The Temporal and Spiritual Dimensions of the Gospel

My brethren and sisters, I have greatly enjoyed every meeting we have held during this conference. I never enjoyed a conference better in my life, and I have attended a great many. I never saw more unanimity of feeling among the Latter-day Saints than I have witnessed during our gatherings in this anniversary of the organization of the Church. I have never seen more power and influence among the Priesthood in their assemblies than I have witnessed during our gathering here. There has not been a jar; there has not been an ill feeling. All the brethren in the priesthood assembled have with one heart and mind endorsed and approved the course that has been pursued by the President of the Church and his counselors in all the affairs pertaining to the Church, both spiritually and temporally, as we divide them, although with the Lord they are all spiritual. There has been a wonderful expression of confidence and good will, love and affection towards the man who stands at the head of the Church today, and who is endowed with all the authority, keys, gifts and blessings to lead the Church that were conferred upon the martyred Seer, about whom we have just heard in the song. I bear my testimony, in association with my brethren, that I know that God is with His people; that the power of His Spirit, which is the spirit of revelation, rests down upon the President of the Church today, and is with his associates, and that all things in the Church are being conducted for the interest of the people, for the kingdom of God, and for the benefit of humanity. ¶

The religion you and I have embraced, my brethren and sisters, is not a mere psalm-singing, praying and preaching religion. It is a religion that comes to us as we are, as men and women, as beings living on the earth in the flesh, as persons who have to do with the things of time as well as the things of eternity. In the Doctrine and Covenants, on page 307, you will read these words: ¶

"The spirit and the body is the soul of man. And the resurrection from the dead is the redemption of the soul." ¶

I call your attention to the fact that we are not only spiritual beings, who have received our origin as such from our Eternal Father, but we also have bodies, fashioned out of the elements that compose this earth, which God has made for that purpose. And the religion that God has sent down out of heaven in the last days is a religion for man as he is, for the souls of men. In the Book of Genesis, 1st chap., we read that God made man in his own image; that He made them male and female, and gave him the great commandment, the first which was that he should "increase and multiply and inherit the earth and subdue it and have dominion over all things" upon the face of the earth and in the firmament around. We are told in the second chapter of Genesis that He formed the body of man out of the dust. God did that. He made the body of man as well as his spirit, and He gave him commandments in relation to his body. He gave him commandments in regard to the fruits that grew upon the trees in the Eden that God had planted. He gave him laws in relation to the present as well as those that pertained to the future. ¶

"We should understand that God has something to do with earthly things as well as those things that we call heavenly. It was He that made this globe on which you and I live. God called the elements together — these elements that He says are eternal. You will read that in the Doctrine and Covenants, page 331. The Lord says that the elements— that is, the essence of things that we call material, and that scientists call matter — are eternal; and He called the elementary particles together that now compose this globe, which at first was covered with water. Water is composed of gases, as scientists tell us, and they are beginning to understand that the gases which in certain proportions appear in the form of water, are themselves composite; that these elements, as they were once called, are not elementary ; but that you can go back of the water to the gases of which it is composed, and then you can dissolve these gases into still nearer primary elements. And you may go on until you come to the real essence or atoms of elementary existence. The Lord says they are eternal. They were not created, in the sense that some people use the term. Now, the Lord says that these elements are eternal, and that "spirit and element, inseparably connected, receiveth a fullness of joy, and when separated man cannot receive a fullness of joy." So we shall find that not only in time, but In eternity, when the soul is redeemed, when the spirit and the body, which are the soul of man, are joined together in the resurrection of the dead and are made eternal and immortal, the body as well as the spirit, that there Is something to do in regard to the material elements in the universe of God. God is a being that takes cognizance of us as We are, and the religion He has given us is not merely what is called a spiritual religion, but it is also a temporal religion, using the term as men use it. ¶

