Obedience, Sacrifice, and Tithing

I feel honored of the Lord, as His servant, in having this great privilege of addressing you in this conference overflow meeting. ¶

I will read these words of the Lord to the Prophet Joseph Smith, which are found in the 64th section of the Book of Doctrine & Covenants: ¶

"Behold, the Lord requireth the heart and the willing mind, and the willing and obedient shall eat the good of the land of Zion in these last days, and the rebellious shall be cut off out of the land of Zion and shall be sent away and shall not inherit the land; for verily I say that the rebellious are not of the blood of Ephraim, wherefore they shall be plucked out." * * * "For behold, I say unto you that Zion shall flourish and the glory of the Lord shall be upon her, and she shall be an ensign unto the people, and there shall come unto her out of every nation under heaven, and the day shall come when the nations of the earth shall tremble because of her and shall fear because of her terrible ones." ¶

I felt impressed with this which has been given unto us of the Lord, during the time which the brethren have been speaking to us. They have borne very heavily upon the subject of obedience and giving ourselves wholly unto the Lord. My mind goes back when I contemplate this principle of obedience, to that which we learn in the Pearl of Great Price, when in the councils of heaven the foundations of the earth and the building thereof were taken into consideration. Two plans were laid before the councils, and because of the humble and obedient spirit that was shown in Jesus Christ, He was chosen to carry out that plan, which His Father approved, and Satan rebelled because the trust was given unto his more meek brother Jesus. When this earth was formed and Adam was placed thereon with his wife Eve, we find that in their children there were two spirits that were exemplified in the children -- obedience and disobedience; the giving of the heart unto God on the one side and on the other side the individual becoming a law unto himself. Abel offered up unto God a sacrifice in righteousness, while his brother Cain did not so. Abel's sacrifice was accepted of the Lord, while Cain's was rejected; and as we come down in the stream of time, no more beautiful example of perfect and simple faith can be found than that in the history of our father Abraham. Although a land was given unto him and his posterity, although he had been told that through him and his seed the earth should be blessed, yet God required at his hand his son Isaac, and told him to go into the hill Moriah and there offer him up unto the Lord as a sacrifice. He bound together the sticks of wood, took the young man, and journeyed to the mountain, where he left his servants and bound the sticks upon the back of his son; and the little boy, as he trudged along by the side of his father, said: "Father, father?" Abraham answered: "Here am I." Then said the child: "Here are the sticks, where is the Lamb for sacrifice?" The father answered: "The Lord will raise up a lamb for sacrifice." ¶

So they went on to the hill. The father built an altar, laid the sticks thereon, and then placed his beloved son Isaac upon the altar. As he went to offer him up an angel of the Lord stayed his hand, and there was a ram found in the thicket for the sacrifice. It was enough. God had proven his heart, and he had proven his soul; he had ascertained that Abraham had given unto him his whole heart, wholly and unreservedly. And because of this, the angel of the Lord said unto him: "Because thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me, behold, in blessing I will bless thee until thy posterity shall be as the sands upon the sea shore and as the stars in the firmament of heaven." And He said further: "In thee, and in thy seed, shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." ¶

Abraham gave unto God his heart unstintedly, and God promised that He would pay him back. He had faith and power to give his own flesh and blood as a sacrifice to God; and in offering up his flesh and blood, God promised to him that his seed, his flesh and blood, should become as numerous as the sands of the sea shore and as the stars in the firmament of the heavens. ¶

God has said that every blessing that is in the Church of Christ is predicated upon the observance of law. He has instituted the law of sacrifice, the law of tithing, for the temporal salvation of the people of God. We learn in the history of the Jews that Adam and Eve were given of the fruits of all the trees in the garden, and were given all the cattle upon the earth, the fishes of the sea and the fowls of the air for food and for succor; but of one tree God required that they should not touch the fruit thereof, but that they should render unto Him a sacrifice of the fruit of that tree, and that by doing so, by not breaking the law of their temporal salvation, the garden of Eden would be vouchsafed unto them, but if they broke it they would lose their home and would be driven out from that land even into the lone and dreary world. By observing the temporal law they would receive temporal blessings; by the breaking of law they would lose their home. They broke the law, the angel of the Lord drove them out, and the earth brought forth briars, thistles and noxious weeds instead of the luscious fruits that it was bringing forth before that time. They transgressed the law, and their own lives, and the lives of their own children, brought forth briars and thistles and noxious weeds in the flesh. After awhile was a people under the leadership of Enoch, who applied the principles of sacrifice to a portion of the earth's surface, and they brought that portion of the earth up to a sanctified condition. As fast as they applied the principles of sanctification, the law of sacrifice, to that portion of the earth's surface, and applied it unto their own lives, they redeemed their home and they redeemed themselves, until finally it is written that the City of Enoch "was not, because God took it." ¶

