Tithing and Consecration

Brethren and sisters, I can say that I have greatly rejoiced in the spirit of this conference—We have truly had a time of instruction and refreshing to our souls, and this conference, held in the seventieth year of our age as a Church, has this far been one of the best that we have ever had—What a great variety of instruction has been given to this people, and we can see the growth and progress that has been made since we were convened in conference one year ago—We rejoice in it, and our hearts are made glad—Notwithstanding this, however, we witness things in the Church that need attention and correction, and we know that there is opportunity for still greater growth and progress—The Lord, as if in smiling approval of His Church (speaking of the Church as a whole) has sent a most glorious storm — a storm that was greatly needed and that gives promise of abundant crops in the year 1900—So greatly needed was this storm that the Latter-day Saints can overlook the inconvenience of getting around, and can lift up their hearts in praise and thanksgiving to God—Truly we are a blessed people ¶

I was very deeply impressed with the revelation that was read in part by President Snow at the Priesthood meeting last evening, and also the very instructive comments made upon it—It is of such great and vital interest that I have thought to read the revelation to you this morning—It is recorded in section 85 of the Book of Doctrine and Covenants—The Lord says: ¶

"It is the duty of the Lord's clerk, whom He has appointed, to keep a history, and a general Church record of all things that transpire in Zion, and of all those who consecrate properties, and receive inheritances legally from the Bishop; ¶

"And also their manner of life, their faith, and works; and also of the apostates who apostatize after receiving their inheritances ¶

"It is contrary to the will and commandment of God, that those who receive not their inheritance by consecration, agreeably to His law, which He has given, that He may tithe His people, to prepare them against the day of vengeance and burning, should have their names enrolled with the people of God; ¶

"Neither is their genealogy to be kept, or to be had where it may be found on any records or history of the Church; ¶

"Their names shall not be found, neither the names of the fathers, nor the names of the children written in the book of the law of God, saith the Lord of Hosts ¶

"Yea—thus said the still small voice, which whispereth through and pierceth all things, and often times it maketh my bones to quake while it maketh manifest, saying: ¶

"And it shall come to pass that I, the Lord God—will send one mighty and strong, holding the sceptre of power in his hand, clothed with light for a covering-, whose mouth shall utter words, eternal words; while his bowels shall be a fountain of truth, to set in order the house of God, and to arrange by lot the inheritances of the Saint s—whose names are found, and the names of their fathers, and of their children, enrolled in the book of the law of God: ¶

"While that man, who was called of God and appointed, that putteth forth his hand to steady the ark of God, shall fall by the shaft of death, like as a tree that is smitten by the vivid shaft of lightning; ¶

"And all they who are not found written in the book of remembrance, shall find none inheritance in that day, but they shall be cut asunder, and their portion shall be appointed them among unbelievers, where are wailing and gnashing of teeth ¶

"These things I say not of myself: therefore, as the Lord speaketh, He will also fulfill ¶

"And they who are of the High Priesthood, whose names are not found written in the book of the law, or that are found to have apostatized, or to have been cut off from the Church; as well as the Lesser Priesthood, or the members, in that day, shall not find an inheritance among the Saints of the Most High; ¶

"Therefore it shall be done unto them as unto the children of the priest, as will be found recorded in the second chapter and sixty-first verse of Ezra " ¶

Brethren and sisters, the Lord in revealing to the Prophet Joseph that a day of vengeance and burning is coming upon the earth, did not desire, I think, to arouse any feelings of fear or anxiety in the minds of His people—It was simply that they should be made acquainted with the fact that such a day is coming upon the earth and also that there should be a preparation made by his people for that time, that they might be able to abide that great and dreadful day of the Lord—One peculiar feature of this revelation is that while the Lord speaks of this time of trouble and calamity, he also comes down to the simple matter as it might seem to some, of giving instructions to his clerk—He says that his clerk shall keep a history and a general Church record of all things that transpire in Zion, and in the manner of life and faith and works of His people, and especially that it should be recorded of His people that they pay their tithes and offerings, and later perhaps that they shall observe the law of consecration, that they may escape the day of vengeance and burning—We see that the Lord is very particular in this matter—In the early days of the Church, some baptisms for the dead that were not properly witnessed and recorded, were rejected of the Lord, and the work had to be done over again—We know that great care and attention is given to this matter today in our Temples, and that efficient help must be secured to do this—Let me tell you something in relation to this great Temple of the Lord in Salt Lake City—From the time that that Temple was dedicated, in 1893, up to the year 1899, there were 475,662 ordinances performed therein, and for the year 1899, 68,871—making a grand total of 544,337 ordinances performed in the House of the Lord for the living and the dead, and this does not include the work that has been done in other temples of God—Truly it is a great and marvelous work, and not the least important thing about it is that these ordinances are all carefully recorded in the books and are filed away in the archives of the Temple, to be brought forth in due time—From these records the people who have gone to that house will be judged—Nothing that is done in that Temple will be accepted of the Lord, except it is properly witnessed and recorded—The Temple work is strictly looked after each day, so that nothing is neglected or omitted, much to the credit of those who labor in the Temples—The great work performed in the Salt Lake Temple, has thus far been accomplished under the Presidency of our Prophet and Seer, and we rejoice in it ¶

