319. With death the sinner's hope shall cease; 320. Disease and pain, with lingering smart, And clouds and darkness round her press'd. The darkness pass'd, and Mercy's rays Thus, when amidst the eastern skies The impatient lark is seen to rise And, warbling, wing her way to heaven. 321. And dost thou think, O boasting Death, The stroke that robb'd him of his breath A conqueror, he shall hail the hour, When vanquish'd thou shalt fly; Rise o'er the ruins of thy power, And live when thou shalt die. 322. Disturb'd, the sleeper starts and wakes; nor knows 323. Prepare to be forgotten upon earth! 324. My wife and my children are gone to their rest; They have reach'd their fair home in the land of the bless'd; And why should I selfishly sigh or repine, 325. The kindest tribute of respect and love Yet something is to human nature due;- 326. Though the road to eternal life be hard to the proud; yet He who has said, "I am the way," has made it easy to the humble: walk therein, and Death need not be feared. 327. Reader, as every day and every hour brings you nearer to the great and final change which awaits you, so let each day and hour find you more prepared for it. 328. Though my sins were untold as the sands, O look on the palms of his hands, And the rent and the stream at his side. So long as my Saviour shall reign, And the throne of his glory endure; So long will his promise remain, And my pardon and peace be secure. 329. Reader, improve thy fleeting hours, and give them to the Lord; remembering that the most precious portion of thy time is that which is nearest to eternity. 330. The year that gave our floweret birth When, far from this uncertain earth, An angel mark'd it where it grew, 331. Her talents and her virtues were formed rather to bless a narrow circle, than to attract the transitory plaudits of a wide one: no one could know her without love, nor lose her without regret. 332. And dost thou life's enjoyments crave? To God thy secret sorrows bring: grave, Thy Saviour with thy soul adore; L 333. O Reader! call upon thy God, For all the virtue that thou hast And thou canst only hope for heaven 334. E'en as I watch'd it in my bower, Impair'd its beauty with decay, And bore it from me far away. That stroke of death-that blast was given To bear it to the highest heaven, Where it shall bloom again, and wear Bright and unfading beauty there. 335. Though he lived in the midst of every earthly enjoyment, yet his heart was not in these things, for he knew that he had "a better and an enduring substance." |