On behalf of all the family of our sister, Leona Pretlove, we bid you welcome today. We thank you for coming to remember with the family this dear departed sister. We would also like to extend a welcome to those who are joining us on the internet webcast and trust that we'll all know the Lord's presence today. The family would also like me to make sure to emphasize to you that they invite you to join them for the conclusion of this service at the graveside, and that will be at Graceland East Memorial Park. And there will be a procession leaving here from the church shortly after we dismiss here. And then also the family would invite you to return here to the church for a reception in the fellowship room in our building next door after that graveside service. If you will now take the hymnals, which are in front of you in the hymn racks in the pew. We're going to sing hymn number 451, 451, O thou in whose presence. And we'll all stand to sing 451. I come for my name and my song in the night. I come, my salvation, my hope. In the body of heaven stood I before the Holy Ghost, filled to the brim with joy. ♪ For God in the heavens shall forever reign ♪ ♪ My Lord will rejoice when my sorrow drains me ♪ ♪ And as far as the land of Israel goes ♪ ♪ Pray for his joy ♪ He speaks and he turns ♪ He fills with his voice ♪ He echoes the praise of the Lord ♪ He shall abide in heaven Let us remain standing as we seek the Lord's face in prayer. Let's all pray. Our gracious God and our Heavenly Father, Lord, we rejoice this day at the thought that we have been singing our sister's testimony. O Father, how we thank Thee for her knowledge of the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. How we thank Thee, O God, even as we read in her biography of that blessed day when she could pen that she was saved in 1940. Lord, we thank Thee for the goodness that Thou did show her in life and oh, how we rejoice that that goodness, in a sense, is only beginning as she dwells in eternity with Thee. Oh, Father, we rejoice in all that Thou hast done in delivering her, in providing for her, in answering so many prayers throughout her life, in speaking to her through the open page of Thy Word, in giving her grace as she sought to minister that blessed truth to her own children, and granting her the joy of seeing them trust her Savior. O Father, we pray today that Thou wilt be pleased to grant us to remember with joy that truth for which she lived and in which she died. And Lord, we ask Thee this day that Thou wilt seal to the grieving family members that grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, that grace that she proved was sufficient for her every trial. Lord, may it be sufficient this day to comfort them, to grant them the sense of the Savior's presence, to grant them that sure knowledge that indeed they sorrow not as those who have no hope. Father, we pray today that Thou wilt draw nigh to every member of the family. We pray, Father, that Thou wilt grant them the sense of the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we pray that Thou wilt grant them a sure and a true knowledge of Mrs. Pretlove's confidence in Christ, of confidence in His finished work, of His spotless righteousness in life and of His atoning death. O Lord, we pray today that that blessed and eternal truth, that confidence which can never be shaken, will be sealed to every heart here. O Lord, we thank Thee that Christ is risen on high and become the firstfruits of them that slept. And we thank Thee, O Lord, that His resurrection is the guarantee that our sister is with Thee this day. And Father, we thank Thee this day that though we have great cause to sorrow for ourselves for the reality of missing her in this life. Oh, how we thank Thee that we have no cause to sorrow for her. Oh, we bless Thee that she's never been better. We thank Thee that her cup runs over with joy this day. And we thank Thee that her eyes behold the glory of her Savior. So, Father, receive our thanks and praise. Grant that Thy presence will be sealed to us today. Grant that as Thy Word is opened that we will hear Thy speaking voice. and grant that none of us will leave unchanged as a result of the word we hear from heaven this day. So receive our thanks and praise and be our portion. Let thy presence be known to each of us as we meet here this day and remember our sister and remember her dear Savior in whose name we pray. Amen. You may be seated. I'd like to give a word of personal sympathy to all the family circle, especially those with whom I have not had opportunity to speak personally. We think of you. With all the folk in the church, we're praying for you. I have been through these difficult times over the past weeks and months as Mrs. Pretlove has failed physically and the burden on the family not only just in the matter of time, physical effort, but just the emotional investment was beginning to take a very heavy toll. Our prayers have been with you. And today we do sympathize with you in your loss. And yet, of course, we rejoice with you that the Lord has done all things well. Our brother Myron will be preaching today. And I'm glad of that. I don't get to hear him preach nearly enough because every time he comes to Greenville, he hides that fact from me so that I couldn't ask him to preach. So I'm glad that Myron will be bringing the Lord's Word today. It is my place and my privilege, as someone who served Mrs. Pretlove as her pastor for many, many years, to pay a tribute to her testimony. Program says a eulogy, and I suppose it may