Part 51 (1/2)
”It is now twenty-four years lacking three days, since Joseph and Hyrum were taken away from us. Twenty-four years so fruitful in labor, so abundant in toil, so rich in experience! During that period Brother Heber has never wavered, never trembled. It may be said of him with as much truthfulness to-day, as was said by Brother Brigham on one occasion in Nauvoo, 'his knees never trembled, his hands never shook.' He has been faithful to G.o.d; he has been true to his brethren; he has kept his covenants; he has died in the triumphs of the faith; and as the Savior has said, 'that which is governed by law is preserved by law and perfected and sanctified by the same;' so will it be with him. He has gone to the paradise of G.o.d, there to await the time when this corruption shall put on incorruption, when this mortality shall put on immortality.
”My brethren and sisters, here is an incentive to us to be faithful. Contrast the death of this man with the death of the apostate--the traitor. Contrast the future--as it is revealed to us in the revelations of Jesus Christ--of this man, with the future of the renegade from the truth, and the wicked and those who love not G.o.d and who keep not His commandments. Are there any incentives presented to us this day to be faithful? They are too numerous for me to dwell upon or mention. There is every reason why we should be faithful. It is easier to keep the commandments of G.o.d than it is to break them. It is easier to walk in the path of righteousness than it is to deviate from it. It is easier and more pleasant to love G.o.d than it is to break His commandments.
”Then let us be true to G.o.d. Let us walk each day so that we may be worthy, when our life is ended, to a.s.sociate with him whose spirit inhabited this tabernacle that lies here, and with others who have gone before, and with those who remain, that we may dwell together with them eternally in the heavens; which may G.o.d grant, for Christ's sake, Amen.”
PRESIDENT D. H. WELLS.
”It is a great calamity to humanity when a great and good man falls. Earth needs their services. Good men are too scarce. The loss is not so much to them as it is to us who remain--as it is to humanity who are still left to wield an influence against the wickedness which is on the earth, and to sustain holy and righteous principles which the Lord has revealed from the heavens for the guidance of man. Herein is the loss which we feel when such men as Bro. Kimball are taken away, He has made his mark. He has earned imperishable fame, and he will live in the hearts of the good, the true and the faithful--in the hearts of the just; and he will be remembered by the wicked, for he has often invaded the realms of darkness and sustained holy and righteous principles with all his might, power and influence, all the days of his life.
It is true, for him we need not mourn, because he has pa.s.sed to that home where Satan has no power. He has secured to himself a crown of eternal glory and righteousness in the celestial kingdom of our G.o.d. Not that he will come immediately unto this exaltation. The Savior of the world, himself, did not enter into His glory on the dissolution of His spirit and body; He went first to minister to the spirits in prison, being clothed with the holy Priesthood. So with our brother and beloved friend, for he is still our friend, and, as has been remarked, he was the friend of G.o.d and of all good men. He is not lost. He has only gone to perform another portion of the mission which he has been engaged in all his life, to labor in another sphere for the good of mankind, for the welfare of the souls of men. But he has laid for himself a foundation that is imperishable, on which a superstructure of glory and exaltation will grow and increase throughout all eternity.
”I do not stand here to eulogize our friend and brother to-day, but to satisfy my own feelings and pay a tribute of respect to his memory, for I loved him and he loved me, and he loved this people.
He has friends also where he is gone. Who can answer the question whether they are more numerous than those who have a.s.sembled together to-day and those throughout this Territory? Who can say that they are not more numerous on yonder sh.o.r.e? Yet it matters not. Those who are faithful will yet be gathered with him and others, and come with him to a celestial glory, and with him dwell where there is no sorrow nor affliction. He rests from his labor, from the toil which surrounded him on the earth. This is, to-day, a source of consolation to his family and friends, to those who were intimately connected with him. They may be a.s.sured that he rests in peace. Let his example be followed; let his teachings be remembered; let us all live so that we may have a reasonable hope of meeting with him and being a.s.sociated with him in a never ending future.
”May G.o.d help us to be faithful unto the end, as he has been; to fight the good fight and keep the faith, that at last, with him and those who have gone before, we may be found worthy to walk the golden streets of that eternal city, whose builder and maker is G.o.d: Amen.”
PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG.
”I wish the people to be as still as possible and not to whisper.
I do not know that I can speak so that you can hear me; but if I can I have a few reflections to lay before you. We are called here on this very important occasion, and we can say truly that the day of this man's death was far better to him than the day of his birth. I will relate to you my feelings concerning the departure of Brother Kimball.
”HE WAS A MAN OF AS MUCH INTEGRITY, I PRESUME, AS ANY MAN WHO EVER LIVED ON THE EARTH.
”I have been personally acquainted with him forty-three years and I can testify that he has been a man of truth, a man of benevolence, a man that was to be trusted. Now he has gone and left us. I will say to his wives and his children, that I have not felt one particle of death in his house nor about it, and through this scene we are now pa.s.sing I have not felt one particle of the spirit of death. He has fallen asleep for a certain purpose,--to be prepared for a glorious resurrection; and the same Heber C.
