The Poetical Works of Robert Montgomery :: :: University of Virginia Library

“Oh, Goodness Infinite! Goodness immense!
That all this good of evil shall produce
And evil turn to good; more wonderful
Than that which by creation first brought forth
Light out of darkness!”
—Paradise Lost, book xii.

ANALYSIS OF BOOK IV.

The glorious manifestation of Truth in the Appeal of the Baptist—Approach of Christ to be Baptised— Jesus led by the Spirit into the Wilderness—The Temptation described—Angels sent to console Him —Thus proved, He commences his Ministry as the Redeemer of the World—Purity and Majesty of His Life and Doctrines—First Miracle—The Marriage in Cana—Jesus goes to Jerusalem—The Modern State of Jerusalem, compared with her Ancient Glories—The Passover described, at the celebration of which Christ arrived—His entrance to the Temple —Miraculous expulsion of its Defilers—Nicodemus, his Character, and Visit to the Saviour by Night— Jesus, on the Death of the Baptist, hastens to Galilee to avoid the Jews—His Journey through Samaria — Scenery — Well of Sychem — Interview with the Woman of Samaria — He travels to Cana—The Nobleman's Son healed by a Word of Christ—His appearance in the Synagogue—Is expelled from thence by his offended Countrymen— Led to the brow of a hill—Delivers Himself from instant destruction.—Capernaum—Lake of Tiberias, described—Miraculous Draught of Fishes—Confession of Peter—Exultation of the Crowd who witnessed the miracle—To this was added an innumerable number of Divine Deeds and Mercies— Doctrine adduced from Miracles—The Power they exhibit cannot be fathomed; but the Principle which they inculcate is to be imitated—for it teaches boundless Love to the whole family of Man.

“Repent ye!” was the dreadless sermon preach'd
In Judah's Desert, by the Baptist now;
And who can measure the exalted might
Of truth, deliver'd by such daring Soul
Till conscience quiver'd, like the world's great sire
At that “Where art thou?” earth's Creator spake!
A brow irradiate with impassion'd zeal,
An eye majestic, and a voice intoned
With vocal energy from heaven inspired,
Were his, who usher'd in th' expected God!
From cot to palace rose his high reproof;
Wherever wander'd in the realm of vice
The heart of man, “Repent ye!” sounded there.

What marvel, then, Messiah's self appear'd
In John embodied, till the people cried,
With loud impatience, “Art thou Christ, the True?”
“With water I indeed baptise and bless;
But One shall come, transcendently sublime
O'er me, the very latchet of Whose shoes
I am not worthy to unbind! with fire,
And with the Holy Ghost shall He baptise;
Behold, the fan is in His fearful hands!
The wheat He gathers, but the wicked chaff
Ungarner'd, burneth with a quenchless flame!”
Thus answer'd he; and shaded Israel's heart
With wonder, dreaming on the dark unknown.

While thus by Jordan's hallow'd wave, the Rite
Of Waters, sanction'd by mysterious sway,
The Baptist to repenting souls perform'd,
The Lord of Life, in human weakness veil'd,
Himself presented. Round His awful head
No glory play'd; nor dread effulgence beam'd
As on He came: yet, sacredly o'erpower'd
By some deep impulse, vast and undefined,
The Crowd stood parted; and a solemn hush,
Like stillness o'er a forest when the winds
Lull'd into soundless trance their wings upfold,
The murm'ring host subdued: but on thy face

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Great Harbinger! a recognition glow'd,
And spirit-bright thy gladden'd mien became;
For He, whom prescient heaven to earth foretold,
Before Thee stood; Salvation's Prince appear'd!
And this, thy greeting: “Lo! at length He comes;
Behold the Lamb of God! Oh! pure above
All Beings pure, from me this rite forego;
For need I have of Thy baptising grace,
And comest Thou to mine?” “Refuse me not;
Since thus all righteousness must be fulfill'd:”
So speaking, down the bank Messiah moved,
Stood in the waters, there the Rite received,
And thence arose, with voiceless prayer becalm'd.
When lo! the heavens miraculously oped,
The dazzling concave God himself reveal'd
Descending, lustrous with ethereal light:
While dove-like hover'd o'er the Saviour's head
Th' Eternal Spirit, and a Voice declared
Like sea and thunder when their music blends,
“Adore Him! This is My beloved Son!”

