University Library 
 University of California Berkley 
 
DISCOURSE 
 
 THREE 
 DEQREES 
 
 of 
 
 QLORy 
 
 MELDin J. BALLARD 
 
 Oqden Tabernacle 
 
 Sept. 22, 1922 
 
 Price I5c Copy 
 
Published under the direction 
 
 of 
 
 Illount Ogden Stake 
 Qenealogical Committee 
 
 C. FRED SCHADE, STAKE REPRESENTATIVE 
 
 IRA J. MCKELL 
 
 HENRY VOLKER 
 
 ELNORA R. WINTLE 
 
 BERTHA J. HELLEWELL 
 
 CLARENCE EKLUND, SECRETARY 
 
 EVA EKLUND 
 
 LAWRENCE HANSEN 
 
 J. F. SNEDAKER 
 
 CHAS. T. JONES 
 
 ALFRED STEVENSON 
 
I o o on 
 
 T3^ 
 
 THE THREE DEGREES OF 
 GLORY 
 
 By 
 
 Melvin J. Ballard 
 
 This is an inspiring sight, my dear breth- 
 ren and sisters, a convincing testimony of 
 your interest in this great and important 
 feature of the latter-day work, Genealogy, 
 the salvation for the living and the dead, for 
 I have remarked before that in no quarter 
 of the Church is there greater interest and 
 activity shown in this particular work than 
 here in these Ogden Stakes. I commend you 
 for what you have accomplished, and, as I 
 said in another place in this city a few 
 months ago, surely there is nothing that will 
 so quickly bring you a house of God, a tem- 
 ple of the Lord, in your community as your 
 intense activity in this particular work. 
 
 I rejoice with you to live in this wonderful 
 day, the most glorious and splendid that has 
 ever dawned in the history of man. I am ex- 
 ceedingly happy to be here tonight in your 
 presence to rejoice with you on this ninety- 
 ninth anniversary of the appearance of the 
 
Angel Moroni to the Prophet Joseph Smith, 
 for it was just ninety-nine years ago tonight 
 that Moroni spent the entire night unfolding 
 to the Prophet the greatness of this latter- 
 day dispensation and explaining to him for 
 the first time, in this dispensation at least, 
 the meaning of the promise that Elijah, the 
 Prophet, should come again to turn the 
 hearts of the fathers to the children and the 
 children to the fathers lest the whole earth 
 should be smitten with a curse. I know of 
 no more fitting way to celebrate that won- 
 derful event in this dispensation than to be 
 here and discussing this subject. I rejoice 
 because to us has been given the most splen- 
 did revelations God has ever given to man, 
 and this is not discrediting anything of the 
 past. It is full of glory, full of inspiration 
 and grandeur, full of majesty and of truth! 
 
 The greatest revelation the Lord, Jesus 
 Christ, has ever given to man in the history 
 of His Church, so far as record is made, was 
 given to the Propset Joseph Smith on the 
 16th of April, 1832, known as the 76th sec- 
 tion of the book of Doctrine & Covenants, 
 commonly called for years and still known as 
 "The Vision." I say, this to my mind is the 
 climax of all wonderful revelations that have 
 come from the Lord from the days of Father 
 Adam until the present moment. 
 
 Men have been groping in darkness on 
 some subjects, even in Gospel dispensations 
 of the past. They have not known the full- 
 ness of God's plan and purpose for the salva- 
 
tion of His sons and daughters, but surely 
 this is a glorious time, for this is the dis- 
 pensation of the fullness of times and all that 
 men have ever had in all former dispensa- 
 tions has been given at once in this dispensa- 
 tion, and much that was not had in other dis- 
 pensations. Oh ! how wonderful it is to live 
 now, when we are not in doubt concerning 
 not only ourselves, but the whole scheme and 
 plan of salvation, not only for the living, but 
 for the dead. 
 
 Men have been speculating as to God's jus- 
 tice and provisions for 1 the salvation of His 
 children. There have been those in the past 
 and some still remain who teach that if by 
 the smallest margin one escapes or misses to 
 meet the conditions of the Gospel as they in- 
 terpret it they lose eternal salvation and are 
 eternally damned to hell; and on the other 
 hand, there are those who believe that cer- 
 tain individuals are marked and designated, 
 predestined, to come into this life to be saved 
 no matter what they did, and others to be 
 eternally lost. There are those who are so 
 narrow as to believe that if in this life men 
 have not found the Way, the Light and 
 Truth there is no hope for them beyond the 
 grave. I rejoice to live, I say, when the full- 
 ness of truth has been given and when the 
 answer has been made clearly and definitely 
 in the word of the Lord to all queries on 
 this subject. 
 
 I have sometimes had this question pro- 
 pounded to me by ministers and members 
 
of other denominations: "What matters it 
 so long as men and women are good men, 
 good husbands, good wives, good citizens, be- 
 lievers in the Bible, worshippers of God and 
 followers of Jesus Christ according to their 
 own conception what matters which road 
 they take?'' It is immaterial whether they 
 are Baptist, Presbyterian, Mormon, Catholic, 
 or what. Any road leads to the same goal, 
 just as there are many roads leading to Og- 
 den, and whichever road you take you ulti- 
 mately get to Ogden. That is their theory. 
 
 I have said that it makes little difference 
 in one respect whether a man has a faith 
 and persuasion or not, or what his faith 
 or persuasion may be. It is not this persua- 
 soin that will bring him salvation; it is his 
 works, his faith and his devotion and his 
 ability to comply with the terms and condi- 
 tions God has provided for man's salvation, 
 but every man that does good is drawing to- 
 ward God no matter what his faith is. That 
 is true, therefore, whichever road he travels, 
 according to the amount of good he does, he 
 is advancing toward the great goal, toward 
 God and toward salvation in His kingdom. 
 
 I recognize the fact that no man will get 
 ail the way to the end of the road and gain 
 a fullness of salvation in the Celestial King- 
 dom of God unless he complies with all the 
 terms and all the conditions of salvation in 
 the Celestial Kingdom of God unless he said, 
 "Straight is the gate and narrow is the way 
 
which leadeth unto life, and few there be 
 that find it." 
 
 I discover in my reading of ancient and 
 modern scriptures that the great majority 
 of our Father's children will only go a part 
 of the way toward that great goal and end 
 because they will not comply with all 
 the terms and conditions. They will get one- 
 third of the way, we will say, and find 
 themselves in the Telestial Kingdom. An- 
 other group will go a little farther on the 
 right road but they won't comply with all 
 the terms and conditions and will not reach 
 the end of that journey. They may go, per- 
 haps, two-thirds of the way to the Terrestrial 
 Glory. And few there be who will comply 
 and find the way by which they may make 
 the entire journey, complying with all the 
 terms, all the conditions and ultimately 
 reaching the end of the road, entering into 
 the Celestial Kingdom of God; they shall 
 obtain Celestial Glory. 
 
 That sounds reasonable, does it not? It is 
 true. Now without speculating, and I do 
 not wish to speculate or theorize, but confin- 
 ing ourselves in our discussion or considera- 
 tion of this question exclusively to the word 
 of the Lord as it has been given us, I will 
 begin by reading a portion of the 76th sec- 
 tion, commencing with the 50th verse: 
 
 "And again, we bear record, for we saw 
 and heard, and this is the testimony of the 
 
gospel of Christ, concerning them who come 
 forth in the resurrection of the just/' 
 
 I begin with the few that find the way and 
 reach the end. I begin with those because 
 I think I am talking to a body of men and 
 women who are not concerned and anxious to 
 know terms or conditions by which you may 
 get into the Terrestrial or Telestial Glory. 
 Your minds and hearts are set upon knowing 
 what you must do to obtain the greatest 
 thing, the best thing, the Lord has offered. 
 I want to talk about that more than anything 
 else because I do not discover many of you 
 who would be satisfied with second-hand 
 things, and you are not contented or happy 
 by having second best or third best. So we 
 will begin by reading a description of the 
 terms and conditions that we must comply 
 with to get the best, to bring before you as 
 the Lord has given it to us the blessings, 
 benefits and advantages of attaining to the 
 Celestial Glory. I think it will be worth 
 every sacrifice required and a hundred times 
 more if need be. Personally, I would give it 
 to attain that which God has offered to men 
 and women who enter into the Celestial 
 Glory. 
 
