Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1899-11-11
THE PRINCIPLE OF OBEDIENCE.
Remarks Sovonteh SomiAnnunl Conference r
tabernacle salt City, Friday, October 1899. by
ELDER RUDCER CLAWsoN.
saurhc obligation Obedience Goa
The Law Of Iihng.

4l But the People took of the spoil,
sheep and oxen, the chief OF the things
which should have been utterly dca-
ifoycd. 70 sacrifice unto the Lord thy
God ln GiiFni.
"22. And Samuel raid. hath the Lord
oH great delight In burnt ofcfing and
s.nactinees' az W obcying tho voice OF
The Lorif Behold 20 obey Ia better
than uacrincc. and 60 hearion than tho
Eat u rams.
''29. For rebellion o. no the sln OF
wltchcrnft, and siubbornnoss % a. in.
llulty aud idolntry"
The Lord ala not say 20 Saul that
there was anything wrong IN burnt Of
fcrlng ana sacrifice, but be said that
obedience was hotter than sacrifice.
And later on Samuel said unto Saul,
~ VIII not return with thee: for thou
hast rejected the word OF the Lord. and
thc Lord hath rejected thee from being
King over Israeli
In another place % la said that tho
Lord Tcpontcd that be made Saul king
over Israel. bccnuae be- had forsnkon
him and failed 70 Keep his command.
monta.
II seems to mo. brethren and sisters.
that We can draw lesson OF wisdom
from this story OF the king of Israel.
We can see that when the Lord gives a
commandment to the children Of men
Ho requires tho Htuctcat obedience 10
TINT command. When the Lord apenEa
he means something. II ~ not a. tho
,vNl'i hNtvh Vt one uihh win ouothcr
when We do not weigh our words aud
think not % the result thereof. hut
when tho Lord delivers n command
mcnt % his people u l1 binding upon
them. We have thg commandments OF
the Lord IN the Iihlo. ln the Hook OF
Doctrine ana Covenants. On the hook
~ Mormon and IN other Church works
wherein o. set forth the mind and will
or the Lord unto His people Further
more. we have the living orncleH. We
have the prophet Of God TO stand forth
IN the midst Of Israel aud deliver unto
~ the mind and viii OF God.
LORD WILL NOT nE MoCKED.
The Lord has said ln these last days
that lac VIII not be Knocked. and that
we cannot disregard or treat lightly hia
words. We know that many troublea
and OWLS have como upon the people
I from time 70 time because % the dis
regard Of tho word ~ the Lord We
have been told. publicly. by tho Prcsl-
dent Of the Church that VI the Latter
day Saints had needed strictly the word
! OF the lord delivered 90 them through
/ the Prophet Joseph Smith. they would
now have boon established ~ those
eastern lands from which they were
! driven. nnd would b. today the wonithl-
| ,st community upon the earth. Tie
| Lord would have watched over and De.
| lvcrcd them out of the hands OF thcll
enemies. 10 does not follow either that
/ II they had been ohcdiont 90 tho com.
D manu- NA fHNA NNNM MMMNM NOT nave W"Nn
| brought 10 this land I hoilevo they
| would have been directed 90 this favor.
l cd spot. and also established here and
. blessed nhurdnntlv No doubt some of
The evils under which we are struggling
| nt the present time arc due IN n meas
urc 10 our dlsobodlcnce Tor we have
/ been Instructed that Zion might have
| been redeemed long nEo N the Saints
had been faithful
We have strayod In n measure from
the commandments of the Lord. some
or our people have put private inter-
prctutions upon the laws ~ God. Take
the law ~ uthlnr Tor instance. II IL
very simple ana easy 10 be Understood.
Very few words are employed by the
Lord 90 nct this law before biz people.
Tie says that He requires or his Saints
one tenth of their Interest annually. II
seems 90 me that every man, woman
and child could easily determine what
their Interest IN annually IL ia not a
command ~ mani Il "a a command Of
our Heavenly Father. have no right
20 put n private Interpretation upon n.
or 10 vary from a. or 20 say that n
man lH entitled 10 figure out this that
and the other until h. has nothing 20
pay tlthlng on. and in some cases untii
the Lord himself o. brought IN debt 20
the individual. ] take the law nn II
comes 10 ne IN the Iook Of Doctrine
and Covenants, ! have had no trouble
In determining Just what my tlthlng IA.
I have had no trouble IN paying my
tlthlnE when I have paid u ns ! went
along. The only trouble ! ever expert
cncod was when ! loft u until the end
~ the ycnr, and when ! figured II up Il
was source OF anxiety 60 me no 10
whether l had paid my uthlng or not.
But N We pay II as we 80 along, II IL
simple matter, and the probabilities
ARE that we will be- honest IN q with
the Lord. II IL 90 with all OF the COM
mandmcnts Of God.
BLESSING pREDfCATED.
There Il blessing predlcatod upon
the Observance Of every commandment.
We cannot Ignore II or depart from Il
or change n 20 suit our own notions
and then expect 20 obtain the blessings.
The Lord does His part we must do
ours SO I have roiolcoi IN c0ntemplat.
inr this great and glorious principle Of
obedience II has strengthened my
taith. II has caused me 20 make now
resolves. have come 10 understand a
little more than I understood last week
or last month. the 0trictness ~ tho
Lord ana how careful Hc is that his
servants ana people should obey Him,
and what 10 meant whom 70 ~ said that
The Lord would choose man after hia
own heart n meant. think. that 10
would choose q man VINO would obey his
commandment We know that the
Savior was a man after tho Lords own
heart We are told That II We would
have salvation we must follow the ok
NNNINH OF INC NNNINFH NNN W." NI'N use
uuEuirhlnr quality OF the Savior was
his obedience. iio came not 90 DO HIS
own VIII but the win of the Father in
an things We too should feel that we
are not here 90 do our own VIII. but
the win n the Father. with respect
20 tithlnV7 Yes with respect 10 the
Word N Wlsdom7 Yes with respect
90 faith repentance baptism and the
laying on Of hnnds9 Yes. With respect
90 an the great commandments which
the Lord has delivered unto us7 Yes
And not one more than another
We do not single out the principle ~
tlthlug and say II f. the greltgHt CONE
mnndmcnt God has given. We simply
say, n Or commandment OF God and
We should obey H. We 40 not say that
n man win be saved and exalted Simply
because he ohcys the law Of tlthlng.
We must live by every word that pro-
ceodoth forth out ~ the mouth N tho
Lord, and one commandment 10 rs
sacred as another They are an need
ful Tor the welfare OF the church and
Tor the accomplishment OF the pur-
poses OF God. We cannot pick and
choose ana say we viii keep this COM
mandmont because n Is pleasant 10 ua
and we viii slight another because II IL
not agreeable
pray that We may be greatly blessed
IN our conference, that the spirit uf tho
Lord may rest down nightly upon tho