But now advanced temptation's demon-power
To crush the Saviour! By the Holy Ghost
Compell'd, within a desert's trackless wild
Alone He wander'd, unperceived by eyes
Of mortal; there to meditate and pray,
And scan the secrets of almighty grace
Himself embodied by redeeming love.
A noontide o'er his contemplation sped
Away, and still the awful Thinker roved
With foot unwearied: sunset, fierce and red,
Succeeded: never hung a savage glare
Upon the wilderness, like that which tinged
This fated hour! the trees and herbless rock
Wore angry lustre, and the dying Sun
Sank downward like a deity of wrath,
Behind him leaving clouds of burning wreck.
And then rose Twilight: not with tender hues,
Or choral breezes, but with shade as dim
And cold, as Death on youthful spirit throws:
Sad grew the air; and soon th' affrighted leaves
And branches from the crouching forest sent
A wizard moaning, till the wild-bird shriek'd,
Or flutter'd, and in dens of deepest gloom
The lion shook, and dreadful monsters glared.

Tremendous are ye, ever-potent Storms
In wild magnificence of sound and scene!
Watch'd on the mountains in convulsive play,
Or from the ocean-margin when the sea
Foams in the fiercest of her billow'd ire.
But when hath Tempest, since a deluge roar'd,
The pale Earth shaken, like that frenzied storm
Which tore the desert, while Messiah mused?
Then God to hands infernal seem'd to trust
The helm of nature, while a chaos drove
The Elements to combat, 'mid the rushing gloom
Of rain and whirlwind, in commingled wrath
Triumphant, while aloft unnat'ral clouds
Hung o'er the sky the imagery of Hell!
Not hence alone tempestuous horror sprung:
To aid the Tempter, shapes of ghastly light,
With Phantoms, grim beyond a maniac's dream,
To thunder darkness and dread midnight gave
A power unearthly:—round Thy sleepless head
Adored Redeemer! did their voices chant,
Or wildly mutter some unhallow'd spell;
Yet all serene Thy godlike virtue stood,
Unshaken, though the universe might fall.

Thus, forty days of dire Temptation leagued
Their might hell-born, with hunger, thirst, and pain.
Meanwhile, in thankless calm the World reposed:
Life went her rounds, and busy hearts maintain'd
Their action: still uprose the parent Orb,
And all the dewy ravishment of flowers
Enkindled; Day and Ocean mingled smiles;
And then, meek Night with starr'd enchantment rose,
While moonlight wander'd o'er the palmy hills
Of terraced Palestine: and thus unmark'd
By aught portentous, save demonian wiles,
His fasting period in the desert-gloom
Messiah braved. At length, by hunger rack'd,
And drooping, deaden'd by the scorching thirst
Of deep exhaustion, round Him nothing stood
But rocky bleakness, mountains dusk and huge,
Or riven crags which seem'd the wreck of worlds.
And there, amid a vale's profoundest calm,
Where hung no leaf, nor lived one cheering tone
Of waters, with an unappallèd soul
The Saviour paused, while arid stillness reign'd,
And the dead air, as if by magic quench'd
Brooded and thicken'd o'er the lifeless dale.
When lo! from out the earth's unfathom'd deep
The semblance of a mighty cloud arose;
From whence a Shape of awful stature moved,—
A vast, a dim, a melancholy Form;
Upon his brow the gloom of thunder sat,
And in the darkness of his dreadful eye
Lay the sheath'd lightnings of immortal ire!
In ruin'd glory thus the Demon faced
Messiah, cent'ring in that one still glance
The hate of Heaven, the agony of Hell,
Defiance and despair!—and then, with voice
Sepulchral, deep as when a tempest dies,

