The coffin, the shroud, and the grave
To her were no objects of dread;
On Him who is mighty to save,
Her soul was with confidence stayed.

Then let us forbear to complain,
That she is now gone from our sight;
We soon shall behold her again,
With new and redoubled delight.”

Mrs. Graham’s death created a strong sensation in the public mind.  Magistrates of the city were careful to express their sense of the public loss sustained, and many charitable institutions paid affectionate tributes to her memory.  Several clergymen also made her death the subject of their discourses, among whom was her beloved pastor, Dr. JOHN M. MASON, who, on Sabbath evening, Aug. 14, delivered the well-known powerful sermon, “CHRISTIAN MOURNING,” from 1 Thess. 4:13, 14:  “I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.”

Contrasting the consolations afforded to the Christian with the darkness and doubt of the pagan or infidel; dwelling on the Christian’s death as “sleeping in Jesus;” his immediate entrance into bliss, and his glorious resurrection and reigning with Christ in the judgment, he thus proceeds: 

“In this faith the apostles labored and the martyrs bled.  Ages have elapsed and it is still the same.  It is not a distant wonder; not a brilliant vision; but a solid and present reality, under the power of which at this moment, while the words are on my lips, Christians, in various parts of the world, are closing their eyes to sleep in Jesus.  It has come home to our own business and bosoms.  It has chosen our houses to be the scene of its miracles.  But rarely does it fall to the lot of human eyes to witness so high a display of its value and virtue, as was witnessed in that blessed woman whose entrance into the joy of her Lord has occasioned our assembling this evening.

“As we are commanded to be followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises, we should have their example before us, that we may learn to imbibe their spirit, to imitate their graces, and be ready for their reward.  With this view, permit me to lay before you some brief recollections of our deceased friend.

“It is not my intention to relate the history of her life.  That will be a proper task for biography.  I design merely to state a few leading facts, and to sketch such outlines of character as may show to those who knew her not, what manner of person she was in all holy conversation and godliness.  Those who knew her best require no such remembrancer, and will be able, from their own observation, to supply its defects.

“ISABELLA MARSHALL, known to us as Mrs. GRAHAM, received from nature qualities which, in circumstances favorable to their development, do not allow their possessor to pass through life unnoticed and inefficient.