The songs of Joseph Mather

I lived for a series of years
Not far from the toll of the bell,
My house they pull'd over my ears,
And I was consign'd to my cell.
Before my remains were dissolved
The black resurrection took place,
My troubles upon me revolved,
Much to the old serpent's disgrace.

The strangers and paupers that slept
With me in the peaceable clay,
Who much in affliction had wept,
The serpent hath seized his prey;
For justice and mercy he pleads,
Assuming an angel of light;
We see by his infamous deeds
The widow he robs of her mite

Thus raised by his infernal power
I went the old ruins to view,
I saw in the course of an hour
Wide streets and high buildings all new,
And heard a lamentable cry
Of many a serpent-stung friend,
Whose all had been sacrificed by
That black diabolical fiend.

Did not his implacable spleen,
Which ransack'd and tore up our graves,
Exhiblt a tragical scene
To gratify Beelzebub's slaves,
Whose interest it served to destroy
Our mansions as well as remains,
To render them pompous and high
That should be suspended im chains.

How striking to our weeping friends
That saw us thus mangled and torn,
By ravishing hell-hounds and fiends,
Who long stench of brimstone had borne:
Here was the extent of his sting,
Whose power could no further encroach;
The tombs with his infamy ring
To his everlasting reproach.

Although my detestable dust
Be scattered thoroughout the whole globe,
I'll rest in an unshaken trust
“To see my redeemer with Job;”
The serpent will then hang his head
With his diabolical tribe,
When all their indictments are read,
Which I'm at a loss to describe.

Not suffered to stay above ground,
Nor yet in my grave to remain,
I'll watch till the trumpet shall sound,
My ashes cast out of dead lane,
And then re-ascend to my rest,
Resume both my harp and my crown,
Enjoy the reward of the blest
When all the black herd are gone down.

University of Virginia Library

Song XXXII. THE BLACK RESURRECTION.