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Him thus address'd: “If Son of God Thou be,
These stones, command them into living bread!”
“'Tis written,” answer'd the most holy Christ,
“Not bread alone, but every word of God
Is life!” Scarce utter'd that sublime reply,
When each ascended, and on noiseless wings
Invisibly both God and Demon soar'd.
Together, rapid as th' almighty glance
Enspheres infinity, on Herod's towers
From whose dread altitude the very sky
Seems nearer while below a hush'd abyss
Extendeth,—dark with supernatural depth,—
They soon alighted; where with impious wile
Again the Tempter Second Adam tried.
“If Son of God Thou be, Thyself cast down!
'Tis written, ‘Thee protecting Angels watch
For ever, lest a stone Thy feet may dash.’”
“The Lord thy God thou shalt not tempt!” replied
The Saviour: awed by such divine repulse,
The baffled Demon for his last design
Prepared; and swiftly by an airy flight,
To Quarantania's unascended top
That crowns the wilderness with savage pomp,
Messiah next he bore; from thence, a world
In visionary pomp lay all reveal'd,
By airy portraiture of magic drawn
With luring splendour: regions, thrones, and climes
Of bloom and fragrance, meadows, lakes, and groves:
And there seem'd Cities, capp'd with haughty towers,
And Piles, and Palaces of marble sheen,
And Domes colossal, with exulting flags
Of royal conquest on their gilded spires:
And there were Armies, thick as trooping clouds,
On plains assembled,—chariot, smoke, and steed,
The pomp of death, and thunder-gloom of war:
Nor absent, fleets within the silver bay
Reposed, or riding o'er a gallant sea:
All this, the world's Inspirer thus evoked,—
One vast Enchantment, one enormous Scene
Of splendour, deluging the dazzled eye
With mingled radiance till the fancy reel'd!
And then, outstretching with imperial sway
A shadowy hand, Hell's crafty monarch spake,
“This pomp and glory, this surpassing World
Is Thine! if Thou wilt kneel, and worship Me!”
Then bright as Deity, with truth erect,
Victoriously Messiah thus rebuked
That Prince of Hell: “Behind me, Satan, get!
'Tis written, thou shalt worship God alone;”
And thus responding, rays of awful truth
His Eye emitted; from Whose dreaded glance
The Devil shrunk, and wither'd into air!
When, light as breezes, lovely as the morn
Descended, blooming with celestial grace,
Angelic Creatures, in whose hands upborne,
By man unseen, the wafted Jesus sank
To earth again; and there, a squadron bright
Of heaven-born Spirits round Him knelt, and sang.

His trial o'er, by men and angels proved
Consummate Lord; by John again confess'd
Amid the Sanhedrim, as Christ foretold
Since time began, by five disciples found
And follow'd, Jesus on His glorious task
Now enters; fallen Earth shall be restored!

Will Kings array him? Shall the Palace ope
Its gorgeous portals to admit His train?
Alas! the bird his nest, the beast his lair
Inhabits, but the homeless Son of Man
Forsaken, hath not where His head to lay!
And He, Whose fiat was the birth of Things,
Whose frown had made the Universe no more,
The pangs and woes of meanest want endured;
For others wept, and toil'd through tearful gloom,
But stood Himself, unaided and alone,
A God who suffer'd, while the World he saved.

And who can paint him? Oh! the sweetest tone
That ever trembled on the harps of Heaven,
Melt into muteness, or like discord seem
Ere on the summits of celestial love
Incarnate, they can reach the Lord of worlds!
Be mine, with solemn step and reverent gaze
From miracle to miracle to roam,
Through paths of glory, tracks of peaceful light;
And on the way, devout accession cull
Of thought or meaning, from the Book divine
Translated: pleased beyond ambition's joy
If thus, companion'd by consenting mind,
My theme advances, till on Calv'ry's mount
Arriving, Faith behold her Saviour die.

In mercy, miracles from Christ began.
To Cana, peering o'er a woody crest
Of green ascent, beside Capernaum raised,
Messiah with his Virgin-mother went;
And there, by one expressive deed of Love
Sanction'd for ever hymenèal Bliss.
Unknown the bride, or whom the wedding throng
A bridegroom hail'd; but Nature has not seal'd
That fountain up, from whence all feeling flows,—
The Heart, whose current is by time unchanged.
And thus, in garlanded array behold
Two happy creatures, 'mid rejoicing friends
In white apparel gemm'd by nuptial-flowers.

