Re.: Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and Willard Richards, “Sixth General Epistle of the Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, from Great Salt Lake Valley, to the Saints scattered throughout the Earth, greeting,” September 22, 1851
The conference also voted to commence anew with their
tithings and consecrations and that within thirty days each saint should make a
consecration of one tenth of his property, and one tenth of his interest every
after, and that those who will not thus tithe themselves be cut off from the Church.
(“Sixth General Epistle, September 1851,” in Settling the Valley,
Proclaiming the Gospel: The General Epistles of the Mormon First Presidency,
ed. Reid L. Neilson and Nathan N. White [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017],
154)
The statement that “those who will not thus tithe themselves
be cut off from the Church” was softened in a postscript signed by Brigham Young
in Bishop Edward Hunter’s Circular to Bishop [blank space], which was
issued in October 1852 and stated, “I wish it to be distinctly understood that
there is no compulsory or arbitrary power to be exercised over the brethren in
order to coerce the payment of tithing.” Crawley, Descriptive Bibliography
of the Mormon Church, 2:367-68. (Ibid., 154 n. 44)
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