Final Thoughts 6/28/2012

Final Thoughts: Blessed Sleep

By Amy O'Neal

Ever notice how many epitaphs mention sleep? No, not the nightly sleep from which we wake each morning, but rather the eternal, the metaphorical, sleep of death.

The epitaph on the monument at the grave of Margaret Thomas (1850-1877) is taken from the hymn “Asleep in Jesus” written by Margaret Mackay (1802-1887) and first published in 1832.

Mrs. Mackay, born in Scotland, once visited a chapel cemetery in Devonshire, England where she noticed a gravestone with the simple words “Sleeping in Jesus.” According to Nicholas Smith writing in Songs from the Hearts of Women (1903), “the expressive inscription and the impressive stillness of the scene gave birth to the hymn.” 

Asleep in Jesus! Blessèd sleep,

From which none ever wakes to weep;

A calm and undisturbed repose,

Unbroken by the last of foes.

The John S. Clark poem “Why Mourn For The Dead,” published in 1836, is the source of the epitaph on the gravestone of Nathaniel W. Barrows (1822-1844), another example of sleep-as-death.

When the poem was published, it was noted that Clark wrote the poem “on the decease of a most amiable and deeply lamented relative, Mrs. Charles M. B—.” 

Why mourn for the dead, whom the Father has taken,

Serenely they sleep in their turf covered beds,

But ah ! not forsaken for angels shall waken,

And guide them to glory, why mourn for the dead,

Though here was all sorrow anguish and weeping,

Yet rich was the seed that the husbandman shed,

And one who is keeping the field for the reaping,

Shall hallow the harvest; why mourn for the dead.

The verse on the tablet marker at the grave of Anna Howard (1818-1837) is my favorite “sleepy epitaph.” It is taken from the hymn “Lord, I Am Thine,” written by Isaac Watts (1674-1748). 

My flesh shall slumber in the ground

Till the last trumpet’s joyful sound

Then burst the chains with sweet surprise

And in my Saviour’s image rise

How many examples of sleep-as-death are hiding among the epitaphs in your collection? More than a few, I would wager.