I crave not only your attention

I crave not only your attention, but your faith and prayers, that my words may be seasoned with truth, and that my strength may be equal to this outdoor meeting occasion. ¶

It is said that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh, but we do not always speak those things of which our lives speak. Sometimes we dream of being full, but wake and find ourselves empty. And so some principles that may be nearest our heart may be farthest from our active lives. What I say may be principles that I should like to incorporate in my life, but in which I find myself weak. ¶

The preceding speaker announced that he is the father of fourteen children, and he admonished us to follow in the footsteps of our fathers and grandfathers, and so forth. I am impressed with this counsel, and in connection with it I remember one of the commandments that was given to ancient Israel and reinforced and brought forth unto this modern Israel, "Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." I sometimes think that we take too short a view of this commandment and the blessing which is to follow obedience thereunto. ¶

I used to think when I was a boy that it meant that I might live long in this particular life, upon this land, and be possessed and blessed with long life here; but in later years another thought has come to me. It has come with the thought of my dual parentage, one parentage the Father of my spirit, the other parentage the father of my body — the Father of my spirit and the father of my body having entered into a copartnership in this dual soul composed of the body and the spirit. If I would live long upon the land which the Lord my God hath given me, I must not only be obedient to the father of my fleshly tabernacle, but I must also, and first, be obedient to the Father of my spiritual tabernacle. ¶

I have felt that the very foundation stone of happiness and progress here and hereafter, is to be in harmonious correspondence with my temporal and spiritual environment ; and the first thought, the first thing to be discovered, is this relationship to these dual fountain heads, to observe the harmony and correspondence that I should hold with reference to the fountain heads of my being. When I have recognized that thought in the spirit of obedience, I am in a condition to honor them and listen to their commandments. ¶

The Father of my spirit, through his Son Jesus Christ, using the Prophet Joseph Smith as a medium of communication between heaven and earth, has given unto us this mighty principle with reference to law: "There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated ; and when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated. " That is written in the law, in section 130 of the Doctrine and Covenants. ¶

Then again, in Sec. 88 :42, the Lord says, "And again, verily I say unto you, he hath given a law unto all things by which they move in their times and seasons." All things ! That embraces man, the animal kingdom at large, the mineral kingdom, the vegetable kingdom. Further, the Lord says in connection with this subject, "Even the earth abideth the law of a celestial kingdom, for it filleth the measure of its creation." In other words, it is obedient to the law of its creation, the law of its fountain head. It transgresseth not the law, therefore it shall be sanctified. ¶

Why shall it be sanctified? Because it transgresseth not the law of its being. "Yea, notwithstanding it shall die, it shall be quickened again, and shall abide the power by which it is quickened, and the righteous shall inherit it." Who shall be the righteous ? The men and the women who, like the earth, recognize the law of their being, their fountainhead, for notwithstanding they shall die, all souls shall rise again as spiritual bodies. ¶

If we are to live upon the land a long time, which the Lord our God hath given us, we must abide the law given to control our being, just like the earth ; for it says the earth shall be resurrected, shall be redeemed, -because it abideth the law, and the righteous shall inherit it. ¶

God has given unto his children a code of laws : faith, repentance, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, by those who have authority, to administer in the ordinances of his kingdom, the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, the law of tithing, the law of consecration, the law of the sealing ordinances in his house, wherein man and woman are sealed for time and all eternity, and all the various cardinal principles of the gospel. These are the laws of our being, unto which we must subscribe if we would inherit this earth when it has lived its law, the celestial law, that ¶

we may live upon it many, many years, even until the time when Christ shall present it unto the Father as a finished work in the end. Therefore, we recognize the law of God, we recognize our spiritual Father as we recognize our temporal father — and not only recognize, but feel and live the law. We recognize God as the owner of ourselves, the owner of this earth form that we are allowed to live upon and cultivate, and bring up to a high state of' cultivation. ¶

With regard to the ownership of God as well as the brotherhood of man, let me present a thought that came to me when I was presiding over the Eastern States mission many years ago. I remember it, because President Monson, who presides over this meeting now, was there. It was when President Lorenzo Snow quickened the principle of tithing, that will redeem us from our temporal degradation and save us temporally. I was wondering how I could diffuse among the people of that mission this principle of tithing, that we should consecrate a part of our earnings, temporal blessings, unto the Lord. I was sitting at my desk pondering over this principle, and I turned to a hymn that I had never noticed before, and it went through me like an electric shock. It revealed the principle of the ownership of God and the stewardship of man, and I thought, if the elders of this mission and the Saints can recognize that principle, then the law of tithing is easy — no more a sacrifice, but a blessing in disguise : ¶

"The silver, gold and precious stones," Thus saith the Lord, "ar.e mine, ¶

The cattle on a thousand hills I own by right divine. ¶

"The forests, rich-stored mountains, plains, ¶

The fertile valleys, too, ■ The earth and all that is therein ¶

Are but my righteous due. ¶

"And men themselves beLong to me — They hold from me a lease ¶

Of health and strength, and even life, Which at my word may cease." ¶

Then why should men so much desire To seize on all they see — ¶

Cheat, covet, and appropriate, To self so greedily? ¶

The Saints have learned a purer faith; ¶

They own the Lord's just claim; They're stewards o'er what they possess, ¶

And hold it in his name. ¶

Their flocks and herds and lands and wealth, Their wives and children dear, Their all, themselves, they bring to him; Thus they his rights revere. ¶

I want to say to this congregation that if we will recognize the ownership of God our eternal Father, the author of our spirits, and recognize and honor our earthly fathers, even back to father Adam — recognize them in their respective spheres, in their ownership, and remember that Latter-day Saints never become of age, know not the year of twenty-one — and that through the endless ages of eternity we are our spiritual Father's children and our temporal father's. All that we do brings dishonor to their names, or honor to them in our righteous obedience to law, and will exalt us in the kingdom of our God. ¶

This is the end of the keeping of the law pertaining unto our temporal and spiritual beings. May God enable us to keep the laws he has given unto us. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen. ¶