be. I don't like eulogies. I have left instructions with my wife that when I die there will be no eulogy. That's maybe a little presumptuous that someone may want to have a eulogy, but I don't like eulogies. Tributes and testimonies, yes. And it's my privilege to pay a tribute to the testimony in memory. of Mrs. Pretlove. I visited with her for many years now, and during that time we became very good friends. We shared many times together, times of fellowship, times when we would pray together, times when we read the scriptures together, times when we spoke of serious things, and it'll not come as any surprise to you if you know her, times when we spoke of things that weren't very serious either. We spoke of the past. We talked about the present. And we looked forward to the future, not only generally, but her future. And very often, we frankly spoke about death and her dying. And while she had a great hold on life and expressed no morbid desire to get rid of her life, yet she did. say she was ready to die and was waiting for the Lord to come and take her. In all these years, I have to say that I found her really a very genuine person. She was real. And in an age when that's a very rare quality, I think that's one of the best things I can say about her. So many people are altogether too much taken up with appearances and making a good impression. And as long as people think certain things about them, they think that they're all right. And she was real. I'll not say what you see is what you get, because that always seems to have a negative connotation. But what you saw in her is what you got. And that's not said negatively. In other words, what she was in church, she was everywhere else. And she was real. I find her a very caring person. always taking an interest in other people. Her own needs were great, especially in the last years. Her physical needs were great. And yet, as she was more and more confined to quarters, she still took an interest. Every time I'd go to see her, I got a stream of questions about people at the church, who was doing this and that, and what was going on. And it wasn't just nosiness. I tend to clam up when people get nosy, She was not nosy, she had a real genuine love and prayerful interest in what was going on. In all these years, and I got close to her really after her husband died, and that was when really she was entering into the difficult years of life, I still found her happy and contempted. Yes, she could weep, and there were many things to weep about, but she could also laugh. If you've read this little biographical sketch, you'll know that that goes way back. She could laugh. In fact, as you'll see from that sketch, she took a stroke last April. At that time I was in Europe and therefore too far away to be of any personal use to her. Jan very kindly kept me up with very frequent emails as we kept in touch that way and were able to pray for her. But when I finally got here, it was into July, to get to see her. And she was in Magnolia Place. Now at that time she had a lot to knock her down. I have to say that sometimes people think that the preachers should do nothing but go in and read and shout and preach at the people. I think sometimes you've got to let them, you know, face a little bit of joy and ordinary life. She was in a double room and the lady there, I don't think through any malice, but she had a television blasting all the time. And that greatly afflicted Mrs. Pretlove. To be quite honest, I wouldn't have been as gracious, and that television would either have been listened to by earphones, or it would have been kicked out the window. But Mrs. Pretlove, being the person she was, she put up with it. But it was difficult. She had the bars up on the side of her cot, and she, you know, you can see for me, I'm a giant. So I had to stand up to look over to see her. And as I did so, and talked away to her, She took pity on me and she said, why don't you just sit down? I said, no, I couldn't do that. If I sat down and you were looking through those bars, you'd think you were at the zoo and you'd start throwing buns at me. Well, she nearly fell out of the cot laughing. And, you know, it was good for her to be able to laugh at a time when there were so many things that caused her grief. Now, we didn't just do that. We did take time to read and pray and think about the things of God that were a great blessing to her at that time. But she was a person who knew how to weep and she knew how to laugh. I think I could sum it all up and just say simply that she was the kind of lady that you were happy to know. I say lady advisedly. A lot of women. The longer I live, the less ladies I see. The fewer ladies I should say. She was a lady. A woman of great graciousness, beauty of character, You know, when you read this little sketch, I think you may well conclude, well, she was always like that. She's one of those nice people that, now and again, you tend to come across and wish you came across them more often. But if Mrs. Pretlove were here, she would tell you that until that day in 1940, September 14, she had lived without God, without Christ, and without hope. And that was the day that the real Leona McCoy, I like that name, the Hatfields and the McCoys, you think of, but I think of McCoy and say there's Scottish blood there. There's Scottish blood there. And that's a good thing to have. And it's probably Scots-Irish blood and that's even better. So when I read that I was happy. But the real Leona McCoy began to live. She became a missionary in the Congo. When