Divine emblems :: :: University of Virginia Library

Divine emblems

Embellished with etchings on copper, after the fashion of Master Francis Quarles. Designed and written by, Johann Abricht [i.e. Jonathan Birch

Birch, J. (1783-1847)

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XII.

EMBLEM XII.

FIRST PART.

SECOND PART.

[ALAS!]

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EMBLEM XII.

1. FIRST PART.

Lighten mine eyes, O Lord, lest I sleep the sleep of death. PSALM 13, v. 3.

[To tread]

I

To tread
Where sleep the dead;
To muse upon the past,
Is life to know, whilst life does last.
The flow'r that blooms upon the conic sod
Exhaling fragrant sweets—emblems a soul with God!

II

Where lie
The great that die?
I'th' earth!—and their abode
Is with the slave that bore the load!
Death knows not of degrees—he equal makes
The clown, the priest, the monarch! when their breath he takes.

III

The dead
O'er whom we tread:
But few years past trod o'er
The church-yard—and are now no more:
Silent and dank they rest—the boist'rous world,
With all its storms, affrights them not—their sails are furl'd.

IV

To muse,
And to diffuse
Our musings 'mongst the young,
Ready to join the busy throng,
Of men—is what Experience owes to Youth:
Let them beware of slighting wisdom and reproof!

V

Upon
A plank we run,
Across a gulph that yawns—
Life's path is thick beset with thorns!
It is a meadow all bestrew'd with flowers!
It is a stormy sea!—a day of gentle showers!

VI

The past!
The thought how vast—
Epoch on Epoch, have evolv'd!
Yet “the first cause” is still unsolv'd;
The problem's, not for man's infirmity
Of mind—we cannot comprehend “eternity!”

O Wisdom! with how sweet an art doth thy wine and oil restore health to my healthless soul! how powerfully merciful, how mercifully powerful art thou! powerful for me, merciful to me!

S. GREG., in pastoral.

The Church-yard is a delightful garden, and the Charnel-house a mansion of sweet savour to the enquiring soul; for they lead to meditation on the fragileness and noisomeness of this corruptible, and the necessary preparation for the incorruptible state.

ANON.

But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord God.

PSALM 73, v. 28.

EPIG.

[The Tombstone “records” of the village dead]

The Tombstone “records” of the village dead
Invite the passer-by to—“stop and read!”
O Reader! read and stop—behold thy bed
Of earth! whate'er thy rank—whate'er thy creed.

2. SECOND PART.

Yet a little while is the light with you. JOHN, chap. 12, v. 35.

[Is life]

VII

Is life
A long short strife,
And nothing more?—it ought
To be, the nursery of thought—
The time allotted to prepare our souls
With true and “vise” passports! good at heavenly tolls!

VIII

To know,
Where lurks the foe
And what his strength, is half
The battle—with thy pilgrim staff,
If Pilgrim true thou art—thou may'st assault
The tempting fiend—and haply bring him to default!

IX

Before
The conflict sore:
Let Hope, thy thews encase:
And Faith, thy holy courage brace;
Be Love, thy trust—which if vouchsaf'd, thou'rt sure
To foil the tempter—and the promised prize secure.

X

'Tis gone!
“The bell strikes one!”
The myst'ry's solv'd—in youth
Be wise—and know this solemn truth!
Life is the time to seek the Lord—in death
There's no “repent”—Hope flits upon the parting breath!

XI

And all
Our own we call;
We leave—the wise-laid plan
For eking out our little span
Of life, in deeds of worth and piety,
Put off—undone—Death tears us from society.

XII

O'ercast—
The sunshine past—
The cold earth intervenes
Between the actor, and life-scenes!
This ponderous Globe shall disappear! Death die!
Time lose his 'count!—bewildered in Eternity!

Thou knowest not what time he will come; wait always, that because thou knowest not the time of his coming, thou mayst be prepared against the time he cometh.

S. AUGUST.

Despise ye the mammon of this world—be ye temperate and humble—vigilant—valiant for the faith and persevering to the end; so shall ye inherit the Crown of Glory.

ANON.

Neither be ye terrified because of them. For the Lord your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.

DEUT., chap. 20, v. 3, 4.

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities.

EPH., chap. 6, v. 12.

The world passeth away, and the lust thereof.

1 JOHN, chap. 2, v. 17.

EPIG.

[Man, prates about his love of peace, and hate of strife—]

Man, prates about his love of peace, and hate of strife—
The certainty of Death—th'uncertainty of Life—
Yet does his little life, less love than strife contain;
And Life, and Death, preach holy certainties in vain.