Whate'er those pangs from me conceal'd, To thee in midnight groans reveal'd; They stung remembrance to despair; How did delirious fancy dwell On Madness, Suicide, and Hell! There was on earth no POWER to save : -But, as he shudder'd o'er the grave, He saw from realms of light descend RELIGION!Her almighty breath Rebuked the winds and waves of death; F She bade the storm of frenzy cease, TO HEAVEN his gentle Spirit rose. VERSES TO THE MEMORY OF THE LATE JOSEPH BROWNE, OF LOTHERSDALE, ONE OF THE PEOPLE CALLED QUAKERS, Who had suffered a long Confinement in the Castle of York, and Loss of all his worldly Property, for Conscience Sake. "SPIRIT, leave thine house of clay; Dust, be thou dissolved in death!" Thus thy GUARDIAN ANGEL spoke, "Prisoner, long detain'd below; Prisoner, now with freedom blest; Welcome, from a world of woe, Thus thy GUARDIAN ANGEL sang, -Ye that mourn a FATHER'S loss, Ye that weep a FRIEND no more! Call to mind the CHRISTIAN cross, Which your FRIEND, your FATHER bore. Grief and penury and pain Still attended on his way, And Oppression's scourge and chain, More unmerciful than they. Yet while travelling in distress, ('Twas the eldest curse of sin) Through the world's waste wilderness, And along that vale of tears, Which his humble footsteps trod, Still a shining path appears, Where the MOURNER walk'd with GOD Till his MASTER, from above, When the promised hour was come, Sent the chariot of his love To convey the WANDERER home. Saw ye not the wheels of fire, And the steeds that cleft the wind? Saw ye not his soul aspire, When his mantle dropp'd behind? |