Death and judgment, Heaven and Hell Thefe alone, fo often heard, -No more move us than the bell When some stranger is interred. Oh then, ere the turf or tomb Spirit of inftruction come, Make us learn that we must die. ON A SIMILAR OCCASION, FOR THE YEAR 1792. Felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas, Atque metus omnes et inexorabile fatum VIRG. Happy the mortal, who has traced effects THANKLESS for favours from on high, But he, not wife enough to fcan Would gladly ftretch life's little span Galled by affliction's heavy chain, And hopeless of repofe. Strange fondness of the human heart, Enamoured of its harm! Strange world, that cofts it so much smart, And ftill has power to charm. Whence has the world her magic power? Why deem we death a foe? Recoil from weary life's best hour, And covet longer woe? The cause is Confcience-Confcience oft Her tale of guilt renews: Her voice is terrible though soft, Then anxious to be longer spared 'Tis judgment fhakes him; there's the fear, That prompts the wish to stay: He has incurred a long arrear, And must despair to pay. Pay-follow Chrift, and all is paid; Think on the grave where he was laid, ON A SIMILAR OCCASION, FOR THE YEAR 1793.. De sacris autem hæc sit una sententia, ut conservéntur. CIC. DE LEG. But let us all concur in this one sentiment, that things facred be inviolate. He lives who lives to God alone, And all are dead befide; For other fource than God is none To live to God is to requite But life, within a narrow ring Of giddy joys comprized, Is falfely named, and no fuch thing, |