Editor’s Table: Talks to the Young Men; Some Words on Tithing; The Place of Man in the Universe

EDITOR'S TABLE.

TALKS TO THE YOUNG MEN —SOME WORDS ON TITHING.

BY THE SENIOR EDITOR.

The subject of the payment of tithing is being discussed at present in every circle of the Church. What is your standing regarding this principle? How have you complied with the law? Upon the nature of your reply to these questions depend some very important results, as far as you are individually concerned. The doctrine is not new. Joseph and Oliver introduced it into their lives as early as the days of Kirtland, in 1834,* and it was

• On the evening of the 29th of November I united in prayer with Brother Oliver, for the continuance of blessings. After giving thanks for the relief which the Lord had lately sent us by opening the hearts of the brethren from the east to loan us $430; after commencing and rejoicing before the Lord on this occasion, we agreed to enter into the following covenant with the Lord: That if the Lord will prosper us in our business, and open the way before us, that we may obtain means to pay —

our debts that we be not troubled nor brought into disrepute before — the world, nor his people after that, of all that he shall give us, we will give a tenth, to be bestowed upon the poor in his church, or as he shall command; and that we will be faithful over that which he has entrusted to our care, that we may obtain much; and that our children after us, shall remember to observe this sacred and holy covenant; and that our children, and our children's children, may know of the same, we have subscribed our names with our own hands, Joseph Smith, Jr., Oliver Cowdery. —From the Life of Joseph Smith.

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given as a law to the Church in 1838, after the Saints had prac- tically rejected the more perfect law of consecration. It has been renewed at this particular time, through President Lorenzo Snow, who has been inspired to warn the people, upon his recent visit to the southern settlements, and also in the late conference of the young men, that the Lord is displeased with the negligence displayed in its present observance, or it might be said, non- observance. It is plainly related in the revelation (Sec. 119 Doc. and Cov.) that by this law shall the land of Zion be sanctified unto the Lord, and that if his people observe not this law, it shall not be a land of Zion unto them. President Snow has stated that it

has been revealed to him that the Saints are not obeying this law; and, because of their negligence in this respect, the Lord is not pleased with them; and, further, they can make no demand upon the promise that this shall remain a land of Zion unto them. Now, what is tithing? The best and simplest answer, and from which all answers must in the end be taken, is that given by the Lord in reply to a similar question from the Prophet Joseph: "0 Lord, show unto thy servants how much thou requirest of the properties of the people for a tithing?" The reply is plain: "Verily, thus saith the Lord, I require all their surplus property to be put * into the hands of the bishop of my Church in Zion. * *

And this shall be the beginning of the tithing of my people; and after that, those who have thus been tithed, shall pay one-tenth of all their interest annually; and this shall be a standing law unto them forever, for my holy priesthood, saith the Lord." Some persons are fond of caviling on the word interest, desir- ing to prove how little or how much should be paid in tithing. Such dickering and pinching, and such arguments, are not in line with the inspirations of the Spirit of God. Tithing is one-tenth;

and the true tithing record is that which is kept in our own con- sciences, not only that which is kept in the bishop's books. These may not record all. But that other book of conscience will not only record all that is done but also what has been left undone. Every man will receive according to his works and the record. When we are not honest with ourselves we cannot be honest with God, and we are not in a position to receive the promised blessings, and then of what avail is argument? In this matter we are dealing

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personally with God, having in view the building up of Zion in all its branches, the spreading of the Gospel, for the salvation of the dead and the living; having in view the purpose of giving power and influence to the Presidency of the Church so that they may accomplish and further the will of God. We must be honest, therefore, with ourselves, and in this way we cannot deal dishon- estly with God. A great or a small showing on the record, then, is not a criterion for judgment. The question for each of us to answer is, Have I dealt honestly and liberally with the Lord, as I desire that he shall deal with me in the fulfillment of His promises? There are three reasons why we should pay tithing: First, that we may be entitled to the blessings, for it is a principle with promise. "Bring ye all the tithes into the store- house, and 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. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of Hosts." (Malachi 3: 10, 11. Second, because we should fear the consequences of diso- bedience. It is written: "Behold, now it is called today (until the coming of the Son of man), and verily it is a day of sacrifice, and a day for the tithing of my people for he that is tithed shall not :

