* * * I would esteem it one of the greatest blessings if I am going to be afflicted in this world, to have my lot cast, where I can find brothers and friends all around me. But this is not the thing I referred to: it is to have the privilege of having our dead buried on the land where God has appointed to gather His Saints together, and where there will be none but Saints, where they may have the privilege of laying their bodies where the Son of Man will make His appearance, and where they may hear the sound of the trump that shall call them forth to behold Him, that in the morn of the resurrection they may come forth in a body, and come up out of their graves and strike hands immediately in eternal glory and felicity, rather than be scattered thousands of miles apart. There is something good and sacred to me in this thing. The place where a man is buried is sacred to me. This subject is made mention of in the Book of Mormon and the Scriptures. Even to the aborigines of this land, the burying places of their fathers are more sacred than anything else. When I heard of the death of our beloved Brother Barnes, it would not have affected me so much if I had the opportunity of burying him in the land of Zion. * * * I have said, Father, I desire to die here among the Saints. But if this is not Thy will, and I go hence and die, wilt Thou find some kind friend and bring my body back, and gather my friends who have fallen in foreign lands, and bring them up hither, that we may all lie together. * * * * * * * * * * * If tomorrow I shall be called to lie in yonder tomb, in the morning of the resurrection let me strike hands with my father, and cry, "My father, father!" and he will say, "My son, my son!" as soon as the rocks rend and before we come out of our graves. And may we contemplate these things so? Yes, if we learn how to live and how to die. When we lie down we contemplate how we may rise up in the morning: and it is pleasing for friends to lie down together, locked in the arms of love, to sleep and wake in each others' embrace and renew their conversation. * * *