Future Exaltation Dependent Upon Obedience to Law

I arise, trusting that the remarks which I may be led to make may be inspired by the Spirit of God—To this end I beseech you, my brethren and sisters, to give me the assistance of your faith and prayers, for I would like the time I occupy to be of profit to those who listen—Time is precious, and this is a vast congregation, and they should not be kept here listening to something that is not of worth—I do not profess myself to be able to impart anything that is worthy of being listened to only as God shall give it through His Holy Spirit ¶

I will read a few paragraphs of the 88th section of the book of Doctrine and Covenants ¶

"And again, verily I say unto you, the earth abideth the law of a celestial kingdom for it filleth the measure of its creation, and transgresseth not the law ¶

"Wherefore it shall be sanctified; yea, notwithstanding it shall die, it shall be quickened again, and shall abide the power by which it is quickened, and the righteous shall inherit it; ¶

"For notwithstanding they die, they also shall rise again a spiritual body; "They who are of a celestial spirit shall receive the same body which was a natural body, even ye shall receive your bodies, and 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 fulness; ¶

"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 receive of the same, even a fullness; ¶

"And they who remain shall also be quickened; nevertheless they shall return again to their own place, to enjoy that which they are willing to receive, because they were not willing to enjoy that which they might have received ¶

"For what doth it profit a man if a gift is bestowed upon him, and he receiveth not the gift? Behold he rejoices not in that which is given unto him, neither rejoices in Him who is the giver of the gift " ¶

I would like this next paragraph to be noticed by my hearers: ¶

"And again, verily, I say unto you, that which is governed by law is also preserved by law, and perfected and sanctified by the same ¶

"That which breaketh a law, and abideth not by law, but seeketh to become a law unto itself, and willeth to abide in sin, and altogether abideth in sin, cannot be sanctified by law, neither by mercy, justice nor judgment—Therefore they must remain filthy still " ¶

There is to' my mind a great amount of importance in these words that I have read in your hearing, and they should be understood by us, because they pertain to our future exaltation—We have been taught by the Lord that this is a preparatory state, that we are here to be tested, to see whether we shall prove worthy of the promises that he has made unto his children—He has given unto all of us our free agency, and that agency is differently exercised—We see mankind divided into classes—Some exercise their agency in one direction and some in another, and there is a great diversity of views and aims among the children of earth—But the Latter-day Saints have had revelation given to them, which places them, it may be said, in a position different to the rest of the world—We are not ignorant of the purposes of God—We have been informed why we are here and what we should do to obtain the glory that God promises unto his faithful children—We have had pointed out to us the path to pursue to continue progression ¶

We all believe, I suppose, that we have kept our first estate, or we would not be here—The reward of our fidelity in our pre-existent state is manifest in the fact that we have received earthly tabernacles—We have taken a great step in advance by being permitted to come here—Now much depends upon our second estate and the manner in which we keep it—If we are faithful in our second estate, as we were in our first, then glory will be added to us, and we shall go on progressing eternally—Through the revelation of God's will and our observance of it, the opportunity is given us to continue in the path of progress—The Lord has shown to us that there are differences of rewards—Some of his children will attain to what is called celestial glory—Others of his children will not have faith enough nor exercise their agency in the direction to gain that glory; but they will gain terrestrial glory—There are others that will not progress that far; they will feel reluctant to obey the laws that pertain to the terrestrial, and they will obtain telestial glory—There are still others that will not attain even to the telestial glory—Why is it that there are these differences? Is it because God has chosen some of us for the telestial glory, some of us for the terrestrial glory, and some of us for the celestial glory? No, there is no such predestination as this—We are all born with our free agency; with the power within ourselves, aided by the blessing of God, to attain unto the highest glory—How shall we attain unto the highest glory? There is only one way, and that is by observing the highest laws—The highest laws, when obeyed, bring as a reward the highest glory; and the man or woman who expects to attain to the highest glory without obeying these laws, deceives himself or herself—It cannot be done—If I rise above the telestial glory, I must obey a law that will lift me above that—If I rise to the terrestrial glory, it will be by obeying terrestrial law—If I do not obey laws higher than that, I cannot attain to a higher glory ¶

