p. 219 | A Good Man's Wish by Dr. Sharp

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, Cal. · May 18, 1882

A Good Man's Wish.

By Dr. Sharp

I FREELY confess to you that I would rather, when I am laid down in my grave, some one in his manhood stand over me and say, "There lies one who was a real friend to me, and privately warned me of the dangers of the young; no one knew it, but he aided me in the time of need. I owe what I am to him." Or would rather have some widow, with choking utterance, telling her children, "There is your friend and mine. He visited me in my affliction, and found you, my son, an employer, and you, my daughter, a happy home in a virtuous family." I say I would rather that such persons would stand at my grave than to have erected over it the most beautiful sculpture monument of Parian or Italian marble. The heart's broken utterance of reflection of past kindness, and the tears of grateful memory shed upon the grave, are more valuable in my estimation than the most costly cenotaph ever reared.