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What beautiful emotion, born of dreams
Which make the future paradise, abounds!
Yet, in thy gaze a gleam of vanish'd years
Is mirror'd, maiden! round whose virgin brow
A bridal wreath consenting parents wove.
The home of love, the haunts where infant feet
Have roam'd, with mingled and o'ermastering sense
Of truth and tenderness the past awakes,
And on thee like returning childhood come.
A cloud melts o'er thy summer-noon of joy,
Serenely dark, and exquisitely sad:
For haply, on the old familiar walls
And chamber where thy lispèd vows began
Thine eye hath look'd farewell: or down the paths
Of garden-loveliness, where tiny hands
So often labour'd with delightful toil,
How mutely hast thou wander'd!—blessing flowers
Whose fairy magic woo'd thy frequent touch
When dew and sunshine call'd thy fancy forth
To drink their beauty with absorbing gaze;
And that green haunt by fragrant trellis hung,
Yes! there thy soul hath dream'd of days no more
When twilight redden'd o'er thy girlish bowers.

But now the banquet: such as lowly roof
Demanded, and which simple manners claim'd.
O'er milk and honey, rice and kneaded flour,
And water, cool as mountain-well contain'd,
When consecrating prayer arose for Heaven's
High blessing, then the marriage-feast began.
But soon to Jesus, Mary's asking eye
Was turn'd, and meekly for the aidless want
Of friends beloved, a miracle she hoped;
But thus was answer'd: “Woman! unarrived
My dawn of glory; what have I to do
With thee?” Oh! think not from That sinless mouth
A mere denial in cold sternness came:
The pity, not the anger, of rebuke
Was there! Six stony water-pots antique,
For pure lavation, such as holy Rite
Demanded, in the nuptial chamber stood;
And each, obedient to Messiah's voice,
With gushing water to the brim was fill'd;
When lo! the Element, by power subdued,
Blush'd into wine and glow'd beneath its God!
And when the ruler of the rustic feast
Admiring drank this new-created wine,
A miracle stood forth! as shines a star
Clear, round, and large, the only one in heaven:
Each heart beat louder; on the lifted brow
Of mute-struck guests, o'erawed amazement sat;
And from the eyes of new disciples flash'd
That beaming eloquence all speech beyond,
When ecstacy is dumb. And when at night
By torch and timbrel home the vested train
Return'd, amid the hymenèal songs
Of sweetest rapture, while each bridal robe
Like snow in moonlight glitteringly shone,
The holy mildness of thy deep-toned voice
Redeemer! still in hearts its echo rang.
Though vaster miracles Thy Name enthrone,
In this omnipotently-tender shine
The rays of Love; concenter'd, calm, and clear,
They dazzle not, but still Thy power declare.

With fame before Him, now for Judah's feast
Of sacrifice, to Zion's city-queen
The Saviour went.—In moods of high romance
'Tis pleasant down the depths of Ages past,
To venture, re-erect huge Capitals,
And hear the noise of Cities now no more!
But Egypt, with her pyramids august,
Titanian Thebes, or Athens temple-famed,
Or Rome, the once metropolis of earth,
And whatsoe'er historic fancy dreams
In visions of the vast and gone, dissolve
To shadows, when Remembrance pictures thee,
Jerusalem! Alas, thy wailing harps
Have truly mourn'd; a throneless captive thou!
In dust thy robes of beautiful array
Have wither'd; tears are on thy faded cheek,
And nothing, save a deathless past, is thine!
Those Mountains, branded by th' almighty curse,
Ascend, and look down yon sepulchral vales,
Where silence by the tramp of desert steeds
Alone is echo'd: paths of lifeless length,
Dim walls, and dusky fanes, barbaric homes
And Arab-huts,—how eloquently sad
Their ruin, how sublime the tale it tells!
Jerusalem! the clank of heathen chains
In iron wrath hath sounded o'er thy doom
For ages: sword and savage on thy blood
Have feasted; fatal martyrdom was thine
From Roman, Frank, and fiery Mameluke;
E'en now, thy wreck is made an impious prey,
And minarets their flashing spires uplift
Where once the palace of Jehovah blazed!

