Friendship in Death: In Twenty Letters from the Dead to the Living. To which are Added, Letters Moral & Entertaining, in Prose & Verse. In Three PartsW. Strahan, 1783 - 336 pages |
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Common terms and phrases
affiftance affuring beauty bleffed celeftial charming Chriftian circumftance Cleora compaffion confefs confufion converfation dear death defign defires difguife divine ELIZABETH ROWE eternal expreffed facred faid fame fatal fatisfaction fcenes fecret fecure feemed fenfe fervant fhades fhall fhould fifter filent fince fincere fkies fleep fmile foft folemn fome fomething foon foul fpirits friendſhip ftate ftill fuccefs fuch fuffer fuperior furpriſed gentle give glorious glory grace grief guilt happineſs happy Heaven heavenly herſelf himſelf honour hopes houſe immortal inchanting itſelf juft laft laſt leaft lefs LETTER libertine loft Lord Lord Guilford Dudley mind modeft moft mortal moſt muft muſt myſelf never occafion paffion paft perfon perfuaded pleafing pleaſed pleaſure prefent profpect reafon refolved reft rife ſcene ſhall ſhe ſkies ſpring ſtate tender thee thefe theſe thing thofe thoſe thou thought thouſand tion vanity virtue whofe yourſelf youth
Popular passages
Page 137 - Does he delight to hear bold seraphs tell How Michael battled, and the dragon fell ; Or, mix'd with milder cherubim, to glow In hymns of love not ill essay 'd below ? Or dost thou warn poor mortals left behind ? A task well suited to thy gentle mind.
Page 148 - the powers of heaven shall be shaken; and then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds, with power and great glory.
Page 91 - Were there no impiety in this kind of mirth, it would be -as ill-bred as to entertain a dying friend with the sight of an harlequin, or the rehearsal of a farce.
Page iv - Letters Moral and Entertaining." The drift of the " Letters from the Dead " is, as the ingenious Author of the preface expresses it, " to impress the notion of the soul's immortality ; without which, all virtue and religion, with their temporal and eternal good consequences, must fall to the ground : and to make the mind contract, as it were, unawares, an habitual persuasion of our future existence by writings built on that foundation." It may be added also, that the design both of these, and the...
Page 90 - In what delirium hath my life been passed ? What have I been doing, while the sun in its race, and the stars in their courses, have lent their beams, perhaps, only to light me to perdition.
Page 92 - ... his secret grief. But, oh ! which of these will answer my summons at the high Tribunal? Which of them will bail me from the arrest of death? Who will descend into the dark prison of the grave for me ? Here they all leave me, after having paid a few idle ceremonies to the...
Page 91 - It is not giving up my breath ; it is not being for ever insensible, is the thought at which I shrink : it is the terrible hereafter, the something beyond the grave at which I recoil. Those great realities, which, in the hours of mirth and vanity, I have treated as phantoms, as the idle dreams of superstitious beings ; these start forth, and dare me now in their most terrible demonstration.
Page xvi - Heav'n will not sure this pray'r deny: Short be my life's uncertain date, And earlier far than thine the destin'd hour of fate! Whene'er it comes, may'st thou be by, Support my sinking frame, and teach me how to die, Banish desponding nature's gloom, Make me to hope a gentle doom, And fix...
Page 90 - It is impossible for me to express the present disposition of my soul — the- vast uncertainty I am struggling with! No words can paint the force and vivacity of my apprehensions. Every doubt wears the face of horror, and would perfectly overwhelm me, but for some faint beams of hope, which dart across the tremendous gloom ! What tongue can utter the anguish of a soul suspended between the extremes of infinite joy and eternal misery ? I am throwing my last stake for eternity, and tremble and shudder...
Page 65 - Father of mercies ! why from silent earth Didst thou awake, and curse me into birth ? Tear me from quiet, ravish me from night, And make a thankless present of thy light ? Push into being a reverse of thee, And animate a clod with misery ? " The beasts are happy; they come forth, and keep Short watch on earth, and then lie down to sleep.