| James and Mary Ford, eds. Every Day in the Year. 1902. | | | | October 2 | | To the Memory of Channing | | By Anne Charlotte Lynch (1815–1891) |
| | | | An American clergyman and philanthropist. One of the chief founders of American Unitarianism. He died on Oct. 2, 1842. |
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THOSE spirits God ordained, | |
| To stand the watchmen on the outer wall, | |
| Upon whose souls the beams of truth first fall; | |
| They who reveal the ideal, the unattained, | |
| And to their age, in stirring tones and high, | 5 |
| Speak out for God, truth, man, and liberty— | |
| Such prophets, do they die? * * * * * | |
| The landmarks of their age, | |
| High-priests, kings of the realm of mind, are they, | |
| A realm unbounded as posterity; | 10 |
| The hopeful future is their heritage; | |
| Their words of truth, of love, and faith sublime, | |
| To a dark world of doubt, despair, and crime, | |
| Re-echo through all time. | |
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| Such kindling words are thine, | 15 |
| Thou, o’er whose tomb the requiem soundeth still, | |
| Thou from whose lips the silvery tones yet thrill | |
| In many a bosom, waking life divine; | |
| And since thy Master to the world gave token | |
| That for Love’s faith the creed of fear was broken, | 20 |
| None higher have been spoken. * * * * * | |
| Ages agone, like thee | |
| The famèd Greek with kindling aspect stood, | |
| And blent his eloquence with wind and flood, | |
| By the blue waters of the Ægean sea; | 25 |
| But he heard not their everlasting hymn: | |
| His lofty soul with Error’s cloud was dim, | |
| And thy great teachers spake not unto him. | | | |
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