ELDER JOHN TAYLOR
Were I to give way for my feelings at the present time I should not be
able to address this congregation. I feel as, I suppose, most of you
feel—sympathy with the deceased who now lies before us. When I speak
of this as being my feeling, I am aware that I express the feeling of
the generality of this people. In this bereavement that has afflicted
us, we all participate. A wave of sorrow has rolled throughout the
Territory, and feelings of sympathy and sorrow gush up from the
fountains of every heart. We have met at this time to pay the last
tribute of respect to no ordinary personage, but to a good man who was
called and chosen, and faithful; who has spent a lifetime in the cause
of God, in the establishment of the principles of truth and in trying
to upbuild the Church and Kingdom of God on the earth; who has
endeared himself by his acts of kindness, affection, integrity,
truthfulness and probity to the hearts of thousands of Latter-day
Saints, who feel to mourn at this time with no ordinary sorrow.
That he is esteemed and venerated by this people as a friend, a
counselor and a father, this immense congregation, who have met on
this inauspicious occasion, is abundant testimony and proof if any is
wanting. But his life, his acts, his services, his self-abnegation, his devotion to the cause of truth, his perseverance
in the ways of righteousness for so many years have left a testimony
in the minds, feelings and hearts of all who now feel to mourn his
departure from our midst. But we meet not at the present time
particularly to eulogize the acts of bro. Kimball, who is one of the
First Presidency, and who stands, or who has stood as one of the three
prominent men that live on the face of the earth at the present time.
We do not mourn over him as over an individual in a private capacity;
neither, when we reflect on the circumstances with which we are
surrounded, and the gospel we believe in, do we mourn that he lies
there as he is. For although to us he is absent and lifeless and
inanimate, yet his spirit soars above clothed upon with immortality
and eternal life. And as has been in possession of the principles of
eternal truth, by and by, when the time shall roll around, that
gospel and the principles of truth that he has so valiantly proclaimed
for so many years, will resurrect that inanimate clay, and He who, on
the earth proclaimed "I am the resurrection and the life," will cause
him again to be resuscitated, reanimated, revivified and glorified,
and he will rejoice among the Saints of God worlds without end.
It is not then an ordinary occasion upon which we have met at the
present time. It is not to talk particularly about our individual
feeling and bereavement, although they are keen, poignant and
afflictive; but we meet at the present time to perform a ceremony and
to pay our last respects to the departed great one who lies before us.
We do not mourn as those who have no hope; we do not sympathize with
any fool ish sympathy. We believe in those principles, that he, for so
many years, has so strenuously advocated, and believing in them, we know
that he has simply passed from one state of existence to another. It
is customary for men to say "how have the great fallen!" But he has
not fallen. It is true that he has gone to sleep for a little while.
He sleeps in peace. He is resting from his labors and is no more beset
with those afflictions with which human nature always has to contend:
he has passed from this stage of action, he has got through with the
toils, perplexities, cares and anxieties in regard to himself, his
family, and in regard to the Church with which he was associated; and
in regard to all sublunary things, and while mortals mourn "a man is
dead," angels proclaim "a child is born."
We believe in another state of existence besides this; and it is not
only a belief, but it is a fixed fact, and hence for a man of God to
bid adieu to the things of this world is a matter of comparatively
very small importance. When a man has fought the good fight; when he
has finished his course; when he has been faithful, lived his religion
and died as a man of God, what is there to mourn for? Why should we
indeed be sorrowful? There is a church here on earth? There is a
church also in heaven. He has migrated from one, and has passed into
the other.
We have had leave us before Joseph, Hyrum, David Patten, Willard,
Jedediah, and a mighty host of good, virtuous, pure, holy and
honorable men. Some have died, as it were, naturally; others have been
violently put to death. But no matter, they are each of them moving in
his own sphere. Bro. Kimball has left us for a short time that he may
unite with them. And whilst we are engaged carrying on the
work of God, and advancing and maintaining those principles which he
so diligently propagated and maintained while he was on the earth, he
is gone to officiate in the heavens with Jesus, with Joseph and others
for us. We are seeking to carry out his will, the will of our
President and the will of our heavenly Father, that we may be found
fit to associate with the just who are made perfect, and be prepared
to join with the Church Triumphant in the heavens. It is this that our
religion points us to all the time.
We embraced the gospel of Jesus Christ, and he who now lies before us
was one of the first to proclaim it to thousands that are here. And
what did that teach us? To repent of our sins, and, having faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ, to be baptized for the remission of our sins,
to have hands laid upon us for the reception of the Holy Ghost and to
gather together to Zion that we might be instructed in the ways of
life; that we might know how to save ourselves—how to save the living,
and how to redeem the dead; that we might not only possess a hope that
blooms with immortality and eternal life; but that we might have a
certainty, and evidence, a confidence that was beyond doubt or
peradventure that we were preparing ourselves for a celestial
inheritance in the kingdom of our God. And when a man goes to sleep as
bro. Kimball has done, no matter how, he lays aside the cares of this
world; the weary wheels of life stand still, the pulse ceases to beat,
the body becomes cold, lifeless and inanimate; yet at the same time
the spirit still exists, has gone to join those who have lived before;
who now live and will live for evermore. He has trod the path that we
have all to follow, for it is appointed to man once to die, and after
that, we are told, the judgment. We have all to pass through the dark
valley of the shadow of death, and as I said before, it matters little
which way this occurs; but it does matter a great deal to us whether
we are prepared to meet it or not; whether we have lived the life of
the righteous; whether we have honored our profession; whether we have
been faithful to our trust; whether we are prepared to associate with
the spirits of the just made perfect, and whether when He, who has
said "I am the resurrection and the life" shall sound the trump, we
shall be prepared to come forth in the morning of the first
resurrection.
