Lotan Hiscock

Source: Author’s Collection

“In
memory of
Lotan.  son
of Noah & Rebekah
Hiscock, he died
Dec. 7. 1811 in his
18 year.

I sleep, but my heart waketh.

I mentioned in the Scripture section of the overview tab that, unsurprisingly, the Bible is a very frequent source of texts for these epitaphs. Passages from Ecclesiastes, Job, Proverbs, Psalms, and the Gospels were often chosen, but this is the only example I have found from the Song of Solomon.

The context for Lotan’s epitaph is a bit unusual, at least to our modern ears.  It comes from Chapter 5 of the Song of Solomon, a passage in which the narrator bride is searching for her husband:

1. I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.

2. I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night.

 I am not an expert on how contemporary Congregationalists interpreted this passage, but as I understand it the general teaching was that the bride is the church, seeking eternal union with her Savior Jesus.  In this context, the message is to console one’s self that while Lotan is at rest, his heart is alive and reaching out to Christ. 

I should note that Lotan’s sister Rebekah died a month earlier, at the age of 20, and is buried next to her brother. I do not know what dreadful contagion or disaster took them both away so quickly.