Between the members of the little band are formed
the most tender ties, the most hallowed relations; and when _one_ only
departs, all hearts grieve and bleed as if the dearest earthly object had
been removed.
Mrs. Hervey was buried near the scene of her labors--on heathen soil. The
solemn funeral service and the pang of death were calculated to deepen the
impression upon the minds of the converted and unconverted people; and the
hymn, as it sent its mournful echo along the borders of the field of graves
and sounded like the song of an angel amid the homes of the living, turned
many a thought forward to that haven where the saint shall break from the
repose of death, and come forth to the resurrection of the just, a new and
glorified form.
"Why do we mourn departing friends,
Or shake at death's alarms?
Us but the voice that Jesus sends
To call them to his arms."
Did we not have implicit confidence in the ways of God and in his special
providence,--did we not feel that he is too wise to err, too good to
be unkind,--our hearts would often faint as we hear of our devoted
missionaries falling into the grave ere they have been permitted to labor
to any considerable degree for the conversion of the heathen.
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