Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1898-05-21

|, intelligent people, while the woman be-
cor,rs an outcnst. This Is all wrong
The I.atter-day Saints should set
their faces like a flint against every
such sin. The Lord has commanded
us over and over again TO practice
chastity. virtue and purity, and that
we should not look upon woman to
lust after her The world may think
what they like about us: but ] bear
testimony that the Lattcr-dpy Saints
are virtuous people. They cannot be
anything else. The man that has tho
fellowship of the Holy Ghost would he
ashamed to have lustful thuurhts; he
would pray the Lord to deliver him
from such impressions. The value OF
having the fellowship Of the Holy
Ghost is that we may have the
strength of character to resist eyil and
to choose the good. The Lord com
mands us to abstain from all evil and
to walk before Him with broken
heart and contrlte spirit, to he meek
and lowly, tcachable. learning che viii
Of God and then doing II. That IN
what He has called us for And he
has brought us into His Church that
we may assist in the establishment Of
His Righteousness. and b. peculiar
people, holy people. walking in the
reverence Of the Lord. If we do not do
II, we win become as ashes under the
feet of the righteous. / presume there
Ia no Latter-day Saint but what is
looking forward for the second advent
Of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
That Is what we are preparing our
selves for. And we know that when
He comes lie will come with ton thous-
and OF His Saints. in flaming Ere, TAX
ing vengeance on them who know not
God and who obey not the Gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ Now, are we com
ing with Him, or are we going to be
cd
to receive Him, woe unto us, Suppos-
ing we die do we not expect to CONT
with the Lord Jesus Christ? And how
can we ever expect this unless We ac>
cept of the eternal conditions Of the
Gospel.
The Lord requires of us one tenth of
everything He gives to us, In kind. AS
! mentioned at our last General Con-
ference, 1t never came to me so forci-
bly, and SO simply as II did In hearing
one Of our sisters explaining the prin-
cinle Of tithing to class she was
teaching. She said unto them: Sup
pose your father gave you ten apples,
and he asked you to return one OF
them; wouldn't you be very covetous
If you did not return that one2' They
smiled at the idea of their father giv>
ing them ten apples and they not Will
ing to return him one of them. Yet
that is just so with some and the law
of tithlng Whatever we honestly OBJ
tain in the dispensation OF the provi-
dence of the Lord. He requires one
tenth Of it to be given unto Him. That
is the principle, and 1t Is easily under
stood. And then He requires us TO he
large hearted and generous to the
poor, the widow and the fatherless. If
we do not honor this requirement, We
arc under curse. Now, the children
smiled to think that they would not
give one apple out of ten but tell you
what some OF us do: we cut the appls
In half, and keep half of II; or we will
give the Lord n quarter; and some, l
am sorry to say, will bite n little piece
off and give 1t to Him. That is Just
the way the Lord is treated by some
with regard to the law of tithing. l
want OF ask this congregation whether
under such conditions, we are prepar-
ing ourselves for the second coming of
the Messiah. The Lord simply asks us
to prove Him in this matter.
prove me now herewith. saith the
Lord of hosts, II will not open you the
windows of heaven, and ifor you out
n blessing, that there shall not be room
enough to receive" (Malachi 3: 10)
/ want to bear testimony that IL is
the Lord who provides, whether we
acknowledge 1t or whether we do not.
If we will prove Him, we will learn
more about Him and about His ways,
and understand the designs of His
providence. We win be taught of God
when we manifest unto Him that we
honor Him and His laws, and that we
are in harmony with these everlasting
conditions. ] do not understand how
/ can honor God except I do as he
wishes me. Abraham was justified by
faith: he was saved by grace. How
was he justified by faith? Because he
loved righteousness, honored the Lord
in tithes and in offerings, and did
everything He required at His hands.
OF course, he had the favor of God;
of course, he was saved by the grace
of God. So may we all be upon the