Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

MILLENNIUM.

1 But who shall see the glorious day
When, thron'd on Zion's brow,
'The Lord shall rend that veil away
Which blinds the nations now?
When earth no more beneath the fear
Of his rebuke shall lie;

When pain shall cease, and every tear
Be wip'd from every eye?

2 Then Judah! thou no more shalt mourn
Beneath the heathen's chain;

Thy days of splendour shall return,
And all be new again.

The fount of life shall then be quaff'd,
In peace by all who come,

And ev'ry wind that blows shall waft
Some long-lost exile home.

MOORE.

THE BEACON.

1 The scene was more beautiful far to my eye,

Than if day in its pride had array'd it; The land-breeze blew mild, and the azurearch'd sky

Look'd pure as the spirit that made it.

2 The murmur rose soft as I silently gaz'd On the shadowy waves' playful motion; From the dim distant isle till the beaconfire blaz❜d,

Like a star in the midst of the ocean.

3 No longer the joy of the sailor-boy's breast Was heard in his wildly-breath'd numbers;

The sea-bird has flown to her wave-girdled nest,

The fisherman sunk to his slumbers.

4 I sigh'd as I look'd from the hill's gentle

slope;

All hush'd was the billows' commotion: And I thought that the beacon look'd lovely as hope,

That star of life's tremulous ocean.

5 The time is long past, and the scene is afar, Yet, when my head rests on its pillow, Will memory sometimes rekindle the star That blaz❜d on the breast of the billow.

6 In life's closing hour, when the trembling soul flies,

And death stills the heart's last emotion, O then may the seraph of mercy arise, Like a star on eternity's ocean.

DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM.

1 Fallen is thy throne, O Israel!-
Silence is on all thy plains,-
Thy dwellings all lie desolate,-
Thy children weep in chains.

[ocr errors]

MOORE.

Where are the dews that fed thee

On Etham's barren shore?
That fire from Heaven which led thee
Now lights thy path no more!

2 Lord, thou didst love Jerusalem!
Once she was all thine own:
Her love thy fairest heritage,
Her pow'r thy glory's throne.
Till evil came and blighted
Thy long-loved olive tree;
And Salem's shrines were lighted
For other gods than thee.

3 Then sunk the star of Solyma,
Then pass'd her glory's day,
Like heath that in the wilderness
The wild wind whirls away.
Silent and waste her bowers,
Where once the mighty trod,
And sunk those guilty towers
Where Baal reign'd as God.

4" Go," said the Lord, "ye conquerors!
"Steep in her blood your swords;
"And raze to earth her battlements,
"For they are not the Lord's;
"Tell Zion's mournful daughter,
"O'er kindred bones she'll tread;
"And Hinnom's hall of slaughter
"Shall hide but half her dead."

5 But soon shall other pictur'd scenes In brighter vision rise,

When Zion's sun shall sevenfold shine
On all her mourners' eyes;

And on her mountains beauteous stand,

The messengers of peace:

"Salvation by the Lord's right hand!”
They shout and never cease.

MOORE.

PLEASURE NOT FOUND IN THE WORLD.

1 In search of enjoyment I wander'd in vain, With a void in my bosom that nothing could fill ;

For mirth's gayest smile was succeeded by pain,

And the sweet cup of pleasure prov'd bitterness still.

The young days of fancy roll'd rapidly by, And I shrunk with dismay from the future's dark gloom,

Where the clay-fetter'd spirit must mourn till it die,

And man has no rest but the rest of the tomb.

2 And yet I have revell'd in hope's fairy

dream,

And tasted the raptures of love's purest bliss:

Delusive are both, though alluring they

seem,

Like vapours that gleam o'er a hidden abyss.

The proud thirst of glory was mine from my birth,

But what can this world to ambition display,

Which grasps at the skies, but is bounded by earth

A spirit of fire in a prison of clay ?

3 And now I have heard of a nobler renown, A kingdom unfading, a glory divine; But the humble alone shall inherit the crown,

And how shall that kingdom of glory be mine?

Let my strength turn to weakness, my honour to shame,

The reproach of the cross be my EARTH-
LY reward;

All, all shall be welcome for one blessed

name,

The lowly disciple of Jesus the Lord.

DALE.

THE SAVIOUR WEEPING OVER JERUSALEM.

1 O Salem! who, in proud disdain,
My faithful prophets slew;

And soon, the cup of guilt to drain,
Wilt slay thy Saviour too!

How had my love thy children blest,
Their deeds of blood forgot,

And led them to eternal rest;
But they consented not.

« AnteriorContinuar »