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This is the last General Conference address delivered by Elder Whitney prior to his death a month later.
THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD
In what I am about to say, I hope I shall have the Spirit of the Lord. It is all-important that we should possess that Spirit, whether we preach or sing or pray. "Prayers unprompted by it do not ascend to Heaven; sermons uninspired by it fail to touch the heart of the hearer; and the songs that are sung in our worshiping assemblies, if not in tune with it, are but discords in the ear of Deity.
GOD'S GREATEST GIFT
The Savior, when instructing his disciples regarding the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, told them to partake of it in remembrance of him, and he promised that if they remembered him they should have his Spirit to be with them.
Why did he not promise them gold and silver, houses and lands, and all the other good things of this world?" These were his to give; for "the earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof," and he gives it to whomsoever he will. But he had something better to bestow than that which perishes with the using, and he wanted his dispicles, his choice friends, to have it. So he promised them the Holy Spirit--the power to lay hold upon eternal life, his greatest and most precious gift.
A SPIRITUAL FEAST
The Spirit of the Lord is the food of our spirits. Without it they would starve. In the Eucharist, as it is called, we partake of Christ; but it is a spiritual, not a temporal, partaking. The bread and water, or bread and wine, used in that ordinance, are not, as some suppose, the transubstantiated body and blood of our crucified Lord. They are but emblems, symbolizing his sacrificial atonement. "Eat, this is my body; drink, this is my blood"--the alleged words of the Savior when instituting the Sacrament among his Jewish disciples, are to be interpreted, not literally, but figuratively If not a mistranslation, they are certainly a misinterpretation.
THE SOURCE OF LIFE AND LIGHT
The Spirit of the Lord is the life and light of the world. It is the fountain of revelation, manifesting eternal truth and making known to man the mind and will of his Maker.
"Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him."
So says Paul the Apostle, and he adds:
"But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so, the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God." (I Cot. 2:9-11.)
And that Spirit is given to every member of the Church of Christ so that he or she can comprehend divine purposes and be led and guided into all truth. The eye that sees not, the ear that hears not, the heart into which the things of God have not entered, are the eye and ear and heart of "the natural man," who "is an enemy to God," as the same Apostle declares. Those to whom the Spirit has revealed the Truth stand upon another plane entirely.
LETTER AND SPIRIT
The Spirit of the Lord interprets the Word of the Lord, and those who take that Spirit for their guide cannot be deceived so long asthey heed its promptings. If they do not heed, but allow their own selfish desires to influence them; or if they take the dead letter for their guide and ignore the living spirit, they are liable to be led astray. "For the letter killeth but the spirit giveth life." (Two- Corinthians 3:6.)
The good old Bible, which the Latter-day Saints accept as "the word of God as far as it has been translated correctly," contains many passages which, if only the letter be relied upon and the spirit ignored, are bound to be of a misleading character.
THE WORD MADE FLESH
One instance has been cited, that pertaining to the Eucharist. Here is another. In the first chapter of the Gospel according to St. John its author is made to say: "No man hath seen God at any time" (1:18), a statement which, if taken literally, not only puts the Beloved Disciple in the attitude of disputing Moses and the prophets, but actually makes contradict himself. For the very same chapter in which that surprising statement is found, opens with this declaration: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. * * * And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth." (1:14.) Jesus Christ was God in the flesh. "For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." (Colossians 2:9. ) And He was seen by, multitudes of men.
But long before the divine Word was "made flesh," men had seen God, and none knew it better than John. Adam had seen him. Enoch had walked with him, Abraham had conversed with him. Moses and Aaron, with Nadab and Abihu and seventy of the elders of Israel, "went up into the mountain and saw the God of Israel." So says the Bible. But all this would have to be blotted out if the saying were literally true, that "no man hath seen God at any time." There could be no surer way of tearing out the foundations of the Christian religion and destroying all our hopes of salvation, than to establish as a fact this fallacy.
In the Pearl of Great Price (Book of Moses 1:11) that prophet and seer, having seen God, tells how he saw him in these words:
"Now mine own eyes have beheld God; but not my natural, but my spiritual eyes for my natural eyes could not have beheld; for I should have withered and died in his presence; but his glory was upon me; and I beheld his face; for I was transfigured before him."
