The Christian assurance of immortality brings its message of consolation most appropriately in life’s darkest hours when death invades the family circle. No one has pierced the veil between the present and the future life, but there is a sense of the fitness of things which has convinced men of divers creeds that a life beyond is a reality. It is the desire for completion and not merely for continuance which quickens in our breast the hope of life everlasting. It is moreover certified to us by the fact of the living Christ through whom we commune with God. This experience convinces us that our earthly pilgrimage is the prelude to the heavenly life of spiritual attainment and satisfaction. Thus when the physical remains of our loved ones are consigned to the earth, we have the assured confidence of a reunion in the land that is fairer than day. Since Jesus Christ has brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel, we know that death does not sever the ties which bind us to those who have crossed the flood. We shall meet again when the day dawns and these shadows flee away. This is the outlook of faith which comforts and cheers us. “For what e’er befalls, Love conquers all, And Death shall not prevail.” The thought deepest in the soul often finds expression at a crisis. This fact is what led to the Hymn of Martyred President Sung by the Nation “Good-bye, good-bye, all,” said President William McKinley as he lay dying in Buffalo, a few days after he was shot on September 6, 1901. “It is God’s way. His will, not ours, be done,” he added soon afterwards. Toward the end in the presence of his wife and intimate friends, his lips moved again and with a light on his worn face, his inner soul expressed itself in the lines of his favorite hymn: “Nearer, my God, to Thee, Nearer to Thee! E’en though it be a cross—” A moment of silence followed and then in a whisper he said, “That has been my inextinguishable prayer.” The funeral services at the Capitol began with “Lead, Kindly Light,” sung by the choir, and concluded with “Nearer, My God, to Thee.” The final service was held in the First Methodist Episcopal Church, Canton, Ohio, of which he was a member. During those days of sadness the nation sang this familiar hymn which profoundly moved the popular heart. Possibly in all the history of the United States, the nation has never so unitedly joined in singing a particular hymn as during those days. It was a national tribute to a fallen leader. In the City of Utica, New York, the home of Vice-President James S. Sherman, as soon as word was received of his death, October 30, 1912, the leader of the orchestra in the chief hotel asked the company in the dining room to stand, while “Nearer, My God, to Thee” was played. Thus the song which was sung for a fallen President was likewise rendered in his home town when a Vice-President passed thence.