But chance what may, thou wilt no more With sense and wit my hours beguile, Inform with learning's various lore, Or charm with friendship's kindest smile. Each book I read, each walk I tread, All have some tale to tell of thee. I shall not, should misfortune lower, Nor hear thee say, "My heart is thine." If thou hadst lived, thy well-earned fame Had bade my fading prospect bloom, Had cast its lustre o'er my name, And stood the guardian of my tomb. Servant of God! thy ardent mind, With lengthening years improving still, Striving, untired, to serve mankind, Had thus performed thy Father's will. Another task to thee was given ; "Twas thine to drink of early wo, To feel thy hopes, thy friendships riven, And bend submissive to thy blow; With patient smile and steady eye, To meet each pang that sickness gave, And see with lingering step draw nigh The form that pointed to the grave. Servant of God! thou art not there; Dost thou, amid the rapturous glow Of earthly scenes, of human tears? Perhaps e'en now thy thoughts return We framed no light nor fruitless talk. We spake of knowledge, such as soars And love, that follows and adores, As nature spreads before her sight. How vivid still past scenes appear! I feel as though all were not o'er; But I shall hear it; in that day Whose setting sun I may not view, We meet again; a little while, And where thou art I too shall be. HYMN. My God, I thank thee! may no thought Thy mercy bids all nature bloom; The sun shines bright, and man is gay; Thine equal mercy spreads the gloom Full many a throb of grief and pain Thy frail and erring child must know; Thy various messengers employ; FORTITUDE. FAINT not, poor traveller, though thy way Nay, sink not; though from every limb With whom his followers are to reign. Thy friends are gone, and thou, alone, And know a Friend who cannot fail. Bear firmly; yet a few more days, Christian thy Friend, thy Master prayed, Then met his sufferings undismayed; Wilt thou not strive to do the same? O! think'st thou that his Father's love Shone round him then with fainter rays Than now, when, throned all height above, Unceasing voices hymn his praise? Go, sufferer! calmly meet the woes Which God's own mercy bids thee bear; Go! his eternal victory share. FUNERAL HYMN. He has gone to his God; he has gone to his home; No more amid peril and error to roam; His eyes are no longer dim ; His feet will no more falter; No grief can follow him; There are paleness, and weeping, and sighs below; For our faith is faint, and our tears will flow; But the harps of heaven are ringing; Glad angels come to greet him, And hymns of joy are singing, While old friends press to meet him. O! honored, beloved, to earth unconfined, Thou hast soared on high, thou hast left us behind. But our parting is not forever, We will follow thee by heaven's light, Where the grave cannot dissever The souls whom God will urite. |