Then anxious to be longer spared
Man mourns his fleeting breath:
All evils then seem light, compared
With the approach of death.
'Tis judgment shakes him: there's the fear
That prompts the wish to stay:
He has incurr'd a long arrear,
And must despair to pay.
Pay!—follow Christ, and all is paid;
is death your peace ensures;
Think on the grave where he was laid,
And calm descend to yours.
ON A SIMILAR OCCASION.
FOR THE YEAR 1793.
De sacris autem hæc sit una sententia, ut conserventur.
Cic. de Leg.
But let us all concur in this one sentiment, that things sacred be inviolate.
He lives who lives to God alone,
And all are dead beside;
For other source than God is none
Whence life can be supplied
To live to God is to requite
His love as best we may:
To make his precepts our delight,
His promises our stay.