Beloved Brethren and Sisters:
Once again, in
the providences of the Almighty, Israel mourns the
loss of one of its mightiest sons. Death seldom
comes at a time we deem opportune; and if we, in
our blindness, were permitted to judge, we should
certainly decide that the present, with its trials,
its perplexities and its sorrows, is no time to take
from our midst men of counsel, of wisdom, of faith
and of judgment, such as was our beloved brother,
Elder Erastus Snow, whose funeral obsequies you
this day solemnize. But He who doeth all
things well has been pleased to take to himself
His servant, and we can simply bow the head and
acknowledge His hand in all things; and with
one of old exclaim: "The Lord giveth and the
Lord taketh away; blessed be the name of the Lord." [Job 1:21]
The peculiarities of our position prevent
us from personally joining with you in this tribute
of respect to our departed, and now sanctified, brother,
whose departure from this mortal sphere has doubt-
less been hastened by the same causes that pre-
vent us from joining you on this sad occasion.
This enforced absence we sincerely regret, as we
should have found a mournful satisfaction in
adding our testimony to that of our brethren touch-
ing the virtues, the integrity, the zeal, the whole-
heartedness of our friend and co-laborer who has
passed before us into the joys of eternity. For him
we have no cause to mourn; he has fought the
good fight, he has finished his work, he has
been found true and faithful, and is now entering
into that fairer and better world the bliss of which
the heart cannot conceive nor the natural eye see,
but the glories of which, by reason of his obedience
and devotion to God and His laws, had been
sealed upon him through sacred ordinances and
by the holy spirit of promise while he yet tab-
ernacled in mortality. May our end be like his.
The name of Erastus Snow will never
be forgotten in the history of the Church of Christ.
From early youth to his latest day he was ever
found in the unflinching performance of his duties
as a servant of the Most High. Without exaggera-
tion it can be said of him that he died with
the harness on. In every position he was called
to fill—and they were many—he exhibited those
nobler traits which dignify the character of a saint.
If we view him as a missionary of the gospel of
peace, as a legislator for the people of God, as a
pioneer, converting the wilderness into the fruitful
field, as an Apostle in the councils of the Church,
we everywhere find him a man of no ordinary
type, but one whose ability and strength of char-
acter marked him as a leader among men, even
where great men were not lacking. It would be
difficult for us to pick out any one special depart-
ment of life and say in this he most particularly
shone, or select some other and assert in that he
was most eminent. He was great in all. To the
sons and daughters of Scandinavia he was perhaps
greatest as a missionary—the first Apostle who
bore the glad tidings of the Gospel to their father-
land. To the weary toiler beneath the sultry sun
of Southern Utah he was best known as the in-
defatigable leader, who planned, devised, contrived
and arranged for their progress and made prosper-
ity possible in one of the most arid, most forbid-
ding regions of this great continent. His prudence,
his wisdom, his foresight, are admitted by all—as
a counselor he had few peers. His ripe experience,
joined with his sound judgment, gave a weight
to his words and a strength to his counsels that
all who heard felt. Moreover, he possessed, uncloud-
ed by stain, those two great virtues that give a
man power with the heavens—integrity and
purity of character. Let a man possess these,
let his heart be true and unflinching, let his life
be pure, and then, if we add to these humility,
he is proof against a multitude of weaknesses and
can resist a host of temptations. We all have our
weaknesses; God has permitted them that we
might be taught humility in ourselves and charity
toward others. We none of us are perfect whilst
we dwell in the flesh; but the man who in
humble reliance upon God never falters in the
fight for the right, never wavers in his allegiance to
the truth, and ever maintains inviolate his covenants,
is one whom we can all pause to admire and strive,
by Heaven's help, to imitate. Such men are few
when compared with the unnumbered hosts who have
peopled this earth of ours; but we thank God that
we do find them more abundantly in the midst of
the Saints, holding the Holy Priesthood and minister-
ing in things the most sacred ever bestowed upon
humanity. Among these we find in the front
ranks ^is^ our esteemed brother whose mortal remains are
about to be consigned to the tomb.
For nearly forty years Brother Snow
has been one of the Twelve Apostles of the Lord Jesus.
To this calling he has given the strength of his
prime and the wisdom of his later years. It has
been during this period that he has performed a very
large portion of his missionary, legislative and
pioneer services. We shall sadly miss him in the
quorum with which he has been so long identified, and
of which he was at the time of his death one of the
oldest members. We shall miss his mature consid-
eration, his deliberate thought, his experienced ad-
vices—all most needful at a time when the powers
of evil are assailing us in so many directions.
But we thank the Lord that though from time
to time He takes from us those who, as men, we
trust the most fondly, yet He leaves us not entirely
to ourselves, but continues unto us the signs of his
approval. We are comforted with the assurance
that this is His Kingdom, and that He rules in
the heavens and upon the earth; and that from
the fall of a sparrow to the death of an Apostle
all is known unto Him, and nothing happens
without his sanction. [Matthew 10:29]
And further, brethren and sisters, are
we not the sons and daughters of God, and when
He shall appear, if we are faithful, shall we not
be like Him? Yes; and when that glorious day
arrives we shall once more have the privilege of
standing upon this earth and meeting in joy
and thanksgiving, not only our brother who has
just left us, but Joseph and Brigham, and thous-
ands of others who have washed their robes white
in the blood of the Lamb, and who, through the
merits of His atonement, are anointed kings and
priests unto God, and with Him reign exalted
in His Kingdom. May we all be found worthy
of this high reward; and now while we travel
through this world of change and sorrow, may we
take pattern by the lives of the worthy as our
Brother Erastus, and, above all, follow in the steps
of the great Exemplar of all righteousness, our Lord
Jesus Christ, whose grace be ever with you all.
Amen.
Wilford Woodruff
On behalf of the absent members of the
Council of the Apostles.
W. Woodruff
Eulogy on Elder Erastus Snow