I also want to say to you, my brethren and sisters, inasmuch as there is more or less anxiety at times among some of the Saints concerning the tithing, that the tithing records of this Church were never before in such good condition as they are today—I ask the Presidents of Stakes and the Bishops of wards to bear witness with me that the tithing is most strictly looked after, and that no mistakes occur, but which are readily detected—I was going to say that the "eagle eye" of the Presiding Bishop of this Church, through the very efficient help that he has, detects every inaccuracy and every neglect in the recording of the tithes—The Presiding Bishop is one of the Lord's clerks, and he of necessity must keep a strict and careful record—All of the tithing reports which come from the forty-two Stakes of Zion, covering five hundred and thirty-eight wards, are carefully tabulated and filed away in the Bishop's office, and you would be astonished, if you went there, to find how readily you could get any information pertaining to the tithing of this Church—There is no man, woman or child in this Church who has paid tithing, but whose name will be found upon the tithing records in the Bishop's office and the office of the First Presidency—It is all understood, and we are fast coming to that condition where nothing will be neglected or wasted—There are losses that occur in a natural and proper way, and that cannot be avoided, but the tithing is most carefully looked after—I have admired the system that is followed in the Presiding Bishop's office ¶

There is another matter that I would like to speak of briefly, and that is this: God has inspired his servant not only to look after the proper recording of the tithes of His people, but also to call for the names of the non-tithepayers of the Church—This is something that has never been done before, so far as I know—A list most carefully prepared as to names, but not always as to explanations has been compiled and furnished the First Presidency of this Church—That action seems to have come to us through the inspiration of God, that it shall be known who are neglectful in the midst of His people—I do not know that I am authorized to tell you how many names there are in it, but I can say that it is a large book—It was presented at the Priesthood meeting last night as a text book to talk upon—President Snow talked from that text, and Presiding Bishop Preston talked on it—It was a big text, so large that he could hardly follow it—There is not a man or woman in this Church who ought to pay tithing and who does not, but whose name is recorded in that great book—It was designed that in each case a reason should be given why each person had not paid tithing—But this has not been fully done in all cases, owing no doubt to the fact that this is the first request of the kind that has been made of the Bishops of this Church; but there will be an improvement in this particular hereafter—The lines are being drawn—It must be known to the authorities of this Church and to the people who are faithful and who are not faithful—God requires it and it must be recorded, for the reason plainly set forth in the revelation, that those whose names are not found recorded in the book of the law of God shall have no inheritance in Zion in that day when our eternal inheritances shall be divided out to us—Therefore it is a matter of serious importance, and we appreciate the meaning of the great text that was given to us in our Priesthood meeting—I am sure that those who were present were deeply impressed by what they saw and the instructions that were given—Notwithstanding this, I desire to say that if the Latter-day Saints shall make as much advancement in the year 1900 as they have done in the year 1899, it will be a bright and glorious day for Zion—I believe that God is well pleased with the efforts that have been made and with the faithful among His people—There is one reflection I had concerning the book of which I have spoken, and that is, it simply gives the names of non-tithe-payers in the Church—It does not give the names of those who have paid only fifteen per cent of what they should pay, or twenty per cent, or fifty per cent, or seventy-five per cent—There are doubtless many of the people who only paid a partial tithing, or as Bishop Preston says, "a little ten per cent," which he informs us is no ten per cent at all—Ten per cent is ten per cent, and a tithing is ten per cent, neither more nor less—When it is below that, the view has been held that it is simply an offering to the Lord—However these partial payments have been accepted and recorded among the names of those who have paid tithing; for every man and woman in this Church shall have due credit for what they do ¶

