in sincerity of heart that He would forgive you; and now, if you believe all these things see that ye do them. ¶

"And again I say unto you as I have said before, that ye have known of His goodness, and have tasted of His love and have received a remission of your sins, which causeth such exceeding great joy in your souls, even so I would that ye should remember, and always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God, and your own nothingness, and His goodness and long suffering towards you, unworthy creatures, and humble yourselves even in the depths of humility, calling on the name of the Lord daily, and standing steadfastly in the faith of that which is to come, which was spoken by the mouth of the angel; ¶

"And behold, I say unto you, that if ye do this, ye shall always rejoice, and be filled with the love of God, and always retain a remission of your sins; and ye shall grow in the knowledge of the glory of Him that created you, or in the knowledge of that which is just and true. ¶

"And ye will not have a mind to injure one another, but to live peaceably, and to render to every man according to that which is his due. ¶

"And ye will not suffer your children, that they go hungry, or naked; neither will ye suffer that they transgress the laws of God, and fight and quarrel with one another, and serve the devil, who is the master of sin, or who is the evil spirit which hath been spoken of by our fathers; he being an enemy to all righteousness; ¶

"But ye will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another; ¶

"And also, ye yourselves will succor those that stand in need of your succor; ye will administer of your substance unto him that standeth in need; and ye will not suffer that the beggar putteth up his petition to you in vain, and turn him out to perish. ¶

"Perhaps thou shalt say, the man has brought upon himself his misery, therefore I will stay my hand, and will not give unto him of my food, nor impart unto him of my substance that he may not suffer, for his punishments are just. ¶

"But I say unto you, O man, whosoever doeth this, the same hath great cause to repent; and except he repenteth of that which he hath done, he perisheth for ever, and hath no interest in the kingdom of God. ¶

"For behold, are we not all beggars? Do we not all depend upon the same Being, even God, for all the substance which we have; for both food and raiment, and for gold and for silver, and for all the riches which we have of every kind? ¶

"And behold, even at this time, ye have been calling on His name, and begging for a remission of your sins—And has He suffered that ye have begged in vain? Nay He has poured out His Spirit upon you, and has caused that your hearts should be filled with joy, and has caused that your mouths should be stopped, that ye could not find utterance, so exceeding great was your joy. ¶

"And now, if God, who has created you, on whom you are dependent for your lives, and for all that ye have and are, doth grant unto you whatsoever ye ask that is right, in faith, believing that ye shall receive, O then, how had ye ought to impart of the substance that ye have one to another? ¶

"And if ye judge the man who putteth up his petition to you for your substance that he perish not, and condemn him, how much more just will be your condemnation for withholding your substance, which doth not belong to you but to God, to whom also your life belongeth; and yet ye put up no petition, nor repent of the thing which thou hast done. ¶

"I say unto you, Wo be unto that man, for his substance shall perish with him; and now, I say these things unto those who are rich, as pertaining to the things of this world. ¶

"And again, I say unto the poor, Ye who have not and yet have sufficient, that ye remain from day to day; I mean all you who deny the beggar, because ye have not; I would that ye say in your hearts, that I give not because I have not; but if I had, I would give. ¶

"And now, if ye say this in your hearts, ye remain guiltless, otherwise ye are condemned, and your condemnation is just; for ye covet that which ye have not received. ¶

"And now, for the sake of these things which I have spoken unto you; that is, for the sake of retaining a remission of your sins from day to day, that ye may walk guiltless before God, I would that ye should impart of your substance to the poor, every man according to that which he hath, such as feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick, and administering to their relief, both spiritually and temporally, according to their wants; ¶

"And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength—And again: It is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order. ¶

"And I would that ye should remember, that whosoever among you that borroweth of his neighbor, should return the thing that he borroweth, according as he doth agree, or else thou shalt commit sin, and perhaps thou shalt cause thy neighbor to commit sin also. ¶

"And finally, I cannot tell you all the things whereby ye may commit sin; for there are divers ways and means, even so many, that I cannot number them. ¶

"But this much I can tell you, that if ye do not watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds—and observe the commandments of God, and continue in the faith of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of your lives, ye must perish—And now, O man, remember, and perish not." ¶

