And though these
our frail bodies may be destroyed by death, yet shall we see God.
Marvellous as may be the transition, at death and the resurrection,
we shall all preserve our own identity, and see and know the beloved
companions of our earthly pilgrimage.
Blessed be God for this sweet hope in the resurrection of the
dead, that so clothes the far off and unseen world with ecstatic
anticipations of the renewed presence of our friends, to whom, even
in their glorified appearance, we shall be no strangers. We must not
persuade ourselves that the preservation of little Emma's sacred dust
is a mere tribute of affection to her memory; but rather a prophecy of
that precious hope, that she shall awake from this sleep and meet
us again, and that we shall know her again, and that we shall be
together, and unitedly hear that voice, sublime and almighty, yet
tender and soothing, saying, "I am the resurrection and the life; he
that believeth in me though he were dead, yet shall he live."
The resurrection of the dead is the crowning act of the Redeemer's
power, and the consummation of his work. How beautiful to contemplate
the spiritual import and eternal grandeur of his mission:
"We may be blest, but Emma's glorious--
O'er all the stings of death victorious."
Dear M.M.:
"You feel like Eve, when Eden's gate
Had closed on her forevermore;--
You feel that life is desolate,
And Paradise is o'er.
No tears be yours, for tears are vain;
Your heart and not your robe is rent:
If God who gave did take again,
'Tis folly to lament.
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