THE PRISONER’S DEATH-BELL.

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BY REV. H. HASTINGS WELD.

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Blessed be His name whose messages of peace

Not to the worldly or the proud are borne:

Whose light bids in the dungeon darkness cease,

Whose mercy clothes him whom the world has shorn.

Vain are the efforts of vindictive power,

Vain are its chains to bind a spirit down;

For that to Heaven in prayer can calmly soar

When earthly foes in utmost fury frown.

Death to the youthful is untimely wo—

Death to the happy is a fearful grief—

But weary age is not averse to go:—

The captive welcomes even death’s relief.

What then to him the frowning prison-walls—

The clanking chain, the tyrant’s vengeful spite?

From the freed spirit every shackle falls—

Earth’s gloom is lost in Heaven’s glorious light.