 | Introductory verses to Bible Letters |  |
ix
[“Those Bible days! those Bible days!”]
“And learn with wonder how this world began,
Who made, who marr'd, and who has ransom'd man;
Points which, unless the Scripture made them plain,
The wisest heads might agitate in vain.”
COWPER.
Who made, who marr'd, and who has ransom'd man;
Points which, unless the Scripture made them plain,
The wisest heads might agitate in vain.”
COWPER.
I
“Those Bible days! those Bible days!”I hear some reader say;
“What themes for wonder, love, and praise,
Their Chronicles display!
It must have been like heaven on earth,
When angels talk'd with men;
Who but might fondly wish his birth
Had been allotted then?
II
“For then, in Eden's garden fairOur earliest parents dwelt,
And on its flowery turf, in prayer,
At night and morning knelt:
There bird and beast around them played,
In gentleness and glee;
And glorious beings, in its shade,
Their guests were said to be.
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III
“But Disobedience, like a blight,Came o'er those golden hours,
And drove them from the peaceful site
Of Eden's blissful bowers;
Yet Mercy temper'd Judgment's ire,
Their sorrows to assuage,
And left to love and to admire,
The Patriarchal Age!
IV
“Then Patriarchs led within their tent,And Shepherds on the plain,
A life so glad and innocent,
When will such come again?
Then Abram sent to seek a bride
For Isaac far away;
And Isaac walk'd at eventide,
To meditate and pray.
V
“Then Jacob for the blessing stroveThrough darksome hours of night;
Or saw, from earth to heaven above,
That ladder's steps of light
By angels trod. Then Joseph, sold
To Egypt for a slave,
Fulfil'd the visions he foretold,
And good for evil gave.
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VI
“He grew, by truth and faithfulness,In favor near the throne;
And gave his brethren in distress,
A Goshen for their own;
Whence, when another king arose
Who knew not Joseph's worth,
Moses, defying Israel's foes,
In triumph led them forth.
VII
“Like walls, the sea on either handRose at the voice of God;
And through that fearful pass, their band
In safety walk'd dry shod:
The cloud by day, the fire by night,
To guide their path were given;
The rock gush'd forth in waters bright,
Their food came down from heaven.
VIII
“'Twere needless for me to recountThe blessings God supplied,
The wonders seen by Sinai's mount,
By Jordan's hallow'd tide;
Through it, in safety, they were led,
Bearing, at God's command,
Stones of memorial from its bed,
And reach'd the promis'd land!
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IX
“How there they fought, and triumph'd there,And sinn'd, and suffer'd too,
Let many a city's fall declare,
And tyrant's yoke prove true.
I may not stop, each mighty name,
Then glorious, to recall,
Or dwell upon the deathless fame
Of Samuel, David, Saul;
X
“Or Solomon's, whose zeal uprear'dA temple to the Lord;
Or kings and mighty captains, fear'd
For their resistless sword.
And then, to mortal man on earth,
Were powers prophetic lent,
Foretelling war, and plague, and dearth,
Sin's righteous chastisement.
XI
“Then liv'd Elijah, mighty seer!By ravens daily fed,
Who in God's holy name and fear
A life of wonders led:
Nor did his death less testify
A prophet's sacred claim,
Triumphantly upborne on high
With car and steeds of flame!
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XII
“Elisha, too, who humbly caughtHis mantle in its fall,
Prov'd, by the marvels that he wrought,
His high and holy call:
What time the mourning Shunamite
Bewail'd her infant's death,
The prophet, by faith's word of might,
Recall'd its parted breath!
XIII
“Nor less, though by a captive maid,Was Israel's God reveal'd;
Her master sought the prophet's aid,
He wash'd, and he was heal'd!
Then, too, the seer his punishment
Of guile thought meet to show;
Gehazi from his presence went
A leper, white as snow!
XIV
“But words would fail me, should I dwellOn each surprising deed
Written in Scripture's chronicle,
For after-times to read:
How Jonah from God's presence fled
Afar, but fled in vain,
His living prison-house of dread,
Down in the billowy main:
xiv
XV
“How Time paus'd in his onward race,At Hezekiah's prayer,
And on the dial bade him trace
The backward shadow there:
How good Josiah's zeal o'erturn'd
Idols of wood and stone,
'Till Judah's altars' incense burn'd
To Judah's God alone.
