Answer

You complain of the suddenness of the stroke, but another will be ready to say: had my friend died in that manner, my affliction would have been nothing to what it now is. I have seen many deaths combined into one. I saw the gradual approach of death upon my dear relation, who felt every step of death as it came on toward him, who often cried with Job (3:20): Why is light given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul, who long for death but it does not come, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures, who rejoice greatly when they find the grave?

What you count the sting of your affliction, others would have counted a favor and a privilege. How many tender parents and other relations who loved their friends as dearly as you have been driven to their knees on no other errand but this: to beg the Lord to hasten the separation and put an end to that sorrow, which to them was much greater than the sorrow for the dead.