THE 
 
 BURYING GROUND. 
 
 Br 
 
 CHARLOTTE ELIZABETH. 
 
 Mtm goelh to hit long home, and the mournersg 
 'bout the streets."— ECCLES. xii. 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 DUBLIN : 
 
 PRINTED BY JOHN PORTEOUS,, 
 MOORE- STREET. 
 
 WDCCCXXXL 
 
THE BURYING GROUND. 
 
 " What is that man going to do 
 with the grass, Aunt ?" said a little 
 boy, as he saw a labourer carrying 
 away some fresh green sods that he 
 had just dug fron a piece of waste 
 ground. 
 
 " He is going, my dear/' replied 
 his Aunt, * to do that for another 
 person, which he may, perhaps, do 
 both for you and forme before long/' 
 
 "What can that be, I wonder/' 
 said John, smiling. "Let us follow 
 him, Aunt.' 1 
 
 They did so. The man passed 
 down a little alley of trees, and en- 
 tered some large folding gates of 
 iron, which led into a very spacious 
 .square, enclosed completely by a 
 ' low wall, on which was an iron rail- 
 ing, forming a very strong and hand- 
 
4 
 
 some fence. The lady and her little 
 nephew soon found themselves with- 
 in it. 
 
 " Why, this is a church-yard," said 
 John. 
 
 "Not exactly, my dear, for the 
 church is not in it; but this is the 
 burying ground, and a beautiful 
 place it is." 
 
 John looked about him, and cer- 
 tainly agreed with his Aunt. The 
 spot was completely surrounded by 
 a grove of firs, that pointed their tall 
 green heads far above the iron pali- 
 sades. Just within the fence, a great 
 number of laurels were planted, the 
 richly shining leaves of which look- 
 ed doubly bright, as they rested 
 against the black railings, and so 
 near to the dark firs. The short grass 
 was soft as velvet, and green as an 
 emerald ; and beautiful little flower 
 beds surrounded several of the tombs. 
 Over one, hung a rich weeping wil- 
 low, an acacia shaded another, and a 
 
a 
 
 third was placed between two young 
 cypress trees. A great deal of the 
 ground was yet unbroken, for the 
 place had not been many years laid 
 out; and it was not used for inter- 
 ment generally, but only for those 
 belonging to a national institution 
 near it. At one end was a row of 
 bumble graves, each with its white 
 head-stone and simple inscription; 
 and upon the last of these the labou- 
 rer, whom John had seen, was care- 
 fully laying clown the green sods that 
 he had dug. 
 
 To this grave they walked, and the 
 lady asked her little nephew if he 
 knew who was buried there. 
 
 " I suppose it is the soldier's wife," 
 said he. 
 
 "Yes. One week ago, that wo- 
 man was as little likely, according to 
 human appearances, as you or I now 
 seem, to become the inhabitant of a 
 i>rave. Sudden illness seized her 
 and ended in death, almost imme- 
 
6 
 
 diately. You know my child, that we 
 visited her only four days back, and 
 you saw with what mingled hope and 
 terror she listened when I spoke of 
 judgmentto come— of the Judge who 
 is likewise the Saviour of every true 
 penitent, who clings to His cross, 
 and casts his soul upon Him. You 
 saw the agony of that dying woman; 
 you kneeled with us in prayer to the 
 God of the spirits of all flesh, that 
 He would be pleased to grant unto 
 her repentance and forgiveness of 
 sins ; and you heard, in three hours 
 after, that she had breathed her last. 
 She is under our feet, John, shut up 
 in a coffin, covered over with the 
 damp earth, and there to remain till 
 the trumpet shall sound, and the 
 dead shall arise, and the books shall 
 be opened, out of which the dead 
 must be judged * 
 
 John's heart was too full to allow 
 of his speaking just then — so, after a 
 pause his Aunt went on 
 
u I told yon, my love, that the 
 grave-digger might soon do for us 
 what he is now doing for this poor 
 corpse. And oh ! what a solemn — 
 what an important question it is, 
 where will our souls be, when our 
 bodies are committed to the dust ? 
 At all times important and solemn 
 beyond any other subject whatever, 
 but does it not appear even more so, 
 standing as we here do, just over the 
 lifeless remains of one whom we so 
 lately saw able to ask the question 
 which is now for ever set at rest, as 
 concerns her soul ? If a voice could 
 issue from these mounds of earth, 
 surely — surely, every one of them 
 would cry aloud, what now they si- 
 lently seem to teach us, — ' Prepare to 
 meet thy God !>" 
 
 " Let us come here very often, 
 Aunt," said John, " it will keep me 
 thinking of death, and preparing 
 for it." 
 
