The Wilmingtonian., 1824-03-18

have not known!" Repne at death why should"
the mournul prisoner take in bad part, the friend
y hand that loosens his letters, and takes down
his PRISON walls' Ought not the weary pilgrimln
20 bless the day which restores him to his owr r.
long desired country, and TO his beloved fathers Il
house, And b. comes it not the betrotaed brid. IA
of Christ to rejoice in the hour, when she is pre-.
scented to her celestial husband, "wthout spot Y
or wrinkle or any such thingi" Though thy
pains, o death, were as terrible, as timerousIl
imagination is prone to paint them, {
,"Nor dreadful our transition: though the mind,
An artist at creating self alarms.
Rich in expedients for nquietude,
Is prone to pain it dreadful Who can take
Deaths portrait true? The 'yrant never sat
Our sketch, all random strokes conjecture all.
Close shuts the grave, nor tells one single tale.
Death and his image rising in the brain,
Bear feint resemblance: never are alike.
Fear shakes the pencil; fancy loves excess
dark ig1lOra,,ce is lavish OF her shades;
And these the formidable picture draw.
d Man makes death, which nature never made
Then on the point of his own fancy falls,
land feels thousand deaths in one.'
But dreadful as they may he, The departing helIev-
Ter in Jesus, soon iorgets them all, by reason OF
Those transporting scenes. which willimmediately
burst upon his view, in the regions OF indescr'
eIbable glory, and mansions of rest
How sountlly shall our dust sleep, in the peace
fnl grave, thy dark and solitary mansions! where
is we shall not be panied by the gnawins of worms
fnor dsgusted by the nauseous scents nor weariee
elby the dark and disma! solitude, nor frightened
Iby the surrounding darkness. These are the ter
u rors of the living not the dead. It is true th'
e pleasing enioymens Of time are ours no more
o Cheering likewise, is the truth, that neither arr
d our sins or our sorrows We bid farewell 10 tn
Il streams, ard shall be safely conducted to bath
isn the fountain offelicity. We shall no more be
t-hod the ways Of men, nor dimly see the beaut
|of the Lord in the land Of the living. Yet shal
is we come to Con himself the Judge of all; to on
redce ming Jesus, the mediator of the new cove
ID Inant; and to the innumerabe company OF hol
h, angels and to the spirits Of just men made PEI
e feet. O death, thou canst not carry us from tn
II delightful presence OF our Covenant Con and FA
r. Their, whose loving kindness is better than Life
.e When with thy resistless spear, thou shalt brea
o. the pitcher of this mortal frame, the death defy
,sIing soul is not like water split upon the ground
OF for the pitcher being broke at the fouptain, it
d. contents flow back to their great and adorabl
st Original, and he will assurcdy gather them uE
,ult Had, happy fornng, when the last cncasy sha
cel be destroyed! In which the sleeping bones sha
10 hear tie 0mnipotent Rt deemer's call, who sha
an reunite them into system more besuteous ,ha
,irIbefore. o in that morning how the reproach
atthe gray shall be e,ernally wiped away: Whe
II. that very body which "was sown in dishonor" an
IL consigned to shameful puriac.ion, shall be raise
oiIin glory! Then, o death, the Christian shall b.
ry no more subject to thy boasted power. but Ca
he eternal life and all its matchess glory his owl
us consequently, he can now say, in the Ianguae
no Of holy triumph, =" Rejoice not against me, there
ur fore, my adversary: For though fall by tn
'a' hand, | shall rise again, and although must
m dissolved in the dust and darkness of the grav'
ur in the resurrection morn, the Lord my Redeemt
erl will be both light and life To me-