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in it are composed of that which is rightfully given you of the Lord, and that you have paid your tithing on-if it is proper to say "paid your tithing." If you have not trespassed and used the Lord's tithing, you can feel that you are doing in that what the Lord permits and requires.

It is just so with everything you have around you. Young man, when you get married and secure that farm that we have been talking about, be sure that everything has been tithed before you get it; or, when it is given you with the principles of increase, that you tithe it faithfully while you have it in hand, in order that you may plant yourselves in righteousness on this land, so that wherever you locate it shall become a Zion unto you. That is the way I look at the matter of tithing. I think if we entertain that subject correctly, live on the nine-tenths of what the Lord puts in our possession, and give to Him that which is His (which is never ours), we shall institute the rule and law that the Lord wants us to do. To me it is so simple and plain that a farmer would not have to stop to quarrel with himself to know whether he should reckon out his labor and reckon out this and that before he paid his tithing. If we as a people would thus deal with the Lord in that which is our stewardship, how often we have been assured by the authorities of the Church that that would give enough revenue to meet the general expenses of the Church, and we would not have to be taxing so much and so often for other offerings.

For my part, this plan of salvation is, as the Lord has pointed out, the way we have to accept; for He says if any bring an offering except as appointed by the Father, it will not be accepted. We have to come to the Father by the Lord Jesus Christ; and by His principles and instructions, to become like Him. He wants the whole human family to be just as dutiful and obedient as He was. We pray, "Our Father, which art in heaven; hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven." The Lord says, in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, that it is His good pleasure to give to His people the kingdom. He told the early Elders to be of good

cheer; "it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." Now the kingdom of God has come; that is to say, the government, the priesthood, the ordinances and the principles of salvation are revealed to us to build up the Church of Christ, as we may have it to build up until the Savior shall come, or until the prophets shall come and reveal to us more than we have already attained to.

I recollect very distinctly hearing the Prophet Joseph say that the kingdom had come, but the will was not done yet on the earth as it was done in heaven; and in order that the sisters especially might understand it, he said, "You sisters can understand it by this little similitude. When you scald out your milk pans, you have the milk pan." "Yes." "But it is not full of milk?" "No, of course not." "Now, here the kingdom has come, but His will is not done on earth yet as it is done in heaven. The milkpan is not filled up yet in doing the will of God." We are here to learn and to toil to this end; not only those who are grey-haired and bald-headed, but the boys and girls. It is for all of us to do the works of righteousness and faith, that the will of God may be done on earth as it is done in heaven, so at there may not only be a milkpan, but a pan of milk. I heard the Prophet make use of this figure in the grove at the top of the hill, just in front of where the temple stood, in Nauvoo.

My brethren and sisters, we have before us the law of the Lord. We are blessed today as we have not been blessed in a great many years. We are blessed with the First Presidency fully organized. We are blessed with the quorum of the Apostles, and all twelve of them are with us today. It makes me to feel very joyful and thankful; for as long as I have been in the quorum-now over fifty years-it has been but a very few times that we have had the pleasure of coming to conference with a full quorum of the Twelve present, or coming into our council and talking over the things of God with a full number. The other councils are also generally well filled. We have over a hundred quorums of Seventies! The organization is complete, and the Lord has designed to bless us remarkably

with all the facilities to keep His commandments, to covenant with Him, to go into His holy temples and learn how to become saviors for our dead, and labor to bring to pass this restitution of all things which are in Christ Jesus, both which are in heaven and which are upon earth.

I pray that the blessings of the Lord may be multiplied upon us all, through obedience and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It has to come through obedience, that our faith shall increase. We must draw near to the Lord. We do not ask the Lord so much as He would like

us to ask. He has said emphatically that to him that asketh it shall be given; there is none that seeketh that shall not find, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Let us cleave unto the Lord and walk in His ways; strive to serve Him in all things, that we may be able to increase in righteousness; that we and our generations after us may grow up in fear of the Lord, honor Him in the earth, and be counted worthy of that life and immortality which are being brought to light in the Gospel, and which the Savior has died to bring to pass unto us.

