Remarks

It is a great privilege to meet, on occasions like this to hear the word of the Lord from his servants, and to be inspired with new resolves and desires. It gives us all an opportunity to examine ourselves, and to measure our standing in the Church, to see whether we are reaching the ideals the Lord designed us to reach. It enables us to go home with renewed determination to keep his commandments and to honor his name. I am satisfied this is the wish and desire of all who are here to-day. ¶

I thank the Lord with all my heart for the gospel, for the testimonies he has given me, for the privilege of gathering among his people and laboring in his ministry. I desire to serve the Lord, keep his commandments and honor his presiding brethren, and abide by their counsel and advice. ¶

The Lord has called us to labor in his ministry for the establishment of his mighty purposes on the earth, to build up his Church; ¶

and everything we do that will help to bring this about will redound to our blessing and comfort and give us joy in our ministry. ¶

Reference has been made by Presidents Grant and Penrose to the duty of the Latter-day Saints, of keeping the commandments of the Lord, and they have urged us to do so. Several important commandments have been mentioned, and I may be pardoned if I once more mention another, which comes to my attention in my labors as a counselor to Bishop Nibley, and that is a better and more prompt observance of the law of tithing. ¶

Great blessings will come to a man or woman who will observe this law. It will increase their faith in the gospel, their desire to serve the Lord, and they will be setting a good example. We should teach this law to our young people and see that they have an opportunity to pay tithing. If our children are given funds or acquire means, they should be taught and encouraged to tithe it, so that the habit of tithe-paying will grow with them. There is a statement made by King Solomon, in the book of Proverbs, " Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." This can be applied to the observance of the law of tithing. ¶

Let us not rest up with the idea that because father has already paid a tithe, the child need not pay tithing. The child, if allowed to pay its tithing, even though it be small, will develop a good habit, and it will stay with him. This is another duty of fathers and mothers, to teach their children the observance of this law. ¶

Then, at tithing settlement, father should see that his boys and girls go with him, particularly the boys who hold the Priesthood. He should not go to settlement with the idea of asking the bishop to credit so much to one child and so much to another, but take the children with him, and let them pay the bishop themselves, and receive the receipt of the bishop. ¶

I am glad to say that there are more tithe-payers to-day, in the Church, than have ever been reported previously. There were special efforts made a few years ago to encourage payment of tithing by all members of the Church. This matter was not particularly stressed, in 1923, but because of the faithfulness and devotion of the leading brethren in the stakes and wards and the teaching of this law to the people, the number of tithe-payers has increased. However, many have not paid tithing, as the records of the Church show, and therefore they are not receiving the blessings that the Lord has promised to those who will observe this law. He is willing and anxious to bless his people whenever they will obey the law upon which that blessing is predicated. ¶

The old habit of paying tithing once a year, at a special settlement with the bishopric of the ward, is slowly going out of use. There is growing in the Church a disposition on the part of the Saints to pay tithing monthly, or at other regular intervals. By this means ¶

the payment of tithing is more faithfully observed, and it brings joy and satisfaction to those who tithe their income before they use the balance. If this practice is followed by the officers of the Church in the stakes and wards, it will grow among the Saints themselves and, in my opinion, is the best and proper method of paying tithing. Tithing settlement will be easier and less burdensome to the tithe-payer when all he pays at the end of the year will be his tithing for the month of December only. ¶

I thank the Lord for the inspiration of his servants, for their advice and counsel, for their splendid example; and, no doubt, we shall all go home determined that in our homes, in the wards and in the stakes and missions where we may be laboring, we shall carry the instructions of President Grant, and use all our influence to see they are put into practice. This is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