Show DISCOURSE BT BY ELDER WILFORD june 1875 in ac the second dard ward schoolhouse school house S L city at the funeral services of john libuse alouse man anan aged siz six years and willie franklin aged four years bons sons of eliam and ann wheeler burned to death at wanship manship Wan ship summit county V U T june 1875 REPORTED BY DAVID W evans I 1 AM ahi entirely dependent this morning upon the spirit of the lord to guide and direct me in what I 1 may say upon this painful occasion those who have assembled here brother and sister wheeler and their friends who mourn with them are dependent u upon on the same source for comfort lka lia in their serious bereavement and in fact we are all dependent upon the blessing and spirit of the lord in all the labors of life and I 1 hope that in our services this morning a large measure of that spirit will be imparted unto us 1 I 1 feel disposed to read the first chapter of job as a preliminary to any remarks I 1 may make the speaker read the first chapter of the book of job jobi we also aligo see in reading the history of job that the devil did not finish with him there as it seems the devil had another conversation with the loid on this subject in which he informed the lord that a man would give anything for his life and that if he the devil touched jobs flesh he would certainly curse god and it seems from reading this histo history ry that the lord put job into the hands of the devil to do as he pleased with him only to spare his life of course the history Is is familiar to you all who have read the bible and you are aware that the devil smote job and he was covered with boils bolls from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet so that he was in great distress trouble and tribulation yet in the midst of it all he did not sin but acknowledged the hand of the lord I 1 may say with regard to the case which has brought us together this morning it is a little similar to that of job we meet with some strange things in the history olour lives in the dispensations and dealings of god with men iii in the case before us we are called to mourn the loss of two children taken from brother and sister wheeler we may say as suddenly and in one sense of the word as miraculously as were the tho sons and daughters of job his affliction consisted not only in la the loss of two children but of all his children and also of all the possessions that he had yet still under ail all this he sald said 11 raed aked came I 1 out of my mothers womb and naked shall I 1 return thither the lord gave and the lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the lord I 1 know ve very well it Is hard for Z any person to be called to pass through the scenes that we sometime a are called to pass through in i n this life it is so in the case before us this morning the loss of these little children taken away as they were is painful not only to the parents bueto buffo but to every person who reflects and it is a very hard bard matter for any of us to enter into and appreciate the depth of sorrow which parents feel on occasions like this it is difficult to bring the matter home to our own hearts unless we have been called to pass through similar affliction and sorrow borrow at the same time there is no doubt that we all sympathize with our friends when called to pass through trials and bereavement and I 1 will here say to brother and sister bister wheeler and to all my friends there are a great many worse things in this world than the case we are now called to mourn our oar children are taken away from us in infancy and childhood and they are taken away as jobs were in one sense of the word through the dispensations of providence causing us severe trials this we will acknowledge but as I 1 have already said there are many things in this world more moire painful and than to have our children burned to death my friends may ask r what is brother woodrus woodruff driving at in this remark I 1 will tell you I 1 have lived in these valleys twenty 1 seven years yeara since the pioneers came here liere I 1 have seen a whole i annexation anna anne ration of men and women 1 grow up in these valleys of the mountains and they have become parents I 1 I 1 havo have seen some I 1 will not say a great many but I 1 have seen some young men I 1 say nothing about maidens wio who who have met with untimely deaths and who have gone to the grave disgraced and a dishonor to themselves and to their parents arents circumstances of this k kind finx are far more painful to any parent in the world than it ft is for their children to meet with sudden death by accident or any other way I 1 do not make these remarks to apply to brother and sister bister wheeler for foi none of us know what course our children will take we set good examples before them and we strive to teach them righteous principles but when they come to years of accountability they have their agency and they act I 1 fet lot or themselves many things are transpiring in the earth today to day which we should regard as great calamities andas and as grievous to be borne if we had to pass through them think of these late earthquakes in south america eight thousand people out of ten thousand in one C eity city ty 8 unk sunk in the earth in a A few moments and then the tremendous floods that