We ought not to forget that this is but the beginning of a people who are to have such a position that by and by the Lord will come and dwell in their midst on the earth. O glorious thought! We often hear it talked about swords being beaten into plowshares, spears into pruning hooks, the cow and the bear feeding together, the lion eating straw like the ox, etc. All these things, and a multitude more, have to take place, and the sooner or later depends upon our faithfulness and our diligence in keeping the commandments of God and helping to build up righteousness in the earth; for He will weed out and remove the wicked to make room for the righteous as fast as there is necessity for it. I pray the Lord to bless you, my brethren and sisters, in all your varied interests; in your persons with health and faith to overcome your infirmities, and with ability to live and become full of years and ladened with experiences of the goodness of God. God bless you in all your temporal affairs; and you will be if you tithe them properly and then use what you do use to advance the interests of His work. We must

never lose sight of the fact that it is our great business to send the Gospel to the people of the earth. That is why we are calling upon you continually for brethren to go in the ministry. We calculate to keep calling. The demand is increasing everywhere. You fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, please hear it, and take notice, and be ready for the word when it comes for that son, that brother, that father to go and thrust in his sickle and reap, for the harvest is great and the work is increasing wonderfully.

May the Lord bless and prosper every interest of Zion. May He bless the Presidency, to be full of wisdom, revelation and knowledge; and the Twelve Apostles, that we may be such men as we ought to be, to take the counsels of the Lord and dispense them to the people, and administer salvation everywhere we go. I pray that the Lord will increase His kindness and His affection and love towards us, and increase our kindness and affection and love towards you.

You that have weaknesses, and perhaps have sinned, do not take it into your heart that the Lord wants to see you afflicted and cut off. He will not that any shall perish, but that all shall come to repentance. Therefore, draw near to the Lord, You who may feel yourselves the farthest from Him, find your way back to Him, that you may walk in His ways, and He will work in you by His Spirit after a while, and will show unto you His good pleasure, and you shall know of His favor, His loving kindness and forgiveness of sins. That we may so live that He may increase His favor and loving kindness toward us, I humbly desire and pray, with all the rest of you, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. The Temple choir sang the selection, A beautiful City, the solo being rendered by Sister Maggie Hull.

ELDER BRIGHAM YOUNG. The leading object of tithing is to educate the Saints-The necessity of being guided by the Spirit of God.

If you will give me your attention I will endeavor to speak loud enough that all the congregation may hear what I

have to say. I regret very much that all of the congregation could not hear the remarks of President Richards, and it is possible that there are many here that will not hear what I have to say; but he has touched upon many valuable points and advanced doctrine that is dear to the heart of every Latter-day Saint; for with all those who have Zion in their hearts, her interests are foremost on all occasions. President Richards touched upon the principle of tithing, and he used these words, as near as I remember, in reference to this principle: "The old theme of tithing; there is nothing new in relation to it particularly, but it is one of the most important principles revealed to the Latterday Saints. If the people dwelling upon this land pay not their tithing, it shall not be a land of Zion unto them." It is very important, it seems to me that we should pay our tithing, for if this be not a land of Zion unto us, then the displeasure of God will rest upon us, for it was so predicted.

There are many new things connected with this principle that I have heard the brethren speak of. I remember on one occasion, and I have mentioned it from this stand at one of our conferences, that I had a revelation in relation to this principle. The Lord revealed to me, that I needed not to open the book of Doctrine and Covenants and read the revelation on tithing, but to speak on that principle as the spirit should direct, and I obeyed the voice of the Spirit. I was told to say to that congregation, that I had the privilege of addressing, that the principle of tithing was given because the people had rejected the higher law; and this law of tithing was given that they might be in training. It was as the first primer in the system of education to the child, and when the people had adopted that which had been given on tithing, when they had absorbed it and become thoroughly conversant with it, and were acting in perfect obedience thereto, God would give unto them again the higher law; but if a man who paid his tithing did it grudgingly, he was blinding his eyes to his own interests; if he laid his own judgment upon the revelation and paid according to his selfish ideas, and was very strict with the bishop, that he would be dealt

