Heber

“ The great variety of form and size of lots, involving corners, angles, widths and lengths of streets, together with their peculiar names, almost exhausting the names of the fruit and vegetable kingdom, are all characteristic of the man, familiarly called 'Brother Heber,' ever evincing a strong desire to imitate nature in its eternal variety and beauty ”

“ The love of the Saints for Brother Heber is deep-rooted and universal. A great people will this day mourn in learning of his departure, and how deep will be the sorrow also of his brethren and sisters in foreign lands! ”

“ The evening before they started, Heber called their mother, Vilate, and her children into his room, and spent several hours with them, giving them much good counsel and explaining to them the relationship of the Lamanites, as a branch of the house of Israel, with the latter-day work, and the important part they were destined to play in this dispensation. He then blessed Heber and Solomon, and promised them in the name of the Lord that they should not see an Indian while they were gone. ”

“ Thus will be shown to the world three generations of a family who are representatives of our people and faith; Heber, one whom God chose as one of the first to aid in founding and upbuilding His Church and Kingdom in the last dispensation; Helen, his cherished and heroic daughter, and Orson, her son, worthy representative of his mother and grandfather. The inspiration in Heber's life has not died out in theirs, the work has not slackened, the line of march is still onward and upward. ”

“ Richard Heber, styled by Sir Walter Scott 'Heber the Magnificent, whose library and cellar are so superior to all others in the world,' was the eldest son of Reginald Heber, lord of the manors of Marton in Yorkshire, and Hodnet in Shropshire, and was half-brother to Reginald Heber, Bishop of Calcutta. ”

“ Atheism, thy home is not the boundless deep! Ocean, thou art religious, thou art worshipful, and throwest heavenward the thoughts of man as though they were thy spray!
Especially was it so with Heber and his companions, God-fearing men, upon whom rested the burden of a mission fraught with salvation to thousands. The solemnities of eternity encompassed them. They felt as little children in the presence of the Infinite. And children they were in their humility. ”

“ Some months prior to his appointment, in a conversation with Willard Richards in the streets of Kirtland, soon after the latter was baptized, Heber, filled with the spirit of prophecy, had predicted for himself a mission to the shores of Europe. ”

“ Sometime in the fall or winter of 1831, about three weeks after Heber and his wife had joined the Baptist church, five Elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints came from Pennsylvania to Victor, five miles from Mendon, and tarried at the house of Phineas H. Young. They were Eleazer Miller, Elial Strong, Alpheus Gifford, Enos Curtis and Daniel Bowen. Hearing of these men, Heber was prompted by curiosity to visit them, "when," says he, "for the first time I heard the fullness of the everlasting gospel." ”

“ Heber, born in 1783 and educated at Brasenose, gained the Newdigate with Palestine, a piece which ranks with Timbuctoo and a few others among unforgotten prize poems. He took orders, succeeding to the family living of Hodnet, and for some years bid fair to be one of the most shining lights of the English Church, combining admirable parochial work with good literature, and with much distinction as a preacher. ”

“ Heber spoke slowly. "You are unlike any woman or man either that I have ever met."
"I am not at all unlike a man!" returned Ingeborg. "I try to handle what has always been a man's profession in a man's way. You all want me to handle it like a woman and fail. I refuse to do so, therefore I am queer."
There was another long silence, then Heber asked, "Do you like the desert any better than you did?" ”

“ This was Heber’s style in general. Next to making modest people blush, nothing pleased him better than to annoy or ridicule any one who had the smallest pretensions to education; and yet naturally Heber was a kind-hearted man. Brigham’s style is very little better, and the substance of his discourses quite as bad. ”

“ It is now twenty-four years lacking three days, since Joseph and Hyrum were taken away from us. Twenty-four years so fruitful in labor, so abundant in toil, so rich in experience! During that period Brother Heber has never wavered, never trembled. It may be said of him with as much truthfulness to-day, as was said by Brother Brigham on one occasion in Nauvoo, 'his knees never trembled, his hands never shook.' He has been faithful to God; he has been true to his brethren; he has kept his covenants; he has died in the triumphs of the faith ”

