STANZAS IN MEMORY OF THE REV. JAMES HARVEY,
Of Weston Favell, Northamptonshire;
Who died on Christmas Day, 1758, aged 43 Years.
[_]
Composed on an occasional celebration of his virtues and talents, at that village, in 1833.
Where is the house for all the living found?
—Go ask the deaf, the dumb, the dead;
All answer, without voice or sound,
Each resting in his bed;
Look down and see,
Beneath thy feet,
A place for thee;
—There all the living meet.
Whence come the beauteous progeny of Spring?
—They hear a still, small voice, “Awake!”
And, while the lark is on the wing,
From dust and darkness break;
Flowers of all hues
Laugh in the gale,
Sparkle with dews,
And dance o'er hill and dale.
Who leads through trackless space the stars of night?
—The Power that made them guides them still;
They know Him not, yet, day and night,
They do his perfect will:
Unchanged by age,
They hold on high
Their pilgrimage
Of glory round the sky.
Stars, flowers, and tombs were themes for solemn thought
With him whose memory we recall;
Yet more than eye can see he sought:
His spirit look'd through all,
Keenly discern'd
The truths they teach,
Their lessons learn'd,
And gave their silence speech.
Go, meditate with him among the tombs,
And there the end of all things view;
Visit with him Spring's earliest blooms,
See all things there made new;
Thence rapt aloof
In ecstasy,
Hear, from heaven's roof,
Stars preach eternity.
We call him blessed whom the Lord hath blest
And made a blessing;—long to shed
Light on the living, from his rest,
And hope around the dead:
Oh! for his lot,
Who dwells in light,
Where flowers fade not,
And stars can find no night.
