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, to-day, 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 Brother Heber 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 Brother 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 every one 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 to-day? 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 Brother 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 forcibly 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 influences 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 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 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."