"The only principle upon which they judge me is by
comparing my acts with the foolish traditions of their fathers and nonsensical
teachings of hireling priests, whose object and aim were to keep the people in
ignorance for the sake of filthy lucre; or as the prophet says, to feed
themselves, not the flock."
- Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr., The Teachings of the Prophet
Joseph Smith, p. 315
"How much tithing do you pay? The professing
Christians, apostates and others have a great deal to say about the Saints
paying tithing. Now let us compare notes. The Elders of this Church travel and
preach without purse or scrip, and labor at home as Bishops, Presidents, High
Counselors, and Ministers, free of charge. Now take the Christians, how many of
their Ministers preach without pay? Go to their meetings, in their churches,
halls, schoolhouses, or any of their public gatherings, and you have a box, a plate,
or a hat put under your face, and it is, 'Give me a sixpence, give me a
sixpence, give me a sixpence!' Show me the Elder of this Church that does this?
We preach the Gospel without purse or scrip and work for our own bread and
butter. Yet the Christian world whine about our paying tithing. The Saints
should pay the tenth of their income with glad and thankful hearts, and help to
bring home the poor. We have supported and helped the poor to the amount of
millions."
- Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, v. 16, p. 44
- p.45, May 18, 1873
“While all this has been done for our country, and we have
comparatively tamed the savage and held in check his wild and blood-thirsty
nature, that the inhabitants of the world could travel across the deserts
without being robbed and murdered, we have been the subject of vile scandal,
simply because our religious views were different from those of the hireling
clergy who occupy the pulpits of Christendom. We taught that men should preach
the Gospel without pure or scrip--preach it freely; and a man who depended upon
a congregation for a salary by which to obtain his black coat and fit-out, was
ready to denounce preaching without purse and scrip as a heresy; why? Because
it would reduce him to the necessity of going to some useful calling, instead
of making merchandise of the Gospel, which God has made free."
- Prophet George Albert Smith, Journal of Discourses, v. 11,
p. 179, October 8, 1865
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/liahona/1979/09/follow-the-brethren?
"A few weeks ago a lady physician came to our office,
...She said, ‘Will you be kind enough to have an interview with one of our
ministers and tell him how he can work along these lines.' I remarked to her
that I would willingly do so, but that I was afraid he could not live to it or
teach it to his congregation. Why? she asked. My answer was, ‘He requires a
salary to preach the Gospel. Whenever he arises to preach to his congregation
and says that which they do not like, they say that he will have to stop
preaching that way or they will stop his salary.' ‘Now,' said I, ‘when I preach
to the people, I do not care whose toes I tread on; I do not care who I strike;
I teach the truth, and no matter where it hits they cannot come to me and say,
"We'll stop your salary" because I haven't any to stop. That is the
difference between your minister and me.' That is one great difference between
the ministers of the world, who are professing to preach the Gospel unto the
people, and the Elders of the Lord Jesus Christ. I would sooner be a humble
Elder preaching the Gospel unto the people, bearing testimony that Jesus is the
Christ and that Joseph Smith is a Prophet of God, than to be the
greatest‘divine'upon the face of the earth."
- Joseph A. McRae, Conference Report, October 1902, p. 11
"Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of
double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine. For the
scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And,
The labourer is worthy of his reward."
- Holy Bible, 1 Timothy 5:17-18- Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley, What of the Mormons?, p. 4
- Encyclopedia of Mormonism, p. 510
"The calling [to be a Mission President] is not a
regular remunerative position,...The family involved gives of its time and
energies without salary, though there is a modest allowance for living
expenses."
- Encyclopedia of Mormonism, p. 914
"It can be said also that the officers of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who labor without salaries coming out of the
pockets of the members, are just as spiritually minded, have just as good
judgment and wisdom in directing the temporal as well as the spiritual welfare
of the people, as are any of the ministers who spend their entire time in what
may be called spiritual counsel. For instance, the bishops of our wards and the
presidents of our stakes and other officers give their time freely without any
monetary compensation paid by members of the Church. It is equally true that
the young men and women who are distributed over the face of the earth as
missionaries of the Church pay their own way, or their parents do. We do not
have a paid ministry, yet these brethren put in as much time in spiritual and
Church duties, as do ministers of other denominations who devote their entire
time, and in addition, they are under the necessity of earning their own living
by their daily employment in industry. They do this because they have an
abiding testimony of the divinity of the work the Church requires of them.”
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