Wish of a Good Man by Dr. Sharpe

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 27, 1864

Wish of a Good Man.

By Dr. Sharpe

I WOULD rather, when I am laid in the grave, that some one in his manhood should 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 lies your friend and mine. He visited me in my affliction, and found you my son, an employer, and found you my daughter, a happy home in a virtuous family." I would rather that such persons should stand at my grave, than to have erected over it the most beautiful sculptured monument of Parian or Italian marble. The heart's broken utterance of reflections 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.—Dr. Sharpe.