Page images
PDF
EPUB

All that Spring, with bounteous hand,
Scatters o'er the smiling land;
All that liberal Autumn pours,
From her rich o'erflowing stores.
These to Thee, O God, we owe,
Source, whence all our blessings flow;
And for these, our souls shall raise
Grateful vows and solemn praise.
Yet should rising whirlwinds tear
From its stem the ripening ear;
Should the fig-tree's blasted shoot,
Drop its green untimely fruit;
Should the vine put forth no more;
Nor the olive yield its store;
Though the sick'ning flocks should fall,
And the herd desert the stall;
Should thy alter'd hand restrain
The early and the latter rain,
Blast each opening bud of joy,
And the rising year destroy;
Yet to Thee, our souls shall raise
Grateful vows and solemn praise;
And when every blessing's flown,
Love Thee, for thyself alone.

ELIJAH.

From Blackwood's Magazine.

ELIJAH, with his mantle, smote the waves
Of Jordan, to the right hand and the left;
Which, parting, sunder'd like a breaking cloud,
When vernal breezes wanton in the sky.

And onwards with his master, through the sands
Without a word, in that mysterious calm,
Elisha pass'd.

The fated hour was nigh,

The hour of consummation; loneliness

Hung o'er the hills and valleys, like a shroud;
Dashing, the bridled waters close behind,
And all was still; darkling the forest lay,
A mass of pitchy darkness, in the scowl
Of that dim sky, a solitude of death!
The elements of nature seem'd asleep;
And, in their place, mysterious agencies
At work, to overthrow the rolling world.
Within Elijah's glance, a piercingness,
Which was not of this earth; upon his face,
Shaded with raven locks, a darkening hue,
As if reflective of the frowning sky,
Was visible; when, lifting up his voice,
It is the hour, he said; before we part
To meet no more upon this lower sphere,
What would'st thou of me? Then Elisha pray'd
For a double portion of his master's soul

Prophetic. Straight the heavenly chariot came,
A fiery chariot, drawn by steeds of fire,
Treading the clouds beneath them in their march;
And stillest silence, like a wizzard, held
Spell-bound the tranquil elements in awe,
While forked lightnings flash'd among the clouds.
Elijah enter'd, and a whirlwind rose,

And snatch'd him to the skies, and he was not.

THE CASTING FORTH OF JONAH.

DARK lour'd around the canopy of clouds,

Winds sang, and thunders roll'd, and lightnings

flash'd;

The fear-struck sailor clung unto the shrouds,

As o'er his head the warning billow dash'd; And while the rain, a sheety torrent, lash'd The tortur'd sea, each mountain wave between,

The ship, and all its shrieking crew, were seen.

They thought of Joppa; of their pleasant home; Despairing e'er to view its walls again;

And drifting o'er the circumambient foam,

Saw but the skies commingling with the main; Then, deeming labour lost, and efforts vain, They threw their merchandize into the sea,

And each call'd on his God, and bent his knee.

When, lo! reposing on a plank, below,

As on green sward beneath a summer sky,
With countenance serene, and placid breath,
They view'd a passenger in slumber lie;
On him, the master gaz'd with wond'ring eye,
And roused him from his trance, and wildly cried,
Call, sleeper, on thy God, to calm the tide.

Then each did gaze distrustfully on each,
Imagining that for some grievous sin,

Heav'n doom'd, the land they never more should reach,

But all should perish, ocean's womb within. They thought them then of lots, and did begin; (While silently each weigh'd his failings well,) To cast them, and the lot on Jonah fell.

Hope, like a sunbeam, over every face

Began to play; they ask'd him whence he came, His occupation and his dwelling place, His secret sin, his country and his name. Then as he patiently endur'd the blame, I am a Hebrew, Jonah said, by birth,

And worship God who made the seas and earth.

Then were they terrified, for he had told,

That from the presence of the Lord he fled
And while, without, the foaming billows roll'd,
Within there was the silence of the dead.
But boldly stepping forward, Jonah said,
For me hath ris'n this tempest; all, for me;
Then spare me not, but cast me to the sea.

Yet did they make delay, compassionate,

And plied, with dextrous hand, the bending oar; Fain would they save him from impending fate,

And hard they struggled to approach the shore; But more tempestuous grew the main, and more; And every wave, with crest of tawny brown,

Threaten'd to whelm them o'er, and suck them down.

They saw it was in vain; and then they pray'd,
They pray'd of heav'n forgiveness of his blood;
And cast him to the sea, depriv'd of aid,

And lo! as on the vessel's side they stood,
They saw leviathan, amid the flood,
Gape for his victim wide, who shrank in fear,
Then dive into the deep, and disappear.

Then, as by magic spell, the sea grew calm,

And ceas'd its raging; its tempestuous roar Was still'd; and winds with pinions dipt in balm, Blew gently o'er them from the flow'ry shore; The skies their crown of azure glory wore; And beautiful the sun-beams bath'd the deep, As on its breast the vessel seem'd to sleep.

THE VISION OF ZECHARIAH.

WITH Smiling cheek, and eye of cloudless light,
His garments glowing 'mid the shades of night,
The angel of the Lord before me stood;
When, lo! a vision burst on solitude.

« PreviousContinue »