SECOND SUNDAY AFTER
EASTER.
He hath said, which heard the words of God, and knew the knowledge of the
Most High; which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but
having his eyes open: I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but
not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall arise
out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the
children of Sheth. Numbers xxiv.
16,17.
O FOR a sculptorÕs hand,
That thou mightÕst take thy stand,
Thy wild hair floating on the eastern breeze,
Thy trancÕd yet open gaze
FixÕd on the desert haze,
As one who deep in heaven some airy pageant sees.
In outline dim and vast
Their fearful shadows cast
The giant forms of empires on their way
To ruin: one by one
They tower and they are gone,
Yet in the ProphetÕs soul the dreams of avarice stay.
No sun or star so bright
In all the world of light
That they should draw to heaven his downward eye,
He hears thÕ AlmightyÕs word,
He sees the angelÕs sword,
Yet low upon the earth his heart and treasure lie.
Lo from you argent field,
To him and us revealÕd
One gentle star glides down, on earth to dwell.
ChainÕd as they are below
Our eyes may see it glow,
And as it mounts again, may track its brightness well.
To him it glarÕd afar,
A token of wild war,
The banner of his LordÕs victorious wrath:
But close to us it gleams,
Its soothing lustre streams
Around our homeÕs green walls, and on our church-way path.
We in the tents abide
Which he at distance eyed
Like goodly cedars by the waters spread,
While seven red altar-fires
Rose up in wavy spires,
Where on the mount he watchÕd his sorceries dark and dread.
He watchÕd till morningÕs ray
On lake and meadow lay,
And willow-shaded streams, that silent sweep
Around the bannerÕd lines,
Where by their several signs
The desert-wearied tribes in sight of Canaan sleep.
He watchÕd till knowledge came
Upon his soul like flame,
Not of those magic fires at random caught:
But true prophetic light
FlashÕd oÕer him, high and bright,
FlashÕd once, and died away, and left his darkenÕd thought.
And can he choose but fear,
Who feels his GOD so near,
That when he fain would curse, his powerless tongue
In blessing only moves?Ñ
Alas! the world he loves
Too close around his heart her tangling veil hath flung.
Sceptre and Star divine,
Who in thine inmost shrine
Hast made us worshippers, O claim thine own;
More than thy seers we knowÑ
O teach our love to grow
Up to thy heavenly light, and reap what Thou hast sown.