Being requested I arise to make a few remarks.
Occasions of this kind afford us opportunity, not so much for mourning
the loss of our departed friends as to reflect upon our present
condition and our future prospects and hopes. For, as has been
remarked, "It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to
the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living
will lay it to his heart."
Here we have occasion to reflect upon our own lives and the future
that awaits us.
For there is one event which inevitably awaits every living soul, and
it is only a question of a very little while when every one present,
as well as elsewhere, will be placed in a position similar to that in
which our beloved sister is placed, whose body now lies here in the
cold embrace of death. We are born to die, it is the inevitable end of
all flesh, it being a fixed, unalterable decree of the Almighty
concerning the human family. We may therefore, as well now as at any
other time, reflect upon what the result of our lives may be after we
shall pass away from this stage of existence. If we do well, says the
Lord, we are accepted unto Him; but if we do ill, sin lies at our
door. It is a truth that should arrest the attention of every one,
that we shall be required to render an account for the deeds we do in
the body. And for my part I feel that we have no cause to shed a tear
for the condition of Sister Cannon. For years she has been afflicted,
and has been quite feeble at times. Now she has passed beyond
suffering and debility; nothing but the lifeless, inanimate part of
Sister Cannon remains, the life—the intelligent and the immortal part
has gone to God from whence it came. Not but what she might be present
if she desires to be here, and her desire be consistent with the will
and pleasure of our heavenly Father; for those who live here in the
flesh have a claim upon this earth, and upon the bodies they have
occupied while they sojourned here. This earth is their home, and will
forever so remain—that is, they will possess an inheritance here,
inasmuch as they overcome and become the Saints of the Most High God.
For it is written, that unto the Saints of the Most High, the earth
and the fulness thereof shall be given, and they shall possess it
forever and ever. But notwithstanding the immortal part of this our
deceased sister has returned to God, from whence it came, she
possesses the privilege, or may possess the privilege, as I have said,
if she so desire, and if it be in accordance with the will and
pleasure of the Almighty, to be present on the occasion to witness
the ceremonies in which we are now engaged. We are told by the
Prophet Joseph Smith, that, "there are no angels who minister to this
earth but those who do belong or have belonged to it." Hence, when
messengers are sent to minister to the inhabitants of this earth, they
are not strangers, but from the ranks of our kindred, friends, and
fellow beings and fellow servants. The ancient Prophets who died were
those who came to visit their fellow creatures upon the earth. They
came to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; it was such beings—holy
beings if you please—that waited upon the Savior and administered to
Him on the Mount. The angel that visited John when an exile, and
unfolded to his vision future events in the history of man upon the
earth, was one who had been here, who had toiled and suffered in
common with the people of God; for you remember that John, after his
eyes had beheld the glories of the great future, was about to fall
down and worship him, but was peremptorily forbidden to do so. "See
thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the
prophets, and of them which kept the sayings of this book: worship
God." Jesus has visited the people of this earth from time to time. He
visited and shewed himself in his spiritual body, to the brother of
Jared, touching certain stones with His finger, that the brother of
Jared had fashioned out of the rock, making them to give light to him
and his people in the barges in which they crossed the waters of the
great deep to come to this land. He visited others at various times
before and after He tabernacled in the flesh. It was He who created
this earth, it therefore is His inheritance, and He had a perfect
right to come and minister to the inhabitants of this earth. He came
in the meridian of time and tabernacled in the flesh, some 33 years
among men, introducing and teaching the fullness of the Gospel, and
calling upon all men to follow in His footsteps; to do the same thing
that He himself did, that they might be worthy to inherit with Him the
same glory. After He suffered the death of the body, He appeared, not
only to His disciples and others on the eastern continent, but to the
inhabitants of this continent, and he ministered unto them as He did
to the people in the land of Palestine. In like manner our fathers and
mothers, brothers, sisters and friends who have passed away from this
earth, having been faithful, and worthy to enjoy these rights and
privileges, may have a mission given them to visit their relatives and
friends upon the earth again, bringing from the divine Presence
messages of love, of warning, of reproof and instruction to those whom
they had learned to love in the flesh. And so it is with Sister
Cannon. She can return and visit her friends, provided it be in
accordance with the wisdom of the Almighty. There are laws to which
they who are in the Paradise of God must be subject, as well as laws
to which we are subject. It is our duty to make ourselves acquainted
with those laws, that we may know how to live in harmony with His will
while we dwell in the flesh, that we may be entitled to come forth in
the morning of the first resurrection, clothed with glory, immortality
and eternal lives, and be permitted to sit down at the right hand of
God, in the kingdom of heaven. And except we become acquainted with
those laws, and live in harmony with them, we need not expect to enjoy
these privileges: Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, Brigham Young,
Heber C. Kimball, Jedediah M. Grant, David Patten, Joseph Smith, sen.,
and all those noble men who took an active part in the establishment
of this work, and who died true and faithful to their trust, have the
right and privilege and possess the keys and power to minister to the
people of God in the flesh who live now, as much so and on the same
principle that the ancient servants of God had the right to return to
the earth and minister to the Saints of God in their day.