But round thy desolation lives a dream
Of what thou wert, when Heaven o'ershadow'd thee.
Religion, fame, and glory—all endow'd
With mingled light thy once celestial home.
There, 'tween thy Cherubim, Th' Eternal dwelt!
From out the Cloud His utter'd meanings came;
The hymns of David, and the voice of seers
By vision raptured, through thy streets have roll'd;
And He, who spake as never mortal did,
In temple, home, and synagogue proclaim'd

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His awful mission:—well might Warriors pause,
The Poet chant, and pure Apostles bend
Before thee, casting down their sacred wreaths,
Queen of the desert! once by angels walk'd,
And still where murmurs of Jehovah's lip
In dreams of melody thy vales entrance!

To such high city came Salvation's Prince,
When all was loud, on that religious eve
That marks a feast, by whose unblemish'd lamb
Was typified the Lamb of God eterne.
But, hark! the clang of trumpets on the wind!
Down hill and mountain, red with lustrous sky
The banner'd Tribes of shouting Israel come:
And how magnificently full and deep
Their choral anthems! reaching from the heart
Through heaven's infinity, where angels list,
And waft their echoes round the throne of God.
Beneath them, beautiful, and bright, and vast,
Jerusalem with all her dazzling towers
Reposing; Zion the beloved is there!
And midmost, pinnacled in golden pomp
O'er all uplift, the gorgeous Temple stands,
And glitters, like the sheen of Alpine snow.
While downward, jubilant with holy glee,
Enamour'd thousands to the city rush:
Each window, roof, and balcony, alive
With gazers, scattering o'er the marching Tribes
A spring of flowers, and wreaths of rosy bloom.

While thus, from every region which the heavens
O'er-canopy, the host of Israel came
In troop and tribe, as though the Archangel's trump
Had sounded, Jesus to the Temple pass'd.
Nine gates enormous, folding back like clouds
Of splendour, when the prince of Morning comes,
Round Herod's temple blazed: without, were Courts;
And one, the Gentiles', circling with a range
Of gleaming columns of colossal height
The rest within; and here alone, the Jew
To proselytes an entrance gave; nor deem'd
That where a Gentile vow'd, Jehovah was!
And thus, with unconcern, and loud contempt
Of holiness, convened a merchant-throng
Of money-changers, in that outer-court,
Whose tongue and tread the House of God defiled.
Then rose He! like a Hierarch array'd
With might celestial; or a fervid seer
In the deep passion of prophetic truth
On realms and vices warring,—the unknown
Redeemer; driving with a wielded scourge
The vile profaners, whom His visage awed
With sudden brightness of appalling power!
“'Tis written,” cried a soul-commanding Voice,
“My House the solemn House of prayer shall be,
But ye profane it like a den of thieves?”
While fled the crowd, a mutt'ring wonder rose,
Till one, perusing with an eye of wrath
The face of Christ, thus haughtily inquired:
“For this high daring, what miraculous sign
Or what omnipotence from Heaven hast Thou?”
“This Temple scatter, and ere three days end,
Command it rise again!”—Then spake the Jew,
While o'er the vastness of Jehovah's pile
His eye-glance roll'd, and thence with flashing pride
On Jesu fell: “Through six-and-forty years
This Temple rose, and widen'd! canst Thou crush
Its Glory, and in three days bid it rise?”
But Christ of His corporeal Temple spake
In resurrection-power. Yet words that rung
A knell of ruin o'er the noblest Fane
Which earth had borne, or gazing awe beheld,
Such fatal warning could not be forgiven
E'en in that hour of agony divine
When shook the World, as pass'd her God away!