 Continuing with the 51st verse: 
 "They are they who received the testimony 
 of Jesus, and believed on his name and were 
 baptized after the manner of his burial, being 
 buried in the water in his name, and this 
 according to the commandment which he has 
 given.'' 
 
 6 
 
I now say to all the world that no man, no 
 woman, ever shall see the Celestial Kingdom 
 of God who is not baptized of the water and 
 of th spirit. The Lord has specified it. He 
 made it so binding and complete when after 
 announcing the law he complied with every 
 term himself, though perfect, so that no man 
 who imagines himself to be perfect her can 
 excuse himself or herself from obedience to 
 the law of baptism. It is the door, the gate 
 to Celestial Glory. 
 
 "That by keeping the commandments they 
 might be washed and cleansed from all their 
 sins, and receive the Holy Spirit by the lay- 
 ing on of the hands of him who is ordained 
 and sealed unto this power. 
 
 "And who overcome by faith, and are 
 sealed by th Holy Spirit of promise, which 
 the Father sheds forth -upon all those who 
 are just and true.'' 
 
 I would like to pause and emphasize that 
 passage, because, while we receive at th 
 hands of the priesthood which has the right 
 to seal on earth and it shall be sealed in 
 Heaven, this revelation clearly states it must 
 be sealed by the holy spirit of promise. 
 
 A man and woman may by fraud and de- 
 ception obtain admittance to the house of the 
 Lord and may receive the pronouncement of 
 the holy priesthood, giving to them, so far as 
 lies in their power, these blessings. We may 
 deceive men but we cannot deceive the Holy 
 Ghost, and cur blessings will not be binding 
 
 7 
 
upon us unless they are also sealed by the 
 holy spirit of promise, the Holy Ghost, one 
 who reads the thoughts and hearts of men 
 and gives his sealing approval to the bless- 
 ings pronounced upon the heads of men and 
 women. Then it is binding, efficacious and 
 full of force. 
 
 I thank the Lord that there is this provi- 
 sion, so that even though men are able to de- 
 ceive their brethren, they are not able to de- 
 ceive the Holy Ghost and thus come into pos- 
 session of their blessings unless they prove 
 in word, in thought, and in deed their worth- 
 iness and righteousness. 
 
 Reading again from the 53rd verse: 
 
 "And who overcome by faith, and are 
 sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, which 
 the Father sheds forth upon all those who 
 are just and true. 
 
 "They are they who are the church of the 
 first born. 
 
 "They are they into whose hands the 
 Father has given all things " 
 
 Is there anything that you have ever 
 dreamed of or thought of, that you wanted, 
 that you longed for ? Into the hands of those 
 who attain this glory shall all things be 
 given. 
 
 What a world of meaning! You can pon- 
 der over that all the rest of your lives and 
 every thought and aspiration of the human 
 
heart in righteousness that is possible for 
 men to conceive will be but a fraction of 
 that which is comprehended in this state- 
 ment, that 'unto them shall be given all 
 things," because it is not possible for mor- 
 tals to think of -a thousandth part of what 
 that means. 
 
 Reading again: 
 
 "They are they who are Priests and Kings, 
 who have received of his fullness, and of his 
 glory. 
 
 "And are Priests of the Most High, after 
 the order of Melchisedek, which was after 
 the order of Enoch, which was after the or- 
 der of the Only Begotten Son: 
 
 "Wherefore, as it is writen, they are Gods, 
 even the sons of God " 
 
 We have frequently said that perhaps the 
 grandest thought that has ever been brought 
 forth to the children of men is the Mormon 
 Truism, namely: "As man is God once was, 
 and as God is man may become." The 
 foundation of that truism is in this revela- 
 tion and these words we have just read. Let 
 me read them again: 
 
 "Wherefore, as it is written, they are Gods,, 
 even the sons of God " 
 
 Now, I would like to say a word or two 
 about that Mormon Truism, namely: "As 
 man is God once was, and as God is man may 
 become. r 
 
Note that it is not to the effect that man 
 will become, but man may become, and I wish 
 to say that few men will become what God is. 
 And yet, all men may become what He is if 
 they will pay the price. 
 
 Now, I wish to say to you that the only 
 possible candidates to become what God is 
 are those who attain Celestial Glory, and 
 those who fail in that will never, worlds 
 without end, be possible candidates to be- 
 come what God is. Then I wish to say to you 
 that there are three degrees of glory in the 
 Celestial Kingdom and only those who at- 
 tain the highest degree of Celestial Glory will 
 be candidates to become what God is, and 
 graduate. 
 
 So you see, it is within the reach of every 
 man and woman who lives, but only attaina- 
 ble by those who pay the price, who stand 
 the test, who prove themselves, who comply 
 with the terms and conditions that make 
 their calling and election sure. 
 
 I wish now just a moment to diverge and 
 turn to the 131st section of the book of Doc- 
 trine & Covenants. It is very brief and is 
 upon the point I am just discussing. It is a 
 revelation which was given May 16th and 
 May 17th, 1843. 
 
 ' "In the Celestial glory there are three 
 heavens or degrees: 
 
 "And in order to obtain the highest, a man 
 must enter into this Order of the Priesthood ; 
 (meaning the new and everlasting covenant 
 of marriage) ; 
 
 10 
 
"And if he does not. he cannot obtain it. 
 
 "He may enter into the other, but that is 
 the end of his kingdom; he cannot have an 
 increase/' 
 
 Those who are denied endless increase 
 cannot be what God is, because that is what, 
 in connection with other things, makes him 
 God. The eternity of the marriage covenant 
 ought to be understood by Later-day Saints 
 clearly to be the sealing of at least one wo- 
 man to one man for time and for all eternity. 
 Then do not get confused on that point and 
 imagine that it necessarily means more than 
 one woman. It may be, certainly, but it 
 does mean at least that one man and one wo- 
 man are sealed together by the power of 
 the holy priesthood and by the sealing ap- 
 proval of the Holy Ghost for time and for 
 all eternity, and then that they keep their 
 covenants, before they will be candidates for 
 the highest degree of Celestial Glory, and 
 unto them only of all these groups of our 
 Father's children is the promise made of 
 endless or eternal increase. 
 
 What do we mean by endless or eternal 
 increase? We mean that through the right- 
 eousness and faithfulness of men and women 
 all those who keep the commandments of 
 God will come forth with Celestial bodies, 
 fitted and prepared to enter into their great, 
 high and eternal glory in the Celestial 
 Kingdom of God; and unto them, through 
 their preparation, there will come children, 
 who will be spirit children. I don't think 
 
 11 
 
that is very difficult to comprehend and un- 
 derstand. The nature of the offspring is de- 
 termined by the nature of the substance that 
 flows in the veins of the being. When blood 
 flows in the veins of the being, the offspring 
 will be what blood produces, which is tangi- 
 ble flesh and bone, but when that which 
 flows in the veins is spirit matter, a 
 substance which is more refined and pure 
 and glorious than blood, the offspring 
 of such beings will be spirit children. By 
 that I mean they will be in the image of the 
 parents. They will have a spirit body in the 
 image of that parent and have a spark of the 
 eternal or divine that always did exist, but 
 not in that exact form. 
 
 Unto such parentage will this glorious 
 privilege come, for it is written in our scrip- 
 tures that "the glory of God is to bring to 
 pass the immortality and eternal life of 
 man." So, it will be the glory of men and 
 women that will make their glory like unto 
 His. When the power of endless increase 
 shall come to them, and their offspring, 
 growing and multiplying through ages that 
 shall come, they will be in due time, as we 
 have been, provided with an earth like this, 
 wherein they too may obtain earthly bodies 
 and pass through all the experiences through 
 which we have passed, and then we shall hold 
 our relationship to them, the fullness and 
 completeness of which has not been revealed 
 to us, but we shall stand in our relationship 
 to them as God, our Eternal Father, does to 
 us, and thereby is this the most glorious and 
 
 12 
 
wonderful privilege that ever will come to 
 any of the sons and daughters of God. 
 