I have been reading the words of King Benjamin to the people as recorded in the fourth chapter of Mosiah in the Book of Mormon, and I don't know but what they apply to us today, in many ways, as completely as they applied to those unto whom they were spoken—Yet, I believe I can confidently say that the Latter-day Saints, as a rule, are among the most hospitable, generous and kindhearted people that can be found upon the earth—Not long ago one of our Elders returned from a mission in the South—There had been a question raised in his mind as to whether the Latter-day Saints in Zion would be as open-handed, as hospitable, as kindhearted and as willing to receive and entertain a stranger as were the people of the South, and he determined to put the matter to the test—The story of his visits to some of our people here is published in the Improvement Era, No. 6—I cannot give it to you in detail, but will only attempt a brief outline—Representing himself as a minister of the Gospel from the state of Tennessee, traveling without purse or scrip, as the Elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were generally doing, he called upon Brother B. Y. Hampton of the Hampton House and asked for entertainment without charge—Brother Hampton readily consented to take care of him—He next called at the Temple Barber Shop, with a similar representation, and asked for a "shave and shingle," on the same terms, which was readily complied with, and he was asked to "come again." He next called upon Brother Henry Dinwoodey, and presenting himself as before, asked for means to pay his fare on the railroad, going north, whereupon Brother Dinwoodey handed him out the money—Needing a mainspring in his watch he called upon Brother John Daynes and Son, and introduced himself as before, and they cheerfully repaired his watch—He then called upon Col. Thomas G. Webber of Z.C.M.I. and in the same guise asked for a pair of shoes, which Col. Webber generously gave him—Having a tooth which needed filling, he called at the dental parlors of Dr. Fred Clawson, whom he convinced, after some difficulty, that he was not an old friend and school mate, but really a minister of the Gospel from Tennessee, having a similar name, the doctor readily consented to his having his tooth filled without money or price—Thus it was proven that the Latter-day Saints were as generous, as kind-hearted, as ready to help the stranger of another religion, as were the good people of the Southern States, and for that matter of any other country—Having put these people to the test, in other words, having weighed them in the balance and found them not wanting in each case he fully explained his motive and who he was, to their mutual delight—And when the Elder returned their gifts or declined to receive the favors granted him without proper remuneration, in each case, as I understand, the brethren insisted that what they had done was in good faith on their part, and he was welcome to the same, believing that an Elder who had spent two years and upwards on a mission, laboring without purse or scrip, would be likely to stand almost as much in need of such help as would the strange minister whom he had personated ¶

Now some of us are a little more fortunate than others—For instance, I have several doors, and beggars come to all of them; and if ever a beggar was turned away from one of my doors I never knew it—I have always, and so have my family, contributed food, and such clothing as we could spare to every one who came asking for it—Last summer a poor boy came to my house—I happened to be out of doors, around the corner of the house; I heard the voice of a man, I looked, and he was sitting on a box—I heard that he was murmuring and cursing and swearing—I stepped out and I said, "My friend, what is the matter with you?" He pointed to his feet and said, "look at my feet." The remnants of shoes which he had on them were too small for him—He had worn them through the soles and through the sides, and his feet were out upon the ground—They were blistered and inflamed and painfully sore—He said he had been driven out of Davis county by the officers of the law, and was told that if he did not get out of the county he would be put in jail for vagrancy, and he had come here and asked for food, and the people who had given him food had not invited him into the house—Now I said, "my friend, why do you swear about it? It seems to me that a man in your circumstances ought to pray rather than swear—It would be much more becoming in you to humble yourself and appeal to the Lord for a little assistance from Him, rather than to curse and swear as I have heard you do—I said to him, "this is my home, this is my family who live here, I have a very large family and I have all I can do to provide for them—So far as I can find or provide labor for my children they are out at work, indeed some of them are at work who ought to be going to school—Notwithstanding all this, we are willing to help you or any other person, so far as we can, who comes to us in need; but I don't like any one to come upon my premises and use profane language, or curse and swear—Now, I advise you never to swear again, hold sacred the name of the Lord, and do a little praying, and I'll promise you, you will get along better in this world than you have done." ¶

I then called my wife's attention to the condition of this poor boy, and she prepared him a good warm bath, gave him a clean undershirt and a pair of socks, and a pair of boots, and a good breakfast, and sent him on his way—This is the way we treated this poor creature—But we do not treat them all that way—We could not afford to give all that come boots and socks and clothes and baths, for we have not enough to go round, but we have always managed to give something to the poor, and refuse no one who asks for food—I believe this is the general sentiment and character of the Latter-day Saints—I think all the Mormon people are kindly disposed, and are generous toward the poor and unfortunate, and that there is not a Latter-day Saint under the sound of my voice or anywhere that would not divide his portion with his fellow creature in case of need—I have this testimony to bear to the Latter-day Saints—President Cannon asks whether I would advise, where men come asking for food, that they be invited to do a little work for it—I should most decidedly be in favor of asking a man who had plenty of time on his hands, and nothing else, and who had physical strength, to devote a little of his time and strength by way of compensating for that which he received—But you want to watch them a little; I am not talking now of the Latter-day Saints who seek for employment—There are very few Latter-day Saints who have to beg, indeed I know of none, and I am sorry there are any professing to be Latter-day Saints who do beg; there ought not to be any Latter-day Saint beggars—The beggars that we have are those that are not of us, and they are sometimes very wicked in their hearts, and not at all grateful at times for what they receive—I have seen men go away from my door with good bread and butter in their hands (good enough for any king to eat, for my folks make good bread and good butter, as good as I ever ate on earth) and when out of the gate they have thrown it into the street—It was not food they wanted—They wanted money—For what? That they might go to some gambling hell or to some drinking saloon—Of course they are responsible for that—We can only judge by appearances and by the promptings of the good spirit within us; and it is better to give to a dozen that are unworthy than to turn away empty one worthy person ¶

