{
 "id": "phillis-wheatley/on-the-death-of-the-rev-dr-sewell-1769",
 "title": "On the Death of the Rev. Dr. Sewell. 1769",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Phillis Wheatley",
 "poet_slug": "phillis-wheatley",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral",
 "book_slug": "poems-on-various-subjects-religious-and-moral",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 6,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1773,
  "venue": "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://github.com/standardebooks/phillis-wheatley_poems-on-various-subjects-religious-and-moral"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/phillis-wheatley_poems-on-various-subjects-religious-and-moral",
  "file": "poems-on-various-subjects-religious-and-moral.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/409",
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsonvarioussu273whea",
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsofphilliswh00whea_1"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-14"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 51,
  "n_stanzas": 4,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 49,
  "max_indent": 1
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 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Ere yet the morn its lovely blushes spread,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "See Sewell number’d with the happy dead.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Hail, holy man, arriv’d th’ immortal shore,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Though we shall hear thy warning voice no more.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Come, let us all behold with wishful eyes",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The saint ascending to his native skies;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From hence the prophet wing’d his rapt’rous way",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To the blest mansions in eternal day.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Then begging for the Spirit of our God,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And panting eager for the same abode,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Come, let us all with the same vigour rise,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And take a prospect of the blissful skies;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "While on our minds Christ’s image is imprest,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the dear Saviour glows in ev’ry breast.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Thrice happy saint! to find thy heav’n at last,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "What compensation for the evils past!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Great God, incomprehensible, unknown",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "By sense, we bow at thine exalted throne.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "O, while we beg thine excellence to feel,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Thy sacred Spirit to our hearts reveal,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And give us of that mercy to partake,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Which thou hast promis’d for the Saviour’s sake!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Sewell is dead.” Swift-pinion’d Fame thus cry’d.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "“Is Sewell dead,” my trembling tongue reply’d,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "O what a blessing in his flight deny’d!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "How oft for us the holy prophet pray’d!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "How oft to us the Word of Life convey’d!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By duty urg’d my mournful verse to close,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I for his tomb this epitaph compose.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Lo, here a man, redeem’d by Jesus’ blood,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "“A sinner once, but now a saint with God;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Behold ye rich, ye poor, ye fools, ye wise,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Not let his monument your heart surprise;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“ ’Twill tell you what this holy man has done,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Which gives him brighter lustre than the sun.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Listen, ye happy, from your seats above.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“I speak sincerely, while I speak and love,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“He sought the paths of piety and truth,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“By these made happy from his early youth!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“In blooming years that grace divine he felt,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Which rescues sinners from the chains of guilt.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Mourn him, ye indigent, whom he has fed,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“And henceforth seek, like him, for living bread;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Ev’n Christ, the bread descending from above,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“And ask an int’rest in his saving love.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Mourn him, ye youth, to whom he oft has told",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“God’s gracious wonders from the times of old.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“I, too have cause this mighty loss to mourn,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“For he my monitor will not return.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“O when shall we to his blest state arrive?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“When the same graces in our bosoms thrive.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}