The ideas that brother Brigham has just advanced are congenial with my
feelings, perfectly so.
During brother Grant's brief sickness I would not believe, for one
moment, that he was going to die, though my feelings would at times
incline me to doubt as to his recovery; but I would not give way to
them. And now it is only the body that is dead, for his spirit will
never die! It has overcome death and hell, and laid aside its earthly
tenement that that may return to its native element, awaiting the morn
of the resurrection, when the spirit will receive it in an immortal
state, and then have gained the victory over death, hell and the
grave.
In regard to the lifeless body that now lies before us, let me tell
you that mourning and making a great parade over it, is similar to
what it would be for me to lament about a house which the occupants
had forsaken. I left a house in Nauvoo, but do you suppose that I fret
about it? I do not. And what is the use of gathering the bands
together and the troops, and performing lengthy and pompous ceremonies
over a tenement the spirit has left? I would not give a picayune for
all your parade.
I will not stoop to the principle of death. I could weep, but I will
not. There is a spirit in me that rises above that feeling, and it is
because Jedediah is not dead.
I went to see him one day last week, and he reached out his hand and
shook hands with me; he could not speak, but he shook hands warmly
with me. I felt for him, and wanted to raise him up, and to have him
stay and help us whip the devils and bring to pass righteousness. Why?
Because he was valiant, and I loved him. He was a great help to us,
and you would be, if you were as valiant as he was, which you can be
through faithfulness and obedience.
I laid my hands upon him and blessed him, and asked God to strengthen
his lungs that he might be easier, and in two or three minutes he
raised himself up and talked for about an hour as busily as he could,
telling me what he had seen and what he understood, until I was afraid
he would weary himself, when I arose and left him.
He said to me, brother Heber, I have been into the spirit world two
nights in succession, and, of all the dreads that ever came across me,
the worst was to have to again return to my body, though I had to do
it. But O, says he, the order and government that were there! When in
the spirit world, I saw the order of righteous men and women; beheld
them organized in their several grades, and there appeared to be no
obstruction to my vision; I could see every man and woman in their
grade and order. I looked to see whether there was any disorder there,
but there was none; neither could I see any death nor any darkness,
disorder or confusion. He said that the people he there saw were
organized in family capacities; and when he looked at them he saw
grade after grade, and all were organized and in perfect
harmony. He would mention one item after another and say, "Why, it is
just as brother Brigham says it is; it is just as he has told us many
a time."
That is a testimony as to the truth of what brother Brigham teaches
us, and I know it is true, from what little light I have.
He saw the righteous gathered together in the spirit world, and there
were no wicked spirits among them. He saw his wife; she was the first
person that came to him. He saw many that he knew, but did not have
conversation with any except his wife Caroline. She came to him, and
he said that she looked beautiful and had their little child, that
died on the Plains, in her arms, and said, "Mr. Grant, here is little
Margaret; you know that the wolves ate her up, but it did not hurt
her; here she is all right."
"To my astonishment," he said, "when I looked at families there was a
deficiency in some, there was a lack, for I saw families that would
not be permitted to come and dwell together, because they had not
honored their calling here."
He asked his wife Caroline where Joseph and Hyrum and Father Smith and
others were; she replied, "they have gone away ahead, to perform and
transact business for us." The same as when brother Brigham and his
brethren left Winter Quarters and came here to search out a home; they
came to find a location for their brethren.
He also spoke of the buildings he saw there, remarking that the Lord
gave Solomon wisdom and poured gold and silver into his hands that he
might display his skill and ability, and said that the temple erected
by Solomon was much inferior to the most ordinary buildings he saw in
the spirit world.
In regard to gardens, says brother Grant, "I have seen good gardens on
this earth, but I never saw any to compare with those that were there.
I saw flowers of numerous kinds, and some with from fifty to a hundred
different colored flowers growing upon one stalk." We have many kinds
of flowers on the earth, and I suppose those very articles came from
heaven, or they would not be here.
After mentioning the things that he had seen, he spoke of how much he
disliked to return and resume his body, after having seen the beauty
and glory of the spirit world, where the righteous spirits are
gathered together.
Some may marvel at my speaking about these things, for many profess to
believe that we have no spiritual existence. But do you not believe
that my spirit was organized before it came to my body here? And do
you not think there can be houses and gardens, fruit trees, and every
other good thing there? The spirits of those things were made, as well
as our spirits, and it follows that they can exist upon the same
principle.
After speaking of the gardens and the beauty of everything there,
brother Grant said that he felt extremely sorrowful at having to leave
so beautiful a place and come back to earth, for he looked upon his
body with loathing, but was obliged to enter it again.