 Now, I wish to return to the 76th section 
 and commence reading with the 59th vers-e: 
 
 "Wherefore all things are theirs, whether 
 life or death, or things present, or things to 
 come, all are theirs and they are Christ's 
 and Christ is God's. 
 
 "And they shall overcome all things." 
 
 Here is a significant statement. I have 
 said that in addition to one's baptism, to 
 which I called attention, of the water and 
 of the spirit, which is essential for admis- 
 sion to the kingdom of God, in the language 
 of Peter and in the words of the fourth sec- 
 tion of the Doctrine & Covenants, we are to 
 add to our faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 
 to knowledge, temperance, patience, brother- 
 ly kindness, godliness, charity, humility and 
 diligence. If these things be not in us, we 
 are blind and cannot see far, but if they are 
 in us they will make us so that we will be 
 able to make our calling and election sure. 
 
 A man may receive the priesthood and all 
 its privileges and blessings, but until he 
 learns to overcome the flesh, his temper, his 
 tongue, his disposition to indulge in the 
 things God has forbidden, he cannot come 
 into the Celestial Kingdom of God until he 
 overcomes either in this life or in the life 
 to come. But this life is the time in which 
 men are to repent. Do not let any of us 
 imagine that we can go down to the grave 
 
not having overcome the corruptions of the 
 flesh and then lose in the grave all our sins 
 and evil tendencies. They will be with us. 
 They will be with the spirit when separated 
 from the body. 
 
 I have said it is my judgment that any 
 man or woman can do more to conform to 
 the laws of God in one year in this life than 
 they could in ten years when they are dead. 
 The spirit only can repent and change, and 
 then the battle has to go forward with the 
 flesh afterwards. It is much easier to over- 
 come and serve the Lord when both flesh 
 and spirit are combined as one. This is the 
 time when men are more pliable and sus- 
 ceptible. We will find when we are dead ev- 
 ery desire, every feeling will be greatly in- 
 tensified. When clay is pliable it is much 
 easier to change than when it gets hard and 
 sets. 
 
 This life is the time to repent. That is 
 why I presume it will take a thousand years 
 after the first resurrection until the last 
 group will be prepared to come forth. It will 
 take them a thousand years to do what it 
 would have taken, but three score years and 
 ten to accomplish in this life. And, so, we 
 are to labor and have as little to do when we 
 get through with this life as possible. 
 
 You remember the vision of the redemp- 
 tion of the dead as given to the Church 
 through the late President Joseph F. Smith. 
 President Smith saw the spirits of the right- 
 
 14 
 
eous dead after their resurrection and the 
 language is the same as one of the Prophet 
 Joseph's revelations that they, the right- 
 eous dead, looked upon the absence of their 
 spirits from their bodies as a bondage. 
 
 I grant you that the righteous dead will 
 be at peace, but I tell you that when we go 
 out of this life, leave this body, we will yearn 
 to do a thousand things that we cannot do 
 at all without the body, and how handicapped 
 we will be, and realize then like a man who 
 has suddenly lost both arms and his legs. We 
 will be seriously handicapped, and we will 
 long for the body; we will crave it; we will 
 pray for that early reunion with our bodies. 
 We will know then what advantage it was 
 to have a body. 
 
 Then, every man and woman who is put- 
 ting off until the next life the task of cor- 
 recting and overcoming the weakness of the 
 flesh are sentencing themselves to that man> 
 years of bondage, for no man or woman will 
 come forth in the resurrection until they 
 have completed their work, until they have 
 overcome, until they have corrected, until 
 they have done as much as they can do. 
 That is why Jesus said in the resurrection 
 there is neither marriage or giving in mar- 
 riage, for all such contracts agreements 
 will be provided for those who are worthy 
 of it before men and women come forth in 
 the resurrection of the Lord, and those who 
 are complying in this life with these condi- 
 tions are shortening their sentences, for ev- 
 
 15 
 
ery one of us will have & matter of years in 
 that spirit state to complete and finish their 
 salvation. And some may attain, by reason 
 of their righteousness in this life, the right 
 to do post-graduate work, to be admitted into 
 the Celestial Kingdom, but others will lose 
 absolutely the right to that glory, all they 
 can do will not avail after death to bring 
 them into the Celestial Kingdom. 
 
 The point I have in mind is that we are 
 sentencing ourselves to long periods of bond- 
 age, separating our spirits from our bodies, 
 or we are shortening that period, according 
 to the way in which we overcome and master 
 ourselves. 
 
 Sixty-first verse: 
 
 "Wherefore, let no man glory in man, but 
 rather let him glory in God, who shall sub- 
 due all enemies under his feet 
 
 "These shall dwell in the presence of God 
 and Christ forever and ever.'* 
 
 Oh! what a world of meaning! Do you 
 comprehend it, you who gain Celestial glory, 
 the privilege of dwelling in the presence of 
 God and his Christ forever and ever? What 
 did it mean to have in the world, in the min- 
 istry, for three brief years the Lord Jesus 
 Christ not the Father, just the Son? It 
 was the most wonderful privilege the world 
 has ever had. What would you give tonight 
 for the privilege of standing in the presence 
 of the Son for five minutes ? You would give 
 all your earthly possessions for that privil- 
 
 16 
 
ege. Then can you comprehend the full 
 meaning and significance of the statement 
 that those who gain Celestial Glory will have 
 the privilege of dwelling in the presence of 
 the Father and the Son forever and forever ? 
 That, in itself, will be reward enough for the 
 struggle to obtain the prize. Yea, it is be- 
 yond price and earthly possessions. Even the 
 giving of life itself would be a trifle for the 
 privilege to dwell forever and forever in the 
 presence of the Father 1 and the Son. 
 
 Now I want to make an explanation that 
 you may comprehend and understand God's 
 plan, which allows us to dwell in His pres- 
 ence. The Lord has created by and through 
 His Son, Jesus Christ, according to the book 
 of Moses, worlds without number, and nu- 
 merous are they as the sands upon the sea- 
 shore. In each one, undoubtedly, dwells a 
 group of his children. Then how can he dwell 
 in the presence of all these several groups at 
 one and the same time ? If you will read the 
 88th section of Doctrine & Covenants, to- 
 ward the latter part of that section the Lord 
 undertakes to explain it. 
 
 The Lord told Joseph Smith how he looks 
 upon these, his kingdoms, worlds without 
 number, and he said, "I know them. I count 
 them." And Moses wondered and wanted to 
 know about them. Did Jesus Christ go to 
 them and was he the Savior of these other 
 worlds? But the Lord said unto Moses, 
 "Only an account of this earth give I unto 
 you." 
 
 17 
 
There is something else to learn after we 
 leave this earth and I rejoice in the antici- 
 pation of further and greater knowledge 
 concerning the things I do not now under- 
 stand and comprehend. The Lord just 
 touched Joseph's understanding when he 
 said, Behold, these are known unto me. They 
 are like a man having a field, and he sent 
 a group of workers to this part of the field 
 and gave them instructions what to do and 
 told them he would visit them in their hour 
 and in their time. He sent out the second 
 group into another part of the field, and an- 
 other group, and unto each of them he made 
 the promise that he would visit them in their 
 hour and in their time and season until they 
 all would be made glad by the joy of his 
 countenance. He would visit them from the 
 first to the last and from the last to the first 
 in one eternal round, each in his time, in his 
 hour and in his season. 
 
 I presume that is the reason that the 
 promise is made that Christ will dwell with 
 men on this earth for a thousand years and 
 that will be our day, our time and then I pre- 
 sume he will do as suggested in this 88th 
 section; he will visit other places and king- 
 doms; but while absent from this group we 
 will, nevertheless, be in His presence, in com- 
 munication with him. 
 