In the twenty-ninth section of the Doctrine and Covenants, God says that He made all things. He speaks there of the earth and the animals upon it, and the vegetation that grows out of the ground, and of the material things which men handle. The Lord says He created them all by the word of His power, "firstly spiritual, and secondly temporal;" and the last of His works will be "firstly temporal, and secondly spiritual." But He explains further, that to Him all these things are spiritual, because they are eternal. The elements are eternal, and therefore God calls them spiritual; for the things that are temporal are those that pass away, and the things that are spiritual are those that remain. So we will find by and by, when we understand things as God understands them, that they are all eternal in His sight; for His eyes penetrate to the essence of things, while we can only see things on the surface. The things that pass away from our gaze, caught up as it were fn the air and passing out of sight, like the vapors of the sea drawn up by the sun— the elements of these things remain and abide, and cannot be annihilated. Not one particle of matter can be annihilated; not one particle of spirit can be annihilated; for they are eternal. They always were, in their essential particles, in their primary elements, and they always will abide, though their forms may be changed by the power of the great Creator. The Lord tells us in His revelations, as you will find in the 131st section of the Doctrine and Covenants, that we shall find some time, when we can see things properly, that all are to that extent material that they exist and do not pass away; that spirit is matter of a refined and purified nature, different from that which •we call matter. There are two primary divisions, we may say, in the universe —spirt and matter; or, as the Lord calls them, spirit and element. God has to do with both. He organized both, He rules over both, and gives laws in relation to both. And it is only by the eternal, inseparable union of the spiritual and the material, or elementary, that perfect happiness can come. So God our heavenly Father, who is the Father of our spirits with whom we dwelt, with Jesus Christ our Eldei Brother, before the foundations of this earth were laid is the Father of our spirits and the framer and former of our bodies. He prepared this earth for our abode. He brought together the chaotic particles, which now are a solid globe governed by His laws. He brought forth the earth at the right time and in the right place, that it might keep up the equilibrium necessary to be maintained in the worlds that He created before. He formed this earth for us, His children, that we might come here and obtain a portion of it, organized according to the laws of generation, which we will find also are eternal; that we might have a portion of the elements of this globe to fashion these bodies, in which our eternal, immortal spirits might enter, and that we might claim them as ours, when the great change that we call death that must pass upon all people shall come. It is necessary for our education, for our experience, that we might know what it is. When that change comes, and the spirit of man is separated from the body, that is not the end of the body, any more than it is the end of the spirit; but at the word of the Lord, whose word formed this organized globe out of chaos, our bodies shall be brought forth again, and the particles that belong to each other and which are essential to the organization of these bodies, will be brought from the dust, and the spirit and the body will be reunited. We will then stand in the presence of God, and all be relegated to our respective spheres— the places we have prepared ourselves for by our earthly acts. ¶

New, I want to emphasize the point and make it clear to your minds, if I can, that these bodies that God has given us, fashioned though they be out of dust, and to all appearances are merely temporal, are bodies which we shall have in the world to come. Our inheritance will be with them. Therefore, God gives us laws for their government now. He gives laws for the government of each individual as an entity. He gives laws for the government of His Church, as a collective body. He places at the head of it a man to receive His word, whenever He designs to give His word to the people; and we have a man now who is capable, ready and willing, and who has the authority, the keys and the power to receive the word of God, whether by His own voice, by the voice of angels, by the manifestation of visions, or by the power and gift of the Holy Ghost, by which holy men of old spoke and wrote. God will give us laws for our government, not only in relation to these things that people call spiritual, but also in relation to what we call temporalities; for He recognizes us as we are. We are His children, and we need to be guided and directed in all our works and ways. The silver and the gold, the metals of every kind, the wheat and the fine flour, the cattle on a thousand hills, and all things that the earth produces, the Lord says are His. And they are; for He made them, and He has care over them all. To think that God cares for nothing but singing and praying, and that some time we will sit on the corner of a cloud twanging a harp through all eternity, and that is to be our heaven, is an absurdity to my mind. We will be living beings, with a body as well as a spirit, in the image of our God. As the Apostle John said, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God; and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope, purifieth himself, even as he is pure." That is the lesson. God has given these bodies to us to be preserved in purity, according to the laws He has given us by revelation and in nature. We are to govern ourselves by the laws of God, revealed from on high, and by the laws of nature, and make ourselves just as happy and as comfortable as we can under the circumstances in which we are placed. Do right to one another. Let no man infringe upon the rights of his neighbor; regard every man's rights as sacred, understanding that we are all the children of our heavenly Father, all brethren and sisters, whether we are Latter-day Saints or latter-day sinners; but more especially should our love and affection and help be extended to the household of faith, to those who have been baptized into Christ, and have put on Christ, and have become part of Him. ¶

Now, my brethren and sisters, the Lord has given us a law in regard to the management of the temporalities of the Church, which is the law of tithing. It is not a new law. It was not invented by Joseph F. Smith, nor by Joseph the Seer. It existed in the days of Christ. It existed in the days of Moses. It existed in the days of Abraham. Abraham paid tithes. To whom? To Melchisedek, the priest of the Most High God. And we have no account anywhere of Abraham demanding an account of how Melchisedek handled the tithes. In the days of Moses, you will. read in the 14th chapter of Numbers (I have not time to turn to these passages; you can read them when you go home) what the tithes were for. They were given to the sons of Levi. You can read about it also in the New Testament, in the 7th chapter of Hebrews. If you want to know the blessings that came when the people paid their tithes, read the 30th chapter of II Chronicles. These tithes were given to the men that God appointed, and they handled them as sacred things, and they had the power and authority to administer them as the Lord decreed. In the last chapter of Malachi, as you are well aware, the Lord reproached the people in that day because they had neglected to pay their tithes. He said they had robbed Him. "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and in offerings. Bring ye all the tithes into my storehouse, that there may be meat therein, and I will open the windows of heaven, and I will pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes; and it shall no longer destroy the fruits of your ground, and all nations shall call you a delightsome people; for ye shall be a blessed people, saith the Lord of hosts." ¶

