The Press., 1895-09-26

TOT WHICH OOu S0IluS us H0Eo LudS Do lul- filled in longer or shorter period of time. What a longer worldly existence would have preserved would have been only the earthly substance and finite de- tails of her life. And presently, in ac- cordance with the law of our physical na- ture, you would have seen, though disease had not laid it's fingers upon her, her spirit yield to the growing weakness and de- crepitude of years. It was not Gods will that you should remember her thus but in the cheerfulness and vivacity of youth. You were to think of her in all the fresh ness of her sweet and beautiful spirit. Therefore God removed her before the dullness of years should be allowed to deaden this impression. He has given time for your thought to separate what was earthly or transient in her life from what is spiritual and eternal. Henceforth she will become to you more and more a heavenly presence. The lustre of her spirit will shine forth more and more to you as you regard it apart from what was mortal, even as that of the diamond shines forth more brilliantly when the earthly setting in which it was first found has been removed. Sometime you will recog- nize that God, who doeth all things well, has not sought merely to wound you in this, however it may seem thus to you now. Would that you might have the faith to say, even at this time, "The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord"
 But there was one fact in the life of our sister that you may find it hard to ought to be. Why was she called upon, during the last weeks of her life, to keep up so cruel battle with disease? My friends, this was but one manifestation of the conflict which everyone who comes into the world in proportion as he is spir- itual, must keep up. For the world, as we find it, is not such as to furnish the conditions appropriate for the develop ment of the pure and holy spirit. Evil is here and with that the spirit must per force come into conflict. The battle of the spirit with the conditions that are in imical to it assumes in different individu- als different character. With Christ it took the form of that antagonism of the Scribes and Pharasees that at length sent him to the cross. With our sister it took the form of conflict with that disease that preyed upon her life. And nobly did she sustain that conflict. Though her body wasted away beneath the rava- ges of the disease, this acquired no mas tery over her spirit. Through all she preserved her cheerfulness, bearing all without a murmur or complaint. There
 was heroism in this more than the hero
 ism of the soldier on the field of battle We are told that the savage, who will en
 dure without fiinching the tortures tc
 which he is subjected by his foe, quailS
 before the mysterious wasting of disease
 Many strong man who has faced the
 bullets on the field of battle has not beer
 able to endure heroically the conflict witk
 disease. It requires a truer heroism tc sustain one nobly in such a struggle be-
 cause the foe that one has to face is more
 spiritual. Furthermore such struggle
 is the testing fire that shows the true
 quality of the spirit. Without this you
 would not have known, as it has been re
 vealed to you, the true nobility of our sis
 ter. You would not have surmised hel
 capacity for heroic endurance. You would
 not have felt how positive quality in hel
 character was that sweetness and tha
 gentleness of disposition that drew SC
 many to her. It took that struggle witt
 conditions that would have embittereC
 many to make you fully aware of this
 In word this was her Calvary and sh'
 faced it in a spirit not wholly unworth,
 of Him who suffered nineteen hundred
 years ago.
 And now, what shall be to you the les
 son of her life? In what manner will yo, show the truest respect for her memory : Assuredly not by merely giving yoursel
 up to a dumb despair because of he ) death. You will best show respect fo
 her memory by proving that the lesson of her life have not been lost upon you ' You will strive to manifest in your Tiff ) that sweetness and gentleness of spiri ) that she showed, following in this he Master and yours. You will endeavor t be forgetful of self, as she was forgetfu of self, even when a martyr to the to1 } lures of disease. You will show heroisr l in the presence of the struggles and vicis itudes of life and the purpose not to pel . init the spirit to be overcome thereby 5 that she showed in her bodily afflictions Doing this you will find that she has bee to you, indeed, an angel or benef1cer ) spirit that God sent to you to lead you il l. to the perfect life of love, and self-sacr l flee, and sweetness, and gentleness, an | heroism, the fullness of which has bee r revealed in Christ Jesus, our Lord.