 Every man and woman who enters the 
 Celestial Kingdom will find themselves living 
 on this earth, which shall be a Celestial 
 world, and we will identify it as the earth 
 upon which we have lived. To each man and 
 
 18 
 
woman who enters that kingdom will find 
 the earth a Urim and Thummim, looking into 
 which one may learn about all conditions and 
 kingdoms that are beneath and the kingdom 
 in which we live, so that all depths are re- 
 vealed to us. 
 
 The revelations referred to inform us that 
 whosoever enters the Celestial Kingdom shall 
 receive a white stone, a Urim and Thummim 
 of greatest purity. Through the gift and 
 power of God will enable the possessor to 
 read the universe and obtain knowledge 
 from all kingdoms, not only the one in which 
 we dwell, so that we will comprehend all 
 heights and all depths. Those who gain Ce- 
 lestial Glory, to them only comes this privil- 
 ege, and though absent it is possible for the 
 Father and the Son to commune and converse 
 with all who are entitled to enjoy that com- 
 panionship, the other Comforter, just as the 
 Holy Ghost now has the right and power to 
 operate and converse at once with ten thou- 
 sand or ten million souls who have complied 
 with baptism and have been brought within 
 the circle in tune that they may receive the 
 communication. Every man and woman will 
 hear at once and dwell in His presence to be 
 constantly instructed. 
 
 Well, I ought not to spend any time trying 
 to persuade you that this is possible when 
 you know that in this day the human voice 
 has been magnified a thousand times by the 
 skill of man, so that it is said that by the use 
 of one of these thousand time amplifiers the 
 walking of a fly in a room where such an am- 
 
 19 
 
plifier is properly in tune would make a noise 
 as almost to deafen a man. The human voice 
 may be increased one hundred thousand 
 times and encircle the globe. If we can do 
 that, and we do it every day, what does God 
 know about it ? So much more than we know 
 and comprehend that our advances are just 
 a feeble opening of the great eternal truths 
 of science and knowledge which God has. 
 
 I understand now something about that 
 wonderful appearance of the Redeemer to the 
 Nephites. They heard a voice and though it 
 was not a loud voice and came from the 
 clouds, yet it was a keen and penetrating 
 voice so that it entered every heart and made 
 their very frames quake. Now I understand 
 that God knows how. Though absent, he 
 may speak, and all the groups of his chil- 
 dren who are entitled to hear Him, hear Him, 
 and in their hour and in their time and sea- 
 son enjoy His personal presence and forever 
 and always his companionship, the compan- 
 ionship of His spirit and His personal minis- 
 try through His means of communication 
 with such souls. 
 
 I cannot begin this night to tell you what 
 that means to enjoy -the blessings and priv- 
 ileges of dwelling in His presence forever and 
 ever. I know how the soul is thrilled ; I know 
 the feeling that comes by being in His pres- 
 ence for but a moment. I would give all that 
 I am, all that I hope to be, to have the joy of 
 His presence, to dwell in His love and His af- 
 fection and to be in favor with the Master of 
 all things forever and ever. 
 
 20 
 
'These are they whom he shall bring with 
 him, when he shall come in the clouds of 
 heaven, to reign on the earth over his people. 
 
 "These are they who shall have part in the 
 first resurrection. 
 
 ' 'These are they who shall come forth in 
 the resurrection of the just." 
 
 "These are they who are come unto Mount 
 Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the 
 heavenly place, the holiest of all. 
 
 "These are they who have come to an in- 
 numerable company of angels, to the general 
 assembly and Church of Enoch, and of the 
 first born. 
 
 "These are they whose names are written 
 in heaven, where God and Christ are the 
 judge of all. 
 
 "These are they who are just men made 
 perfect through Jesus the mediator of the 
 new covenant, who wrought out this per- 
 fect atonement through the shedding of his 
 own blood. 
 
 "These are they whose bodies are Celes- 
 tial." 
 
 I wish you to remember that because I am 
 to return to it in a few moments, and just 
 now I wish to say that a Celestial body is 
 quite a different thing than a Terrestrial or 
 Telestial body. 
 
 "These are they whose bodies are Celes- 
 tial, whose glory is that of the sun, even the 
 glory of God, the highest of all, whose glory 
 the sun of the firmament is written of as 
 being typical.'' 
 
These are the fundamental points, the 
 great privileges, and the terms and condi- 
 tions that must be complied with. 
 
 Now, I wish to turn for a few moments 
 in comparing this and the other glories first 
 to a brief consideration of the great provi- 
 sion made for the second great group of our 
 Father's children, and here is a description 
 of it. Reading from the 71st verse: 
 
 "And again, we saw the Terrestrial world, 
 and beheld and lo, these are they who are of 
 the Terrestrial,, whose glory differs from 
 that of the church of the first born, who 
 have received the fullness of the Father, even 
 a3 that of the moon differs from the sun in 
 the firmament 
 
 "Behold, these are they who died without 
 law. " 
 
 I wish to say that we do not know the 
 terms nor the conditions that candidates for 
 Telestial or Terrestrial Glory may have to 
 comply with. All that we have been given in 
 the principle of the Gospel, including bap- 
 tism by water, the laying on of hands for the 
 g-ft of the Holy Ghost, are means to prepare 
 and admit men and women into the Celestial 
 Kirgdcm. We are not preparing candidates 
 for Terrestrial or Telestial Glory. That is 
 not the work we are doing. I presume after 
 this life, in the spirit world, among those 
 great hosts of our Father's children who are 
 candidates for this kingdom I am now talk- 
 ing about, we will be given clearly to under- 
 
 22 
 
stand what the principles are they must com- 
 ply with. We do know, however, that every 
 knee shall bow and every tongue confess 
 that Jesus is the Christ. Absolute obedience 
 will be required. It may be they will have 
 to have baptism. Yet I know not; the Lord 
 has not revealed it. I think it is well we are 
 striving exclusively for the Celestial King- 
 dom, not for the Terrestrial or Telestial. Now 
 this is the place provided for those who 
 die without law. 
 
 I wish now to call your attention to other 
 revelations which the Lord has given in this 
 dispensation relative to those who have died 
 without law. 
 
 You will recall how the Prophet Joseph 
 was greatly concerned over his own Brother 
 Alvin. Alvin Smith was a devout believer in 
 Joseph's vision, but prior to the restoration 
 of the priesthood and the restoration of the 
 doctrine of baptism he died. Joseph was 
 deeply concerned over his death and the Lord 
 gave Joseph Smith a revelation, wherein he 
 said he saw Alvin in the Celestial Kingdom. 
 Alvin was not really there, it was Alvin's 
 right and privilege to be there, but he could 
 not go there without baptism. The Lord said 
 all who, had they lived, would have received 
 the Gospel of the Son had they heard it, they 
 tco will be candidates for the Celestial Glory. 
 Who are they? How can they be deter- 
 mined? 
 
 Some folks get the notion that the prob- 
 lems of life will at once clear up and they will 
 know that this is the gospel of Christ when 
 
they die. I have heard people say they be- 
 lieve when they die they will see Peter and 
 that he will clear it all up. I said, "You 
 never will see Peter until you accept the Gos- 
 pel of the Lord Jesus Christ, living or dead, 
 at the hands of the elders of the Church. 
 They will meet these men to whom this right 
 and authority has been given, for this gen- 
 eration shall receive it at the hands of those 
 who have been honored with the priesthood 
 of this dispensation. Living or dead, they 
 shall not hear it from anyone else. 
 
