BY CHARLOTTE ELIZABETH 
 
THE 
 
 BURYING-GROUND 
 
 BY CHARLOTTE ELIZABETH. 
 
 > <fih : 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE 
 
 AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 
 
 150 NASSAU-STREET, NEW YORK. 
 
 15 
 

 
 IP 
 
 M§ 
 
 
 . 
 
 
THE 
 
 BURYING-GROUND. 
 
 " What is that man going to do 
 with the grass, aunt?" said a little 
 boy, as he saw a laborer carrying 
 away some fresh green sods that he 
 had just dug from a piece of waste 
 ground. 
 
 "He is going, my dear," replied 
 his aunt, u to do that for another per- 
 son, which he may, perhaps, do both 
 for you and for me before long." 
 
 "What can that be, I wonder," 
 said John, smiling. " Let us follow 
 him, aunt." 
 
 They did so. The man passed 
 down a little alley of trees, and en- 
 
4 THE BURYING-GROUND. 
 
 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 railing, forming a 
 very strong and handsome fence. The 
 lady and her little nephew soon found 
 themselves within it. 
 
 u Why, this is a churchyard," 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 looked 
 doubly bright, as they rested against 
 
THE BURYING-GROUND. 5 
 
 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 sur- 
 rounded several of the tombs. Over 
 one, hung a rich weeping- willow, an 
 acacia shaded another, and a third 
 was placed between two young cy- 
 press-trees. At one end was a row 
 of humble graves, each with its white 
 headstone and simple inscription; 
 and upon the last of these the laborer 
 whom John had seen was carefully 
 laying down 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 woman 
 was as little likely, according to hu- 
 
6 THE BURYING-GROUND. 
 
 man appearances, as you or I now 
 seem, to become the inhabitant of a 
 grave. Sudden illness seized her, and 
 ended in death almost immediately. 
 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 judgment 
 to come — of the Judge, who is like- 
 wise the Saviour of every true peni- 
 tent 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 with the damp earth, 
 there to remain till the trumpet shall 
 
 / 
 
THE BURYING-GROUND. 7 
 
 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 : 
 
 "I told you, my love, that the 
 grave-digger might soon do for us 
 what he is now doing for this poor 
 woman. 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, 
 
Q THE BURYING-GROUND. 
 
 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." 
 
 " It might, indeed, lead you daily 
 to think of death, my dear child ; but 
 it is very possible to do so, without 
 rightly preparing for it. It is the 
 office of the Holy Spirit, to keep alive 
 in your heart such a sense of eternal 
 things as shall enable you, accord- 
 ing to the apostle's language, to 'die 
 daily.' 
 
 " The poor Roman Catholics, whom, 
 whilst we lament their errors, we 
 should pity and teach, have departed 
 from the truth of the gospel, and 
 made the commandment of God of 
 
THE BURYING-GROUND. 9 
 
 no effect by their traditions and in- 
 ventions ; they have many such ways 
 of keeping themselves in what they 
 vainly suppose to be a religions frame 
 of mind. They have death's heads, 
 and cross bones, and black garments, 
 with a number of words and cere- 
 monies 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 is vain, their 
 hope a delusion, and their light dark- 
 ness. 
 
 " It is easy to let our thoughts de- 
 scend 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 
 
10 THE BURYING-GROUND. 
 
 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 him ; 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 
 thing deserving of such blessedness. 
 No, we are all as an unclean thing, 
 and all our righteousnesses are as 
 filthy rags . But if we be indeed wash- 
 ed in the blood of Christ Jesus, we are 
 also justified in God's sight, through 
 him • and if we be so washed and jus- 
 tified, we shall be sanctified 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 sinfulness, and 
 
THE BURYING-GROUND. 
 
 11 
 
 constantly be praying, ' Create in me 
 a clean heart, Lord, and renew a 
 right spirit within me.' We shall he 
 growing in grace, loving God with a 
 more perfect love, and hating sin 
 with a more perfect hatred, every day. 
 We shall take that delight in the 
 ways of holiness, which the world 
 takes in the ways of folly and wick- 
 edness, and devote onr whole selves, 
 mind, body, and estate, to the service 
 of onr heavenly Lord and Master; 
 doing all possible good to onr fellow- 
 creatures, not by way of deserving 
 heaven, but because, c if God so loved 
 us, we ought also to love one another.' 
 Do you understand what I mean by 
 fitness for the presence of God?' 
 
 "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." 
 
12 THE BURYING-GROUND. 
 
 " True, my dear ; "but God cannot 
 love any thing unholy, like us ; there- 
 fore we must be ' accepted in the Be- 
 loved.' Our sins must all be blotted 
 out by the blood of the Lamb, and our 
 hearts changed by the Holy Spirit; 
 and we must be numbered among the 
 little nock to whom the Lord Jesus 
 says, c It is your Father's good pleasure 
 to give you the kingdom.' 
 
 •'Neither do we love God, until we 
 
 behold him, 'in Christ, reconciling 
 
 the world unto himself, not imputing 
 
 their trespasses unto them.' Let us 
 
 but have this sweet assurance of the 
 
 Lord's power and willingness to save, 
 
 and find in ourselves a heart softened 
 
 and renewed 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 bears 
 
THE BURYING-GROUND. 
 
 13 
 
 the storm more patiently 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 re- 
 jected it for the wretched pleasures of 
 a sinful world, and who would now 
 give millions of worlds, could the offer 
 be once more made them 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 ungrateful to our Redeemer, if 
 we let pass one opportunity of trying 
 to take a prey from Satan, and to add 
 another to the family of Jesus Christ ! 
 From these graves must every mould- 
 ering body arise at the judgment-day ; 
 
14 THE BTJRYING-GROUND. 
 
 and would you not be indeed rejoiced 
 to think that every one of them should 
 awake to the resurrection of life ?" 
 
 " Yes, indeed, aunt j I do hope that 
 they all will be saved. J; 
 
 "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 become an 
 instrument of mercy • that, if it should 
 be your lot to 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 corner, 
 John. Here is a row of little mounds, 
 of which the longest must be the rest- 
 ing-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 
 eyes on the world, and then took flight 
 
THE BURYING-GROUND. 15 
 
 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 be- 
 stows on them eternal life, through 
 the redemption that is in Christ Je- 
 sus. Sleep, little babe, 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." 
 
 " Aunt," said John, " here is a daisy 
 growing on the grave that belongs 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 
 show you how fading are all earthly 
 things. I would wish you to be as 
 humble, as simple, and unpretending 
 
16 THE BURYING-GROUND. 
 
 among men, as that daisy is among 
 flowers. Like it, you are of the earth, 
 and must wait all the days of your 
 appointed time thereon • but may your 
 eye also he turned to heaven, and 
 may you preserve as cheerful a com- 
 posure among all mortal changes, as 
 does that little flower, smiling amid 
 the mansions of the dead. You are 
 now nearer to your last hour than 
 when we began this conversation. 
 May the Spirit of holiness so increase 
 your growth in grace, that no single 
 hour shall be passed in vanity. All 
 is vanity that draws us not nearer to 
 God : the very thought of foolishness 
 is sin. But c draw nigh unto God. 
 and he will draw nigh unto you. ? ' In 
 all thy ways acknowledge him, and 
 he shall direct thy paths.' ?; 
 
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