r settled. If I die before you, I
will not forget in the next world how you stood together here, but I
will expect both of you. You must come.

"I say it in all Christian love and emphasis, as a brother talks to a
brother. You must come. You have been united so long, you cannot
afford to have death divorce you. How long it is since you began the
struggle of life together! You have helped each other on the road, and
what you have done for each other God only knows. There have been
tedious sicknesses, and anxious watching, and here and there a grave,
short but very deep; and though the blossoms of the marriage day may
have scattered, and the lips that pronounced you one may have gone
into dust, you have through all these years been to each other true as
steel.

"Now, to-day, I am going to remarry you for heaven. This is the bridal
day of your soul's peace. Here is the marriage altar. Kneel side by
side, take the oath of eternal fidelity, clasp hands in a covenant
never to be broken. I pronounce you one on earth, I pronounce you one
for eternity. What God by His grace hath joined together, let not
earth or hell put asunder. Hark! I hear a humming in the air--an
anthem--a wedding march--organs celestial played upon by fingers
seraphic."

I do not think I ever read anything more beautiful and quaintly
pathetic than

COTTON MATHER'S DESCRIPTION

of the departure of his wife from earth to Heaven: "The black day
arrives. I had never seen so black a day in all the time of my
pilgrimage. The desire of my eyes is this day to be taken from me at
a stroke. Her death is lingering and painful. All the forenoon of this
day she was in the pangs of death, and sensible until the last minute
or two before her final expiration. I cannot remember the discourse
that passed between us, only her devout soul was full of satisfaction
about her going to a state of blessedness with the Lord Jesus Christ.
As far as my distress would permit, I studied to confirm her
satisfaction and consolation.

"When I saw to what a point of resignation I was called of the Lord, I
resolved, with His help, to glorify Him. So, two hours before she
expired, I knelt by her bedside and took into my hands that dear hand,
the dearest in the world, and solemnly and sincerely gave her up to
the Lord. I gently put her out of my hands and laid away her hand,
resolved that I would not touch it again. She afterward told me that
she signed and sealed my act of resigna