There is another phase of this question that I want to refer to—There is such a thing as encouraging idleness and fostering pauperism among men—Men and women ought not to be willing to receive charity unless they are compelled to do so to keep them from suffering—Every man and woman ought to possess the spirit of independence, a self-sustaining spirit, that would prompt him or her to say, when they are in need, "I am willing to give my labor in exchange for that which you give me." No man ought to be satisfied to receive, and to do nothing for it—After a man is brought down to poverty and is under the necessity of receiving aid, and his friends give it him, he should feel that it is an obligation under which he is placed, and when the Lord should open his way he would return the gift—That is the feeling we should cultivate in our hearts, to make us a free and independent people—The cultivation of any other feeling or spirit than this is calculated to make paupers, to degrade and bring mankind down to beggary, which is a most wretched condition for men to be in—It is a bad thing for men to think the world owes them a living, and all they have to do is to beg or steal to get it—When it comes to this class of people I am very much of the mind expressed once by Dr. Johnson, when a beggar came to him and asked alms and insisted that the doctor should be generous in helping him, "for," said he, "doctor, you know that I must live." But the doctor said, "I don't see the least necessity for it." When a man becomes a parasite, living upon the charity of his friends, I confess it is hard to see the necessity for him to live—He is no good to any one—I speak this way only of such as are able-bodied, such as have their faculties and can devote these to some industry, to some useful labor—I don't refer to the cripple, to those who are enfeebled by age, because I look at them in an entirely different light; there is a necessity for them to live, and there is a necessity for us to assist such, but there is no great need in this world for men and women who are able to work and will not work—Men come to our Bishop and to the Apostles and ask, "What shall we do? We are without employment—We cannot get anything to do, and what shall we do?" The Bishop says, "pack up your knapsack, if you have one, or if you have not take your bandana handkerchief to put your clothes into, if you have anything but what is on your back, and go out into the outer settlements where there is land to take up, where there is water to take out of the river, and where there is an opportunity for you to take up a farm, cultivate the soil, and eventually raise cows, sheep, chickens, pigs and other useful animals and produce from mother earth enough to feed and clothe you, and thereby make yourself an independent citizen, a useful member of society, and contribute something to the welfare of mankind, and prove that the world is better for your being in it—Well, but," one of our good brethren says, "that was all right enough, Bishop, in olden times, but times are different now." Of course the times are different now—A boy starting out in the world now-a-days as we used to do, without anything, sees his neighbors enjoying the possession of good, comfortable homes, he sees a great many people that are rich, who can ride in their carriages, and have every luxury, and he, under the impression that he is as good as they and as much entitled to riches as they are, feels that because he has not as much as they have, he is in some way injured or persecuted, and envy and enmity spring up in his soul toward the rich, and he feels that they are his enemies and that he has a right to be theirs—That is wrong—It is just as easy to make a living out of the soil now with comparatively nothing to begin with as it was for the Pioneers when they first came into this valley, were it not for the pride that we have, providing we go where land and water await the labor necessary to subdue and utilize them, instead of idly coveting the possessions of others, and nursing the thought that we ought to have as good as they have—If we will go to work and earn and produce that which we need, we are entitled to it, and the Lord will bless every man who honestly and faithfully undertakes to get it out of mother earth—The Lord Almighty in the beginning, designed that we should earn our bread by the sweat of our brow, and we should produce from the earth that which is needful for food and clothing and to build us habitations—He has provided gold and silver and iron and precious stones in vast abundance in the earth, and it is legitimate for men to gather all these from the earth, because they are useful for mankind—The Lord has provided these things; and there is nothing on the face of the globe nor in its depths that God has provided for the use of man, that is not legitimate for us to take and use if we do so wisely and prudently—They are all designed for our good ¶

Now let us not encourage pauperism, or beggary; let us not encourage the thought that the Church or that the world owes any man a living, except it be the worthy poor— the Lord's poor— or by his honest labor he earns it—I heard a fellow one time say, "the world owes me a living and I will be damned if I don't have it." Such a man as that would have it if he had to steal it, and after a while he would have it if he had to murder some man who had riches, in order to rob him of his possessions—This is the spirit of murder and robbery—The spirit which creeps into the hearts of men to receive alms and obtain something for nothing, making them believe it is due them without honest work is, in part, the same spirit, at least it is a spirit that leads on to murder and robbery, in order that its passion might get what "the world owes" him, as he imagines—Now the world owes me a living provided I will go to work to produce it by honest labor—The earth has been good and generous to all those who have honestly labored upon its bosom, and who have sought succor and assistance from it—It has been a good mother—It has yielded in its strength for the good of man when he has put his labor upon it industriously and faithfully; such have reaped their harvest in its season and have partaken of its fruits in abundance—Let us seek then to obtain our living in this way, if the Lord permits us to do it; and if He calls us to any other business let us attend to that as faithfully as we would attend to the cultivation of the soil if we were permitted to occupy ourselves in that direction ¶

God bless you is my prayer in the name of Jesus—Amen ¶