I want to impress upon you, my brethren and sisters, that our exaltation, our future glory, depends entirely upon our obedience to law—We should not lose sight of this—A man will come along and say, "I believe in Jesus; I am willing to repent of my sins; I want to be baptized for the remissions of my sins and I want to receive the laying on of hands and become a member of the Church " He obeys these requirements and ordinances—He then says, "I hear the Elders talk about gathering, and I do not see any necessity for it—I do not see why I cannot worship God in the place where I embraced the Gospel, as well as if I were to gather—I hear a good deal about Zion—Some of the Elders tell me what a glorious condition of existence there is there, while others say there are many evils in Zion, and I don't think I will gather there " Will that man attain unto celestial glory? I leave this question with you to answer—How can he? It is necessary that he should gather—Why? Because it is a command of God that His Saints shall gather, and a man cannot receive the reward of gathering without he obeys the law of God on that subject—There are many reasons for this, with which you are all familiar—In the first place he cannot receive his endowments—Can a man attain unto celestial glory without receiving his endowments? Under some circumstances he can—If he should die, as some of our faithful brethren have, before endowments were given, no doubt he would be judged by the Lord according to his opportunities and his willingness—But speaking generally, men and women cannot receive celestial glory without having the ordinances that pertain to the endowments—Men and women cannot be united for eternity unless they are united by the Priesthood of God in the place appointed for the administration of that ordinance—The union of husband and wife, of parents and children depends upon obedience to law, and they cannot get into the celestial kingdom without they obey these laws—Other commandments of the Lord might be mentioned in this connection—We are commanded to live by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God—We must do this—The Lord reveals His word to His Church; that word must be obeyed, if we expect to reach the celestial glory—Besides these precious records that we have— the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Book of Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price— there must be some other power among the people of God—These books alone will never save this people—I expect some of you may be shocked at this statement—It is nevertheless true—All these works, divine as they are, pure as they are, cannot save this people—There must be something else; and God has placed in His Church the living oracles, to guide and govern the Church—We know by experience that unless we had had the living oracles, we would have been in the worst possible position—For instance, where is there a commandment given concerning the migration of the Latter-day Saints to the valleys of the mountains—Of course, the Prophet Joseph prophesied concerning it, but there was no command given—The Lord, however, through His living oracles, revealed to the Church His will concerning it, and under the leadership of the living oracles the Church came to these valleys—Almost every day we are doing acts under the direction of the living oracles which are essentially necessary for the people of God, but which are not commanded in any of these books—There is nothing foreshadowed in the records concerning many acts that are performed from time to time by the direction of the Lord through his living oracles—He has placed them in the Church to guide the Church—This book (pointing to the book of Doctrine and Covenants), divine as it is, is insufficient—It reveals certain things, but does it reveal the polity of the work? Does it reveal the mind and will of God concerning His Church? Only so far as it goes—There must be a stream of living revelation flowing from God to His servants whom He has placed to preside over His Church—It was needed this afternoon to fill up the Quorum of the Twelve—We had to know the mind and will of the Lord concerning that important thing—Is there anything in any of these books which says that George Q. Cannon should be an Apostle, or Joseph F. Smith, or any of these men who are Apostles? Not a word—How is this determined then? It comes through the living oracles, the authority that God has placed in His Church to govern and dictate—Of course, these books, as I have said, are of inestimable value to us as a people, because they contain the word of God—And that which is written agrees with that which is unwritten—There is no clash; there never will be, because they come from the same source—They are both true, and there is no conflict between two truths—That is our position ¶

I think it is of great importance to us as a people to know what we shall do—Are we content to aim for telestial glory—I never heard a prayer offered, especially in the family circle, in which the family does not beseech God to give them celestial glory—Telestial glory is not in their thoughts—Terrestrial glory may be all right for honorable Gentiles, who have not faith enough to believe the Gospel and who do right according to the best knowledge they have; but celestial glory is our aim — I perhaps should not say it is the aim, for sometimes it is not, but it is the hope—If into a family that had just offered prayer, and had asked God to lead them into the celestial kingdom, an angel should enter and should say to them that their prayers were useless and that they would never attain unto celestial glory, what a feeling would be produced in the breasts of that family! How sorrowful and afflicted they would feel! Yet, as I have said, while it is the aim of many, they do not act as if it were their true aim—They either misconceive the nature of the duties they have to perform to attain to celestial glory, or else they are very blind indeed ¶

