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O B I T U A R Y

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Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 28, 1858

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 12, No. 23.

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O B I T U A R Y

By Edward Andrews

DIED in Jefferson, Iowa, Sept. 6th, 1858, Bro. Cyprian Stevens, in the sixty-fourth year of his age. From a state of health and activity he was suddenly laid on the bed of death by the bite of a rattlesnake, the deadly effects of which baffled all human skill; and on the fifth day after the accident he closed his eyes on the scenes of earth. His sufferings at times were extreme; but his cry ascended almost unceasingly, "My Father, give sustaining grace," and the promises of God yielded him support and consolation.
This severe dispensation is greatly softened to his bereaved family by the recollection of the patience and entire submission with which his sickness was borne, and the calm and peaceful close of his life. They have the comforting hope that rests on the sure word of the Lord, that they shall meet again the beloved husband and kind father, in that happy land of which the Lord has said, "They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain;" but there in perfect safety "the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice's den."
Bro. Stevens embraced the doctrine of the speedy advent of Christ more than fifteen years since, and continued steadfast in the faith. He, in consequence, shared in the disappointments of '43 and '44, and also largely in the trials and persecutions that followed. He did not cast away his confidence in the Advent faith, but waited for further light. He embraced the Sabbath of the Lord in 1845, and some time after received light on the Third Angel's Message, under the labors of Brn. White and Bates, and patiently waited for the consummation of his hope. But he has fallen asleep, and we have laid him away in hope, believing that the righteous are taken from the evil to come, and feel constrained to repeat the very comforting words of Bible, "Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord from henceforth."
EDWARD ANDREWS.