 " Jt might, indeed, lead you daily 
 
8 
 
 to think of death, my dear child ; but 
 it is very possible to do so, without 
 rightly preparing for it. That is the 
 office of the Holy Spirit, to keep 
 alive in your heart such a sense of 
 eternal things, as shall enable you, 
 according to the Apostle's language, 
 to « die daily.' The poor Roman Ca- 
 tholics, whom, whilst we lament their 
 errors, we should pity and teach, have 
 departed from the truth of the gos- 
 pel, and made the commandment of 
 God of no effect by their traditions 
 and inventions ; they have many such 
 ways of keeping themselves in what 
 they vainly suppose to be a religious 
 frame of mind. They have death's 
 heads, and cross bones, and black 
 garments, with a number of words 
 and ceremonies to remind them of 
 their end ; but neglecting to seek the 
 great gift of God, the assistance of 
 the Holy Ghost; and not reading 
 the blessed Bible, in order to be 
 made wise unto salvation, their work 
 
9 
 
 is vain, their hope a delusion, and 
 their light darkness. It is easy to 
 let our thoughts descend into the 
 grave, and it is well so to do, for 
 there our Lord descended, and there 
 too our own bodies shall come. But 
 our chief wisdom is to look up, where 
 the risen Saviour has ascended, and 
 now sits on the right hand of God — 
 to consider the glories of that high 
 and holy place, and what the Lord 
 has declared concerning those who 
 shall dwell there with Ilim ; and 
 then to examine ourselves, and try 
 what fitness there is in us for such 
 a state. 
 
 " When I talk of fitness, my dear 
 child, I do not mean to say that it is 
 possible for us to be, or to do, any 
 thins: deserving of such blessedness. 
 No. We are all as an unclean thing, 
 and all our righteousnesses are as til- 
 thy rags. But if we be indeed wash- 
 ed in the blood of Christ Jesus, we 
 are also justified in God's sight, 
 
10 
 
 through Him ; and if we be so wash- 
 ed and justified, we shall be sancti- 
 fied too by the power of the Holy- 
 Ghost: though in ourselves, that is 
 in our flesh, dwelleth no good thing, 
 yet we shall both see and hate our sin- 
 fulness, and constantly be praying, 
 ' Create in me a clean heart, O Lord, 
 and renew a right spirit within me.' 
 We shall be growing in grace, loving 
 God with a more perfect love, and 
 hating sin with a more perfect hatred, 
 every day. We shall take that de- 
 light in the ways of holiness which 
 the world takes in the ways of folly 
 and wickedness, and devote our 
 whole selves, mind, body, and estate, 
 to the service of our heavenly Lord 
 and Master ; doing all possible good 
 to our fellow-creatures, not by way 
 of deserving heaven, but because, 1 if 
 God so loved us, we ought also to 
 love one another.' Do you rightly 
 understand what I mean by fitness 
 for the presence of God ? 
 
11 
 
 " Yes, Aunt, I think I do. God 
 must love me, and make me love 
 Him, and then I shall always try to 
 do what pleases Him." 
 
 " True, my dear : but God cannot 
 love any thing unholy like us ; there- 
 fore we must be * accepted in the 
 beloved.' Our sins must all be blot- 
 ted out by the blood of the Lamb, 
 and our hearts changed by the Holy 
 Spirit ; and we must be numbered 
 amon^ the little flock to whom the 
 Lord Jesus says, ' it is His Fathers 
 good pleasure to give the kingdom.' 
 Neither could we love God, until we 
 behold Him, ' in Christ, reconciling 
 the world unto Himself, not imput- 
 ing their trespasses unto them.' The 
 guilty rebel cannot love the King 
 who is prepared to punish his trea- 
 son ; but when he finds himself par- 
 doned and delivered, then indeed he 
 must love. Let us but have this 
 sweet assurance of the Lord's pow er 
 and willingness to save, and find in 
 