Eternity! there is a sound and sense
Of terror, dwelling in thy dim abyss
Of meaning, whether by a Spirit named
When lips are whitening in the gasp of Death,
Or utter'd by the pensive voice of Life.
In vain immunity and calm we seek,
Dark intimations of thy state will rise,
Though time be mock'd, and tombs unheeded stand.—
There was a man whom meditation charm'd
And counsell'd, by the Sanhedrim beloved
For wisdom; hiving in his inmost heart
Prophetic truths, and hopes of regal pride
For Judah destined, when her king appear'd.
All gloomy, lone, and melancholy things
To him were genial: on the face of Death
His eye would fasten a devouring gaze,
For some confession! down unpeopled haunts
At midnight, when the fainting moon retired,
Or planets sicken'd, by sepulchral caves
Where prince and prophet slumber'd,—he would stray
And ponder, dreaming of immortal doom.
No spot or scene, where past Religion shed
A glory, but to him entrancement gave.

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On Horeb he had mused, and heard the choir
Of Sinai's thunders, heralding their God:
On dewy Hermon, loved by David's lyre,
And Carmel's oaken top, where trembling stood
Elijah, when the cloudy Answer came,
He wander'd; and the eagle-haunted heights
Of cedar'd Lebanon by him were trod,—
That mountain chill'd by everlasting snow,
When all the firmament lies bathed in fire.

For high revealings of immortal truth
His soul was thus attuned; and when the light
Of miracles, by Jesu's hand perform'd,
His heart illumined, as the risen day
Oft suddenly with living splendour cheers
The gloom and hollow of deserted vales,—
A sudden radiance on his darkness stream'd.
Goodness and glory, both in Christ he saw;
But in delusions of terrestrial hope
Still blindly yearn'd a carnal Throne to see,
And scepter'd Judah queen of earth admired!
And thus, by ebbing moods of doubt and faith,
The Pharisee was sway'd, till Mercy came
And led him safely to the Lord, at last.
'Twas on a night of meditative calm,
Devoutly while his musing spirit read
The story of creation, sin and fall,
And second Eden by atoning grace
Procured, that impulses of sacred power
Moved Nicodemus to consult the Lord.
And what an interview that night reveals
'Tween sinful Earth and condescending Heaven!
Go, read it, where Eternal Life is found.
The second birth of renovated souls
Commenced; the Holy Spirit, how He comes
The world to sanctify, unseen departs,
And worketh like an unbeholden wind,
The Lord explain'd; till Nicodemus bow'd
In wonder, doubted, trembled, and believed!
Since light was born, and condemnation found
For deeds of evil, which in darkness lurk
And blacken, hating light that brings a God.
Then ask not, how the doubter home return'd,
Or how his dreams to slumber's Paradise
That night was wafted on melodious wing:
From this deep hour his heaven of faith began.
A Saviour living and a Saviour dead,—
For both he pleaded, when the bravest shook,
And they who loved Him were the first to flee!

When John was prison'd, from those hating Jews
Whom miracles confounded, Jesus fled
To Galilee; that haunt supremely loved!
Where sprung Apostles, where His childhood grew,
And where He hasten'd, when from death unbound.
Through dells of beauty, hushed and shaded haunts,
Or meadows, whiten'd by the olive-boughs
That waved and flashed amid the swelling breeze,
Through each and all, as Nature's fancy tinged
And character'd her glowing realm, He roam'd
Till day advanced; and burning, breathless noon,
When earth was heated to her inmost core,
And light and languishment the brain oppress'd,
At Sichem glitter'd round the Saviour's form.

Alone, beside a patriarchal well
He rested, wearied by the toil intense
Of travel; while his fond disciples sought
The city, bosom'd in Gerizim's vale.
Majestic calm and mournfulness divine
Around Him incommunicably reign'd,
Like stillness breathed from His eternity:
So 'tranced the air, that each minutest sound
By wing, or breeze, or basking insect made,
Was audible, and seem'd profanely loud:
At that deep moment Nature knew her God,
And bade the silent Elements adore!

