During the 1866 Cholera epidemic, in which almost 6,000 died in London's East End alone, Irish poet and author of 'Before the Throne of God Above', Charitie Lees Bancroft (nee Smith) penned the following words for a poem entitled ‘During a Visitation of Cholera’:
A wail from lonely hearthstones,
Of hearts bereft and riven;
A cry of desolation
Ascended up to heaven;
For God hath sent His Angel,
The dark-winged Pestilence,
To brood above our city,
And call his victims hence.
He steals by silken couches,
Through rich luxurious rooms;
He turns the hall of feasting
Into a place of tombs.
And proud hearts bow in anguish,
As loved ones drop and die,
And brave men shrink and tremble,
For death has drawn so nigh.
But ‘mid the wild confusion
That reigneth all around –
‘Mid cries of pain and terror,
One little band is found;
A band of few and weak ones,
Whose hearts are strong and brave,
Who tread with smiling faces
The borders of the grave.
They pass along rejoicing,
Without one care opprest,
For on the Master’s bosom
These little ones have rest;
And though beside, around them,
May tens of thousands fall,
They have a place of refuge,
Their Father ruleth all!
They know the heart that loves them,
And all that He commands:
Swift death – or life-long labour,
They welcome at His hands;
Swift death, and sudden glory,
By pestilence or sword –
Or years of toil and patience,
In service for their Lord.
They take it meekly, gladly,
Whate’er their Father gives;
For, whether rest or labour,
They know that Jesus lives.
And in earth’s midnight darkness,
Faith looking up still sings;
And when her nerveless fingers
Can feel not, yet she clings:
Still clings to Him who loves her,
With love that ne’er deceives;
And Christ the weak one blesses,
Who sees not, yet believes;
Believes alike in darkness
As when with sunshine blest,
And on the naked promise
Lies down in perfect rest.
ALEXANDER ARRELL