JOHN'S TRUE MEANING
What John meant to say--and probably did say--was this: No man with his natural eyes hath seen God at any time. Or, as Joseph Smith puts it: "No man has seen God at any time, except quickened by the Spirit of God"--which means precisely the same thing. (Doc. and Cov. 67:11.) That John was mistranslated, or misinterpreted, is evident.
"We all have spiritual eyes--the eyes of our spirits. By means of them we "walked by sight" and "kept the first estate"--our pre-existent spirit life; thus earning the right to a second estate--this mortal life, where we "walk by faith," with our spirit sight temporarily obscure. But when a seer is needed, "a choice seer," God sends one into the world; puts his power upon him, and thus enables him to use his spirit eyes and "see out of obscurity," to behold God if need be, and to comprehend the things of God in the only way that they can be comprehended. Such a seer was Moses, and such a seer was Joseph Smith, They both saw God.
SPIRITUAL THINGS SPIRITUALLY DISCERNED
It is not man's native intelligence nor his scholastic culture, that enables him to understand spiritual things. They are spiritually discerned, and the Spirit that discerns them can be had only in one way--God's way, not man's. Hence, after faith, repentance and water baptism, comes spirit baptism, whereby the Holy Ghost is given to those who become members of the Church of Christ.
The things of God should be surveyed by the light of the Spirit of God, not by the flickering candle of human wisdom. In our attitude toward divine revelations, the laws and ordinances of the Gospel, we should never take a shallow, material dollar-and-cent view, but always the higher, broader, deeper, spiritual view.
A CASE IN POINT
Many years ago, when I was a Ward Bishop, I was sitting with my counselors one evening for the settlement of tithing. A brother who was a member of the Ward came in, tossed a roll of bills upon the table, and when asked the usual question, "Is this a full tithing?"-a question necessary at such times, in order that the reports may be full and accurate--he answered, "No it is not; but you may be thankful to get that much."
"Thankful," I echoed, "What makes you think I ought to be thankful for it? You are not paying it to me. I am only an agent to receive and pass it on to the higher authorities. I am glad, of course, to know that you pay your tithing even in part; but I do no see why I should thank you for it. I pay my tithing in full, but nobody thanks me, nor do I want any thanks for it. I esteem it a privilege."
WHEN THANKS ARE OUT OF PLACE
'Now, I believe in commendation and encouragement. I love to hear kind and generous expressions of appreciation for any good thing well done by anybody. But I do not believe in thanking people for keeping the commandments of God, nor for rendering service to him in any capacity. We do not thank them for coming into the Church. We rejoice over them, but a vote of thanks in such a case would be ridiculous. And it is just so with other things. To hold office in the Church of Christ is a great honor--none greater. A vote of thanks could add nothing to it, and would be entirely out of place.
We do not confer a favor upon the Almighty by obeying his laws, by receiving his blessings; though we please him, no doubt, by so doing. And when we stand before him at the last day, having "come up through great tribulation" and made our calling and election sure, I think I can hear Him say: "Well done, good and faithful servant, or good and faithful handmaid--enter into the joy of thy Lord." But I cannot by any stretch of imagination, conceive Him as saying: "Thank you, my child, for coming to Heaven!"
A SPIRITUAL DIVIDEND
Now, as to the Law of Tithing. What we render in obedience to that divine law, is not ours; it belongs to the Lord. We may consider it ours, if we will, up to the point of dropping it into his treasury; but right there even our apparent ownership ends. And it is unseemly in anyone to consider it his or hers, or to complain of the use made of it by the Lord's servants, those appointed by him to receive and disburse it according to his will as made known to them.
Moreover--and this is the great desideratum--the main fact to which I wish to call attention. You know it as well as I do, but we all need reminding. When we obey the Law of Tithing we do it not to please men, but to honor God, and we draw from Him, in return, a spiritual dividend far more precious and of much greater consequence than the dollars and cents or other means that we part with in rendering unto the Lord his own.
