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Title: The Broken Seal
Author: John Castillo [
More Titles by Castillo]
To sing of Southcotes clouded fame,
My muse presumes and tries to soar;
Though some may say, “Blot out her name,
Let it be seen or heard no more,”
I have a secret to reveal,
Effected by a broken Seal!
This poor Joanna had her day;—
While fair and bright the morning shone,
She led too many far astray,
Whose souls much better things had known;
She soon their ancient tribe could tell,
And signed their title with a Seal.
A poor, illiterate, labouring man,
Who went Joanna’s voice to hear,
A stranger to salvation’s plan,
Had linger’d on from year to year;
He thought she preach’d the gospel real,
And he of course must have a Seal!
Without a heart transform’d and new,
Joanna Southcote took him in,
And seal’d him her disciple true,
Without repenting of his sin;—
He slyly from his wife did steal,
The price of his mysterious Seal!
Her creed on such conditions hung,
That while her seals continued whole,
Then hope was bright, and faith was strong,
And they could neither fail nor fall;
But none could rescue those from hell,
Who chanc’d to crack or break the Seal!
When, lo, upon a certain day,
Examining his little store,
Joanna’s passport to survey;
His pocket book he rummag’d o’er,
But consternation turn’d him pale,
When he perceiv’d he’d broke his Seal!
His heart was stung with deep dismay,
With anguish, and tormenting fears,
Which like a trumpet night and day,
Did sound this sentence in his ears,
“Thou never canst thy crime conceal,
Remember thou hast broke thy Seal!”
He thought the Almighty from on high,
Would soon his red hot lightnings pour,
And he, a sinner doom’d to die,
Might then expect the hottest shower;—
God would on him his wrath reveal,
For he had broke the fatal Seal!
He more than either once or twice,
With heavy heart and tearful eye,
Went to a preacher for advice,
Who soon his sickness did descry;
By what his conscience seem’d to feel,
His heart was broken with his Seal!
The preacher then without delay,
Did point him to the sinner’s friend,
Exhorting him to watch and pray,
And on the Son of God depend,
Whose efficacious blood could heal
His soul, though he had broke his Seal!
One day in agonizing prayer,
Believing on the Son of God,
On the dark borders of despair,
He found redemption in His blood,
And from the transport he did feel,
He bless’d the day he broke the Seal!
[The end]
John Castillo's poem: Broken Seal
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