are sweeping over france and other parts larts of the earth causing the death beath of hundreds and thousands of men wo women and all theao these things things are in fulfillment fulfilment of the revelations of god and of the judgments which he has promised should come upon the earth in the last days one of the pur purposes poses which the lord has in view vi ew in gathering his saints to the valleys of the mountains is that they may not share in the sins or partake of the plagues of babylon therefore we ha have v er reason e to rejoice before fore the lord because of his mercies and blessings unto us and with regard reg ard to a case like this before us this morning the joss of these children 1 I want to say aay a few words for the consolation of those who are sorrowing in the first place thes these children aro are innocent before benore the tile lord as to their death anu and the cause thereof that is in the hands of godana god abiud we should not complain of the lord or his dispensa eions any more than job did these children have been taken away very suddenly and in such a manner as to cause great sorrow I 1 and distress to their parents but there is this consolation connected with the matter they are innocent they are not in transgression they have paid the law of death which god passed on adam and all his pros but when their spirits left their bodies and got into the spirit world their trouble and affliction were over their death was a very painful one but their suffering is now over and in a few years from now they will come forth out of their graves in the morning of the resurrection not marred by fire or any element but clothed with glory immortality and eternal life in eternal beauty and bloom and they will be given into the hands of their parent paren sand tand they will receive them in the family organization i of the celestial world and their par parents ants will have them for fon forever ever they will live as long as their god lives this to latter day saints who believe in the resurrection should be a source of comfort and consolation why our children are taken from us it is not for me to say for god never revealed it unto in me we are all ail burying them I 1 have buried one third of the children that have been given unto me 1 L have had some thirty children born to me and ten of them are buried all of them young the question may arise with me and with you why why has the lord taken away my children but that is not for me to tell because I 1 do not know it is in the hands of the lord and it has been so from the creation creat leri leif of the world all the way down children are taken token away in their infancy and they go to the spirit world they come hero here and fulfil fugill the object of their coming that is they tabernacle in the fie ile flesh the they y come to receive a probation and an ali inheritance on the earth theyon they obtain a body or tabernacle and land that tabernacle will be preserved for them and in the morning of the resurrection tho the spirits and bodies will be reunited and as liere here we find children of various ina itla 1 family from the infant at the mothers breast to manhood so will it bo be in the family organization in the celestial world our children will be restored to us as they are laid down if we their j parents parent keep heep the fai fal thaud faith falth aud and prove 0 ourselves ur selves worthy to obtain eternal life andia and if we do dotso nob not so prove ourselves our children will still bo be pr preserved served and will inherit celestial glory this is my view in regard to nil all infants who die whether they are born to jew or gentile righteous or wicked th they ey come from their eternal father and their eternal mother unto ahorn they were born in the eternal world and they will be restored to their eternal parentage and all parents who have received children here according to the order of god and the holy doly priesthood no matter in what age they may have lived I 1 will claim those children childre n I 1 in n th the 8 morning of the resurrection and they will be given unto them and they will grace their thein family organizations izat ions in the celestial world with regard to the future state of those who die ia in infancy I 1 do not feel authorized to bay much there has been a great preat deal of theory and many views have been expressed on this but ther there eare care are many things connected with it which the tho lord has probably never revealed to any of the prophet prophets or patriarchs who eter eve appeared on the earth there are some things which have not been revealed to man ma but are held in the bosom of god our oar father and it may be that the condition after death of those who die in infancy is among the things which god has never revealed but it is sufficient for me to know that our children are saved eared and that if we ourselves keep the faith and do our duty before the lord if we keep the i celestial law jaw we shall be preserved by that law lair and our onn children will be given i r e n unto ns us there as they have been g gl v e n here in this world of sorrow borrow affliction pain and distress it has no doubt been a marvel many tim time in the minds minda of men and women why god ever placed men and women in such a world as this why he causes