PROEM.

"LET THERE BE LIGHT."

WILLIAM H. BURLEIGH.

I.

NIGHT, stern, eternal, and alone,

Girded with solemn silence round,

Majestic on his starless throne,

Sat brooding o'er the vast profound—

And there unbroken darkness lay,

Deeper than that which veils the tomb,

While circling ages wheeled away

Unnoted 'mid the voiceless gloom.

II.

Then moved upon the waveless deep
The quickening SPIRIT of the LORD,

And broken was its pulseless sleep
Before the EVERLASTING WORD!

"Let there be Light!" and listening earth,
With tree, and plant, and flowery sod,
"In the beginning" sprang to birth,

Obedient to the voice of GOD.

III.

Then, in his burning track, the sun
Trod onward to his joyous noon,
And in the heavens, one by one,

Clustered the stars around the moon

In glory bathed, the radiant day

Wore like a king his crown of light—

And, girdled by the "Milky Way,"

How queenly looked the star-gemm'd night !

IV.

Bursting from choirs celestial, rang
Triumphantly the notes of song ;
The morning stars together sang

In concert with the heavenly throng;
And earth enraptured, caught the strain.
That thrill'd along her fields of air,
Till every mountain top and plain
Flung back an answering echo there!

V.

CREATOR! let thy SPIRIT shine

The darkness of our souls within, And lead us by thy grace divine

From the forbidden paths of sin;

"LET THERE BE LIGHT."

And may that voice which bade the earth
From Chaos and the realms of Night,
From doubt and darkness call us forth
To God's own liberty and light!

VI.

Thus, made partakers of THY love,
The baptism of the SPIRIT ours,
Our grateful hearts shall rise above,
Renewed in purposes and powers;
And songs of joy again shall ring

Triumphant through the arch of Heaven-
The glorious song which angels sing,

Exulting over souls forgiven!

15

SCENES IN THE LIVES

OF

THE PATRIARCHS AND PROPHETS.

PROPHECY.

SAMUEL HAYES.

For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.-2 PETER i. 21.

God at sundry times, and in divers manners, spake in time past unto the Fathers by the Prophets.-HEBREWS i. 1.

He spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets, which have been since the world began.-ST. LUKE i. 70.

WHEN the Almighty Fiat, from the gloom
Of chaos drawn to light had now arrang'd
The jarring seeds, the last, the most sublime
Of all his works was Man call'd forth; to him
The Sovereign Word gave empire o'er the whole :
And lest a life without the genial aid

Of social intercourse should barren prove
Of real joys, a partner He bestow'd,
Whose milder converse and endearing love