Reflections on Graveyards, Mortality, and the Resurrection Hope
By D. F. E.
In our graveyards lie buried those who have come and gone “from the place of the holy;” and they are forgotten in the place where they individually acted their little part in the drama of life. The curtain has fallen, and the little knowledge we have of them is gathered from the inscriptions kind and loving friends have placed upon their monumental tablets. Reflecting upon these records, we are constrained to quote the words of the preacher, and to forcibly realize their applicability and truthfulness: “The dead, which are already dead, are more to be praised than the living, which are yet alive.” Man is born with his hands closed; he dies with his hands wide open. Entering life, he desires to grasp everything; leaving the world, all that he possessed has slipped away. Man, poor and naked, enters the world; poor and naked doth he leave it. When the righteous die ’tis earth that meets with loss. The jewel will ever be a jewel. For a time in earth it will be quiescent, but again with new luster will it emerge from its obscurity, and rise to meet the Saviour in the air, and be forever with the Lord. Let us persevere, so that we may enter into that rest; and whether we are alive or sleeping we shall assuredly have a part in the first resurrection if we are only true to ourselves. Christ is our risen hope. D. F. E.