O shame that Christian joins with Infidel d. CXVIII. "I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce My servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols." WEEP, Mother mine, and veil thine eyes with shame! That men now give thy awful-sounding name Whose flock thy crosier claim. Sure thou hast practised in the tongues unclean Slighting the Paraclete's true flame serene, Which throned thee the world's queen. But, should earth-dust, from court or school of men, Have dimmed thy bridal gear, When Wrath next walks his rounds, and in Heaven's ken Thy charge and works appear. Ah! thou must SUFFER then! CXIX. THE BEASTS OF EPHESUS. d. My soul is among lions; and I lie even among the children of men, that are set on fire, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongues a sharp sword." How long, O Lord of grace, Must languish Thy true race, In a forced friendship linked with Belial here; With Mammon's brand of care, And Baal pleading fair, And the dog-breed who at Thy Temple jeer? How long, O Lord, how long Shall Cæsar do us wrong, Laid but as steps to throne his mortal power? While e'en our Angels stand With helpless voice and hand, Scorned by proud Haman, in his triumph-hour. 'Tis said our seers discern The destined bickerings stern, In the dim distance, of Thy fiery train. For, where Thy wheels shall go, We must be tried, the while Thy foes are slain. CXX. "I will give power unto My two witnesses, and they shall prophesy." How shall a child of God fulfil His vow to cleanse his soul from ill, 8. First, let him shun the haunts of vice, Fearing the board of wealthy pride, Or where the adulterer's smiles preside. Next, as he threads the maze of men, But if he hears and sits him still, 8. JEREMIAH. CXXI. THEY say, "Thou fallest away to the Chaldeans." "The man is false, and falls away :" Yet sighs my soul in secret for their pride, Tears are mine hourly food; and night and day I plead for them, and may not be denied. They say, "His words unnerve the warrior's hand, And dim the statesman's eye, and disunite The friends of Israel :" yet, in every land, My words, to Faith, are Peace, and Hope, and Might. They say, "The frenzied one is fain to see Glooms of his own; and gathering storms afar ;But dungeons deep, and fetters strong have we." Alas! heaven's lightning would ye chain and bar? Ye scorners of th' Eternal! wait one hour; |