from food at stated times, as an accessory to prayer; and the first
Sunday of each month is observed as a fast-day. On that day the people
are invited to meet for special devotional service, and by common
consent and custom they contribute at least the equivalent of the meals
omitted through the fasting of the family. These offerings are received
by the local officers and are distributed under their direction to
the worthy poor. If there be a surplus in any Ward it is applied to
the needs of other Wards in which the proportion of dependent poor is
greater.
By these and other methods, including the tithing system to be
considered later, are the Latter-day Saints taught to give of
their substance for worthy purposes, and in such a way as to avoid
indiscriminate charity whereby perchance unworthy dependency would be
fostered. We believe that the harmony of our prayers will become a
discord if the cry of the deserving poor accompany our supplications to
the throne of Grace.
-- 53 --
AMERICA THE CRADLE OF LIBERTY
No King to Rule in the Land
THE commanding position of the United States among the world powers,
and the prominent place the American nation is to maintain as the
exponent and champion of human rights, were foreseen and predicted
centuries before the beginning of the Christian Era. Such is the Book
of Mormon record.
The prophet Nephi was one of the original company, who, under the
leadership of his father Lehi, left Jerusalem in the year 600 B. C.,
and journeyed to the Arabian shore, thence voyaging to the American
continent in a vessel they had constructed as, centuries earlier, Noah
had built an ark under Divine guidance.
In the early stages of the exodus, while the travelers were journeying
seaward through the deserts of Arabia, the Lord revealed unto Nephi
that a part of the posterity of his brethren would be smitten by
the righteous wrath of God; and it was specifically shown that the
nation into which the little company was to develop would be isolated
beyond the seas from all other peoples. Thus runs the account of the
revelation to Nephi the prophet, the events being chronicled in the
past tense as though already accomplished:
"And it came to pass that I looked and beheld many waters; and they
divided the Gentiles from the seed of my brethren. And it came to pass
that the angel said unto me, Behold the wrath of God is upon the seed
of thy brethren. And I looked and beheld a man among the Gentiles who
was separated from the seed of my brethren by the many waters; and
I beheld the Spirit of God, that it came down and wrought upon the
man; and he went forth upon the many waters, even unto the seed of my
brethren, who were in the promised land." (Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi
13:10-12).
Lehi and his people were Hebrews; all other nations are designated
in the Book of Mormon as Gentiles. As later parts of the record make
plain, "the promised land" is the continent of America. The "man among
the Gentiles," who was to come across the many waters and discover the
descendants of Nephi's brethren upon whom the wrath of God had fallen,
was Christopher Columbus whose mission was as surely foreappointed as
was that of any prophet. Then follows the prediction of the migration
of the Pilgrim Fathers, who are described as "other Gentiles" going
forth out of captivity; while the subsequent occupation of the land
by multitudes of the Gentiles who would prosper as a nation and would
subjugate the Indians is impressively set forth. The struggle of the
American colonies for independence was foretold, and the assurance that
the power of God would be exercised to give them victory over "their
mother Gentiles", or the British nation, was inscribed on enduring
metal before the existence of the western world had found place even in
the dreams of mankind.
Thus runs the ancient record: "And it came to pass that I, Nephi,
beheld that the Gentiles who had gone forth out of captivity, did
humble themselves before the Lord; and the power of the Lord was with
them; And I beheld that their mother Gentiles were gathered together
upon the waters, and upon the land also, to battle against them. And
I beheld that the power of God was with them, and also that the wrath
of God was upon all those that were gathered together against them to
battle. And I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles that had gone out of
captivity, were delivered by the power of God out of the hands of all
other nations." (1 Nephi 13:16-19).
In the economy of God, America, which is veritably the land of Zion,
was aforetime consecrated as the home of a free and independent
nation. It is the divinely assured inheritance of the "House of
Israel"; and people of all nationalities who will abide by the laws
of righteousness, which embody the principles of true liberty, may
become by adoption members of the House of Israel. For a wise purpose
this promised land, the American continent, was long kept from the
knowledge of men; and the hand of the Lord has been potent in directing
its discovery and in the establishment of the nation of promise and
destiny thereon. Nephite prophets reiterated this solemn assurance, and
proclaimed as the will and purpose of God that the government of the
land should be a government of the people and not the tyranny of kings.
Lehi was explicit in avowal of the Lord's purpose in consecrating
America as the home of free men, on conditions of righteousness:
"Wherefore I, Lehi, prophesy according to the workings of the Spirit
which is in me, that there shall none come into this land, save they
shall be brought by the hand of the Lord. Wherefore, this land is
consecrated unto him whom he shall bring. And if it so be that they
shall serve him according to the commandments which he hath given, it
shall be a land of liberty unto them; wherefore, they shall never be
brought down into captivity; if so, it shall be because of iniquity;
for if iniquity shall abound, cursed shall be the land for their sakes;
but unto the righteous it shall be blessed for ever. And behold, it is
wisdom that this land should be kept as yet from the knowledge of other
nations; for behold, many nations would overrun the land, that there
would be no place for an inheritance." (2 Nephi 1:6-8).
