THE ANGEL BY THE TOMB.

327

Tremblers beside the grave,
We call on thee to save,
Father divine!

Hear, hear our suppliant breath,
Keep us, in life and death,
Thine, only thine!

THE ANGEL BY THE TOMB.

SARAH F. ADAMS.

THE mourners came at break of day
Unto the garden sepulchre,

With darkened hearts, to weep and pray
For Him, the loved one buried there.
What radiant light dispels the gloom?
An angel sits beside the tomb.

The Earth doth mourn her treasures lost,
All sepulchred beneath the snow,
When wintry winds and chilling frost
Have laid her summer glories low:

The spring returns, the flowerets bloom,
An angel sits beside the tomb.

Then mourn we not beloved dead;
E'en while we come to weep and pray,

The happy spirit far hath fled,
To brighter realms of endless day:
Immortal Hope dispels the gloom!
An angel sits beside the tomb.

THE PAUPER'S DEATH-BED.

MRS. CAROLINE BOWLES SOUTHEY.

TREAD Softly! bow the head,—
In reverent silence bow!
No passing-bell doth toll,
Yet an immortal soul

Beneath that beggar's roof,

Lo! Death doth keep his state;

Enter, no crowds attend;

Enter, no guards defend

This palace gate.

THE PAUPER'S DEATH-bed.

That pavement, damp and cold,
No smiling courtiers tread;
One silent woman stands,
Lifting with meagre hands
A dying head.

That short, deep gasp,- and then
The parting groan!

O change! O wondrous change!
Burst are the prison bars!
This moment there, so low,
So agonized, and now
Beyond the stars!

O change! stupendous change!
There lies the soulless clod:

The sun eternal breaks,

The new immortal wakes,-
Wakes with his God.

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329

THE PRESENCE OF THE DEPARTED.

HIRAM WITHINGTON.

"Are they not all ministering spirits?"

THE sainted dead! think you they linger not, Nor e'er to this lone world return again? Say, do they not revisit each loved spot Whose sight doth waken such a thrilling strain

Within our longing hearts? O, not in vain They came and went! nor severed are those ties

That bound them to this life of joy and pain: They come, they come,-and bid our spirits

rise,

And dwell in peace with them, beneath the heavenly skies!

They are about us;-as when Israel's flight
God's spirit guided through the desert's sand,
In cloud by day and fiery lamp by night,
And led in safety to the promised land,
So round our path these guardian spirits
stand,

To shield us 'mid temptation's fiery heat;
In sorrow's night to take us by the hand,
And lead us gently to that mercy-seat
Whence comes celestial light to guide our wan-
dering feet.

THE PRESENCE OF THE DEPARTED. 331

They come, where, in life's weary hours of care,

The fainting heart is burdened, tempted,

tried;

Bringing from heaven the strength to do and bear,

The Father's pitying mercy hath supplied ; Beneath our roof at evening they abide, Like angel-guests whom Abraham fed of yore, Through the night's stillness watching by our side,

Giving us visions of the world before, That world of tranquil rest where partings come

no more.

God's ministers, they watch each step of ours, The loved and lost that on life's morning smiled;

Amidst our sleeping and unconscious hours, They speak within our hearts in accents mild;

And, as a mother soothes her fretful child, With words of strength and peace our souls they cheer:

O, could we calm our earthly passions wild, And see this spirit-host for ever near,

We ne'er could feel that all alone we wander

here!