We paused, as if from that bright shore And stilled our beating hearts to hear Sudden our pathway turned from night; Through their green gates the sunfhine fhowed, Down glade and glen and bank it rolled; And, borne on piers of mist, allied "So," prayed we, "when our feet draw near The river, dark with mortal fear, "And the night cometh chill with dew, "So let the hills of doubt divide, "So let the eyes that fail on earth On thy eternal hills look forth; "And in thy beckoning angels know The dear ones whom we loved below!' 7. G. Whittier. 1860. "AT EVENING THERE SHALL BE LIGHT." UR pathway oft is wet with tears, Our sky with clouds o'ercaft, And worldly cares and worldly fears Go with us to the laft; Not to the laft! God's word hath said, Could we but read aright: O pilgrim! lift in hope thy head, Though earth-born fhadows now may fhroud Our toilsome path awhile, And bid the sunfhine smile. If we but truft in living faith, His love and power divine, Then, though our sun may set in death, When tempeft-clouds are dark on high, Then keep we on, with hope unchilled, And we fhall own His word fulfilled, - Bernard Barton. GRACIOUS Source of every bleffing! Guard our breasts from anxious fears; Let us each, thy care poffeffing, Sink into the vale of years. All our hopes on thee reclining, DEATH. EVENING LIGHT. B EHOLD the western evening light! It melts in deepening gloom: So calmly Chriftians fink away, The winds breathe low; the withering leaf Scarce whispers from the tree: So gently flows the parting breath, How beautiful on all the hills How mildly on the wandering cloud 'Tis like the memory left behind, When loved ones breathe their laft. And now above the dews of night So faith springs in the heart of those But soon the morning's happier light And eyelids that are sealed in death Shall wake to close no more. W. B. O. Peabody. 1840. IN VIEW OF DEATH. TH HE hour, the hour, the parting hour, How sweet, while on this broken lyre To feel it ftrung with chords of fire To praise the Immortal One, my soul! |