I was growing up in Northern Ireland, the Congo was the mission field of the world. Later, it became Brazil for Northern Irish people. I'll not give you the reasons for that, but Congo was the place. In fact, when I was growing up, to go to the mission field was to go to the Congo. There was nowhere else to go. To think of missionaries going somewhere else was a second-class calling. So she went to the Congo. And later, when she returned to the US, taught here in school in this area. And then she married Harold Pretlove and started yet another life. And yet, the more I thought of it, I thought it's not another at all, but just the application of the same devotion to the Lord that she had shown in the mission field, that she had shown in church life, that she had shown in teaching in her classes. She now just exercised all that in a different realm of her home, her family, and the wide missionary interest that she and her husband shared. With him, she shared a particular interest in missions to the Jews. In fact, she graciously once gave me a loan. And she made it clear, mind you, it was a loan. She had to get it back. And if she hadn't, she'd never have got it back because I have never come across it. I'm sure you can get it, but I haven't seen it. And it was the biography. of the Jewish rabbi who started the mission that her husband was associated with. One of the most fascinating and thrilling missionary biographies that you will ever read. She gave that to me for a little while and I read it and we had a good time talking about it. We often discussed what the Bible had to say about the future of Israel. We often had conversations about some of the great converts from Judaism to Christianity and the books that they had written. And I would tell her my favorite commentator in some Old Testament books or some Old Testament passages is David Barron, a Jewish scholar who was gloriously converted to Christ, talked about the great Jewish mission of the Scottish Presbyterians, Robert Murray McShane and others, and the great fruits of that. And she was thrilled to talk about those things because until last days of consciousness, she always had a great joy in Jewish missions. You know, that love for missions grew out of a love for Christ. And that love for Christ was evident in everything that Mrs. Pretlove said and did. She loved His Word. We read the scriptures together every time we were together. She loved the Word. And it was very evident that wherever I read the Word, she was cognizant of it. She knew. She was with me. And in some ways that made it difficult. There was nothing really new to her. But she enjoyed it as if it were being read for the first time. You'll read here how she wore out her Alexander Scurvy tapes. She just didn't listen to them. She read along as he read. And many a time would read the Bible through four times a year. Jan was telling me that in the last years, using the same method only now with CDs, she read the Bible through as she sat alone. She would read and listen and go through the Bible once every six weeks. Sort of puts to shame people who have been saved for 20 years and have never read the Bible through once, does it not? But that's the secret. She loved the Bible because she received it for what it is, the Word of God. She loved to pray. When we prayed together, it wasn't just I praying for her. She was praying. We prayed. She loved to pray for God's work. She particularly prayed for her family. If you're in that family today, young or old, and I know not, and you're not saved, I want you to know she lifted you up constantly by name before the throne of grace, praying with diligence that God in grace would bring you to Himself and bless you with all His fullness. She didn't only pray for her own family, she prayed for all her families. For many years in this church, the ladies have taken on to themselves the burden of praying for every single child connected with this congregation, and indeed every single child of our ministers in all the other congregations in North America, and taking them by name, praying for them that God would save them. And Mrs. Pretlove took part of that burden. She was always asking about the families. Joan and I have a boy in the U.S. Army, and today serving his third tour of duty in Iraq in a very, very dangerous situation. Every time I was with Mrs. Pretlove, she would ask, what are you hearing about Frank? How is he? I pray for him. You couldn't get better news than that. I pray for him. Now, that is a prayer warrior, and that certainly is a wonderful thing. We will miss that. This church, I know the Lord does all things well, and I am not complaining about what the Lord has done. Mrs. Pretlove lived a very full life and lived to a ripe old age, and she was glad to get away to be with Christ. So we're not finding fault. But nonetheless, when the Lord takes away a prayer support, you're going to miss it. Your family will miss it. Except for this, that the Lord never forgets the prayers of His people. The prayer warrior may be dead, but the prayers never die. Remember, the father and mother of John the Baptist had given up praying for him, praying that they would have a child. It was too late. God had not answered prayer. But God had heard the prayer. The prayer never died, and God answered. But we certainly will miss her fellowship and her prayer support, though it's well with her. As Mr. Braham said, it's never been better with her. She is with Christ. is thinking of what the scripture said, that the righteous have hope