Kimball, every component particle of his body, from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet, will be resurrected, and he, in the flesh, will see G.o.d and converse with Him; and see his brethren and a.s.sociate with them and they will enjoy a happy eternity together.
”Brother Kimball has had the privilege of living and dying in his own house in peace; and has not been followed up by mobs and ma.s.sacred. I consider this a great consolation to his family and friends; and it is a great comfort to me to think that Brother Heber C. Kimball had the privilege of dying in peace. It is not a matter of regret; it is nothing that we should mourn for. It is a great cause of joy and rejoicing and comfort to his friends to know that a person has pa.s.sed away in peace from this life, and has secured to himself a glorious resurrection. The earth and the fullness of the earth and all that pertains to this earth in an earthly capacity, is no comparison with the glory, joy and peace and happiness of the soul that departs in peace. You may think I have reason to mourn. Brother Heber C. Kimball has been my first counselor for almost twenty-four years. I am happy to state, it is a matter of great joy to me; this is the third counselor that has fallen asleep since I have stood to counsel this people--and they have died in the faith, full of hope; their lives were filled up with good works, full of faith, comfort, peace and joy to their brethren. I have looked over this matter. In the fourteen years that Brother Joseph presided over the Church, three of the prominent counselors he had apostatized. This was a matter of regret. Sidney Rigdon, F. G. Williams and William Law, whom many of this congregation knew in Nauvoo, apostatized and left Brother Joseph. I have not been under the necessity of mourning and lamenting over the apostasy of any one of my counselors, and I hope I shall never have this to regret. I had rather bury them by the score than see one of them apostatize.
”A great deal could be said concerning Brother Kimball, whose remains are here. He is not dead. His earthly tabernacle has fallen asleep to be prepared for this glorious resurrection that you and I live for. What can we say to one another? Live as he has lived; be as faithful as he has been; be as full of good works as his life has manifested to us. If we do so, our end will be peace and joy, and we will fall asleep as peacefully. I held my watch with one hand and fanned him with the other, while he breathed his last.
”For this family to mourn is perhaps natural; but they have not really the first cause to do so. How would you feel if you had a husband or a father that would lead you from the truth? I would to G.o.d that we would all follow him in his example in our faithfulness, and be as faithful as he was in his life. To his wives, his children, his friends, his brethren and sisters, to this family whom G.o.d has selected from the human family to be his sons and daughters, I say let us follow his example. He has gone to rest. We can say of him all that can be said of any good man.
The Lord selected him and he has been faithful and this has made him a great man; just as you and I can become if we will live faithful to our G.o.d and our religion. There is no man but what can do good if he chooses; and if he be disposed to choose the good and refuse the evil. If any man choose the evil he will dwindle, especially if he has been called to the holy Priesthood of the Son of G.o.d. Such a man will dwindle and falter, stumble and fall; and instead of becoming great and good, he will be lost in forgetfulness.
”We pay our last respects unto Brother Kimball. I can say to the congregation, we thank you for your attention. We are happy to see you here. It would be a pleasure to us if it would be prudent, and we had time, for you to see the corpse; but it would not be prudent and we have not the time. This, perhaps, will be a matter of regret to many of you; but you must put up with it. I want to say to every one who wishes to see Brother Heber again, live so that you will secure to yourselves a part in the first resurrection, and I promise you that you will meet him and shake hands with him. But if you do not live so, I can give you no such promise.
”Now, my friends, I feel to bless you; and the family, the wives and the children of Brother Heber C. Kimball. I bless you in the name of Jesus Christ. Will you receive the blessings which a father and husband has placed upon your heads? If you live for them you will enjoy them. I think he has never cursed one of his family; but his heart was full of blessings for them. He has blessed his brethren and sisters and neighbors and friends. His heart was full of blessings; but he was a scourge to the wicked and they feared him. Now, my friends, I cannot talk to you, my sore throat will not let me. But I feel to thank you for your kind attention here to-day, in paying our respects to the remains of Brother Kimball, and may G.o.d bless you. Amen.”
At the close of the President's remarks, the choir sang: ”O my Father, Thou that dwellest,” and Bishop Edwin D. Woolley p.r.o.nounced the benediction.
The procession then returned, proceeding to the spot selected by President Kimball as the final resting place of his mortal remains.
Here, beside the grave of his beloved Vilate, his body was entombed.
And now occurred a remarkable, though purely natural phenomenon. As the first clods of earth fell upon the coffin, the setting sun burst forth from his cloudy covering, shedding a golden halo of glory upon the scene, while instantaneously in the eastern horizon appeared a rainbow, the bright and beauteous token of promise, directly spanning the grave. It was no illusion; and as the last particles of mother earth were gathered above the still bosom that slept below, the rainbow dissolved.
So pa.s.sed from earth the immortal part of him whom men named Heber C.