Philada 1^st Month 29^th 1866

My dear friend ME Haines

I arrived here this evening with my daughter & have left her at Camden with our cousins, intending when I last wrote thee to be at Muncy on 4^th day the 31^st.

This morning I received thy kind note of the 27^th, informing me of your great bereavement – thy letter which came to hand a few days previously somewhat prepared me for the sad intelligence. A loss indeed to you, which I am sure you will sensibly feel, but it is a circumstance which you have been somewhat prepared for, and may we not believe that thy dear Parent was himself prepared for the great change. The happy state of mind which appeared to be his when I last saw him, convinced me that he was fast ripening for a better world. I should have been very glad to have seen him again & have mingled with him in social converse. I have been very reflective this day, and have been comforted in the belief that thy dear father has exchanged this life of trial & care for that of everlasting blessedness; and the very earnest desire of my spirit has been for myself that I might be favored to die the death of the righteous & that my last end might be like theirs. And my very dear friend the prayer of my spirit is & has been for thee & myself that we may live the life of the righteous, & may stimulate each other to such a life.

I do most tenderly sympathize with you – I know the sorrow of a bereaved heart, & I know also that there is a condition when words seem only a burden, but dear Mary my heart is filled with sympathy and love for you. Your beloved father is not lost, he has been called of his Lord in mercy & in love to inhabit a kingdom prepared for him & for which he had been prepared. & in that glorious kingdom to unite with those he had loved on earth. & with the just of all generations in praising the Lord God & the Lamb forever and ever – glorious and blessed engagement – The ties of nature are strong & it is lawful for us to mourn, but we mourn not as those who have no hope. "If in this life only we have hope we are of all men most miserable, said a faithful servant of the Lord in a former day – but we have hope beyond the narrow precincts of the silent grave, a hope that is crowned with blessedness & eternal life – while the natural part mourns the separation of a tender Father may we not rejoice in the belief that the change to him is a state of happiness, & with such feelings your love for him is too great to desire his return to earth. May we rather crave of our Father in Heaven & so believe in his dear Son as our Savior & Redeemer & Intercessor that he will enable us to live to his glory, & that we also may be ready when the summons is sent to us "Steward give up thy stewardship for thou mayst be no longer steward."

I can readily imagine that you will be much engaged for some days to come, that it may be best that I defer my intended visit a short time.

I feel very anxious to see thee & all of you, my spirit is with you in your great affliction.

Please extend my kindest regards to thy dear sisters & believe me dear Mary very affectionately thy sincere friend,

Edward Marshall