in his death. Mrs. Pretlow faced that death with great assurance. I was reading that when Samuel Johnson, the great literary giant, when Samuel Johnson was thinking of death, he was filled with fear and terrible doubts. And the worst of it was that the feeling was that there was no help anywhere. And yet, when he actually came today, he wrote that his fears were calmed and absorbed by the prevalence of his faith and his trust in the merits and propitiation of Christ. Mrs. Pretlove had that assurance, but thank God, without the doubts. Last night, as I lay in bed, for some reason or other not able to get over to sleep, I was thinking of her. And I thought of three women in Scripture. And I said to myself, you know, the salient points of their character and Christian witness you see in her. I thought in many ways she was like Mary. In the New Testament, every time you read of Mary, the sister of Lazarus and Martha, Every time you read of her, she is found at the feet of Jesus. That was her devotion, like Mary. Then I thought of a woman who's by many preachers confused with Mary, but she wasn't Mary. You read of her in Matthew 26 and Mark 14, who in the house of Simon the leper anointed the Lord Jesus And Jesus said when she was criticized, let her alone. She hath done what she could. And that's her service. Mrs. Pretlove didn't do everything. She didn't do everything right. But she did what she could. That's her service. Then I thought of Dorcas. who, when she lay dead, had all her works on display for those who were left to mourn. And that's her example. We thank God that our sister was among us. We thank God that he saved her, that he blessed her, that he let her see her family converted and united in Christ. Gave her that greatest of all blessings for any parent. That's the most important. Gave her that. Made her beloved in this congregation. Many folk here, though she hasn't been able to be out of church for a long, long time, remember her with joy. Before I finish, I have to say, I am particularly glad that Mrs. Hulbert's with us today. She and Mrs. Pretlove were great friends. They loved each other and the Lord. They're both great prayer warriors. They prayed for the same things. Every time I'd go to visit Mrs. Hulbert, she'd ask me about Mrs. Pretlove. I would go to Mrs. Pretlove and I would tell her, Mrs. Hulbert was asking for you. They couldn't make contact anymore. Mrs. Pretlove would send the message back. So I was a very, very useful errand boy and it was a privilege but I'm delighted that one of our oldest friends is able to be with us on this occasion and to pay tribute to a very dear Saint of God. May God bless you all and you family members, may the Lord strengthen you and keep you and may you live in the devotion, reproduce the service and follow the example of a godly mother, grandmother, sister, as the case may be. Amen. On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame. And I love that old cross where the dearest and best For a world of lost sinners was slain So I'll cherish the old rugged cross Till my trophies at last I lay down I will cling to the old rugged cross And exchange it someday for a crown Oh, that old rugged cross, so despised by the world, has a wondrous attraction to me. For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above to bear it to dark Calvary. In the old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine, a wonderful beauty I see. For it was on that old cross Jesus suffered and died to pardon and sanctify me. Oh, that old rugged cross I will ever be true Its shame and reproach gladly bear Then he'll call me someday To my home far away Where his glory forever I'll share So I'll cherish the old rugged cross Till my trophies at last I lay down, I will cling to the old rugged cross. and exchange it someday for a crown. Let us hear the Word of the Lord at 2 Corinthians chapter 5, the passage that was most dear to our sister. For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God and house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven. If so be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened. Not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrought for us wrought us for the self same thing as God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore, we are always confident knowing that whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore, we labor that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. But we are made manifest unto God, and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences. Amen. She being dead, yet speaketh." For she had chosen that portion of Scripture to be read at her memorial service. I am grateful for the privilege of taking part in this memorial service today. And on behalf of the family, I want to Thank you all for all that you have done and are doing for the family at this time. I'm going to read the Word of God from Isaiah chapter 40, just a few verses at the beginning of the chapter. It was her desire for me to preach today, so I will. And I'm very grateful for these brethren that are here to support me and help in this service. And we sorrow not as others, which have no hope. Ours is a bright, established, and settled hope, for we believe that Jesus died and rose again. Even so, them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him." Today, as we sorrow on earth for our loss, Leona Pretlove rejoices with joy unspeakable, full of glory. For her, the eternal song of praise has begun and will never end. We find our comfort in the Holy