Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1825-06-25
NO. 5@o

memorable, it tears from the princes
brow the diadem of glory, and drags
the reluctant monarch from the stately
palace to the house of clay. With re-
lentless step, it enters the mansion of
peace; it wears with slowly rolling
years the aged sire-breaks by sick
ness, in day, the prop of declining pa
rents; OF, by its untimely blast, nips the
fair blossom of the morn, and tares,
with icy grasp, the infant from the mo-
theirs arms of love. 1t throws the
shroud of oblivion over the glory Of
wasting nations-lulls the voice of elo.
quence-hushes the harp Of the poet,
and arrests the sword of the hero. Nor
is the sacred desk barrier against the
intruder-For, 10! he has entered the
sanctuary of the Lord, and taken from
the walls of Zion, one whom it was
impossible to know, and not to love!
With what pleasure have we entered
with him the courts Of thy house,
o God while his words, distill-
ing as the dew of Hermon, rendered
the place none other than the gate
of Heaven. But all! how changed the
scene behold the coffin in which he
now reposes. We come not now, del
parted saint to hear thee plead the
cause of God; a cause once supreme
in thy affections. His voice is now
still as the dumb ones, for whom he
once could touch the heart of mercy.
We come not now to view him presi-
ding over the destinies of the Mission
airy institutions, whose energies have
been so greatly strengthened by the ar
dour Of his affection and the power of
his eloquence. We come to minglc
our grief, in this late act of death, in
which event every institution which
served to promote the glory of God,
and to mitigate the sorrows of our
race, has lost an ardent friend! En-
dowed with power to him peculiar,
he could move the most ihconsiderate
heart, to alleviate the widows woe, and
stay the orphans tear. Arresting the
attention of those whom he addressed,
and engaging their affections, with an
eloquence resistless as the lightning
blazing from the black-browed cloud,
he could render their hearts, as the
harp moved by the breath of even, sus-
ceptible TO PHYS slightest touch
France, Britain, Ireland, and America,
have received him as the delegate Of
Heaven to plead the Bible and Mis-
sionary cause. When a nation is call
ed to mourn the death Of monarch,
it is not unfrequent that memory sick.
ems in viewing.
"War's varied horrors, and the train of ills
Which follow on ambitions blood stand
path"
Not so the memory of a good mans
death. = And when the pious pastor
leaves his flock, reflection yields a
pleasing view-recounts his sermons
tells his visits o'er-repeats the admo-
milton often given-while the walls of
our mansions seem to echo the prayers
so lately made in our behalf to Heaven.
But his days are ended. His labor of
love on earth is done-and he has en-
tered, we trust, into that "temple not
made with hands, eternal in the Hea-
vens." He was but loan from God.
Awhile he shone, then sunk in sudden
night. Nor was his brilliancy merely
like that Of the forest leaf, which, wet
with the dew of night, trembles as it
sparkles in the sun beam, till parched
by his director ray, it falls again to the
earth. Nor was his glory like that
which tends the meteor's blaze, whose
greater glory fading, leaves greater
gloom. No-'twas like the sun Of day.
Unclouded has he held his way, while
stars were lost in his superior lustre.
What though he sets! The night is
short which wells him from our view.
Our hemisphere has been illumined by
his talents, his piety, and zealand
though he sets, it is to rise-to rise safe
from diseases and decline, and to "shine
forth as the sun in. the Kingdom Of his
Father" He was no stranger to the
thoughts of death. He did not wait
until the world should recede from his
view, ere he endeavored to pierce be-
yound the Shadows, clouds, and dark
ness" which hang around eternity
When viewing the corpse Of a departed
saint, it was an usage almost invariable
with him to exclaim-
"My soul is in love with the beautiful clay,
And longs to lie in its stead"
And when his heart sickened, aud the
pulse beat low, the smiles Of Heaven
chased the frowns of death. While
the boar snow of winter, or the green
grass of summer, shall cover thy grave,
thy memory, o Summer6eld! still shall
live. While thy spirit is resting at the
throne of God, remembering thy pre-
cepts, we will worship at his altar
And though the earthly 6ouse of thy
tabernacle shall dissolve beneath its