 So, men won't know any more when they 
 are dead than when they are living, only they 
 will have passed through the change called 
 death. They will not. understand the truths 
 of the Gospel only by th-a same process as 
 they understand and comprehend them here. 
 So when they hear the Gospel preached they 
 will respond just as our fathers and mothers 
 did, with a glad heart. They will love it and 
 embrace it. It will then be easy to know who 
 they are. They who have died without the 
 knowledge of the truth, they who will receive 
 it with glad hearts, .they also will be candi- 
 dates for Celestial Glory. When you die and 
 go to the spirit world you will labor for years, 
 trying to convert individuals who will be tak- 
 ing their own course. Some of them will re- 
 pent; some of them will listen. Another 
 group will be rebellious, following their own 
 will and notion, and that group will get small- 
 er and smaller until every knee shall hum- 
 bly bow and every tongue confess. 
 
 24 
 
It may take us thousands of years to do 
 that. But those who are of the blood of 
 Israel, who, had they been living, would have 
 received the Gospel and are not participators 
 in the blessings, will in a similar manner re- 
 ceive it in the spirit world. 
 
 Now I want to go a little further and iden- 
 tify us and our posterity and our ancestors, 
 to be able to tell you why it is that there is 
 a great proportion of our Father's children 
 who die without law and why you and I come 
 into possession of the knowledge of the law. 
 The Prophet Joseph Smith said you will 
 find these words in the fourth volume of 
 Church History, page 231. This was at the 
 time of the completion of the baptismal font 
 in the Nauvoo Temple. The Prophet said: 
 
 "The Saints have the privilege of being 
 baptized for those of their own relatives who 
 are dead whom they believe would have em- 
 braced the gospel if they had lived, if they 
 had had the privilege of hearing it, and who 
 hav-a received the gospel in the spirit world 
 through the instrumentality of those who 
 have been commissioned to preach to them 
 while in prison." 
 
 The limitation given to Latter-day Saints 
 for baptism of their dead was to their imme- 
 diate relatives who had died whom they be- 
 lieve would have received the gospel. That 
 is all. And no others. Now since we are 
 not prepared to pass judgment on our dead 
 ancestors whom we did not know, the church 
 has gone further and has permitted mem- 
 bers of the church to do the work for all their 
 
 25 
 
immediate ancestors except they are murder- 
 ers. There can be no work done for those 
 who have committed murder and shed blood. 
 We are to do the work for our dead, whether 
 we know they will receive it or not.. There 
 is no doubt but what everyone would like to 
 receive it, but some of them may not be wor- 
 thy, and a good many will receive it. I be- 
 lieve in my heart that more of our dead an- 
 cestors will receive and enjoy the privileges 
 and blessings of the gospel than their liv- 
 ing children. That may seem strange to you, 
 but I am afraid that the proportion of the 
 living who are entitled to these privileges 
 and blessings will be fewer than our dead 
 ancestors who are also entitled to the same 
 blessings. 
 
 Suppose that some of them will not receive 
 the work that you do for them. Should that 
 hinder you ? No, it should not. The Lord said, 
 "It is better to feed ten unworthy than to 
 turn one righteous away/ ' If there were but 
 a few of our ancestors worthy to have these 
 blessings would we not do the work for the 
 entire group in order to provide for the few ? 
 But I tell you there will be a much larger pro- 
 portion than this, and they all would like to 
 receive it. A great majority will receive these 
 blessings and will be glad for them and ac- 
 cept them. 
 
 Now, my brothers and sisters, I would like 
 you to understand that long before we were 
 born into this earth we were tested and tried 
 in our pre-existence and the fact that today 
 ten thousand children were born, and more 
 
 26 
 
than that, in the world, a certain proportion 
 of them went to the Hottentots of the south 
 seas; one thousand went to the Chinese 
 mothers, one thousand to Negro mothers, one 
 thousand to beautiful white Latter-day Saint 
 mothers. Why this difference? You cannot 
 tell me that that entire group of ten thou- 
 sand or whatever that number might be was 
 just designated, marked, to go there. That 
 they were men and women of equal oppor- 
 tunities. There are no infant spirits born. 
 They had a being ages before they came into 
 this life. They appear in infant body but they 
 were tested, proven souls. Therefore, I say 
 to you that long before we came into this life 
 all groups and races of men existed as they 
 exist today. Like attracts to like. 
 
 Why is it in this Church we do not grant 
 the priesthood to the negroes? It is alleged 
 that the Prophet Joseph said and I have no 
 reason to dispute it that it is because of 
 seme act committed by them before they 
 came into this life. It is alleged that they 
 were neutral, standing neither for Christ nor 
 the devil. But, I am convinced it is because 
 of some things they did before they came 
 into this life that they have been denied the 
 privilege. The races of to-day are very largely 
 reaping th-e consequence of a previous life. 
 
 Why was it the Lord gave Daniel the in- 
 terpretation of that wonderful dream of Neb- 
 uchadnezzar, wherein Daniel was able to tell 
 very clearly, long before they were born, 
 when the various peoples should rise and bear 
 rule upon the earth? And I say to you that 
 
 27 
 
there were tested, tried and proven souls be- 
 fore they were born into the world, and the 
 Lord sent with them his choicest blessings 
 and provided a lineage for them. That lineage 
 is the House of Israel, the lineage of Abra- 
 ham, Isaac and Jacob and their posterity. 
 Through this lineage were to come the true 
 and tried souls that had demonstrated their 
 righteousness in the spirit world before they 
 came here. We came through that lineage. 
 Our particular branch is the House of Joseph 
 through his son Ephraim. That is the group 
 from whence shall come the candidates in the 
 main for the Celestial Glory. That is why we 
 are doing the work for that group) and not 
 for others. 
 
 Let us not imagine that in this dispensa- 
 tion we shall do the work for the dead Chi- 
 nese or Hindus. Not at all. I expect it will 
 take one thousand years to complete in our 
 temples the ordinances looking to the salva- 
 tion of the House of Israel. It will take all 
 Later-day Saints and all that we can do to 
 take care of our own branch of our own 
 hcuse. While we do the work for our dead 
 ancestors, we will reach a limit after a while. 
 That limit will be after we have reached as 
 far as records are kept. I have said that 
 when any man or woman goes into this work 
 earnestly the Lord will provide ways and 
 means for them to obtain the information. 
 Our understanding will be opened and sources 
 of knowledge will be made manifest never be- 
 fore dreamed of. Why? Because the dead 
 know a great deal more than we think. 
 
Why is it that sometimes only one of a city 
 or household receives the Gospel? It was 
 made known to me that it is because of the 
 righteous dead who had received the Gospel 
 in the spirit world exercising themselves, and 
 in answer to their prayers elders of the 
 Church were sent to the homes of their pos- 
 terity that the Gospel might be taught to 
 them and through their righteousness they 
 might be privileged to do the work for their 
 dead kindred. I want to say to you that it is 
 with greater intensity that the hearts of the 
 fathers and mothers in the spirit world are 
 turned to their children than that our hearts 
 are turned to them. 
 
 And so it is that the Lord will open the 
 way for those who seek information and 
 knowledge. 
 
 I recall an incident in my own father's ex- 
 perience. I recall how we looked forward to 
 the completion of the Logan Temple. It was 
 about to be dedicated. My father had labored 
 on that house from its very beginning and 
 my earliest recollection was carrying his din- 
 ner each day as he brought the rock down 
 from the quarry. How we looked forward to 
 that great event! I remember how in the 
 meantime father made every effort to obtain 
 all the data and information he could con- 
 cerning his relatives. It was the theme of his 
 prayer night and morning that the Lord 
 would open the way whereby he could get in- 
 formation concerning his dead. 
 
 The day before the dedication while writ- 
 
 29 
 
ing recommends to the members of his ward 
 who were to be present at the first service, 
 two elderly gentlemen walked down the 
 streets of Logan, approached my two young- 
 er sisters, and, coming to the older one of the 
 two placed in her hands a newspaper and 
 said: 
 
 "Take this to your father. Give it to no 
 one else. Go quickly with it. Don't lose it." 
 
 The child responded and when she met her 
 mother, her mother wanted the paper. The 
 child said, "No, I must give it to father and 
 no one else." 
 
