"He grew, by truth and faithfulness,
In favor near the throne;
And gave HIS BRETHREN in distress,
A Goshen for their own;
Whence, when another king arose
Who knew not Joseph's worth,
MOSES, defying ISRAEL'S foes,
In triumph led them forth.
"Like walls, the sea on either hand
Rose at the voice of God;
And through that fearful pass, their band
In safety walk'd dry shod:
The cloud by day, the fire by night,
To guide their path were given;
The rock gush'd forth in waters bright,
Their food came down from heaven.
""Twere needless for me to recount
The blessings GOD supplied,
The wonders seen by SINAI's mount,
By JORDAN'S hallow'd tide;
Through it, in safety, they were led,
Bearing, at God's command,
Stones of memorial from its bed,
And reach'd the PROMIS'D LAND!
"How there they fought, and triumph'd there,
And sinn'd, and suffer'd too,
Let many a city's fall declare,
And tyrant's yoke prove true.
I may not stop, each mighty name,
Then glorious, to recall,
Or dwell upon the deathless fame
Of SAMUEL, DAVID, SAUL;
"Or SOLOMON's, whose zeal uprear'd
A temple to the LORD;
Or KINGS and mighty CAPTAINS, fear'd
For their resistless sword.
And then, to mortal man on earth,
Were powers prophetic lent,
Foretelling war, and plague, and dearth,
Sin's righteous chastisement.
"Then liv'd ELIJAH, mighty seer! By ravens daily fed,
Who in God's holy name and fear
A life of wonders led:
Nor did his death less testify
A prophet's sacred claim,
Triumphantly upborne on high
With car and steeds of flame!
"ELISHA, too, who humbly caught
His mantle in its fall,
Prov'd, by the marvels that he wrought,
His high and holy call:
What time the mourning SHUNAMITE
Bewail'd her infant's death,
The prophet, by faith's word of might,
Recall'd its parted breath!
"Nor less, though by a CAPTIVE MAID,
Was Israel's God reveal'd;
HER MASTER Sought the prophet's aid,
He wash'd, and he was heal'd!
Then, too, the seer his punishment
Of guile thought meet to show;
GEHAZI from his presence went
A leper, white as snow!
"But words would fail me, should I dwell On each surprising deed
Written in Scripture's chronicle,
For after-times to read:
How JONAH from God's presence fled
Afar, but fled in vain,
His living prison-house of dread,
Down in the billowy main:
"How Time paus'd in his onward race,
At HEZEKIAH's prayer,
And on the dial bade him trace
The backward shadow there:
How good JOSIAH's zeal o'erturn'd
Idols of wood and stone,
"Till JUDAH's altars' incense burn'd
TO JUDAH'S GOD alone.
"How, captives sad, by BABEL's streams,
The sons of ZION, Still,
Like home-sick exiles in their dreams,
Remember'd ZION'S HILL;
With harps upon the willows hung,
Mute lips, and skilless hand,
Their fathers' songs remain'd unsung,
Far from their FATHERS' LAND.
"Ilow DANIEL, on his bended knee, Defied the lions' ire;
How calmly walked the FAITHFUL THREE, Unharm'd, amid the fire,
Untouched their clothes, unsinged their hair, The furnace floor they trod,
Because a fourth walk'd with them there, Like to the SON OF GOD.
"How BABYLON's imperious KING,
When pride his heart had steel'd,
A humbled, throneless, crownless thing,
Ate herbage in the field;
And how his son, forgetting all
That sire had felt before,
Read, in the writing on the wall,
His kingdom was no more.
"And last, how HAMAN, for his guilt,
Hung on that gallows high
His pride, for MORDECAI, had built,
That he thereon might die.
What marvel when such themes divine
Wake wonder, love, and praise,
That somewhat like a wish were mine
To have lived in Bible days?"
READER, I own thou speakest sooth:
Those glorious days of yore
Were rich in themes which bid, in truth,
Our humbled hearts adore.
Yet turn not thou, with thankless heart
And discontented brow,
From these, allotted as thy part,
But count thy blessings now.
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