XVI
“How, captives sad, by Babel's streams,The sons of Zion, still,
Like home-sick exiles in their dreams,
Remember'd Zion's Hill;
With harps upon the willows hung,
Mute lips, and skilless hand,
Their fathers' songs remain'd unsung,
Far from their fathers' land.
XVII
“How Daniel, on his bended knee,Defied the lions' ire;
How calmly walked the faithful three,
Unharm'd, amid the fire,
Untouched their clothes, unsinged their hair,
The furnace floor they trod,
Because a fourth walk'd with them there,
Like to the Son of God.
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XVIII
“How Babylon's imperious king,When pride his heart had steel'd,
A humbled, throneless, crownless thing,
Ate herbage in the field;
And how his son, forgetting all
That sire had felt before,
Read, in the writing on the wall,
His kingdom was no more.
XIX
“And last, how Haman, for his guilt,Hung on that gallows high
His pride, for Mordecai, had built,
That he thereon might die.
What marvel when such themes divine
Wake wonder, love, and praise,
That somewhat like a wish were mine
To have lived in Bible days?”
XX
Reader, I own thou speakest sooth:Those glorious days of yore
Were rich in themes which bid, in truth,
Our humbled hearts adore.
Yet turn not thou, with thankless heart
And discontented brow,
From these, allotted as thy part,
But count thy blessings now.
xvi
XXI
Though Eden bloom no more on earth,Since forfeited by sin,
Fairer than Eden's flowers have birth
Through grace divine within:
Early give up thy heart in prayer,
To God a sacrifice,
And He will for himself prepare
Therein a Paradise!
XXII
The lives by simple patriarchs led,The lore by prophets taught,
The manna on which Israel fed
When through the desert brought,
The fire which guided them by night,
The cloud that led by day,
Though lost to outward sense and sight,
Instruction still convey.
XXIII
For us they were on record left,That we their good might share,
Nor when of earthly aid bereft,
Be tempted to despair;
Think not, by miracles alone,
God can his power proclaim;
When humbler means he deigns to own,
His blessing is the same.
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XXIV
And great as were the wonders doneFor Moses, David, Saul,
Salvation through His glorious Son,
In worth surpasses all!
For us, in this our later time,
This marvel was achieved;
By us be this best gift sublime,
With thankful hearts, received.
XXV
Yet more, when Jesus rose on high,The Comforter was given,
Unto His truth to testify,
And point the path to heaven.
While such stupendous themes remain
For wonder, love, and praise,
Who shall ungratefully maintain
These are not Bible days?
xviii
A POSTSCRIPT.
ON RUTH.
I
How could I pass in silence by,On Scripture's sacred page,
One, unto childhood's partial eye,
The heroine of her age?
Still peerless shines her gentle fame
For tenderness and truth;
Who can forget the honour'd name
Of warm, devoted Ruth?
II
Who can forget, when Orpah's loveTo earlier ties gave way,
How Ruth, with courage from above,
Still held her onward way?
The parting tear, the mute caress,
Her sister fondly gave;
But in that hour of deep distress,
Ruth to their parent clave!
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III
The manners, language, customs, allFamiliar habit prized,
By her, at filial duty's call,
Were freely sacrificed:
E'en Moab's gods she could forsake,
Long worshipp'd as her own,
And for her lot and portion, take
Her parent's God alone.
IV
For her, she left the home on earthIn which she had been rear'd,
By living and departed worth
Both hallow'd and endear'd;
For her, she sought a stranger land,
Embrac'd a lot forlorn,
And join'd the humble gleaner band
'Mid sheaves of “alien corn.”
V
Never did poet's proudest spell,Or fiction's sweetest art,
On elements more lovely dwell,
To touch and win the heart:
Yet this, the brightest, purest page,
Which Bible lore supplies,
Is linked unto our later age
By truly Christian ties.
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VI
Its charm is Christian! it appealsTo love, and love alone;
And every beauty it reveals,
That law of Christ makes known!
It stands out, 'mid the sterner strife
Of that dark age of dread,
A picture of a Christian's life,
On Christian precepts led.
VII
Nor less, in Ruth's rich recompense,A watchful eye may trace
An unobtrusive evidence
Of virtue crowned by grace;
Not David's ancestress, alone,
That recompense we find,
But His who fills a mightier throne,
The Saviour of mankind!
| Introductory verses to Bible Letters | |