Sacred Meditations and Moral Themes In Verse By the Rev. Robert Montgomery ... Third Edition--Revised and Enlarged |
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THE MISSIONARY. |
 | Sacred Meditations and Moral Themes In Verse |  |
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THE MISSIONARY.
Go forth and teach;—and ye have gone, and done
Deeds that will shine, when thou art dark, O Sun!
Heroes! whose crowns with gems of glory shine,
Dug from the depths of heaven's eternal mine:
Oh, what a conquest hath the Cross obtained!
There, where of old a hell of darkness reigned,
And Crime and Havoc, fiend-begotten pair,
In mortal bosoms made their savage lair,
And issued thence, to riot, rage, or kill,
Like incarnations of a demon's will,—
The peace that passeth understanding grows,
And Earth seems born again, without her woes,
So wondrously the spell divine descends,
And Man with Nature in communion blends:
The isles have seen Him! and the deserts raise
Anthems that thrill the halls of heaven with praise;
Crouching and tame the tiger-passions lie,
Hushed by the gaze of God's subduing eye;
Temples and homes of sacred truth abound,
Where Satan once with all his crew was found:
And, hark! at sunset while the shady calm
Of forest coolness floats on wings of balm,
As roams the pilgrim in that dying glare,
From a lone hamlet winds the voice of prayer,—
Breath of the soul by Jesus taught to prize
And blend with music heard beyond the skies.
Ecstatic thought! the zenith of our dreams,
Error has died in Truth's victorious beams:
And where the savage round his altar fed
On the warm fragments of the limbless dead,
Cots which an English heart delights to hail
Deck the green wilds of many a foreign dale,
And, turned by Piety's familiar hand,
Religion sees her tear-worn Bibles stand.
Deeds that will shine, when thou art dark, O Sun!
Heroes! whose crowns with gems of glory shine,
Dug from the depths of heaven's eternal mine:
Oh, what a conquest hath the Cross obtained!
There, where of old a hell of darkness reigned,
And Crime and Havoc, fiend-begotten pair,
In mortal bosoms made their savage lair,
And issued thence, to riot, rage, or kill,
Like incarnations of a demon's will,—
The peace that passeth understanding grows,
And Earth seems born again, without her woes,
So wondrously the spell divine descends,
And Man with Nature in communion blends:
The isles have seen Him! and the deserts raise
Anthems that thrill the halls of heaven with praise;
Crouching and tame the tiger-passions lie,
Hushed by the gaze of God's subduing eye;
Temples and homes of sacred truth abound,
Where Satan once with all his crew was found:
285
Of forest coolness floats on wings of balm,
As roams the pilgrim in that dying glare,
From a lone hamlet winds the voice of prayer,—
Breath of the soul by Jesus taught to prize
And blend with music heard beyond the skies.
Ecstatic thought! the zenith of our dreams,
Error has died in Truth's victorious beams:
And where the savage round his altar fed
On the warm fragments of the limbless dead,
Cots which an English heart delights to hail
Deck the green wilds of many a foreign dale,
And, turned by Piety's familiar hand,
Religion sees her tear-worn Bibles stand.
Thy kingdom come!—prophetic voices throng
In choral harmony, and chant, “How long,
How long, O beatific King of kings,
Till ransomed earth with gospel music rings?
How long the period ere that Sun arise
Which glittered on Isaiah's holy eyes,
And clad the cedared hills of Palestine
With veils of glory wove from sheen divine?”
In choral harmony, and chant, “How long,
How long, O beatific King of kings,
Till ransomed earth with gospel music rings?
How long the period ere that Sun arise
Which glittered on Isaiah's holy eyes,
And clad the cedared hills of Palestine
With veils of glory wove from sheen divine?”
Oh! for that day beyond what poets dream,
Decked by Imagination's crystal beam,
When vanquished Sin shall leave Messiah's throne
To rise in full transcendency alone:
Hate, War, and Tumult, all the brood of crime,
Shall then be banished from the scene of time
Evil be dead, Corruption breathe no more,
And Peace, the seraph, smile from shore to shore;
While round her Prince sublime hosannas dwell,—
“Thy truth has withered all the thrones of Hell;
Forever and forever live and reign,
Till earth be purified to heaven again!”
Decked by Imagination's crystal beam,
286
To rise in full transcendency alone:
Hate, War, and Tumult, all the brood of crime,
Shall then be banished from the scene of time
Evil be dead, Corruption breathe no more,
And Peace, the seraph, smile from shore to shore;
While round her Prince sublime hosannas dwell,—
“Thy truth has withered all the thrones of Hell;
Forever and forever live and reign,
Till earth be purified to heaven again!”
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