While thus, immersed in some immortal dream
Of bright salvation, man's Redeemer sat,
There came a woman to that haunted well
Where holy Jacob, in the dawn of time,
Cool'd his hot thirst beneath a zenith sun.
A Jew!—of that abhorrent nation sprung,
Who, ever since on Dan and Bethel stood
Samaria's Idol, bade her miscreant race
Of heaven despair, and scorn'd her rival fane,
How spake He aught to one of Sichem born!
With touching beauty and with tender grace
Messiah answer'd, “Had she known the Gift
Of God, and who he was, that fain would drink,
A living water had divinely flow'd!”
His heaven-like mien, and voice augustly toned
With spirit-searching power, the woman awed;
And nearer still, with eye intently raised,
She wond'ring stole, and mortal-like replied;
That from the well, o'erhung by solemn boughs
Whose shadows oft on patriarchal heads
Had play'd, He had not now wherewith to draw,
And was He greater than their primal Sire?
Alas! the dimness which our being shrouds,
To keep us mortal in immortal hours!
Of Water springing with eternal Life
Whose fountain is the awful soul within,
Th' Incarnate spoke; but when the letter still
And not the spirit of His words prevail'd,
Back from her heart prophetic wisdom roll'd

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Clouds of dark guilt which there concealment spread,
And bare before it laid her life of sin!
Then, Conscience! like a voice from other worlds,
Sudden and piercing, did thy power appeal
To yon frail woman! on her cheek's array
Of paleness, in her eyes' dissolving shame
It witness'd; and her loudly-beating heart
By every throb a pang to memory paid!
Then, pointing to Samaria's mountain-fane,
Whose massy pomp of pinnacles and towers
Rose black and solemn in the cloudless air,
She call'd Him, Prophet! and in meekness ask'd
Where heaven from earth the purest essence hail'd?
From Zion's hill, or where the Fathers knelt,—
Gerizim? whence of old from Joshua's lip
The full-voiced Blessing by a myriad tongues
Was echoed, while from Ebal's blanchèd height
A Curse came down, like thunder from the skies.

Oh, ye who narrow to the dungeon-walls
Of bigotry, the limitless design of Heaven,
Approach and tremble!—God a spirit is!
And they who worship, must in spirit bend
His Throne before! The universal Heart
Of Man by revelation's light redeem'd,
Jehovah! this Thy purest temple forms.
So heard the woman; and a hope confess'd
Of coming Glory, in whose morning-beams
The night of error would dissolve away.
But when Messiah, “I who speak am He!”
Responded, mute, and statue-like, she stood,—
Embodied wonder! till disciples came
And marvell'd, how His purity could speak
To one so branded, that her blood was crime!
But awe withheld them; and on raptured wings
Of speed, to Sychar back the woman rush'd,
And, like a prophetess when new-inspired
To holy madness, gloryingly cried,
Through street and dwelling, “Lo! Messiah comes!
A Man who told me all I ever did,
The Saviour, by yon well of Jacob sits!”
At once, to see the heaven-descended Christ,
Up the green valley troop ecstatic throngs,
Till thick and fast the mingling shadows fell
From young Samaritans, on herbs and flowers,
As on they sprang, like birds to meet the morn!
While slow behind, the hoary-headed forms
Of Age were gliding, pale with wordless joy.
“The harvest, say ye not, four months will bring?
Behold! the meadows are already white,
And he who gathers, reaps immortal fruit!”
Thus spake the Saviour, and His welcome high
The crowd attracted; dumb with deepest awe
They linger'd; not a heart but quaked with bliss
Divine, or dreamt it immortality begun:
Then lovingly that simple-hearted race
The mighty Stranger to their dwellings brought,
And fell before Him, in sublime belief
Exclaiming, “Thou alone art Christ the Lord!”

From Sychar, hence to Cana Christ advanced,
And there again shone forth, incarnate God!
A Nobleman, around whose only child
The shades of death were deepening, at His feet,
With all the father mirror'd in his eyes,
Sank prostrate; and in tones which tore the heart
With dreadful truth, His healing power besought
To soothe the madness of parental wo,
And back to life a dying son recall.
“Thy son is living!” so Emmanuel spake,
And he who trusted found his faith's reward!
And thus for ever His unwearied Arm
Is present, guiding worlds along their paths,
Or waved in mercy round the fate of man.

