Death of Elias Higbee

It becomes our painful duty again to bear record of the death of an honorable man, and a brother beloved. He has long been an ornament to his profession as a Christian, and recognized as a man of God. In the hour of his dissolution, he was a striking monument of the influence of religion.

Brother Higbee's life was such that he could look back on it with pleasure, while on his death-bed. Full of faith, and buoyant with hope, he longed to depart and be with Christ.

He is gone, like a flower, by the stream swept away,

Which no more spreads its sweets, o'er the banks where it lay;

He has crossed the dark Jordan, and flood of the grave,

But his spirit still shines like a beam on the wave.

The body, safely deposited in the tomb, rests in hopes of a glorious resurrection, nor shall it hope in vain; for the time is near, when loud diffusive sound, from brazen trump, of strong lunged sherub [cherub], shall awake him to life and youth. The same almighty power that first reared the piece, and took it down, can re-assemble the loose scattered parts, and put them as they were, and then shall the victor's cry be heard: "O grave where is they victory?" He has left us for a little season, to act in a more noble sphere. Upright through all his life-just in every transaction-hospitable to strangers-magnanimous in his intercourse with friends-he won a reputation which death cannot wipe away, or dim its lustre [luster]-a reputation that will live upon the tabliture of noble hearts through the lapse of many coming years, and the conflicting changes of human life. He was warm-hearted, benevolent, bland, sociable and confiding; faithful to every trust, and honorable in all his intercourse with man. In relation to his religious sentiments, his heart beat in unison with the true believers in the doctrines of the Latter-Day Saints. Laying aside the fabulous and sofisticated [sophisticated] dogmas of clashing creeds and warring sectaries, he has, for the last ten or eleven years, been a firm advocate of the legitimate principles of the Gospel of Christ, as they have been revealed, in the last days, to man. To promulgate these doctrines, and promote the welfare of the church, he encountered many hardships and deprivations. With his brethren, he felt the grievous hand of the Missouri persecution-with them he was plundered of every comfort and robbed of every blessing that is calculated to meliorate and happify the temporal condition of man, and driven from the limits of that mobocratic State. Then, departed brother, if the harmony we now enjoy should be ultimately broken, if the tranquillity that reigns in our midst should again be invaded, by the fiery fiend of fanaticism, the part you have once taken, the activity and zeal you have once exhibited-when our society was convulsed and disorganised [disorganized], by the handiwork of designing and unprincipled

bigots and lawless knaves-your loss will be but too deeply felt. For many years he has been a member of the High Council, the duties of which station he discharged with credit to himself and honor to the church. When the revelation for the building of the Temple was received, the unanimous voice of the church elected him a member of the Committee which was incorporated to supervise its erection. His untiring perseverance in prosecuting this important work, and the strict fidelity that characterizes his stewardship, are too well known, in this community; to require any comment from us.

He has raised a large family-all to respectability-all to ultimate usefulness. But he has left them, and has gone to try the realities of another world. Alas! when we come to speak of his domestic relations-to enter the penetralia of that now desolate home, and witness the feelings of that bereaved family-how incompetent is the force of language to sketch the scene, or paint the desolation that his decease has created there! Have you contemplated the pungent pangs-the up-gushing swells of the emotionate [emotional] bosom, as the circle of mourning bereaved ones drew around the lifeless form of a departed husband or parent? Have you ever known the heart-felt agony, the deep emotions of sorrow that agitate the internal empire of the bosom, when gazing upon the marble brow-the solemn visage-and compressed lips of some respected relative, whose clayey tenement is about to be consigned to the tomb?-If so, then can you form some conception or enter into the feelings of this comfortless family! These are feelings-these emotions-that can only be understood by experience,-language cannot describe them.

He died perfectly resigned-perfectly calm and tranquil-to the last moment. He stated that he was "prepared to die," that he was "hastening to that bourn [born] from whence no traveler returns," and felt the highest assurance of a happy rest in the celestial world. Relative to his religion, he expressed the most sanguine knowledge of its truth, and died attesting its divine authenticity. Thus has another good and honorable man fallen asleep, testifying to the doctrines of the Latter-Day Saints. Farewell, dear brother!-we miss your society-you have left forever this "vale of tears"-secure from the "evils to come" but you will ever retain a high seat of respect in our memory!