with in precisely the same way by the spirit of God. Need I say to you that whenever the spirit of God begins to hew our sides off to straighten them, there wont be much timber left when it gets through with mortal man. That is my opinion, at least, and God has given us this law to perfect us. He has given it to us to bear and meet those expenses mentioned by President Richards, but He has also given it to us for a greater and wiser purpose than this, if possible. We are in training for the greater law; and the man who undertakes to interprete the law of tithing to suit his notions, as I find some of the brethren doing, they will be misled to that extent that they will not be prepared for the higher law when it is revealed. For this is a system of training that God has instituted for the people. I ask this congregation, how many of us are acting under that law of tithing with the free and full spirit of God to direct us? Every man that gives the Lord the advantage is on the safe side. Not like a sister I heard express herself. She had a horse to pay for tithing; she sent it to the bishop, and she put the price on the animal. She said: "This horse is worth fifty dollars, and I want that credit for it." The horse was worth twenty-five, no more; but she wanted a credit of fifty dollars for it or to have it sent back. That spirit operating upon the minds of the Latter-day Saints will becloud their minds to the greater blessings that God has in store for us.

We, today, are in training by and through the influences of the spirit of God. As our President said yesterday, this people are in training throughout the length and breadth of the land for the glorious work-the redemption of Zion; and the man or the woman who puts his or her price upon articles they have to pay in for tithing, and who are glad to shovel off something that they have no use for in the tithing department, God will reward them according to their just deserts. If my heart is right, every time that I pay tithing, I pay it with this view and this understanding before God:-I am preparing my mind and all that is in me that when the higher law shall come, I may be prepared to receive it, and may be numbered among those who will return

to Jackson County and go into the order which God instituted to preserve His people. This revelation must be looked upon in this light: We are in a school of training and God designs that this people should be educated, that they may be prepared to redeem the earth and make it like the garden of Eden. This is an important part of the great school which the Latter-day Saints are in today and have been in ever since I can remember, and before, too. Think of it, Latter-day Saints, that when you are paying your tithing you are making your minds liberal, spreading out, broadening your ideas, that when the word comes, you can say, I am on the altar in the Church and kingdom of God with everything that I possess, with all that the Lord has given me," that you may inherit everlasting life in the celestial kingdom of our God. If we give all, we shall inherit all. It is a principle which God has laid down, and I exhort the Latterday Saints to be very careful in paying their tithing, because this is the stepping stone to the greater law.

The principle of revelation to me is the most important principle we have, in one respect. If men were not dual creatures, and could devise means as to how to proceed and act with certainty, we might say revelation was unnecessary. But there is no act of man, perhaps, that is not prompted by the thought that enters the brain. If that be the case, and man is dual, how necessary that we should be directed by the spirit of God, which He sends to lead men in the ways of life everlasting! How necessary it is to receive it and to keep it that the very thoughts of our minds may be directed by Him above, who gives life eternal. The principle of revelation to every man and to every woman is the safeguard that will keep them from becoming entangled in the meshes of the sinful.

A passage comes to my mind that is found in Sec. 84 of the Doc. and Cov.A revelation given through Joseph Smith the prophet, at Kirtland, Geauga County, Ohio, the 22nd and 23rd of September, 1832,-four years before I was born in that place:

"And I now give unto you a com

mandment to beware concerning yourselves, to give diligent heed to the words of eternal life:

"For you shall live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God.

"For the word of the Lord is truth, and whatsoever is trutl is light, and whatsoever is light is spirit, even the spirit of Jesus Christ;

"And the spirit giveth light unto every man that cometh into the world; and the spirit enlighteneth every man through the world, that hearkeneth to the voice of the spirit."

