The Angel of Death | Page 5

thy promised land.
Stand firm, with conscience of pure intention,?Through times of trial, of toil and pain!?Then may your happiness meet prevention,?But mind and virtue can peace retain;
Then, in the sod?Though your corpse be buried,?These words of God?On the soul are veried:?"Thou true hast labored till payments' day,?Now, faithful servant, receive thy pay!"
To all do justice, and help the needy,?And comfort sorrow, where e'er you can!?For truth's defence unto death be speedy,?And win, as christian, and fall, as man!
No worldly samples?Of honors jading?Shall wreath your temples?With laurels fading;?But bright, eternal, shall thee entrance?The blessed holies' inheritance.
What worth had faith, if it lay not resting,?A bright-eyed pearl, in the heart enclosed,?In heav'nward gazes its sparkle vesting,?When crumbling shell leaves the core exposed?
Sweet slumber follows?When pain expires....?And creak the gallows,?And flame the fires,?Lo, martyr! heaven shall open thence,?And your Redeemer shall recompense!
What worth had virtue, if life were reckoned,?With matter's glimmering spark as checked??Thou _first Gustavus_! Thou _Great_, the _second_!?Thou free and valiant Engelbrekt!
And all ye sage,?And ye tender hearted,?Extolled an age--?Or forgot departed!?What worth had wisdom and heart and fame,?If but the graveyard had been your aim?
What worth had honor, whose voice imposes:?For love of duty your life to spend,--?If on the favors, foul mob disposes?By fouler leaders, she did depend?
Now beam her features?With peace depicted,?Though time's mere creatures?A sigh inflicted;?For dust of time cannot soil that street?Of starry splendor, where move her feet.
What worth had happiness, joy and gladness,?Those links of love in its purest scope,?If, when they sever, in gloomy sadness,?You could not join them by rays of hope?
What then were life??But a mental stigma,?An empty strife,?An unsolved enigma!?A heartless, cruel, Uriah note,?Which God, in anger, for mankind wrote.
A hoary Jacob his Joseph loses,?And Jonathan from his David parts,?And woe-filled bosom a grief discloses,?To which no solace the world imparts!
And Rachel, weeping,?Her children mourneth;?Her sorrow keeping?She comfort scorneth!?For, gone forever is all she prized?Which mother's heart could have idolized.
But, God is love--so, with hope, look thither,?Ye hearts despondent, and take relief!?The grain, you laid in the ground to wither,?Shall rise to harvests of golden sheaf.
O! what was born?For your hearts to cherish--?And left forlorn?In the grave to perish,?It is not gone; though it is not there--?The One Eternal of it takes care.
In Him there liveth all life; He proveth?All force, and kindleth so clear all light.?His love embraceth, too, what He moveth?To other homes in His house, so bright.
Let fogs not blind thee,?Thou spirit childly!?Once shall find thee?That hour, when mildly?The Father calls thee. But, in the mean,?Endure and labor, with faith serene!
Like Mary, linger, with holy feeling,?And pray and listen, at Jesu feet!?Like Magdalene, at the cross appealing,?See looks of mercy repentance meet!
Like John, so cling thee?To friend ne'er failing!?His love shall bring thee,?From stress and ailing,?To bliss and freedom, forever nigh,?Within His heavenly realm on high.
Well those, who, noble in will, prevailing,?Have sought the right, and the kindly felt,?Who much have loved, spite of all their failing!?Them much forgiveness shall too be dealt.
They were not rated?The _best_ desired;?But angels stated,?With love untired,?What, in the smallest degree, through them,?Had cheered that world from which they came.
They did adhere to their foremost duty,?To fear the Lord, with a fervent heart;?They cleansed their garments, to stainless beauty,?In blood, that innocence doth impart.
All grief is banished,?All sin remitted,?All anguish vanished,?All weeping quitted--?Their names are kept in their Father's grace,?And weary sink they in His embrace.
They go so peaceful in God to slumber,?They greet so joyful the final day:?No tribulations their rest encumber,?No visitations of fortune's sway.
No longer thwarted,?As earth compels us,?They have departed,?The spirit tells us,?Exchanging thralldom for freedom's gem,?And their achievements shall follow them.
A noble feeling each step impelling,?They gained the home of their Father soon.?That ample city shall be their dwelling,?Whose light depends not on sun and moon:
For greater light,?Than the sun containeth,?Has He, whose might?From the throne there reigneth,?With grace to all in that city stay;?And life and bliss doth His glance convey!
And room for all, who, in faith, are hoping,?For all is room in the Promised Land!?And, like, when fig-trees their buds are oping?You know that summer is near at hand;
Thus, when the chill?Of your evening broaches,?You feel, with thrill,?That the _friend_ approaches,?To lead you homeward, where joys excel,?United ever with Him to dwell.
When day be cooling, and shadows cover,?With sombre curtains, your hills and dales,?Then, to release you, He near shall hover,?Whose power, great as his love, prevails.
The eye-lids, laded,?A while are closing, ...?The work-tools, jaded,?Benumbed reposing, ...?Another while--and a new career,?In splendor, shall to your view appear!
And earth is new, as is heaven's portal;?The son of heaven and earth is new,?And misses not, since become immortal,?The narrow homestead, whence he withdrew.
It ceased existing,?It ceased attracting--?But faith persisting,?But virtue acting!?You have, before you, the lot prepared,?By abject spirits not seen or shared.
Then wiped away are all tears