“ Heber, having made all necessary preparations for his long voyage, and received consecration, repaired on the 16th of June on board the Company’s ship Grenville, in which he and his family were to proceed to India. As our traveller’s first desire, in whatever position he happened to be placed, was to effect all the good in his power, he no sooner found himself on board than he endeavoured to communicate to the sailors a sense of their religious duties; which he did with all that authority and effect which genius and virtue invariably exert over inferior individuals. ”

“ Heber watched her deliberately. She loomed very tall in the candle-light, her fine, stalwart body clean-cut and graceful in the riding breeches and blouse.
Suddenly she bent forth in a husky, uneven voice: "How can you be so unfair as to blame me for doing my duty? Would you expect of a man what you expect of me?"
"No," replied Heber coolly. "But a woman can't be anything but a woman, and she should not choose a profession that expects her to be otherwise."
"Bah! I'm sick of such sophistries!" Ingeborg's hoarse voice was furious. ”

“ Brother Heber is now gone, and whilst we mourn the loss they rejoice at meeting one with whom they were associated before; for he was the friend of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, and he was the friend of God, and God is his friend, and they are his friends. And as they associated together in time so they will in eternity. It behooves us then not to think so much about dying, but about our living, and to live in such a way that when we shall fall asleep, no matter when, or how it may transpire, that our hearts may be pure before God. ”

“ He had even been to the Elders' lodgings, and, confronting Apostle Kimball, forbidden him to baptize them.
"They are of age," answered Heber, "and can act for themselves; I shall baptize all who come unto me, asking no favors of any man."
"On hearing this," he adds, "Mr. Fielding trembled and shook as though he had a chill."
"They are of age and can act for themselves." ”

“ In the same spirit, a few years later, Aug. 30. 1857, Heber uttered this stirring prophecy: "Wake up, ye Saints of the Most High, and prepare for any emergency that the Lord our God may have pleasure in bringing forth! We never shall leave these valleys—till we get ready; no, never: no, never! We will live here till we go back to Jackson County, Missouri. I prophesy that, in the name of Israel's God." The congregation shouted "Amen," and President Young said, "It is true." ”

“ Professor Porson wrote emendations for him in his favorite copy of Athenæus. To him was inscribed Dr. Ferrier’s poetical epistle on Bibliomania. His virtues were celebrated by Dibdin and by Burton. In brief, the sketch of Heber in The Gentleman’s Magazine for January, 1834, contains a list of forty-six names,—all men of distinction by birth, learning, or genius, and all men who were proud to call Richard Heber friend. He was a mighty hunter of books. He was genial, scholarly, generous. Out-of-door men will be pleased to know that he was active physically. ”

“ He was full of counsel, full of instruction, and he was always pointed in conveying his counsel in plainness to those to whom he imparted it.
"Have we any cause, in reality, to mourn to-day? Have we any cause for grief and sorrow? When I stood by his bedside and saw his spirit take its departure there was no death there; there was no gloom. I had seen but two persons die before, and they died by violence; but when I watched Brother Heber I asked myself, Is this death? Is this that which men represent as a monster, and from which they shrink with affright? ”

“ A far greater work than the capture of a British fortress was in the future of this Mormon triad of "Green Mountain boys," who went forth "in the name of the great Jehovah" to invade the strongholds of Satan, and plant the banner of gospel truth above the ramparts of his conquered citadels.
Heber's birthplace was the town of Sheldon, Franklin County, Vermont, ten miles from the shores of Lake Champlain. ”

“ He was not accustomed to considering himself from the outside—few primitive men are; but he had thought [Pg 165] a good deal as he went about his business in the solitudes of the mountains; and failure will open new vistas to those who are not eaten up by vanity. Though not given to succumbing to circumstances, Heber was tried by the enforced patience and inaction of the last week and his heart was heavy in him. ”

