LIFE BY DEATH | AdventAI

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 22, 1859

LIFE BY DEATH.

"That which thou sowest is not quickened except it die."

Who'd sorrow for the yellow grain He casts into the ground? It only dies to rise again With grace and beauty crowned; So different though the form we see, In robe of beauteous green, It scarcely seems that this can be The corn we late had seen.

And in the tiny seed is found A germ of living power, Which after sleeping in the ground, Wakes up into a flower. An acorn dropped from off the bough— And seemingly decayed— Clothed with new life, it giveth now Fresh beauty to the glade.

And so with us; we, too, may lie Low in the damp, dark earth. Shrink not at this! we do but die To bloom in heavenly birth. Ah! we may think of gorgeous flowers, And butterflies' bright wings, But the radiant forms that will be ours, Mock our imaginings!

If they but do as far exceed Man's present noble form, As does the lovely flower, the seed— The butterfly, the worm; What glorious bodies then will come Bursting the bands away, Which erst confined them to the tomb, On that great final day!

Then weep not for "the pious dead," With such a hope as this; 'Tis but the way that they are led To glory and to bliss! The friends we leave within the tomb, Are planted for the skies; And joy in this sweet thought we have: These precious seeds will rise!