A solo and chorus entitled, Beautiful City, was then sung by Sister Maggie C. Hull and the Temple choir, under the leadership of Professor C. J. Thomas.
PRESIDENT SNOW SPEAKS.
President Lorenzo Snow then spoke. He said he was very much pleased and delighted to see such a vast multitude assembled for the purpose of honoring President Woodruff. He had been acquainted with President Woodruff sixty-two years, a good portion of the time quite intimately. All that has been said of him was fully worthy of the life which he had led. President Snow did not feel as some perhaps felt, that the passing of one into another sphere of action was a disaster. Such a change had been decreed from the beginning. There were periods in the lives of people that were highly important and one was the preparation for entrance upon this sphere of action. President Woodruff had fulfilled his calling. His sojourn here upon earth had been as near perfection as it was possible for mankind to make it so. It was the duty of every individual to do all he could to rectify the mistakes common to humanity. All were born subject to error and therefore perfection could not be expected of the human family. It was possible for mankind so to order their lives as to gain for themselves an exaltation in the Kingdom of God, and to be proud of the record made when they were called into another world. President Woodruff had had such an object in view from his early manhood. He had become acquainted with the gospel of Jesus Christ, and sought to live a life such as would entitle him to all the blessings in store for the faithful. This was a satisfaction to his family, as he had left behind him an example that would make of them honored and useful instruments in the hands of God, if they followed it.
President Snow spoke of the vacancy in the Presidency caused by the death of President Woodruff. Many people, said he, had been led to wonder and imagine how the affairs of the Church were to be carried on. The gospel in its completeness, said the speaker, made provision for these changes. The work would roll on uninterruptedly as it had done, succeeding the death of the Prophet Joseph and the death of President Brigham Young and John Taylor. On the death of the President of the Church, the responsibility fell upon the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and so it would, on this occasion. The Quorum of Apostles, said President Snow, was never as able to handle such a responsibility as it was at the present time. It was fully organized, and the brethren were in perfect union and accord with one another, and faithful and devoted to the trust reposed in them. Presidents Cannon and Smith were men of God, full of faith and devotion to the cause, and their work in rolling on the kingdom would be greatly appreciated and felt. There was no danger as to the outcome of the work of God. It had been established for a purpose, and that purpose would be accomplished, and the Church progress and increase in the earth, no matter how many of the authorities were called to another sphere.
ELDER FRANKLIN D. RICHARDS
of the Council of the Apostles, followed. So far as one man could enter into the feelings of another, he felt to adopt as his own the words of his brethren regarding the greatness and goodness of his late President. He spoke of the first time he met Wilford Woodruff, and stated that he was impressed very strongly with the directness and simplicity of his character, and his prefect guilelessness. He had been a great exemplar of the work in which he had been engaged, by his implicit obedience to the dictates of the spirit. This had been one of the great features of his life. Another had been the keeping of a diary of his actions and the history of the Church, from his first connection with it to the day before his death, which would be most valuable as a compendium of the progress of the work. Elder Richards urged the elders to follow the example of President Woodruff in this regard. His healing power had been strongly manifested on many occasions, one striking instance being related by the speaker.
Although at the death of the three former Presidents not all the Apostles had been permitted to be present, yet on this occasion, the speaker was pleased to announce, all the members of the Quorum were present.
President Woodruff's enemies had been led to become his friends. He had assisted in the building and dedication of the temples, had established an honorable family in the earth and had performed great missionary labors in different parts of the world. He had been a mighty fisher of men bringing into the Church almost two thousand persons. He and Heber C. Kimball had established the greatest records, in this respect, in the Church. The speaker closed expressing the hope that the Saints would emulate the worthy example of the departed, and that their works might be as honorable and their end as blessed as his.
PRESIDENT GEORGE Q. CANNON.
President George Q. Cannon began his remarks by reading a portion of the 76th section of the Doctrine and Covenants concerning the resurrection of the just. In standing up to address the Saints, said he, it was only because he knew he would have the faith and prayers of those assembled. In the passing away of President Woodruff, a man had gone from our midst whose character was probably as angelical as that of any person who had ever lived upon the earth. We shall ever miss him, said President Cannon. His family will ever miss him, as to them he was the all in all, an honored and respected husband and father.