That plan does not begin with the community or the nation, and through the community or state seek to reach the individual. While not ignoring the value of institutions or the necessity for favorable conditions, it does not put its whole trust in arbitrary institutions or regulations for the successful accomplishment of its purposes. It comes first to the individual with a cry of repentance, with an appeal to turn unto righteousness. It teaches him that by repentance, accompanied with true and holy faith in God, he may attain through baptism to a remission of sins, to a consciousness of renewed innocence, lost through transgression, and to the possession of the Holy Ghost. This last adds to his own strength, in some degree, the strength of the Almighty God. Through its influence he is guided into all truth, taught a knowledge of the things of heaven, receives a testimony that Jesus is the Christ; by it he is reproved for his errors; commended for resisting evil; prompted in uncertainty; by courting its influence and listening to its counsels he is purified in heart, is purged of his lusts and his selfishness, loves his neighbor as himself, and is ready to seek another's rather than his own good.
It is with an element such as this—cleansed and purified by such a process, and thus made fit for the Master's use—that the plan revealed through Joseph Smith proposes to deal. It is an evidence that other schemes for the amelioration of the distresses of mankind originated in the petty wisdom of man that they did not take into account the necessary preparation of the elements for their model communities. And let me observe, in passing, that that preparation can only be made through the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the spirit of it outlined above. It is vain for men to seek to build up communities in which selfishness shall be abolished, and love and goodwill abound, until they have developed in the separate units that are to compose it the same qualities that are to be characteristic of the community; for communities can be no better than the individuals that compose them. As well might men hope to mix to the same consistency pieces of iron and pieces of clay, make a rope of dry sand, or do anything else impossible, as to undertake to organize a society in which want shall be abolished, unselfishness abound, and all the virtues prevail, with men unrighteous, proud, envious, jealous, lustful, suspicious, treacherous and possessed of no higher gauge of right and truth than human intelligence. Here, then, begins to be seen the wisdom of the plan for the temporal salvation of mankind revealed through Joseph Smith: it begins with the individual—with the preparation of the elements.
Next to the preparation of the elements, the plan recognizes the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. It also recognizes the fact that the earth is the Lord's; that it is his by right of proprietorship. He created it and sustains it by his power, and man's right to the portions of it he seizes so greedily can only be that of a steward. Following these principles to their legitimate conclusion, the plan contemplates the complete consecration unto the Lord all the possessions of those who accept it. The person who desires to make the consecration brings his possessions to the bishop of the Church, and delivers them to him, with a deed and covenant that cannot be broken.[[1]] The consecration is complete.
The person so consecrating his possessions, whether they be great or small, if it be a full consecration, has claim upon the bishop for a stewardship out of the consecrated properties of the Church. That stewardship may be a farm, a factory, a publishing house, mercantile establishment, a home with the privilege of following a trade or profession, according to individual tastes, abilities or capacities. The stewardships are secured to those unto whom they are granted by a deed and covenant that cannot be broken, hence the stewards are secured in their stewardships.
The income from a stewardship over and above that needed for the maintenance of the steward and his family, is consecrated to the Lord's storehouse, where all the surplus means from the community is, in like manner, collected. Said surplus to be used, first, in supplying the deficiency where stewardships fail to yield sufficient income for the necessities of those who possess them; second, to form or purchase new stewardships for such as have not received any; third, to supply those with means who may need it for the improvement or enlargement of their respective stewardships; fourth, the purchase of lands for the public benefit, to establish new enterprises, develop resources, build houses of worship, temples, send abroad the Gospel, or for anything else that looks to the general welfare and the founding of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.
The several stewards have claim upon the general fund created by the consecration of the surplus of each, for the means necessary to the improvement or enlargement of the business entrusted to him as his stewardship; and so long as he is in full fellowship with the Church, and is a wise and faithful steward, his application to the treasurer of the general fund is to be respected by being granted; the treasurer, of course, being accountable to the Church for his management of the general fund, and subject to removal in the event of incompetency or transgression.
Each steward is independent in the management of his stewardship, and is the master of his own time. He must pay for that which he buys; he can insist on payment for that which he sells. He has no claim upon the stewardship of his neighbor; his neighbor has no claim upon his stewardship; but both have claim, as also have their children—when the latter come of age and start in life for themselves—upon the collected surplus in the Lord's storehouse, to aid them in the event of their needing assistance.
The various branches or ecclesiastical wards of the Church, where the above plan of managing the temporal affairs of life is carried out, are each to be independent in the management of their respective storehouses, subject of course to the general supervision of the presiding bishop of the Church and of the First Presidency.
Such is a brief and, I fear, because of my effort to be brief, a rather imperfect outline of the plan for the management of the temporal affairs of life in the Church of Christ. It is a system which contemplates the humiliation of the rich and the exaltation of the poor, by the operation of consecration and stewardship, above described. By the act of consecration both the rich man and the poor one make a formal acknowledgement that the earth and the fullness thereof is the Lord's; and by receiving back a stewardship, each receives that which his wants demand, or that his capacity will warrant placing under his management; and which may be added upon as he gives increased evidence of faithfulness and ability to wisely control the stewardship for his own and the general good.
The plan recognizes the truth that there is enough and to spare in the earth to provide plentifully for all the wants of the human race; for all its necessities and all reasonable luxuries, if the wealth created by the race's industry be justly distributed. In it, too, is recognized the truth that transcendent abilities for the manipulation of the elements or the management of affairs by which wealth is created are not possessed that they might minister alone to personal advantage, or pride, or ambition; nor are they to be employed alone for the benefit of the possessor's family. This plan revealed to Joseph Smith teaches a nobler and higher use of abilities than this; a broader field of sympathy than that which merely comprehends a family. A great mind in any department of abilities, and no less in financial or temporal affairs than in law, or government, or literature, belongs to the race, and is God's best gift to it; for through it God, in part, shines. The employment of talents and genius for the common interest is to be the outgrowth of universal sympathy and a willingness to co-operate with God to bring to pass the eternal life, and, both in time and eternity, the eternal happiness of man. Hence it is written that the inhabitant of Zion shall labor for Zion and if he labor for money he shall perish with his money.