"There are clearer skies than ours afar,
We will shape our course by a brighter star;
There are plains whose verdure no foot hath pressed,
And whose wealth is all for the first brave guest."
But alas! that we should go,"

66

Sang the farewell voices then,

"From the homesteads warm and low,
By the brook and in the glen!"

3. "We will rear new homes, under trees that glow
As if gems were the fruitage of every bough;
O'er our white walls we will train the vine,
And sit in its shadow at day's decline;

And watch our herds as they range at will
Through the green †savannahs, all bright and still."
"But woe for that sweet shade

Of the flowering orchard-trees,
Where first our children played
'Mid birds and honey-bees!"

4. "All, all our own shall the forests be,
As to the bound of the roe-buck free!
None shall say, 'Hither, no further pass!'
We will track each step through the wavy grass;
We will chase the elk in his speed and might,
And bring proud spoils to the hearth at night."
"But oh! the gray church-tower,

And the sound of the Sabbath-bell,
And the sheltered garden-bower,

We have bid them all farewell!"

5. "We will give the names of our fearless race
To each bright river whose course we trace;
We will leave our memory with mounts and floods,
And the path of our daring, in boundless woods;
And our works on many a lake's green shore,
Where the Indians' graves lay alone, before.”
"But who shall teach the flowers

Which our children loved, to dwell

In a soil that is not ours?

Home, home and friends, farewell!"

HEMANS.

LESSON CXXXVII.

THE POETRY OF THE BIBLE.

1. ONE of the most eminent critics has said, that "+devotional poetry can not please." If it be so, then has the Bible carried the dominion of poetry into regions that are inaccessible to worldly ambition. It has crossed the enchanted circle, and, by

the beauty, boldness, and originality of its conceptions, has given to devotional poetry a glow, a richness, a tenderness, in vain sought for in Shakspeare or Cowper, in Scott or in Byron.

2. Where is there poetry that can be compared with the song of Moses, after the destruction of Pharaoh; with the psalms of David; with the song of Solomon; and with the prophecies of Isaiah? Where is there an elegiac ode to be compared with the song of David, upon the death of Saul and Jonathan, or the lamentations of Jeremiah? Where, in ancient or modern poetry, is there a passage like this? "In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on man, fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. Then a spirit passed before my face: the hair of my flesh stood up. It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof. An image was before mine eyes. There was silence. And I heard a voice, saying, Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his Maker? Behold he putteth no trust in his servants, and his angels he chargeth with folly. How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is as the dust, and who are crushed before the moth!"

3. Men, who have felt the power of poetry, when they have marked the "deep-working passion of Danté," and observed the elevation of Milton, as he "combined image with image, in lofty + gradations," have thought that they discovered the indebtedness of these writers to the poetry of the Old Testament. But how much more sublime is Isaiah than Milton! How much more enkindling than Danté, is David! How much more picturesque than Homer, is Solomon or Job! Like the rapid and glowing * argumentations of Paul, the poetic parts of the Bible may be read a thousand times, and they have all the freshness and glow of the first perusal.

+

4. Where, in the compass of human language, is there a paragraph, which, for boldness and variety of metaphor, delicacy and majesty of thought, strength and invention, elegance and refinement, equals the passage in which "God answers Job out of the whirlwind?" What merely human imagination, in the natural progress of a single discourse, and, apparently, without effort, ever thus went down to "the foundations of the earth;" stood at "the doors of the ocean;" visited "the place where the day-spring from on high takes hold of the uttermost parts of the earth;" entered into "the treasures of the snow and the hail;" traced "the path of the thunderbolt;" and, penetrating the retired chambers of nature, demanded, "Hath the rain a father? or, who hath begotten the drops of the dew?" And how bold its flights, how inexpressibly striking and beautiful its antithesis, when, from the warm

+

and sweet +Pleiades, it wanders to the sterner +Orion; and, in its rapid course, hears the "young lions crying unto God, for lack of meat;" sees the war-horse pawing in the valley; descries the eagle on the crag of the rock; and, in all that is vast and minute, dreadful and beautiful, discovers and proclaims the glory of Him, who is "excellent in counsel, and wonderful in working?"

5. The style of Hebrew poetry is every where forcible and figurative, beyond example. The book of Job stands not alone in this sententious, spirited, and energetic form and manner. It prevails throughout the poetic parts of the Scriptures; and they stand, confessedly, the most eminent examples to be found of the truly sublime and beautiful. I confess, I have not much of the spirit of poetry. It is a fire that is enkindled at the living lamp of nature, and glows only on a few favored altars. And yet, I can not but love the poetic associations of the Bible. Now, they are sublime and beautiful, like the mountain torrent, swollen and impetuous, by the sudden bursting of the cloud; now, they are grand and awful, like the stormy Galilee, when the tempest beat upon the fearful disciples; again, they are placid as that calm lake, when the Savior's feet have touched its waters, and stilled them into peace.

