Page:Memoir and poems of Phillis Wheatley, a native African and a slave.djvu/58

52 " 'T will tell you what this holy man has done,

"Which gives him brighter lustre than the sun.

"Listen, ye happy, from your seats above;

"I speak sincerely, while I speak and love.

"He sought the paths of piety and truth,

"By these made happy from his early youth.

"In blooming years that grace divine he felt,

"Which rescues sinners from the chains of guilt.

"Mourn him, ye indigent, whom he has fed,

"And henceforth seek, like him, for living bread;

"Ev'n Christ, the bread descending from above,

"And ask an int'rest in his saving love.

"Mourn him, ye youth, to whom he oft has told

"God's gracious wonders, from the times of old.

"I, too, have cause, this mighty loss to mourn,

"For he, my monitor, will not return.

"Oh, when shall we to his blest state arrive?

"When the same graces in our bosoms thrive?"

happy saint! on thine immortal throne,

Possest of glory, life, and bliss unknown:

We hear no more the music of thy tongue;

Thy wonted auditories cease to throng.

Thy sermons in unequalled accents flowed,

And ev'ry bosom with devotion glowed;