To a dark world of doubt, despair, and crime,
Re-echo through all time.
Thou, o’er whose tomb the requiem soundeth still,
Thou from whose lips the silvery tones yet thrill
In many a bosom, waking life divine;
And since thy Master to the world gave token
That for Love’s faith the creed of fear was broken,
None higher have been spoken.
Though sinful, weak, and wedded to the clod,
The angel soul still as the child of God,
Heir of His love, born to high destiny:
Not for thy country, creed, or sect speak’st thou,
But him who bears God’s image on his brow,
Thy brother, high or low.
As thou didst stand upon thy native shore,
In the calm sunshine, in the ocean’s roar;
Nature and God spoke with thee, and the truth,
That o’er thy spirit then in radiance streamed,
And in thy life so calmly, brightly beamed,
Shall still shine on undimmed.
- ↑
NOTE TO P. 67.
Great teachers formed thy youth.
"In this town I pursued my theological studies. I had no professor to guide me, but I had two noble places of study. One was yonder beautiful edifice, now so frequented as a public library; the other was the beach—the roar of which has so often mingled with the worship of this place—my daily resort; dear to me in the sunshine, still more attractive in the storm. Seldom do I visit it now without thinking of the work which there, in the sight of that beauty, in the sound of those waves, was carried on in my soul. No spot on earth has helped to form me so much as that beach. There I lifted up my voice in praise amidst the tempest. There, softened by beauty, I poured out my thanksgiving and contrite confessions. There, in reverential sympathy with the mighty power around me, I became conscious of the power within. There struggling thoughts and emotions broke forth, as if moved to utterance by Nature’s eloquence of winds and waves. There began a happiness surpassing all worldly pleasures—all gifts of fortune;—the happiness of communing with the work of God."—Dr. Channing’s Discourse at Newport, Rhode Island.