These are correct principles. There is no question about that in my
mind. It is according to the Scriptures; it is according to the
revelation of God to the Prophet Joseph Smith; and it is a subject
upon which we may dwell with pleasure and perhaps profit to ourselves
providing we have the Spirit of God to direct us.
But the thing for us to do is to live according to the light and
intelligence that God has revealed to us in this dispensation, that we
may be in harmony with the heavenly powers and with heavenly beings,
and especially with our Lord Jesus Christ, who stands at our head, who
is our lawgiver, our exemplar, and the way of life and salvation to
all the world, through whom we may enter into the celestial kingdom of
God, and without whom we can never enter that state of glory worlds
without end. He is the way, the light and life of the world; and
whosoever will obey the commandments He has given, and do the works
which he has done, and commanded us to do, shall not walk in the
darkness, but shall have in them the light of life.
The circumstances under which Sister Cannon has been taken away from
us, are in some degree melancholy. I regret that circumstances are
such that Brother Cannon could not be here upon this occasion. But he
is absent not upon his private business, but in the name and interest
of the whole people of this Territory; and in the protection of our
righteous citizens who are jeopardized by the craftiness of designing
and corrupt men. If he were to leave his post, trickery would be
resorted to by the worst enemies of the people to deprive us of our
political and religious rights; therefore he is firm at his post of
duty. Is there anything of a private character that would keep him
away from home on an occasion like this? There is not; nothing but the
highest sense of duty could do it, and that too in the interest of the
people of God, in defending their rights, and in laboring for their
interests, as he has done from his youth to the present moment. His
whole time, his ability and the wisdom that God has given him, and
all that he possesses has been upon the altar of sacrifice since his
early boyhood in behalf of this people; and now, under this sad and
sorrowful affliction he remains, and that too, in compliance with the
desire of her whose remains are about to be laid away, true to his
post of honor and duty. Who can describe his feelings? But let us
forbear, it would not be profitable to us; but in this, as well as
every circumstance of life, we will join with him in acknowledging the
hand of God. It, however, grieves me to think that he cannot be here;
as it does his children and family who now surround the earthly
remains of her whose spirit has gone home—a respected, a beloved, a
true and noble woman.
This, however, cannot now be helped and therefore it is all right.
There is another view to take of this. What is life or death in com parison with the duty that we owe to God and each other?
Should we shrink from duty, should we leave our post in time of danger
because of the natural sympathies and affections which bind us to each
other? No. It would be unjust, it would be condescending in us to even
think of doing so. It is more noble to make the sacrifice of society,
kindred and friends, than to leave our post of duty, and thus endanger
the rights and liberties of the whole community. If Brother Cannon
were here he could only mourn with us, and then again return to his
post of duty. And what more could he do than he has done? Every
attention has been paid, and every effort has been put forth to do all
that could be done for Sister Cannon. But our prayers did not prevail;
she was "appointed unto death." God has taken her. She sleeps, but is
not dead. She does not sleep the sleep of death, but of the righteous
and the faithful; yes, one who has proved faithful to the latest
breath, Sister Cannon is an example for her children and family, an
example of patience, of faithful endurance, and of integrity that is
unquestionable. This is a great deal to say of one of our
fellow creatures, but none too much to be said of her. My sympathy is
drawn out to those who remain. May God bless and comfort them; and may
they abide in the truth and follow the example of their noble mother
and companion in life, remaining faithful to the end of their days, in
the name of Jesus. Amen.
- Joseph F. Smith