12 
 
 ourselves a heart softened and re- 
 newed by Him, and then I know not 
 what can be more profitable than to 
 look upon a scene like this. For not 
 only will it make our own troubles 
 seem lighter, as the traveller finds 
 the storm more bearable after he has 
 got within sight of his home ; but it 
 must, if we use it rightly, fill us with 
 greater zeal for the conversion of 
 others, when we look on the graves of 
 many to whom the sweet sound of the 
 Gospel can never more come, — many 
 perhaps, who despised and rejected it 
 for the wretched pleasures of a sin- 
 ful world, and who would now, if 
 they had them, give millions of worlds 
 that the offer was once more made 
 to repent and be saved. Oh ! what 
 a dreadful thought it is, that through 
 our neglect, any soul should perish ! 
 How cruel, how base, how ungrate- 
 ful to our Redeemer, if we let pass 
 one opportunity of trying to take a 
 prey from Satan, and to add another 
 
13 
 
 lo the family of Jesus Christ ! From 
 these graves must every mouldering 
 body arise at the judgment day, and 
 would vou not be indeed rejoiced lo 
 think that every one of them should 
 awake to the resurrection of life ?" 
 
 " Yes, indeed Aunt : I do hope 
 that they all will be saved." 
 
 ft We cannot tell. Their state is 
 now unchangeable. But look around 
 you among the living, and see if 
 there be none to whom you may be- 
 come an instrument of mercy ; that, 
 if it should be your lot lo look down 
 on their graves also, you may reflect 
 with joy, on having done what you 
 could to bring them to Jesus. 
 
 " Come now to the opposite cor- 
 ner, John. Here is a row of little 
 mounds, of which the longest must 
 be the resting-place of a child no 
 bigger than yourself. What a lesson 
 is here ! Surely this smaller spot 
 must enclose an infant, which only 
 just opened its eye on the world, and 
 
14 
 
 then took flight to a better. The 
 Scripture is very full of consolation 
 respecting such : we are assured that 
 they partake in Adam's sin by nature, 
 but grace bestows on them eternal 
 life, through the redemption that is 
 in Christ Jesus. Sleep, little baby, 
 in your cold dark bed ; your spirit is 
 with Him who gave it, and there too 
 shall your body be, in His own good 
 time.'' 
 
 u Aunt," said John, " here is a 
 daisy growing on the grave that be- 
 longs to a child like me. It is just 
 my length. I will keep the daisy to 
 remind me that little children die," 
 and he plucked the flower. 
 
 " That daisy will soon wither too, 
 my dear, however carefully you keep 
 it, and will then more powerfully 
 shew you how fading are all earthly 
 things. I would wish you to be as 
 humble, as simple, and unpretend- 
 ing among men, as that daisy is 
 among flowers. Like it, you are of 
 
15 
 
 the earth, and must wait all the days 
 of your appointed time thereon ; but 
 may your eye also be turned to hea- 
 ven, and may you preserve as cheer- 
 ful a composure among all mortal 
 changes, as does that little flower, 
 smiling- amid the mansions of the 
 dead ! Yo& are now nearer to your 
 last hour than when we began this 
 conversation. May the Spirit of Ho- 
 liness so increase your growth in 
 grace, tha* no single hour shall be 
 passed in \aaity. All is vanity that 
 draws us not nearer to God : the 
 very thought of foolishness is sin. 
 But ' draw nigh unto God, and He 
 will draw nigh unto you.' * In all 
 thy ways acknowledge Him, and 
 He shall direct thy paths.'" 
 
 What thoughts, but sweetest, holiest thought ■ 
 
 Should rise within ray breast, 
 Where wicked ones torment no more, 
 
 And weary ones may rest ? 
 
16 
 
 Here weeps the graceful willow branch, 
 
 And droops the cypress tree, 
 And here a thousand sacred joys 
 
 Awake to gladden me. 
 
 The tender flowers beneath the beam, 
 Their opening petals spread, 
 
 And sweetly they look down and smile 
 Upon the peaceful dead. 
 
 And like a flower that from a grave 
 
 Extracts its lowly birth, 
 My grateful soul desires to bloom 
 On this dark mound of earth. 
 
 Her root should in the tomb be fix'd, 
 Where Jesus deign'd to sleep ; 
 
 And beams of grace should shine on her, 
 And dews of mercy weep : 
 
 Till angels came to bear away 
 The trembler on their wing, 
 And plant her by thy glorious throne, 
 My Father and my King ! 
 
 THE EIS1).