+

6. There is, also, a sublimity, an invention, in the +imagery of the Bible, that is found in no other book. In the Bible, you have allegory, apologue, parable, and enigma, all clearly intelligible, and enforcing truth with a strong and indelible impression. You have significant actions, uttering volumes of instruction; as when "Jesus called a little child, and set him in the midst of his disciples, and said, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven;" as when he cursed the barren fig-tree; as when he "washed his disciples' feet." And where is there a comparison like this? "And the heavens departed as a scroll, when it is rolled together." Where is there a description like this? "And I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come, and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God." Or, where is there a sentence like the following? "And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heavens fled away, and there was found no place for them.”

7. English literature is no common debtor to the Bible. In what department of English literature, may not the difference be discovered between the spirit and sentiments of christian writers, and those who have drawn all their materials of thought and of ornament, from pagan writers? We find a proof of the superiority of christian principles, even in those works of imagination, which

are deemed scarcely susceptible of influence from religion. The common romance and the novel, with all their fooleries and ravings, would be more contemptible than they are, did they not, sometimes, undesignedly, catch a conception, or adorn a character from the rich treasury of revelation. And the more splendid fictions of the poet, derive their highest charm from the evangelical philanthropy, tenderness, and sublimity that invest them. But for the Bible, Homer and Milton might have stood upon the same shelf, equal in morality, as they are competitors for renown; Young had been ranked with Juvenal; and Cowper had united with Horace and with Ovid, to swell the tide of voluptuousness. of

DR. SPRING.

LESSON CXXXVIII.

SONG OF MOSES AT THE RED SEA.

1. I WILL sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously; The horse and his rider hath he +whelmed in the sea.

My praise and my song is Jehovah,

And he is become my salvation:
He is my God, and I will praise him;
My father's God, and I will exalt him.

2. Jehovah is a man of war: Jehovah is his name.

The chariots of Pharaoh and his hosts hath he cast into the sea,
And his choicest leaders into the Red sea.

The floods have covered them; they went down ;

Into the abyss they went down as a stone.

Thy right hand, O Jehovah, hath made itself glorious in power:
Thy right hand, O Jehovah, hath dashed in pieces the enemy;
And in the strength of thy majesty, thou hast destroyed thin
adversaries.

Thou didst let loose thy wrath: it consumed them like stubble.

3. With the blast of thy nostrils, the waters were heaped together; The flowing waters stood upright as a heap:

The floods were congealed in the heart of the sea.
The enemy said, "I will pursue, I will overtake;
I will divide the spoil; my soul shall be satisfied:

I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them."
Thou didst blow with thy breath, the sea covered them:
They sank as lead in the mighty waters.

4. Who is like unto thee among the gods, O Jehovah !

Who is like unto thee, making thyself glorious in holiness,

Fearful in praises, executing wonders!

Thou didst stretch out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them.

Thou hast led forth, in thy mercy, the people whom thou hast redeemed;
Thou hast guided them in thy strength to the habitation of thy holiness.
The people shall hear, and be disquieted;

Terror shall seize the inhabitants of +Philistia.
Then, the nobles of Edom shall be confounded:

The mighty ones of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them:
All the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away:

Terror and perplexity shall fall upon them:

Because of the greatness of thine arm, they shall be still as a stone, Till thy people pass over, O Jehovah,

Till the people pass over whom thou hast redeemed.

Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountains of thine inheritance,

The place for thy dwelling which thou hast prepared, O Jehovah !
The sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established.
Jehovah shall reign forever and ever!

15TH CHAP. OF EXODUS.

LESSON CXXXIX.

THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER.

1. In a remote period of antiquity, when the supernatural and the marvelous obtained a readier credence than now, it was fabled, that a stranger of extraordinary appearance was observed passing the streets of one of the magnificent cities of the east, remarking, with an eye of intelligent curiosity, every surrounding object. Several individuals gathering around him, questioned him concerning his country and his business; but they presently perceived that he was unacquainted with their language, and he soon discovered himself to be equally ignorant of the most common usages of society. At the same time, the dignity and intelligence of his air and demeanor, forbade the idea of his being either a barbarian or a +lunatic.

2. When, at length, he understood by their signs, that they wished to be informed whence he came, he pointed with great significance to the sky; upon which, the crowd, concluding him to be one of their deities, were proceeding to pay him divine honors; but he no sooner comprehended their design, than he rejected it with horror; and, bending his knees and raising his hands toward heaven, in the attitude of prayer, gave them to understand that he also was a worshiper of the powers above. After a time, it is said, the mysterious stranger accepted the hospitalities of one of the nobles of the city; under whose roof he applied himself with great diligence to the acquirement of the language, in which he