In the last days, the Lord in the beginning gave the law of consecration, and the people of Israel in the last days were slow to hearken to the commandments of God, as Israel was in the days of Moses; so the Lord introduced afterwards the law of tithing, which you will find in the 119th section of the Doctrine and Covenants. And the Lord tells us what it is for. For the laying of the foundations of Zion, and also to pay the debts of my Priesthood, the Presidency, saith the Lord. You read it now, and find out what the Lord says tithing is for. Read the 120th section, and you will see how the Lord said it should be disbursed at that time. That was in Zion, Jackson county, when they first went there. Of late years, the_ Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in conference assembled, has voted for the power to handle the funds of the Church and the properties of the Church by the Trustee-in-trust for the Church. You have done that during this conference. We did it years and years ago. We have done it every conference from the time we came into these vales of the mountains. Now let me say that the authority is given of God to the man that stands at the head of this Church, to preside over the whole Church, and to be like unto Moses. He is a prophet, and a seer, and a revelator, and everything in the Church is under his direction. The Bishops receive the tithing. The Presiding bishopric handle and keep an account of it. But the Trustee-in-Trust is voted upon by the people to have the control and direction and to be responsible for all the funds and properties of the Church. We have endorsed that authority during this conference, as we always have done. It is no new thing. Now, I bear my testimony, from what I know, that the man who stands at the head of this Church is honest, honorable, upright, careful, full of tenderness and kindness to the poor. Thousands and thousands of dollars out of the tithing are expended for the benefit of the poor; but you cannot find a command anywhere in the revelations of God to the Church that says the tunings are for that purpose. The Lord says that the rich are to be humbled for the benefit of the poor. He says also that the people are to fast and to bestow their offerings for the poor. You can read about that in the Book of Isaiah, 58th chap. But thousands of dollars from the tithing are expended for the sustenance of the poor, as well as the fast offerings and the Relief society gatherings. We want to understand these things and look into them, and not be led away by any will-o'-the-wisp or jack-o'-lantern that may come along. Get the true light. Let that day star arise in your hearts that the Apostle Peter spoke of. We have also a more sure word of prophecy, he says, "which is like unto a light shining in a dark place, whereunto ye would do well that ye take heed, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of private interpretation, and that holy men of old spoke as they were moved upon by the Holy Ghost." ¶

Now, my brethren and sisters, the power of God, the Spirit of the Lord, which declares His mind and His will, has been with us during this conference. Every man who holds the Priesthood has a right to its inspirations, if he will listen to them. Every man and woman in Israel, every soul baptized into the Church, has the right to the guidance of that Spirit. And I will say for this congregation, that during our conference that Holy Spirit has rested down upon our souls and borne witness to the truth of the things we have heard, and we feel in our hearts thankful to God that we have a man to stand at the head of the Church who is imbued with the spirit of his office and calling, who has power with God and power with man, and in whom we can repose the utmost confidence. There is no need for me to dwell further on that point. ¶

My soul is full of rejoicing; not my spirit merely, but my whole soul is imbued with the spirit of this work. I love it with all my heart. I have done so from my boyhood. I desire to spend the rest of my days, as in the past, in the service of this Church. I know it is true. I know it has come from God. I know it will prevail, and the opposition that may come against it will only accelerate its progress. It will bind and knit the Saints of God together as one. The power and blessing of the Lord will be upon us, if we will pursue the right course. Let us remember that we are the children of God, in body as well as in spirit; that God expects us to preserve ourselves in purity of life and holiness of character and conduct; that we will put away from us as fast as we can the weaknesses and frailties that we have inherited from our ancestors, and everything contrary to His mind and will; that we will dwell together in love, that we will serve Him with our might, mind and strength, and love our neighbors as ourselves, and pursue the course that He marks out, whether in temporal or in spiritual things; for they are all spiritual with Him. As for me, I will endeavor with all my might to serve the Lord, and help others to do so, if I can. I feel full of love and confidence and kindness towards my brethren and sisters. I know these Latter-day Saints are a good people. I know they want to serve the Lord and abide in the covenant where with God has made them free. And God will bless you, my brethren and sisters, in your basket and in your store, in your homes, in your fields and farms. Your flocks and herds will increase, your substance will increase, and God will bless you in the payment of your tithes and your offerings, which are voluntary and a free will offering, as your receipts show; and when they are made they are under the direction of the authorities of the Church, and the responsible person is the Trustee-in-Trust, whom God has appointed and whom you have sustained. ¶

Now, may the peace and blessing of God, which passeth all understanding, rest down upon you. May we be true and faithful in all things. May we serve the Lord with our bodies and our spirits, which are His. And may we endure and overcome and be prepared for the great day when the veil of the covering shall be taken away and we will see our Savior and our Father in heaven, and recognize them again, although we have for some time been from their presence. And the Lord will glorify the earth, and purify it. and purge out all that is evil by fire, and make a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. But the temporal and the spiritual will be joined together, and they will be so eternally. Then we will receive a fulness of joy, and be crowned at His right hand with all things that have been promised unto us, and many things that we have never heard of and that we cannot conceive of. God help us to be worthy of these blessings, through Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