Now with earnest tongues appealing Of the heavenly light ; Wearing, wearing, ever wearing The voice of prayer, How the fallen spirits tremble, In the haunts where they assemble, And in their mad and fruitless ire, Up to heaven that voice of prayer. The voice of prayer, How it letteth glory in, On the depths of woe and sin, In this world of dread! Sure, the blessed ones who hover, And who seek with outspread wings to cover Each devoted head, They must smile in soft delight, When the hour of still twilight, Wafteth through the ether blue, Like an incense sweet and new, Rising, rising, ever rising, Like a glorious hymn Like a gentle melody upborne By the bright-winged seraphim. The voice of prayer, Far above the exhaling mist, From the darkened earth I wist, Gilding heaven's glory, Where the music of far spheres, Rolling on through endless years, Telleth its bright storyDoth the realm of endless space, Undulate with spirit voices, And in every point or place, Each angelic throng rejoices, As the voice of mortal praise Blendeth with their heaven-born lays. There incorporate it dwells, With the eternal harmony that swells Rising, rising, ever rising To the cloud-enveloped throne, Rising, rising, ever rising In a glorious monotone. NATCHITOCHES, LA. HAGAR AND ISHMAEL. BY REV. J. FLOY, D. D. HAGAR was, by birth, an Egyptian. By some of the ancient Rabbis, she was supposed to be of royal blood; and that supposition they incorporate into history, and make her a daughter of one of the Pharaohs. Many interpreters of the Mosaic Record, more especially among the Jews, to the confusion of all chronology, confound her with Keturah,― of whom, although in our Bibles it be out of its proper place, a distinct account is given by the sacred writer. From the manner in which she is introduced and spoken of, the opinion of Chrysostom is most probable. It is, that she was one of those maid-servants given to Abraham by Pharaoh, on a memorable occasion in his history, to which reference is made in a previous chapter. She is spoken of as Sarah's maid-servant,-as a bond-woman; and though, probably, not what we should deem a slave, divested of all personal rights, yet a domestic in the tent of the father of the faithful. Her name, which means literally a stranger, or the timid one, was doubtless given her, as was customary, on her removal from her own country; and indicated, as was customary in that early age, a peculiar trait in her character. They called her Hagar— the timid one. In the family of Abraham, it could not be otherwise than that his servants were instructed in the true religion. The idolatrous Egyptian is made acquainted with the true God; and her subsequent conduct shows that she not only knew, but served Him. This fact is strikingly evinced when she fled from the face of her mistress, Sarah, who dealt hardly with her-treated her with unkindness and cruelty, and for whose conduct on the occasion, and through the whole affair, it is hard to find an excuse. The angel of the Lord, it is said, accosted the flying maid-servant; arrested her in her career; directed her to return; and promised her a son, whose name, also, it is worthy of remark, the angel said should be Ishmael; being the first man born into the world, so far as we know, whose name was given him before his birth. Thou shalt call his name Ishmael, said the angel; that is, literally, God shall hear; because, he continues, the Lord hath heard thy affliction:- an intimation, I think, that in this affair, whatever degree of blame rests upon Abraham for his want of patience, and upon Sarah for her rashness and petulance, Hagar was the least blameworthy of the three. After hearing the angel's prediction relative to her son, it is said, she called, or rather called upon, or invoked the name of the Lord; recognizing fully his superintending care |