Life of Heber C. Kimball, an Apostle Part 47

He was fearless and powerful in rebuking the wrong-doer, but kind, benevolent and fatherly to the deserving. He possessed such wonderful control over the pa.s.sions of men, combined with such wisdom and diplomacy, that the Prophet Joseph Smith called him 'the peace-maker.'

His great faith, zeal, earnestness, devotion to principle, cheerfulness under the most trying circ.u.mstances, energy, perseverance and honest simplicity marked him as no ordinary man. He possessed great natural force and strong will power, yet in his submission to the Priesthood and obedience to the laws of G.o.d he set a pattern to the whole Church. His example throughout life was one of which his posterity may ever think with pride, and which the Saints generally will do well to follow.

"No man, perhaps, Joseph Smith excepted, who has belonged to the Church in this generation, ever possessed the gift of prophecy to a greater degree than Brother Kimball. Although not at all pretentious, he was somewhat celebrated among his acquaintances for his prophetic inspiration. Scores of predictions were made by him and literally fulfilled.

"Brother Kimball was the only one of his father's family who embraced the gospel, but now his is one of the most numerous families in the Church. At the time of his death, he was the father of sixty-five children, of whom thirty males and eleven females were then living.

His direct descendants now number nearly two hundred souls."

CHAPTER LXIV

GEMS FROM THE WORDS OF HEBER--SPIRIT RAPPINGS--ADDRESS AT THE FUNERAL OF MARY FIELDING SMITH--LOVE, UNITY AND THE COURAGE OF THE RIGHTEOUS --JOSEPH AND THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM--CULTIVATION OF SPIRITS-- HEAVEN AND h.e.l.l--ADMINISTRATION OF ANGELS AND THE SPIRITS OF THE ANCIENTS--THE RESURRECTION--THE SPIRIT WORLD--THE CLAY AND THE POTTER--A CAUSE OF APOSTASY--A MIRACULOUS CANE--THE CHURCH IN HEAVEN.

Before closing the record of his eventful career, we propose to present here some gems from the public sayings of President Kimball, as serving to show still further the spirit and character of the man, his views of life and death, time and eternity, and likewise forming links in the chain of his history that might otherwise be lacking. In the hurry of his later years he kept no regular journal, as in the earlier part of his life, thus leaving his biographer to gather information from whatever sources were available.

These selections cover a period of years, from 1852 down to the time of his death.

His first sermon published in the Journal of Discourses, happens to touch on modern spiritualism. He says:

"The invisible world are in trouble; they are knocking, and rapping, and muttering; and the people are inquiring of them to know concerning the things of G.o.d, and there is not a soul of them can tell them anything about the end of the world. They are in a dreadful situation; and in the city of Rochester, near where I used to live, the last information I received from there, there were one hundred and thirty-five spiritual writers in that city. I have a brother-in-law there, who is a Presbyterian priest; he couldn't enquire of G.o.d about future things, so he enquired of the spirits; but they could not tell him anything about the dead nor the living. They are just about as intelligent in their revelations as this world are in theirs. They are all in commotion--what is going to be done? I will tell you--G.o.d is going to make a short work upon the earth, and the invisible world are troubled about it."

His second published discourse was a funeral address in memory of Mary Fielding Smith, the wife of Hyrum Smith, who died at his house September 22nd, 1852. Here is his tribute to that estimable woman:

"As regards Sister Mary Smith's situation and circ.u.mstances, I have no trouble at all, for if any person has lived the life of a Saint, she has. If any person has acted the part of a mother, she has. I may say she has acted the part of a mother, and a father, and a bishop. She has had a large family, and several old people to take care of, and which she has maintained for years by her economy and industry.

"One thing I am glad of, and I feel to rejoice in the providence of G.o.d that things have been as they have. She came here sick on the Sabbath, eight weeks ago last Sunday, for me to lay hands upon her.

