Wood-notes and Church-bells :: :: University of Virginia Library

Sing of the purple cluster
Of wondrous growth and sunny lustre,
Which Joshua took from Eschol's brook,
Where pendulous it gleamed and tremulous it shook,
And like a bell with gentle swell
Invited him to rest in that delicious dell.

172

About that purple cluster
No stormy wind could rudely bluster;
Thick trees all round a covert wound,
And sheltering hills enclosed the flower-enamelled ground;
No noonday heat could fiercely beat
The odoriferous bowers of that secure retreat.

About that purple cluster
The birds in chorus sweet would muster;
And from each tree came songs of glee,
While murmuring Eschol joinod the sylvan minstrelsy;
And airs of balm at evening calm
Played with the tendrilled vine and stirred the tufted palm.

Hail to the goodly cluster
Welcome its sunny lustre,
Earnest of fruitful vines by Eshcol growing—
Pledge of blest fields with milk and honey flowing:

173

Borne on a staff between the faithful Two
Through all the camp for Israel to view:
With glad surprise and gleaming eyes
They gaze upon the purple prize:
A moment, while they look,
Eshcol's sweet bowery nook
In all its loveliness before them lies:—
A moment they rejoice
At Joshua's stirring voice,
“Behold the cluster; brethren, let us rise,
And take the land
At God's command,
'Tis ours, behold the earnest in our hand!
Around your standards muster,
Follow the goodly cluster,
Bright fields and happy homes lurk in its purple lustre!”

Sing of the Heavenly cluster
The Spirit's grace and cheering lustre,
Which Jesus brought for those He sought

174

Thirty long painful years with toil and sorrow fraught;
In pity sweet, through cold and heat,
And many thousand miles upon His weary feet.

Sing of the Blessèd Spirit
Pledge of the joys which saints inherit;
The graces fair which here they wear
Assure them they shall shine in pure celestial air;
In part they know ev'n here below
The bliss of that good land, its beauty and its glow.

Thanks for this precious token
That all is true the Lord has spoken!
A holy rest pervades each breast
Which welcomes from above the Spirit for its Guest—
An earnest dear vouchsafed ev'n here
Of Heaven's unfading bowers and living waters clear.

175

Hail to the Heavenly cluster,
Welcome its cheering lustre,
Pledge we shall one day see the True Vine growing
By Heaven's pure stream of life like crystal flowing—
That drooping Vine once lifted on the Tree
Without the camp for Israel to see:
With heavy sighs and weeping eyes
Men saw the purple Sacrifice!
But soon the Spirit came
In the Redeemer's name
To lure and lead us upward to the skies;
On earth a soothing balm
Pledge of eternal calm.
Hark how the voice of Jesus bids us rise
And claim the Rest,
By all possest
Who feel the Spirit's earnest in their breast.
Faint hearts, your courage muster,
Cherish Heaven's precious cluster,
Your bright eternal Home lies hidden in its lustre!

“Christ, God and Man, sought man's soul lost through sin, thirty years and more, with great travail and weariness, and many thousand miles upon His feet, in great cold and storm and tempest.”—John Wyclif.