-- 54 --
DEMOCRACY OF AMERICAN ORIGIN
The Founding of an Ancient Republic
Democracy is indigenous to America.
One of the earliest recorded experiments of representative government
by the people was undertaken on the Western Continent; and it was a
success.
These statements are not made with reference to the establishment of
the United States of America as a free and independent nation, but to
events that antedated by nearly a century the birth of Christ.
At that time North America was inhabited by two great peoples, the
Nephites and the Lamanites, each named after an early leader, and both
originally of one family stock. Except for brief periods of comparative
peace the two nations lived in a state of hostility due to Lamanite
aggression.
The Nephites were progressive, cultured, and of peaceful desires, while
the Lamanites became degenerate, dark-skinned and barbarous. Eventually
the Nephite nation was destroyed by its savage foes; the Lamanites
persisted and are represented today by their direct descendants, the
American Indians.
For five centuries prior to the events now under consideration each
nation had been governed by a succession of kings. The Lamanite rulers
exercised autocratic sway and relied upon physical force for their
power. Some of the Nephite monarchs were almost as bad, though many
were notably considerate and just.
The last of the Nephite sovereigns was Mosiah; he died 91 B. C. after
a righteous reign of thirty-three years. King in name, he called his
people brethren and counted himself their trusted and presiding servant.
A short time before his death Mosiah called for an expression from his
people as to whom they desired to succeed him on the throne. There was
a united answer; the people wanted the king's son, to whom it was said
"the kingdom doth rightly belong." But Aaron, the people's choice,
declined the crown, as did his brothers in turn; for all these sons of
Mosiah were devoted to the preaching of the Gospel and esteemed the
labors of the ministry above the royal estate.
Mosiah seized the opportunity occasioned by the people's loyalty
and unity to awaken them to the fact that the powers of government
were inherent within themselves, and to urge them to exercise their
sovereign rights and assume the privileges and responsibilities of
self-rule. He recommended that they abolish the monarchy and establish
a Republic according to "the voice of the people."
In a stirring proclamation he set forth the potential dangers of
kingly rule and admonished the nation to guard its liberty as a sacred
possession, and to delegate the governing power to officers of its own
choosing, whom he called judges, who should be elected by popular vote,
and who could be impeached if charged with iniquitous exercise of power
and be removed if found unworthy. King Mosiah summarized in a masterly
way the fundamentals of true democracy. After reciting the wrongs the
people had suffered under monarchical oppression, he continued in this
wise:
"Therefore choose you by the voice of this people, judges, that ye
may be judged according to the laws which have been given you by our
fathers, which are correct, and which were given them by the hand of
the Lord.
"Now it is not common that the voice of the people desireth anything
contrary to that which is right; but it is common for the lesser part
of the people to desire that which is not right; therefore this shall
ye observe, and make it your law to do your business by the voice of
the people.
"And if the time comes that the voice of the people doth choose
iniquity, then is the time that the judgments of God will come upon
you, yea, then is the time he will visit you with great destruction
even as he has hitherto visited this land.
"And now if ye have judges, and they do not judge you according to the
law which has been given, ye can cause that they may be judged of a
higher judge.
"If your higher judges do not judge righteous judgments, ye shall cause
that a small number of your lower judges should be gathered together,
and they shall judge your higher judges, according to the voice of the
people.
"And I command you to do these things in the fear of the Lord: and I
command you to do these things, and that ye have no king. . . .
"And now I desire that this inequality should be no more in this land,
especially among this my people; but I desire that this land be a land
of liberty, and every man may enjoy his rights and privileges alike."
(Book of Mormon, Mosiah 29.)
The affairs of government were to be the concern of the whole
commonwealth; for, as the king proclaimed with convincing plainness,
"the burden should come upon all the people, that every man might bear
his part." It is gratifying to know that the Nephites adopted the
proposition, straightway set about creating election districts, and at
the appointed time chose by vote the first elective rulers of the new
Republic.
From American soil, which of all was first to be prepared for the
cultivation of representative government by the people, the seed of
democracy shall be carried to every other land, until all men are free,
in accordance with Divine intent.
