III.
“Glory, and honour, and immortality.”—Rom. ii. 7.
How does the aspirant for earthly fame
Live in a future that shall never be,
(Instinctive pledge of immortality!)
Ascribing conscious being to a name,
Mere shadow thrown by that delusive flame
Which forms his sun; wherein he seems to see
A fairer self, a nobler destiny.
How does this hope sustain and nerve his frame?
No false mirage, no posthumous deceit,
Christian, invites thy onward, upward course.
Thee shall not death of thy reversion cheat,
Nor interrupt that life which has its source
In faith, and not on earth can be complete.
Up, slumberers, and take this heaven by force!
