| Show TO THE SAINTS owe no nd man anything but bat love one another are gospel precepts and ana dorthy orthy lir the attention of the saints in all ages and dispensations not money alone but anything which compasses and circum scace all things are comprised in these excellent precepts through the pen of an ancient apostle every man is a steward over that w which aich god has committed to his charge and the exercise of that stewardship god will require at his hands and he be who unnecessarily keeps that in his bis hands which belongs to his neighbor or does not pay his neighbor what he owes him when it is possible for him to pay pa is depriving his neighbor of his right to exercise himself in that stewardship which was committed to him ofaf of toe lord and the retainer of the money due makes himself responsible to god and his fellow man for ar ab the good which might have been accomplished with the same by him whose right it i was to use it or the legal owner this responsibility does not prohibit borrow borro whig aug or loading lending for scripture precepts are as plain to give to him that asketh thee and him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away as they are not to owe anything and all good in their place time and season and not that one should buy a dozen axes to lend to Us his neighbor one after another when his neighbor never thinks of returning one of them but cuts off a stick of wood throws down the axe suffers it to be lost instead of returning it immediately as ho he should antl the next time he wants to mace make a fire wants wante to borrow another axe no one is under obligation to lend to such a careless neighbor lie possesses no principle on which to claim a loan for he did not 1141 fulfill fill the precept to pay what he owed or return what he had borrowed when he had every opportunity port unity sp ap to do let such a man cut his wood with a jack jackknife knife for a while and he will soon find it wll will cost him more than to buy an axe or at lout least will put him in mind of returning the borrowed axe chich would have encouraged his neighbor to lend there may aay bo 0 exceptions to most general rules A man may break his axe there arezone are pone in market he borrows of his bin neighbor hud and while cutting h 9 wood maims himself so that hat he cannot walk and he has no one to send and consequently cannot return the axe at the time appointed and his neighbor is in compelled to bring it himself in such a case the axe is carefully fully preserved and when the owner calls for it aj and learns larns bow his friend has been controlled oled by adverse circumstances he in his misfortunes but has no unfavorable reflections and is just as ready to lend as he was previously what is lien here applied to the axe i is i s just as applicable t to 0 the saw the cheely the horse or the plow oy or any ether ater tool too or animal or thing that is lent or i borrowe I 1 d neighbors not excepting gold silver or any other commodity vad tho injunction remains good owe no man anything if in your power to pay whether it ii be a thing borrowed bw rowed or bought and not paid for the principle is the same as it gives all men anen an equal chance to control that which has been in trusted to their cire care as stewards jeus jesus likened the kingdom of heaven to a cirtain certain king which would take account of his servants and one was brought unto him which owed him ten thousand talents and because he be had naught to pay he commanded I 1 him and his wife and children to be sold and pity payment ment to be made but the servant said lord have patience with me and I 1 will pay thee all 01 and the lord forgave him this same servant found a fellow servant who owed him a hundred pence and he took him by th the throat saying pay me what thou and andia fellow aerow servant said unto him have patience with vit M me e and I 1 will pay thee all but he would not and cast him into prison till he should pay then te the lord called the servant to whom he had forgiven the debt andraid anda and aid unto him oh thou wicked servant I 1 forgave thee all that debt because thou desir east me not thou therefore have had compassion on thy fellow servant even as I 1 had pity on I 1 thee and his bis lord was wroth and delivered him to the torment tor mentors till he should pay all that wax wa due so likewise shall 1 my heavenly father do also unto yu you if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses tilo the fo foregoing was given by jesus as a likeness of the the kingdom of heaven and as the church and kingdom of god on the earth should be and are in likeness of the heavenly kingdom the saints have a right to receive seive these instructions ions as applicable to themselves while the servant who owed the ten thou vind talents manifested no disposition to pay his lri lord had no occasion for the exercise of his clemency butas ut dieon ite at he plead for mercy for time f for or the exercise of his lords patience promising t to 0 pay as soon as W she could hillord his lord forgave him the debt I 1 such guch generosity on tie the part of have bare softened mo bis heart into perfect submission to all the laws of bia hin lords kingdom but instead thereof it appears appeals to have hardened aud and inspired his heart with a miserly avarice