Inscription on A Monument

What shall we write on this memorial stone?
Thy merits? Thou didst rest on Christ’s alone.

What shall we write on this memorial stone?
Thy merits? Thou didst rest on Christ’s alone.
Our sorrows? Thou woulds chide the selfish tear.
Our love? Alas, it needs no record here.
Praise to thy God and ours?  His truth and love
Are sung in nobler strains by thee above.
What would thou have us write? A voice is heard,
“Write, for each reader write, a warning word.
“Bid him look well before him, and within;
“Talk to his heedless heart of death and sin;
“And if at these he tremble, bid him flee
“To Christ, and find Him all in all, like me.”

To S. P. S.

Henry Francis Lyte