“ CHAPTER XVI. STRANGERS IN A STRANGE LAND—THE ELDERS LED BY THE SPIRIT TO PRESTON—"TRUTH WILL PREVAIL"—THE REVEREND JAMES FIELDING—WONDERFUL FULFILLMENT OF HEBER'S PROPHECIES—A PEOPLE PREPARED FOR THE GOSPEL—THE ELDERS PREACH IN PRESTON. After landing on this foreign shore, Heber's mind for a season was overshadowed with gloom. ”

“ From the time the reconciliation took place between the Presidency and the Twelve, a reformation commenced in the Church. "Those meetings," says Heber, "of humiliation, repentance, and confessing of sins, were truly the beginning of good days to us, and they continued through the endowment."
CHAPTER XII. HEBER'S DESCRIPTION OF THE TEMPLE—ITS DEDICATION—ANGELS ADMINISTER—THE "BELOVED DISCIPLE" JOHN SEEN—THE SOLEMN ASSEMBLY—THE ELDERS ENDOWED WITH POWER FROM ON HIGH—HEBER'S LONE MISSION. The Kirtland Temple was dedicated on the 27th of March, 1836. ”

“ There is the evidence of truth in the work. Heber is charming, but I haven't read him! People often say "charming" of books they have not read; but I have read extracts in two reviews, and have the pleasure of the book on the table before me.
I have not a scrap of news for you, except that an ass and a calf walked over my flower-beds, and that I did not kill either of them. If the ass had not provoked me to this degree, I was in imminent danger of growing too fond of him, as I never could meet him drawing loads without stopping to pat him, till clouds of dust rose from his thick hide. ”

“ His widow was at Calcutta at the time. Some of the most popular poets of the time—Robert Southey, Mrs. Hemans, Mrs. Opie, and others—celebrated the event in mournful verse. An only child died before him.
Heber was a pious, amiable, and accomplished man, and his character is well displayed in his writings. His style is always elegant and perspicuous, and his matter sensible and in good taste. But his verse is wanting in the ‘divine afflatus,’ and his prose in strength and massiveness. His boyish poem on ‘Palestine,’ although the most popular work of its kind, is not a great poem. ”

“ The will for the deed was taken, and "accounted unto him for righteousness." Joseph wept at this proof of devotion, and embracing Heber told him that was all that the Lord required. He had proved him, as a child of Abraham, that he would "do the works of Abraham," holding back nothing, but laying all upon the altar for God's glory.
The Prophet joined the hands of the heroic and devoted pair, and then and there, by virtue of the sealing power and authority of the Holy Priesthood, Heber and Vilate Kimball were made husband and wife for all eternity. ”

“ I want to say to every one who wishes to see Brother Heber again, live so that you will secure to yourselves a part in the first resurrection, and I promise you that you will meet him and shake hands with him. But if you do not live so, I can give you no such promise.
"Now, my friends, I feel to bless you; and the family, the wives and the children of Brother Heber C. Kimball. I bless you in the name of Jesus Christ. Will you receive the blessings which a father and husband has placed upon your heads? If you live for them you will enjoy them. I think he has never cursed one of his family ”

“ They gave out an appointment to preach the Gospel there on the 7th of September.
One day, as they were strolling through the streets, "to see if they could find a man with the Spirit of God," Heber accosted an amiable looking stranger and asked him if he was a preacher. He replied that he was, and informed the brethren that he had been in America, and had come to London for the purpose of going to South Australia; but had suffered much from sickness in his family, having just buried one child, while another was then lying at the point of death.
"Your child shall live," said Heber C. Kimball. ”

“ The Lord led me right, but I did not know it.
"I have heard Joseph say many times, that he was much tempted about the revelations the Lord gave through him—it seemed to be so impossible for them to be fulfilled. I do not profess to be a Prophet; but I know that every man and woman can be, if they live for it."
Though Heber did not "profess to be a Prophet," he was one nevertheless, and manifested the gift of prophecy, as is generally admitted, to a greater extent than any other man in the Church, excepting the Prophet Joseph Smith.
Brigham was in the habit of saying: "Heber is my Prophet." ”