Show tithing SALT lare LAKE CITY cley january 1874 editor D seret news alki what is tithing tithing intone sens sells emay be said to bo be to the tho church and wad kingdom of god what taxation is to the kingdoms and governments of the earth generally a source of revenue by which tidy they thet are sustained financially nut but tithing as revealed to the lat ter dis day saints is the same as has always existed with the people of abd when they have kept his whole law in other words it is the law of the gospel or kingdom has for its object a far higher aim than the raising of revenue with which to pay the current expenses of government govern men t and when this law and honestly kept the great and important results result Fi promised in the word of god will accrue edthe keeper heeper both here hero and hereafter bu t before wo we proceed further let u carefully examine the law itself the book of doctrine and covenants pa page pad 6 section para graph 1 reads leads verily eerily Ver ily lly thus saith tho the lord I 1 require all their surplus property to be put into the hands of the bishop of my church of zion for fbi the building of mine h house and and fo for the aan laying 1 the foundation of K zion n andhor and for the priest priesthood hood and forthe for fon the debts of the presidency of my church and this shall be the beginning of the tithing of my people eople and after that those who eave ikiye been thus tithed shall pay one of all their interest annually and aud this shall shail be a standing law unto them for ever for my holy priesthood saith eaith the lord this law hdm appl appi applies lesto to all the stakes of zion as is set forth in the next paragraph of the same section the w word P rd surplus I 1 construe to mean one t tenth of all the property money or other things of value po possessed essed by the person or people to tills this law is given and that in hi kind Us as nearly as vos yos possible sible sibie then one tenth of all their interest annually in this connection the word interest is sometimes construed by different persons to mean income coine or increase but all of these terms when applied as above are nearly synonymous hence we find that tithing is simply one tenth of what a person possesses when he be cadmes comes to zion then one benth tenth of what he produces annually or in other words one tenth of his time orthe avails avalis thereof together with one tenth or of the increase on the nine tenths ret lined as a stewardship in the start and so OB from cearto year this is plain simple aud and easy to be understood if a person is honest and desires to understand but this is a law of god and alid we are informed in the scriptures that no man can understand the tho things of god but by the spirit of god hence by the spirit of man naturally of the world it cannot nod be understood in its true sense though by ma man n possessing th espirit bychich by which the law was given it is easy and plain inthe in the course of my ex experience perlen perien ree lee for several years past in the practical iv working of the law of tithe tithing I 1 have met many persons who endeavored deavo red to dragin drag in the thousand and one circumstances under which individuals may happen to be laboring as though they in some way modi modified nned fled or affected the intent of the law itself As for instance a man may sow and not reap in consequence of drouth or insects Is he for the time occupied in putting in his crop of course not it being bing an act of providence over which he had bad no control but suppose he should idle away his time during a liso ilce period and make nothing would he be yes ond tenth of the time he so adlea idled away must be paid in honest labor or he does not keep the law another man says 1 I worked all the year and just came out even supporting my family and consequently I 1 have nothing to pay but my dear friend the law of tithing ciul requires res you to pay one tenth of your time or its equivalent as you pass alon aion along through the year and your current expenses must come out of the nine tenths and if that is insufficient for the comfortable maintain ance of your family you ure entitled to call on the bishop or lords storehouse keeper for the balance else the law of tithing is not honored in in your case says another man 1 I have been merchandising ch chan chau dising this year I 1 started with 1000 capital and I 1 have made 2000 2 so that I 1 have now after paying all ex pences including that of my family which family pences expenses ex I 1 estimate at consequently I 1 want to pay tithing on 1500 which will be but says gays the bishop I 1 inasmuch as the lord did not say anything about paying a portion of your family ex pences out of the one tenth which should go into his storehouse AO your tithing will be 50 30 more making instead of to go into the lords storehouse for the purposes above mentioned I 1 might write sheet after sheet in enumerating the various ways in which people endeavor to understand or rather to misunderstand a law when fulling to come quite U up t to 0 it its s requirements but all these shortcomings shortcoming 8 have nothing to do with the law itself and when b rought brought in as an argument tp to justify ones seif self in not keeping tile the law simply serve to confuse