I had the permission of the President of the Church to look through that book, and I want to give you a very brief summary of what I found there as to why many people in this Church failed to pay their tithing last year—There are some people who will say: "Of course there were those among us who did not pay tithing last year; — some young men doubtless who have just come into their majority, or who have perhaps for the first time earned a little means and are not acquainted with this great law of tithing " In answer to that I want to say that it is a mistake—There may have been some such, but there were many High Priests, Seventies, and Elders, as well as members of the Lesser Priesthood, who failed to observe the law in 1899—That is the most astonishing thing connected with it—And what is still more curious is some of the reasons that are given why these bearers of the Priesthood did not pay tithing—Let me say that in some cases no reasons were given at all, which indicated to me that the Bishops of those wards failed to see those who were derelict in their duty, failed to talk with them and get their reason for not paying tithing, which shows a great neglect—In some cases the reason given was, carelessness; in others, indifference; in others, a lack of faith—A very large number come under these heads—One High Priest was not converted to the principle—I say one; there was quite a number of High Priests against whose names the reason given was that they were not converted to the principle—In other words, they did not believe the revelation of God, and yet they were High Priests in the Church—The reason given in the case of one Elder was that he hadn't thought enough about it to see the necessity of it—Is it not rather remarkable that we can find an Elder in this Church who has not thought enough about the law of God to see the necessity of obeying it? I wonder if he thought enough about the principle of baptism to be baptized, or about the principle of laying on of hands to have the hands of the Priesthood laid upon him for the reception of the Holy Ghost? "We learned from President Cannon last night that the law of tithing is just as essential and as saving a principle as the principle of baptism or the laying on of hands—In another case an Elder, a member of one of the Stake boards of the Y. M. M. I. A., had never paid tithing, so I presume that he had never been converted—In the case of several High Priests and a number of Seventies, the reason given was that though they were abundantly able to observe this law, they were not willing—In the case of a number of Seventies, the reason given was that' they did not believe in paying tithing—I presume that would probably be the case with all who wilfully neglected their duty—In the case of a High Priest, the reason given was that his wife paid a good tithing, but he did nothing—There may be a chance for that brother; his wife may be able to bring him into the kingdom—We hope so at least—Here, brethren and sisters, is a very remarkable explanation that was offered in the case of a Teacher in this Church—It does not say whether he was an active Teacher, or an ordained Teacher—The explanation is that he did not believe in tithing or in a God—The great wonder is that he is in the Church at all—In the case of an Elder, it was explained that he could not be persuaded to do anything in a Church capacity—This is not to be wondered at, for a man who fails to pay his tithing will lose the spirit of the work, and if he persists in that direction, he will apostatize and leave the Church, as sure as God lives—In the case of an Elder, the reason was given that he could not afford to pay tithing—Notwithstanding one-tenth of his earnings belonged to the Lord, he could not afford to pay to the Lord that which belonged to him, so he appropriated it and made use of it in other directions—In the case of a Seventy, it was said that he argued against the principle, and yet he is a Seventy in the Church ! In the case of another, he had no faith in the Gospel! Here is a very strange explanation given in the case of a Seventy: It states that he does not like the Bishop, consequently he ignores the law of God—I suppose that because he does not like the Bishop, he won't be saved—Of one Elder it was said that he was full of good intentions for the future—Of course we have no means of knowing whether these good intentions may be relied upon for the future, but we do know that these good intentions did not lead him to pay his tithing in the year 1899—Here is an explanation, which will be the last I shall give: The Bishop, in referring to twelve non-tithe payers, says, "We think some of these would have paid tithing, had they been aroused immediately before the settlement of tithing " Well, confession is good for the soul, and that Bishop confesses that he failed entirely in his duty in not visiting these twelve non-tithe payers and arousing them to their duty—Of course, the great responsibility rests first upon the non-tithe payer, but after that there is a responsibility resting upon the Bishop and upon the president of the Stake—They should be familiar with the people in their Stake and in the ward who fail to pay tithing, and they should labor with them and try to bring them into a condition where they will keep the commandments of God—Now, in conclusion I want to bear testimony to the record that has been made by one ward in Salt Lake City — and perhaps the same may be said of others, for aught I know; but this ward has come to my attention through the Bishop—There were only four non-tithepayers in that ward, and the ward paid to this Church something like ten thousand dollars in tithing—I tell you I was gratified, and I said to that Bishop, The reason to me is very apparent; you are interested in this matter of tithing, you are acquainted with your people—You know every tithe-payer in your ward, and you know every non-tithepayer, or you could not tell me that there were only four, and you are looking after them—The trouble, as shown by this great report, is that the Bishops and the authorities have been somewhat derelict in their duty—In many cases the Bishop could not tell you how many non-tithepayers there were in his ward, let alone not being able to tell you who they were and why they failed in this duty—Now, brethren and sisters, if there are in this vast congregation of Israel, or in any of the Stakes, people whose names appear on the record that President Snow exhibited to us, I say it is to your interest to see to it that your names are taken from it, and that they appear, instead, in the book of the law of God, in order that, in due time, you may receive your eternal inheritance in the kingdom of God; which is my prayer in the name of Jesus—Amen ¶