O for the voice and fire of seraphim
To sing thy glories with devotion due!"
[Sonnet 50.] As it is a year since this sonnet was written, my present very ill state of health teaches me and may teach others, that a recovery from illness, though most gratefully to be acknowledged, may be a transient blessing. While I was sick, others have fallen around me. Living or dying, it is my prayer, that I may acquiesce in God's will, and that I may participate with all penitent believers in the salvation purchased by the blood of his Son.
[Sonnet 51.] One all-important method of God's communicating good to man is described by Milton;
"God hath now sent his living oracle
Into the world to teach his final will,
And sends his Spirit of Truth henceforth to dwell
In pious hearts an inward oracle
To all truth requisite for men to know."
[Sonnet 52.] Our class, which graduated at Harvard college in 1802, was larger than any previous class,—consisting of 60 members, an unusual number of whom became men of distinction, and one quarter part of whom after 57 years are still living. To my esteemed surviving Brothers I bid farewell, wishing them faith in the Son of God, who is "the resurrection and the life."