I ask again, what is your aim, or my aim? What do I desire? If I desire celestial glory, the highest law that God has revealed I will be willing to obey, and to observe every word that proceedeth from His mouth—I do not want to speak of myself, but if there is a law that God has revealed and it is necessary to be obeyed before celestial glory can be reached, I want to know it and obey it—All that I am on this earth for is to get celestial glory—I do not want my second estate to be a failure—I want to keep it as valiantly and as correctly as I hope I did my first estate—I believe with all my heart that I kept my first estate—I believe that Satan, with all his blandishments and sophistry, had not the power to induce me to follow him—Now I am here on the earth, and God has revealed to me why I am here—He wants me to be true to Him in the midst of these trials and temptations, and in the midst of the darkness that prevails—He wants me to be unswerving in my integrity and in the keeping of His laws—He wants me to come back to Him as His loyal, faithful, obedient child—He not only wants me to do this, but He wants all of us to do so; to say to Satan, We will not be deceived by you, but we will endure all things for the sake of our Father and the glory that He has in store for us—This is my desire; and it is your desire, when you are aroused—You have shown it as far as you have gone—But something comes along that you hesitate about, and you say in effect, "that law is a little too high for me, my faith is not sufficient to obey it " We heard Brother Clawson this morning repeat the expressions of some concerning the law of tithing, and those expressions illustrate what I am now dwelling upon—A commandment has been given, a law has been proclaimed, and some have not seen the necessity of obeying it—They seem to be content with what they have done—Brethren and sisters, when you know that your eternal exaltation depends upon obeying law, will you hesitate and say "I have not faith enough for that; it's too high for me; it requires too great a sacrifice on my part, and I cannot receive it; the laws of the terrestrial kingdom are more suited to my faith and my desires, and I am willing to be content with that glory " Will you, I repeat, hesitate in rendering obedience, and argue thus to yourselves? ¶

I want to bring this home to your minds this afternoon, my brethren and sisters—Personally I have never felt to say what I would do in the midst of trial—I have heard brethren talk about their willingness to lay down their lives for this Gospel; but I have always been afraid to say much about this on my part, for fear if I should be put to the test I might not be able to stand it—At the same time the desire in my heart, although I may not express it, is to do everything that God requires at my hands—I would like to be valiant enough to die if the time ever came that I had to die for it—God help me at such an hour—I never yet have shrunk nor had fear in this respect; but I do not know how soon I may, for I am a poor human being—But I rejoice in the Gospel, and I feel that if there is anything of earth that the Lord has given me control of, I would like to put it where He wants it—I want to help forward His work in every possible way, not only by my means and my ability, but by whatever I have; for I want celestial glory—I crave that with all my heart—I feel as though, with God's help, I would make any sacrifice to obtain it, and obey any law, be it ever so high, so far revealed ¶