 She was admitted into the room and told 
 her stoiy. We looked in vain for these trav- 
 elers. They were not to be seen. No one 
 else saw them. Then we turned to the pa- 
 per. The newspaper was printed in my fath- 
 er's old English home five days before the 
 day it was in our hands. We were astonished, 
 for by no earthly means could it have reached 
 us, so that our curiosity increased as we ex- 
 amined it. Then we discovered one page de- 
 voted to the writings of a reporter of the 
 paper, who had gone on his vacation, and 
 among other places had visited an old ceme- 
 tery. The curious inscriptions led him to 
 write what he found on the tombstones, in- 
 cluding the verses. He also added the names, 
 date of birth, death, etcs., filling nearly an 
 entire page. 
 
 It was the old cemetery where the Ballard 
 family had been buried for generations and 
 
 30 
 
very many of my father's immediate rela- 
 tives and other intimate friends. 
 
 When the matter was presented to Presi- 
 dent Merrill of the Logan Temple he said, 
 "You are authorized to do the work for those 
 because you received it through messengers 
 of the Lord." 
 
 There is no doubt but that the dead who 
 had received the Gospel in the spirit world 
 had put it into the heart of that reporter to 
 write these things, and thus the way was 
 prepared for my father to obtain the infor- 
 mation he sought, and so with you who are 
 earnest in this work, the way shall be opened 
 and you will be able to gather data far be- 
 yond your expectations, even when you have 
 gone as far as you can go. I will tell you 
 what will happen. When you have gone as 
 far as you can go the names of your right- 
 eous dead who have embraced the Gospel in 
 the spirit world will be given you through the 
 instrumentality of your dead kindred. But 
 only the names of those who have received 
 the Gospel will be revealed. 
 
 Now, I wish to say to you that those who 
 died without law, meaning the pagan nations, 
 for lack of faithfulness, for lack of devotion, 
 in the former 1 life, are obtaining all that they 
 are entitled to. I don't mean to say that all 
 of them will be barred from entrance into the 
 highest glory. Any one of them who repents 
 and complies with the conditions might also 
 obtain Celestial Glory, but the great bulk 
 of them shall only have Terrestrial. 
 
 31 
 
Continuing, and this is full of meaning: 
 "Behold, these are they who died without 
 law, 
 
 "And also they who are the spirits of men 
 kept in prison, whom the Son visited, and 
 preached the gospel unto them, that they 
 might be judged according to men in the 
 flesh, 
 
 "Who received not the testimony of Jesus 
 in the flesh, but afterwards received it.' ' 
 
 This revelation clearly informs us that any 
 man or woman, not only those in the days 
 of Noah, who heard the Gospel and rejected 
 it, but in this day any man or woman who 
 has had a good chance to have heard the 
 Gospel, to receive it and embrace it and en- 
 joy its blessings and privileges, who lived 
 during their life in absolute indifference to 
 these things, ignoring it, need not to hope 
 or anticipate that when they are dead the 
 work can be done for them and they gain Ce- 
 lestial Glory. Don't you Latter-day Saints 
 get the notion that a man or woman can live 
 in defiance or total indifference, having had 
 a good chance not a casual chance or op- 
 portunity and when they die you can go and 
 do the work for that individual and have 
 them receive every blessing that the faithful 
 ones are entitled to. If that becomes the doc- 
 trine of the Church we will be worse than the 
 Catholics, who believe that you can pray a 
 man out of purgatory. But they charge for 
 it and we don't, so we would be more foolish 
 than they. 
 
 32 
 
More than once I have had a mother come 
 to me and ask if it would not be possible to 
 have her daughter sealed to her dead hus- 
 band. She had lived with him, she had prayed 
 with him and plead with him, but he was 
 totally indifferent, and now since he is dead 
 couldn't the work be done for him and the 
 daughter sealed to him for time and for eter- 
 nity? If he repents he will come up in the 
 Terrestrial Glory and she does not want to 
 be there. Then why be sealed to him? 
 
 Brothers and sisters, I say this to stimu- 
 late you to try and make your lives conform 
 to the commandments of the Master, that 
 you may work while the day lasts, for the 
 night cometh when it will not profit a man 
 to work. That applies to those who had a 
 chance to receive the Gospel but rejected it. 
 That was their day, and there comes a night 
 when all the work they may do will be of no 
 avail, as they cannot enter the Celestial 
 Kingdom. I want to say this: It applies 
 also to men and women who neglect going 
 to the House of God, who think, "Oh, well, 
 if I don't do the work wife will fix it up." I 
 tell you they are treading on dangerous 
 ground. They may wake up and find that 
 their day and opportunity has gone. They 
 had the chance. They died without accept- 
 ing it. They neglected it and may lose it. 
 
 I am not judging their case; the Lord will 
 judge every case on its merits. It is a gen- 
 eral rule we ought to understand. 
 
 "These are they who are honorable men of 
 33 
 
the earth, who were blinded by the craftiness 
 of men. 
 
 "These are they who receive of His glory, 
 but not of his fullness. 
 
 'These are they who receive of the pres- 
 ence of the Son, but not of the fullness of 
 the Father; 
 
 "Wherefore, they are bodies Terrestrial, 
 and not bodies Celestial, and differ in glory 
 as the moon differs from the sun. 
 
 "These are they who are not valiant in the 
 testimony of Jesus; wherefore they obtain 
 not the crown over the kingdom of our God." 
 
 These are Latter-day Saints, many of 
 them, who are not valiant in the testimony 
 of Jesus, though they have entered into these 
 covenants have not kept them. They have 
 broken their pledges and may come forth in 
 the resurrection and find themselves wholly 
 unworthy to be candidates for the Celestial 
 Glory. They will come up in the Terrestrial 
 World. It is for us to make our calling and 
 election sure. We can do it in this life. 
 
 Now let me pass to the third and last of 
 these groups, the Telestial. 
 
 "And again, we saw the glory of the Te- 
 lestial, which glory is that of the lesser, even 
 as the glory of the stars differs from that of 
 the glory of the moon in the firmament. 
 
 "These are they who received not the gos- 
 pel of Christ, neither the testimony of Jesus. 
 
 "These are they who deny the Holy Spirit. 
 
 "These are they who are thrust down to 
 hell. 
 
 34 
 
"These are they who shall not be redeemed 
 from the devil, until the last resurrection, un- 
 til the Lord, even Christ the Lamb, shall have 
 finished His work. 
 
 "These are they who receive not of His 
 fullness in the eternal world, but of the Holy 
 Spirit through the ministration of the Ter- 
 restrial. 
 
 "And the Terrestrial through the minis- 
 tration of the Celestial ; 
 
 "And also the Telestial receive it of the 
 administering of angels who are appointed 
 to minister for them, or who are appointed 
 to be ministering spirits for them, for they 
 shall be heirs of salvation. 
 
 "And thus we saw in the heavenly vision, 
 the glory of the Telestial, which surpasses all 
 understanding. 
 
 "And no man knows it except him to whom 
 God has revealed it. 
 
 "And thus we saw the glory of the Terres- 
 trial, which excels in all things the glory of 
 the Telestial, even in glory, and in power, and 
 might, and in dominion. 
 
 "And thus we saw the glory of the Celes- 
 tial, which excels in all things where God, 
 even the Father, reigns upon His throne for- 
 ever and ever ; 
 
 "Before whose throne all things bow in 
 humble reverence and give Him glory forever 
 and ever. 
 
 "They who dwell in His presence are the 
 church of the first born, and they see as they 
 
 35 
 
are seen, and know as they are known, hav- 
 ing received of His fullness and of His grace ; 
 
 "And He makes them equal in power, and 
 in might, and in dominion. 
 
 "And the glory of the Celestial is one, even 
 as the glory of the sun is one. 
 
 "And the glory of the Terrestrial is one, 
 even as the glory of the moon is one. 
 
 "And the glory of the Telestial is one, even 
 as the glory of the stars is one, for as one 
 star differs from another star in glory, even 
 so differs one from another in glory in the 
 Telestial world; 
 
 "For these are they who are of Paul, and 
 of Appolos, and of Cephas. 
 