Scriptures. Isaiah chapter 40, verse 1, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned. For she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken it." Amen. Trust the Lord will bless His Word to all our hearts. Where could we possibly go in a time like this if we had not the Scriptures of truth and the throne of heavenly grace? But there are words for us here of sure comfort. In verses 1 and 2 of this chapter, we read, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably. Marvelous words. These words are specifically directed to God's covenant people. And so only Those who are blessed with a God-given faith to trust in Christ can receive real abiding comfort. Comfort from God. This passage clearly reveals the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 3 introduces to us John the Baptist and his ministry of preparing the way of Christ the Lord. It was for Jesus. that the highway was made straight for him and for his gospel. Christ himself is the glory of the Lord that has been revealed, so that not Hebrew flesh alone, but all flesh, even Gentile flesh, should see him together. The comfort of God is triune comfort, And it is no accident that we read three times in this text, Comfort ye, comfort ye, speak ye comfortably. For God triune, the one in three and the three in one is our comfort. How can this be? We have three comforters. All of them are eternally divine. We read of the Father. as our comforter today. In 2 Corinthians 1, verses 3 and 4, blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, the God of all comfort. It is this God who comforteth us in all our tribulation. This Father is eternally blessed He is the eternally happy One. From eternity, He is full and overflowing with blessings, so that in His decree of sovereign mercy, He is the Father of mercies, the very source, the originator of goodness, grace, blessing, and comfort to bestow upon poor, helpless sinners. What comfort, what love the Father has manifested to us and bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. How can it be? For God the Father so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Oh, what love, what comfort God gives and has given to us in the unspeakable gift of His incarnate Son. Not only is the Father our Comforter, in so blessing us, so loving us, sovereignly gracing us, and giving us the darling Son of His bosom, Christ the Son of God. God the Son is also our Comforter. For He said in John's Gospel, chapter 14 and verse 16, that He would pray the Father to give to believers another Comforter, implying that they already had a Comforter in their midst, Jesus Himself. In this very chapter of John 14, Jesus had been busy comforting His downcast disciples. He had said to them, let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions, many dwelling places, for believers. What a wonderful comfort He was giving to them. Christ stated in verse 16 that another comforter would be given to abide with them forever. This word, another, is most instructive. It means another of the same kind, not another of a different kind. So Jesus is saying, the Father is going to give you another comforter just like Me. I am now your comforter, but I am leaving you. I will still be your comforter from heaven, but you will also have a comforter to abide with you on this earth. John wrote in his first epistle, chapter 2 and verse 1 to God's children, that we sin not, but if or when we sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. That word advocate, is most important. For that word advocate is the very same Greek word as that word for comforter in John 14, 16. The other comforter that Jesus had spoken of. True Christians love God. True Christians want to live for Him and not sin. But sadly, we have to admit it. We fail and we do sin. but Christ our Comforter who fills for us and intercedes for us with the Father so that we are forgiven and His blood goes on keeping on cleansing us from sin. He is our Comforter in that way. And another Comforter, the Holy Spirit echoes the intercessions of our Advocate who is in heaven It is the Spirit, our Comforter within our own hearts, who echoes by those unutterable groans the very prayers of our Advocate in heaven. But the chief comfort that Christ gives us is in Isaiah chapter 40, verse 2. He says, "...Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her..." What? "...To His people," He says, Here is the message. Your warfare is accomplished. Your iniquity is pardoned. He says, For she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all our sins. He cries to us that our warfare is accomplished. Our iniquity is pardoned. This is comfort indeed. Christ has fought the fight. Christ has won the battle. He has accomplished the great work of our salvation by living and dying for us. He poured out His life and His precious blood on the cross to pardon our iniquities. Cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned. For she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all our sins. Double. Double comfort from Christ's As poor, needy sinners, we need both pardon and merit with God. We have received of the Lord's hand double for all our sins, the Scripture says here. All the perfect life of Jesus in its absolute righteousness is given to us. With all those 33 years of perfection and living, that holy merit is now put to our account. and is ours for the taking by faith alone. Secondly, the other part of that double, all His suffering, His anguish, His sorrow, His bloodshedding are given for us to remove our guilt and our