be burned (at his coming.)" 0, say you, do 'you believe the Lord will burn the disobedient? Yes, I do. We are told that when God shall again cleanse the earth it shall be by fire, and it is evi- dent that all who are not in harmony with the laws of God shall be consumed by the burning. "For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea,and all that do wickedly, shall burn as stubble; and they that come shall burn them, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." The earth also will be visited by earthquakes, storms, pesti- lence and fire. We have abundant evidence, in what we have seen, or read of in the history of the world, and our own times, of what devastation may be wrought by God when he sets the elements in

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motion. It is a precious promise that he who is tithed shall not be burned at his coming. Third, and this is the greatest reason, because God commands it, it is a duty to obey; and because it is good and right to obey. We are his children; we must be obedient to him. He who prom- ises and does not fulfill, cuts himself off, but the obedient continue to be the sons of God. Who shall pay tithing? All members who have an interest. That includes all who live. It includes even the poor who obtain their support from the Church. When the poor come unto the Bishop for help, their names should appear on his ward record as tithe payers, for then they can demand help. If they pay no tithes

how can they be heirs to the blessings. They have no claim. Would you cut them off from the promises and blessings because they are poor, helpless and dependent? What, are they and their children not to have the right to an inheritance in the land of Zion? God forbid. Parents should teach their children to pay tithing, and instill this principle into their hearts. Few children or young people, who are members of the Church, are entirely without means. They should be taught to pay tithes on the mites that come into their possession, and should take their little records annually and settle with the bishop, be their tithes, in amount, no larger than sums ranging from a nickel to a dollar. They are Church members; they should thus early be taught to reckon with the Lord, because it is his command, it is right, it is a principle with precious promise, it is a protection against curses and burning. Brethren, ask yourselves, what has been your conduct con- cerning this principle? What reckoning could you make with God? What record does your conscience show? Have you trained yourselves by the payment of a liberal tithing, even more than is due, for the consecration that is coming to this people? Remem- ber, we are growing. Zion must progress and be redeemed before many years shall pass away. Men will be tried with this principle. It will be seen who will obey God rather than their own selfishness.

It will make or undo us. Remember, all that we have belongs to God and his cause. From them we receive not only all that we have in this world, but the rewards of eternal life in the next.

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We cannot afford to haggle with them. God has been lenient with the shortcomings of the people in the past, but from this time on we are not assured of forgiveness for neglect in this important matter.

THE PLACE OF MAN IN THE UNIVERSE.

In the Era for May was an article on the "Leaven of the Gospel," in which reference was made to the change that was gradually coming over theological thought with respect to man, and his importance as relating to the possibilities that lie before — — "the real man of God" the righteous man in a limitless future. Since that article was written a friend has called our attention to an article in Self Culture, for March which makes reference to a recent lecture of Sir Robert Ball's, who, without disparagement to others, may be referred to as the leading English astronomer; and who is described as "a man with singular capacity for popularizing science without debasing it." That article is so apropos of what was written in the Era on the subject alluded to, that we quote in part the Self Culture article. «

In the course of Sir Robert's lecture in substance he said: "We know of the existence of thirty millions of stars or suns, many of them much more magnificent than the one which gives light to our system." "The majority of* them are not visible to the eye, or even recognizable by the telescope, but sensitized photographic plates which are for this purpose eyes that can stare unwinking for hours at a time — have revealed their existence beyond all doubt or ques- tion, though most of them are almost inconceivably distant, thousands or tens of thousands of times as far off as our sun. A telegraphic message, for example, which would reach the sun in eight minutes, would not reach some of these stars in eighteen hundred years. The human mind, of course, does not really con-

