On the Death of Lorenzo D. Barnes

By Thomas Ward.

And art thou dead my brother; my brother! And shortly, when the judgments of the Lord.

Yes, by the strongest ties that bind the heart, Shall burst upon the people who reject

Thou wert my brother; even by the bond The gospel of his Son, and turn away

Of God's most holy covenant; and, Oh! Contemptuous from the terms of peace. And thou

I loved thee well, for who that knew thy truth, Hast fallen in a land of strangers, where

Thy virtue, and integrity, but must Thy kindred dwell not; and their hearts will grieve

Have owned thy power, and lov'd thee. But 'tis well. To hear thy fate, but not as without hope;

Thou has nobly fallen. In duty's path They will mourn not for thee as the world mourns,

Thou wert, and zealous for the cause of truth; But look to meet thee in the glorious hour,

Nor fruitless was thy mission, but again When he shall come a kingdom to receive,

In fairer scenes thou shalt behold its fruits Whose right it is to reign! Then, my brother,

Arrayed in glory, and to thee a crown Thou shalt hail thy friends in triumph; no more

Of great rejoicing in the day of God. To be subject of death's fatal dart,

Thou sleepest well. Thou standest chronicl'd But clothed in power, and by thy priesthood called

(In these last days of mercy unto man,) To reign with Christ a king and priest. The day,

The first that in a distant land has left The great triumphant day shall come, when he,

His ashes to repose, of those who went, Before whose potent arm thou now hast fallen,

At God's command, to bear the glorious news Shall be no more; for Christ must reign until

Of his unchanging character, and tell The last of enemies shall be destroyed:

A people lost in error, of the work Then amid the pageantry and pomp

The Lord has wrought, and of the high behests Of myriad hosts in light supernal, and all

To proclaim a faithful testimony, The thousand joys that minister to bliss,

And warn the nations that ihe [the] hour will come, Still one shall be to meet Lorenzo there.