IN MEMORIAM.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3140, 12 March 1879, Page 2

IN MEMORIAM.

AN APPEAL.

The touch of God is on the chord which ruins'

Through all humanity, from heart to heart; The Hand Divine, that holds the stars and suns, Strikes on love's string, and inner voices start, Proclaiming we are each and each apart.

The Priest of. Nature may expound this truth: Afflictions are but solemn lessons-read To mortals; Science ftill is in her youth— .;;". The living gain their knowledge through the dead; All human suff 'ring points the road ahead.

It may be so; anon we'll learn that text, But now the widows' and the orphans' eyes Are following from this life to the next,... Loved spirits torn away from dearest ties, And God to us is speaking through their cries.

He calls on to us to succour those in need— We're bound together in a common bond; Faith's purest action is a noble deed, ■ Help's truest anchor is a helping hand, : Love is the key that opens the doors beyond.

A few short days ago, and those who rest Held this poor lease^ of earth which now we hold; The pulse of live beat strongly in each'breast— Ah! 'tis lihe same old story, ofteri fold, : We know not when the spark may leave the mould.

Oh ! brothers, there are weary hearts to-day,' And cheerless, homes, where sorrow sits in gloom; And lonely weeping ones, who can but pray " Thy will be done," whilst bowing to their doom, And longing for the meeting 'yond th« tomb.

Not ours to change tha mystic second birth— . Not ours to bring the loved ones back again; But ours to do our duty upon earth, By succouring the mourners who remain; To them we're linked in sympathetic chain. ,

To-day Humanity's resistless breath - ■ Sweeps through the credal barriers, and brings Us altogether to the Church of Death— . . ,• The common fold of toilers and of kings; And Charity broods o'er with outstretched wings.

To-day the pure Christ-Spirit from above, With warm vibration thrills through every soul; To-day we owe a sacred debt' to Love, To-day our Father claims a special toll At gates which lead to Hope's eternal goal. Thomas Bracuk.