THE LAW OF CONSECRATION
The Law of Tithing is sometimes referred to as the revenue law of the Church--and such it is; for it provides means to carry on the Church's work in some of its most important phases. But in taking that view, let us not lose sight of a higher consideration. The Law of Tithing was given to supersede, for the time being, a greater law known as the Law of Consecration, the object of which was and is to sanctify the Lord's people and "prepare them for a place in the celestial world." To that end it was designed to do away with selfishness, greed, pride, envy, poverty, and all the ills that spring from such conditions. For none of these things can be admitted into the kingdom of heaven. It was to institute an order of equality and consequent, unity, in which every man, employed at that for which he was best fitted, would be "seeking the interest of his neighbor and doing all things with an eye single to the glory of God." It is an ancient law. It was practised by Enoch and his people, and later by the Apostles and their proselytes at Jerusalem, and by the followers of Christ, both Nephites and Lamanites, upon this chosen land. A brave attempt to practise it was made by the Latter-day Saints, soon after this Church was organized. But they lacked experience, and did not completely rise to the occasion. Selfishness within, and persecution without, prevented a perfect achievement. So the Lord withdrew the Law of Consecration and gave to his people a lesser law, one easier to live, but pointing forward, like the other, to something grand and glorious in the future. That lesser law, the Law of Tithing, is as a schoolmaster, a disciplinary agent, to bring the Saints eventually up to the practise 'of the higher law, and meanwhile to keep their hearts open for its reception when it returns. Those who obey the Law of Tithing will be prepared to live the Law of Consecration. Those who do not obey it will not be prepared. That is the whole thing in a nut shell. We are tithed that the Church may have means to build and maintain temples and tabernacles, to found and sustain missions and schools, and otherwise carry on its great work throughout the world. But that is not all. The spiritual dividend that we draw from heaven as the reward of our obedience is the principal purpose for which the Law of Tithing was instituted. All the rest is incidental or secondary.
WHY WE FAST
The same argument applies to fasting. We are not required to fast merely to provide the bishop with means whereby to feed or otherwise minister to the poor. That is not the main object. We fast, primarily, for the purity of heart, the clearness of mind, the spiritual strength and uplift that comes from the observance of this sacred requirement. We are benefited physically, mentally and morally, by temporarily abstaining from bodily food, and thereby securing the spiritual food that more than takes its place. And, as an indirect result of our act of self-denial, the bishop, by means of the fast offerings (which should equal the cost of the food ordinarily used during the fasting period) is enabled to care for the poor that we "have always with us," and always shall have until God's higher law is practised by his people and there shall be "no poor among them."
BODY AND SPIRIT
The body as well as the spirit is essential. The two combined, "inseparably connected" by the resurrection, constitute the immortal soul; and it is the soul that goes on to perfection-the Gospel's paramount aim from the beginning. But the spiritual is above the temporal, the substance greater than the shadow that follows it; and happy is the man who recognizes this truth and honors the divine injunction: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things (food, drink, clothing, etc. ) shall be added unto you."
THE SICK WORLD'S PANACEA
What do you suppose is the matter with this sick world at the present time? And what is the panacea that will restore it to perfect health? The matter is, that it has turned away from God and exalted the material over the spiritual. Like the dog in the fable, crossing the brook with a piece of meat in his mouth, and losing it in an attempt to possess what looked like another piece of meat in the mouth of another dog, but which was only a vain reflection of himself in the water--even so this selfish, greedy, money-loving world has grasped at the shadow and lost the substance. As a result the Ship of Human Progress is lopsided and in danger of going on the rocks. The cargo, unevenly bestowed, has unbalanced the vessel, and the pilot has been thrown overboard.
Right the ship, ye would-be arbiters of human destiny! Right the ship! Put the temporal under hatches, and place the spiritual at the helm, where it belongs; and the danger will disappear. That is the panacea, and there will be no relief--no permanent relief from the evils that afflict and threaten this world, until that sovereign remedy is applied; until proud, self-sufficient man, acknowledging his own weakness and his own folly, turns to the Source of all power and all wisdom, in response to the sweet invitation of the Savior: "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden! and I will give you rest." Amen.
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