Lesson 3 Eternal Families

Reiteration of the Law of Tithing Lorenzo Snow

Pay a full tithing. The time has now come for every Latter-day Saint, who calculates to be prepared for the future and to hold his feet strong upon a proper foundation, to do the will of the Lord and to pay his tithing in full. That is the world of the Lord to you, and it will be the word of the Lord to every settlement throughout the land of Zion. After I leave you and you get to thinking about this, you will see yourselves that the time has come when every man should stand up and pay his tithing in full. The Lord has blessed us and has had mercy upon us in the past; but there are times coming when the Lord requires us to stand up and do that which He has commanded and not leave it any longer. What I say to you in this stake of Zion I will say to every stake of Zion that has been organized. There is no man or woman that now hears what I am saying who will feel satisfied if he or she fails to pay a full tithing (18 May 1899, MS, 61:533)

Part of a tithing is no tithing at all. Now, I do not know how we can be justified in admitting people into our temples when they neglect this law of tithing. Of course, this has been done, and there have been hundreds, probably thousands, that have gone into our temples without paying one cent of tithing; and thousands have gone in there that have not paid a full tithing—and a part of a tithing is not tithing at all, no more than immersing only half a person’s body is baptism. I do not know how bishops can justify themselves in giving recommends to such persons—they cannot after they hear what we have to say to them. When persons do not conform to the law to that extent that they can sanctify the land, and thus become unworthy to stand among the people of God, how can we be justified in conferring upon them the highest blessings that God ever bestowed upon man since the world began? Brethren, I want you to think of these things; for the Lord has manifested to us most clearly that these things cannot go along in this way. It is now for us to wake up, turn our attention to the Lord, and do our duty. (12 June 1899, JH, p. 13.)

Give a trifle more than is required. Another temptation is, How much money shall I give? That is very strong temptation to most of us, I presume. Speaking of tithing as Brother Brigham has, how much of this tithing shall I give? Cannot I reserve a portion to myself? The Lord is very rich and I doubt if He will be troubled at all if I withhold a little for myself; and so a little to oneself is withheld. But that very little that is reserved will trouble that man, if his conscience is like the consciences of most of the Latter-day Saints. It will trouble him more or less in the day time, and also when he thinks of it at night. He does not have that happiness that it is his privilege to enjoy—it goes from him. One of the best things to do under such a temptation as that is to give, so as to be sure, a trifle more than is required. (9 April 1899, CR, p. 51.)

Never forget your tithing. God bless the Latter-day Saints. I want to have this principle so fixed upon our hearts that we shall never forget it. As I have said more than once, I know that the Lord will forgive the Latter-day Saints for their past negligence in paying tithing, if they will now repent and pay a conscientious tithing from this time on. But it would be woeful to think of the results if the Latter-day Saints had failed to listen to the voice of the servants of the Lord. It is God’s truth that the time has now come when He will not look favourably upon our negligence of this principle. I plead with you in the name of the Lord, and I pray that every man, woman, and child who has means shall pay one-tenth of their income as a tithing. I beseech you to do this for the time has now come when the Lord is prepared to bestow upon us the choicest blessings. Our enemies are upon our path, and will if possible make us trouble. If we are unfaithful in this matter the same results will follow us as followed the people in Jackson County. (7 October 1899, CR, p. 28.)

1 Teach children to pay tithing. Now I have shaken hands with over eight hundred children, and I want to see those children grow up and become 80, 90, 100, or 140 years of age; and this will surely be the case if you will teach them these things that I am talking to you about today. Teach them to pay their tithing while they are young. You mothers, teach your children that when they get any money they should pay one-tenth of it to the Lord, however little it may be. Educate them to pay their tithing in full. Then we will have a people prepared to go to Jackson County. (18 May 1899, MS, 61:546.)

Tithe paying brings temporal and spiritual blessings. After the law of consecration was given, and the covenants entered into with the Lord by the people in Jackson County were broken, the Lord gave another law (tithing) six years later which was vastly different from the law of consecration. We are now under that law; and the same promises have been made to us if we will keep that law as were made to the people in Jackson County; the land will be sanctified, and we shall be counted worthy to receive the blessings of the Lord and to be sustained and supported in our financial affairs and in everything we do, temporal as well as spiritual. And it is a very small matter indeed, so far as sacrifice is concerned, in comparison to the giving of our entire property over to the bishop, and then receiving from him only a portion of it again as circumstances might demand. (12 June 1899, JH, p. 13.)

Our salvation depends upon our paying tithing. The poorest of the poor can pay tithing; the Lord requires it at our hands, to lay this matter plainly before the people, and we are going to do it. It is the temporal salvation of this Church, it depends upon obedience to this law. (August 1899, IE, 2:794.)