But to the living GOD, throughout the land,
He saw no altar blaze, no temple stand;
Jerusalem was dust, and Zion's hill,
Like Tophet's valley, desolate and still:
The prophet drew one deep desponding groan,
And his heart died within him, like a stone.
An angel's touch the dire entrancement broke, "Arise and eat, Elijah!"—He awoke,
And found a table in the desert spread,
With water in the cruise beside his head;
He bless'd the LORD, who turn'd away his prayer,
And feasted on the heaven-provided fare;
Then sweeter slumber o'er his senses stole,
And sunk like life new-breathed into his soul.
A dream brought David's city on his sight,
-Shepherds were watching o'er their flocks by
night;
Around them uncreated splendour blazed,
And heavenly hosts their hallelujahs raised;
A theme unknown since sin to death gave birth,
Glory to GOD! good will and peace on earth!" They sang; his heart responded to the strain,
Though memory sought to keep the words in vain:
The vision changed;-amid the gloom serene,
One star above all other stars was seen,
It had a light, a motion, of its own,
And o'er a humble shed in Bethlehem shone
He look'd, and, lo! an infant newly born,
That seem'd cast out to poverty and scorn,
Yet Gentile kings its advent came to greet,
Worshipp'd, and laid their treasures at its feet.
Musing what this mysterious babe might be,
He saw a sufferer stretch'd upon a tree;
Yet while the victim died, by men abhorr'd,
Creation's agonies confess'd him LORD.
Again the Angel smote the slumberer's side;
"Arise and eat, the way is long and wide.”
He rose and ate, and with unfainting force,
Through forty days and nights upheld his course.
Horeb, the mount of GOD, he reach'd, and lay
Within a cavern, till the cool of day.
"What dost thou here, Elijah?"—Like the tide,
Brake that deep voice through silence. He replied,
"I have been very jealous for thy cause,
LORD GOD of hosts! for men make void thy laws;
Thy people have thrown down thine altars, slain
Thy prophets,-I, and I alone remain;
My life with reckless vengeance they pursue,
And what can I against a nation do?"
"Stand on the mount before the Lord, and know,
That wrath or mercy at my will I show."
Anon the power that holds the winds let fly
Their devastating armies through the sky;
Then shook the wilderness, the rocks were rent,
As when JEHOVAH bow'd the firmament,
And trembling Israel, while he gave the law,
Beheld his symbols, but no image saw.
The storm retired, nor left a trace behind;
The LORD pass'd by; he came not with the wind.
Beneath the prophet's feet, the shuddering ground Clave, and disclosed a precipice profound,
Like that which open'd to the gates of hell,
When Korah, Dathan, and Abiram fell;
Again the Lord pass'd by, but unreveal'd;
He came not with the earthquake, —all was seal'd.
A new amazement! vale and mountain turn'd
Red as the battle-field with blood, then burn'd
Up to the stars, as terrible a flame
As shall devour this universal frame;
Elijah watch'd it kindle, spread, expire;
The LORD pass'd by; He came not with the fire.
A still small whisper breathed upon his ear; He wrapt his mantle round his face with fear; Darkness that might be felt involved him,—dumb With expectation of a voice to come,
He stood upon the threshold of the cave,
As one long dead, just risen from the grave,
In the last judgment.- Came the voice and cried,
"What dost thou here, Elijah?"-He replied,
"I have been very jealous for thy cause,
LORD GOD of hosts! for men make void thy laws
Thy people have thrown down thine altars, slain
Thy prophets,-I, and I alone, remain ;
My life with ruthless violence they pursue,
And what can I against a nation do?"
"My day of vengeance is at hand: the year
Of my redeem'd shall suddenly appear:
Go Thou,- anoint two kings, -and in thy place,
A prophet to stand up before my face:
Then he who 'scapes the Syrian's sword shall fall
By his whom to Samaria's throne I call;
And he who 'scapes from Jehu, in that day,
Him shall the judgment of Elisha slay.
Yet hath a remnant been preserved by me,
Seven thousand souls, who never bow'd the knee
To Baäl's image, nor have kiss'd his shrine;
These are my jewels, and they shall be mine,
When to the world my righteousness is shown,
And, root and branch, idolatry o'erthrown."
So be it, God of truth! yet why delay?
With thee a thousand years are as one day;
O crown thy people's hopes, dispel their fears!
And be to-day with Thee a thousand years!
Cut short the evil, bring the blessed time,
Avenge thine own elect, from clime to clime;
Let not an idol in thy path be spared,
All share the fate which Baäl long hath shared ;
Nor let seven thousand only worship Thee;
Make every tongue confess, bow every knee;
Now o'er the promised kingdoms reign thy Son,
One Lord through all the earth,—his name be one!
Hast Thou not spoken? shall it not be done?
A HAIL-STONE, from the cloud set free,
Shot, slanting coastward, o'er the sea,
And thus, as eastern tales relate
Lamented its untimely fate :
"Last moment born, condemn'd in this,
The next absorpt in yon abyss;
"Twere better ne'er to know the light,
Than see and perish at first sight."
An oyster heard, and as it fell,
Welcomed the outcast to her shell,
Where meekly suffering that "sea-change,
grew to "something rich and strange," And thence became the brightest gem
That decks the Sultan's diadem,
Turn'd from a particle of ice
Into a pearl of priceless price.
-Thus can the Power that rules o'er all
Exalt the humble by their fall.
A dew-drop, in the flush of morn,
Sparkled upon a blossom'd thorn,
Reflecting from its mirror pure
The sun himself in miniature.
Dancing for gladness on the spray,
It miss'd its hold, and slid away;
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