Joseph Smith stands at the head of this dispensation. His brother
Hyrum Smith was associated with him. They were both assassinated. No
matter; they are gone. Brother Heber is now gone, and whilst we mourn
the loss they rejoice at meeting one with whom they were associated
before; for he was the friend of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, and he was
the friend of God, and God is his friend and they are his friends. And
as they associated together in time so they will in eternity. It
behooves us then not to think so much about dying, but about our
living, and to live in such a way that when we shall fall asleep, no
matter when or how it may transpire, that our hearts may be pure
before God. When I look upon a man like bro. Kimball, I feel like
saying let my last end be like his. Let my life be as spotless, as
holy and as pure that I may stand accepted before God and the holy
angels. Our ambition ought to be to live our religion, to keep the
commandments of God, to obey the counsel that those lips, now sil ent and cold, have so often given to us; to honor our calling and
profession, that we may be prepared to inherit eternal lives in the
celestial kingdom of our God. May God help us to do so in the name of
Jesus: Amen.
ELDER GEORGE A. SMITH
The occasion which has called us together is truly one of mourning;
but our mourning is not as the mourning of those who have no hope. Our
father, our brother, our President has fallen asleep. He has fallen
asleep according to the promise that those who die unto the Lord
should not die, but should fall asleep. Still, the circumstances with
which we are surrounded cause us to feel keenly, deeply this
bereavement of his company, of his counsel, of his support, of his
society, and the benefit of that wisdom which ever flowed from his
lips. Short is the journey from the cradle to the grave, and all of
us are marching rapidly in that direction; and the present occasion is
certainly calculated to inspire in our minds a desire that in all our
lives and actions we may be prepared for that coming event, that we
may be prepared to rest in peace, and in the morning of the first
resurrection to inherit eternal life and celestial exaltation. The
association which we have had with President Kimball has been of long
standing. He entered the church early after its organization. In 1832,
with President Brigham Young, he visited Kirtland, and made himself
personally acquainted with the Prophet Joseph, whose bosom friend he
was from the time of their first acquaintance until the day of his
death. President Kimball was a man that seemed embarrassed when called
upon to speak in public in the early part of his ministry. My first
acquaintance with him was in 1833, when in company with President
Young he moved his family to Kirtland. The Saints were then building
the Kirtland Temple. He had but little means but he subscribed two
hundred dollars and paid over the money. Efforts were being made to
build another house, for school and other purposes, and he subscribed
one hundred dollars for that also to buy the nails and glass. That was
the first public meeting at which I ever saw Heber C. Kimball. When he
was chosen one of the Twelve Apostles, and they were called into the
stand to bear their first testimony as Apostles to the Saints, there
was an embarrassment and a timidity about his appearance that was truly
humble. And when he went abroad to preach, many felt almost afraid to
have bro. Kimball preach because he had not as great a flow of
language as some others. But it turned out, I am sorrow to say, that
some of those who were the most eloquent seemed to be those who fell
off by the way side. It was a dark hour around the Prophet in
Kirtland, many having apostatized, and some of them prominent Elders,
when bro. Kimball and some others were called upon to take a mission
to England. He went abroad when some of the first Elders were covered
with darkness, and apostasy ran rampant through the Church. He started
almost penniless, made the trip across the ocean, introduced the
gospel to England, and laid the foundation for the great work that has
since been accomplished there, accompanied by Orson Hyde, Willard
Richards and Joseph Fielding. Bro. Kimball and Hyde remained in
England about one year, and in that time 1,500 were baptized there. It
was strange the power and influence which he had over persons
whom he had never before seen. On one occasion he went out five days
to some towns which he had never visited before, and among people whom
he had never seen and who had never seen him, yet in those five days he
baptized 83 persons. It seemed that there were a power and influence
with him beyond that which almost any other elder possessed. He
returned home just in time to find the Saints in their troubles in
Missouri. He had hardly got home until the clouds of mobocracy
intensified by apostasy again gathered around the Prophet. In a short
time after, Joseph was in prison and his counselors were in prison and
all were closely guarded. During this time President Kimball visited
the prison, the Judges and the Governor, and exerted himself to
relieve the prisoners; and he had a peculiar influence with him, so
that he could pass among our enemies unharmed when others were in
danger. When the Saints were driven from Missouri, as soon as their
feet were planted in Nauvoo, he built with his own hands a log cabin
for his family, and started again to renew his mission to Great
Britain, with President Young and others of his Quorum. It is not my
intention to trace his history, but I have culled out these few
circumstances to show you his integrity, his faithfulness, and his
untiring labors to benefit mankind.
