by Manoah Bodman (1765-1850); edited by Jesse Glass

*Bodman, Manoah. An Oration On Death, And The Happiness Of The Separate State, Or The Pleasures of Paradise. Williamsburgh, MA.: Ephraim Whitman, 1817.

          Perhaps you will wonder, O reader, why I dwell so much on the power of Satan. It is a gloomy subject, to be sure: but perhaps, more advantageous than we are apt to conceive at first view. The great Apostle to the Gentiles could say, We are not ignorant of his devices. No small attainment! I know this is a very disagreeable thought; to suppose ourselves continually surrounded by these Infernal, Potent beings! but I do not see, but we must suppose it, and believe it; if we have recourse to the sacred records; for there we are expressly informed, that the great dragon was cast out of heaven; that old serpent called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Now here is an expression strong in point- which deceiveth the whole world! And if he deceives the whole world, then we are all, more or less, deceived by him. How fearful our state!
  

South Wales Echo is the first piece of our "Monumental Docs" series. This series will work towards acquiring and organizing works that are not easily available on the web in order to preserve them as witnesses of important movements, places and people. As the series progresses, we intend to develop criteria to decide what ephemera to acquire, digitize, and save.

To that end, Gerard Casey was born in 1918 and died in October 2000. His poem, South Wales Echo, was first published in 1973 and was reprinted in his 1990 collection Echoes. We thank Louise de Bruin, Gerard Casey’s executor, for permission to reprint this poem. Click here to check out the piece.