the mind and blunt tho understanding of df the person seeking to satisfy himself in k keeping cepi nga a part instead of the whole law the following extract from the amily family Jl herald erald entitled taxes and tithes which may bo found in the fourteenth vol of the millennial star page will illustrate my views on the subject from a financial stand point the ancient system of taxation was merely the simple tithe both greeks and romans paid tithes the ancient babylonians paid tithes they are mentioned even in the book of genesis as being paid by the patriarch abraham to the king priest of jerusalem and in fact they were the most ancient mode or of levying tribute when the israelites desired a king in order onder that they might be like other nations they were told by samuel that they must then pay tithes to their king he will take the tenth of your seed and of your vineyards and he will take the tenth of your sheep sheer but they were content to do this and well they might for in so doing they would pay no more mere taxes in proportion to income than are now paid by the tho people of england over and above the tithes of the church had we vve a power in this country equal to the task of collecting a tit tithe we should all be gainers by it not in money alone the most paltry of all political considerations erat ions in in reality although generally regarded as the all important but in morality ani and int for we should put an engfor end for ever to all that rabble agitation and hustings oratory which profane the character of our constitution and anise arise exclusively but of the modern system of indirect taxation or taxes axes anthe on the articles of trade and commerce the israelites were e require d merely to bring 11 or send mend their tithes into the lords treasury atvas jt was made an act of conscience with them but they did not obey this commandment any more than the rest and they suffered for their disobedience and all ull nation nations have stiff suffered ered in a similar manner for the governments finding that con 1 science was too weak to make an equitable division of income into ten parts and surrender one were compelled to resort to other means of enforcing those payments which were indispensable fo for the their irown own existence and und thus originated all that thai petty interference with commercial transactions which constitutes a species of financial inquisition and the main source or of all public revenue in modern civilise tion lion men thus punish themselves by their habits in rial taxation results entirely from want of confidence in the honesty of the people were a mans word in itt all such transactions to be relied upon taxation might be abandoned at once through throughout tut iut all christendom and governments feel stronger and every man happier and even richer for the change those only accepted who are the agents of the system and to whom corruption may be said to be an in inheritance herit herlt take the case of a laborer who earns twelve shillings a week weel 11 says ir fr allson alison in a pamphlet on universal free trade at present he pays fully one BI shilling lilling and sixpence a week of taxes in purchase of tea sugar beer spirits tobacco ac but supposing as mr alison proposes the revenue were raised on the old principal pl mr tr less than a tithe would suffice raise the full i amount of the present national income and one shilling a week out of this laborer laborers twelve would be uli all that was requisite he then have tea aud and sugar beer anil and toba tobacco and everything else nt athel their anat nit ural price without a farthing of impost laid upon them by custom or excise instead of a tithe or teu ten per cent Mr Allson AHson calculates that eight per cent is at pre present serit sunni sunil clentano clen cien tand this would yearly diminish with the increase of population and the national income chatan what an immense amount of roguery and low intrigue and cunning this would destroy in one dayl day how freely and purely all men would then reathe breathe To it would be like a restoration of health to an infected atmosphere and what a splendid change would come over the spirit of politics which seems now to have descended to the area the kitchen of political economy and consists of nothing but statistical strife about financial affairs A gover anent ought never to be straightened ours always is its allowance is doled out like the allowance of an abigail wife by a nabal or of an husband evey item of the bill is surrendered with a grudge and so habituated has the government become to tills this treatment that it plays the niggard to please the nabal and gets anything but thanks for the economy it pursues thus the caffre war which costs the country more than the throne per annum is said to be prolonged by the parsimonious parmi s supply up ply of the means of concluding it hence it follows that our government does so little for the nation nati bil hll it has nothing to spare it never had it lives itself by niggling and haggling by gathering pence and halfpence half pence in beer shops and grocers shops and watching the people as they provide themselves at market with necessaries and luxuries and seizing a portion of the price that they pay and such a ilfe life by no means chivalrous honorable