She was laid prostrate upon her bed, and was not able to recover afterwards. I felt as though it was a providential circ.u.mstance that it so happened. She always expressed that she knew the thing was dictated by the Lord that she should be placed in my house, though accidentally. She probably would not have lived so long, had she been where she could not have had the same care. On Tuesday evening, eight weeks and two days since, she came here sick; from that time until her death she was prayerful and humble. I have never seen a person in my life that had a greater desire to live than she had, and there was only one thing she desired to live for, and that was to see to her family; it distressed her to think that she could not see to them; she wept about it. She experienced this anxiety for a month previous to her death. * * * I am glad I did right to Sister Mary, and took care of her, and that my family had the pleasure of nourishing her; the satisfaction that this gives me is worth more to me than a hundred thousand dollars. Do I believe they know it in heaven? Yes, as much as you do. I want to live all the time in righteousness, as I know that G.o.d sees me and all the works of His hands." * * * * *

A lesson on love and unity is here given:

"The Gospel and plan of salvation that I have embraced, is music to me; it is sweet to my body, and congenial to my spirit; and it is more lovely than anything else I have ever seen since I have been in the world. I love it, and that is why I love this people better than any other people on G.o.d's earth, because there was never a better people; that is, I am speaking of the majority of them.

"The world considers it to be quite ridiculous for us to be of one heart and of one mind. It is this union among those who are faithful 'Mormons,' that makes the world afraid of us. * * Jesus says, '_Except ye are one, ye are not mine_.' There is more oneness in this people than in any other people that ever lived upon the earth. There was not that oneness in the days of Jesus, and I suppose there never has been since the days of Enoch. Because there was such a oneness among the people of Enoch, and they could not continue to be one and live with the people in the same world, G.o.d took them and their city with a part of the earth to Himself, and they sailed away like one ship at sea separating from another."

The power of unity and the courage of the righteous are thus portrayed:

"When Brother Brigham and myself and others left Kirtland to go to Missouri with Joseph Smith, was there any fear in us? No. It never entered into our hearts from the day we started to the time we returned. I had a spirit on me as much superior to this earth, as the earth is superior to the degraded spirits of the wicked that dwell on its face. It was the Spirit of the Lord that stood by me, and diffused strength into my body, and into my limbs, until the very hair of my head felt all alive. Did they fear us in that upper country? Yes, they ran as though they were never going to stop in the world. We felt perfectly able to clear out that country to Nova Scotia, and we could have done it, with two hundred and five men, if the Lord had commanded us, as the Gideonites in days of old. Yes; two hundred and five men, with the Spirit and power of G.o.d upon them and their faces shining like the sun, it cannot be told what they could accomplish, neither can we form any conception of it."

Here is a testimony that Joseph gave the keys of the Kingdom to the Twelve:

"Since Brother Joseph stepped behind the vail, Brother Brigham is his lawful successor. I bear testimony of what Brother Joseph said on the stand at Nauvoo, and I presume hundreds here can bear witness of the same. Said he, 'these men that are set here behind me on this stand, I have conferred upon them all the power, Priesthood, and authority that G.o.d ever conferred upon me.' There are hundreds present this day who heard him utter words to that effect more than once. The Twelve had then received their endowments. Brother Joseph gave them the endowments, and keys and power were placed upon them by him, even as they were placed upon him by Peter, James and John, who ordained him.

That is true, gentlemen, because they held the Apostleship last, and had the authority to confer it upon him, or any whom the Father had chosen. Brother Joseph called and ordained the twelve Apostles of the last days, and placed that power upon them."

Relative to the cultivation of spirits he says:

"If you do not cultivate yourselves, and cultivate your spirits in this state of existence, it is just as true as there is a G.o.d that liveth, you will have to go into another state of existence, and bring your spirits into subjection there. Now you may reflect upon it, you never will obtain your resurrected bodies, until you bring your spirits into subjection. I am not talking to this earthly house of mine, neither am I talking to your bodies, but I am speaking to your spirits. I am not talking as to people who are not in the house. Are not your spirits in the house? Are not your bodies your houses, your tabernacles or temples, and places for your spirits? Look at it; reflect upon it. If you keep your spirits trained according to the wisdom and fear of G.o.d, you will attain to the salvation of both body and spirit. I ask, then, if it is your spirits that must be brought into subjection? It is; and if you do not do that in those bodies, you will have to go into another estate to do it. You have got to train yourselves according to the law of G.o.d, or you will never obtain your resurrected bodies."

