Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1897-12-24

| i
hungry not that He needs anything;
the cattle on the hills are His; every
| thing we possess He has given to us;
but lie asks US, for our own benefit and
blessing, to give to Him one-tenth If
we Will do this, He says He will pros
per our harvests. bless our fiocks and
our herds, increase our basket and our
store, and I'LL us to overlooking. Do
! you think It makes any difference 20
His happiness, His greatness or His
glory, whether we do this or not2 But
| very little. But 1t adds to our faith and
| 1t gives us strength.
The Lord wants to teach the inhab-
tants of the earth new princip,es-or
principles that have been long forgot
| ten. Man has thought that he pros
pered by his own wisdom and strength.
| People look upon n man who is pros
pering, and they give him the credit
OF 1t. They give the creature the credit
instead OF the Creator The Lord intends
to change this He has been trying now
| for sixty-seven years to do it,
He wants men to look at life from a
different standpoint; to believe that
there is power to enrich that is be-
| yond man, and that prosperity comes
to men by their doing that which He
| requires at their hands. Have we not
proved this? We certainly have.
! sometimes allude to our mission
aries in this connection. We have
now. suppose, about fourteen hundred
men preaching the Gospel They will
be absent from home several years.
when they come back. will they be
distinguished in the wards where they
live by their poverty? Are those who
have been on missions and have re-
turned, distinguished by their poverty
from the rest of their brethren? They
are not. The men who have been on
missions are as prosperous rs those
VINO have not been on missions. ] have
proved this myself, as most of us have,
There We're fifteen successive years
during which / was only home nine
months; and have been going almost
constantly from that time. But the
Lord has prospered me. I am not
| noted among my brethren for my pow
tfty. Neither are the brethren who
have labored in the same manner. The
Lord has blessed the men who have
been devoted to His cause. The Bis
| hops who labor disinterestedly in the
cause OF God-as many of them do
spending their time in caring for the
people. the Lord blesses them, and puts
means in their hands. He can do it,
too, as He has proved to us. He can
Increase this people in wealth, and in
everything else.
But He does not want us to be a
selfish people. He wants us to carry
out the principles of the Gospel as
| they are revealed to us, and to make
change in the earth. tell you, the
way things have been going, the devil
mas had run sway. TIE devils principles
ana teachings are dominant and fol-
lowed by the world The world have
taken Satan for their guide, and they
nave said 1t Is impossible to carry out
In human life the teachings of the Son
OF God. Why? Because Satan reigns
III their hearts. and over the world,
and men are led and guided by his ex-
amples and teachings.
God has founded this Church to ere
ate a complete revolution In the earth
IN these respects; to raise up u people
entirely different from all the peoples
upon the race of the earth. with differ
ent foundation for their action, with
different views, different aspirations
and laboring for different objects
When the Latter-day Saint. trample
upon each other when they try to take
advantage of one another, then they
are following the. teachings of Satan
But when they help each other. when
they are kind and full of benevolence
ana charity to each other praying for
each other, expanding means for each
other as needed, devising measures for
each others benefit and salvation
then they are the children of God. 1t
is the design of Satan to make the chill
dren of men unhappy. It is the design
of God to make them happy and loving
one towards another.
For this purpose the Lord has re-
| vealed the Gospel. To accomplish these
great changes to which have alluded
He came himself, accompanied by His
Son Jesus, and opened up the way for
the establishment of this work. and
then He sent heavenly messengers 1t
needed some one to come from heaven
to do this. How could II have been
done otherwise? The Inhabitants Of
the earth had abandoned themselves to
false teachings, and We're led by false
teachers, until the whole earth was
filled with violence; and the meek. the
lowly, the poor and the humble stood
no chance on the earth with the
proud, the naughty, the strong an, the
mighty among men. But ti,.5 Gospel
has come for the salvation of the poor
II has come to redeem the poor; to
lift them up from their poverty: to
abolish oppression and wrong in every
form; to make men live, not for them
selves alone, but for their fellow men.
for humanity at large, and to frame
plans and devise measures that will re-
suit In the uplifting of our race and
making 1t that which God designed It
should be-
We ought to be thankful that God
has revealed this Gospel, and
that He has establishe. this
Church. There Is hope in
as tower of refuge. And II will
stand. Nations may fall to pieces;
distinctions and calgmities may come,
! and the whole earth be covered with
war and desolation but firm as the
| eternal heavens, mistaken as the
throne of God, this Church will stand
as tower of refuge--a place to which
all mankind may turn with comfort,
because they will see here something
that is going to outlive all these ele-
mental disturbances and stand as
place OF safety for the children of men
in their hours of trouble or days of
calamity. Thank God for this Church.
| The poor among men can rejoice in 1t.
as the Prophet said they would. The
| Lord has founded Zion, and our hearts
should be set upon building 1t up. Eve
Try power of our natures should be en-
gagged in 1t; for It Is Gods work. and
we are doing Gods work In building It
up. OH that we had al! the wealth
| of the world at our command with
which to build up Zion in purity and
! redeem the earth--not for our own on
richment or advancement When ]
see Latter-day Saints building up
thinking of that only, / mourn over
them. They have not cpmprehended
the mission OF Zion. II Is not TO build
up ourselves It is to build up the work
of God, for the salvation Of all our
brethren and sisters on the earth God
| VIII build us all .up If we VIII build up
His Zion, and He win build up our
I children after US The Lord will bless
the children of the l-atter-day Saints
| who serve Him. His promises VIII
accompany them throughout all their
generations. and we shall have a gem
| Grafton of pure pcople ON the earth