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266
THE MISSIONARIES OF SUMATRA.
[_]
The young brother Missionaries, Rev. Mr. Lyman and Rev. Mr. Munson, were, in 1834, murdered by the natives of Sumatra, just as they had begun to labor among them.
The conflict is over! they're gone from the field,
Where faithful they fought for their Master and Lord!
The soldiers have done with the sword and the shield,
And put off their armor to take their reward.
They strove with the forces of death and of sin,
'Mid tribes of barbarian spirit and tongue;
Where rays from the Gospel had never beamed in,—
Where songs of salvation had never been sung.
Where faithful they fought for their Master and Lord!
The soldiers have done with the sword and the shield,
And put off their armor to take their reward.
They strove with the forces of death and of sin,
'Mid tribes of barbarian spirit and tongue;
Where rays from the Gospel had never beamed in,—
Where songs of salvation had never been sung.
They went to a land that in darkness had lain,
While ages of sunlight on others were shed;
That souls under sentence might pardon obtain,
And forth from their chains and their prisons be led.
The tidings of Christ in that land to proclaim,
All else that was dear they accounted as loss;
And there with their blood have they written his name,
And laid down their lives as a sign of the Cross.
While ages of sunlight on others were shed;
That souls under sentence might pardon obtain,
And forth from their chains and their prisons be led.
The tidings of Christ in that land to proclaim,
All else that was dear they accounted as loss;
And there with their blood have they written his name,
And laid down their lives as a sign of the Cross.
An altar to God, in that desert, alone
They reared; but what off'ring was on it to lie?
Themselves were the victims! the veins were their own,
Whose streaming, like incense, should smoke to the sky!
A precious libation those brothers supplied,
The pure wine of life from the hearts of the twain
Was poured, sending up, as their vital fire died,
Its odors in clouds to “the Lamb that was slain.”
They reared; but what off'ring was on it to lie?
Themselves were the victims! the veins were their own,
Whose streaming, like incense, should smoke to the sky!
A precious libation those brothers supplied,
The pure wine of life from the hearts of the twain
Was poured, sending up, as their vital fire died,
Its odors in clouds to “the Lamb that was slain.”
267
And still, in the wilderness dark and afar,
Their sacrifice burns; while its tremulous light
Appears in the distance, a sad, lonely star,
To call out our eyes to that region of night.
Unhappy Sumatra! how much dost thou need
The prayer of the righteous to rise for thy guilt,
That mercy's kind angel may blot out thy deed,
And silence the cry of the blood thou hast spilt!
Their sacrifice burns; while its tremulous light
Appears in the distance, a sad, lonely star,
To call out our eyes to that region of night.
Unhappy Sumatra! how much dost thou need
The prayer of the righteous to rise for thy guilt,
That mercy's kind angel may blot out thy deed,
And silence the cry of the blood thou hast spilt!
Thy hand hath cut down the anointed of God,
With hopes like the morning, and life in its flower!
Thy wild, heathen feet on their ashes have trod;
And these may against thee be raised up in power.
When He who will awaken the dead shall appear,
Descending in glory, what isle of the sea,
Or shore, or deep cavern of ocean, will hear
His call for such dust as is hidden in thee?
With hopes like the morning, and life in its flower!
Thy wild, heathen feet on their ashes have trod;
And these may against thee be raised up in power.
When He who will awaken the dead shall appear,
Descending in glory, what isle of the sea,
Or shore, or deep cavern of ocean, will hear
His call for such dust as is hidden in thee?
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