Wilford Woodruff, Fourth President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints / History of His Life and Labors, as Recorded in His Daily Journals

by Wilford Woodruff

CEREMONIES AT THE TABERNACLE.

At 10:35, the Tabernacle being then crowded to its utmost capacity, Professor Joseph J. Daynes rendered on the organ a march composed especially for the occasion. Its rendition was the signal for reverential attention, all seeming to feel to the greatest extent the utter solemnity of the occasion.

Of the general authorities, there were present on the stand:

Counselors to the late President Wilford Woodruff, George Q. Cannon, and Joseph F. Smith.

Of the Twelve Apostles: Lorenzo Snow, Franklin D. Richards, Brigham Young, Francis M. Lyman, John Henry Smith, George Teasdale, Heber J. Grant, John W. Taylor, Mariner W. Merrill, Anthon H. Lund, Matthias F. Cowley, and Abraham O. Woodruff.

Presiding Patriarch, John Smith.

Of the First Seven Presidents of Seventies: Seymour B. Young, Christian D. Fjeldsted, B. H. Roberts, George Reynolds, and J. Golden Kimball.

The Presiding Bishopric: Wm. B. Preston, Robert T. Burton, and John R. Winder.

The Presidency of the Salt Lake Stake of Zion.

President George Q. Cannon announced the opening hymn, on page 357 of the L. D. S. Hymn book, commencing as follows:

"Thou dost not weep, to weep alone;
The broad bereavement seems to fall
Unheeded and unfelt by none;
He was beloved, beloved by all."

The hymn was sung with much pathos and feeling by the Tabernacle choir, after which Elder F. D. Richards, of the Quorum of the Apostles, offered prayer. It was a fervent offering, replete with thankfulness to God the Father for His many blessings unto the Latter-day Saints; for His having raised up such a faithful and devoted servant as President Wilford Woodruff, and for the great good that he was enabled to do while sojourning here upon the earth. Elder Richards invoked the blessings of God upon the bereaved family and especially upon President Woodruff's son Owen, who had been called to the holy Apostleship, and asked that he might be a man of God, like his father, unto the family.

Elder George D. Pyper and the choir sang the hymn:

"O my Father, Thou that dwellest
In the high and glorious place,
When shall I regain Thy presence,
And again behold Thy face?
In Thy holy habitation
Did my spirit once reside,
In my first primeval childhood
Was I nurtured near Thy side."

During the musical exercises, the inscription, "Being Dead Yet Speaketh," was displayed by means of electric lights, the same appearing just over a life-size likeness of President Woodruff, and having an excellent effect.