Swept off the great chess-board of this world!

(George Wilson, "Counsels to an Invalid" 1862)

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"There is no remembrance of men of old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow." Ecclesiastes 1:11

"For the wise and the foolish both die. The wise will not be remembered any longer than the fool. In the days to come, both will be forgotten." Ecclesiastes 2:16

November 26th, 1847.
Dear Friend,
We shall both very soon, I anticipate, be called away from seeing all things through a glass darkly—to meeting God face to face, and shall have to answer to Him for the deeds done in the body.

We would certainly exhibit the most inordinate vanity, if we thought that the great mass of our fellow-men would be losers by our being swept off the great chess-board of this world.

This board, indeed, is always so crowded that, with the exception of our attached relations and a few friends, the greater number of our neighbors will be glad to know that our being cleared away has left more elbow-room for them. Think how soon the world gets over the death of an eminent minister, and let us be content that the place that knew us once, shall know us no more.

"Our days on earth are like grass; like wildflowers, we bloom and die! The wind blows, and we are gone—as though we had never been here!" Psalm 103:15-16

"The length of our days is seventy years—or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away. So teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." Psalm 90:10, 12