But His it was, though all divinely meek
Each virtue shone, to drink the bitter Cup!
As in the synagogue when call'd, as won't,
From out th' assembly, to unroll and read
The Haphtoroth, a deaden'd language rose
To life upon His lips! there, all in vain
The saving wisdom of Messiah spoke:
Their eyes were dark, they saw but Joseph's son!
But when of miracles for Gentiles work'd
Alone, while famish'd Israel droop'd in dust,
And on the heavens immitigably seal'd
From dawn to midnight turn'd her mournful gaze,
When such He mention'd, to convict the soul,—
The living frame of that Assembly shook
With passion! not an eye but glared revenge!
And, fell as tigers, savagely they sprung,
And bore Him upward to the rocky hill
Where hung their city, down whose awful depth
To atoms they would hurl the Saviour-God!
But in a moment, by its dizzy brink
Each eye was dazzled, and a Power unknown
Invisibly that human chaos quell'd!
In the full whirlwind of their fiercest ire
They soften'd to a breezelike calm, which died
To utter stillness, when the crowd beheld
Their Victim, passing through the parted throng
Unhurt; as he who faced a fiery death
And walk'd the furnace with the Son of Man.

485

To thee, Capernaum! by Messiah bless'd
And haunted, turn we now our solemn gaze.
There, mead and hamlet, mountain, shore, and plain
His presence felt, His mighty works enjoyed;
While Nature to each theme of glory lent
Her own sweet magic, imagery, and power.
And seest thou, girdled in by barren wilds,
Yon blue expanse? Gennesareth is there!
Quiescent now as meditation's hour
Yon lake of beauty in the noontide gleams;
But when a hurricane with Syrian roar
Descends the mountain, and its calm defies,
Then, Chinnereth! thy sleeping might awakes;
And yon deep billows with disastrous swell
In hollow thunder to the winds respond.

By the bright waters, on that lovely beach
Of famed Tiberias, where a wondering crowd
Around Him panted for immortal truth,
Was Jesus standing; while the fisher wash'd
His net, and dried it on the pebbled shore.
Two silent vessels on the lake reposed;
The one He enter'd, and the people taught;
But ere the music of His mighty words
Was still'd, “Launch forth! and let your nets descend,”
The Lord commanded: worn by fruitless toil,
All doubtingly did Peter's hand obey:
But when at once, with its enormous load
The net uprose, till e'en the laden ship
Beneath her living burden sank, and reel'd,
Silence adored! the tongueless air was hush'd,
As though Creation wonder'd! till, a cry
Yon multitude from off the shore awoke,
Which scatter'd silence like a broken dream!
While Peter, quivering with unearthly dread,
Fell in amazement at Messiah's feet
And utter'd, “Leave me, Lord! for I am vile!”
That moment his Apostleship began
For ever: death and darkness, time and wo,
From Faith's high throne he overlook'd them all!
Then James and John at once that Power revered
To Whom the Elements their laws resign'd,
And laid their sceptres down. Of old prevail'd
The Prayer of prophets, for the sick and dead
Arising; but a Word that ruled the waves
And master'd ocean with creative might,
Had ne'er till now a lip on Earth inspired!

To this high deed, an unrecorded mass
Of miracles, in one successive throng
Was added: when the sun's expiring gleam
Paled o'er Capernaum, round Messiah's door
Disease assembled all her ghastly troop
Of martyrs: in an instant, ere a sound
Could perish, Health's untainted blood return'd!
The lame and sightless, palsied, deaf, and dumb
Recover'd, fleet as resurrection's change;
And thus, by deed embodying all Isaiah sung,
Through town and village the Redeemer went
And rested never from His glorious toil;
Except when God th' incarnate Son adored,
As oft He did in melancholy wilds,
Where, all unseen, the Man of Sorrows knelt
And sanctified His human will by prayer.

And must we sink, in lifeless wonder lost
'Mid the pure radiance of such perfect deeds?
The power, but not the principle sublime
Is hidden, whence creation's ruling Lord
Each miracle derived;—and that is Love,
Which link by link connects a thousand worlds,
And chains them all to one Almighty Throne!

For true example, not inactive awe,
Messiah lived; and he who soars to Him
That living Orb of Righteousness beholds,
Whose beams are catholic with boundless grace
And sunlike fall on universal Man.