Fifty of the Protestant Ballads and " The Anti-Ritualistic Directorium, " of Martin F. Tupper ... New; and reprinted |
 |
|
BELSHAZZAR'S FEAST: The Ecumenical.
|
|
|
| I. |
| II. |
| III. |
| IV. |
| V. |
| VI. |
| VII. |
| VIII. |
| IX. |
| X. |
| XI. |
| XII. |
| XIII. |
| XIV. |
| XV. |
| XVI. |
| XVII. |
| XVIII. |
| XIX. |
| XX. |
| XXI. |
|
|
| I. |
| II. |
| III. |
| IV. |
| V. |
| VI. |
 | Fifty of the Protestant Ballads |  |
BELSHAZZAR'S FEAST: The Ecumenical.
I
Belshazzar the King and his thousand lordsHeld feast in Babylon's glory,
Drank wine, and boasted with blasphemous words,
And—pointed a fearsome story;
They swore and they sang, till the wide halls rang
With cursing,—and chants to their idol,
Cursing the Lord, with chants for the gang
That priested Astarte's bridal!
II
Belshazzar and those his thousand lordsThat night were cut in sunder,
Like Agag hewed by their enemies' swords,
To Mede and Persian wonder;
For empty Euphrates so swiftly itself
To Cyrus the City had given,
That Babylon, spite of its pow'r and its pelf,
Seem'd crushed by a millstone from Heaven!
III
And—lo here! a feast in Babylon-RomeWhere a thousand mitres muster
19
And round a Statue cluster;
Immaculate woman! Infallible man!
They praise new idols proudly,—
“Anathematize” truths as they dare and they can,
And worship falsehoods loudly.
IV
But look! for the finger of God on the wallWrites “numbered, weighed, divided;”
Belshazzar, thy Kingdoms shall suddenly fall,
And thou be a thing derided!
The cup of thy guilt being full to the brim
Then vengeance no longer shall falter,—
Thou rival to Christ,—Usurper of Him,
And set up as God on His altar!
V
Beware! for the peoples are clamouring loudFor reason, religion, and freedom;
Beware! thou art hemm'd by a Philistine crowd,
Amalek, Ammon, and Edom;
They hate thee, and scorn thee,—and terribly now
Their vows of old vengeance are spoken,
Belshazzar, thy crowns shall be torn from thy brow,
Thy sceptres be utterly broken!
| Fifty of the Protestant Ballads | |