for as an soon as ho he meets with a fellow servant who owed him only one hundred pences pence he grasped him by the throat and commanded him to pay what he owed and thus being choked I 1 he plead with his bis fellow servant 6 as he had plead with his lord have patience with me imd I 1 will pay thee all but he had the mastery refused to listen to his in treaties and cast him into prison yes because he had power over him as he thought he had the law on his side and had been forgiven his own debt idelt he perhaps thought it a good time to gratify his avaricious disposition by enriching himself out of jus his oppression to his fellow servant but this wicked servant most likely did not think of one thing that he might have remembered in his haste to get rich as is likely likay to be the case with all men when they are doing wrong he forgot that one law of his lords kingdom was waff that he must forgive as he had been forg forgiven i kven and that ilia his lord forgave him in view of ochia his whole law that as he forgave his servant so should his servant forgive his fp fellow low kr servant vant and because lie he had not done this thing his bis debt of ef ten thousand talents returned on n his own head and he was thrust into prison bui he be should pay the last farthing how much easier U A would have been for that servant to have forgiven for ilven the one aner kundred hundred pence than lay in prison until he had made and paid ten thousand talents if ve he could only have thought 0 50 o arid and doubtless he did think so when it was too late let this prove a ea cantio cau tio t te alt and ever remember that the great law on which nou hope for forgiveness is that it if ye le forgive men their trespasses tree passee your heavenly father will ill also forgive your trespasses but if ye forgive not ot raen men their trespasses you havo have no claim on conr father for the forgiveness of your trespasser after zif the payment of debts in dollars and cents the return of borrowed tools and the punctual satisfaction of all legal claims so far cis as common law is is concerned so long as man tabernacles in this mortal frame and is as subject to the temptations of his bis great adae adversary mary there will be enough on which they ma may exercise the spirit of charity and forgiveness but au all this is not yet riches are not always to men 0 of and time and chance happened happ hap eneth h to all I 1 or r in othir other words the lord dispenses his blessing to his children as he pleases putting down one and setting up another arid and while this state of things remains even the saints are liable to be controlled by circumstances when they had designed to control those circumstances hence they find themselves in debt an and d are not able to pay when such cases occur ur pay as fast ds as you can and pray your creditors to be patient arid and you will pay them all and let the creditors be patient and forgive as they hope to bo be forgiven and remember the commandment of the lord and not run in debt to your enemies Is this all that the saints hav hafto to remember in casting up their accounts a few pounds shillings or pence or the interchange of a few neighborhood commodo ics acs of comfort and convenience what have the saints which they did not receive and from whom did they receive i the first grand itam in the account is the formation of the earth on which we dwell some may ask what has that to do with your subject much very much and without it we should not know where to begin 0 ir HLa heavenly venly father labored six days six thousand years to foi boim in an earth a place for far the habitations of his children chil dien for the crep creatures tures of his creation of which the saints sains constitute 9 apart part now if a friend or neighbor had been laboring hard for six thousand years and you were enjoying the good of his labor would you yon feel that you owed him nothing if you would god dont think so after laboring six thousand years to produce the earth and all things upon it necessary for the comfort convenience health happ ris ns ri n s and prosperity of his intelligent intel igent creatures the father of your spirits sent them here to unite with arid and inhabit bodies which lie he had prepared for those spirits that the two might become a living soul a being capable of growing expanding pan ding enlarging arid and multiplying in physical land and intellectual capacities and powers until he should become one like unto himself being formed in the image of his maker that he might rise to the perfection of his bis maker having put you in possession of all his works so far as it was necessary to promote your happiness and exaltation what does he require in payment in return for his I 1 labor abor for your good son give me thy by I bearl earl thou have no other god before me thou shall love the loi 1 I chy god with all thy heart soul strength b lb mind and might and thy neighbor as tha th self for they are my children a part of myse f thy brethren thou do as thou be done unto keep all my commandments be one in all thin things agns gns arid and thus prove that ye are mine mine 1 and this is the return the cewa leward rd I 1 claim of you for what I 1 have done for you Is not the claim a just one who can dispute it who has paid this B bill ill