ON THE DEATH OF THE REV. J. G. SPURGEON, RECTOR OF OULTON.
Hark! tis the loud knell which tolling so dreary, Announces to all, a frail mortal’s decease; That relieved from pain, at rest is the weary, A Christian has entered the mansions of peace.
But it tells us a _friend of the poor_ is departed, A benevolent friend has resign’d his last breath, And the eye where the soft tear of pity has started, Is now closed, and sleeps in the silence of death.
Yet while in deep sorrow, his loss we’re deploring, His spirit is mounting to Heaven above; To those regions of light he is rapidly soaring, To reap the reward of his labours of love.
Peace to thine ashes! thy warfare is ended, Thou hast fought the good fight, and hast entered thy rest; Still a tear dims their eye, thou so kindly befriended, And thy memory is sweet to the poor and distress’d.
On her death bed, Susan Cullingham spoke of ‘passing the dark valley, but,’ she added, ‘It is _light_,’ and she bade her friends go to the grave, not to _weep_, but to look for her in heaven.
I think that I have rarely known in their rank of life, a finer specimen, of what I might wish the whole population of my parish to be, than the Father and Mother of Elizabeth Cullingham. They lived most happily together, and after death were not long separated. Their death I shall have occasion presently to record.
Elizabeth’s early life was such as might be expected in her station. She had exceedingly good health and spirits at this period. She was fully on par with all other girls in childish pursuits. Her disposition was, however, always careful. She was considerate in all things, not wasteful of any thing, a stayer at home, prudent and disposed to seriousness. At the age of sixteen, she went to fill a subordinate situation in a family in London, in which a female relative was the housekeeper. In this situation she was exposed to no more temptation than belongs to a servant in general. She was permitted, indeed, to partake of the usual amusements which are allowed to servants in London, but she was protected from the evils which might have resulted from those amusements, by the watchful attention of the relation under whose care she was placed, and by the preventing grace of God.