FUNERAL SERVICE EVEN SO, Father, for so it seemeth good in Thy sight. Clouds and darkness are round about Thee, which our finite understandings cannot penetrate, but we know that light and darkness, joy and sorrow, life and death, are Thine angels. The faith which the countless blessings that we have done nothing and can do nothing to deserve, inspires, pierces the gloom and beholds the blessed light of Thine everlasting Love. "Let us be patient, for our afflictions Not from the ground arise, But oftentimes celestial benedictions Assume this dark disguise. "We see but dimly through the mist and vapors, Amidst these earthly damps, What seem to us but dim funereal tapers May be Heaven's distant lamps. "There is no death, what seems so is transition, This breath of mortal life Is but the suburb of the life elysian, "Let not your hearts be troubled. Trust in God. Trust also in me," said Jesus. "In the world you will have tribulations. But be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." And did he not overcome it gloriously, making even the black and bitter cross minister to his perfection? His footsteps "they make bright Through the Dark, the way to light.” ❝ all ye "Come unto me," he saith, "all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." "Come unto me, when shadows darkly gather, And the sad heart is weary and distressed, Seeking for comfort from our heavenly Father, Come unto me, and I will give you rest. "Ye who have mourned when the spring flowers were taken, When the ripe fruit fell richly to the ground, When the loved slept, in brighter homes to waken, Where their pale brows with victory are crowned. "There, like an Eden blossoming in gladness, Bloom the fair flowers the earth too rudely pressed; Come unto me, all ye who droop in sadness, "Come unto me, and I will give you rest." What Rest is offered us? Rest, dear friends, in the unchangeable Goodness of God, in the faith that the same Love that attends us when we enter into this present life is with us when we depart. Before thou sawest the light, two beings, commissioned of God, His very angels, stood ready to receive and welcome thee and fold thee into their inmost hearts. We may be well assured that the same Love provides for us as tenderly when we pass into the impenetrable mystery of death. As the flowers of the field, so we flourish. The wind passes over them, and they are gone, and their places will know them no more. Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days what it is. Thou hast made my life as a hand's breadth. And before Thee my age is as nothing. walketh in a vain show. God, what wait we for? Surely man And now, O Upon what on Every earthly earth can we depend? tie is breaking. Every earthly support fails us. Our hope is in Thee, who art from everlasting to everlasting, and in Thy Holy Child, Jesus, who hath said: "I am the Resurrection and the Life. |