Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Alfred H. Miles, ed. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907.

By The Sundial of Armoy (1847) (Selected Lyrics). III. Commemoration of One Departed

Richard Mant (1776–1848)

MEANWHILE before the Judge approving,

Cheers me the thought of thee approved,

Thee many a year thy consort loving,

Thee, wife beloved!

Whom God Himself of late hath taken,

Cheers me the thought that blest art thou,

Long-tried on earth, and, earth forsaken,

How peaceful now!

Yes, holy peace hath thee received,

Thy goal attain’d, thy warfare done;

Me wait new tasks, of thee bereaved,

Beloved one!

My loss—be thy kind heart its measure!

But hope survives for us to meet

Before God’s face, in endless pleasure,

In joy complete:

Thee (for amid my heart’s fond yearning,

I see thee to my fancy brought,

As once thou wast, ev’n now returning,

In silent thought):

Thee daily in God’s volume reading

To mark, in better times of old,

What lesson to all time succeeding

God’s matrons told:

God’s handmaid thee, His servants treating,

Like PHŒBE, with a sister’s due;

Thee on Christ’s lips, like MARY, waiting;

Like ANNA true.

Thee in church-rites and prayers partaking;

Thee “of good works and alms-deeds” filled,

Like DORCAS, coats and garments making,

The poor to shield;

Thee, as EUNICE, early rearing

Thy race on holy lore to feed;

Thy husband, like PRISCILLA, cheering

To holy deed;

Thee in primeval worship joining,

Like faithful LYDIA, thee and thine,

One faith with simple mode combining

Of rite divine;

Thee, like “the ELECTED LADY,” guiding

Thy sons by Truth’s behests to move,

In the right faith of Christ abiding

With Christian love;

Like CHLOE, thee with thine eschewing

Discordant voice, dissentient mind,

And unity by peace ensuing

With will resigned;

Thee, like the lowly Virgin, saying,

Blest mother of the Incarnate Word,

“Thy will be done! bent on obeying,

Behold me, Lord!”

Thee pious, meek, kind, unaspiring,

Submiss to bear God’s chastening will;

Me, weak alas! but aye desiring

To follow still;

To follow still, as He shall call me,

Obedient through life’s varied scene,

Such harder tasks as may befall me,

Or paths serene:

Where on my steps His lamp is gleaming,

(Too slightly mark’d) His Word divine,

Till on His saints in glory beaming

Himself shall shine.

Such home be mine, in deathless union

With parents, children, friends approved;

Nor ever fail thy bland communion,

Wife ever-loved!