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ceive such distances, though they can be expressed in formulae which the human mind has devised, and the bewildering statement is from one point of view singularly depressing. It reduces so

greatly the probable importance of man in the universe. It is

most improbable, almost impossible, that these great centers of light should have been created to light up nothing, and as they are far too distant to be of use to us, we may fairly accept the hypoth- esis that each one has a system of planets round it like our own. Taking an average of only ten planets to each sun, that hypothesis indicates the existence, within the narrow range to which human observation is still confined, of at least three hundred millions of separate worlds, many of them doubtless of gigantic size, and it is nearly inconceivable that those worlds can be wholly devoid of living and sentient beings upon them. "Granting the to us impossible hypothesis that the final cause of the universe is accident, a fortuitous concourse of self-existent atoms, still the accident which produced thinking beings upon this little and inferior world must have frequently repeated itself; while

if, as we hold, there is a sentient Creator, it is difficult to believe, without a revelation to that effect, that he has wasted such glorious creative power upon mere masses of insensible matter. God cannot love gases. The high probability, at least, is that there are millions of worlds —for, after all, what the sensitized paper sees must be

— but an infinitesimal fraction of the whole occupied by sentient beings— probably mortal in our sense, as all matter must decay certainly finite. What then is the relative position of mankind? If he dies at death, man is a member of a weak tribe of animals with inferior physical powers, with keen brains, but very poor natures, with a very short life, and so insignificant in numbers that it seems at first sight possible —we write with all reverence —that he might be forgotten even by God. We know, or think we know, from revelation that he is not forgotten; but there is no natural reason why he should not be, in the sense that any one of the smaller forest tribes of Africa may be forgotten by the most learned of geographers or most benevolent of philanthropists. We can conceive no thought more depressing than this of the contemptible insignificance, the almost invisibility, of man among the myriads of sentient creatures of whom he knows, and while he

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remains here will continue to know, absolutely nothing. His fate is the fate of an animalcule such as science suspects to exist, below detection or observation by the most searching microscope. How an unbeliever can be grateful to the astronomer we cannot imagine, any more than we can imagine how men who see in man- kind only superior animals, can conceive of humanity as a worthy object of worship. We had rather worship the sun, or space, which at least is grand in this, that it contains all that exists. "It is only by believing that the human being has a spirit, and that it continues to exist after death, that man can in any degree regain his importance in the scheme of things. Even then he is but one among many myriads of competitors, and in no way the center or flower, as he now thinks himself, of creation; but still he may be an important being, lasting for countless ages, capable through those ages of perpetual addition to his powers, and of becoming through all that time of more use in the work of the universe. He is, from the astronomer's point of view, of suf- now, for he only cultivates, and in cultivating ficiently little use

uses up a single grain of sand. We know nothing about it, of course, except that man exists after death, which we hold to be proved at once by revelation and by the perpetually repeated experience of a few persons to whom it has been given to see dimly and for a few moments beyond the veil which seems to the majority to drop at death and to be so impenetrable; but it is dif. ficult to believe that anything created can remain stationary in con-

dition, as even inanimate matter does not do. Why should it, when there must be so much, not only to know but to do, in this illimit-

able universe? "The popular notion that man, once escaped from the confine- ment of the body, does nothing except sit on a cloud and sing psalms to the glory of a God whose glory is so perfect without him that he was content when man was not in being, rests upon no evidence, whether of reason or revelation, and seems to us derived either from man's long experience of overtoil and misery and his enjoyment, therefore, of their absence, or from the inher- ent Asiatic dislike of exertion. Why should we not work forever as well as now? If man can live again, and grow in that new life, carry out the always hidden, but necessarily and exert himself to

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magnificent purpose of the Creator, then indeed, his existence may have some importance, and the insignificance of his place of origin be forgotten. For he has an inherent quality which does not belong, so far as the mind can see what must always remain partially dark, even to the Divine; he is capable of effort, and in the effort and through the effort, not only of growing greater than before, but of adding force to an inanimate thing like his own body. What if that power of effort should be slowly aggrandized until man, now a little higher than the monkey, became a really great being?"