Elder Spencer W. Kimball's address continued from here...
From all that's been said and all that I have known of Brother Lester Glade, and I have known him less intimately than these other Brethren but considerably, I would think that he has reached a great degree of perfection as many of you who are here today have done so. And this very suffering that he has gone through, this long approach toward the eternity, can have brought him far closer to his Heavenly Father than had he had good health all this time and then suddenly been taken at this date. His suffering is a great blessing, the tribulation and sorrows are great blessings in disguise.
"And all the angels stood round about the throne and about the elders and the four [beasts], and fell before the throne on their faces and worshipped God saying Amen, blessed, glory, the wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and light be unto our God forever and ever. . . . . Amen. But one of the elders answered saying unto me, what are these which are arrayed in white robes and whence came they? And I said unto him, sir thou knowest, and he said to me these are they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. Therefore, are they before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his Temple and he that siteth [sic] on the throne shall dwell among them." [1]
Perfection that's the word. Brother Glade has been striving for it. He has advanced closest. Perfection be thee therefore perfect. Then we have little folks who say that nobody can be perfect, we all have our faults, we all have our weaknesses. They justify their own weaknesses by that trite commonplace, we all have our weaknesses, nobody can be perfect. We can be perfect and I can point out to you people that I am sure were within a hairs breath [sic] of perfection, some whom you know and who have gone into the great beyond very close to that perfection. Why did the Lord ask it of us if it was unatainable [sic]? Why would he ask us? All through the revelations, all through them, we have the commandment to be perfect. Let me read just a few of them. This is John the great Apostle:
"I, John, who also am your brother and companion in tribulation and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that's called [Patmos] for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the spirit on the Lord's day and heard behind me a great voice as the trumpet saying I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. What thou seest write in the book and send it into the seven churchs [sic] which are in Asia. And then he goes forth, he says, he that hath an ear let him hear what the spirit sayeth unto the churches, to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God. Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life. [He] that have an ear let him hear what the spirit sayeth unto the churches, he that overcometh shall not be hurt by the [second] death. [He] that have an ear let him hear what the spirit sayeth unto the churches. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden [manna] and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it. He that overcometh the same shall be clothed in white rainment [sic] and I will not [blot] out his name, out of the lambs [sic] book of light, but will confess his name before my father and before his angel. Behold I come quickly, hold that fast which thou hast that no man take thy crown. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the Temple of my God, and he shall go no more out. I will write upon thee in the name of my God and the name of the city of my God which is the new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of Heaven from my God and I will write upon him my new name. I know thy works that thou art neither cold nor hot, he says to the [Laodiceans]. So then because thou art luke warm, neither cold nor hot, I will [spue] thee out of my [mouth] because thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. I counsel thee to abide with me, gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich and white rainment [sic]. White rainment [sic], that thou mayest be clothed and the shame of thy nakedness do not appear, and annoint [sic] thine eyes with eye salve that thou mayest see. Behold I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door I will come unto [him] and will sup with him and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit down with me in my throne even as I also overcame and am set down with the father in his throne." [2]
Overcome, overcome all the way through the scriptures, he that overcomes, white robes, temple cloak. He made all these things that are programs of which we are familiar but the Lord gave them through John. He says, be ye thee therefore perfect, and then Peter says be ye holy. Wherefore [gird up] the loins of your mind, be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children not fashioning yourselves according to the former [lusts] in your ignorance but as he which [hath] called you is holy. So be ye holy in all manner of conversation because it is written, be ye holy for I am holy. [3]
To be continued...
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[1] Revelation 7:11-15.
[2] Revelation 1:9-11; 2:7, 10-11, 17; 3:5, 11-12, 15-18, 20-21. I corrected some of the transcription errors but not all, and some of the differences may be word changes by Elder Kimball, and some of the text here is his explanations bridging the selections.
[3] 1 Peter 1:13-16.
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