-- 55 --
PERPETUITY OF AMERICAN NATION
Assured by Prophecy
As late as but a few months prior to that fateful date--August 1,
1914--when the war storm burst in Europe, some of the world's great
ones, eminent in scholarship and leaders of thought, aggressively
proclaimed their belief that a great war was impossible. They held that
the affairs of nations were so intimately related, the interests common
to humanity so closely knit, as to safeguard the world against any such
devastating conflict as would be entailed by the outbreak of war among
great nations with the frightfully efficient enginery of destruction
developed by present-day science. There was neither ambiguity nor
reservation in the academic pronouncement that the human race, in
its course of evolutionary progression, had happily risen above the
barbarous incentive to wholesale murder and ruthless destruction such
as characterized the less cultured epochs of history.
Certain optimistic protagonists averred that if, contrary to their
demonstrated facts and figures, great nations should plunge recklessly
into war, the struggle would of necessity be brief, for the total
wealth of the world was insufficient to maintain for more than a few
weeks at most the waging of war with modern equipment.
Yet in spite of all prognostications, as though derisively flouting the
wisdom of the wise, August 1, 1914, was so deeply crimsoned that the
weathering of ages future will not dull the stain. That day and all the
days since have witnessed the fulfilment of the prediction relating to
the last dispensation, the time in which we live, as voiced by Isaiah:
"Behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even
a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall
perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid." (Isa.
29:14.)
Verily the accumulated wisdom of men has failed us in the time of
need, has failed to forecast and fails to expound the dread happenings
of these eventful times. Where is the master mind that can interpret
the problems of contemporary history, with factors innumerable, with
relations so intricate and differentials so varied that the calculus of
time is inadequate to solve?
Human reasoning unillumined by Divine revelation offers but dark and
insecure refuge from the turmoil of current events. Whither then shall
we look for guidance? Or, must we abandon ourselves to the despairing
conclusion that to the storm-lashed ocean of the ominous present there
is no haven of hope, and to our buffeted bark no anchor of comforting
assurance?
To him who listens in faith there rises even above the roar of
strife, the voice of prophecy citing earlier prediction of events now
materializing in rapid sequence, and telling of the eventual triumph
of righteousness and the vindication of man's right to liberty and
happiness.
The great world conflict was predicted by both ancient and modern
prophets. Joseph Smith, speaking the word of God, told of the imminent
outpouring of war upon all nations, wisdom of the world's wise men
to the contrary notwithstanding. And in these utterances the modern
prophet spake in harmony with the predictions of earlier seers, as did
he also of the promises made concerning America, which is described
as a land choice above all others. Read these words of assurance
given through an ancient Jaredite: "Behold, this is a choice land,
and whatsoever nation shall possess it, shall be free from bondage,
and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven if they
will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ, who hath been
manifested by the things which we have written." (Book of Mormon, Ether
2:12.)
Furthermore, hearken unto the following with reference to this same
choice land, spoken unto the ancient inhabitants of this continent
through Jacob the Nephite: "But behold, this land, saith God, shall be
a land of thine inheritance, and the Gentiles shall be blessed upon
the land. And this land shall be a land of liberty unto the Gentiles,
and there shall be no kings upon the land, who shall raise up unto the
Gentiles. And I will fortify this land against all other nations." (2
Nephi 10:10-12.)
We hold that the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of
the United States are inspired documents, veritable scriptures of
the nation, framed by men under Divine direction, men specifically
empowered and raised up for this high mission; and that these charters
of liberty constitute a pattern after which the governments of the
nations shall be shaped. Thus shall be fulfilled, in part at least,
the prophecy of the ancient revelator, that out of this land, which
in solemn truth is the land of Zion, shall go forth the law of the
Lord unto the world at large. In the majesty of her high destiny our
Nation has taken a stand as the champion of freedom and human rights.
Her enduring greatness is conditioned only by the righteousness of her
people, who, if they will but serve the God of the land--the God of
Heaven and earth--shall never be subject to alien domination.
It is not written in the book of destiny that America shall bow the
knee to autocracy; but, to the glorious contrary, it is inscribed on
the scroll of the Divine purpose, that this, the land of Zion, shall be
the haven of refuge to the oppressed: "And it shall be said among the
wicked: Let us not go up to battle against Zion, for the inhabitants of
Zion are terrible; wherefore we cannot stand. And it shall come to pass
that the righteous shall be gathered out from among all nations, and
shall come to Zion, singing with songs of everlasting joy." (D&C 45:
70-71.)
-- 56 --
LAW OF THE TITHE
The Lord's Revenue System
Payment of tithes was required under the Law of Moses. Indeed, the
early prominence given to this requirement has led to the incorrect
assumption that tithe-paying had its beginning in an Israelitish
statute. Tithing is older than Israel. Abraham paid a tenth part of his
gains to Melchizedek, who was king of Salem and priest of the Most High
God (Gen. 14:20 and Heb. 7:1-8); and Jacob made a covenant to devote to
the Lord's service a tenth of all that would come into his hands. (Gen.