This, my brethren and sisters, has been impressed upon my mind as the manner in which this earth is to be redeemed. God blessed that people to redeem that portion of the earth's surface, and we have their example before us. In our day, God told our fathers and our mothers before they came to this land, if they would keep the law of sanctification it should be a land of Zion unto them, and they should not be overcome of their enemies. It was beyond them to keep that law; and as God took the Melchisedek Priesthood and Moses from ancient Israel, so in His mercy He took the higher law of redemption, temporal, from the people, and He left with them the lower law, that of tithing. Now we are all wandering in the wilderness of the Western States of America with this lower, temporal law among us, given us in the mercy of God to redeem us and bring us back unto that condition where we may observe the higher law. And God is pleading with us, through His Prophet today, and it is one of the signs of the times. When we can observe this law, then the coming of Christ is near, even at our doors, Zion will be rebuilt, and it will be redeemed as the City of Enoch was redeemed, and the law shall go forth and Zion shall increase and flourish as I have given you here -- "For, behold, I say unto you, that Zion shall flourish and the glory of God shall be upon her." ¶

I bear you my testimony that God has renewed unto us that principle of sacrifice through President Lorenzo Snow. He gave us a blessing so that we may have the privilege of renewing this land, and we are to redeem this earth; and we are to redeem ourselves by this law of sacrifice, and we will gain it inch by inch, by the blessings of the Lord, as we apply this principle of sacrifice unto this earth of ours. The man who does not pay his tithing is the man who has his eyes closed against this principle. We should pray that God will bless us with His spirit that we may do His bidding in this regard, and thus receive a blessing which is predicated upon obedience. ¶

I desire to say unto the Latter-day Saints one thing that I had in my heart to say last evening at the Priesthood meeting. One year ago during our conference I went to the Sunday School Union and heard Apostle Heber J. Grant attempt to sing, and I heard some parties after I left the room state that he had made a scene of himself. He had stood up there and endeavored to sing a song of Zion, "O, my Father, Thou that dwellest." He talked to us a little while before that, and then he attempted to sing one of the verses, and did not get the right key; but he said that he would try it again as Brother Goddard used to when he got off the right key, and he sang it again in the same old way. He wanted to sing that because Eliza R. Snow had composed it. She exerted a great influence over his heart, and prophesied in tongues that he would yet be one of the leaders of this people. He desired to learn to sing, "God moves in a mysterious way," because it was the hymn that was the most loved by our beloved President Woodruff. I say unto you, young men and women, before me, that I feel in my heart that God inspired that man to take up singing. He quoted to us that night that God delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto Him, and it shall be answered with a blessing on their head. My little boy was sitting with me when Brother Grant said that, and his eyes danced with joy and the muscles of his face played with excitement. I noticed him, and I said to myself: "I wonder if an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ will be robbed of some of his power and his glory because he makes a scene of himself before Latter-day Saints." Two weeks after there was a conference in Ogden. The speakers mentioned to be there included Brother Heber J. Grant. My little boy said, "I want to go to that conference, papa, if Heber J. Grant is to be there." ¶

I was then here for the Eastern States mission, and I was wondering what I could do to assist that mission. It is a hard and a cold mission, and our Elders were almost desponding in some places because they could not thaw the people out sufficiently to get them to lend an ear to the Gospel. They were not preaching as much as they ought to have done; and as I sat in my seat that night there was a feeling came to me that God has brought to me an inspiration through Brother Grant. I went back to that mission and went to every conference and every part of it, and acted on the idea that perseverance overcometh many difficulties. God bless you. Amen. ¶