Epitaph: Bright shining as the sun

The sandstone tablet marker at the grave of Joseph Pool (d. 1849) has appeared here before (here and here), but I have overlooked its epitaph—until now.

JOSEPH, POOL,
DIED,
MARCH, 3,
1849,
AGED, 48, YEARS.

When we,v been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We,v no less days to sing Gods praise,
Than when we first begun,

Recognize the verse? We know it today as a verse from the popular hymn “Amazing Grace,” written (mostly) by English poet and clergyman John Newton (b. 1725, d. 1807).

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me....
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see.

T’was Grace that taught...
my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear...
the hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares...
we have already come.
T’was Grace that brought us safe thus far...
and Grace will lead us home.

The Lord has promised good to me...
His word my hope secures.
He will my shield and portion be...
as long as life endures.

When we’ve been here ten thousand years...
bright shining as the sun.
We've no less days to sing God’s praise...
then when we’ve first begun.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me....
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see.

There is more to the story of this epitaph: John Newton did not write it! It did not appear in print as a verse of “Amazing Grace” until Tom sang it in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which was not published until 1852.

According to Jonathan Aitken writing in John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace (2007):

The four lines beginning “When we’ve been here ten thousand years” had been orally around in Afro-American worship for at least half a century, for they were from a verse in a hymn often sung in Virginia known as “Jerusalem, My Happy Home.” This verse was established as the new conclusion of “Amazing Grace” by Edwin Othello Excell (b. 1851, d. 1921).

An early manuscript of “Jerusalem, My Happy Home” is in the British Museum today. That manuscript dates to the late 16th or early 17th century.

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Williamsville Cemetery, Delaware County, Ohio