 | Sabbation (1838) |  |
125
THE MANNA.
And canst thou, Lord, a table dress,
A table in the wilderness?
How should our souls be satisfied
In this world's desert waste and wide?
Shall we not join the multitude,
And say there is not any good,
Nothing to feed the soul of man—
But that with which his life began,
His little stock of love and joy,
All things diminish and destroy,
Till wasted quite, nor any more
Renewed—an unreplenished store?
How shouldst thou, Lord, a table dress,
A table in the wilderness?
A table in the wilderness?
How should our souls be satisfied
In this world's desert waste and wide?
Shall we not join the multitude,
And say there is not any good,
Nothing to feed the soul of man—
But that with which his life began,
His little stock of love and joy,
All things diminish and destroy,
126
Renewed—an unreplenished store?
How shouldst thou, Lord, a table dress,
A table in the wilderness?
'Twas Israel's cry—nor theirs alone,
For what were all the evils shown
In them, their unbelief and pride,
Distrust of him so often tried,
And ne'er found wanting, what indeed,
But writ in large that all may read,
Each one his own in whole or part,
The tale of every human heart?
Around their camp the manna lay,
For each to gather every day,
In copious showers of pearly dew,
Sweet as the sweetest thing each knew,
And did not fail, but richly last
Until the desert's bounds were past,
And Canaan's borders, and the bright
Inheritance was all in sight.
So we in this world's desert fed
By him who is our heavenly bread,
We too may pass from strength to strength,
From joy to joy, until at length
Before his presence we appear,
Not fainting on our journey here.
For what were all the evils shown
In them, their unbelief and pride,
Distrust of him so often tried,
And ne'er found wanting, what indeed,
But writ in large that all may read,
Each one his own in whole or part,
The tale of every human heart?
Around their camp the manna lay,
For each to gather every day,
In copious showers of pearly dew,
Sweet as the sweetest thing each knew,
And did not fail, but richly last
Until the desert's bounds were past,
127
Inheritance was all in sight.
So we in this world's desert fed
By him who is our heavenly bread,
We too may pass from strength to strength,
From joy to joy, until at length
Before his presence we appear,
Not fainting on our journey here.
| Sabbation (1838) | |