GUARDIAN of our hours, nocturnal,
THOU, to whom all praise belongs, Let our voice, in strains diurnal,
Chant Thy praise in choral songs.
While we sail life's stormy ocean,
Let Thy mandate calm the wave;
Safely moored,-hushed each commotion,
Sink we in the peaceful grave!
On the resurrection morning,
Freed from dross-refined by loveMay our souls, rich Grace adorning, Claim Thy promised rest above.
How sweet the hour of calm repose,
That sets the mind from labour free,-
The twilight of the seventh day's close,—
That calls the thoughts, O GOD! to thee.
To Thee, my ravished heart aspires,
Whose hand directs my wayward feet;
Yet far too languid are its fires,
To raise to Thee an anthem meet.
When by-gone years pass in review,
And Thy paternal care I trace;
To Thee alone all praise is due,
Exhaustless Source of sovereign Grace!
Fain would my heart, with holy zeal,
Ascend the shining realms of day;
Low at IMMANUEL's footstool kneel,
And there my grateful offering pay.
But o'er earth's waste, 'tis still my doom,
Awhile to tread life's thorny road;
With this lone ray to pierce the gloom,
That I, at last, shall soar to God.
Yet, O how precious this LONE RAY,
Which rests our hope on JESUS' Love;—
A hope, that makes our darkness day,
And centres our desires above!
TO THE MEMORY OF MRS. ARPASIA EMMONS.
THOU Muse of Grief and Melancholy! come,
MELPOMENE, once more I ask thine aid,
Who erst hast deigned to guide my infant muse,
And to my thoughts elegiack fire impart ;
Who erst hast led my youthful mind to pay
Her willing offering at thy mournful shrine!
Thou heavenly MUSE, thee I again invoke;
Once more descend and tune my sorrowing lyre.
My midnight lamp, with feeble, glimmering ray, Almost designates the adjacent mound,
Where low in Death's embrace ARPASIA lies!
-'T was Heaven's high behest!-Then let her tomb,
Sad monument of youth's precarious fate,
Speak forth instruction, and engage the heart
Of her bereaved spouse.. Methinks he cries-
And all her friends exclaim-" Relentless Death!
Thou lovest a shining mark—a signal blow!"
True: innate goodness dwelt within her heart;
At pity's call she lent a listening ear;
Her breast was ever warm with friendship's glow,
Humanity, benevolence and love:
She deeply cherished heaven-born sympathy-
That sympathy which feels for others' woes.
The private virtues,-conjugal attachment,
Maternal fondness, and a love of home
Were proudly her's :-But all could not avail
To stay the hand of death; for every grace,
That once endeared her to her friends on earth,
Endeared her more to her Almighty Friend.
-The spirit flies-" renewed in all her strength
And fresh with life—an offering fit for Heaven."
Her widowed husband mourns his absent Bride;
Her infant offspring, their maternal Friend!
But while we mourn ARPASIA's early doom, Let not our grief be outward, "to be seen Of men;" but "godly sorrow" let us feel, Sanctioned by bland Religion's precious rules, Which will our hearts correct, our lives reform, And lead our thoughts to Heaven's Eternal King!
Let her bereaved partner long revere
Her dying counsel; let him ne'er forget
The pathos which enforced her parting words—
'Bring up our children in the fear of God,
Direct them in the blissful path to heaven;
Pray with and for them often: O, my friend,
This duty, I entreat, no more neglect:
Acknowledge your dependence upon God;
Invoke his holy name; implore his aid;
Observe Religion's ever blessed rules:
So shall you, here, enjoy his promised grace,
Hereafter shall partake his promised rest.'
-Monition blest!-A dying Friend's advice
Whoe'er forgets, his heart must cease to feel!
—Adieu, ARPASIA!-erst misfortune's child,
Thou yet didst freely share the earthly good
Which bounteous Heaven yields man. And now thy soul, "Burst from the thraldom of encumbering clay,
"And on the wing of ecstasy upborne,"
Ascends, we trust, to mansions in the skies,
For ever to enjoy the promised rest.
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