We are called now to mourn; but we do not mourn as those who have no
hope. Brother Kimball was a man who was the son of nature. The
literature he loved was the word of God. He was not a man to read
novels. He studied the revelations of Jesus. His heart was filled with
benevolence. His soul was filled with love; and he was always ready to
give counsel to the weakest child that came in his way. Thousands and
thousands will remember him with pleasure.
As we follow him to his last resting place, we must recollect that
those men who stood side by side Joseph Smith the Prophet, who bore
with him his burdens, and shared his troubles; who stood shoulder to
shoulder with President Young while he faced the storm of apostasy,
mob power and organized priestcraft, are rapidly passing away. Brother
Kimball was foremost among them. Joseph loved him, and truly it may be
said that bro. Kimball was a Herald of Grace. May we all so live that
with our brother we may inherit the blessings of celestial grace, is
my prayer in the name of Jesus: Amen.
ELDER GEORGE Q. CANNON
The scene in which we are participating this day reminds us more
strongly than any language can do how frail is mortal existence, and
how slight a tenure we all have upon this life. Two weeks ago today,
he, whose lifeless remains we now surround, was moving among us in
this tabernacle; if not in the enjoyment of perfect health, yet in the
enjoyment of such a degree of health as not to inspire us with any
apprehensions as to his life. If we had been asked, How long is bro.
Heber Kimball likely to live? The probable answer would have been, he
is as likely to live ten or twenty years as any other period. But
since then, two weeks, two brief, short weeks, have gone, and we have
assembled ourselves together to pay our last respects to his memory.
It seemed to me when I entered the building, and sat down and looked
upon the congregation, that the greatest eloquence I could indulge in
would be silence. Yet it is due to him that our voices should
be heard in instruction to those who remain, and in testimony of his
great worth; and if possible to spread before them, the great and
glorious example which he has set for us, and which if we will but
emulate and follow, will result in the attainment of the most glorious
blessings of which mortal heart can conceive.
I have known bro. Heber from my childhood. To me he has been a father.
I never was with him but what he had good counsel to give me. And when
I speak this I speak what everyone who was acquainted with him might
say. He was full of counsel, full of instruction, and he was always
pointed in conveying his counsel in plainness to those to whom he
imparted it.
Have we any cause, in reality, to mourn today? Have we any cause for
grief and sorrow? When I stood by his bedside and saw his spirit take
its departure, there was no death there; there was no gloom. I had
seen but two persons die before, and they died by violence; but when I
watched brother Heber I asked myself, Is this death? Is this that
which men represent as a monster, and from which they shrink with
affright? It seemed to me that bro. Heber was not dead, but that he
had merely gone to sleep. He passed away as quietly and as gently as
an infant falling asleep on its mother's lap; not a movement of a
limb; not a contortion of his countenance; and scarcely a sigh. The
words of Jesus, through Joseph, were forcible brought to my
mind—"they that die in me, their death shall be sweet unto them." It
was sweet with him. There was nothing repulsive, nothing dreadful or
terrible in it, but on the contrary it was calm, peaceful and sweet.
There were heavenly influen ces there, as though angels were there, and
no doubt they were, prepared to escort him hence to the society of
those whom he loved and who loved him dearly. I thought of the joy
there would be in the spirit land, when Joseph, and Hyrum, and David,
and Willard, and Jedediah, and Parley would welcome him to their midst,
and the thousands of others who have gone before, and like them have
been faithful. What a welcome to their midst will brother Heber
receive! To labor and toil with them in the spirit world in the great
work in which we are engaged.
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 bro. Heber
has never wavered, never trembled. It may be said of him with as much
truthfulness today, as was said by bro. Brigham on one occasion in
Nauvoo, "his knees never trembled, his hands never shook." He has been
faithful to God; 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 God, 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
God 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 God 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 God than
it is to break his commandments.
Then let us be true to God. Let us walk each day so that we may be
worthy, when our life is ended, to associate 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 God 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
princi ples 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 passed
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 God. 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 well remarked, he was the friend of God and 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 today, 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 assembled together today
and those throughout this Territory? Who can say that they are not
more numerous on yonder shore? 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, today, a source of consolation
to his family and friends, to those who were intimately connected with
him. They may be assured 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 associated
with him in a never ending future.
May God 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 God: Amen.
PRESIDENT B. 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 bro. 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 passing 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 God and
converse with Him; and see his brethren and associate with them and
they will enjoy a happy eternity together.
Bro. Kimball has had the privilege of living and dying in his own
house in peace; and has not been followed up by mobs and massacred. I
consider this a great consolation to his family and friends; and it is
a great comfort to me to think that bro. 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 passed
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. Bro. 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
bro. 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 congrega tion knew
in Nauvoo, apostatized and left bro. 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 bro. 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 God 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 God 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 God 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 God. 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 bro. 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 everyone 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
children of bro. 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 today, in paying our respects to the
remains of bro. Kimball, and may God bless you: Amen.