canses his children to pas pass through sorrow borrow and affliction here in the body the lord has revealed something to na us concerning this matter and we have learned enough about it to know that this thing is necessary we know that we are cre ere created atea in the image of god both male and female and whoever goes i back ack into the presence of god our eternal father will find that he Is a noble man a noble god in a form similar to ours for wo we are created after his own image they will also learn that he has placed us here that we may pass piss a state of probation and experience the baine saine as he himself did in his Is day of mortality morta lily illy and time and again it has been revealed in the revelations of god given in our onn day as well aa an in the bible and book of Mormont Mormon that bat thebe these things are necessary in order to enable us to comprehend good and evil and to be prepa glory and blessings when w we e receive recelle rec elve them As the apostle argues te tery very ry strongly in the book of mormon if it we never taste the bitter how will we know how to comprehend the tweet sweet jf if we never partake of pain pala how can we prize ease and if we never pass through affliction how can we comprehend glory exaltation and eternal blessings the lord has aas said concerning jesus that he descended below be jow low all things that he might rise above all things and comprehend all things no man descended lower than the SaTio savior of the world born in agta asta ble cradled in a manger he travelled from there to the cross through suffering mingled with nood bi to a throne of grace anz and in all his life there was nothing of an earth ly nature that seemed to be worth possessing his nis whole life was passed in poverty suffering pain affliction labor prayer mourning and sorrow until he gave up the ghost en on the cross still stiff he was gods firstborn first born boin son and the redeemer of the world the question might be asked why the lord suffered his son to come here and to live and die as he did when we get into the spirit world and the vail vall is withdrawn we shall then perhaps understand the ghys whys and wherefores of all nil these things in the despen tiong and provi dences of god to man it seems that we are bom to euffer suffer pain pam affliction f Alc tion borrows sorrows and nud trials this Is what god has decreed that the human family shall pass theroun th roun and if BC re B C make a right righo use of this probation the experience it brings will eventually prove a great greit blessing to us and when we receive immortality mortality rm and eternal life exaltation kingdoms thrones principalities and powers with all ail the blessings of the ful fui ness of the gospel of christ we shall understand der ner stand and comprehend why we were called to pass through a continual war liaro itaro during the few years jears we spent in the flesh it certainly does rc require quiren a good deal of the spirit ot of the lord to give comfort and consolation to a father and mother mourning for the loss of their children and without the tho gospel of christ the separation by death la Is one of the most g gloomy subjects it Is lit possible to contemplate tu but ut just as eoon soon as we obtain the gospel and icam the principle of the resurrection tho the gloom sorrow gorrow and buffering occasioned by lath death arc are in la a great measure taken away I 1 have often thought that to see eee a dead body and to sec BOO that body laid in the grave and coter cover covered edwith with earthly earth eart lits ilis ls one of the tho most gloomy things on earth without the gospel it Is like taking a leap in la the dark but bat as quick as we obtain the gospel as soon eoon as the spirit of man Is 1 lightened enlightened by the inspiration of the almighty he be can exclaim with me cne of old oh grave where Is thy victory oh death where Is thy sting the sting stine of death is sin eln and the gift of god is eternal life through our lord jesus christ the resurrection of the dead presents itzell before the enlightened enli mind of maus maui mau aud aua and he has a foundation for his ids spirit to rest reat upon that is the position of the lat L a t ady ter day saints today to day we do isnow linow f or ourselves we ard are not in the dark with w eard eird to this matter god has it to us and we do understand the principle of the resurrection of the dead and that the gospel brings life and immortality to light we have received the gospel and it if we arc are true to the principles of that gospel as long as we live ilva we shall be ad el partakers of immortality exaltation T and nd glory I 1 know very well that the loss of their children in this terrible manner Is a bad ead affliction to brother and sister eleer elcer it was a sad affliction for job when his bis children and possessions were taken from him in la an hour but yet he had sense or knowledge enough to understand and say that when he came into the world be he pos neither children hofses lands horses oxen camels nor asses but that thai all his bis wealth had becu hiven given alven to him by the lord and that tho the lord ord had taken thea them away and blessed be his holy name I 1 will say to our mourning friends your children are taken away awny and you yon can not |