We have not got all yet—I expect higher laws will be revealed to us as we ascend nearer and nearer to our Father in heaven—Therefore we should prepare ourselves for this, and as fast as we can be willing to obey the laws that God reveals to us—You have heard during this conference considerable on the subject of tithing—In one sense it is a small matter to pay tithing—I consider it like the A. B. C. of the Gospel—The promises concerning it are great, and it is such an easy matter to give one-tenth of all we have—Then why is it dwelt upon so much during this conference? Because this people called Latter-day Saints are defaulters, because they have utterly failed in keeping this law—It is just as necessary that we should warn you about tithing as it would be to warn you about the necessity of the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, if you had not received that ordinance—If this congregation had gone as far as baptism and then had settled down and not desired the laying on of hands, we would preach to you with all our might, and impress upon you the importance of being obedient to that ordinance—And you would not be surprised at that—If you heard us talking to people who were in that condition, you would say that we were doing perfectly right in impressing them with the solemnity of the holy ordinance of laying on of hands, for they could not have the Holy Ghost without it—Now what shall be said of tithing? I say to you that in your non-payment of tithing you have stopped your progress and you have disobeyed a command of God just as much as if you had refused, after you had been baptized, to have hands laid upon you; just as much as you would have done, after having received the Gospel, had you refused to gather to Zion; just as much as you would if you came to Zion and refused to go into the Temple and have saving ordinances administered to you there, such as the ordinance of marriage for time and eternity and other things—You may or may not think as I do, but I know I have taken the correct position in this matter—Here we have had the word of God through the Prophet Joseph for sixty-two years, and here President Snow, the man who now stands at the head, comes forward and tells the Church that they are defaulters in this thing, that they have not obeyed this commandment, and that God requires obedience to it—Not only so, but he tells us that we are in danger of being scourged of the Lord for this disobedience—I believe it with all my heart—I believe that this consequence will follow our neglect, and that the anger of God will be kindled against the people, unless they obey this law—It is in our path of progress, and is to be obeyed, not evaded and taken advantage of—Men will take advantage of this law in many ways—They will pay a tithing that is not true—They will not do as Brother Joseph F. Smith said this morning his mother did, pick out the best; but they will pick out something that is practically worthless, as though they were making a bargain with a hard man and glad to get the advantage of him—That is not the spirit of tithing—No blessing will attend the payment of tithing under such circumstances—Men must feel that they are doing this to comply with the law of God, and that for complying with this law they will be rewarded ¶

I hope that the Saints will take this view of this law and understand us aright—What do I care, what does President Snow care, what do any of us care, whether you pay money or not? We are able to live without getting anything from you—I thank God that this is the condition of most of us, and that we can live without being a burden to the people, and at the same time do our share in helping the work along—It is not for this that we talk like we do, but it is because of the importance of it to you, so that you may carry this out in your lives, and then get faith enough to do something higher—It has required faith to obey some laws that have been revealed in the past, and it will require faith to obey other laws that will yet be revealed—The heavens are full of truth and of everything that is good and noble, and many things are revealed to the servants of God which they are commanded not to reveal to the people—Why? Because it would try their faith—Joseph had things revealed to him that he did not make known—I heard him once say on the stand, that if he were to tell what the Lord had told him, there were certain persons, and he mentioned their names one of whom was an Apostle, that would go around the streets of Nauvoo seeking his life—I was a boy at that time and I wondered what it could possibly be that would prompt those men, one of them especially, to do such a thing—But there are things which God reveals pertaining to the celestial glory and to the higher worlds that the people are not yet prepared to receive—We will all have to grow in faith before these things can be made known—Paul, we are told, saw things that were unutterable—When the Lord visited the Nephites they had things shown to them and their little children spoke things which could not be written—So it is now—The heavens are full of knowledge—To God in his exalted condition, dwelling in the midst of eternal burnings, surrounded by concourses of holy angels, we are by comparison almost insects in his presence—But we are his children—We have within us the elements of Deity in their inchoate state, to be developed as time passes on and as we obey the laws of God—We think we have taken a great stride when we have obeyed baptism and had hands laid upon us and received the Holy Ghost—We think, Oh! what a wonderful thing has come to us! Well, it is wonderful—But, my brethren and sisters, that is just the beginning of what there is in the future—The heavens are full of light and intelligence, and a little of it has been communicated to us ¶

We should live so as to keep in this path of progress, and not stop at tithing, feeling that that is too great an obstacle to get over, and therefore cease to progress—If you do, your faith will wither, the Spirit of God will withdraw from you, and you will be in the dark; and in the resurrection, as I have read, you will be quickened by that spirit a portion of which you have had here—If you have had only a portion of the terrestrial spirit, you will get a fullness of it there—So with the telestial, and so with the celestial—You are all going to be resurrected—The earth is going to be resurrected—It will die; but it will be quickened again, and it will be celestialized and glorified, as we will be—We ought to be numbered among the church of the first-born—I pray God that this may be our happy lot; that we all may live so that we shall be counted among the members of the church of the first-born, and that we shall receive a fullness of celestial glory; which I humbly ask, in the name of Jesus—Amen ¶