He said that after he came back he could look upon his family and see
the spirit that was in them, and the darkness that was in them; and
that he conversed with them about the Gospel, and what they should do,
and they replied, "Well, brother Grant, perhaps it is so, and perhaps
it is not," and said that was the state of this people, to a great
extent, for many are full of darkness and will not believe me.
I never had a view of the righteous assembling in the spirit world,
but I have had a view of the hosts of hell, and have seen them as
plainly as I see you today. The righteous spirits gather
together to prepare and qualify themselves for a future day, and evil
spirits have no power over them, though they are constantly striving
for the mastery. I have seen evil spirits attempt to overcome those
holding the Priesthood, and I know how they act.
I feel well, and I do not feel to condescend to a spirit of mourning.
If I do weep, I will weep for my own sins and not for Jedediah. If he
could speak he would say, "Weep not for me, but weep for your own
sins."
Before brother Grant was taken sick, he said that he had unsheathed
his sword, and that it never should be sheathed again until the
enemies of righteousness were subdued; and he fought the devil up to
the last, and used to proclaim that he should not prevail on this
earth. I can say that he left us with his sword unsheathed, and he
will help Joseph and Hyrum and Willard.
Previous to the late Reformation, I saw brother Willard in a dream. I
dreamed that we had a very large kiln filled with articles of ware of
various kinds and sizes. Many of them had previously fallen down,
being thin, not having strength to remain upright; we had put the good
ones into the kiln and put in the fire, and had got them considerably
warmed; but, somehow or other, they got cold again, and we thought we
would go down to a certain stream and get some dry wood, and burn the
earthenware for use. As we were going towards the stream, brother
Willard came along and said, "Brethren, I am gathering up better fuel
than that—some that will make a bigger fire." So he is, and Jedediah
has gone to help, and the day will come that many of us will go too;
and as the Lord Almighty lives, and as my soul lives, we have
unsheathed the sword, and we never will sheath it until the enemies of
our God are overcome. Jedediah has overcome all his enemies.
Brother Brigham says that he will have hundreds and thousands of boys
right here that will help us with a power greatly increased beyond
that of their fathers, and I know that it will be so. When boys go
back on the Plains to encounter storms and rescue the suffering, as
did David P. Kimball, Stephen Taylor, Joseph A. Young, Ephraim Hanks,
and many others, it makes me feel well. David took the consecrated oil
and went forth, like a man of God, and anointed the sick and
afflicted, and commanded them to arise; and those boys acted
valiantly, having been trained up amid the Saints.
Brother Ephraim Hanks has put a feather in his cap, through his noble
conduct in aiding our belated immigration, he has unsheathed his sword
upon the side of doing good, and I exhort him not to sheath it again.
I feel encouraged; brother Jedediah has gone to be with Joseph.
Let us be faithful, and listen to the words of brother Brigham and
brother Jedediah and those placed to lead us, and what joy I will
have. Would I be willing to lay down my body? Yes, if that would
sooner accomplish so great an object, and bring this whole people into
a position where they could see and understand for themselves.
These are my feelings, brethren and sisters, and may God bless you. To
those who delight in uprightness I am all blessings, from the crown of
my head to the soles of my feet; but I am heavy on the tracks of
sinners, because I know that if they do persist in their course, and
if the Quorums do not purify themselves quickly, you will see something
that will make you lament; some are nourishing a cankerworm that they
will not easily get rid of.
Why do you not all listen to brother Brigham and Jedediah and Heber
and many others? They have had the spirit of reformation all the time. Then wake up ye Saints of Latter Days, and cleanse your
platters inside and out, and God Almighty will rescue us from our
enemies. He will slay them; He will hurl kings from their thrones and
unrighteous rulers from their places of authority, and they will drop
faster than you saw the stars drop from heaven, at the time that the
Saints were driven out of Jackson County, Missouri.
I am talking of what I know, and not of what I merely believe; and may
the Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, rest upon you, my
brethren and sisters, and upon our families and every good person.
Brother Brigham is my brother, and brother Jedediah is my brother; I
loved him, I love those men, God knows I do, better than I ever loved
a wo man; and I would not give a dime for a man that does not love them
better than they love women. A man is a miserable being, if he lets a
woman stand between him and his file leaders; he is a fool, and I have
no regard for him; he is not fit for the Priesthood.
I want to stir you up to faith, obedience, integrity, and everything
that is good. I am preaching to you; not to Jedediah. What remains
here of him goes back to mother earth, and let us strive to honor our
tabernacles as did brother Grant his.
My body has got to return to dust, and I will honor it, then I will
take it again. I am as sure of that, as I am that I am standing here
before you.
God bless you forever: Amen.
- Heber C. Kimball