It Is a Bit Disconcerting, I Assure You

It is a bit disconcerting, I assure you, my brethren and sisters, to be called out of the congregation and asked to occupy a portion of the time of these meetings, at which the Saints have gathered from almost the ends of the earth to be fed the bread of life. I am tremendously impressed with the responsibility that rests upon the elder who presumes to occupy even a few brief minutes of this precious time, and I desire very much the support of your faith and prayers, to the end that the Lord will bless me with his Spirit, and draw from me those things which he would have you receive. I believe that it is quite as much the privilege of the congregation to receive the blessings of inspiration and to ¶

receive it through the speaker as it is the privilege of the speaker to have that inspiration. ¶

I have been impressed with the strength and the growth everywhere evident in the Church. When we see the Saints gather at these great conferences, the young people mingling with the old, it is evidence sufficient that faith is not dead, but that the Church is growing in strength and in power and in influence. ¶

I was impressed this morning with the talks that were given by President Charles W. Nibley and by Elder Stephen L. Richards on those two somewhat commonplace principles of our faith, tithing and the Word of Wisdom. They expounded those principles much better than I could ever hope to do, but in the few brief moments of the time allotted to me, I desire to hear my testimony to you of the blessings that accompany the living of those principles. I like to find some logical connection between the promises of the gospel and the experience of my every-day life. I am not one of those who look for the mysterious, the mystic, and the miraculous. I like to read of the blessings, the promises, and their fulfilment, in the every-day affairs of my life and in every-day experiences. And it is in this light that I desire to interpret to you my understanding of these precious principles of truth. ¶

The Word of Wisdom is given to us as a principle with promise. The promises that we have in that great revelation are these, that we shall have strength of body, that we shall walk and not be weary, that we shall run and not faint, that the destroying angel shall pass us by as the children of Israel and not slay us; and that there shall come to us through the observance of that principle, treasures of wisdom and of knowledge, yea even hidden treasures. Some time ago a brother came to me with a somewhat visionary and impractical proposition which he wanted me to support, and said to me that this had come to him as one of the hidden treasures of knowledge through the observance of the Word of Wisdom. Now, just what is the meaning of these promises? Does it mean that if I keep the Word of Wisdom, abstain from tea, coffee and tobacco and strong drink, that I can walk and never get weary, or that I can run all day and never get faint? I do not understand it so. I see this in it, it is a simple law of health. If I have been a violator of this law of health and then repent of that and keep the law of health, I will have an increased capacity to walk and not be weary, to run and not faint. In other words, my capacity, my physical strength, will be increased to me so that I can accomplish more in a day's work. And that is the realization of the blessing to me. And this promise of hidden treasures of knowledge — we know, brethren and sisters, and we knew it as a people, those who had faith in the word of the Lord, long before the scientific world knew it. But the scientific world knows it today, perhaps better than we know it, that tobacco and tea and coffee and strong drink does inhibit our mental processes, shuts down and restricts our capacity to reason, to analyze. Now, if I have been breaking the law and then I repent of it and keep the commandments of the Lord, my mind expands and there is opened to me a whole world of treasures of knowledge and of wisdom that before had been hidden from me. And so I see in the observance of this law of the Lord an increase of wisdom or an increase of capacity to work and receive wisdom; because my mind can analyze and penetrate farther in its mental processes. ¶

Now that other promise of the Word of Wisdom, that the destroying angel shall pass us by as the children of Israel and not slay us. Where is the fulfilment of that? You can read it in the statistics of the Church, the mortality rate among the Latter-day Saints is lower than even among the picked risks of the insurance companies of the world. Now, what is the meaning of those statistics? It means that the Lord is lengthening our days. We do not keep this law 100%. We are not as faithful in it as we should be. But just in proportion as we do keep it, just in proportion as we have been faithful in the observance of that law, the Lord has blessed us, and as a people our days are lengthened. ¶

And so with this principle of tithing. It also is a principle of promise, a promise of temporal blessings. "Prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it." I have faith in that principle. Now, I know there are always those who say, "Here is this brother who does not live his religion, who seems to care nothing about his faith, and yet everything he touches seems to turn to gold ; and here is this other brother, who is as faithful as can be, but can hardly keep the wolf away from the door.". The thing that is wrong in that analysis seems to me to be that this is a principle given to a people, as well as a principle to individuals. There are always exceptions to the rule, and these are the exceptions to the rule. I do not regard this promise as a promise of great wealth to us. I do not ask the Lord to send me great wealth for the reason that I keep the law of tithing. I take it that his promise to me is that if I keep that law I shall have plenty, I shall not want. Maybe, if the Lord showered wealth upon me it would be a curse rather than a blessing. ¶

Now, brothers and sisters, if we have faith in that law and observe it and have the assurance in our souls that we will not want, is there any more to worry about ? We strive, scheme and work to build up a bank account, and to create a large estate of houses, lands, cattle and so on, just so that we may not want and that our loved ones who are dependent upon us may not come to want. Brothers and sisters, if we keep this law of the Lord, we shall not want. We are not as a people observing the law of tithing 100%. We are not, perhaps, keeping it 75% or 50%, but to some extent we are observing that law. And are we a blessed people? I look over this congregation, I have observed people on this square. We are a well fed people, a well clothed people, there is no evidence of want among us. The Lord has generously fulfilled his promises to us. And it is my humble faith and testimony to you that if we keep these laws, the blessings that are ¶

predicated upon them and that are promised to us will be ours. I bear you this testimony humbly and in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