28:22.)
Following the development of the children of Israel into a theocratic
nation, the practise of paying tithes in kind became one of the
features by which they, the worshipers of Jehovah, were distinguished
from all other peoples. The requirement was explicit and its
application general, to rich and poor alike. Thus we read: "And all the
tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of
the tree, is the Lord's: it is holy unto the Lord. . . . And concerning
the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth
under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord." (Lev. 27:30, 32.)
As long as the people faithfully complied with the law of the tithe
they prospered; and when they failed the land was no longer sanctified
to their good. Hezekiah (2 Chron. 31: 5-10) and Nehemiah (Neh.
13:10-13) reproved the people for their negligence in the matter and
awakened them to the jeopardy that threatened; and, later, Malachi
voiced the word of Jehovah in stern rebuke, forceful admonition, and
encouraging promise, relative to the payment of the Lord's tenth:
"Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we
robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for
ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into
the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now
herewith, said 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." (Mal. 3:8-10.)
At the time of our Lord's personal ministry the law had been
supplemented by innumerable rules, comprising unauthorized exactions
often based upon mere trivialities. Christ approved the tithe but made
plain the fact that other duties were none the less imperative. See
Matt. 23:23.
During recent years great interest has been manifest in the matter of
the tithe, among theologians, ministers and intelligent laymen; and the
reestablishment of tithe-paying as a religious duty has been strongly
advocated. It is important to know that the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints has observed this requirement from the early days
of its history--not because it was operative in ancient Israel, nor
because it was law and custom among the Jews in the days of Christ,
but because it has been authoritatively established through modern
revelation in the Church. In 1838 the Lord systematized the practise
upon which the people had voluntarily entered, and defined the tithe as
a tenth of one's individual possessions: "And this," said He, "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 for ever, for my
Holy Priesthood, saith the Lord." (D&C 119: 3-4.) The manner in which
the tithes of the people are to be paid and the channels through which
the contributions are to be distributed and used in the work of the
Church are specifically set forth.
As of old, so in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
today, tithing is the divinely established revenue system by which
the pecuniary needs of the ecclesiastical community are provided
for. And as of old so today, tithe-paying must be a voluntary
free-will sacrifice, not to be exacted by secular power nor enforced
by infliction of fines or other material penalties. The obligation
is self-assumed; nevertheless it is one to be observed with full
purpose of heart by the earner who claims standing in the Church and
who professes to abide by the revealed word given for the spiritual
development of its members.
It is essential that men learn to give. Without provision for this
training the curriculum in the school of mortality would be seriously
defective. Human wisdom has failed to devise a more equitable scheme
of individual contribution for community needs than the simple plan
of the tithe. Every one is invited to give in amount proportioned to
his income, and to so give regularly and systematically. The spirit
of giving makes the tithe holy; and it is by means thus sanctified
that the material activities of the Church are carried on. Blessings,
specific and choice, are promised the honest tithe-payer; and these
blessings are placed within the reach of all. In the Lord's work the
widow's penny is as acceptable as the gold-piece of the millionaire.
Tithing is the rental we are asked to pay on the property committed to
our keeping and use. We are but temporary holders, lessees of property
the ultimate title of which is vested in Him who created all that is.
The Latter-day Saints believe that the tithing system has been
divinely appointed for their observance; and they esteem themselves
blessed in thus being permitted to have part in the furtherance of
God's purposes. Under this system the people have prospered severally
and as an organized body. It is the simple and effective revenue
law of the Church; and its operation has been a success from the
time of its establishment. Amongst us it obviates the necessity of
taking up collections in religious assemblies, and makes possible the
promulgation of the Church's message through the printed and spoken
word, the building and maintenance of Temples for the benefit of both
living and dead, to an extent that would be otherwise unattainable.
-- 57 --
THE UNITED ORDER
No Longer Mine and Thine, But the Lord's and Ours
WE live in a material world, and certain material possessions are
essential to life, to say nothing of convenience and comfort. Man
must have food, clothing, and shelter; and he should have the means
of intellectual enjoyment, wholesome recreation, and the desirable
comforts of life. All these things are comprised in what we call
wealth, and under present social conditions are represented by the one
word money. Is it not true that money or its equivalent--the essential
things that money can buy--must be counted among the necessities of
life?
By misquotation we hear it said that money is the root of all evil; but
the Scriptures say not so. The inspired declaration reads: "For the
love of money is the root of all evil." (1 Tim. 6:10.) As soon as one
sets his heart on money he becomes unbalanced in mind and spirit; his
vision and perspective are disturbed.