Here is a view of the location of heaven and h.e.l.l:

"You are talking about heaven and about earth, and about h.e.l.l, etc.; but let me tell you, you are in h.e.l.l now, and you have got to qualify yourselves here in h.e.l.l to become subjects for heaven: and even when you have got into heaven, you will find it right here where you are on this earth. When we escape from this earth, we suppose we are going to heaven. Do you suppose you are going to the earth that Adam came from?

That Eloheim came from? Where Jehovah the Lord came from? No. When you have learned to become obedient to the father that dwells upon this earth, to the Father and G.o.d of this earth, and obedient to the messengers He sends--when you have done all that, remember you are not going to leave this earth. You will never leave it until you become qualified, and capable, and capacitated to become a father of an earth yourselves. Not one soul of you ever will leave this earth, for if you go to h.e.l.l, it is on this earth; and if you go to heaven, it is on this earth; and you will not find it anywhere else."

It was the view of President Kimball that the angels are daily around us. Says he:

"I am now in my fifty-fourth year; I am a Latter-day Saint, full in the faith, and not only in the faith, but I have a knowledge of the truth of this work. I know that G.o.d lives and dwells in the heavens; for I have asked Him scores of times, and hundreds of times, for things, and have received them. Is not that a pretty good proof that He hears me, when I ask him for things and get them; and is not that a proof that He lives, and dwells in the heavens? I think it is. I suppose He dwells there. He could not dwell anywhere else, but in what particular portion He dwells, I do not precisely know, though He is not so far off as many imagine. He is near by, His angels are our a.s.sociates, they are with us and around about us, and watch over us, and take care of us, and lead us, and guide us, and administer to our wants in their ministry and in their holy calling unto which they are appointed. We are told in the Bible that angels are ministering spirits to minister to those who shall become heirs of salvation."

We have the spirits of the ancients, also, administering to the Saints:

"Who have you now in your midst? Have you Abraham and Isaac and the Apostles Peter, James and John? Yes, you have them right in your midst--they are talking to you all the time." * * * *

"Who are you to be subject to? You say you are willing to be subject to G.o.d--to Jesus Christ. You are willing if Peter came along, to listen to him. Well, Peter is here, John is here, Elias is here, Elijah is here, Jesus is here, and the Father is here. What! in person? If not in person, their authority is here, with all the power that ever was or ever will be, to seal men and women up to everlasting."

Of the imperishable part of man and of the resurrection, he says:

"So far as we are concerned, we were taken from the earth, and we may expect to return to it again; and that portion of me which is pure, after the dross of this mortality is separated from it, I expect will be Brother Heber. It is that which will be resurrected; but all that is not pure will remain; that is it will not go back into my body again; and if there are ten parts out of the hundred which are dross and corruption they will remain in the earth; I do not expect to take that up again, but I expect to take up the purified element that will endure forever; still the dross is beneficial in its place."

"Now, will you go and pollute yourselves, and lose the right and t.i.tle to a resurrection, to dwell with the Saints, and with G.o.d the Father, and His Son Jesus Christ, who is my brother?"

Of the departed Willard Richards and the labors of the Elders of Israel in the spirit world, he gives quite a broad glimpse:

"He (Willard) has gone; and it will not be long before Brother Brigham and Brother Heber follow after. He has gone to the world of spirits to engage in a work he could not do if he had remained in the flesh. I do not believe he could have done as much work for the general good of the cause of G.o.d, had he remained in the flesh, as he can accomplish now in the spirit; for there is a work to do there--the Gospel to preach, Israel to gather, that they may purify themselves, and become united in one heart and mind.

