I am lucky enough to have in my personal library a book entitled ‘The Mourner’s Friend or Sighs of Sympathy For Those Who Sorrow’. It is a collection of prose and verse compiled to give comfort to the grieving. Edited by J.B. Syme, published in 1852 by S.A. Howland in Worcester, Mass, USA; its contents are predominantly by American authors. My copy of the book has some water damage, ageing paper, and precarious binding, so before it deteriorates my project to preserve the words of the authors will find its way here on the MOLAM blog.
Spiritual Support.
LOOK at Jesus in his hour of darkness, with great drops of sweat, as of blood, rolling from his brow ; with his face on the ground, in the earnestness of his entreaties. Look at him again, as his devotions are just ended, when those who come to apprehend him draw near. Mark the calm self-possession with which he says, Behold I am he, let these go their way. Imagine what a heavenly dignity must have succeeded to the tears that bedewed his face, causing it to glow with a noonday lustre ; that, when the rude officers beheld him, they went backward and fell on their faces. Hear his words of solemn assurance, Thinkest then that I cannot now beseech my Father, and he will give me more than twelve legions of angels ; — and then say, whether his prayers were not indeed heard, and whether the strength that God had given him was not indeed equal to his day, enabling him to finish his allotted works, and empowering him to obtain a far higher point of excellence, than ever could have been his had the cup passed from him. How truly, therefored, did Jesus exclaim, “Father, I know that thou hearest me always!” Like him, then, let us be anxiously careful for nothing; but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let our requests be made known unto God; and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus : that peace arises from the conviction that all things work together for good to them that love God.
