"The thought of my dear and ever faithful friend as now standing at the very verge of life, has repeatedly carried me back in memory to the period of our youth, when, more than forty years since, we were brought into habitual society, and the cordial esteem and attachment which have survived, undiminished, through so long a lapse of time, and so much separation. _Then_ we sometimes conjectured--but in vain--what might be the course appointed us to run; and how long; and which might first come to the termination. _Now_ the far greater part of that appointment has been unfolded and accomplished. To me a little stage further remains under the darkness; you, my dear friend, have a clear sight almost to the concluding point. And while I feel the deepest pensiveness in beholding where you stand, with but a step between you and death, I cannot but emphatically congratulate you. I have often felt great complacency in your behalf, in thinking of the course through which Providence has led you,--complacency in regard to the great purpose of life, its improvement, its usefulness, and its discipline and preparation for a better world. You are, I am sure, grateful to the Sovereign Disposer in the review of it. You have had the happiness of faithfully and zealously performing a great and good service, and can rejoice to think that your work is accomplished, with a humble confidence that the Master will say, "Well done, good and faithful servant," while you will gratefully exult in ascribing all to his own sovereign mercy in Jesus Christ. "But, oh, my dear friend, whither is it that you are going? Where is it that you will be a few short weeks or days hence? I have affecting cause to think and to wonder concerning that unseen world; to desire, were it permitted to mortals, one glimpse of that mysterious economy; to ask innumerable questions to which there is no answer: What is the manner of existence--of employment--of society--of remembrance--of anticipation--of all the surrounding revelations to our departed friends. How striking to think that _she_[A] so long and so recently with me here, so beloved, but now so _totally_ withdrawn and absent--that she experimentally knows all that I am in vain inquiring! [Footnote A: Mrs. Foster.]