This is the spirit that Latter-day Saints are taught to cultivate. That spirit is given; it is yours; it is in the possession of every human being that comes into the world, so far as I know. I see no exceptions. It is the province, and duty of the Latter-day Saints to cultivate that spirit until it becomes as a living fire within them. There is no error, though it may be couched in the smoothest and most beautiful language that can ever entangle the spirits of those who walk in the way of life. Therein is safety. The brightest intellects, the strongest minds, the most powerful men, are swayed like children by the spirits of the air, by the spirits from beneath, if they are not guarded and protected and strengthened by the spirit of God. That spirit is given to them to cultivate it to the extent that it is an armor impregnable to all of the various sects and parties that are trying to drag our people down to destruction.

"And everyone that hearkeneth to the voice of the spirit cometh unto God, even the Father;

"And the Father teacheth him of the covenant which he has renewed and confirmed upon you, which is confirmed upon you for your sakes, and not for your sakes only, but for the sake of the whole world."

Hear it Latter-day Saints-you are cultivating the spirit for the whole world. Not for you and your posterity, but for all of the children of men whom God has placed here. You have come out of the world, not to bring Babylon with you.

But people have come here from Babylon, and are among the Latter-day Saints with their sins and filth, and we gather it up by the handfulls,

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"And the whole world liveth in sin, and groaneth under darkness and under the bondage of sin.

Who has said it? Jesus Christ said it to His servant the prophet.

"And by this ye may know they are under the bondage of sin because they come not unto me.

"For whoso cometh not unto me is under the bondage of sin.

"And whoso receiveth not my voice is not acquainted with my voice and is not of me;

"And by this you may know the righteous from the wicked, and that the whole world groaneth under sin and darkness even now."

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By these things that I have read you may know the righteous from the wicked. Who is it that will receive that spirit and cultivate it? Who is it that listens to the voice of the men whom God has placed to redeem the world and guide in the redemption of the human family? Who are these men? and what do they say to the people? What have they said to the people during this conference? What has the President and his fellow-laborers said at this conference? They have delivered unto you the words of life and salvation, and as true as God lives, according to the spirit that is in me, we will be judged by the words of these men in the time to come. They have given unto you the words of everlasting life. They have given unto you those things that God has given unto them, to purify you.

I testify to you that the Church is growing; that the Gospel is here and men respect it and women respect it. But how many more might respect this glad message that God has sent us if they would but seek Him and be earnest and faithful and prayerful and humble and keep the spirit of light within them!

God bless you and peace be unto you in all of your homes in all of the settlements of the Latter-day Saints. Be faithful that we may have victory, and sing the song of the victorious in the day that is not far distant, which I ask in the name of Jesus. Amen

PRESIDENT LORENZO SNOW. How to overcome temptation-The Holy Spirit au unerring guide.

I have been very much pleased with what has been said this morning, and also during the whole of this confer ence. We certainly have had a very excellent time.

It struck me while Brother Young was addressing us that there were two very strong temptations that trouble us from time to time, and which sometimes prevent the spirit of light from giving us the information absolutely necessary for our prosperity. One is, what will people say if I do so and so? If I do these things that are now required of me, what will be said of me? I think that every one, at least most of my brethern and sisters who are now before me, will understand what I mean, from the experiences they have had. Such a consideration has affected almost every one. I know that it was the case with me, when the principles of the Gospel were announced and 1 took them into contemplation. It came to my mind; "what will people say if I receive these doctrines, and it is known that I have become what is called a "Mormon?" When such a temptation as this comes before us it should be laid aside, and not permitted to influence us.

is, How much That is a very

Another temptation money shall I give? strong temptation to most of us, I presume. Speaking of tithing as Brother Brigham has, how much of this tithing shall I give? Cannot I reserve a portion to myself? The Lord is very rich and I doubt if He will be troubled at all if I withhold a little for myself; and so a little to oneself is withheld. But that very little that is reserved will trouble that man, if his conscience is like the consciences of most of the Latter-day Saints. It will trouble him more or less in the day time, and also when he thinks of it at night. He does not have that happiness that it is his privilege to enjoy-it goes from him. One of the best things to do under such a temptation as that is to give, so as to be sure, a trifle more than is required; and to think that you have it wholly within yourself to do so. If you do this the temptation is overcome, you have

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