LINES ADDRESSED TO A LADY

UNDER BEREAVEMENT AND DECLINING HEALTH.

"The Master is come, and calleth for thee." John xi, 28.

I.

BE of good comfort, rise, He calleth thee
From this world's vain and transitory scenes;
Oh! quickly rise, and to thy Saviour flee,
In whose blest smile no sorrow intervenes
To darken o'er the sunshine of thy joy ;-
His peace He gives thee, peace without alloy.

II.

He gives not as the world gives-some short hours

Of fleeting bliss for ling'ring days of woe, The pomp of birth, or beauty's fading flowers. If these are thine, 'tis also thine to know That sickness shews their vanity, and brings More lasting comfort on her silent wings.

• Mark x. 49.

John xiv. 27.

III.

Oh! view her as she is an angel sent,

A chast'ning angel, from thy Father's throne, Blighting all earthly pleasure and content,

To give thee happiness before unknown.
Thy mortal robe she gently doth untie,
To dress thy soul for immortality.

IV.

She draws the veil, that covers truth, aside,
Dissolves the gaudy images of things,
Which in the soul's most secret chambers hide,
The youthful spirit's fond imaginings;
Closing the ear to each intrusive tone,
That we may hear the Saviour's voice alone.

V.

That "still small voice" in sorrow often found
And privacy, which Pault so kindly sought,
To press its truths, by worldly tumult drown'd,
On the few noble to their Saviour brought.
Oh be amongst those few!-Let thy desire
Be fix'd on Him, and all thy soul inspire!

See the fine description of the "chambers of imagery," Ezekiel viii.; and the reflections on sickness in Jer. Taylor's "Holy Dying," section 6.

UNDER BEREAVEMENT AND DECLINING HEALTH. 55

VI.

He looks on thee and loves thee".-Thou didst love
His poorer brethren, and their wants supply.
More lastingly to fix thy hopes above,

More deeply now thy love to Him to try,
He bids thee leave all that the heart ador'd,
That thou in Him mayst find it all restor❜d3.

VII.

Weep not that one so lov'd is gone before,

That thou on earth that face no more shalt see; Nay, thou wilt hope and long for heaven the more, For, where thy treasure is, thy heart will be! Look far beyond thy brother's silent grave, Yea, look to Him who died his soul to save.

VIII.

This, this is heaven, to live to Him alone;
Heaven is a state that must on earth begin.
Oh! mayst thou feel e'en here its joys unknown,
Mayst feel e'en here its blessed rest from sin y!
Holy in Christ, here suffer all His will,

Till through His grace, in heaven thou shalt be holier still!

1848.

"Mark x. 21.

Luke xiv. 33.

Heb. iv. 3; and 1 Peter iv. 1.

Stanza VI. In one of Klopstock's beautiful letters this passage occurs. "When by a taste for virtuous deeds, and by some trifling good actions which to us are not difficult, though to the vulgar they appear so, we have made a show of intending to be virtuous; then Providence seizes our whole heart, and puts this great question to us; whether we will here too submit; whether we will be virtuous even here ?"

Stanza VII. The following beautiful dream was vouchsafed to a lady under grief for the loss of an only son, and anxiety as to whether she should be permitted to recognise him in a happier world. She dreamt that she saw her son standing at the foot of the bed, and our blessed Saviour standing by him, who in a voice of the most soothing kindness said, "I have saved him, body and soul." She perfectly recognised her son, but her eyes were rivetted on her Saviour, nor could she take them off from Him, thus, in her dream, anticipating the happiness of heaven; "He shall be all in all."

Stanza VIII. "I am disposed to think," writes Bishop Jebb, "that the religion of most books we read is radically defective: it looks to heaven and hell as places rather than as conditions or states of moral happiness or misery. Whereas I conceive that holiness must form a principal part of heavenly enjoyment; and that sin must form a principal part of infernal torment; so that the heaven of a good man is in some measure commenced in this life." Bishop Jebb's Life.

It is singular that in making this observation, Bishop Jebb did not make use of his own favourite parallelism for illustration of this awful truth.

"He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and

He that is holy, let him be holy still." Rev. xxii. 11.

STANZAS TO THE MEMORY OF MISS CASAMAIJOR.

"The memory of the just is blessed"."

THOU art pass'd from earth away,

And in those hearts who knew thee anguish swells, When on thy gentle deeds their memory dwells And all thy lips did say,

Which from the words of love could ne'er depart, Because the law of love was in thy heart".

Still shines thy light serene

E'en on the path of thoughtless infancy,

And pious acts seem lovely, done by theea.

Long years may intervene,

And when the child, like thee, has aged grown,

Then will she bless that light which round her shone b

y Prov. x. 7.

Prov. xxxi. 26.

In allusion to the habit of the eldest child of the landlady with whom Miss Casamaijor had lodged, who attended the daily Church Service because she had been accustomed to see Miss Casamaijor do so. b Prov. xxii. 6.