condemnation. Oh, what a double portion is given to us in place of all our sin and iniquity. He is indeed our Comforter. Finally, the third comforter is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father has sent in Jesus' name to comfort God's people. He is our helper. He leads in paths of righteousness. He moves us to pray. He opens our eyes to see. And He opens the Scriptures so that we can see, and especially so that we can see Christ in the Word. He is our leader in worship. in adoration and praise of the Lamb of God. He is the great executor of the Trinity on earth. He is the one who is applying redemption. He is the one working the will of God on earth. He is the one especially working in the hearts of His own blood-bought people to will and to do of His good pleasure. He is the one indwelling, gracing, gifting, and guiding the Lord's people. He convicts of sin and righteousness and works comfort in those that He first causes to mourn for their sin. In one word, He is the Vicar of Jesus Christ. The true Vicar of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit stands on earth. He is here. in place of, instead of Jesus Christ, pointing us to Christ and reminding us of Christ's words. We have comfort today. Thank God for triune comfort. Three divine comforters embrace and enfold our trembling hearts because dear mom Pretlove was loved and chosen by God the Father before she ever had a being. Christ died for her sins in particular, as well as our sins. And the promised Holy Ghost applied to her the benefits of Christ's redemption. He brought her to Jesus on September the 14th, 1940. He led her to Africa. He cared for her there. He used her there. He brought her back home. He used her prayers among Jews and Gentiles. And now we look forward to going to the land of the blessed, where she is. And she beckons to us today. She beckons to you, my friends, by her life, by her prayers, by her desires to see you over there, even when she was here. And she beckons by that testimony. even now. She knows and she wants you to know that the only way you'll ever be where she is, is by Jesus Christ. He is the only way. And the only way to get there is by coming to faith in Him. So I urge you today to turn from your sin. I beg you to embrace Jesus Christ, the Son of God. For He is freely offered to you today in the gospel." I have here a very old piece of paper. She penned it many years ago upon her father's death. And as I said at the beginning, she being dead yet speaketh. And here is a poem. that she penned so long ago. You can see the yellow of the paper. My wife found this in one of her Bibles. She speaks of her father and her family. She says, yes, Dad's silver cord has broken. His faith is now made sight. All trials and tears and doubts and fears have vanished with the night. Our family circle here is marred on earth is not complete. But those He left are not bereft, for once again we'll meet. For God Himself deep sorrow knew when Christ His Son He gave to walk this earth and give new birth. His blood He shed to save. So while we know Dad's safe with Christ, we still by faith must live till one by one our race is done our account to God will give. So, mother, brothers, sisters, dear, look deep within your heart, bind your silver cord to Christ our Lord, and never again will part. I trust that the Lord will minister comfort to every heart today for Jesus' sake. Someday life's journey will be o'er And I shall reach the distant shore I'll sing while entering heaven's door Jesus led me all the way Jesus Let me step by step each day I will tell the saints and angels as I lay my burdens down Jesus led me all the way If God should let me there review The winding paths of earth I knew It would be proven clear and true Jesus led me all the way And hither to my Lord has led, Today he guides each step I tread, And soon in heaven it will be said, Jesus led me all the way. Jesus led me all the way. Led me step by step each day. I will tell the saints and angels as I lay my burdens down Jesus led me all the way We'll now close this portion of our service in prayer. Let's pray. Once again, O God, we thank Thee that that which has been sung was the testimony of our sister. O Father, we thank Thee that Thou didst lead her. And we thank Thee for the salvation she found in Jesus Christ, that her Savior was sufficient, And we bless Thee, O God, for the testimony she has left us, and we have rejoiced to hear this day of Thy grace in her life. And we pray, Father, as her great desire was that that grace be experienced by all her family, that today Thou wilt seal it to everyone. Father, we do bless Thee that the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, that there is so great salvation found in Him. O Lord, seal it to every heart, we pray. Receive now our thanks and praise. Be our portion. And, O God, we pray, let the lessons of her life, yea, of her death, be sealed to everyone. Remember this, dear family. Draw nigh to them, we pray. Grant them this comfort from this threefold source of comfort in Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Grant them, O Lord, to know that word precious to their hearts in these days. And, Grandfather, that they will indeed rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ and know Him as their great comfort at this time. So receive our thanks and praise. Be our portion this day, we pray. And receive, O Lord, our thanks for so wonderful a gospel this day that answers the need of all our sin. We ask it in Christ's holy and precious name. Amen.