who has footed d this account arid and what is man that god should be mindful of him only as he be is the workmanship of his hia hands of what has iran to bou boust boast st and what have the saints to boast of only in agod TE if you abu lave have closed all these direct accounts of labora er formed hy by your heavenly Fat Fattier fier fur for your benefit have you ou done the same with your brethren so that without a possibility of doubt you will receive the welcome message at last from the great Shep shepherd hercL well wel done good and faithful ul servant for when I 1 was hungry ye fed me when I 1 was thirsty ye gave me drink when I 1 was naked ye clothed me when iwas I 1 was sick and in prison ye visited me and administered to iny necessities for ini inasmuch as ye have done it unto ito my disciples ye have done it unto me I 1 have sent forth my servants to prune my vill hillvard vineyard vard for thelast itie last time and commar commanded ded them not to take purse t ir r scrip or wo coats that I 1 may prove all men unto whom they shall come whether they are mine or not has any saint failed todo to do his duty in such a case we knew know of f some who have lave not and we believe there are many more like them but we canpon speak for all each must answer for himself on this subject we have no reflections against any one but introduce it as a part of the he great whole bibb will finally require on an answer from you at a tribu tribunal ral from which there will be no appeal and those elders who have travelled over the earth according to the commandment to carry you the 11 gospel will be your special wil witnesses messes on that oc cassion if they shall testify for you there may be hope in your case we must be brief upon this subject at present but there is one item more desirable to mention what is the situation of the families of those hundreds of elders now on the opposite side of the earth preaching the he gospel are ae A e they comfortably provided for at this inclement season the winter whiter has been long and tedious and wood scarce have all f fuel uel to make them comfortable are any destitute of flour because snow came so early they could not have their grain thrashed thi ached or because the cattle destroyed their grain as they did that of many others are they or have they been in in want of any of the comforts of life that you are in possession of and have you ministered to their necessities I 1 these questions will be 0 good and profitable pofi table for the saints to think uron upon and s see ee that none of these families are deprived of reasonable reason ble comforts because their head is absent oh on the masters errand most of the elders left on short notice but doubtless did didell all they could for the good of their households during the time allotted them and made provisions so that the they y might anticipate they would be comfortable till fill their return but they are subject to time and chanse change and to be governed and controlled by adverse circum circumstances the same as others their cowson which they were dependent tor for milk may have been driven off lost destroyed by wolves their oxen on which they were depending for drawing wood and plowing their fields may have strayed from the herd their pigs may have frozen and the foxes or dogs caught their chickens the fire on the pra rarie may have consumed the fence around their fields and the brother who was owing and had promised them some labor to take care of their crops may have forgotten his his promise and their crops suffered or lost if so we wish to remind him of his promise brethren if you were absent on foreign el missions missions having g left your families provided for as you supposed as those brothers have who are absent and such like misfortunes should occur what would you wish your neighbors at home who have all their time to take care of themselves and provide for their families to do for your families answer this question honestly to the lord and then go and do likewise would you want your family to be obliged to sell their last animal to procure daily food before harvest and thus divest themselves of their only resource to raise a crop or have any future means of subsistence but begging until your return if not elders family who is absent and do as you would wish him to do to you were your situations reversed suppose you are to lo be absent and circumstances forbid your settling all accounts before you leave but you have enough to balance all against you and when you axe are gone your debtors neglect their promises to pay your family would you want your creditors to your family for their pay till they had taken the last bag of flour or pound of meat it if not do as you would be done unto and wait your pay till the elder returns or until more favorable circumstances will enable his family to pay you without bansin 1 them to suter suffer would you want yearb your juht to ref i arbise aae to pay your you r family your account because he thought there was some trifling error or mistake therein and thus leave your family to want or would you like to have him pay all that he thought due dae and then lend or 01 agne i e according to his ability and make inake thern them com comfortable comforte forta rae I 1 till you could repay him 1 then |
