a^ «.w JU XI * '*J0¥ IN SORROW." :R£]:sd:.iAbJEt:E:s AT TME FUNERAL OF Mn. SUSAN AIVIVA OANTT, BY REV. C. S. VBDDER. VOR PRITATE DISTRIBUTIOB. CHARLESTON: A. B. MILLEH * Oo. 1864. m i^Ei>wa:-A.i^K:s- ]{' '* What »m I?'* said Luther, as he wit- nessed the patience of one in extreme suf- fering. " What am I, but a wordy Preacher, compared with this great Doer?'* And — to compare small things with great — your preacher has often been constrained to echo these words, as he has stood by the chair of anguish in which this uncomplain- ing martyr mot the will of God. It is an easy thing, comparatively, to preach the Gospel — with all the nameless trials of that office — it is an easy thing, too, to live the Gospel, by expending life's active energies in the service — but to exemplify the spirit of Christ by weeks, months, and even years of sore, augmenting, but unmurmuring affliction ! This it is which tasks the spirit and tries the faith ! This it is which shames all proof else of the power of the Gospel, and all estitiiatioTi else of its preciousness. The skeptic may steel his heart against the most earnest appeals of the sacred desk, cheating himself with the delusion that they are nusincere; he may, turn away from the mirror of God's Word, straight- way forgetting "what manner of person he is," in determined doubt of the reality of the picture. He may see, unconvmced, the evidence of a life of holy Christian activity, for even he can understand that such a life has its present rewards — that Godliness has the promise of *' the life that now is.'* But how can he resist the appeal that testifies its sincerity ^by groans " which cannot be uttered ?*' How can he refuse to believe a Word which writes the evi dence of its truthfulness, with hard, but loving hand, upon a quivering human frame '/ How can he call that *' a refined selfishness" which meekly surrenders every pleasing thing, and calmly accepts suffering as its unrelieved lot until the end, supported by, and even joyful in, that which the end pro- mises to bestow? The hour of suffering, like that which terminates it in death, is an *' honest hour," and the declaration which it seals, may be seldom questioned. And those who are chosen to preach the Qospel thus, from the altar of sacrifice, rather than the throne of speech, are the favored ministers of God's Word, and not the forsaken^ '♦ Whom He loveth,. He cliastenetli.'* Even the philosopher Senecaf could say : •' as the faithful teacher gives his most hopeful scholars the hardest les- sons, so dues Gad deal with His creatures! The brave soldier does not murmur that his CajAaiii selects him for the post of dan- ger and nidst arduous duty ; he does not gay •' my commander has put indignity upon me !" Oh no ! His happy exclama- tion is, '* He lias honored me, and I will try to dt'servf his favor !" As the ministry of suffering is the most effective, so are its ministers most approved and re\var:ted: ♦♦What are these which are arrayed in white robes, and wiience come they!" ♦* These are they which came out of great' tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made ti' ra white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of Go'l, and serve Him day and night, in His Temple ; and He that sitteth on 1^1 e throne shall dwell among them- They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more ; iieitlier shall the sun light on them, nor any hpjit, for the Lamb which it in tilt midst of the throne shall feed thom» and shall lead tb^m unto living fountains of waters, and U-od shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." We may well solace ourselves with such thoughts — such truths — as these, as we meditate upon the path of suffering which Ji?is ended here. Could we see only that weary way itgelf» and not as it is mapped put upon the plan of the Heavenly country, : we should feel, indeed, that " clouds and darkness are round about the throne," and these, so deep and dread that in them all thought of hope and cheer, in such, an hour, would be obscured. What could He be, who, for His own pleasure, could thus smite, scourge and slay, rending many hearts in crushing one ? 6ut when we can see that path, compassed with clouds indeed, and deepening to the darkness of the tomb ; when we see that path brightening to the ''perfect day" beyond, having no trace of the douds of earth, but the pearly drops which t^ey have left upon the brow of the weary walker therein, to glow in the crawn of the skies ; when we can see the darkness therein disappearing before its way, and the soul itself set as a star on high, to shiBe with the brightness of the firmament forerer and ever, then, then — we can bless the gate of sufferino;, through which this soul has passed to God. We have no need to speak here in praise of the departed. Simple justice to her character might seem exaggeration to those wjio knew her not, whilst to those who /^lew her well, it would be superfluous to remind them how noble and true a woman, how devoted a wife, how tender, gentle and loving a motlier, and how good a mistress, has passed from a-mong them. If we shall speak in praise of her christian character, it is only because thus we speak to the praise of God. It was the faith of the Gos- pel, in which aloni? she boasted. It was Grace which moulded natural endowments of unusual richness into the symmetry and proportion which all have admired. It was Grace which made her a centre of social love and reverence, and the object of a filial atfectioi^ that was little less than abso- lute devotion. It was Grace, which led her to weary never in prayiug, pleaduig ; win- ning and warning by counsel and example, Hutil every one of the children w]iom God had given her, were given back again to Him, by their own covenant engagement to be His. It was Grace which enabled her to '* glorify God in the firee" of a living and protracted martyrdom, and which, we are assured to-nightj has woven for her brow the crown of life. She loved the cause of Christ ! No sub- ject was ever so dear to her as the proii- perity of His Church. She loved the people of God, and sought opportunity, even when suffering from ceaseless bodily agony, to show that love. Always thouglitless of her- lelf, and always thoughtful of others, when the interests of 2ion were concerned, she seemed to realize truly that she ** wat not her own." Her religion was as broad as charity itself. As her suffering presence was the frequent resort of ministers of other denominations than her own — to which she was strongly attached — ^so wer« their ministrations always welcome and pro- fitable. But, unless their experience wai different from that of one who was some- times there, they went ** not to minister, but to be ministered unto ;" not to teaeht but to Uarn^ from one whom God was teach- 9 ing, in a scbool whose lessons were graven upon the heart with a pen of iron ; they went to learn how a living soul could illus- trate the mysterious injunction : *' Be still, and know that I am God !" We need not say that her end was peace. Calmly and thoughtfully, though fettered in the chair which had been her prison for two long years, racked with pain which grew to intensity almost beyond the power of others to witness, she *' set her house in order,*' gave ber parting counsels to chil- dren and grand-children in turn, and to her weeping servants, and then waited for the messenger. But He delayed His com- ing. Xhe cup miglit not yet pass from her, though it seemed full to overflowing. Days and nights yet of exquisite pain were only broken by brief intervals of sleep, but through them ail, lier Hope was anchored firm within the vail. Willi a voice broken, and scarcely audible, sh«^ repeated hymns aud promises of Scripture, and strove to sing with those who sang for her, longing always to *♦ depart and be with Ohriat, which was far better." 10 At length, on Tuesday morning, Angnsi 23cl, she fell into a calm slumber, and ihe is sleeping still ! ••*0 blessed sleep, From which none ever wake to weep !" But the eternal waking had not yet come. The spirit lingered still in that slumbering but crumbling earthly tabernacle ; lingered thro igh another hushed and quiet day and niglit, as if waiting until an only brother could arrive, and receive a faint sign of recognition, and tlien, without a groan or sigh, whilst all her ciiildren were about her, at " midnight there was a cry made, ' Be- hold the Bri