 "These are they who say they are some 
 of one and some of another some of Christ 
 and some of John, and some of Moses, and 
 some of Elias, and some of Esiais, and some 
 of Isaiah, and some of Enoch; 
 
 "But received not the gospel, neither the 
 testimony of Jesus, neither the prophets, 
 neither the everlasting covenant. 
 
 "Last of all, these all are they who will not 
 be gathered with the saints, to be caught up 
 unto the church of the first born, and re- 
 ceived into the cloud. 
 
 "These are they who are liars, and sorcer- 
 ers, and adulterers, and whoremongers, and 
 whosoever loves and makes a. lie. 
 
 "These are they who suffer the wrath of 
 God on the earth. 
 
"These are they who suffer the vengeance 
 of eternal fire. 
 
 "These are they who are cast down to hell 
 and suffer the wrath of Almighty God, until 
 the fullness of times when Christ shall have 
 subdued all enemies under His feet, and shall 
 have perfected His work, 
 
 "When He shall deliver up the kingdom, 
 and present it unto the Father spotless, say- 
 ing I have overcome and have trodden the 
 wine-press alone, even the wine-press of the 
 fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God. 
 
 "Then shall he be crowned with the crown 
 of his glory, to sit on the throne of his power 
 to reign forever and ever. 
 
 "But behold, and lo, we saw the glory and 
 the inhabitants of the Telestial world, that 
 they were as innumerable as the stars in the 
 firmament of heaven, or as the sand upon 
 the sea shore, 
 
 "And heard the voice of the Lord saying 
 these all shall bow the knee, and every tongue 
 shall confess to him who sits upon the throne 
 forever and ever ; 
 
 "For they shall be judged according to 
 their works, and every man shall receive ac- 
 cording to his own works, his own dominion, 
 in the mansions which are prepared, 
 
 "And they shall be servants of the Most 
 High, but where God and Christ dwell they 
 cannot come, worlds without end." 
 
 Now I wish to answer one or two queries 
 that undoubtedly have arisen in your minds, 
 and in doing so I wish to read some more 
 
 37 
 
scripture. The question is often asked, "Is it 
 possible for one who attains Telestial Glory 
 in time in the eternal world to live so well 
 that he may graduate from the Telestial and 
 pass into the Terrestrial, and then after a 
 season that he may progress from that ard 
 be ultimately worthy of the Celestial Glory ? '* 
 That is the queiy that has been asked, I 
 have just read the answer, so far as the Te- 
 lestial group is concerned. "Where God and 
 Christ dwell they cannot come, worlds with- 
 out end. I take it upon the same basis, the 
 same argument likewise applies to the Ter- 
 restrial World. Those whose lives have enti- 
 tled them to Terrestrial Glory can never gain 
 Celestial Glory. One who gains possession of 
 the lowest degree of the Telestial Glory may 
 ultimately arise to the highest degree of that 
 glory, but no provision has been made for 
 promotion from one glory to another. Let us 
 be reasonable about it. 
 
 I wish to say in illustrating the subject 
 that if three men were starting out on an 
 endless race, one having an advantage of 
 one mile, the other of two miles, and each 
 one could run as fast as the other, when 
 would the last ever catch up to the first ? If 
 you can tell me that, I can tell you when can- 
 didates for the Telestial Glory will gat into 
 the Celestial Glory. Each will grow, but their 
 development will be prescribed by their en- 
 vironment, and there is a reason for it. When 
 the three men start if each can run as fast 
 as the other the last one never could catch 
 the first one. 
 
 38 
 
Applying this illustration to those who are 
 entitled to the different degrees of glory : He 
 who enters the Celestial Glory has the ad- 
 vantage over all others. He dwells in the 
 presence of the Father and the Son. His 
 teachers are the highest. The others will 
 receive all they learn from the Celestial to 
 the Terrestrial, from the Terrestrial to the 
 Telestial. They get it second hand and third 
 hand, and how can they ever hope to grow as 
 fast as those who drink from the fountain 
 head? Again, those who come forth in the 
 Celestial Glory with Celestial bodies have a 
 body that is more refined. It is different. 
 The very fibre and texture of the Celestial 
 body is more pure and holy than a Telestial 
 or Terrestrial body, and a Celestial body 
 alone can endure Celestial Glory. T am im- 
 pressed with this because I recall when a 
 child at school I learned that if an icycle a 
 mile square were dropped into the sun it 
 would melt in an instant, and when I learned 
 how intense the heat of that orb and 
 that our sun is a Celestial world, I 
 did not know whether I wanted to live in a 
 Celestial world or not if it was that hot. But 
 when I come to understand, if I have a body 
 suitable to dwell in eternal burnings then I 
 think I would like it. Fishes can live in the 
 water and have bodies suited to that element 
 but entirely unsuitable to a life outside of the 
 water. When we have a Celestial body it will 
 be suited to the Celestial conditions and a Te- 
 lestial body could not endure Celestial Glory. 
 It would be torment and affliction to them. 
 
I have not read in the scripture where there 
 will be another resurrection where we can ob- 
 tain a Celestial body for a Terrestrial body. 
 What we receive in the resurrection will be 
 ours forever and forever. 
 
 Let me read to you from the 88th section, 
 commencing with the 17th verse: 
 
 "And the redemption of the soul is through 
 him who quick eneth all things, in whose bos- 
 om it is decreed that the poor and the meek 
 of the earth shall inherit it. 
 
 "Therefore it must needs be sanctified 
 from all unrighteousness, that it may be pre- 
 pared for the Celestial Glory. '' 
 
 This earth, every part of it, will be Celes- 
 tial; not one-third Telestial and one-third 
 Terrestrial. It will be Celestial and only 
 Celestial beings shall dwell upon it. I always 
 thought the Lord would require a much 
 larger world than ours for the Telestial bod- 
 ies to dwell on when I consider the millions 
 of dead who will inherit the Telestial Glory. 
 They may need some planet bigger than this 
 earth. 
 
 Let me read again: 
 
 "Wherefore it shall be sanctified ; yea, not- 
 withstanding it shall die, it shall be quick- 
 ened, and the righteous shall inherit it: 
 
 "For notwithstanding they die, they also 
 rise again a spiritual body: 
 
 "They who are of a Celestial spirit shall re- 
 ceive the same body which was a natural 
 body; even ye shall receive your bodies, and 
 
 40 
 
your glory shall be that glory by which your 
 bodies are quickened. 
 
 "Ye who are quickened by a portion of the 
 Celestial glory shall then receive of the same* 
 even a fullness; 
 
 "And they who are quickened by a portion 
 of the Terrestrial glory, shall then receive of 
 the same, even a fullness; 
 
 "And also they who are quickened by a 
 portion of the Telestial glory shall then re- 
 ceive of the same, even a fullness." 
 
 Therefore, I say, my brothers and sisters, 
 the Lord has distinctly settled the question 
 of our status, as established in our resur- 
 rection from the dead, If we have earned a 
 Celestial body, we may have Celestial glory. 
 Yet many of the Saints will wake up and find 
 they sold their birthright for a mess of pot- 
 tage. If I should come forth and find myself 
 in the Telestial world, or in the Terrestrial 
 world, and look up to this earth, when it shall 
 attain its place as a Celestial orb, shining 
 like a sun, when this earth will no longer 
 need the sun to shine upon it by day nor the 
 moon by night, when it shall become the sun 
 of a reflector of light, when it shall become 
 the sun of another group of planets, similar 
 to our solar system, if I should be so unfor- 
 tunate as to lose my chance of obtaining an 
 inheritance in that place, and be compelled to 
 dwell upon a Telestial orb, I surely will feel 
 the full force of the poet's statement, "Of all 
 the sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest 
 
 41 
 
of them all, it might have been." I might 
 have been there. I was born there. It was 
 my right and privilege to be there, but I lost 
 it through my own blindness, through my 
 own wickedness ; I have lost it forever. While 
 I might have joy here, and experience and 
 growth here, yet I have lost eternal com- 
 panionship with my Heavenly Father. 
 
