Sisters, brothers, and friends, as we stand in this solemn presence we may hear the voice of this Providence speaking to us.
Not long shall we wait ere we obey the inexorable decree of Death, and follow our sister.
How brief and full of mystery is human life! Who can fathom its purpose, or disclose its issues. We entered life as it were but yesterday; to-day we perform our allotted task, and to-morrow we go—who knows whither? We strain our eyes in vain endeavor to scan with mortal vision the infinite shore. But, thanks to our Heavenly Father, who gives fruition to His children's hopes, He bids us look yet again.
Standing beside the Broken Column, we may, with Martha's trustful faith, look beyond the shore of time, and know that our sister, though lost to mortal vision, is only waiting beyond the river to welcome us to our eternal home.
"In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am there ye may be also." O, let the comforting assurance come to us, "That if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens."
Instructed by this Providence, may we go from this place of mourning, and this hour of reflection, with the inspiration of a new hope, and earnest purpose.
"So live, that when thy summons comes to join
The innumerable caravan that moves
To the pale realms of shade, where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls of death,