Orson F. Whitney's Ocean Liner Cabin Analogy of Celestial, Terrestrial, and Telestial Kingdoms

“I was crossing the Atlantic forty years ago on an ocean liner. I was what they call a first cabin passenger. Besides myself there were upwards of a hundred in that part of the vessel, and down in the second cabin compartments there were perhaps twice as many. Lower down, in the steerage, there were several hundred more. In the first cabin compartment the food was of the choicest, the berths were safest and most comfortable, the passengers associated with the officers, and had the full freedom of the ship. They had paid for it and were therefore entitled to it. But it was different in the second cabin compartment. There the food was not so good, the berths were less comfortable, and the restrictions were rigid. The passengers could go down into the steerage, but they could not ascend to the upper deck. Down in the steerage it was still worse. The passengers had to remain right where they were. They were not permitted even on the second cabin deck. They could not associate with those above. I said to myself : 'What a picture of Joseph Smith's great doctrine and the doctrine of the Apostle Paul. The eternal destiny of the human race. Every man saved according to his works, in the many mansions of the Father.' And I resolved that I would be a first-cabin passenger over the ocean of life into the haven of celestial glory. — Millennial Star 84:44”