 Let me not only appeal to you to be greatly 
 interested in working out the salvation of 
 your dead, but be also intensely interested, be 
 deeply concerned in the salvation of the liv- 
 ing. What mortification, what humiliation 
 would it be for me to stand before my re- 
 deemed dead, for whom I have labored in the 
 temples, and have them say to me, "What of 
 your sons or your daughters, your grandsons 
 or granddaughters, those born under the 
 covenants, born in the most glorious dispen- 
 sation of the fullness of times, yet were so 
 foolish as to lose their right to the enjoyment 
 of Celestial Glory?" Hew great would be 
 my mortification and humiliation! And yet, 
 there are great numbers of our children and 
 our acquaintances, with whom we are now 
 associated, who are in danger of losing their 
 eternal salvation in the Celestial Kingdom 
 of our God. While there is life, 1st us earn- 
 estly labor with all our might, mind and 
 strength, that we may bring them to Christ 
 in full possession of all these blessings. And 
 we can do it. Even if we labor all our lives, 
 we shall have great joy if we save but one, 
 for we will be shedding an influence for good 
 over countless thousands who shall be their 
 
 42 
 
posterity. But If we have not done our full 
 duty, we shall sorrow intensely because of 
 our neglect, and we shall stand accused by 
 them for having failed in the performance of 
 our duty. On the other hand, if we have la- 
 bored with all our might, mind and strength, 
 we shall stand with a clear conscience, blame- 
 less. Our status and condition will be like 
 our Heavenly Father's. He sent His only be- 
 gotten Son to save and redeem mankind, but 
 unless we accept the atonement and act in 
 conformity to the laws and requirements laid 
 down for us, even God cannot save us. 
 
 Now, brethren and sisters, let us not be 
 discouraged in our temple work. Let us re- 
 new our diligence and determination to do 
 this work, and what we do not understand 
 concerning our sealings, it will be later re- 
 vealed to us. 
 
 You mothers worry about your little chil- 
 dren. We now have limited the sealing of 
 husband and wife to thirteen years of age for 
 girls and fifteen for boys. * * * I know be- 
 cause I lost a son six years of age and I saw 
 him a man in the spirit world after his death, 
 and I saw how he had exercised his own free- 
 dom of choice and would obtain of his own 
 will and volition a companionship, and in due 
 time to him and all those who are worthy of 
 it, they shall participate in all of the bless- 
 ings and sealing privileges of the house of 
 the Lord. Do not worry over it. They are 
 safe ; they are all right. 
 
 43 
 
Now, then, what of your daughters who 
 have died and have not been sealed to some 
 man? Unless it is made known to you, let 
 their case rest. They will make known to 
 you the agreements and contracts they have 
 mutually entered into. The sealing power 
 shall be forever and ever with this church, 
 and provisions will be made for them. We 
 cannot run faster than the Lord has provided 
 the way. Their blessings and privileges will 
 come to them in due time. In the meantime, 
 they are safe. 
 
 Let us be earnest in this work. It will cast 
 an influence over your whole families. It 
 will strengthen your faith. It will add testi- 
 mony to your faith. Surely there is peace 
 and joy in it. May you find it, and may every 
 one under the sound of my voice this evening, 
 go hence with a firm resolve, such as we have 
 never had before, that we will make our call- 
 ing and election sure, that at the last day our 
 records may be clear, that there may be no 
 clouds upon our titles, that we may receive 
 our inheritance in the Celestial Glory of our 
 God. If that shall be our reward, our joy will 
 be full, beyond all my power to tell you. May 
 the Lord help us to have a clear conscience 
 and to do every day that which we ought to 
 do. I am more concerned for the living than 
 for the dead, when I realize that when the 
 bridegroom cometh, five, or one-half, of the 
 virgins shall be asleep, without oil in their 
 lamps. That will not be the world; that will 
 be the Latter-day Saints. Will you be asleep, 
 
 44 
 
or will there be oil in your lamps, my breth- 
 ren and sisters? Let us stand in our places 
 and not flatter ourselves by thinking, "I will 
 take care of John and Mary when they are 
 dead." Let us not procrastinate, but labor 
 unceasingly for the salvation of our kindred, 
 and if we succeed, oh, my brethren and sis- 
 ters, if we win that prize we shall be com- 
 pensated beyond all expectations. We shall 
 receive more than we have ever dreamed of 
 joy and happiness and eternal satisfaction, 
 but if we miss it, if we lose it, we, whose 
 right it is to obtain it, I cannot tell you the 
 sting of conscience and remorse, the hell of 
 torment we shall endure endlessly, if we miss 
 it, through our own ignorance and foolish- 
 ness. May God save us from that affliction 
 that will be ours who are heirs to the bless- 
 ings and privileges we have spoken of, if we 
 miss it and lose our birthright. 
 
 The Lord sanctify these humble remarks 
 and my earnest testimony and desire for your 
 blessings and welfare, for the salvation of 
 the living and the dead, I pray in the name 
 of Jesus Christ. Amen. 
 
 45 
 
NORTH WEBER STAKE 
 GENEALOGICAL COMMITTEE 
 
 PERSONNEL 
 
 CHARLES KINGSTON, Stake Representative 
 LEVI J. TAYLOR 
 JOHN FELT 
 
 JAS. L. ROBSOX 
 LEANDER HARRIS 
 JULIA PARRY 
 
 MARY P. KINGSTON 
 MRS. CUNNINGHAM 
 
 WEBER STAKE 
 GENEALOGICAL COMMITTEE 
 
 PERSONNEL 
 
 D. R. ROBERTS, Stake Representative 
 JOHN T. BURNETT 
 JESSE A. CHILDS 
 JESSE N. STEPHENS 
 JOSEPH PATTERSON 
 GEORGE C. HOBSON 
 HERBERT BURRELL 
 
 MARGARET P. BINGHAM 
 MAUDE JONES 
 ETHEL SKELTON 
 
OGDEN STAKE 
 GENEALOGICAL COMMITTEE 
 
 PERSONNEL 
 
 THOMAS CLARK, Stake Representative 
 GEO. A. SEAMON 
 ELLEN B. COWLES 
 HARRY M. WELLS 
 ELMER J. LARSON 
 HENRY B. THOMPSON 
 
 ELIZABETH Y. THOMPSON 
 LOUISE NELSON 
 
 GEORGE A. FULLER 
 
THE SLOGAN 
 
 OF THE 
 
 FOUR OGDEN 
 CITY STAKES 
 
 IS: 
 
 "A 
 TEMPLE 
 
 FOR 
 OGDEN 
 
 AND 
 SOON 
 
mount Ogden Stake Presidency 
 
 ROBERT I. BURTON 
 
 JOSEPH RIRIE 
 
 JOSEPH C. MCFARLANE 
 
 High Council: 
 
 M. CHAS. WOODS 
 ALFRED GLADWELL 
 
 MARTIN DALEBOUT 
 
 HYRUM A. SHUPE 
 
 WM. H. REEDER, JR. 
 
 JOS. E. EVANS 
 
 WM. S. PAINE 
 
 A. LEON WINDSOR 
 
 WILFORD O. RIDGES 
 
 JAMES W. URE 
 
 CHRISTOPHER J. BROWN 
 
 J. P. CORRY 
 
 EVERT NEUTEBOOM 
 
 WM. BARNES 
 
 EGBERT STRATFORD 
 
 WM. Z. TERRY, STAKE CLERK 
 
ITlount Ogden Stake 
 
 SLOQAN- 
 A Temple IDorker 
 
 in 
 
 Euerij Rome 
 
 and a 
 
 Temple 
 
 for 
 
 Ogden 
 
 It J 
 
 TOtfai =6^J^ 
 
 NEUTEBOOM PRINTING CO., OGDEN, UTAH