or exalted 1 is not calculated to gah generate feelings or to ta cultivate principles of an elevated nature A states manh mana lore consists of statistics of soap and candles grease and tallow beans and bacon butter and cheese tea and sugar coffee and cocoa and the art of screwing the largest amount out of the prices of each and when he knows this thia better than any other man he is the greatest man of the age and fit to be a first lord of the treasury or chancellor of the exchequer to carry the bae bag either ither in the lords orthe or the Com commons loiis the church makes peter the greatest of the twelve but he aho who nho carries the bag is the man for the state all this results from the system of taxation and must ever be bethere there sult of it taxation must be dignified to produce dignified results the tree will even be known by its fruit and an da a bad tree will never prod use a fruit that is good but h haw w can the system ys be changed Howen how could uld a tithe be collected from the people without inquisitorial interference with their private affairs even more offensive and prejudicial to morals than the worst that charac derises the present system that we cannot say we are not prepared to recommend the chan ehan change changelo geto gelo to any government we are merely treating of the principle we believe that the conscience of the people is not sufficiently healthy for a system of direct taxation which could never produce its best fruit unless it voluntarily paid wit with lithe the most scrupulous precision there are thousands that would pay it thus perhaps millions but there are many that would not pay 1 it and the these many would rob roh and corrupt all the rest a little leaven leavens leavena the whole lump the pret present system is by far the best system for dishonest people for it compels them to pay voluntarily and this is just what conscience itself would do if they had a conscience there is only this difference that conscience would be cheaper than no conscience and instead of paying nive five shillings or five pounds week a for taxes D a man might C very easily if led by conscience be acquitted for three men dlen have always paid very dearly for the gratification of their thein r r pas passions nothing is more mone expensive than vice with conscience and prudence and industry and all the virtues what could not be done T these hese g give IN 1 us no trouble i it is im morality immorality of principle or conduct that is at the root of almost every social or political evil and therefore to the cure of this rather than to mere financial manoeuvres must we look for any reform that will give satisfaction financial reforms may do a little good for there is evil to be removed from froni every department of society but the master evil Is to be found in the conscience and if that cannot bo neal real reached wed the culprit cannot be apprehended ho he will ivill evade your laws lawa he will sneak through them or ride 1 roughshod rough shod over them but he will not 1 bey obey them except when he finds himself absolutely compelled induced or to do so from interested motives in proportion as men become honest conscientious and prudent they will return to tho the ancient sini simplicity of the system of taxation and devote a portion or of their private income to public purposes devote it as a thing sacred and not to be touched upon any c consideration whatever superstition does more than this already and it is a shame to think that superstition can do more than religion there is scarcely a housewife in england Englan d un leishe bo be affected by bome some sectarian prejudices who will not make a sacrifice bae bac in order to procure either crossguns cross buns an on good friday gan pan cakes oil on shrove tuesday or salt fish lish on ash wednesday and we have heard them say that they would rather go without danner fop a week than want such things A feeling has only to become with one generation and he be backed by a deep and solemn impression pres slon sion of its sacredness and importance m to be preserved by posterity for ever so long as it does not prove itself repugnant to coni common sense or to social interests but if ouid happen to be compatible with these and sanctified moreover by the sacred obligation of duty there is nd limitation to the amount of its power orthe or the length of its duration and wind when we consider that the system of direct taxation would put an end for ever to all customs and L excise and to all that political financial agitation which demoralises demoralizes demor alises the public mind and makes what i is s called by way of eminence public intelligence to consist of nothing but a kroledge of statistical gossip whilst real knowledge of a moral amoral and endurable character is altogether unknown the gain that society would make by such a change could we only fl nind find n d out the mean meana to accomplish it statute the first great moral revolution for as yet a moral revolution has not been accomplished in human society it Is s always melancholy to see the energies of ofa grent great nation spent upon the mere finance of government for finance is a subject which belongs rather rathel to private business and is out of its proper sphere when it becomes a national affair considering |