"What! in the spirit world? Have I not told you often that the separation of body and spirit makes no difference in the moral and intellectual condition of the spirit? When a person, who has always been good and faithful to his G.o.d, lays down his body in the dust, his spirit will remain the same in the spirit world. It is not the body that has control of the spirit, as to its disposition, but it is the spirit that controls the body. When the spirit leaves the body the body becomes lifeless. The spirit has not changed one single particle of itself by leaving the body. Were I to fall into a mud-hole I should strive to extricate myself; but I do not suppose I should be any better, any more righteous, any more just and holy when I got out of it than when I was in it.

"Our spirits are entangled in these bodies--held captive as it were for a season. They are like the poor Saints, who are for a time obliged to dwell in miserable mud shanties that are mouldering away, and require much patching and care to keep them from mingling with mother earth before the time. They feel miserable in these old decaying tabernacles, and long for the day when they can leave them to fall and take possession of a good new house.

"It seems natural for me to desire to be clothed upon with immortality and eternal life, and leave this mortal flesh; but I desire to stick to it as long as I can be a comfort to my sisters, brethren, wives and children. Independent of this consideration I would not turn my hand over to live five minutes. What else could give birth to a single desire to live in this tabernacle, which is more or less shattered by the merciless storms which have beat upon it, to say nothing of the ravages made upon it by the tooth of time? While I cling to it I must of necessity suffer many pains, rheumatism, head-ache, jaw-ache and heart-ache; sometimes in one part of my body and sometimes in another.

It is all right; it is so ordained that we may not cling with too great a tenacity to mortal flesh, but be willing to pa.s.s through the vail and meet with Joseph, and Hyrum, and Willard, and Bishop Whitney and thousands of others in the world of spirits.

"Are they all together as we are to-day? I believe all Israel have to be gathered; and to accomplish this the Elders, both in this and the world of spirits, will go forth to preach to the spirits in prison.

Where? Down in h.e.l.l. I appeal to the Elders who have been from this place to preach the Gospel to the world, if it was not like going from heaven to h.e.l.l. It is a world of sorrow, pain, death and misery, and you cannot make anything else of it."

Here is something on death and the after life:

"As for death, I do not trouble myself much about it. When the time comes for me to depart from this life and go into what we call eternity, to pa.s.s through the vail, it is simply to leave the body to rest awhile, and blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, for their sleep shall be sweet unto them. Death is merely a sleep of the body, and all the fear I have concerning it is what arises from my conditions. I was taught in my youth that after death I had to go directly into the bowels of h.e.l.l, and go down, down, down, because there was no bottom to it. I am not troubled about any such thing as that, for I never expect to see any worse h.e.l.l than I have seen in this world. And those who do not the works of righteousness, and are not worthy to be gathered with the spirits of the Saints, will go into precisely such society, in the world of spirits, as they are now in.

"The spirits of the Saints will be gathered in one, that is, of all who are worthy; and those who are not just, will be left where they will be scourged, tormented and afflicted, until they can bring their spirits into subjection and be like clay in the hands of the potter, that the potter may have power to mould and fashion them into any kind of vessel, as he is directed by the Master Potter."

In another sermon, he thus enlarges upon his favorite theme of "the clay in the hands of the potter:"[A]

[Footnote A: Heber's exposition of this theme was highly approved by the Prophet Joseph, who declared it to be the true interpretation.]

"The potter tried to bring a lump of clay into subjection, and he worked and tugged at it, but the clay was rebellious and would not submit to the will of the potter, and marred in his hands. Then of course he had to cut it from the wheel and throw it into the mill to be ground over, in order that it might become pa.s.sive; after which he takes it again and makes of it a vessel unto honor, out of the same lump that was dishonored. * * There may ten thousand millions of men go to h.e.l.l, because they dishonor themselves and will not be subject, and after that they will be taken and made vessels unto honor, if they will become obedient. * * Can you find any fault with that?"

He gives the following wise hint on one of the causes of apostasy: