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CIHIVi/ICMH
Microfiche
Series.
CIHM/ICMH
Collection de
microfiches.
Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques
1980
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D
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n
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D
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Additional comments/
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D
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Maps or plates too large to be entirely included
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Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur la der-
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suivant :
Bibliothdque nationale du Canada
Les cartes ou les planches trop grandes pour §tre
reproduites en un seul clich6 sont filmdes d
partir de Tangle sup6rieure gauche, de gauche d
droite et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre
d'images ndcessaire. Le diagramme suivant
illustre la m^thode :
1
2
3
4
5
6
4
TABOR MELODIES.
I
l!Y
ROBERT EVANS,
IIAM I LTON
TORONTO :
SAMUEL ROSE, 80 KING STREET EAST,
1878.
Kfl
\J3BT
mi
i ^ i J. rS
lNJ>EX TO TAIiOlt MKI.ODIE.S.
Abba Fatliev ^^^^^•
Abfiibiuu's l)i-livi'i luice . '^•'
Acliiui 47
Abircplio]
An Abmidiuit iOiitraurc ,
Ascension, The
P>;iltii of Gileud
Be Still
5(3
r,<)
io;i
J
better to Dej)art
Better to Depart ajid be ut'lle'st ,;!;
Beishazzar's Feast ..
Bethany
Blessedare the Pure in Heart
Byron 78
107
GO
87
Cain
( iun's llemorse.
Calvary
Cloud
24
42
42
m
upon the Sea
Captive Delivered, The ... ^'-^
(denser Bearer.s . C'"'
Choral Music '. 72
Christ's Tears !-■*
Christ at Jacob's Well ^-1
('hrist at >,'ain 88
Christ's Lowliness.. ^^
Chri.st Asceudinf,' . -'7
Christ Deseendin-,'.. . 102
(!hristiii.n Fellowship H''
Cloud of Witnesses, The l*^'*
Closini,' Sonnet U'l
,, . 125
Daniel
D
avid 7
David and Jonathan.,....!!'.,,^! ^^
David's (Jrief.
Dawn, The
Di'ath of :\[oses
Death
D
58
GO
55
eath is Yours...
Death of Time K^i
Deadly Breach. The . l'-^-^
Desire to Depart T^
Dives 35
Desert shali Jiejoice, The •*'*
Descent of Joy G8
Destroying AiiL'el 7:5
l^eluge, The G4
Dyin;,' Thief, The.. '^^
<jy
Echo at the Dawn
Ecstasy 4
Electricity... 13
Elijah 19
62
IV INDEX TO TABOR MELODIES,
Elijah oil ^InimtCavmcl 03
KnouKh, iMy Heart ;J7
Kiioc'li 4;i
Enoch s Tiui.' shition 415
Eva, To IV,
E|)hcsus IK)
Evening' Time, Tho '20
Faith 4(1
Faith ill God lU'J
Faith is a Bvavo, Swoct Fiowi'v '2:5
Fallow Groin u I, Tho HO
Fear li»
Fi^^ Tree, Tliu h;5
FiiKliii^'ol' Moses, The 4'.»
Fiery Fiiriiaci.', The 0'.)
Flyiiif,' Scroll, The 117
FloatJii;^ Ihihble, The ;t2
Flow ot Time, Tiie 2r>
First Sahljath, The 40
Foam Wreath Babble, The :jO
Friend, To a 1(5
Friend of Sinners b(J
Friendship 10
Fruitof Faith 114
Fulness of Christ 70
Genius
Genius of the I'sahnist 00
Go and Sin Js'c) i>iore ',)')
Trod Created tho Heavens and the Earth ;38
God's Ijamb 74
Gof4 and Maj^oj^ 12!}
(4ood Ground. The jSl
Good Siiepherd, The <Ji
Good Samaritan, The 94
{TOS))el, The 100 and 115
Greater Works than These 110
(irief 2y
Handwriting on the Wall 06
Have Fa,ith m God Ill
Harvest Home, The 120
Hagiir 40
He hath Abt>lished Death lUl
Heavens, Tile ;j<)
Heavenly Sabbath ]21
Heavtiiily Peace 121
Her Lips do Speak 17
Hidden Manna 110
Horeb 41
Hope ;J2
Humility 77
In Memoriani .. 21
1 am in a Strait I07
I Covet More ;{4
1 (to Away %
1 Hear Its Echoes 124
Ishmaei 40
Intercession HI
I shall See the King in His Beauty 07
Jacob's Well 89
Jetteau, The y
J eren liali 08
Jesus Wept 112
■■/•^;
INDEX TO TAHOIl .M HI.ODl KS,
Jol),
TAGK
41
Joiiiih 70
Judas JW
Josliuii oil Mtnuit Both Hciroii r»()
Joy 110
6
7
00
01
Hij
70
■10
Koiits
Kirk Wjiito. Henry
fjast Soliloquy of Judas
I^azavus
LiMul M(! to tlu.' liiglit
I.ily. Tho
Tiot My i'eoi.luGo
Livinj! Fnitli 82
Jjiviuf^ Tuniplu li:J
JjOVo 112
aravtynloin of Stc!]ih(:u lOi
.Vlau of Hovi'ows, Tlio 05
Madonna. The 12
Maud 11
.MeditatL(JU
]\ririaui
Muteor, The
IVIirrored 1''Unvors, The
JNIoou, The
Movninu
2(5
53
;ji
10
ai
;5
7
117
81
55
HO
:\Iystery Iiuine. The 74
My Wayward Muse 1
I\Iountaiu Pines. The
:Mouiit of (Tod.Tlie ..
Jloiint Tivbor
Mo.ses at Horub
I\Iusie
Naauiaii ..
Nathaniel
8;}
Nativitv. The 7y
Nif,'ht CJoiueth, Tlie 2(5
N iueveh 71
Oaten Iveed (/'/'('./((cv) vii
Ocean Shuon H
Old MelodiciS , 28
Oulv a liittk! Soaee lOH
Out of the Fold HC,
One with Christ 100
rast Eternity. The :i8
Peace 2;J
I'eiiiel 48
Pente(!ost lOo
Peters Denial 'J8
Pharaoli's Overthrow 5;i
Pliiiip's Visit to Bauuiria 105
l*lea for the Dru ukard 15
Pla;4ue of Hail 50
Pla.que of the Nil 50
Piai^ue of Darkne,. 51
I'raiso liy
Praise in Heaven 78
Prayer 07
Prayi'r of Lfuiuel, 'I'he 05
Prodigal Son, The (55
Promiised Land, The 118
Prophet on the Mount, Tho 07
VI
INDEX TO TAllOIl MELODIKS.
Publiam.Tho "0
Iiiiiiuh-op, Tlio
Kod Sea, Thn
llomorse of -ludaH, The ,
Host
n
' " 52
100
' .' ''',',[ [ JS
KdHiirrcftioii, The 1"'
Kispali <)l
Kispah's Gri(3f' <>1
ilouiiioii J7
Kivoii Cloud. Tlio '•>
lioom on Top, There's l'>
Kuth r>7
Saul's (!onvcrsi()ii IOC)
Hecret riaeo. The ■->!
Searlieaf Tlie 2^
Shadow of Death, The K'O
Sion's Defence 71
Slec;i) 27
Smyrna 115
Sn 1 i t ten H 111 )1 )le. T 1 1 e 5
Smitten StiUKlai-d-hearer, The 11
So Little Done lOS
Soiif,' of the Hee :*:>
Son^' of t he Hutter il y •^'•>
Soni,' of the Ocean 'M
Sower. The 87
Spirit of Peace 11
Sjiring 2
Spr in j^ ] jcaves 2
Star of th(! Nativity 7(>
Still Sniiill Voice. The 02
Stony Ground, The 81
Tabor 86
Take Up Thy Cross 113
Take Tny Son 47
Tears of Olivet %
Temperate in All Thin{,'s 11
Temptation 77
^renth Plague, The 51
Thomas 122
Thornv Ground. The bO
Thoughts that are Not 20
Thousand Islands, The lb
Time ;i9
Time and the Hour-glass '.'A
Time's Coursi- 122
Troubling of the Waters 91
Truth Unchangeable '1-1
Truth 45
Twilight 20
Vesper Hour, The 22
Waiting 125
Wanderer. The 120
Wanderuig Dawn, The i
We Hold the Flower 24
Wuie Cup, The 15
Witch of Enaor, The 50
Withhithe Veil 54
Wrestling Jacob 48
Why Stand Ye Gazing 102
Zaccheus 82
Zephyr, The 5
E nil A T A .
Page 10, 7th
lire,
should
< 1
10, GUth
<i
11
«i
13, L'lul
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(1
1:3, -I'M-d
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24, IStli
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24, 19th
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25, 27th
• 1
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32, 22iid
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30, 7th
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30, 21)11
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52, 7th
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53, 17th
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55, 17th
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73, 4th
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100, 2Gth
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112, 7th
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no, 5th
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It
}•'
should read "eddies hind."
" indutiiej lend."
"Toward."
" stiiJpire."
" dimming' eloud."
" thouuh gathered. "
"thy."
"To."
"liglit."
'•Cynthia."
" Z'.ne " instead of " .shore."
" power" instead of " time."
I1 1 f • "
"noon." •
' songs."
shepherd'.s " rohe" instead of " fohLs."
"cnwreuthed."
"dastards" instead of " bastards."
" made" instead of "gave,"
" tempests."
"this "instead of "a."
"roll" instead of "rode."
" pearls" instead of " perils."
" sweet ' instead of " sweep."
" and elasticity."
(ti. iv'l > 1/3 jj;.>. iiu J
J
VI
FNF)EX TO TAIIOI! MKLODIES.
Puljlican, TIk;
IiaiiKlrop, Tlio .
Kod Soa, Tin
.. 1)0
n
52
11 10
Waiidenng ])awii, The .
We Hold tlie Flower. . 4
Wine Cup, The ',■■.;.' ^
Witch of Eij.ior, The !■'
Withhi the Veil ''''^''^''''. •''■*
Wrestling Jacob ^^
Why Stand Ye Gazing "^
Zaccheus
Zephyr, The 82
5
I. (
^•*
:'()
10
I. (
I'KKl-'ACK.
THl': OATEN KEED.
I
/{'t^J
,'3|^HE^'^^^ simple melodies like echoes Hit ;
Yet list their inissinj^ notes aloiii; the mead, —
Life's soft warm l)reathings though an oaten reed.
Far from the groves where new-made laurels greet
The gifted muse, and rustle at lier feet,
These woodland strains the shepherds only heed.
No passions revel here, no hei-oes bleed,
No muffled plots their horrors liere repeat.
To cast their shadows on the multitude.
I am content, the fragrant INIaythorn air
That fills with sweets the margin of the wood,
All hushed should listen to my carols here, —
Their mingling fall, soft as a gentle rain.
With dewlike drops would kiss the thirsty plain.
TABOR MELODIES.
MY WAYWARD MUSE.
.r~^
^^S when at dawn, the lark doth phimo its wings,
' ^"^^ Gkincing o'er stream and mount to meet tlie bhie,
And from its breast doth shake the morning dew,
Ere from earth's shadowed perch, it heavenward springs ;
Then fiutt'ring soars, and soaring sweetly sings,
But thinks now how or why it upward flew :
So, rapt in the wide landscape's o[>'ning view,
In all the hues and harmonies of things
The tints of flowers, of woods, of ocean's sheen ;
I too would give this universe a tongue.
To me a radiance rests u])on the scene.
As of an iris o'er the hilltops flung.
Tempting the flight of this my wayward nnise,
Whose restless wings are wet with nightly dews.
2
TABOR MELODIES.
SPRING.
jI^c AIL, thou sweet si)int of tlie coming s[)ring I
■^ I feel tli^' gentle influence everywlieie ;
Tliou bast ;i thousand voices in the air ;
For tliiM^ the forests and the streamlets sing,
Which lat(; were still 'neath wintei-'s brooilin^' winir.
And the dull earth horselt, methinks, doth heai-.
And sn)iles with })romise of the jdenteous year.
Thy quick'ning breath refreshes everything ;
The valleys dream of thy bright robes of green ;
The yellow crocus decks the streamlet's brink,
The modest violet tints its leaves unseen,
And, in the hues of evening, seems to sink.
This moving dust is conscious of the strife.
And every nerve of Nature thrills with life.
SPRING LEAVES.
^C^ AW ye the living leafage of the spring,
^ What time the voices of the grove and d(^ll
Their tender tale of love so sweetly tell \
Lo I the clear dewdro})S there stood quivering,
As though on their own rays, they might take wing
Like Nature's music over mead and rill ;
And all the leaflets trembled on the hill
As if some tender tone, soft echoing.
Had lisped the name of each and sung its praise ;
The beauty of its form, its mitred edge,
The vivid green it timidly betrays,
Its rustling ri[>ple o'er the waving sedge.
And all the harmonies of light and shade
In which its virgin beauty was arrayed.
TABOR MELODIES.
3
DAWN— A SKETCH.
\x^' DOWN the goldon pluiiiiigo of tlio morn,
'<J^'^ Spring's gentle breath is out upon the sea,
Cliecking its silver with the green and gray.
'Pile clou(l-wra))t ether, on th(^ liilltops born,
Is softly blushing through its tresses torn ;
And leans anear to cutch the nnnstrelsy
Of forest music, breathing fitfully
Through the dim woods that, ;'.t their edges, burn.
High on the shore-line, dashing on the beach,
The crest d billows wliiten into foam ;
And drop their crystals, where tlie pebbles bleach,
Far as tlie dazzled vision dares to roam ;
While, in the background, tower the ragged hills,
b^ ringed with }»ale woods and garrulous with rills.
MORNTNG.
/JtC'J
.TT^Ilbj morninii fleams beneath the breathiuir skies
"^ Like the dark petal of the magic rose
Which, 'neath the living breath, revives and glows,
its dawning thrills us with a glad surj)rise
And sweetly wakes the woodland melodies.
The fair Aurora, lightly o'er her, throws
A purple robe that, i-ound aV)out her, flows ;
While night, from far with dazzled closincj eyes —
As if once more, her beauty, to l)ehold —
Peers backward through the liquid blue serene.
But, lo ! yon fleecy cloud unveils the scene
And gives the mount its canopy of gold ;
While herds of cattle crop the shadowy soil ;
And dew-dripped labour just begins its toil.
.-♦*
i
TAUOll MELODIES.
ECHO AT THE DAWN.
C^OFT tlirough tlie gates of iiiorii, lu'iiNCii's echo Uowed,
'■ And softer still morn's ratliance, half divine,
Blends with its sound, and both in one combine.
1 heard young echo's trembling notes when wooed ;
The mountain nym[)h, lier sweet confusion, showed,
And i-obed herself in light as doth the vine
When, on a sunbeam fair, it dotli lecline,
With all its sweetness round iJjont it strowed.
Nym])li of the answering voice, thyself nnseen,
Whei-e woiddst thou, wand'ring in the dewy dawn ?
1 know thou lov'st the lone lake's silvery sheen.
Or the deep dell wliere sleeps the sportive fawn —
And all things love thee, meditative maid,
Or when the roses bloom or when they fade.
THE WANDERING DAWN.
HEAR her rustling ste}) upon the hill ;
In russet robe, her pilgrim staff she takes
To walk the darkened earth ere morn awakes.
And, though methinks she trembles 'mid the chill
Of the damp shadow that the night doth fill,
Her bright'ning smile upon the foi-est breaks
And silvers all the ripples that she makes
On stream or lake, as if she heard the trill
Of sweetest voices through the distant grove.
Hail, gentle pilgrim of the dewy slioon !
Say, hast thou lost the hope of earlier love
That, through the desert night, thou tleest the moon I
Hath thoughtless Cynthia played the cold coquette
That thou, with weeping footstep, wanderest not ?
TABOR MELODIES,
THE ZEPHYR.
^TvT O W, (loth the new-born zephyr of the lake
■^ "^ Strike with her downy wings its silvery sheen
And o'er its rip[)les, sliadowed all atween,
Her tiny feet are trembling as they tnke
Tlieir steep lone way right \\\) tlu3 leafy break —
'I'roading the grass-spears on the level green,
That bend in awe before the Fairy Queen
And ope their dewy eyelids for her sake.
Say, gentle zephyr, didst thou hear the voice
^)f some sweet songster warbling to the dawn?
And art thou wand'ring of thine own sweet choice,
Fj'om the pure ck)udless sa})phire, hither drawn,
To soar perchance with morning's hymn of ])raise,
And blend its echoes with angelic lays 1
-^l^^-
THE SMITTEN BUBBLE.
\^^ H ! why so bright, fair bubble, since so frail ?"
^^ Yet oh, thou art so like what I would be !
Thine earthly shrine so loosely held by thee
And yet so pure, when heaven's light doth fill,
It turns to light and seems invisible —
As if uplifted from life's troubled sea.
At once, like Enoch from this earth set free.
Its robes unrent 'mid sunset's clouds might sail ;
Its crystal cincture thus on high might shine.
And ne'er be shattered l)y the touch of death.
Dread death dissolves the forms that we resign ;
He mars the fairest work of God l)eneath ;
The sin of Eden, like a refluent wave,
Smites down earth's fairest crystals to the grave.
I \
6
TABOR MELODIES.
GENIUS.
11 K light of genius, like tluj soliu- lirr, \
"<^ Set-s all tlio niii\(U'se of tlioiiglit .'iMnzt' ; \
And liides tlio st;u\s in licr 8ii[)(!noi' rays. ^'
Veiled in ]\vv (queenly hiiglitness, they rctii-c?, '
()i- vvlion she s})e.'iks, or when slie strikes lier lyre-i~
ll(*r lesser bards, who tnne their noblest lays ^
To the true notes which ci^lebrate her ')j-aise, '
Proud if they may but worthily admire.
"Pwas truth that forged and linked her golden chain i
And flashed her light, that suffers no ecli])se ;
And nations bend to listen to her strain,
And concjuered ages hang u])on her li])s.
Few, few shall climb her pyi-amid of liglit,
Or bind their temples with her wreath of might.
;"^-^-
(.') u
i I
KEATS.
^U^OT, hissing envy, close that demon eye !
'-^ Why point the })oisonous venom of earth's tongue
AVhere laurelc^d genius })ours her deathless song 1
Thou saw'st sad Keats, whose spirit, with a sigh,
Drooped its tired wing within a grave to lie.
Those pallid lips of thine curled as they stung
That gentle soul with sorrow's clouds o'erhung.
Wert thou not warned in seeing genius di(5 1
Ah, it were better tha,t that lip were mute,
That those keen eyes were covered with a pall.
If they must shine to pierce the soul of truth
And watch to find occasion for its fall !
think of Haman ! let thine eyelids drop,
And sue for mercy if there still be hope !
i
TABOU MELODIES.
MOUNTAIN PINES.
(^'T'k:'' I K Pi warriors all becalmed on battle's towers,
''- ' Hi^'li on the mountain's vei'ge, the ])ine trees stand,
Molding- its heiijfhts as if by lieaveu's coniniantb
TJiere, 'neatli the calm blue slcy, that veils heaven's powei-s,
Tlajy lall^•ll at a^'es as at passing hours.
At glow of dawn, the eagles there ex})and,
Their iron [>inions for the distant strand ;
The lion, 'neath tlieir length'niug shadow, comes.
The silent pines -reck not their scream or roai-,
Nor that tlie whole earth tremble in their sisrht,
When storms do btnid that way their furious car
As the loud thunder tram})s adown tlie night.
Tliere Joshua-like their outstretched arms shall hold
At morn and eve the purple and the gold.
HENRY KIRKE WHITE.
^^^^LL trembling faintly on my list'ning ear,
^■ii^ It conies, the full notes flowing to unite
Like far Kolian strains when heard at nidit.
As when the lark, 'mid sunlit s})leiidors fair,
Warbles its notes amid the quiv'ring air.
And shakes them out to thrill us with deliirht —
Fanning heaven's crystal arches in our sight —
And in a silvery strain distinct and clear
Pours forth its song and still mounts up to heav'n ;
So, gentle Henry, to whose gifted muse
The strain Miltonian was so largely giv'n.
Thou dost ascend ; and thus thy numbers roll,
All cadenced earthward as of heavenly bin:h,
To charm through life's short hours the list'ning earth.
8
TABOB MELODIES.
THE OCEAN SHEEN.
C^HEIvN of that sunliglit, in wlioso tuuber luizo
'^ Th« gliissy sea arrays itself at eve,
For whom dost thou such gh^winn; tissues weave 1
Wouhl'st thou enshrine Narcissus in the Ijhize
Of liis own beauty, 'mid its goklen rays .'
And, on his sa})phire coucli, thus inly ch3av(}
The sadly i)ining heart, that thou wouldst grieve,
To mar with woe the remnant of his days ?
Or, art thou envious of the upland scene
That skirts the margin of yon winding stream ?
Of the springtields, all clothed in tender green,
Flushed by the op'ning blossom's earliest gleam ?
And wouldst thou dazzle, with this cloth of gold.
The simple guardians of the flock and fold 1
THE JETTEAU.
[f'HE jetteau clear flings up its silvery shaft.
In silken tissue, flowing snowy whiU',
Curved like a lily op'ning to the light,
IMethinks the nymphs, 'neath its corolla, (|uaffed
And glanced from out its waters as they laughed ;
Then flung those crystals, sj)arkling thick and bright.
To veil their sportive revels from our sight
Ahm hide from us the secrets of their craft.
Were I that sunbeam, in whose gladsome ray
The little elves are whispering all unheard.
Ah ! I might bear some golden thought away
That, in their realm of gleams, alone is heard ;
Or catch some strain of great Apollo's lute
To hold the passing hours in rapture mute.
TABOR MELODIES,
!)
THE IITVKN CLOUD.
.t
Q
iTp SAW tho tempest -driven dark'nini; cloud ,
^ Lo ! as it rushed iini)etuous on my siglit,
Its loose torn kirtU^ kindled into light ;
And, as it lifted tlius its riven shroud,
There lurked the i)rescient thunder couchant howed,
And ulanced from its red folds, and in it 4 might
It shook the mountain sunnnits from their height.
Zeus heard, and smiled patc^rnally and proud ;
Till there the tender radiance of the morn
Shone through its decjiest rift, like hope in death,
For death, his s])ectral shadow, lifts alone
O'er all our pathways as they close beneath ;
But hope impierces it to touch her goal
And gilds the crown that waits the parting soul.
THE KAINDKOl*.
.K.W SAW a raindrop si)ai-kle as it fell,
^ I heard its j)atter on the parched leaf.
Morn crowned with golden l)eams its season In'ief \
Its tremulous gleaming crystal suited well
In those green bowers where beauty loves to dwell ;
A diamond were less welcome ihan the waif
That In-ought this thirsty spray such sweet relief.
And every fibre doth its virtues tell.
Are there not scorching deserts on life's ])lain
Where, 'neath noon's fervor, men lie down to die 1
Oh would that I were as this dro]) of rain.
To touch the hearts that wither whore tliey lie !
Send me, O God, as thou the rain dost send
To glad those dewless flowers that earthward bend.
10
TAUOR MELODIES,
FRrKNDSTTrP.
■•^
^ IVFi iiu; tlu! tnic, inalionablo IViojul
^ ' Witli soul too just, and of too nol^lo, mind
To jL^lance the tliouglit or breathe tlie word unkind.
Two streams, that would in [)oace as one descend,
Must toucli an ecjual plain before they ))lend ;
While shallow synipatliii's untried and blind.
Like bidjblini^ brooks in froth their eddies bin<l.
But worth and truth must to each other bend
Not in shiirp angles, lait in gentlest curve, —
A ceaseless gliding motion of their own.
From which tlui smallest dewfall will not swerve ; —
Ami in the union blend two souls in one.
8uch friends, like angels, to each other i)rove
In every act their inner thought is love.
'tSo'-
THE MIRRORED KL0WEE8— A SKETCH.
UT on the winding woodland's shadowy slope,
The daisy found a lily, all besprent
With morning dew, in its own fairness pent.
The glowing daisy, from the bank, looked u}).
Bright as the brook that cools the antelope ;
And wondered if the lily were content
To gleam alone 'neatli this blue firmament,
Far from the flowery vales of s})ring-wreathed hope,
With only now and then a })eering eye
To watch her sunbright petal outward bend.
Nor did she think that, from the liquid sky.
Some favoring star might thence its influence bend ;
Or that a nymph, unknown 'neath other skies,
Would blend both flowers for aye in her blue eyea.
TABOR MELODIES.
11
MAUD.
{.ilyf" A (M)*S lioiirt seenu!<l cold, as is the clear keen ico,
-^•Vi^ As \[' it hung 1)enoatli a pulstsloss pall,
< )r dwelt alone where slanting moonbeams fall,
To watch the far otl" stars suciH^ssive rise
And sluipe their aspects to some grand device.
She could not st their glances mystical,
Xor hear their voices, to each other, call.
The while! they talked of love and Paradis(J.
And she might spurn them there, if she but knew
That, through the long night, they had wooed the llowers
And weakly wept those pearly dro)»s of dew,
Or deigned to twiidcle for such eyes as ours.
Pride s[)urns tiin olHcious sym})athy of tears ;
And nerves her soul to heal or hide its scars.
-c^-
II.
tA^|-AlTD might be won by him whose fearless brow
^x-^ Was firmly set in conscious self-respect,
Who.se noble soul stood, like his form, erect ;
The rays of genius flashing all aglow,
Like the sheet light'ning round a vessels prow
That only glows in its sublime effect —
The scintillati'uis of his intellect
Which could not all conceal themselves below.
Would he succeed, then, ere his suit is won,
He needs must wait in seeming self-repose, —
Still against hope must steadily hope on ;
Till, fVom the thorns, he plucks the full-blown roso
That sj)reads for liim its petals in full bloom, —
For him doth live to breathe its sweet perfume.
TABOR MHLOniKS.
ON A TAINTING OF TIIK MADONNA.
.cjTr N wliat pure models of iuotlietic mould
w VVero thoso diviucr lint'S of Ixiuiity found?
Who trod, for tlicso, nirtli's widost circles I'ouiid
When ('yntliiji's cur, in list'ning silmice, rolled,
())' \vh(!U tlio morning ti[)i)ed the hills with gold?
From oc(!}tn's caves, for prcicious pearls renowned.
Those ideals leai)ed ; or from tlie de))ths j)rofound,
Oi- from the stars within the sai)))hire's scroll.
Who, who hath found them, merged them into one,
And robbed this universe of ull its grace '?
Who hath preserved, from })eril and from storm,
The meek Madonna in this human face?
It seems, of this gross earth, no mortal part ;
'Tis nature's spirit i)hotograplied in art.
II.
'^tvpEILED like the grape by its ow!i leafage fan-,
m-/ Jji-ight as the diamond daughter of the coal,
Her soullit eyes, in li(|uid i-adiancc, roll
'Neath cloudlike masses of her dusky hair.
'Tis tlie Madonna, rapt in worship there ;
Her heavenward brow of peace, divinely full,
Asseits itself the temi)le of her soul.
]]ut hush, those lips seem breathing words of [)rayer ;
Say, whence those rose-tints in her white cheek's wreath 1
The hues of Eden linger in their light.
Who wreathed that smile about those ])early teeth,
That sheds its radiance on my ravished sight \
So saintly pure, so worthy of our love.
Is she more beautiful in heaven above \
TABOTi MELODIES.
\•^
THERE'S TU)OAr ON TOP.
Tf^T 1? tlir(iui;li tlie li.i^liL, glances on lliu golihjn st.iir
^v^ T'ward wliicli jn-oiul goiiiiis, from a lovvor round,
Looks uj) and claims tlio infinite beyond.
On top tlioi'ci's room, if tliou liast wini^ to spare
And ncrvo to gras[) tiie sunlit visicjns tliero.
Tiiere all is li.L^'it, e'en to tlio utmost l>ound
And to tlio l»osom of the vast profound ;
[f only tliou canst hi'oatlie its crystal air.
Room thoie, to soar to distance infinite! —
Not for the vaunting wing, or foot of pride :
These cannot sc il(! alone tiie di/zy liciglit,
Or sha[)e thiiir courses for its circles wide ;
I>ut he wlio stoops to enter wisdom's gatc^,
x\nd humbly owns that only (Jod is great.
I^JSTASy.
jl^JrER radiant brow, I see, pure as the snow,
'^■^^ liike the Madonna at the vesper hour.
Had slie possessed the heavens for her doucr,
Her upturned eye, in its angelic glow,
Could not have kindled as it kindles now —
Glancin<; like sunset on the distant tower,
Then on the dark clouds wlu-re the temi)ests lower,
Piercing the rift, how far I may not know.
Through the starred sapphires on some hidden shi-ine
Within the eternal temple dimly aisled,
Like him of ohl, so much, her brow doth shine.
There, face to ff^ce, she sees the IJnde tiled.
Not from the clei.u or parted by a veil,
But jn his throne wreathed in the rainbow pale.
14
TABOR MELODIES.
'i)(i
ill!
THR SMITTEN STANDARD-BEARER.
.UO^ E bore his stjindard nobly to the mote,
" "^ In dangers una])palh3d, wliere'er he rode
Through the thick smoke of battle and of blood.
As 'neath its shade, unfiincliingly, he fought,
Its crimson folds encircled all his thought.
An iron pillar in his might, he stood
Above the wrecks of battle round him strowed.
There, through his heart, did speed the fatal shot ;
But, in death's grasj), he held the standard still.
What dare we, 'neath that eye's uiiilinching ray
Fixed as the purpose of his steadfast will,
But wrap his red ilag round him where he lay —
A gleam of glory o'er a hero's rest.
With its loved folds close cleavinuc to his breast.
i
• 1
TEMPERATE IN ALL THINGS.
spijr AIL, beauteous spirit, of the golden mean !
"^ As constellations, that in heaven's ex])ause.
Soft meet the twilight hour, thou <lost advance ;
Thy step so meek, beneath a brow serene.
That we must search for thee ere thou art seen.
Not as the meteor that the shades elance.
But like an evening star, sweet temperance.
In steady lustre only, dust thou reign.
Like the first snow-wreath on the Alps all pure.
Thou lovest the summit of the mountain height
Twixt earth and heaven to rest, sublime, secure,
Lifting the finite to the infinite.
Oh might ] now, from baser passions free.
Ascend at once to dwell and reign with thee !
TABOB MELODIES. 15
THE WINE CUP.
^(p OOK not upon the w ine wlien it is red
"'^^ ' And gives its color 'mid tlie festive grouj) ;
A serpent, from its dregs, is looking \\\) ;
With fatal aim, he moves liis venomed licad,
Beneath thy lip, his poisonous fangs, to sj)read.
(), dash it down ! no more its willing dnpe,
l:>end o'er the crystal stream and fill thy cai}) ;
The light of heaven, upon thy brow, 'twiJl shed,
K ejected from its waters calm and pure.
So youth's enchanting hours shall come with joy
To fan thy tem])los with their brtlmy air,
Itohed in that innocence thou wouldst destroy.
Dash down the cup of tremhling from thy li[)S ;
And fly the deep'ning shades of death's ecli])se !
—c'-P^c—
'%
A PLEA FOR THE DPUNKARD.
,#=i^>
^TTHIS rock-iihbed earth doth hide within its breast,
"cJ In quartz or nuggets pure, more solid gold
Than the closed coffers of the world could hold.
Pise, brothers, rise, 'tis the divine behest ;
Go, lift it up and bring it to the test.
It gilds tiie sand and veins the barren wold,
Pressed bv the foot of ijain as common mould.
Go search the field, the drifting sand arrest,
And bring the treasure up into tlie light.
There is a furnace that can purge its dross ;
The beaten gold shall glitter in your sight ;
For such a gain, who would not suffer loss '?
Rise, brotheis, rise, this glorious toil divide.
Must the poor drunkard perish at your side 'I,
£
Hi
16
TABOE MELODIKS.
TO EVA.
Ill
I'll
me.
:& EAD softly, Kvii,, Mildred's tliiinks tlii-ougli
^ *" Sucli kindly acts as thine, the truest h)ve
Exacts from willing hands and liearts above.
Love hath a touch of })ure divinity
The vulgar never felt and cannot see ;
And thine for her, my grateful mind, doth move
To imitate the actions I approve,
And dip my aged pen paternally
In Nature's fount to copy thus her child.
With me love's lightest act weighs more than gold ;
Gold liath its dross, but love is undefiled.
And shows the impress of its heavenly mould ;
It comes from thence just like the fruitful rain,
And, on this earth, its precious fruits we gain.
rO A FRIEND, WITH A ROSE, ON CHRISTMAS
MORNING.
JjC:d.
if W
/n^ O, as love's offermg, fair, soft-tinted flower,
^~^ With cpiiveriug sheen, fresli from this heaven of blue,
S[)rent o'er with thought that sparkles like the dew ;
As on this Christmas morn, Christ's natal hour.
In Sliaron's Rose, love sent its richest dower.
Tell sweetly tluis ; tell, for thy lips are true.
Love's gentle message in each tender hue.
Tell her, love's bloom dreads not the winter's power.
But bears its beauty Ijravely on the stem ;
E'en when the tem})est gathers round its form.
Tell her it covets, from love's diadem,
To shed its fragrance out upon the storm ;
And through the darkness, would the night beguile
Like some sweet star that evermore doth smile.
i
TABOB MELODIES.
17
HER LIPS DO SPEAK.
^OAR thou, my muse, on radiant wing elate,
^ Through all heaven's heiglit of blue with lark-like
trill !
An angel o'er thy soaring watches still.
Starlike, though hidden as when stars are set,
A veiled angel there in heaven doth wait ;
And peers and lists adown the holy hill
To catch those earthly strains which rise and thrill
The golden harps just past the crystal gate,
Through some clear vista of the amethyst :
And as they swell that angel ear doth bend
To hear heaven's echoes through the golden mist.
Hail ! shall I thither come, when I ascend i
Her lips do speak, but matter is too dense
To give their sweetness to the ear of sense.
KEIJNTON.
^ES, over there, out on those boundless fields
Whose Howeiy slopes, like Pharphar's banks, unite
To kiss life's crystal river in the light ;
Where the fair tree of life its fruitage yields ;
Where every brow the living amaranth shields ;
Where all heaven's conquering hosts enrobed in light,
Recount their conquests through Jehovah's might ;
And his right hand alone the sceptre wields —
There, in the golden city of oui- God,
Within his palaces, beside his throne ;
Where only pure and tearless ones have trod,
And the dark shades of change are never known —
There, in reunion sweet, like David, we
Our lost beloved Jonathan shall see.
u
\] r^
li '
18
TABOB MELODIES.
4
i>l:
i !
I..|l|
REST.
'HOSE placid waters feel the hush of noon ;
The vurifxl in;i^»les o'er them softly ^low ;
How calm their shortened shadows look below I
This airv thistle down above the lawn,
All gently floating, glistens in the sun ;
And the soft air, refreshing in its How,
Just lightly moves the aspen to and fro.
The feathered songsters, to their groves, have tiowu ;
A witching starlike stillness holds the scene.
The whetted scythe is laid upon the sheaf ;
The shepherd's flocks rest on the upland green ;
And, through the branches, drops a single leaf :
It rustles in mine ear its soft release ;
And the calm heavens, inviting, whisper pence.
THE THOUSAND ISLANDS.
■tWS it the inspiration of a dream '\
^ The presence felt of some enchanted scene ?
Those foliaged isles, across the sunset sheen,
Like stately swans, are sailing up the Stream,
Robed in the brightness of the morn's first beam :
While the St. Lawrence, with a (pieenly mien,
In silken silence, softly glides between.
As if of Hiddekel those isles might seem,
In their primeval beauty of repose ;
Worthy of Eve what time, at night's still noon,
The angel's rustling wings were wont to close \
And visions blest, to be dissolved too soon,
Crowned the still hours of Eden's fair retreat —
In every type of loveliness complete.
}
TABOR MELODIES.
19
ELECTRIOITY.
^jTfT AHTH'8 silent forces are siihlime in niislit
"^^^ This mute elastic fluid veiled in aii- ;
Tliis pulse of s[)ace, tliis soul of every sphere.
That in its subtler essence mocks our sitfht,
Yet fills the circle of the intinite ;
A presence felt and mo^•ing everywhei'c •
A viewless universe of hidden Hre,
That oceans cannot (juench nor darkness smite —
This, with the swiftness of unfettered thought,
Darts through the earth and touches every zone ;
As if the universal ear it caueht,
And every atom were a telephone
To echo singly over land and sea
One consentaneous ceaseless symphony.
<m^-
FEAR.
^'HKRK was the shock of earthquakes 'neatli her feet;
^p-' And the rent plain with intermitted throes
Asunder torn, as suddenly would close
Her pulse to the loud thunder seemed to beat,
Then almost stop, as with the dull retreat
Came a portentous stillness filled with foes—
So full of terror that the worst of woes
Seemed liglitei- than the fear of coming fate.
Her lynx-like eyes took in the blackest night,
And grasped a boundless vision in its sphere ;
Her guilty spirit shunned the faintest light,
And shrank from sounds but rustling in her ear
As from the voice of storm-fiends in their ire,
Or tyrannous demons breathing penal fire.
-ff^
MmmWi
20
TABOB MELODIES.
TWILUiHT.
'HERE camo with silent foottVill of tlie dew,
A .s})ii'it at the ev(miiig's stillest hour ;
With angel hand, she closed the i)etaled flower,
That the meek stars, pleased with its milder hue,
Might their sweet influence shed from out the blue,
And whis])er to the clouds from some high towei-
Which way to sha])e theii- course with gentle shower
The soft green phmts their foliage closer drew,
And listened for her footsteps i)assing by.
Sweet twilight grey, that, like the ocean's sheen
What time the moon's white gleam doth softly lie
Upon its glassy stillness all serene,
Dost ever wrap thyself in silvery gear,
Trailing eve's shadows round this circling sphere.
Ml!
EVENING TIME.
^^■^ASTE, haste thee home, it is the evening time,
The sunset deepens in life's lowly vale.
In silence hung, the yellow leaflet i)ale,
Poised for its fall, doth hear the curfew's chime ;
The busy wild bee sees the shadows climb,
And hears the soft notes of the nightingale
Rise from its shadowed rest in their sweet scale,
Then quits her humming round the fragrant thyme
And soars away. Haste, haste thee now, my soul,
And lo, at evening time it shall be light !
Why shoidd'st thou stay till darkness wraps the whole ?
Why should'st thou tarry for the cheerless night ?
Haste, haste thee home in life's soft twilight dressed ;
At eve 'tis nature's privilege to rest.
TABOR MELODIES.
21
IN MEMORIAM.
J"^ LITTLE tleecy cloud that near doth stray,
^ And tint its tifsues in the rising sun,
All in the niorn-lit air its race to run ;
It only came to blush and pass away.
Death's envious shadows stole it from the day :
As if when heaven its faiier hues had won,
Its I'ace were ended, and its work were done.
Its grosser ])art doth mingle with the clay ;
But that which was its glorv in tlie li'o-ht.
Shines like a sei-aph, and shall never fade.
Ah ! when my littl<f day shall close in night
Then might I be by angel i .mds conveyed
To see how glorious, clad in robes divine,
My little Mina looks, for ever mine.
II.
,|W^ HE RE'S not a shade upon her angel face ;
^ Through all the foldings of her robes of white
There's not a stain, to mar them in the li<iht ;
Her little foot hath touched, but hath no trace
Of death's dark vale within that holy j)lace.
If these weak eyes could bear the glorious sight,
Ah ! I should know her 'mid the angels briffht.
The little stranger, in their ])lest embrace.
Calls out my name — is looking round for me ;
Yet there's no lieai'tache, not a single tear.
But one sweet longing at my side to l)e
As she was wont when in this vacant chair.
Wait, for we hasten through lif«^'s long drawn aisle :
Play with the angels yet a little while.
22
TABOR MELODIES.
1 , 'I
THE VESPER HOUR.
'Rx\ NSCENDENT glory of this vesper hour,
Whose light is golden as a jasj)er sea,
Heaven lends thee all its sweet tranquillity, '
And, in its blushing clouds, doth thee embower.
The distant fields of space confess thy power.
Thou walk'st in mystic brightness through the sky
Like the pale Magdalen with dewy eye ;
Thy balmy breatli outbreathes the spikenard's dower ;
Tliose shadows gath<^r round thee like her fears —
Her (quickened sense had glimpses else unseen
Of Christ her gi'acions Saviour through her tears.
What marvel if in moments so serene
Heaven's martyr host should kindle on my view
Ere yet the stars could glimmer through the blue I
II.
j(i; -I
okJ
PEHOLD I in \'ision blest with thoughts of peace,
The exultant angel host o'er Jacob soars,
Climbing the golden ladder to heaven's towers,
Or issuing thence ablaze with ecstacies.
While lingei' yet the sunset's golden rays.
in such ai'ray f saw the heavenly Powers
With circling Hight approach this earth of ours.
And fold their wings for evening's hymn of praise.
And 1 was conscious that the wsper air
Blushed into petaled forms, — a full-blown rose
When all its petals stand erect and clear ;
As did their band symmetrically close.
In radiant ranks, they wait, as thus they come
To guard Christ's little ones and bear them home.
TABOB MELODIES.
23
FAITH IS A BRAVE SWEET FLOWER.
AITH is a brave sweet flow'r that loves the light
And drinks it in with all its golden rays,
In bud or bloom, in bright or cloudy days ;
And 'neath the stars it drinks the dews of night,
Or if the dewy stars be out of sight,
It meets the tempest-cloud with fearless gaze,
And drinks the rain ; and in the storm it lies
Unscathed and calm while the red light'nings smite.
And the hoarse thunder shakes the solid earth.
E'en as the shadow on the dial moves,
It still doth grow, maturing from its birth
Until each tint its full perfection proves ;
When, as from Pisgah, it doth heaven behold,
But rests this side the stream like him of old.
PEACE.
^WEET peace, thine image is this silvery hike
Whose waveless stillness, breath lesslv serene,
Seems as if angels hovered o'er the scene.
Here the pale moonbeams treml)le as they take
The softly slumb'ring dewdrops down the brake :
They seek the primrose on the level green,
And touch its fragrant lips unheard, unseen.
As though they kissed it for its own sweet sake.
Cahn thou dost walk between the pastured flocks,
The lily of the valley to salute.
To find thy shelter 'neath the moss-grown rocks,
And spread thy downy pillow at their foot.
There may'st thou rest, lulled by the rippling streams,
To wait the comino- of t'
golden dreams.
i: 1 ;i! fptfr
24
TABOR MELODIES.
|l ' Ml
I I
'11
BYRON.
E)KOUD genius of the storm, from Jura's crest
^'^ Tliy thouo(lits, like light'iiiiig, smite the darkness
through
Only to show how deep its blackest hue !
Thou hast no living light within thy breast,
No home thoughts in those solitudes unblest ;
Why strike with fiery wing our heaven of blue
When only storm and darkness can ensue 1
Lone friendless one, hast thou no ])lace of rest ?
Better, with lowly Philomel at eve,
To trill the deep'ning shadows into song
Than lifi through echoes that the hills might weave
An eagle's note the list'ning stars among.
Rage seized thy passions in their dewy morn.
And seared them all to liatred or to scorn.
WE HOLD THE FLOWER.
tH ! why so few with minds of kindred mould.
In whose dee]) tenderness we have a share ]
Only a few unchanging loved ones here ;
The dimning cloud of doubt all damp and cold
Rests on the flock though the gathered for the fold :
And, mingling with the true and strong and fair,
The false and feeble meet us everywhere.
Love's tranquil waters, that so purely rolled,
Are turbid oft and troubled in their flow ;
And the soft language of the speaking eye
Lacks the sweet confldence of long ago.
We blame ourselves, and yet we know not why ;
We hold the flower, but ah ! its bloom is gone.
And then we weep, and wee]nng thus, pass on.
TABOB MELODIES.
2f>
THE FLOW OF TIME.
J ME, like the Indus, Hiuks in its own Hand,
^ And, like that ancient stream, with mighty sweep,
IJears all its own memorials to the deep.
Where is the hallosv(Hl home of youth utistained,
With prattling lips so ])owert'ul to command .'
Doth lone, sad Rachel, there her vigils keep,
Still bending o'er the waters but to weep (
Our childhood s hopes 1 like hers, they seemed to stand,
But now they all are scattered far annind
And rioat likf freighted sighs upon the flooil.
Shiking through eddies to tin* depths profound —
No trace is left to show us where they stood.
Swift stream, gleam white beneath the twilight stars,
Blanched, like the cheek of age, with tlowins: tears.
-'T.r-
THE SEAR LEAF.
^AY, blushing maple, mirrored in this stream
^ On which the withered waifs of autumn lie.
Whence have those leaves of thine their scarlet dye t
What gives yon upland scene its ruddy gleam I
And skirts the foi-est as with tongues of tiame 1
Ah ! it would seem like Nature's prophecy
That e'en the beautiful on earth must die, —
Die when their glowing tints the brightest seem ;
Die like the meteor flashing on the night.
Its splendors darkened to be seen no more.
Rustle and gleam, frail leaf; tlius brief and bright
The tints of loveliness on every shore ;
Thou think'st not where to hide they fragile form.
Though darkened as with shadows of the storm.
i
96
TABOH MELODIES.
• I
11 i
THE NIGHT COMKTH.
— \
jj^^ hlTTLK wliilo wo weuir our Him-stainud vo«t,
•^hc Fhislied with tlie labor both of morn and ovt;.
The furrowed ticdd on enrth, we may not leave
Till the dark shadows lengthen toward the east,
Aufl in the twilight touch the mouutain's cre.st.
Tlirough storm and calm, our ])atient way we cleave ;
Nor cease to labor till we cease to live —
We shall have all eternity to rest.
Oh let us work while it is called to-day :
The nii^ht is cominu' when no man can work, —
Heaven's gold(Mi chime rings iu the shadows gray
And in a little while it will be dark.
There's no device within the deep, (hirk grave, —
All, all is silent where the willows wave.
MEDITATION.
^tWLLUSIVE silence, parent of repose,
^ In thee all Nature's hushed into a view ;
Our dreaming senses only catch the hue,
Or transient outline, that some object throws,
Touched by a sudden light ; and then they close
As if the soul had bid this earth adieu.
And all its scenes were darkened and withdrew.
As when the angel that o'er Patmos rose
8tood in the sun that he might catch its light ;
So the rap^ soul would lose its grosser sense
To hold diviner visions in their flight.
And kindle into rapture more intense,
Till this rude frame of nature doth dissolve
In the clear vision of the things above.
fcsti
TABOR MELODIES.
S7
PKAYKR.
Kl^^ broknii, lowly ci'y of cousciou.s uei^d
Touches the key of heaven's oonductiiii^ wire,
And upward dart its rays of living tire.
Whihs hoi^j's first prayer from doubt and anguish frt;ed,
The covenant angel bends his ear to read,
A band of Hera[)hs strike tludr gohUni lyre ;
Then from the court of heaven at once retire,
Swift outward striko th(nr gleaming wings, and speed
With blissful answers of successful prayer :
As when Elijah lingered on the mount ;
While from the sea the sprcuiding cloud drew near,
And every vale and every parched fount
That drinketh watei* of the rain of heaven
Steeped its glad lips in the full ajiswei' given.
^I-''-
Cf^/
S LE b:P.
Alii, balmy slee}) ! sweet solace of the slave,
*'-i^ Fn which he drops awhile his galling chain.
Crowned with the bliss of [)ast delights again-
Tliine is the peace and stillness of the grave,
E'en when the maddened tem))ests round thee rave ;
And when loud l^attle sliakes his horrid mane,
Thou art as calm and [)lacid as the slain.
Thou, only thou, canst make the coward biave
Or robe misfortune's pallor in a smile.
jjabor doth gref^t thee on elysian fields :
And e'en tired Nature doth herself l)eguile
To dream of heaven and of the rest it yields.
Soft, tearless sleep, thou dost life's sorrow chase
Or hush its sounds of tumult into peace.
25
TABOR MELODIES.
,J, '\
> I
■ r
"i ,i
GRIEF.
!^'EEP in the shadow of a watery cove,
^-^ Far u]) the half-tide rock that seems her throne,
I see mute sorrow sitting pale and lone.
Hei- downcast eves are tixed in tenderest love
On one sweet face, ri^Hected from above,
Rocked on the smooth wave to the monotone
Of sounding surf and the bleak wind's low moan.
The twilight sad dotli chill the neighboring grove.
And all things fade as the tall shadows climb
Among the stars ; while Hesper only peers,
As w^ith an angel's glance from heaven's fair clinie
Whe>*e grief is not, and there are no more tears.
Shine on, sweet star of hope, through the long night
Of Nature's sorrow, till the morning light.
THE OLD MELODIES.
'HE simple melody is over new
On the bright hearthstone, or where'er we roam,
Like grand "Old Hundred," or like " Home, Sweet
Home."
Its every strain, to nature's instinct true,
Gives with an angel's touch its golden clue ;
And our fond memories thronging round us come
The home-roof's shade at mellow evening's gloam,
The broken circle, and the last adieu :
Till tlie rapt spirit revels in each tone.
And every close seems sweeter than the last.
The old songs claim such treasures as their own,
And breathe their influence o'er the buried past ;
Till the lost years seemed shrined in melody —
A sunset sleeping on a far-off sea.
M :i
I:
^ffm
TABOR MELODIES.
29
THOUGHTS THAT ARE NOT.
LONG for what 1 would, but cannot see —
This soul-light brightens as my days decline,
But ah ! its tender dawn no more doth shine ;
And the far hills seem purple o'er the sea.
Hid in the twilight of life's dawn from me,
I sow and reap, I plant and pluck the vine,
And ere I })ress I see the flowing wine,
All blushing for itself unconsciously ;
But there are shadows on the evening's sheen :
For scores of years, life's blosnoms shed their leaves,
Like autumn leaves thit perish all unseen,
Lost like the vanished tints that autumn weaves.
Time hath no record of their perished bloom,
Nor recks it when they shed their lost perfume.
II
11.
SEEM like Rachel weeping for the dead.
Their dimpled cheeks, their curls of golden hair,
E'en though they are not, seem as if they were.
Though they were such as angel thoughts might wed,
Translation's heirs, whose soft wliite foot might tread
Within the veil, they were so pure and fair.
Their shadowed path was clouded oft with care :
And night crept in, and stole them as they strayed ;
Ere they had thought how lu'ief their stay might be,
My tirst-born thoughts are dead, their dreamless sleep
Wakes not an echo of the past for me.
Ah, think not strangely that I sit and weep !
They found no shelter on the wayside born.
And they have perished like the dews of morn.
SI
f ;
4;
'
<l
II
h'
' i
' lii
1|i
30
TABOB MELODIES.
MUSIC.
^U)W lightly here, this tremulous musio llows
From soft'ning distance through the ether pure !
Its witching sounds pass through the silvery air.
Softly as moonbeams searching for the rose,
When in its fragrance sweet it doth repose ;
Softly as leaflets of the aspen stir,
'Mid orient sj)leudoi's in the land of Shur,
While hovering angels there their wings disclose.
Mothinks the spirit of the listening fiowers
Through all their foldings her glad ear doth bend,
And Time himself, soothed by its gentler powers,
Retards the winged moments to attend.
I too would list to its delicious notes,
As from those heights their mellow music Hoats.
-^^-
THE FOAM WHEATH'S BUBBLES.
j.)Sk^y^HY do the swift- winged breezes of the south
'^ Snatch from the cascade bright its falling s]>ray,
'To build a crystal foam- wreath in their play \
Seest thou the bubblers dancing round iibout >.
As if the nymphs had kicked them in their route,
And sent them gleaming from the mimic fray,
Tempting the tiretlies Haunting o'er the lea
To spread their wings before the stars are out.
There may'st thou see the waters as they Hojy^,
liaugh in their sparkling jets at every leap,
(latching their echoes wand'ring to and fio
Where tlui light shadows o'er the meadows ci'ee]> :
The while sweet Hermes folds his weary wings
To breathe all night unutterable things.
TABOR MELODIES.
31
■\\
THE METEOR.
I'
EEN on the amethyst of night, it threw,
In pencilled line, its vivid arch of light ;
It was so brief, but ah, it was so bright,
It feared no shadows darting through the blue.
() were my path so pure, its ray as true I
A wreath of glory in its onward flight,
A radiant meteor on the world's dark night,
A Shadrach flashing out, then hid from view.
I would not tarry till the clouds should weave
Their dimning curtains o'er the glorious scene ;
I would in one grand act life's aim achieve,
And leave its record on the hearts of men ;
h]'eii though I knew when its quick gleam were gone
That high in heaven the stars would still shine on.
I !
THE MOON.
*ELL me, thou silent-footed fairy (|ueen,
^^ That, with soft flowing robes of silvery light,
Walk'st througli the starlit palace of the night,
Like Jeptha's virgin on the hillto{)S seen ;
Why art thou wand'ring heaven and earth between ?
Art thou some Peri that to worlds more bright
Dost ever hold thine unavailing flight I
And yet thy full-orbed countenance, serene,
Ts bright with hope ; as if at heaven's gate
Thine hand were lifted to throw back the bolt.
'I\)o pure for earth, wliy dost thou longer wait ?
Why creeps tiiis shadow like some secret fault
All o'er thy brightness, boding sadly still ?
As if thou couldst not scale that holy hill.
1
3S
TABOR MELODIES.
hi,' fi
1 1 (
r-^Tr
HOPE.
^HEN the tierce tempest treads the yielding main,
^'^ And its long line of coast looks ghastly pale,
As the white breakers glisten in the gale ;
Hope's gallant ship pays out her clanking chain,
And then conies to, all qniv'ring 'neath the strain
As the sheet anchor holds : if this should fail,
What were her ribs of oak ? her helm i her sail I
Her active crew, her captain brave, were vain ;
Naught can avail her but her anchorage.
On this hangs all, in this her only trust.
The storm, remorseless in its furious rage.
Rolls up its billows on a rock-bound coast ;
Thus, while the waves of vengeance round us roll,
Hope holds in peace the dauntless, trusting soul.
I m
! ill
III!
111!
II
THE FLOATING BUBBLE.
^»^EE, on the brook, the bubble's floating wreath,
As forth it floats so lightly and so fair.
A thousand rays glance through its crystal sphere
A myriad rainbows revel round its sheath,
As if a living spirit dwelt beneath
And shot her magic glances here and there —
Like Cupid's arrows tinting all the air —
o catch the vows that sighing zephyrs breathe.
Whence those reflections kindling in each hue I
Found ye those ruddy gleams on sunset skies i
Those purple rays, on mountains 'mid the blue 1
And this pale yellow tint, where autumn lies ?
Or from its harvest of the golden grain,
Just when the dawn stood smiling o'er the plain ?
TABOIl MELODIES.
33
THE SONG OF THE BEE.
^N russet brown I seek the flowery dells,
To work and sing all tlirongh the sunuuer's day ;
I meet with many loit'rers on the way,
While I am thinking of the heather l)ells
Or peering down into their luscious cells.
I see the silly butterflies at play.
As if disporting with each sunny ray ;
But ah, I wonder where the trilier dwells
When chilling snows o'erspread the flowery mead,
And the dark tein})est lifts his dreadful wing !
Then, I shall sing without the winter's aid ;
And, in my hive, await the flowers of spring.
Unthought of evil, in their pathway, lies ;
I cannot linger with the butterflies.
^«),
""-■c^"
THE SONG OF THE BUTTERFLY.
..M SOAR in light what time the golden morn
^'' Pours through his gates his undiminished flood ;
The stars retire, as if in worship bowed,
NiHit's pendent dews are quiv'ring on the thorn ;
The flutt'ring larks spring upward from the corji ;
My wings are tinged as is yon April cloud.
Where the pale iris flnds hei-self a sliroud —
As thoudi her hues must fade when I am born.
Lo I I will sii) the honey from all flowers.
And sweej) with giac(>ful wing o'er many a vale.
T only live to think of summer hours
Thus through life's fragrant avenues to sail
With dappled wing, and o'er the lilies bend
To taste their sweets, nor ask what is the end.
1
ii:|.
34
TABOB MELODIES.
•\ V
< ' V
TIME AND THE HOUR-GLASS.
S the turned glass pours out its grains of sand,
The moments glide. Oh me, they cannot stay.
How ceaslessly they flow and pass away !
I know they're numbered by divine command.
But silence holds them in her slack'ning hand,
And the round sum is less'ning night and day ;
How much is left, she doth not, may not say ;
And in suspense I tread this border land.
Oh, what is time, and what eternity,
But life's whole birthright parted by death's stream 1
To ])e on earth is evermore to be ;
Death seems the waking from this mortal dream.
1 know not when shall come, how soon, how late.
The sleep that wakens to that changeless state.
I
T (JOVET MORE.
,JJTj%'OV'8T thou the painter's work ? the poet's dream 1
"^^^^ The sketch immortal ? the undying song ?
Those types of thought that find an angel's tongue,
That l)lend the starlight with tlie morning's gleam ;
Where genius dwells, enshrined in her own flame.
In art's divinest form, forever young :
Secure of this, to be forever sung,
ijike Dante's muse, monopolizing fame.
J covet more than beauty's outward form ;
I would behold its substance in the soul —
God's image speaking, not the marble dumb,
Its Eden splendors, glowing from the whole.
Be this my work, to make the diamond shine.
And wrap the human soul in robes divine.
TABOR MELODIES.
35
DESIRE TO DEPART.
JjS^^HEN the vapt spirit like an eagle towers,
'-'^ She strikes the mountain-shadows from her wings
As through the liglit her upward pinion springs ;
The boundless vision, all her being, stirs
As the wide seas contract their minished shores,
Sinking afar with all created things.
Her magic harp, she strikes, of thousand strings.
And soars, exulting in her wondrous powers.
Ascending swiftly through her faith in God ;
As Enoch soared, when beckoned to a throne —
fiis shining ])ath with glitt'ring star dust strowed
As heaven's unutterable glory shone.
Thus would I ipiit the gloom of Nature's night,
Earth's desert wastes, to iind the realms of night.
-<^-
BETTER TO DEPART.
^A^EK the valley by the world unseen,
Past where the smitten waters stood apart,
With glory glancing from the clouds athwart
My chariot way, I stand with brow serene
To drop my mantle heaven and earth between,
Hushing the raptui-es of this i)eating heart
Till the winged coursers through the zenith start.
And heaven's full glory bursts upon the scene.
Thus like Elijah blessetl, or saintly Paul,
'T'is better to de})art and be witli (Jhiist.
It iiuitters not sliould we like Abel fall,
Heaven oped its portals to a martyr tirst.
'Twere better pierced Jiis pierced hand to greet,
And, falling prostrate, me^ekly clasp his feet.
36
TABOR MELODIES.
SONG OF THE OCEAN.
"n^/
Vlxrc EAVEN'8 sapphire li<j^lits my couch and earth upbears
'^^ ]\ly Hilvered hoary locks on every shore,
Her river's ringlets mingle with my own,
And every nymph that sings and seaward peers
Doth trim her lamp to aid the twinkling stars,
And draw night's ciicling veil more closely down ;
While Cynthea smiles, and dreams of me alone,
Till in the east the purple dawn appears.
Then I awake and tramp along the shoi-c,
And shake the soli<l iDonntains to their base,
Or in mid l)ound J hush the thunder's roar
And catch the lightnings in their hi iing-i)lace.
Lifting ni}' blue waves to the rising sun
That he may drink as he his race doth run.
mI
-ivO-
II.
tjlvTf ^^^ i^ ^^^^ answering spirit of the storm ;
'•'^^^ I toss the foaming waves from crest to crest,
I hush the storm-tiends of the clam'rous west.
And in the furrows lay them (pielled and dumb,
Whate'er their outcry, and howe'er they swarm ;
And lo I they all seem slee))ing and at rest.
When 1 lift up my voice above the waste
The mighty tremble on the edge of doom ;
Then doth the tempest, on his mission bent.
Send out his courier on the light'ning's wing.
To vent his wrath upon a continent.
And through its gorgets viinnt himself a king.
There let him howl adown the lagged locks,
Where Jura frowns, or old 01ym|)ia mocks.
TABOR MELODIES.
37
ENOlKJn, MY HEART.
I
I
r<>.'
NOUGH, my licnrt, tliis universe is tliiiie,
Tlie finer senses' and tlie passions' food,
Free as God's love its [)recious gifts are strowed.
It groups them foi' thee like tlie grape-hunt,' vine
Bright as eartli's fountains when the sun doth shine ;
And just as welcome on life's weary road,
For thee unsought its seasons are renewed ;
For thee the planets touch each circling sign,
And shed for tliee theii* influence day and night,
Its crickets chirp for thee when thou would'st rest,
The wild l>ii-ds sing for tiiee with op'ning light.
And at its close earth folds thee to her breast.
To ope for thee her grass green turf \inshorn.
At the first dawn of heaven's eternal morn.
:S
BE STILL.
EST, troubled soul, be still and only wait ;
Why would'st thou wrestle with a raging sea, I
Thou can'st not smooth a ri[)j)le on its way.
Can'st thou contend with tempests dark as fate,
Or chain the ocean's billows at their height 'i
Thou hast no might, let this be all thy plea.
Then meekly wait and humbly bend the knee.
He only can contiol who did create.
Be still, and thou shalt know that He is God,
His eye intent beholds the sparrow fall.
Heaven's star-eyed vault shall tremble at His nod,
And thou shalt hear thy name when He doth call,
And smile at storms ; be still, and sweetly rest
Thy feverish spirit pillowed on His breast.
38
TABOh MK LOUIES.
i,''
THK f»AS1' KTERNTTY.
.t^NV18i[iLK. (head epochs of the pust,
^-^ Th(; Tnlinite alone your heii>lits ean scale.
Peichanco a time mav come when the dark veil.
Which hides the treasures that ye have amassed,
Will he, through grace, less darkly overcast.
Some blest reflections of their image [»ale
The ravished senses of the son) may hail ;
And, with profoundest awe, those |tleasure,s taste
That fill the bosom of eternity.
I daj'e not say that we such grace might ask :
Or, that our spiiits in such light could see ;
Or, that this finite mind coidd face the task :
But, would (rod rend its veil and shew His face,
This is His temple and His holy Place.
-<^—
GOD CREATED THE HEAVENS.
TyTN BOUND KjD power can instantly create,
"''"'"" In Nature's [»erfect form, all tilings below,
Without the ))rocesses by which they grow.
The withered arm, that Uhrist did once dilate,
Its numbered j)arts, in substance, size, and weight,
As true to Nature's use as to its glow,
Through every vessel felt life's vital flow —
In all its parts 'twas perfect and complete.
If Christ, to vindicate His matchless might,
Restored that arm, though withered by the curse ;
Oh, did not He who said " Let there be light,"
Create at once this wondrous universe ?
In its perfection veiled, e'en from its prime,
'Twaa the first fact ; yet seems the growth of time.
TABOH MELODIES.
39
THE HEAVENS.
, rf^OD'S voice is licaid tlirouj^li all tlio i-ealms of space
^%J
The dej)tlis enroll the records of His iiuine ;
The countless host of stai's, with pen oi' Hame,
In light its simple charactfrs doth trace ;
And, from the tiiniament in every placpi.
They image forth the fntinite I AM :
For God is light, and from His hand they ("iiuc
To beam on us the brightness oi' His face.
Arctnriis and the sister pleiades,
The myriad systems, burning as tliey sing.
Show us His glory in their mingled ravs :
Exultant matter as on angel wing
Forever more rejoices thus to shine,
And meekly minister in things divine.
TIME. '/
^HAKP on the silence of eternity.
A myriad mingling sounds symphonious ring ;
The stars to their sidereal orbits spring ;
And heaven's vast host, new l)orn, exult to try
Creation's matin song of ecstasy :
While through the depths, these words their echoes tling
" Let there be light," light did their voice out wing ;
And in that instant time began to be.
Thy works, O God, are perfect ; Thou did'st tind,
Ere from the darkness Thou did'st call the light,
Their perfect image in Thy perfect mind ;
And, in the instant of creative might,
In outline vast, wrapt in their swaddling shroud,
Thy works, in their completeness, finished stood.
40
TABOR MKLODTES.
TFMK.
1; I
fi If
«!l^
^^«,^ IMK, oiitwiird tliiowu with tiic tirst solar heam,
Did, like tliat l)cam, (lescend by it^own force,
From (lay «'t(M-nal, as its ])rinial source.
Forth, from bt'iicntli Jehovah's throiu!, it came —
A Htre-im aslant fiom the etf^-iial stieain,
With stars, like pehides, rollii)<j( in its course —
Still singing as they i-oil in sweet discourse.
IjO, when the light'nings ciill them by their name,
Tru(^ to I heir })lac(!, their pr(is(!nce answers here ;
Not one is wanting in theii* whole arrav.
In circles lield, or in eccentric sphere.
The j)endulum of time, no time can stay — /s^^v- *- ^
But that bright angel, who shall tread the earth,
As once lie trod when angels sang its birth.
^->-
THK FIRST SABBATH.
<2:r
JiTj^O, what a scene salutes the morning's ray !
^ A thousand sonjjfsters, with their thrilling lavs,
Awake in Paradise their notes of }>r{iise.
The' bling strains poured from each bending spray
' (, the dawn of the tirst Sabbath-da v.
.ne golden light, with tender new-born rays,
Floods with its splendor all the eye surveys.
The fruit trees bloom ; the dew-sprent flowers are gay.
And fill with fragrance all the balmy air ;
The leopard ])astures with the soft-fleeced sheep ;
The eagle lights beside the timid hare :
All, all is peace on earth and in the deep ;
While Adam, walking 'mid the cherubim,
Uplifts to God his peaceful Sabbath hymn.
■«■
TABOR MELODIES.
41
IM
*- X
SPIRIT OP TEACE.
S|fiAIL, peace ! sweet Spiiit of this Sabbath rest,
^"^ The light of heaven seems shining on thy face ;
The iinvoiled glory of the Holy Place
Sits on tliy brow and cannot bo displaced.
Yet, ah ! with us thou art a transient guest
Of silence sweet. Art thou the shepherdess
Of some fair region of unruffled space,
Where heaven's i)ure thoughts lie lamblike in thy breast.
And care and discord never yet were seen 1
Shed forth such influence, calm, as when the dawn
Lifts up, on purple wing, its glorious shocm ;
And night's dark vapors, all, are upward drawn.
Bring forth thy treasures now to mortfd view,
As morning makes its diamonds of the dew.
L'.y
HOPvEB.
: H ! that there were, within the hush of thou^^ht.
Some Horeb near, some sanctuary found,
Some shadowy circuit wide of holy ground
Where God alone is seen; some sacred spot
Where I might enter with unsandalled foot,
And, in the stillness of the glory round,
Might there attend the voice of God — the sound
Breathed from the burning bush, all else shut out
From my rapt ear, but the sweet words that fall
As dews descending on the tender herb —
To hear my name repeated in his call,
And then the name divine, nor aught disturb,
Till through this list'ning ear my waiting soul
Might thus take in, and comprehend the whole.
c
■w
42
TABOB MELODIES.
m:
It
I
I
CAIN.
^W^HIS demon band ! with this I dealt the blow ;
^ Standing uj)on this spot whereon I tread,
I struck him once, — lie staggered, and was dead.
Dead ! what is death ] his breath grew faint and low ;
I could not stop the crimson carrent's How;
And then, he fnintly sighed, and his drooped head,
With B.y *ts golden locks about it spread,
Lay thus upon my breast. Youth lost its glow ;
His cheek grew pale, then strangely damp and cold ;
And o'er his eye there came a vacancy,
A mist of darkness, as it upward rolled,
And pierced my soul with that which maddens me—
There was so much of tenderness, of j)ain,
As if he should have said, " Can this be Cain 1 "
t
1
i )
CAIN'S REMORSE.
^.
^^ H, he is dead, and I am left alone.
An outcast cursed, more wretched than the slain.
Abel is dead. Ah, would that it were Cain !
His image haunts me since the deed is done j
It gleams from every star, from every stone —
Each stream, each dewdrop, thence reflects a stain
And flings it back upon this burning brain ;
And every breeze is burdened with a groan.
Night hath no veil ; the waste, no solitude —
From horror that's within, 'tis vain to flee ;
Guilt hath a thousand tongues that would intrude,
A thousand vengeful sparks that cannot die.
Burn in, blaze out, ye furies of the mind,
Cain hath no rest ; and there is none to find.
TABOli MELODIES.
43
ENOCK.
5f|^HREE hundred years in fellowship divine,
•^ The sainted Enoch challenged human sight ;
He walked with God, in God was his delight.
Full on his soul, that seemed its living shrine,
The Sun of Kighteousness did ever shine ;
Thence virtue's rays streamed out on the dark night
Of centuries, that could not quench the light.
His sj^otless name is still the pledge, the sign.
Of Chrisc's full triumph, to the end of time.
Love clasped him mortal to its throbbing heart,
And changed his robes to suit the heavenly clime ;
Then, step})ing o'er death's empire of the sod.
Just breathed the gold-leaved gates of life apart —
And Enoch walks forever with his God.
ENOCH'S TRANSLATION.
sn/JcAIL, eldest born of heaven's translated heirs !
■^ Surely on earth thou wert for glory meet ;
Thy lifted brow, the face of God, did meet
In fellowship divine, three hundred years ;
Until its light seemed changeless as the stars.
Didst thou not mark the impress of his feet 1
Were not the accents of his A^oice most sweet ?
Beneath his smile, thou couldst have no more fears.
He, in creation, had no need of time,
It flashed from nothing like primeval light ;
Thus, in an instant, thou didst soar sublime :
Thy robes of dust grew radiant in their flight.
Life's precious flower knew not the darkened tomb —
On earth 'twas clothed in heaven's perpetual bloom.
111!
44
TABOR MELODIES.
JOB.
CRYSTAL dewdrop this, without a stain, —
A stone most precious, not a flaw or speck ;
The {)eerless gem a kingly brow might deck.
'Tis Nature's gift. Methinks had Nature seen,
She might have said, " Is not this edge too keen ?
How precious what is lost ! Why will ye take
So great a risk 1, What if this stone should break ?"
Yet the true artist heavier still doth lean,
Its glory and its beauty to secure :
Thus Job is held to the relentless wheel ;
His shrinking ^lesh, its sharpness must endure.
Behold ! in anguish, virtue lifts her veil —
His soul irradiates afHictiou's night ;
And in the darkness glows — a gem of light.
TRUTH UNCHANGEABLE.
/f^}
.^JjTRUTH is eternal, though in part unseen,
•^ Like colours hiding in the solar ray
In which they blend, but cannot pass away.
Their rays' prismatic image we regain
From light reflected by the falling rain.
Thus, all defined, in the pure word to-day,
The truth's distinct reflections we survey —
Those simpler forms of truth that must remain.
Shew me Thy glory in Thy truth, Lord ;
Give me the seeing eye, the hearing ear.
To mark each utterance of the written word
In which its living splendor doth appear.
Through the thin veil its [)erfect light shall stream.
Each word a ray, from truth's eternal beam.
.,{1(1
TABOR MELODIES.
THE DELUGE.
45
'W^HE heavens dissolve, beneath tlie tempests bowed ;
-eJ The sharp- ton gued lightnings flash, the thunders roll,
The rills to rivers swell, from ])ole to pole ;
The founts of tlie great deep, 'neath ocean's shroud,
Like tidal waves, burst from their dark abode.
The snow-wreathed Alps unV)inds its ancient scroll,
And there unveils the secrets of its soul,
Ere it is buried in the miglity flood —
Housed in a grave, without a monument,
Where all earth's treasures and its peoples lie —
One mausoleum vast, without a saint —
A gulf of death beneath a starless sky —
Vexed by the tempest, terrible and dark, —
Where earth's sole refuge is the floating ark.
TRUTH.
.cWN liquid loveliness against yon cloud,
^ Witli roseate blush, O Truth, thy bow doth lean ;
It spans tlie heavens, — say, uncreated queen, —
For thou didst tread the courts that silence trod.
Before the morning stars first sang to God —
Didst thou i )t weave its tissues o'er the scene,
In which to veil thyself and smile on men
Who feared the coming of a second flood l
And, on their brows uplift<^d unto heaven.
Didst thou not shed thine influence calm and sweet?
They read, e'en wliile they ran, the answer given ;
And reassured on earth their trembling feet.
Still, as the bow we trace from either end.
Its paths of light into each other blend.
f
40
TABOR MELODIES.
I8HMAEL.
smrOW fiercely flames o'er me this noontide hour !
■^^ Tho desert's breath doth like the furnace glow,
And like its ashes lies the dust below.
I think of founts with palm trees shadowed o'er,
And of the shadows of the mountains hoar —
But ah, I thirst, far from such visions now —
These burning sands no cooling shadows know,
And the refreshing streamlet flows no more.
Stay not, my mother ; here no longer stay ;
Why shouldst thou perish in the wihlerness 1
Lo, 'ncatli this shrub my soul shall pass away ;
And here thine Ishmael soon shall rest in i)eace.
Just press my lips, dry as the desert sand ;
I haste, like Abel, to that deathless land.
-<^§|o-
HAGAR.
DEATH, there is no shadow deep as thine ;
No s})()t of earth where thou dost not intrude ;
••Thou art the soul of boundless solitude.
How dost thou mar tlie human form divine.
And hide its loveliness in eartli's dark shrine !
So pale, so cohl, so blank, with horror viewed —
The marble image of an attitude —
That shocks with terror we cannot define.
Hagar, thou canst not look upon the child ;
But pitying heaven with grace hath looked on thee,
In sorrow bowed, from all the world exiled;
This is not death ; 'tis Ishmael ; rise and see ;
Go, di]) the water from yon fountain clear,
And wet his lips, for God hath heard thy prayer.
TABOB MELODIES.
'^
' TAKE THY SON.
'ELL me, ye shrouding vap>rs of the veil,
Dropped ye in dewy tenderness to weep ?
And you, ye stars, that dwell in heaven's deep,
Did ye not look upon these temples pale 1
That throbbing brow, where silence sets its seal ;
His heart, in its own anguish, he doth steep ;
As he alone his sorrows tlius might keep,
And inly sigh from depths inaudible —
The deepest sorrow dreads the world's cold ear.
Ah ! could that grief give utterance to its cry.
What deep, heart-rending tones ye then would hear !
But his bowed soul sits 'neatli a darkened sky ;
He only sighs and looks to Him that doomed —
The God that ^A.we. his Isaac hath resumed.
ABRAHAM'S DELIVKRANCE.
CHARGE thee tell me, O thou saintly moon —
The silent witness of this wondrous scene.
This tragedy divine — say, silvery queen,
Who soothed his burning brow, as all alone
He on the altar laid and bound his son
When the knife glittered, earth and heaven between 1
Did not the angel stay his hand, unseen ;
While the loved voice supreme, with tender tone,
Fell on his startled ear and called his name 1
Did not his lips break forth in praise and prayer,
When in the thicket hn beheld the lamb,
And offered sicritice with Isiac there ;
While faith assured, a brighter vision caught,
And God's own Lamb with rapture filled his thought ?
i !
48
TABOR MELODIES.
WEESTLTNG JACOJ].
.c^irN guilt and pain and LcilpJcssncss extreme,
^ I seek tlie deep'iiing shade of deepest niglit,
To lose, a little while, this sense of sight —
With all the horrors of this waking dream.
Hush, Jabboek, hush ! thou darkly clam'ring stream ;
Thine angry flood, like Esau, comes to smite.
Thou, who from darkness tirst didst strike the light;
Oh, wilt not Thou thy wondrous words redeem,
And make mine offspring like the glitt'ring host
Of twinkling stars ? My faith takes hold of Thee ;
I'll wrestle till the bands of night are loosed ;
I will o'ercomo, this promise is for me ;
Doubts of the past, ye may no more prevail ;
111 contrite prayer and faith, I will prevail.
PKNIEL.
i'
1
J=?^
5^ HE angel's form, in strength stood like a tower,
•^ As Jacob wrestled with him on the plain ;
Each nerve and muscle felt the mighty strain
For he was conscious of inferior power,
Yet all his force he bent from hour to hour ;
The while he knew his utmost strength was vain.
Nor would he yield to weariness or pain.
E'en when the morning light began to soar.
Then beamed that mercy in Elohim found,
Eelenting justice lightened into love ;
God, in his faithfulness, himself luvd bound.
And halting Jacob must victorious prove.
Thus face to face, a mediator there,
A type of Christ, in all-prevailing prayer.
TABOR MELODIES.
49
FINDING OF MOSKS.
'k-^^
tjiyTfID perfume sweet of spice, ;it eve's first blush,
'"■'■*^^ Fair, as the tint upon the 0})'ning rose
'iMid the green leaves that round-about it close,
Proud Pharaoh's daughter with the maids of Cush
Walked l)y the river's bank at eve's sweet hush — •
When from the Nile a sudden cry arose
As of an infant waking from repose.
More loudly did its fitful wailings rush
In mellowed accents that the waters sha[)ed
To move the Princess ; as, with pitying eye.
She looked upon the babe, and lo, it wept.
Its flowing tears awaked her sympathy —
And Moses lives, the Prophet of our God,
Like unto him that in the winepress trod.
LET MY PEOPLE GO.
|p)ROUD Pharaoh, hearken, let my peoi:)le go,
"^ That they may serve me ; why shouldst thou contend ?
Their years of bondage now are at an end.
These are not slaves, but guests ; why bend thy bow ?
Why didst thou crush them like a conqueretl foe 1
Their loud uplifted cries to heaven ascend ;
I am come down, I will their rights defend —
Will snap their fetters with a single blow —
Will break the rod of the 0[)pressor's might.
My covenant stands, my [jcople shall be free —
Nor ancient Nile, nor Typhon's bloody rite,
Shall aught avail to change my firm decree —
Nor Pharaoh, nor his hosts, my people dread —
Nor all the bestial gods this stream has bred.
C*
50
TABOli MKTjODIES. .
PLAGUE OF THE NILE.
fiO ED rolls the ini"litv flood of ancient Nile,
As if the sl;iu<'hterod innocents had shed
Their life's blood at its fount ; and, as they bled,
Its limpid waves had flowed all dark and vile —
Flaminijf blood -red for many a molten mile —
With judgment's banner o'er the waters spread.
The fish, in shoals, float on its surface — dead.
Egyi)t, is this your flood, adored the while,
And woi'shipped in its horrid flow of death 1
Look on its slimy current's tinted foam !
Go breathe the odor of its putrid breath !
Is this the guardian angel of your home ?
Haste, swelling tide, all darkened into blood,
Thy waves flash b ick the fiery brow of God.
"<^-
W
\ if I
THE HATL.
THOU, who, in the broad un})ierced cloud
^ Of dark infinity, dost ever dwell —
God of tliG. lightnings and impetuous hail,
Whose glittering share the field of Egypt ploughed ;
Thy voice was in tlie thunder pealing loud.
Methinks I hear, deej)-breatliiiig through the gale,
The nations crv their ceaseless bitter wail.
Thine outstretched arm hath ])ower to quell the proud.
And thou canst use the hail or lightning's scourge ;
All creatvires are alike to thee, O God —
The furnace dust is mighty as the surge
That moved the Red Sea 'neatb the prophet's rod.
In all alike, through judgment's pallid hour,
'Tis not thy creatures, Lord, it is thy power.
TABOR MFJJ)DTES.
51
THE PLAGUP: of DARKNESS.
r> '-^
'<Ti)) KNSE, lingo, terrific, liorril)le, it comes —
<- <ic^ p^ sable cloud as rayless as the <:(rave ;
Its ebon front towers like a crested wave —
A pyramid of gloom that all entombs.
Its breath, like death's cold touch, the nation dooms ;
Their hopes are stricken, sti-ickcn are the brave,
The mighty tremble, and the timid rave,
Priests have no altars, Egypt h ith no houies :
Hushed is the foot of time ; no nights, \\^ davs,
No twinkling stars, no moon, hea^'-en's gare is shut-
Earth stands appalled, the bbickii'^ss shocks, dismays.
Their deity supreme is blotted out.
The nation prostrate lies in strange affright ;
Their sightless eyes look ti[) and wait for light.
-ol-
,1
THE TENTH PLAGUE.
0, in the stillness of the midnight hour,
'Neath the death-angel's eye in dread array,
Pulseless and pale the pride of Egypt lay —
Sweet buds of life, and life's expanding flower,
From cot, and crib, and in-incely bridal bower.
Their blasted hopes, those frantic griefs display —
Ah, such a night hath never followed day !
And such a night, there shall be never more ;
It was a crushing, soul-appalling sight —
There youth and innocence, in beauty's mould,
The eye of genius, and the arm of might.
Lay with the nation's first-born blank and cold,
Hear it, O Earth, that universal cry !
'Tis the oppressed'^ Avenger passeth by.
'i ■
I
I i
•'^2 TABOIi MELODIES
THE CLOUD UPON THE SEA.
S^III^N Moses licaid the aiisworing voice; of Gody
'^ " WlKTcfore, ill spirit, dost thou cry to me ]
Dost thou nut mark the cloud upon tlie sea ]
Lo, with my glory, all its waves are strewed ;
The angel of my presence points the road.
Its mighty waters shall divide for thee,
And a great highway throagh the depths shall be..
Stretch out thine hand, with this uplifted rod,
And then shall Israel quit this sounding shore,
And lead their armies through the furrowed deep.
Speak to the people, cry to me no more :
The floods that flee before their measured step,
Like stormy winds, shall bieak on Pharaoh's host ;
And dash it to the depths on Egypt's coast.
THE RED SEA.
^jy^HAT aileth thee, thou dark Egyptian Sea'(
<^-^ What means this royal way beneath the moon '(
Was it the spirit of the fierce monsoon
Whose dreadful eye, affrighted thou didst see 1
Or hath an angel's pinion smitten thee 1
These crystal walls erect were built full soon —
Hath Michael laid their line at night's full moon,*
That his oppressed Israel might go free 1
What means that cloud of darkness in the rear ]
The broken chariots of the Egyptian host '?
The terror and the tumult reigning there 1
The ghastly faces, blanched, along the coast ?
The Red Sea roars as lions in the night,
And Israel triumphs through Jehovah's might.
♦ Michael was held to be the guardian angel of Israel.
I III
TABOR MELODIES.
63
PHARAOH'S OYERTHKOW.
S|^11EY come, proud Plianioli's cluiviots ami his liost ;
^ WitJi passion bliiid, how furiously they ride —
Their niiul, vindictive thouglits their only guide.
Their victim's altar is the wild sea coast,
There shall their gods have one red holocaust ; —
One whole burnt oliering, millions might divide
To quench their tliirst of blood, their injured pride.
Yet not e'en this, their vengeance can exhaust.
Vain are tlie vaunting flippancies of wrath,
Aimed, like Saul's javelin, where the righteous stood.
Jehovah, through the j. ed Sea finds a path,
And wraps his people in his fiery cloud ;
Tnen looks in anger on his troubled foe;
And, in their sin, they find their overthrow.
ay) ^
MIRIAM.
^^ UEEX of our choral queens, O Miriam, rise ;
^"^ And tune to pence this tumult of the sea.
Soothe its proud waves with spugs of victory ;
And from the timbrel, as the tempest dies,
Bring those diviner, mightier symphonies
That swell the praises of a people free —
That to the nation bring its jubilee.
Sing a glad song, that will immortalize
Proud Pharaoh's fall, and Israel's lelease.
Sing, for Jehovah fills^His ancient throne,
And His redeemed with Him shall dwell in peace ;
His chosen nation now shall dwell alone ;
Philistia and Amalek shall fear,
And all the kingdoms of the earth shall hear.
W
-\ !
,IM
:u
T A noli MKLODJES.
'V\
1
1
il'
|l:
r ■
Hi
:ij J
1
1,
'
1
I
;
'
rilK SKCIIET ri.AC'R.
\(r 01), us on Siiuii, in thick ilu'knoss (Ivvolls —
^^ Dark, with iiitonsest li^'ht — to Him wo (ly
Tluu-e is the socivt j)hic(; of the Most IIi<^li.
Hid in tho cleft where He Himself reveals,
We view, unveiled^ the brightness that excels.
Blest are tlie [mre in heart, beneath His eye ;
Secure witliiti His hnnd, how calm they lie.
Their eye, in secret, all its treasnre tells ;
It hath its visions there, in i)erfect peace,
Full of the glory of the living God.
Christ is the way nnto this Holy Place;
And there, for evermore, is onr abode.
He that hath made the Lord his sole defence.
Dwells in the shadow^ of Omnipotence.
IX
WITHIN THE VF]rL
^pTHIN the veil, in the most Holy Place ;
Inwronght with cedar, and iidaid with gold ;
The adoring chernbim their wings nnfold
Above the symbol cloud that they embrace.
There the High Priest with God stood fa -e to face,
With blood besprinkled, •stood divinely bold;
And the Shekinah jaire .night there behold,
And speak with God alone, by special grace.
Now are we priests, and in His presence stand,
Before the mercv-seat and ark of God,
Empowered beneath the cloud to bear its weight ;
And in its glory dwell, as our abode.
The sprinkled blood hath opened up the way
Through the rent veil ; and here we ever stav.
TABOn MKLDDTES.
55
ock ;
MOSES AT IIORKB.
jtAUcE cliiubod, in wrath, tlie doseit's flinty r
-^^ In wratli lio lield Joliovjili's holy rod ;
As round liiiii thoro the nmrnnn'ing millions trod ;
And tho mount ti ambled, as it felt the shock
Of that otlicial, ])ut unhallowed stroke.
He did not sanctity the name of God.
And, in those waters, rushing o'er the sod,
Deep-bniathing woi'ds of power their echoes woke ;
And ISIeribah re|)eated in his ear
The malediction uttered in their sound.
Oh grant us patience. Lord, with those who err ;
And save from the rash words that deeply wound,
E'en in His upper court and inner shrine,
The jealous ear of Majesty — Divine.
-c^^-
DEATH OF MOSES.
JyTP, through the tender radiance of the blue,
^ He climbs with reverent step to Pisgah's crest ;
The shei)herd's folds hung loosely on Iulv breast,
As when he stood the burning bush to view,
And quickly thence his loosened sandals threw,
While all its glory on his brow did rest.
Now his clear eye of Canaan is p(jssessed.
That goodly land where Caleb's grape-vine grew ;
He hears the vernal murmur of its leaves.
His spirit kindles into ecstasy
As Lebanon its lofty foliage waves.
But lo, the scene is changed ; heaven tills his eye.
His quiv'ring lips breathe out their glad surprise,
Closed by the covenant angel as he dies.
\\
!1
\
56
TABOB MELODIES.
m
JOSHUA ON MOUNT BETH-HOllON.
HUS Josliua's voice tli' expectant heavens did fill.
Sun, stand tliou still this night on Gibeon ;
And t])ou, O moon, on vale of Ajalon.
Then did tlie circling fiei-y snn stand still,
Fixed l)y the fiat of a sovereign will ;
And the swift-nishinix coursers of the moon
Keined to a halt, stood waiting on, the sun.
'Tvvas a divine infiatus, then, that fell
From Joshua's tongue on ])roud Beth-horon's height ;
As there he stood upon the sun-bright mount
Witii hands outstretched, that had retained the light,
And lips, whose words had thrilled the firmament :
While the red earth drank in the crimson rain.
And Auimon sank in judgment on the plain.
— ^oO-
l
I
ACHAN.
.cW SAW the tents of Jacob in dismay.
^-^^ Hushed in the awful silence of suspense.
The tribes lunl lost the shield of their defence ;
They dare not set the battle in array.
Up, Joshua, up, this is no time to pray ;
The people are accursed ; go, purge the offence.
The sin of avarice, like a j)estilence,
Consumes the strength of Israel to-day ;
The Babylonish garment and the gold
Are covered up and hidd«'n in her tent.
Now Achan trembles as the lots are told,
With keenest pangs his guilty soul is rent ;
He stained the nation's houor in its prime,
And only death can expiate his crime.
TABOE MELODIES. 57
RUTH.
tS Noali's dove iJiukcd tlio wild olive leaf
And bore it to the aik on swift ef<t winar.
Naomi, wilt thou not thither brinjr.
Through life's dark storm and from its wave-washed reef,
Ihy helpless child o'er this wild waste of grief?
I have no rest beside, to thee I clinc: ;
The loved have jierished as the flowers of spring —
Their bloom «s I'eaiitiful, their hour as brief —
And Eiith hath naught but Moab's graves and thee.
Thy God, thy home, thy i)eo])le shall be mine.
To leave, entreat me not, O Naomi ;
For Kuth will have no other God but thine,
In Him with thee forevermore to dwell —
The God of Hagar and of Ishmael. !
II.
jU^AIL ! thou sweet light of holiest human love,
^^ True as the star that shows the fixed north ;
Thy radiance softly sends its influence forth
. ind draws us to itself as from above.
We find our willing hearts toward thee move.
How pure the lustre of such i)riceless worth !
Thou art a rose upon this desert earth,
Whose fragrance never dies. The ages wove
The woof and weft of love in such device ;
And, 'ncath the shadow of the incense cloud, *"
It brtc.^jes to heaven in sweet self-sacrifice
Like Abel's offering, when he meekly bowed.
Hail ! gentle Ruth, the loveliest light of home,
Its hovering ang( 1 now where'er we roam.
t
58
TABOR MELODIES.
DAVID.
1"!
r-Ciu'
^IfP NDUED with power beyond all liuinan might,
"^-^^ A princely spirit worthy of the throne,
His strengtii was God's ; his courage was his own.
He lingered by the brook before the tight,
To wait on Him who dwelleth in the light ;
And then went forth, undaunted and alone.
To meet Goliath, with a sling and stone.
He saw his weapon in the streamlet bright.
Grasped by his faith, 'twas winged with destiny —
That mighty faith, that jjanoply of power.
That with a lowly prayer to God drew nigh
And calmly faced the issues of the hour.
He only thought of Israel and his God,
An on his fallen foe triumphant trod.
-^^~
DAVID AND JONATHAN.
K AIL, fii'"ndship's chosen, undisputed types !
^■^^ How blest that spot ! It seems her very throne,
Where David meets his Jonathan alone.
As from their tongue love's dewy accent drips.
How true the vows of love upon their lips !
How dear to David is his Jonathan !
How strong: the bonds that bind them both in one !
So sad to part, it seemed like life's eclipse.
That fjxtal moment rends their semis apart ;
That glancing arrow, featliered for his foes.
With double i)oint hath pierced them to the heart.
Two souls in one, like twining oaks they rose ;
Dissevered now, with foliage all defaced,
Tiieir forms bend low before the furious blast.
TABOB MELODIES.
59
Q^pr— .
THE WITCH OP ENDOR.
LACKNESS and discord, ghosts of Chaos old,
Throned in her reahn of boundless solitude;
But now entombed, with all your horrid brood,
In earth's vast hollow centre, where ye hold
Your empire still round earth's hot axle rolled.
Why from t!ie vasty deep do ye intrude
On the vexed soul of Saul in deadly feud ?
Are guilt and terror spirits of your mood ?
Would ye hobnob with night to awe a king ?
And robe the Witch of Endor with your powers ?
Unbind the charneled dead, his doom to bring ?
And leave your shadows on this earth of ours ?
To-morrow ye shall snatch his i)arting Ijreath,
And wreathe your temples in the hues of death.
AHITHOPHEL.
C2:r J
^^IgURED by ambition to the dread abyss.
Tiiou wert like Lucifer, Ahithophel ;
He ventured all upon one stake and fell.
He fell from glory through one dark device —
From the archangel's throne, his paradise —
Like lightning darting quick from heaven to hell.
There thou with him in infamy dost dwell.
With treason's brand upon a brow like his.
Lovedst tliou tiie pertidy tliat bought and sold
The rights of millions for the lust of one ?
Had'st thou an itching palm for sordid gold ?
And was there too much virtue near the throne ?
Or was it envy ? Was there at the gate
A faithful Mordecii that thou didst hate ?
60
TABOR MELODIES.
DAVID'S GRIEF FOR ABSALOM.
I 1
Y son, my son ! " Hush, liusli, O Mabanaim !
"^^^ Ilcav'st thou the wail above the city gate,
Exceeding bitter and exceeding great ]
The shout of victory, the voice of fame,
Sluink from that cry as with the thrilhof shame.
What mighty sorrow dims thy regal state 1
What mean those accents which the heavens repeat?
" My son, my son ; " ard then that tender name,
" O Absalom, O Al)«alom, my son, my son !"
It burdens all the air with weight of woe ;
'Tis like tlie cry of Egypt 'neath the throne,
Her first bojn smitten at a single blow.
Thus David mourns his smitten Absalom,
And with his woes he builds for him a tomb.
-oC<§o-
!
THE GENIUS OF THE PSALMIST.
flpAR flash the lights of genius from his eye,
'~^ Its flame he gets from the celestial hills,
And thence his censer of the ages fills.
His glowing spirit burns to dwell on high ;
How like a sunset cloud he passes by !
His God alone is great, and as God wills,
His flaming numbers roll ; his genius thrills
Each throb of life, and through death's vale doth sigh-
Its ins])irations flooding all his soul
With tides of living thought unchecked, unsung.
His crystal words seem sparkling on his scroll ;
There's not a frigid accent on his tongue.
His theme, his thought, his words, his perfect art,
Are but the rills through which he pours his heart.
TABOli MELODIES.
61
RIZPAH.
S^HOU seesfc, sad queen, tliy sons u[)lift<!cl there ;
^ Ant] in their shadow thou dost rise and spread
Thy sackcloth on the rock beside the dead.
Grief-stricken soul ! thou hast no thouglit of fear ;
Only the lovely and the loved are there.
In vain the vultures hover overhead ;
The beasts of night, their sleepless watcher dread ;
They flee the presence of such fixed despair —
Such mute, such restless, self-sustaining grief.
Sad, soulless Rizpah, who shall comfort thee 1
Thine ears are blasted in the gathered sheaf,
Thy noon was passed in envied royalty ;
Grief's midnight shadows dark'ning as they roll,
In ray less sackcloth wrap thine ardent soul.
mZPAH'S GRIEF.
'W^ ALE watcher by the dead ! thine ear receives
Faint fitful echoes through this rock-pierced heaven ;
As if some lip still named the voiceless seven.
What though the night its triple shadow weaves ?
It is not darkness, it is death bereaves.
Their chilling touch is all that death has given ;
And thy shrill voice, with which the clouds are riv'n,
Finds their dull ear as listless as the leaves.
Behold those royal foreheads one by one,
Thou canst not tell which brow deserved the most ;
The stars look not more regal in night's zone
Than these on thine, yet are they wholly lost :
I hear thy footfall passing round and round,
Till the dull rock seems vocal with the sound.
fi2
TABOR MELODIES.
ELIJAH.
ItAIL, wondrous prophet of the wilderness !
Thou wert in soul like Nature's forms sublime,
Like the nuijestic Curmel thou didst climb —
Stern as the rocks on which the lightnings trace
A zigzag })athway to their secret })lace.
Still from that sacred height, that holier clime,
Like Horeb's i)r()])het through the lapse of time,
There, in thy shrouding mantle, face to face,
We hear thee talk with God familiarly ;
And in a still small voice, as friend with friend,
Doth speak of things in which they both agree.
Wert thou not talking of thy glorious end ?
The whirlwind, chariot, and the steeds of fire,
That caught thee up in thine unchanged attire ?
-c5§o_
III
THE STILL SMALL VOICE.
^i^^HE mighty angel of the wind passed by.
And with his iron wings, the rocks were cleft ;
An earthquake rent the mountain right and left,
Then through the opening rift the flames leaped high ;
But God was not in all that met the eye.
Then Nature seemed of every sound bereft.
And through the tissues of the warp and weft
Of silken silence breathed a voice so nigh —
It was the voice of God, — its gentle tone.
Like to a benediction bathed in love.
Elijah thought that he was all alone,
But there were thousands numbered, sealed above ;
A seed for God, reserved in Israel,
Who had not kissed, or bowed the knee to Bel.
TABOli MELODIES.
ELIJAH ON MOUNT CARMEL.
JUDGMENT is in liis heart, and on his brow,
'^ The lowering darkness of tlie thunder-cloud.
The thunder of his lips is deep and loud,
Who can arrest the arrow of his bow ?
The forked lightnings that are flashing now
From that keen eye that's resting on the proud ?
Go, Baal, and wrap thee in thy burial shroud ;
Elijah's God is God, but what art thou ?
Jehovah's tire that on that altar fell.
Hath smitten thee ; thou hast nor sword nor shield.
Thine were the priests of wicked Jezebel-
She too shall perish when their doom is sealed ;
And God alone shall dwell in Carmel's flame-—
The God from whom Elijah's answer came.
63
— <^so
II.
,<=^>
I^RUTH in the bold minority of one,
One prophet of the Lord ; in pampered pride
Eight hundred priests are on the other side,
Flanked by the nation, marshalled by the throne.
Elijah in the conflict holds his own,
And, like the rock-built Carmel, doth abide.
For him, from heaven in majesty replied,
The flash of the black thunder cloud alone ;
And Ahab tiembles, Baal hath felt the blight.
The tide of heathendom is backward rolled,
And all its idols seek the shelt'rinjr niirht •
While Carmel, wrapt in wonders manifold,
Gives promise e'en to Ahab's wicked rei^^n
Of richer treasures than its plenteous rain.
64
TABOli MELODIES.
NAAMAN.
-nIDRINCE of Dcunascus ! wluit to thee thy might?
'^^^ Lo, what to thee the boundless blue serene 1
The golden splendors of the noontide scene 1
The fruitful tields, or varied mountain height 1
The genius proud, tliat dwells in its own light ]
A dust-crowned leper, outcast and unclean —
Abana, Pharphar, all the streams between ;
Damascus' rivers, should they all unite,
Avail thee not : wash thou in Jordan's stream,
There is no healer l)ut Elisha's God.
Wash seven times, thy pallid lips' red gleam
Shall come again ; pride then shall kiss the rod,
And the meek captain of Assyria's host,
Alone in Israel's strength, shall make his boast.
TilE DESTROYING ANGEL.
,3^ IVINELY armed in power, he stood alone
^^^*^^ Upon the mount above Jerusalem ;
His face was terrible, his eye a flame,
His robe like gold, that in the furnace shone.
His red right hand in wrath he reached down ;
And there unsheatJied, save in its lurid gleam
There seemed a sword, from which in fiery stream,
Shot forth the pestilence with deadly aim —
As quick as angel's thought the people fell.
When David knew the messenger of wrath,
Slain was the pride that numbered Israel.
He bared his breast to meet the stroke of death.
And from its purpose turned that vengeful hand,
Upraised in judgment o'er his guilty, land.
TABOB MELODIES.
65
THE PKAYER OF LEMUEL.
ciCti
.IVE me not riches, L )i\l, nor iiovcrty j
Lest pallid incli_i;eiice may cringe and sfcal,
Or tlianklcss pride may kick against tliy will.
Feed me with food convenient, Lord, for mc ;
But I would take my lot, my all from thoe ;
Through watchful diligence and putieiicQ still,
I would life's noblest jiurpose here fuliil.
To wave in death a palm of victory —
Choosing the work by Providence assii^ncd.
Yet grant, if Lemuel's prayer should be denied,
This lowlier one a calm contented mind —
Serene and cheerful still whate'cr betide ;
And if to hoary hairs my steps are stayed,
Let me not fear to walk the deep'ning shade.
-^i^-
THE CAPTIVE DELIVERED.
^HOU spotless Christ, thou self-devoted Lamb,
^ My ever precious paschal sacrifice.
Through whom, from guilt's dark night, unhurt I rise,
Thou art thine Israel's everlasting theme.
I live through thee, hid from the sword of flamo
That hung above the gate of Paradise,
A soul redeemed from Egypt without price.
I would remember my deliverer's name,
The iron furnace, the oppi-essor's yoke.
The house of bondage and the miiy clay.
The tyrant's shackles severed with a stroke,—
A ransomed captive, in the golden rav
Of freedom's sun, to track the movia<r cloud.
And with the dawn still feed on answers food.
f
66
TABOn MELODIES,
I i^n
^■i)
P»ELSHAZZAH'S FEAST.
^Tr^N the mid feast and revel of the night,
^ Belahazzar drank unto a thousand lords ;
His golden lamp gleamed on a thousand swords
That flashed it back in waves of ruddy light.
Hushed is their frantic mirth, the marl)le white
Glows 'neath an i-ngel's hand ; as it records
With burning those undeciphered words,
The monarch trei loles in his sore aliright ;
And his magicians, summoned to behold,
Grow j)ale in presence of that ghostly sign.
Where now their gods of silver and of gold ?
Who shall declare the oracle divine?
Lo, Daniel reads ; but ah, too late, too late !
The sword of Cyrus gleams within the gate.
I" I
i.-.x
THE HANDWRITING ON THE WALL.
yAVTr ARRED is Belshazzar's feast, their revels end ;
-'^^ Portentous signs gleam through the banquet hall-
A shadowy hand is writing on the wall.
Those burning characters together blend,
As if the letters veiled themselves when penned ;
Their spectral forms inwreathed with lightnings pale,
And flashing fitful forth upon them all.
Belshazzar and his lords in horror bend
A thousand knees before their gods of gold ;
Their tongues are fettered in their frantic fear.
In vain the wise those flaming words behold.
They cannot trace their changing outlines there —
But lo, while Daniel doth the writing read,
Belshazzar falls before the conquering Mede.
TABOH MELODIES.
67
I SHALL SLK TIEK KING.
^\^^TTKX Tinu^'s dark veil uplifts its latest fold,
•-^ My riiptiir(3(l sii^dit no iiioro o'ersluulowing,
Heaven's light divine shall to my vision bring
Surpassing glories, excellent, untold, —
The splendors of the Olirist I shall behold,
That evermoie the veiled seiaphs sing, —
The radiant throne and beauty of the King,
The true IMessiah's sha})e of earthly mould ;
I for myself shall know, these eyes shall see.
Hail, glorious vision of that form so mai'red
More than the rest, when shall I come to thee ]
That brow unwreathed, those bleeding hands still scarred,
The vision of that face whose love, whose light.
Shall flood the soul with infinite delight.
all—
THE PROPHET ON THE MOUNT.
/Jt^ thou, like Moses, to that mount of God, —
^^ Like him commissioned from the burning bush —
Go, climb the veiled mount through Nature's hush,
When all his majesty itself doth shroud.
And all his glory spreads itself abroad.
There, 'neath the throne-rays, in their dazzling rush.
Thy brow shall brighten with a living flush ;
As though his glory found a new abode.
There thou shalt see that perfect holy law, —
The image of ' 's brightness and his grace —
The which when Sinai's favored prophet saw,
It flashed its brightness from his veiled face ;
Thus shall Isaiah's coal thy lips inspire
To breathe their message with a tongue of fire.
68
TAROn MELODIES.
THE DESERT SHALL REJOICE. 1^
ARTH hatli no desert waste so parched with drought,
No soil so scant above the granite rock,
But there the shepherd seoii sliall lead his flock
The living waters there shall seek their route,
And through the soil the tender blade shall shoot.
Is there a land where joy herself doth shock ?
Where her lone echoes linger but to mock ]
A solitary place that seems from heaven shut out ?
This shall rejoice and blossom as the rose ;
The hour of fear, and famine's dismal wail
Shall be forgot in life's supreme repose :
The voice of song shall warble through each vale,
And every evening's sun, with smiling face,
Shall soothe the gentle twilight into peace.
y-
JEREMIAH.
Tm NENVIED prophet of an iron age !
Who could the torrent of thy tears restrain 1
Who could have thought that they must flow in vain]
Thy soul seemed bent on sorrow's pilgrimage,
And poured love's softest language o'er each page —
A nation profligate, the throne profane,
The seed of Joseph 'neath a foreign chain,
'Neath all the woes his weeping words presage.
Thou saw'st the courts of Solomon cast down —
The deep foundations of the temple razed —
His people scattered 'neath Jehovah's frown,
Their pride of beauty hopelessly effaced ;
Yet thou hadst glimpses of that morning's ray,
When Christ should come and bring a brighter day.
TABOH MELODIES.
89
THE FlEllY FURNACE.
.IRT like the mountains with omnipotence,
They stood sublime in changeless fortitude,
Nor recked how near the flaming furnace stood,
Nor *' at thev walked erect beneath the yhince
Of the infuriate king ; the while his lance
Gleamed in its rest, as if athirst for blood.
His image mocked before the multitude,
His claims arrested in their first advance —
The furnace heat rose sevenfold to assuage
Wrath's fiercer flame that circled round the throne.
Who shall deliver from the despot's rage,
The dauntless three, who fear their God alone 1
Lo ! Christ is there, the Christ of Galilee,
To walk the flames, as he hath walked the sea.
II.
'HE furnace fires flashed out with sevenfold flame,
And seemed, like angry serpents, all aglow,
Their tongues of death swift darting to and fro.
To strike as lightnings with a blanching gleam —
The vile, they slew ; the good, they wreathed with fame.
O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
Where now your bonds, and where your mighty foe ]
The Son of God this victory shall claim ;
He, in the furnace, glorifies his power
And cools the blazing billows by his glance,
Then with his servants walks the molten floor :
While Persia's idols from his countenance.
Foredoomed to darkness in its fiery ray.
Like dross to ashes turning pass away.
'V||i
I
7u
TABOIi Mh: LOUIES.
DANIKL.
3tiU?ARTv to tli(3 wild Hccuiiiiil.iting rour
^ ' Tliiit fills vvilli tnrror tlu; t(!m|)(!stiiouH night !
Night's l)i-ow is l>hi(;k witli storms, ;iii(l tii(3 forkc^l light,
Like s(M-|)('iit's fitiigs, ()olh rend it inoiv^ juid more ;
Whilt) I5,il).''l ti-('inl)l(\s lik(^ tlio oc(!;iii siior(;.
Dark as tho lion's lair ; (mcIi sound, each sight,
The soul alHicts with woiKh^r and ad'right.
Dai'iiis niourns ; and, luiv i\\(\ tuinult's o'(!r,
ITastcs to th(j den whcro Daniel r(3sts in p(;ace ;
Calmly ho S(!(;s tho adoring [)r()ph(;t kncid,
Faith's inl)()in i-adianco Ixiaming on his face —
The lions saw it as thoy croueluMl and foil,
And, in th<!ir nativo fi(u-conoss, iKilph^ss lay —
Hut rampant sprang his d(;adly foos to slay.
i
JONAll.
C^WIFT through th(j aiigry (hipths of mighty waves,
JNly captor plunged in onci ahhonuid doscont.
And IVom the ocean's gulfs tluar curtains rent — -
From portals dai'k and cirral architraves,
Which nov(!i' gleamed within these dismal caves.
Hero th(! huge; monsters of tho do(!p an; pcMit,
Which may not look on heavcMi's blue firmament.
Nor hear its thunder when tho tcjmpest raves, —
Hid in this hoi-rid wast(!, all conscious still.
I'Lii'th, 'n(!ath its bars, hath impress of its God ;
Tho sea issul)jecb to his sovereign will, —
Its dejiths wen; partcid hy th(! ))rophet's rod.
Uh bid this monster of tho deep o'x^y,
And list'ning Nineveh perchance .shall pray !
If
TABOLi MHLODlliS.
71
light,
NINKVEH.
.^IIUSFEKI) iii thy j)ri(l(^, {jroud city of the east,
^ .Dcistructioii'H (l(H.")»o.st gloom hath covered thee ;
() Niiievoli, tliinc; (!vil omens see !
Orui AvvAuX Miirag(i of Jioundless <U'seits' wjinte
Poinit(;s tliy sky, and takes tlicc; to its hreast ;
l)e(!p Jiollow echo(!S, sounding lik(; tlu; sea,
Blend with the bittern's cry tJKiir prophecy ;
And from thy towers tin; list'ning serj)ents hissed.
*• Yet forty days thou shalt be d(!solate," —
Til us cried the prophet of the withered gourd ;
And io, in sackcu^th wrapt, they deprecate
The wi-ath divine, bowisd by the; propluit's word ;
Then death's dark angd sheathed his llaming brand,
And turned (histruction's shadow from the land.
-^-
!S,
SIGN'S DKFKNrJK. /-
^lON'S munition of the lix-ks shall be
'^ A sure <lefence, enthroned al)ove the shock
Of S(;as and winds, io dwell upon the rock,
The Ptock of Ages, nor iVom thence; to fl(;e —
Hid in th(f cleft, to sing above the sea ;
h'j its d(!ej) base the waves each other mo(;k.
They cannot shake; tin; stronghold of the Hock.
Gniat peace luive tlu^y, () liord, who dw(dl iu thee ;
Lo, th(; gi-(!at decip is siibjcict to thy voice !
K'en wh(!n the; mountain billows touch \A\v. skies,
Th<!re, in the God of Sion, they reJoi(,-(! :
Tliey sii;!! not be afraid when storms arise.
I too shall sing, this abject ludph: s worm,
Safe in the Rock tint's higher than tlu; storm.
72
TABOB MELODIES,
THE BALM OF GILEAD. '^
-c-Tr^ tlicrc no balm in Gilcal ? must we die)?
^ E.irtli's stricken desert liatli its millions pale
From every zone ; is there no power to heal ?
The he;irt throbs out its inner a;^onj,
Its myriad voices lift the mighty cry,
The iiiijht winds breathe it tliroui];]i tlie far off vale.
Morn's mountain echoes llinc; it to the Q:ale,
Dotli not cur God look down with ])itying eye 1
l^ohoLl the ^laugliterod Limb, his pierce.l side,
lis fountain flowing ;is tho winepress glows, —
A living stream since Christ was cracifie.MJ ;
Its power the sam'^, forever more it flows,
As when the cross its virtues first revealed,
As when the dying saw it and were healed.
l|,ii
I,:
THE CENSER BEARERS.
cCii
^p^-.OD cannot change, he calls his own by name.
"^^ They stood between the living and the dead,
Their censer's flame was at his allar fed.
No venturous Korah th^^re might rashly claim,
On such a scene, to fling his mimic glram.
God's consecrated one his call obeyed,
Its incense pure, his Ijuining censer shod
From fires frci^h kindled at the altar's flame;
And there alone, before the plague, he stood
Where thousands would have perislied with sfrange fin
He knows them not, they liave no trust in God;
Their i)rayers npou tiieir doubting lips ex])ire, —
Assuming souls,* the bane of Nazaretli,
Thoy know the Chiist, and yet they liave no faith.
TABOR MELODIES.
l?j
TMI^ DKADLY nRI]AC[I.
^HE tliroi)l)iiig iiir, all ovv tlio ensiingiiined field,
-^ Strews with irs ^Iciiuis tli' ciiihattlod ci-iiiisoii ditch,
Thcp* s.ill the iniuhty carve in famous nicho
Their CQii(|ucriiig uani^s, or histards haselv vi-dd.
Thore all the s'M-vauts of our (lod arc seah.'d ;
Each sod has grown illustriously rich ;
Thore, foot to foot, within the deadlv i-rciach.
Siill rings the glittering stoel upon the shield
'Neath the wldte Hag that shows the crimson cross,
And points which way to l)ear tiie Spiiit's sword.
Fair fi..at its folds that cannot sailer loss,
Inscribed with holiness unto the Lord.
Uplift this banner of the martyr liost,
Tiiey love it best who for it sulfer Uiost.
IIIK DKSIJKNT ur dOV.
(^ JOY ! sweet seraj)li to whose silvery lute
^^ The morning stars aLtun.Ml creation's hymn,
Thou didst retire with the blest cherubim
When Eve had tasted the forbidden fruit, —
Witli lieaven's full chorus on tliy lips all mute,
Yet at long intervals through distance dim,
Ti)i.s earth hath hear.l, as at it-; outer rim,
Some notes so faint that w»^ ndght still dispute
Their pres"n(;e here, thougli voieeil in projihecy.
Did Simeon woo tliee from thine In^avenlv home.
And from thy throne abov(^ the jasper sea i
Or (iid'st tli(ju hasten thence with Oiirist to come ?
Kid in this Olive IJranch to fold thv win'',
And, as at Nature's dawn, once more to sing.
r^
[ 'j'Aiiou mi:l()J)Ii:s.
Till'] MYSTKIiV DIVINI^:.
JVjNrATIfoMFJ) soul of mystc^iy Wiviiio,
'^^riioii (lost sojourn hcsitli; the sacrnil ;tik ;
Within th(! veil (hou <h)st distinctly mark
All the ivivc alini,^s of that- iuuiT shi-inc,
()'(!r which th(! chcruhiin ihtir wind's inclin(;.
rnt(!nt, luothinks, to somul tliM unni(;asur<Ml dark
Of ))()undless lov<! -ihou wcrt its kindlini^' spark,
And all ilK l>rii,ditn(!ss on thy hrovv did shint; —
l>ut still th Ml look'st u|) >\{ t.ii(! nii'i'cy-s(Mt.
As to (he (lo|)tiis of an inilaih iukmI s(!a ;
And lookiiiLj, (hou do.st hciid, and Ix-ndiuL;', wait
To ^a'luir all it- Lrtstsuns uj) for nx;.
As 'n(;ath the cluiruhini this ,i,dad hcavi siiiLjs,
O take and fold it in tliini! out-;|)rca,d wings I
> >l
i
J I
(;oi)S LA mi;.
j^^^'^y^Il KN A})raliani-like, his Isaac bound Ixncalh,
' ^' Strict justice) hold the scimitar unsla^at ImmI
With vvi'atli's })rii,di.- ghiaming I'ound al)r)ut (mi-
wrcatlu'd,
Tiicn was tho hour su[)rcmt' of pcMial dtiatli,- —
Of sevenfold v(Miif(;anc(! and of sev«infold wrath.
Sin's wholt; (hisert that iiery sword hath hathod,
Of all wdio liv(! oi* e'er on cai th had hreathed ;
J>ut when it piei-c(5d Clod's Ijamh, and tini^cd the lieath
Of daik (ilolgotha '^dth his precious hlood,
Tluni was the fount of m(;rcy all uuseajiid,
And all its strciams with jdentoous ;^i!U'(! o'<Mflowcd ;
'•'hen wvvii its d(!|)ths to human (hou^fhls revealed,
Till love's l»roa<l pinions in their loftiest. Might
Circled this earth us with an arch of light.
TMion mi:l()I)H-:s.
I •>
TlfK NATIVITY.
^\A/!^^''''^ i';i|>tiirous iio((!,s \v«! Ii.iil rciilc'inutiou's morn,
^^ Our (iod iiKMi-natj; as tli(5 Clirist is scfMi,
And Ixmtidh^ss <xr,u'(\ oVu'llovvs fclu; hojivcuis sor«!ie
f^')ln•(•(l throu.i^li mid air, v\Ii('i<^ l'<!tlil<'liom's star <l()Mi hm-ii,
Wr.u'A' and ^'oodvvill onco mor'e t) oartli rotiirn ;
Tho trmnhlini,' sli(!|)!i(n-ds on Jiid,Mi's j»lain
ILc.tr tlu; i,dad li«Malds hymn, this sweet n-lVaiii
'* iiUny to Clod ! th<« Saviour (.Mirist is horn"—
And thoui,di from f,tr tlioy sani,^ tiieir matin son*,',
Th(5ir not«!S ran,' out on (farth full clear and loud ,
As if (;ni-aj)(ur(Ml .K )lus had huni(
II is harp within tho rift of some fleet eloud,
Or David to his lynx's swept chords had poured
Ifis inspirations fri;sli hefore th(; Lord.
»^ -—
ir.
^U(Mf anthems ang(!ls in tiii'ir worship know.
Ilfirk ! how th($ nmsic sw(dls upon the sky
Wave; after wav<! in faidtle.ss h u-iuonv,
Th(; liirht notes rippling o'er tlu^m to and fi-o.
They sim,' the ( Mirist, ouiuipot;Mit helo v ;
They raise the glorious Messianic shout, —
Its floods of raptui'i^ lifted up on lii;;li
The emi)yrean, lillini,' to tiie flow.
riK'tice o'er each Alj)ine iKU^ht, in every zone,
That angel chant harmonious rhrou<,di tlie ski"s
Jts echo of creation's hymn rolls on
In one grand chorus of th(5 centuries ;
And 'neath tin; glory that from heiven descends,
Peace o'er tho earth Ikm- olivi« branch (5 attends.
T
76
TAhOR MELODIES.
.1 l
THE STAll OF THE NATIVITV,
TiAr>|-] (li\ iiic I ill lowly coudi ciiiUiMCod,
'■-' To Iinlior tli(<^ ii new cic;!!*'!] .st;ir
III licavcii's jii-i-li dill rein its fu^y ciir ;
It s.tooil aiiiazcd tn liiid tlici' .so al)asrd,
And will) (liy na.mc ii])oii ils mii-i'or cliasoil,
Sjir.in'^ to its orbit, in the (M-v.^td air —
The lu'i-ald of tliy ljIoi ions advont licrc.
NcvtT was litaaliTs paili so bi iglitly traced.
Sliino on a^ when witli thto tbo cliri'ul)s lodo,
Siill sinL,dnL^, through flio inflnitt; abyts,
Elornal .^loiy to die Lord oui' God,
Good-will to gniity man, and on oirtli peace,
8iJar on, pioclaiin it in angtlic verso
E'en to llio niarian of tla; univeryo.
O
'!)>
'
Ml
m
THE FULNESS OK OlIKiST.
.t,T;; LOOKED at noon u\Hy.i tlio boundless biuo,
^ Tlio cloudless sapphifo of tlio lirniamcnt ;
TliL'ro all nuscon, as 'ncatli a I'oyal tent,
Tlie stars do liido ; and all lli it, met my view
\Vas on(; vast blaze of glory tiiiouL;li ;ind tliron^h,
Tiicn; secuied no rival tlii'on'j;]i its wliolo extent,
Lii^lit \v;is ils snI)slai!C(; an 1 ils e unplcaKMit.
Suel: is Clirisi's ,!;loi-y in its daz/.ling hue, —
Tlio si)lcndor of the Ldiiute. JJcliold !
Tli(! satellites of beini; pass away;
Thy fidness doth the universe iid'old.
And serajjhini and eheinbim obey.
Only Begotten of tlie On(; in Tlir*'e,
Thou art the brightness of the Diety.
li
TABUR MELODIES.
TITP] TI'MPTATTON-.
I '
^\pif ''^ '^I'liiCs su-Divl. a V. ir|(^ two-clot.,! Mndo,
^*^ 'Jlic Hon (,f Co^ iii..sl,c;i(li('"(l f(.)- til.' linlit,
'I'd l(;-t its (li;mi()ii(| |.-)iii(, all keen and hi-iglii.
Its llnniiiir („|^,. i,^ ,,|- ^,„.|, t..|,i|,.r made*
Tliat, w]i<.r(! it; o-l,.ai„.s its stroke unxy not 1... stnycd.
Witli tliis tli(- tciiipici's |.()lisli(.,| sl)i.I,l ],(, sniofo;
'I Ins AVMS tll(; W(.;l|,(,ii of liis conqiu'ij 1 IL^ J„il,dlt,
And li(!ro its glorious virtu, s v.oio dispkiv.'d."'
TJ.,". IViuco of Dui-kiK.ss (,uails l.cdoie (Ini.l's i-ovvor,
Cliii.st .-;iw tlio sniircs lii-oparcMl fur iimoccnco ;
His living w,,r,l alone in tlint, .Irciid lioiir
Shono liko J, siinbcMin on < acli dark pictoncc;
And tho Dccoivor vatiqiiisJicd, pm to sliamo,
Struck Jiis vilo bujuiers, darken, d in its -Icani.
^^^
—^i^-
HU.MILITY.
M'^^^^^*^^'^"^ profers tlie l.uslied rotrcit,
And l.r.iMs ker altar Uy tko woi-Jd unseen,
Einl)ou,.red in leafy shade of l)ranc]ios gi-een ;
Willi Ciod alone she enteis at its oate.
Thr-'ugh the still h.airs, on hiui alonc^ to wait.
Sli(( hears tin; voice .livine Milk soul seivne,
And, tlirou-h ea. h ti i.d, on the naith doth 1 an ;
Tlirs nnkes t!ie crooked pa'hs of soirow strai<--!it,
llesi-ned t ) })(• what suits the will divin.^
In le s, or more, oi- failure, or su(!cess
She ni(;asiires np heiuialli tlif> testing line,
Yet is content t ) he co!;.sidered i(\ss,
Just to her grciatncss, cahniy irie<ts disgrace,
And loves, with Christ, to take the low^est place.
7«
1 A/iOH Mh: I A) I) I his.
"'kI
I' I
i^t
liLlOSSKlJ A\\V\ Tin: IM'IM-: i.N IIKART.
.rC Iil']AIl us \\\i\ jLfliJHsy Htr<!,'iiii still «^li<liii,LC )»y,
'^' Which niv«!S thy w;it<(iy iiii;i^(^, LCciitlc. Kvc,
l'\iii' iis tli.it iiiiJi;^*' vvhi(;h its dcpUis do givf,
'I'hy .spirit dwells iM^iu^iitJi thy Mal<(!i-'s oyc ;
And witli tliy iiKutiii iinji-^'c; it may vie.
Its |»in'er (h'juhs I Ik; iuee of (iod i"(!(;('iv(%
And iiiiiTor lorth the iiii|>i'inls it doih leave
'\\\ ^lad th(! aii^cls wIkmi (-Ik^v hither ll\.
Iilest are th(! »»iir<! in lie.irt, for they ahide
Undcu" the e|oiidl(;ss atiiiospheie of |)(?ac(} ;
Tli(ty ]ov(; llie liL,dit, tor theic is noui^ht to hide;
'l^ln^y look, like I'ac, to see an unveiled fae(;,
And walk wiiJi (iod, throii;i;h th(; still eveniiiL,' time,
Jn loveliiM' <^r )ves than IOd(!n's in (JM-ir |»rim(\
. or'*-
PKAISK l\ HKAVKN.
t,T;' SAW the ani^el foi-m ere(;t of Trais^^
^ With i^Iowin;^ eountiMiatiee, hei' vyi". n|)t.urneil,
The nnv(!ile.| throne;, vviih St(!|)h(Mi's i^lance, dis-
cerned, ---
Her li]»s apart, sfMit upwar<l with that gaze
TIh! raptiii'ons notcis ot* her ecstatic lays ;
I[(ir jHjacijfnl spii-it, that lor sin had monrnod
And in this sinful world had long s 'JoiumumI,
Had fixe.Ml upon the Land* its steadfast ga/(;,
Jn pur<;st worship, as she; poured h(;r song, —
Th(! lay itself a simple nndody
Whose fervid not(!.-i w(3j-(; swiftly rolhid along
Like wave on wav(; upon the opiui s(!a :
Till all heaven's shadowy (rlill's with her rejoiced,
And all its hills were with Inn- anthem voiced.
%
'I' Alio I! AlI'lLOhll'lS.
AIIJJA FATIIKi:,
Ct^
rinrr
.tjijr \\K\\{ a voir;.., liko music IVoni afai,
WJlidl th(i loW-l)IV;iti.in;r wind ,„i-llt Hoftly },
As (>'.,r tl„> luk,. j„. spreads liis vviuidoring wing ;
It .s(!('iiis till' iiiiisic of tlic iiioniini^' star,
Jb fails so ;,^(!ntly on my rapLiii-cd cmi- ;
Or snnic^ svvoct carol of tin, vocal spring
'I'liMi, fVoni (Ji,; distant liills sccMn.s oclloin^^
Jliisli ! 'lis tli(j voice of (i,„j I i,dv h(;ar •
l(! sjMiaks liis own nnutt(!r;i,bl(j name—
l.il<e li^dit from darkn»;ss at the noon of ni,i,dit,
TIk! (|iiick'nin,<< sound n|M)n my spii-it came,—
Ami still 'tis li(;n', and doth itseir incit(s
Doth syllahli! his nam(! divinely ni^di
With such asHiiraneo sweet, and cjaselessiy.
THE LILY.
iii ''''^'' ''■'"' ^^ »i"xioiis toilers of the iiiglit,
^^^ Workin- M.e lomr day o.it, the., -ray of light in.
Whose brow in sl<'(!,> seems shadowe.l froln withia-
Ile cloLlicd (dial lily in the morning light,
And there it stood all gleaming in his sight.
It toils : no never, neiili(;r doth it spin.
Nor woven were its silken tluvads for gain.
Who gave that halo ting.' of sunnier white ?
E'en kings are not arrayc^d in rolnis like these ;
And yet it falls and withers at thy f(H;t,—
Th(! Irailest, fdrcist, of e;i,rth's imag(!S.
When wilt thou learn its lessons" to re])eat,
And tiust the Power njunilicent, which gave'
Huch priceless tr»,asur.;s Just to hloom and fade /
i^
80
'I Alii) I i MIll.OlJlKS.
'mi-: I'ALLow (;k()Ijxi>.
•'P IlKSSKI) l.v I lie c'iismIcss Ircad of l>iisy ("('(-t,
'^'^ Aly piiri-lir I, I'niil less .s(miI is liciilcii li inl ;
N<»ii(! SDW (Ji(! .si('(l l)C(MU-;c I.Ik! !^i<)iiii(| i'. inaircil
'Twoiild striltc likd iriil lli;it, on I lie rock «!olli l»c,i,i,
Ami only l('ni|il, tli'i |t;issin'4 liiids lo cmI.
TIk' |)loui;lilii;urs I;il)M|- line ImiIi lio |-c\v;inl ;
Tlic riinowcd {'iirlli foi- sc('(| was nol. |>i('[);ii-(;(l ;
And :dl lies I'dlow 'ncilli I Ik; .sninni<r ImmI,.
All. Lord ! I would (Jiiil. Iliis wcii- (allow ;^M()iind,
Scml, send ;i <4r;tcioM-i i;ii;i, I liy spirit. i;i\'(' ;
'I'lioUL^Ii laic, c'.'n ii(i«' mi'jlii 'jiMcions IVuil Ix; found.
dnsl now lliv jnccions woi'ds I would i"c((«iv(;.
Oh let lids llinly w,isl(! in 1'nirows l)i('ak,
Aiul IVonj tJiis rock a pl'iitcons iiiirvc.st Lak(!.
'IMIOJINY (IIIOirNI).
ilZ) l']||(>IJ) tli(! I'lorny L,'ionnd 1 tlic weeds i^row rank
^^ ■ In \\\v. dec]) soil (liiil liolds tin; |trccious seed ;
lis thistle-down lloats over all I Ik; mead, —
Oh it \vci'(! hclt.er that 'twere; all ii hlank,
Than thai. Mich soil -ritdi as the river's hank—
Should L^i\'' i's streni;t|i such (nil weeijs to (Vied,
And choke the iViiiiliil |>1 inis we so much need.
Kiinh's juices ri(di, the nightly dews they drank
W'ouhl make a |tlenleous harxcst of this hiight —
Wlieic not a, sheaf is leathered from the Held.
Pluck U)» (lios(! thriftv weeds, let in the li,L,dit,
Thus nIi.'lII this barren thorny gi'onnd Ix; healed ;
llast(; tli(!(!, O haste, th(M'(;'s hut one se(;din^' time.
Why shouhl thy sicklo lack its harvest liymii (
ii!
mw, ii!
::n
TABOli MELODIES.
STONY (iJlOTIND.
81
mJBOVE Um rook no .Icpt]. of soil w;is found,
Yet tlioro tlio scorls of graco did quickly sprint
And up to i-ipoiK'ss sofMuod tlusir fniit to bring;
For tlm Hwcot culm of lioavon did all surround,
And joy ],..rsolf scoincMl Invatliitig in oacli sound.
I»iit wlj(!n tho clotuls outsi)road tlioir sahlo wing
And the (juick llanio amid tl.o tliundor's ring, "
Ront tho tiill oak, and |)k)ugl.(!d the noigl,|,oriiig ground—
The .smitt(3n plant, Iik(! an untimely flower,
Drooped iliou,L,diuidnirt, and withered where it grew,—
The stricken victim of tlu! trying hour,
A f(ieble stalk that trembled 'neath th(5 dew ;
No vigorous root went down with circling fold
Deep in the f)-uitful earth to take its hold.
-<^-
GOOD GROUND.
.0
^1 SEE the ripened field of golden grain
Bond 'neath the harvest moon its rolling waves,
As if to yi(!ld tho treasures that it gives ;
I hear the rustling oars aljove the plain
Tell of the precious send and plenteous rain ;
Silent they bow to meet the sickled sheaves,
As sheaf on slieaf the reajjor's pi-aise receives.
Methiuks the angels there might sing unseen
And lay such triiasures in their gathered heaj) ;—
No stain of lilight, no marring weeds are there,
Only the precious fruits that angcjis reap,
Such as the IVLtster when he fhall appear,
Some thirty, .sixty, some an hundredfold,
Shall bind for heaven, and treasure as they'i-e told.
A
IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-3)
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TABOR MELODIES.
ZACCHEUS.
l|
li
. (
r\^.
^jXTtE calls thee now on whom thy soul doth call.
-^.^
From the omniscient eye of him who taught,
Thou art not hid ; — in stature of thy thought,
Thou art conspicuous as kingly Saul *
Among the prophets, and though great withal, —
Wert thou not he that in the tempi ) smote
That sinful breast in which repentance wrought ] —
That Publican whose humbled eyes did fall
So meekly on the earth, the while his cry
Was piercing highest heaven with holy prayer 1 — ■
While mercy looked on him with kindling eye,
Though the proud Pharisee despised him there.
Haste Zaccheus, haste, for He who calms thy breast
Doth call thee now and He will be thy guest.
-^^-
LIVJNG FAITH.
SON of God, thou art the God of power !
The laws of Nature have their source in thee,
They find their channels in thy Sovereignty,
And wait alone on thee through every hour, —
In the tornado or the gentle shower —
In the fixed mountains or the rolling sea, —
This, when the meek centurion once did see,
His mighty faith on angel wing did tower.
" Speak only, Lard, my servant shall be healed ;
I am not worthy to behold thy face ;
What I command my servants is fulfilled, —
What thou dost will must instantly take place."
O for that true disci |)le's living faith
That simply asks, and what it asks it hath.
TABOB MELODIES. 83
NATHANIEL.
5y HOU Lord dost see the contrite spirit's sighs,
^ Tlie darkness liideth not at all from thee,
Nor the deep solitude of earth or sea, —
No mantling cloud beneath the circling skies
Could screen Nathaniel's secret from thine eyes ;
And lo, where'er he bows the tremblin'^ knee,
Where'er his sighs lift up tfie sinner's plea,
Thou wilt not quench liis smoking sacrifice.
This is my hope as sino-ly I draw nio-h ;
And 'neath the fig tree's shade would wait alone
On him who heard that seciet worshipper.
And sent such blest assurance from his throne, —
Here still to find in shades, Nathaniel trod.
His secret place of intercourse witli God.
THE FIG THEE.
£p HRIST sees the fig tree covered o'er with leaves,
^ Its quivering leaflets with the dews are wet ;
The gathering time for fruitage is not yet.
This fertile field doth bear the golden sheaves,
And yet that tree the expectant eye deceives, —
'Tis an appearance and a counterfeit, —
Its empty branches shame the rivulet.
With which its cumbrous root it interweaves.
Nothing but leaves, a breathing foliage
That withers where it grew, and in the storm
Just tells which way the cruel tem[)est rage,
And through the drift each leaflet's whirling form
Drops to the dust, itself as dark and drear,
Amid the eddying winds which riot there.
84
TABOH MELODIES.
[I
I J
1
i
.
1 :
i
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MOUNT TABOR.
(^ HRIST called the chosen three to Tabor's height
^ The splendors of his power to behold ;
There he his own insignia unrolled, —
His face more radiant than the star of night
Seemed, like the sun, insufferably bright, —
His robe was changed until it shone like gold,
Or like the brightness that it did infold, —
Transfigured into light, for God is light,
Veiled in the glory of that wondrous cloud —
The symbol cloud of Majesty supreme.
Hear him, O earth, hear thou the Son of God !
Veiled with both wings, hear him, ye seraphim, —
Whose words the mirror of his truth and grace
Show the glad tidings of the Prince of Peace.
CHRIST'S TEARS.
AW ye his flowing tears that dropped like pearls 1
On Olivet and Bethany they fell.
Heard ye the rhythm of their simple tale % —
JNTethinks their language in each streamlet purls,
Breathed from each murmuring ripple as it curls,
Heard when the sounding tide doth gently swell
As if in air their harmony miijht dwell.
E'en where the deep its thund'ring billow hurls,
There is a tender touching undertone
That breathes the music of a human tear ;
As if it heard his footsteps, sad and lone,
And the hushed waves of Galilee were near.
Wherever sorrow's silent foot hath erred,
Methinks their voice of sympathy is heard.
■I M
TABOR MELODIES.
85
LEAD ME TO THE LIGHT.
^|g ORD, thou didst give the darkened eyeball sight.
■^^^ Guide thou my steps as thou didst lead the blind.
Create the power of vision in my mind,
And chase those shrouding shadows of the night.
Hold thou my hand and lead me to the light,
That in thy purest glory all enshrined
The essence of thy truth I too may find, —
The shadeless splendor of the infinite —
That with thy saints I too may comprehend
The depth, and height, and breadth of love divine,
Whose rays beyond these solar rays extend.
And ever did, and evermore shall shine.
Show me that glory flooding from above,
Filled with the fulness of eternal love.
I li
I
'OW^
THE PRODIGAL.
HOMELESS prodigal, I perish here ;—
Night's saddest outcast 'neath this firmament.
How like this tattered garb my soul is rent,
Worn out and stained in life's thronged thoroughfare.
These husks the swine do eat, I may not share.
Oh, might I look to heaven,— might I repent —
Naught else my utter ruin can prevent.
Can these vile lips present themselves in prayer 1
Or speak gf home ] I will arise and go.
" My Father, I have sinned, like Esau, sold
For sin's vile pottage all my hopes below, —
Trampled thine honored name with crimes untold :
Only receive, and as thy servant own,
T am not worthy to be called thy son.
lii'
i
I. I
III
!
86
TABOR MELODIES.
OUT OF THE FOLD.
tjlWTrlD crooked patlis and tliorns, in nnite despair,
^t,ju^ Trembling and torn, I'm 1)1 coding and alone,
A straying feeble lamb, a weary one.
Far out npon tlie mountains, bleak and bare.
No shadovving rock, no pastures green are lit^re,
The mount is blazing 'neath the rays of noon :
The sheltered flocks into their folds have gone,
Far from the shepherd s voice, the shepherd's care, —
A wand'ring sheep out of the fold and lost,
Lo, the wild wilderness hath shut me in.
Full oft the shepherd's voice my path hath crossed,
But now I sink, I perish in my sin, —
Hush ! I will hearken where the soft winds soar,
Shall I not hear his gentle voice once more ?
THE FKIEND OF SINNERS.
^HENCE is this roar of tumult's angry note,
Like stormy waves upon an ocean reef ?
Whence have they l)rought this anguished home-
less waif?
Since on her ear their accusations smote.
Her dark dishevelled locks around her float
Sprent with hot tears through which her frantic grief
Sobs out in vain : the multitude are deaf
Her trembling soul some hope of mercy caught
From the rebuke that through Christ's glance had burned
To wither her accusers in its light.
Her grief to penitence so quickly turned,
His soul was touched with pity at the sight ;
And as that prayer its trembling accents bore »
He heard and answered, *' Go, and sin no more."
TABOR MELODIES.
87
THE SOWER.
"^E who go fortli to tread the fallow tield
And sow with many tears the precious seed,
Fear not the biirniug drought, or springing weed,
The germ that's in the living plant concealed,
Its ears of increase plenteously shall yield ;
And ye shall see with joy, the furrowed mead
With ripening grain bow down its golden head,—
The harvest moon spread o'er it like a shield,
While all the twinkling stars above it roll.
And ye shall see the gates of morning laugh,
As angels lengthen out the glorious scroll
Where bending sheaves are numbered sheaf on sheaf.
Cast in your seed, ye weeping ones ; ere long
The angels shall ring out your harvest song.
rti'
BETHANY.
"^HOU tear-dropt mount of sacred Bethany,
From thee the stone is rent that grief hath rolled ;
And on thee first Christ's tears we may behold ;
His love divine, his human sympathy,
Lifting thee up that all the earth may see —
And hear those wondrous words thou hast enscrolled.
Those heights are lit with glories manifold
Where Lazarus walks revived, O Christ, by thee
To hush the sorrows that thou couldst not hear.
O light of Bethany, thou dost abide
Near every tomb above which falls a tear, — '
Down by the fallen sufferer side by side —
To weep with those who weep, to gild the grave.
The mighty God, to sympathize and save.
88
TABOR MELODIES.
CHRIST AT JACOB'S WELL.
r-O-
liE yet tlio evening's hallowed liour was gone,
As the pale twilight softly o'er hira fell,
A weary traveller sat on Jacob's well, —
Himself the fount of life through whom alone
The treasures of the Godhead's glory shone.
Ere yet they knew that name unspeakable,
There was a fragrance round him that did tell
Of Sharon's Rose,— the True Eternal One, —
Light of Samaria, — God of truth and grace.
The wond'ring angels pressed about his feet; —
Samaria's daughter hath an angel's place.
She gave him drink, and there in converse sweet
She found the Christ who did her soul redeem
And drank the water of a living stream.
TABOR.
YE who stand as if on Tabor's height,
In whom the flesh doth seem a veil so thin
We see Christ's glory beaming from within,
Ye, like your glorious head enshrined in light,
Almost transfigured in our dazzled sight.
Are speaking of the cross with soul serene,
And of the martyr's crown ye long to win.
Whence 1 What are these, ye ask, arrayed in light ?
They seem like jewels round the jasper throne.
Did they not pass through tribulation's fires,
And drink the bitter cup of death alone 1
Methinks in death ye see them grasp their lyres.
To catch the notes triumphant angels bring,
And scale heaven's battlements with them to sing.
TAROn MllLODIES.
r^HRJST AT NATN.
Its 2lot(^s aro ]ieard above tl.c meHSiired tread
Of woe too weiglity to be eoniforted,—
Like Kve's ^irroat angi.is]) o'er the siji of Cain.—
Or Kacliel weeping fo)- her Joved ones slain.
Nain's st.-ieken wid.nv, },y a stranger led,
^ \VVe]>s for lier only so,,, j.er Isaac',— (lead.
Christ heai-d he.- piercing cries, and not in vain
He stayed tlie mourners, as lie tonched the bier'-
And, with the God-light kindling in his eye
E'en through the nin.bus of a human tear, '
He spoke iii tones like those at Eethanv ;
And, by a word, he to the widow gave
Her only son, her Lazarus, from the graxe.
8.9
JACOB'S WELL.
^T Jacob's well, lo, Jacob's Cod doth wait ;
^^ His burning feet, the cleaving dust doth stain ;-
Is this the common dust of 8ychar's plain t
Loosed from their sandals, in this f»",ve,-isli heat.
Those blessed feet, do they aweary beat /
Are they so resth^ss, that to rest seems vain.
With naught to end, or mitigate their pain ?—
And these blest lips whose accents are so sweet.—
Those founts of peace, are they dried up with thirst
As thus he sits alone on Jacob's Well
Samaria's traveller, oh, thou living Chi-ist !
Art thou not found upon the wayside still,
To wait for those who seem to need thee most,
And stay the ei-ring footsteps of the lost^
E
w
90
TABOB MELODIES.
DEATH.
!i' I
^c.
'gJaF death, O Lazarus, what dost thou know?
^^ Say, didst tliou sound the darkness of the tonih (
Didst thon not tremble 'neath its horrid dome I
Conldst tliou not heai the thunder, muttered low.
That shocks the soul of silence down below i
And breathe, 'mid odors of the heavy loam,
The icy dampness of death's changeless home I —
Nay : these are phantoms of illusive woe,
'Tis here that lioi)e casts in her precious seed
And trusts Christ's golden harvest for the grain ;
And, if its germ of shadowing death hatli need,
We know this loss will bring a glorious gain,
Heaped by that angel who shall rock the deep
And rend the tomb to break its dreamless slee]).
— OsSo-
'd
THE PUBLICAN.
GOD be merciful, a sinner pleads ;
My constant sighs lift up my humble prayer ;
I do not lift mine eyes to heaven, nor dare —
Doomed by the scroll my quickened conscience reads.
I know the record of my sinful deeds,
And in thy courts, O God, I thus appear,
Crushed by the conscious tyranny of fear ;
This breast I smite, but 'tis the soul that bleeds —
Its stains are darker than the sackcloth is.
I am undone, O God ; I do repent ;
Behold my anguish in my trembling knees !
Thine house doth shield the truly penitent,— -
Its bleeding paschal lamb, by faith I see.
That spotless Lamb provided, Lord, by thee.
TABOIi MELODIES.
THK TROUBLING OF THK WATERS.
:|) MICHAEL ! thou who once, hy iU.V, couHmmd
O'er tho l.right wuters of Hcthrsdu l»ienth(-.l
When troul,Ie.l Siloj.m was ulJ eawieathed
In healino- power, for Hion thus to stand,
As Katurc':, type of Christ, so near at J,and ;—
Not, as when o'er Assyria, all unsheatlied,'
The sword of Jnstice to the hilt was bathed
And prou.l Sennacherib felt the blightin- brand
Dost thou now eoine,~.nor as when fron^ the cloud
The Lord looked out and troubled ]>ha.-aoh s host
Dost thou fling back the Red Soa on the proud ;— '
Like mercy's angel, now to save tJie lost
AH in the Shiloh's healing virtues dad,
Thou dost come down to make thine Israel ^^lad
91
"i3^~ "
THE GOOD SHEPHERD.
T^'^^ ^^^^ countenance, serene and lair,
^^ Radiant with truth, arrays itself in liglit ;
As if liis soul shone out on human sight.
His thoughts are jmre as honey dropping clear ;
His words, like dewdrops, sparkle everywhere-
Like his unspotted robes, all snowy white,
Their star-born radiance glistens in the night
Of deepest sorrow and of direst fear.
Friend of the friendless-like a shadowing rock
When lightnings flash and tempests are!ibroad,-
Himself unsheltered in tho deadly shock
Of warring elements that round him trod.
This shepherd found his lamb, his love he told,
And on his bosom bore it to the fold.
M:
! I " !
II :" I
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I'
02
TAB Oh' MF.I.ODJKS.
\:
I
i
[DlKli(lIN(j! lliis .st.MiIcss iiio-lii aii.l saiilt of d.Mtli,
its lion'oi's of grcjit diirkiu'ss as tln-y risf,
And yorj lixcd l'uH', 1 lit'l my wcai'v (".cs,
And, tVoni its grnnito cd^c wil.li Itlastcil licatli,
(rlance n)> to (Jod's right liand iVoni lu il iK'ncatii,
Fi'om Al)ral>ani's lips, J hear those drcMd replies ; —
Tliore, w hite-i-()l)ed J.azarns, in his l»oKOin lies, —
In Hades I, lieneatli this storm ol' wrath.
Tlius doomed, this frnitless tree drop])ed o,,i of tinu- :
And as it tell, it lies a ]iel[)loss mass,
That rots npon itself : — for me no eliimo
Of Sabbatii bells, no penitence, no [tejice.
Woe's flood foains on in rnin's ]);ile attire,
Life's light to (piench, — but not its hidden iire.
IJ.
.cW HEAK faint echoes from the distant peak
^ Of desolation's mount ; thev seem the cry
Of coming cycles heralded on high,
Through boundless circles lound its summit bleak ;
And, as from distance intinite, they sj)eak
In deep'ning accents, ever as they fly, —
They say, " We come," and yet they come not nigh
Their evolutions widening, as tliey take
The sphere of an eternity nnknown,
To touch the limits of the infinite.
I gras]) as I would measure them alone.
Then, shrinking back, o'erwhelmed at the sight,
I hear the hollow depths where roll the s])hei(^s,
Laugh at my purpose and the vanished years.
TABOn MEJ.ODIKS.
03
r|^H EV sf'iirdi me now,--tlie sharp, (iniok'-plun^nug prongs
'<-' Of liativd's harrow, striking do •> to tind.
And rend niy hcttcn- memories from mv mind :
Ml spirit, cease : tliou hast a tliousaud tongnes
To marslial lii'e's inimedicahli; \vi-on(»-s,
Or prol.e M'itli venomed tliouglit, or words nnkind,
The lacerated wonnds wliicli 1 wonld hind.
Wliy wonldst thou smite as wiili a thousand tliongs,
That eat ilic ilcsJi and sink into tli(> soul >.
Hut tin's proud nerve is motionless in |»ain.
And frowns ih-fiance while the thundei\s roll,—
►Showing its !)rand as did the la-ow of Cain.
Wliat though these lips should all their lightnings cpiaff,
Ahlaze with anguish, blasted, they would laugh !
CI
CALVARY.
C^-EILED in the darkness, hail, thou cross-crowned mount,
>J'> Thou nigged, bleeding, blessed Calvary !
What living thoughts start up at sight of thee 1
Where are the ages as their wrecks I count,
8ince the first sin unsealed the deepest fount
Of the gi-eat doe^p of guilt's unbounded sea.
That, like the deluge, drowns humanity.
How like the deluge as its waters mount
Vexed by a. thousand storms, its surges rise
No human might can battle with their ra«>-e,
Earth's ])roudest height beneath their swell in-:^ lif.s :
There is no port n.) sheltered anchora«n» ;
P)ut, lik(! the ark, al)ove that voiceless orave
This cross-crowned mount stands high above the wave.
■lii^
i H i-
94
TABOR MELODIES.
u
f
LAZAKIjS.
'0»h MAMMON ! call not ])Overty a crime,
-^^ It oft dotli How from an afflicted state ; —
A princely sonl lay at the rich man's gate.
His days were cast upon an evil time.
And Christ ))reathed out this narrative sublime
That for all ages he might thus creat(^
A parable to shame tlie inhuman state
That hath no lazar-house, whate'er its clime,—
No gentle hand, no (^ye, Aurora-like,
To ])ierce the glooms of human misery, —
Those fuL-rows dark where friendless outcasts weak.
Like hom(^less beasts must lay them down to die.
►Since (.'hrist the beggar's wrongs with heaven redressed.
How rich the ])00i-, how blessed is their rest !
THE (lOOD SxiMAH ^VN.
n
r£
tUT on tlie hiijfhway where the wor .ed are,
Know only thou their [)eiil and eir ))aia ;
\n l)ity's nauK?, their burning temples fan,
Uplift the fallen with the hand of power.
Go thou ; behold, thy brother man is there
Where Israel's priests and Levites pass the slain ;
In deeds, be thou the good Samaritan,
And on their wounds the healing unction pour.
Haste thou the dee|>est founts of grace to ([ualf.
That all may seek them where thy li])s have sought.
Haste thou to sift from the unwinnowed chatf,
The priceless grain his i)recious blood has bought ;
Till every sheaf is gathered on th(> Held,
And all the servants of our God are sealed.
TAROB MELODIES.
95
-«.
GO, AND SIN NO MORE.
^^ HKOUGH the dim hours, 'mid phantoms of unrest,
^^ When the weird night crei)t tlirough the willows gray.
Hid from the moonlight, in the shadows, hxy
A withered leaf, that was the shadows' guest ;---
With dapi)led gleams of sorrow on its breasf ,—
Its greenness gone,, that (juivered in the ray
Of golden sunshine through the summer's day, -
A trampled leaf, in loneliness unhlest.
Too green to fall, 'twas broken from the stem.
Its morning dews were darkened into tears,
And on its cheek there seemed the blush of shame.
Frail outcast, crushed as by a thousand fears,
Christ heard thy trembling knock at mercy's door ;
And softly answei-ed, '• Go, and sin no more."
I •!:
THE MAN OF HOIIEOW8.
HE 8on of God on earth did once a}>pear,
Th' Eternal loosed his changeless zone of light,
Impluuged in depths of distance infinite.
His temple's glow grew pale as evening's star,
For us bedimmed, our abject state to share.
His modest form concealed his matchless might,—
It had no comeliness in mortal sight,
Marred by the sorrows suffered for us here.
Earth's desert heath pressed round his lowly brows,
And touched with dewless lips his parched mouth ;
Whence wisdom's vintage, that divinely glows,
Poured from his lij)s the wine of living truth ;
His poet's lips, their mighty numbers roll
A down the ages still, to glad the whole.
I
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96
TABOR MELODIES.
J GO AWAY.
i^r
^jk^TrHY aro ye sad 1 I needs must go away.
"^^^ O blessed Master, why fi'oin us ? how long I
Wo are so fee])U^, and onr foes oo strong
They come its wlien a tempest strikes a spray
To take the ti-embling h-'atage as a prey.
While with iis here, hasL thou not suttered wrong 1
K'en as when David stood his flocks among,
And a tierce lion met him in the way. —
Therefore we cry to thee, our shepherd king,
Thy little Hock that follows thee, thine own.
I'hy ])resence is the rock to wliich we cling.
Where coidd we hide, on earth, if left alone ?
Sorrow hath filled our hearts, thy words we plead.
O Lord, thou wilt not break the bruised reed !
(;
THK TKAJ(S OK Old VET.
KHOLD. the glance of that all-seeing eye
'*^^" Sadly, it kindles on the ether blue,
Ifolding the heights of Sion full in view ;
While Justice fhinn^s within the dark'niiin' skv.
Is not th(^ season of the vintai^e wvAx 'I —
The grapes ungathered ripen through and throu!j;h.
How long, O Lord, the Holy One and True,
Till thou aveno-e thv slau.ghtered saints on hiijh ?
Thus angel legions sang the martyrs' hynni.
While .Jesus wept on dusky Olivet ;
He saw his Sion through the shadows dim,—
His people doomed, — his temple desolate.
He sorrowed not that he himself should bleed,
He wept for whom he could not intercede.
TABOIi MELODIES. 9:
THE TEARS OF OLIVET.
WONDKOUS teiirs, wJiose revelations sealed
Tlie wid'ning circle of night's ebon dome,
Tinged with the hue his raiment did assume,
Blood-red ye rolled, before his grief was healed.
Stripped of the brooding wings that were its shield,
A desolation shrouded for the tomb,
He sees Jerusalem, his temple home,
In ruin wrapt, gleam like a i^orv tield •
Blood stains its mountain verdure to its crest
And floods the plains where crimso^'d Kedron lies ;—
And weeping Rachel smites her anguished breast
On dark Golgotha o'er the sacrifice.
He sees the vengeance that she could not stem,
And suffers still for those he must condemn.
'I
CHRIST'S LOWLINESS.
^;)^^fcHY wash their feet, O thou Incarnate J.ove,
^ Whose blessed Iiands for higher works are meet ?
I see thee bowed at thy disciple's feet ;
The work itself thy lowliness doth prove.
Methinks the angels, wond'ring, stood above ;
As thou for each, ere thou wouldst take thy seat,
Didst first this sovran act of love repeat.
Blest pattern this, that heaven and earth doth move
At first to imitate, then com[)rehend,
How full of grace, thou lowly Son of God,—
And Judas' feet, as if he were a friend,
Those faithless feet that on dark eirands trod.
Oh can it he I did Judas ill recpiite
Thy grace and love and gnoHness infinite l
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TAROR MELODIES.
PETER'S DENIAL.
FAITHLESS Peter, why inflict this pang ?
The thankless myriads healed, the raised dead,
Have they not all forsaken him and fled 1
Meek, faultless Lamb ! he felt the sharp, rude fang
Of deadly liate ; his hour of darkness rang
With accusations false, and jis it sped,
His pierced s[)irit, like his temples, bled.
This was the hour exulting demons sang,
And ho])ed to celebrate foreverniore, —
All. wliv deny him here? liis anmiished brow
Hath scarcely smoothed the furrows that it bore
In sad Gethsemane. He hears thee now,
And silent Hesper, o'er the foam-wreathed sea,
Ne'er looked so sad as when (Uirist looked on thee.
THE DYING THIEF.
^^?^
V
n^EACE, dying thief, thine eye is on Christ's cross,
-^^^ Christ's blood that sprinkles all for thee doth flow.
Though red like crimson, thou art white as snow. — -
A welge of gold leneath dark heaps of dross,
This peerless gain doth cancel years of dross.
Did mercy's sovran wing ere light so low \
Her pinions touch the vestibule of woe.
Had Judas seen, he had not swept across
The broad black gulf ; but ah ! his sun has set.
Peace, dying thief, Christ doth remember thee :
I hear his gracious voice, — Oh might there be
Such blest assurance of my cancelled debt
As through the shadows of the grave I rise
To claim Christ's fellowship in Paradise.
4
TABOB MELODIES.
99
JUDAS.
1NGE.D l)y a yellow gleam from heaps of gold,
His furrowed brow, seared by his burning In-ain,
Is deeper stamjied than was the brow of Cain.
It was not envy ; Judas basely sold
For love of gain the Prince of life. BohohJ I
Christ's crown of thorns, his garment's crimson stain,
His lamb-like patience in his mort;i,l piin !
His sad Gethsemane enough had told
Without the cross or mocking mulritude.
Stay, though thy lips— those lips that touched his own-
Are all aflame with base inivratitude,
Eend not the portals of the dread unknown !
Why headlong plunge into the dark abyss
To hear the serpents of perdition hiss ]
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(^0
THE LAST SOLTLOQUY OF JUDAS.
-??,—'
^^j^ON crimson sun, that sinks into the west
^^ As if in setting it were bathed in blood,
Seems like an emblem of the Lamb of God.
Do the thick shades of death in fold.-, unblest.
Lie like those clouds upon his mantled breast?
Oft at his word the highest heavens were bowed ;
Oft 'mid his foer. invisible he stood,
While they seetned fixed as the dull earth they pressed,-
T thought he would have mocked their cruel hate.
Godlike lie stood, in majesty divine,
But now he strangely stooj)S to meet liis fate.
His purpose fixed, lie will iiis life resign.
Cursed li|)s that moveil to slay him with a kiss,
What is the fate of pei-fidy like this ^
I
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I
l(»() TABOR MELODIES.
UEMOIISK OF JUDAS.
t^JjrHR(>U(jlH guilt's hot funiiice, on its depths I gaze ;
"^^ Its glistoriui^ flMinrs soein white, as if they caught
The slicen of that for whicli my soul was bought :-
Love's trembliu'j; lip doth seem to fan the bla.ije.
Glow not so keenly ln'iglit, ye arrowy rays
Of soul-consuniinu' dcisoLiting thought !
Perdition's llames, methinks, are not so hot.
That kiss, — Oli how it burns I so basely it betrays.
J hear the upbi-uidings of his gentle voice.
Let vongeanec ))luiige his weapon to the hilt.
Annihilation, (n)nie, iiast tlioii no dark device
To quench the bhishings of the blood I spilt ?
Thrice cursed woe, forevermore to be,
How shall I bear this deathless infamy ]
UB
THE SHADOW OF DEATH.
^Tr
^S^TrVjAK. nature shudders at the lettered stone,
•-^-^ Shocked by the thought ; as when, with quickened
breath.
We feel in life the chilling touch of de, ch.
When the last foothold on life's plank is gone,
She dreads the void, invisible unknown, —
The haunted valley of the shadowed path, —
To walk the waters of the floods of death.
Who would not fear to traverse them alone 1
Nay, there's the Shepherd of the heavenly fold,
We fear no evil by our Shepherd's side ;
His rod and staff attend us as of old ;
His hands and feet j)roclaitu the crucified ;
Death seems a shadow only 'neath his smile,
And angel voices through the valley thrill.
TABOR MELODIES. W]
HE HATH ABOLISHED DEATH.
^HKIST'S ilyiiio- words thfj solid granite rent,
^^ They shook the marl.]-.^ citadd of death,
And a.x iiis realm throughout its length and breadth ;
The heavens grew black in mute astonislinient :
And, in the sable depths of that dark tent,
Christ slew the monster in the depths beneath,
^Thrilling the mountains and the rocking heath.
WlKMover death our scattered dust had pent,
His power was smitten in liis own domain,—
His bands were suappe^l cVn in the se})ulchre ;
And as from death Christ, conquering, rose again,
A weight of boundless rai.ture bowed heaven's choir
In ecstasies too golden to b(^ yivx n,
Too great to speak, and silence was in heaven.
-V ^-
ed
DEATH IS YOUKS.
■^
^ E ATH mars our clay, he cannot change life's cast,
^^«^ He only makes life's type unchangeable,
On the closed volume sets his final seal,'
And gives our grosser ashes to the blast :
For when the martyr's agony is j)ast.
His virtues live 'neath death's transparent veil.
And oft they seem the brighter for the foil
In which they're set upon his sable breast.
Te niartyred saints, where is the sting of death ?
Hath he not set your white-robed spirits free ?
Death lost his sting upon the crimson heath.
And now is yours ; for death is victory.
Exult in Cod, and there with veiled wings
Stand 'neath the throne-light, near the King of kings.
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102
TABOR MELODIES.
CHPtlST ASCENDING.
aNl), as they wait, l)el)iiul the veil deHceiids
That diamond pure of em|)yrean glow, —
'J'he gretit white throne of our Jehovah Jah ;
Tlie seven-lined rainI)ow fair above it bends
And Minus its glory downward, as it blends
With glist'ning pearls strowed o'er liis robes of snow,
And on that countenance, so marred below.
Thus thron(;d in light the Son of God ascends,
Crowned on his chariot throne as King of kin<is.
With hosts that form a countless multitude ; —
The guardian cherubs lifting up their wings
To mount on high, as once on Chebar's flood.
Lift up your heads, ye everlasting gates 1
Be ye lift up for him whom heaven awaits !
-i:^
WHY STAND YE GAZING?
■^V
^'^v^'^/^HAT meant their wondering, keen, entranced gaze,
'-^^ Fixed on that passing cloiul, whose leaden leilgo
Changed into dazzling brightness to the edge ?
Did they expect their eyes in blest amaze —
As when Elisha looked — should catch the blaze
Of marshalled legions round their r'sen liege 1
Did thej'- await the heavenly sign, the pledge,
That Israel now her promised realm sliould seize,
Supreme among tlie nations as of old,
Ruled by their David's migiitier, nobler son,
Whose princely gifts should make a reign of gold
To all who clustered round his peerless throne?
Ye pitying angels, wake their dreaming ear
To grander notes than those of coming war ?
TABOR melodies;.
103
THE ASOENSION^.
^A^^^*^ ^'"^ ^'^'"' "^' ' ^'^^ ^*^^^^''*^ ^^^^^ t^OLll siller ;
^ Heaven's liarp attuned, the joy divine outi)o.irs
He ye lift up, ye evei-lasting dooi\s ?
Lift up your lieads for your ascendiui,' Kino- !
His is the radiance that the morn dotli l)rinf',
When darkness iiies before tlie sunlit hours.
And joy awakes amid the o[)'nin«^ Mowers.
Ifeard ye those woi-ds wjiose everlasting ring
Is eclioing still where Olivet is throned ?
It was the voice ye heard beside the sea,
With Sinai's thunder 'neath its instant sound ;
As wlien he hushed tlie waves of Galilee.
It thun.lers now, 'neath banners all unfurled.
Go }e and preach my gospel to the world.
I
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PENTECOST. ■
t^^;OME, with the rushing wind and tongues of lire
And sit on each of us,— a heavenly flame—
A beam of gloiy from the Eternal Beam.
O bring the inexpressi])le df^sire
Of burning zeal, tlie words it doth inspire :
Bring Hteplien's radiant mantle with the glow
That from the inner shrine of glory came
A flame that wrapt his sacrifice entire.
And found Elijali's chariot way to heaven.
Breathe now again, thou Spirit all divine,
And let the fervor of pure love be given,
With or without its ancient finery sign.
Oh, let the power of Pentecost appear
And send th' eternal, grand, Sabbatic year.
\\'\'
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104
TABOR MELODIES.
'%
CHJIISTIAN FELLOWSliJP.
?lll:0\V blL'st the fellowshi[) of those who mee.t
^■^~' Witliiii thv hullowod courts thine altars nojir ;
There, as on Tabor's heiglit, the saints appear
In silent raptim;, Saviour, at thy feet, —
Like thy disciples who on thee did wait :
The exceeding brightness of tliy ulory there
0'er[)Owers our feeble strength, too great to bear ;
So })ure tjie joys, so clear the heavenly light,
So full, so deep, the flow of sacred peace : —
How dear the inteicourse of such an hour !
'Tis as the glory of the Holy Place
O'ershadowed by the symbol of thy power, —
Or as when Solomon before thee prayed,
Awed by the light in which he was arrayed.
■V:iS V-
P \
Mi \
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MARTY^PtDOM OF STEPHEN.
ft EAR ye the vengeful rush of miird'rous feet 1
''"^ Red wrath and hate, and calumny and strife,
Sweep onward there in one resistless fl lod.
The zealot's rage is like the sweep of fate ;
Yet doth the martyr stand erect, elate,
To pity moved ; how like the Son of God,
When he alone the })ur[)le winepress trod I —
It was his gentleness that made him great.
Thus Stephen bleeds; methinks I see him kneel,
With vesture stained, to breathe that wond'rous prayr,
Lifting his dying glance within the veil,
The Christ to view ; where angel bands prepare
To shout him welcome, when 'tis rent in twain.
And give a martyr's triumph to the slain.
TABOn MELODIES.
105
AN AIJUNDAXT KNTUANCE.
|g KK th(>re tlic; imfoldiiio; of tlie pearly gato,
Where inartyre<l Stephen in liis Hanunir car,
With fiery stee.ls, diirlH upwards from afar.
Wide op'ning inward to tlie ^rolden street,
The massive ]).')'tal dotJi itself retreat ;
The circling i-anks of thrcmes in wid' ing sphere,
The adoring seraphim who worship there,
Heaven's dread magnificence in silenc(; wait :
And expectation, bathed in d.-izziing light,
Bends all its lays npon thci martyr's crown.
And then upon the niartvr iust in siirht.
To hail him welcome to his glorious throne.
Ia), there he stands in mute abstraction meet,
And lays his honours at his Saviour's feet.
'V-i"'"
PHILIP'S VISIT TO SAMARIA.
^HEN was the city glad, thrilled througl! and thiough
-^ With ra])turous joy ; a thousand lines of light
Lit up each countenance in Philii)'s si^^ht
While he was preaching Christ, the Christ they knew.
They had remembrance of Christ's interview
St) late at Jacob's Well, and could recite
The gracious words with which he did invite
To Shiloh's stream, more previous than the dew ;
And now they drank full deep this living stream
Whose fiow had tinged the sacrificial knife.
They found its virtue in Christ's living name.
And slaked theii- thirst from i-e pure well of life.
Exultant city, those were blessed hours.
Great was thy joy ; Oh might such joy be ours !
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TABOR MKLODFES.
ONK WITH OHKIST.
TyTNJUSTIiY scourged, in scorn, and pain, jind loss ;
^' Uplirt(3d tVoni the eartli to Ijear his name,
To grasp liis glory in liis death of shame, —
Thus crucitied with Christ u])on his cross,
Kartli's wealth, and pride, and i)!easure are but dross, —
Like Dagon fallen, on me they jiave no claim,
Tlie^y perish all in love's consuming ilame, —
What things were gain to me, \. trample thus.
Now, Lord, f live in all redeemed to thee,
Not 1, but Christ alone in me shall live,
And thy whole image shall be seen in me.
And my whoh; being to my Lord 1 give.
.Ml, all my bliss I take from thee alone.
And thou art mine, and in thee we are one.
- OVTJ -
SAUL'S CONVERSION.
I
■!••
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tNK white, intense, insufferable beam, —
As from the centre of the throne of light, —
Flashed thence resistless on his darkened sight.
It met his vision like the liglitning's gleam,
'Twas the full glory of the slaughtered L imb, —
His temples ])ierced, — his eye serenely bright, —
His crimsoned wound beneath his vesture white, —
All those memorials dear that heaven doth claim.
Which later held his soul in glorious trance.
Which gleamed on Moses through the riven rock.
Full soon subdued 'neath that all conc]uering glance, —
Though once his name was echoed but to mock, —
Now with Christ's uttered sigh j)ierced through and through -
What wilt thou, Lord ? he cries ; what shall I do '\
TAROn MELODIES.
T AM IN A STRAIT.
lo:
^tiy tli<)u,:?lits aro rivon, Paul ; thoti dost unfold
«^^ The mental conflict that thou dost maintain ;
Thou wouldst depart, 'tis needful to remain ;
For the?e are hunl)S still feeble in tht? fold,
And thej-e ai'c sheej) un<(athered on the wold.
But all (hv worthiei- nature pants to gain
A second vision of the Christ once slain.
Oh, if with Stephen's glance, thou couldst hehold
And drop these outward senses in his li^dit
And hear the brightness of his rays unsliorn,
The glory of tliat beatific sight,
Wouldst thou remain, or hail the eternal mornt
(^hrist's glory and Christ's presence, each so dear.
Thou canst not choose ; thou wouldst be here and there.
■^^
BETTEK TO DEPART AND BK AT REST.
' j^T-'V'
.WIS better to depart and be with Christ,
"^^ Secure with Paul to 'scape the keen red rays
Of shame and scorn and persecution's blaze,
To be where stoniugs and wliere strifes are missed.
The Ej^hesian shout, the l)fute antagonist.
The lictor's rod, the prison's loathsome days,
The frequent perils of the angry seas.
Tis better to depart than to resist
E'en unto blood in striving against sin ;
Better to wear the wreath than run the race.
The many strive, but they are few who win.
'Tis bf^st assured of victory and pea<''
To loose the dinted armor from his breast,
Tis better to depart and > e at rest.
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TADOR MELODIES.
ONJ.Y A JJTTLE SPACK.
/^\ H I not to ine is lieaven a place far ott" !
' '^ I feel the presence of its lioly calm ;
I breathe the fragrance of its hills of l)ahn,
And, thougli th(! desert way is parched and rough,
The glory in the cloud is more than proof
That just beyond it waves the victor's palm,
And that within it breathes the seraph's psalm,
Whose highest notes might strike some echoing blutf,
Touched by the jasper sea so near in sight.
Only a little way my Lord withdi'ew.
Oh, could I hear it trembling through the light, — •
As I have heard the lark from out the blue, —
In dripping strains, as through the riven cloud
That mantles now the risen Son of God.
SO LITTLE DONE.
ill''-
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^Lp little done and so im])erfectly :
^"^ And is it true the gracious Lord doth note
The passing act, that like a passing mote
Gleams in the sunbeam as 'tis tloatingV)y,
Then droi)s o'ei'shadowe where a thousand lie ?
I have no words to reach the'times remote,
No costly spikenard on the breeze to float,
To breathe for aye tlie language of a sigh.
And did h(^ see, who dwelieth in tlie light,
When the lone widow In his temple bowed \
The mites she gave were precious in his sight.
Meekly they dro[»ped ; yet they n<Me voicrd so l()u<l
The bending angels list'ning lieard above,—
And those two mites filled heaven and earth with love.
TABOR MELODTES.
100
THK GOSPKL.
^"^^ ''' '-■^"'n'^^i'i".^;" ^^'^i^l'. ^^-^loso wilier of hoiiiidless lllialit
"■^^' Doth cnnipass now tlic ishuids of the seM !
Tlioii art tlio :u.;vel of the milky way,
Who ill mid lieaveu dost lioM t]iy wonurous fliglit,
And from the summit of tliat dizzy lieiglit—
As tlie ('••u-tli rolls honeath with stany ray--.
Dost mark the limits of thy future sway,
And trace the patli of universal light.
Tiaste, thou blest niigel, lu.ste from mount to mount,
Outspi-ead thy golden wings to every sliore :
Till every desert way reveals its i"ount,
rill truth shall enter every o])en door,
And the sweet strains of his serai)hic voice
\n general chorus hid the earth rejoice.
-Clio-
FAITII IN GOD.
^'
//^^X^
^'^"^^'^^^ ^»«ly> Ijoly, lioly Living One,
"<^ [ trust the eternal word, the voice divine,
The living promise in tiie written line.
Thy word is stal)le as thy changeless throne,
My glorious Iiope, my sure foundation-stone,—
A stone most precious is a word of thhie ;
Not one least jot or little I resi-m
I rest on this triumphantly, alone.
Blessed One, here blossoms all my hope
Of life that is. and life that is to be.
Here it must bloom, or with'ring here must droji
Through shadows dark as thine, Gethsemane !
1 trust thy word where mortals have not trod,
Thy living word, thou everlasting God.
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TABOR MELODIES.
f*i- 1
GREATER WORKS THAN THESE.
^HgO, Peter's faith hath mightier works to show
"'^^^ Than seraphs have, nor would tlie angels dure
To shape their actions to sucJi issues lioie ;
Silent they minister to us below,
He, as his Master, in this world of woe,
Wrapt in the felt Omnipotence of prayer,
Outsheds Christ's radiance round him every wliei-e :
And greater works than Christ's run to and fro,- -
His Haming cloven tongue with tiery ray
Hath wrought the work of ages in an hour, —
Three thousand souls converted in a day
Reveals at once liis mission and his power.
Like furnace gold, all purified from dross.
Their molten hearts reliect His lifted cross.
'tSo '
HIDDEN MANNA.
fHERE is a sun-lit uphxnd of the soul,
On which to find the manna at the dawn,
And hear the name inscribed in the white stone,
Soft clouds of incense round about it rode,
There perfect love spreads out her stainless scroll ;
There are her mercies, numbered one by one, —
Those blood-bought mercies, treasured as her own.
And from her store she lifts a glowing coal,
Christ-like, to lay it on some fallen head
Whose wrongs impartial Justice might requite ;
But Love on swifter wings to him doth speed.
Her face all shining in its milder light, —
As when night's dews with moonlight are impearled.
To shed its radiance on an errina- world.
TABOR MELODIES. m
HAVE FAITH IN GOD.
i^ADE in thine image, in thy likeness Lord,
^^•^ A stream ontflowing from tlie fount of Cod,
Upwelling pure like that from which it came.
Since to thine image, here by thee restored.
Love hath its fulness through my being poured,
What though encumbered with this mortal load l
What though the germ seems dark as its abode I
Mine is the living bread, the living word,
Father, this helpless cliild must take of thee.
His spirit nature must receive of thine, ---
In essence one, though diff'ring in degree.
All that thou hast I ask, I claim for mine,
I can, I do believe,— as mind with dust-
Christ's spirit blends with mine in this sweet trust.
-^^^-
INTERCESSION.
^S when the High Priest in the Holy Place,
In vestnients pure, with burning incense stood,
And on the mercy-seat the sprinkled blood
All smoking lay, for Israel's guiltv race ;
Its silent intercession pled for grace
Because the promised sacrifice it showed :
So in the courts of heaven, the Son of Cod
Speaks by his wounds before Jehovah's face ;
His torn hands, his feet, his bleeding side,
They ever plead with more than angel tongue.
His keen distress they shew, the death he died, '
The terror of great darkness round him hung :
They shew the atonement that he otiered there.
And mutely plead in all-prevailing prayer.
KtTP "•
112
TABOR MELODIES.
I ! ;;
I ''•
JESU8 WJiir'l'.
c/^HRIST'S tears wcro like tlic dew-drops on the rose,
•^^ All from on Iiigli, with such an heavenly flow,
As only love's pure tears on earth can show . —
Hot, burning tears that fall for friends and foes,
In which the richest grace of Godhead glows.
Angels niiij^ht wonder that on earth below
Such precious ])erils of love were seen to How ;
l^ov could thev tell the worth of sifts like those.
I'he flowing fount of mercy was too full,
As if with gifts of goodness in I'rrears ;
Methinks a portion of his loving soul
Conveyed itself unseen, in holy tears, —
His heart, lest we his sympathy should doubt,
Like a libation did itself ])our out.
LOVE.
W 1
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HI.
^U/J:AIL, light divine ! what is thine essence bright'^
"*^ Say. whence art thou ( and of what heavenly mouM i
-^^
Thou art the star of Eden outward rolled,
And almost lost in distance infinite,
Whom ages waited for through Time's dark nig) it :
Till thou once more, as pi'ophets had foretold.
In the soft radiance that thou didst unfold
Didst gild the horizon's edge on Tabor's height,—
A morning star, the star of Bethlehem.
And now the ages wait. Hail ! higher j'ise
To thine effulgence, thy meridian beam,
And make this earth once more a paradise.
Star of that day, where ages stop their march,
Fixed in the dome of heaven's eternal arch.
TABOR MF/LODTRS.
TAKE UP TITY CROSS. K
c'f^AKK up thy cross, if thou wou]<lst foHox. u.o
For vvliom did I my stainless vesture stain /
And crimson all my steps on Judah's plain i
Wh^ sank my fainting feet l.eneath the tree
High uj) tlie rugged steep of Calvary 2
Alone T trod the path of shan.e and pain,--
Where is tliy cross '^ if thou with me wouldst rei....
1 hen must thou show what T endured for thee ^ '
Ihey ri«e, the martyr-host, in burning bands, '
Whobore my yoke upon their shoulders bare,-
There righteous Abel, still exulting, stands,
And John and Paul and Step]H.n,-alI are there
Arise ! and reign amid th;,t victor host -
He is the brightest who hath suffered most
113
Q^
THE LIVING TEMPI.E.
•qg SAW the glorious temple of our God •
in due proportions fair, its beauty woke
Beneath the Builder's hand, without a stroke •
And here and there the silent angels trod
And laid its courses witli the Builder's rod
But here on earth, 'mid din and furnace smoke.
The quarried stone was smoothed, and the rou4 o.k
Was hewn and polished for the King's abode •
Its noble cedars and its pillars bold
Were felled and wrought in every distant clime •
Its capitals were all inlaid with crold
VVith dint of labor and through lapse of time -^
Yet m the mount of God its towers arise
In blissful silence, 'neatli serener skies.
It
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114 TABOB MELODIES.
THE FRUIT OF FAITH.
f^m'O, Christ was there ; his i)lacid countenance
"^^^ Beamed like a star within the darkness blank,
When the wild billows from his presence shrank,
And stood in mute arrest : as if his glance
Had left them slumbering in a dreamy trance.
Here bold as Peter, but of nobler rank,
Treading the waves in wliich frail Peter sank,
Faitli, feai'less in tlie storm, liolds its advance.
Like the centurion gloriously assured.
She takes each promise as a harvest sheaf.
And from it shakes the gold grain matured,
To dad the season of the vellow leaf.
Thus through their circle glide her happy days.
As full of peace and blessing as of praise.
-oro^—
THE CLOUD OF WITNESSES. ^
SEE full armed, in single conflict fierce,
The Christian warriors o'er the wide-spread field ;
The strife of battle rings upon the shield, —
O for the numbers of immortal verse.
Their mighty deeds of valor to rehearse !
Not those shall beat the air whose brows are sealed ;
Like Gideon, there the sword of God they wield ;
While in vast clouds the gathered universe
Encompass round with heraldries divine, —
A ministering angel multitude,
Above the crimson cross in battle line.
Where Christ his enemies in death subdued.
They gather round on us : from heaven they gaze ;
And in our raptured sight their harps they raise.
ir.^ss:s&^
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TABOR MELODIES.
THE GOSPEL.
115
.^HE Jiving gospel .stiJl proclaiming p(3acp,
KnthroncHl with power, in splendors all its own
Seems like (^xl's angel standing in the sun
Of sovereign right, it hath the central phice ;
Heaven's circling splendors l)eaming in its grace
With sucli etlhlgence that it stands alone,—
All other lights, all other rivals gone.
'Tis as the mighty Uriel's dazzling fVice,
Sufiused with all the glories of the day,—
Not the brief day of time which hath an end,
But that great solar cycle, in Avhose ray
The eternal morn and evening ever blend ;
That dawnless morn that evermore shall last,—
The eternal noon that never shall be past.
'A
SMYKNA.
'HESE things, saith he, the Eternal, the I AM,
He that was dead and lives forevermore ;
" I know thy works, thou art reputed poor ;
But thou art rich, and hast a no])ler name
Than the proud princes of the earth might claim.
Thy cup of tribulation runneth o'er,
And thou dost hear the angry lions roar ;
But fear theni not, meek followers of the Lamb.
Should persecution stain the trodden heath
And till her dungeons in the dreadful strife,—
Only be faithful, even unto death ;
Ye then shall find the glorious crown of life ;
And in the final, all-deciding hour,
On you the second death shall have no power."
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TADOR MELODIES.
KPHESUS.
V
r^J!
! Vi\
fHESE tilings saith lie wlio holds tlio scv(;ii star.s
In his right hand, and walks within the glow
Of the pure golden candlestick below ;
" 1 know, Ephosus, how fair appears
Your patient labour, and the fruit it bears.
When persecution's burning breath doth blow,
Ye do not faint, contending with the foe,
Why ftiils your love *? of all Christ's love the heirs,-
His quenchless love that burns as at the first.
And as at first for evermore shall burn.
Say, when ye knew the living love of Christ,
How could ye be as those who only spurn ]
Why have ye left your first love's altar fire, —
The fire of heaven — to languish and expire ? "
J'.
•Is
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nil !
THE RESUKRECTION.
^T
^H AT ails this heaving ground ? 'neath omens dark,
^^ The rocking earthquake rends its length and breadth
As if 'twere shattered by the touch of death.
Its craves are thick as those beneath the ark ;
Wherever man has trod, death hath his mark,
Enshrined in rocks, or wrapt in glowing heath,
Hid in the ocean's isles or depths beneath.
Hark to that voice ! Like an electric spark.
It thrills the earth, and rends it everywhere,
To wake the dead, in masses or alone ;
While hosts of spirits hover in the air.
Dust to its dust unites, and bone to bone,
And to the angel's trump in march sublime,
The uead come forth in spite of death and time.
TABOB MELODIES.
117
TIIP] FLYING SCROLL.
ilfflAIL, mighty aiigol ! wlio in heaven's full view
^^ Hold'st thy niid course, as it' from pole to pole.
Ii. its own hale shrined, thou bear'st the scroll
That shines for all, that mjikcth all things now.
O'er sea and mount thou dost thy way pursue,
To ray its splendors on each human soul,
And flood the heavens as the aij:es roll,
To thrill the heart of nations throu'di and throuirit.
This is the truth that makes the simjde wise,
The truth divine that choral angels sung.
That Simeon blest with his rejoicing eyes,
That martyred Stephen lisped with faltering tongue :
Tliat glorious truth, pure as the heaven of blue,
Through which thou dost thy glorious way pursue.
-o^-o-
dth
THE MOUNT OF GOD.
f:^=iZ^}
^HERE is a mount crowned with eternal liirht ;
Its sun stands still upon its peaks of gold,
Like Gibeon's sun which Joshua did behold.
No clouded day, no interval of night
Doth mar its heights, all shadowless and bright.
Its strong munitions stand like Sion's old,
To shield the courts in which its thrones are told ;
From thence its glory radiates on our sight, —
A dome of splendor o'er a jasper sea,
Wreathing its peaks, immaculately pure,
As with a veil of changeless majesty.
Lo, there it stands, indissolublv sure ! —
The mount of God, within whose fadeless bowers
The saints abide and all the heavenly powers.
! !
118
TABOR MELODIES.
I
TlfK niOMISKD LAND.
^TUNNED with the roar of rancorous (Usjnite,
From Korali's company 1 fain would haste ;
Jj'ke (\'ilol), weary of this parched waste,
I too wouhl rest this sandaled w^earv foot.
Ah ! I wonkl liear that liome-hmd's silvery lute,
A wanderer lonij by desert wilds embraced,
The grapes of Eslicol ten)i)t my K)nging taste,—
The full rii)e clusters of fair Canaan's fruit.
Oh, might I pass the Jordan's narrow stream,
To see the promised land of corn and wine,
The goodly heights of Lebanon to claim.
My glorious riglit, by heritage divine !
When shall I rise and stand in Israel's place ?
When shall I come and see tliee, face to face {
111'.: '
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PKA18E. y
jffi WAKE, sweet song : thy rhythmic numbers bring,
^-^ Sweep every chord, ring out thy rapturous lays !
Awake, and thrill the marshalled clouds with praise.
As doth the matin bird in early si)ring.
And like an unseen choral ancel sinfj ;
For these are brighter and more blessed days.
Oh for Lsaiah's hand, his iiarp to seize.
To strike his inspirations from each string,
And give to earth the harmonies of heaven.
To sing the lovingkindness of the Lord,
The promises fulfilled that he hath given.
The song of mortals wakes the golden chord
Struck by the angels, who such themes rehearse
In the glad ear of the whole universe.
J
TABOR MELODTKS
119
JOY. •
•«-cJl HEARD tii(! iiiyviad voices of the s})ring
111 tiny hliulo, tuul bud, and op'ning flower ;
They Siing in concert, with a voice of power,
Till the glad hills their notes were echoing,
And the sweep zopliyr s))read Iier fragrant wing
To waft their joy in that reviving hour,
And hymn their tlianks for dews or gentle shower.
TJius the whole Church of God foi- jov doth sins,
Until her anthems wake the angelic lyre ;
And then tlie white-robed saints take up the strain
Prom the great shout of the angelic choir,
That Christ's sole praise mav fill the sweet refrain.
Tlius God's great heart its riches doth employ.
And in ten thousand strains pours out its joy.
^11
-au-
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CHRIST DESCENDING.
<S*HLTS shall he come as ye have seen him rise,
'^*^-' And stand alone on the dissolving verge
Of two eternities, whose meeting surge
Shall, with its thunders, shake the dread abyss.
His lofty brow no Judas lips shall kiss ;
He bears the sceptre who hath felt the scourge.
None now can change his leprous soul, or purge
The sin-stained scroll that meets Immanuel's eyes.
The avenging judge enrobed in light doth come.
Enthroned in power and dreadful majesty ;
His judgment-hall deep echoing Avords of doom,
Of wrath, and dread, and endless destiny :
But, like the rainbow that for Noah shone.
His radiant eye dcth rest upon his own.
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120
TABOli MELODIES.
TUK HARVEST-HOME.
C^:r
^^OHD, wo are waiting for the liarvest-homo,
■^^ The earth is gleaniincr Hko tlie golden iields ;
TJie soutli its tirst-friiits to the harvest yiehls ;
The valh^ys i-ipen, and the deserts bloom,
And ail the islands of the sea shall como.
The mighty angel, that the harvest shields.
With liis right arm the reaper's sickle wields.
Christ doth prepare tiie place, he maketli rooiii
To garner up tlie bending sheaves he reaps.
The highway of liis coming shall be pJace ;
The hills flow down beneath his kingly steps,
The vales are filled with truth and righteousness.
Room for his coming, room. Arise, ye dead :
His glorious skirts upon the hills are spread.,
-o^-
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K'l !
HI
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THE WANDERER.
'M heavy laden with this load of sin ;
It is increasing, growing day by day,
Like climbing sandheaps on the desert way ;
And as the light of hope's faint ray gleams in,
I count a thousand sins before unseen
A desert parched beneath sin's scorching ray,
I liave no cooling waters to allay
This burning thirst still raging fierce within.
Is there no shadowed fountain near its sands ?
Fresh as the waters of that bubbling sprinf^
That Ishmael drank, as from an angel's hard.
Just ere his soul had spread its lifted wing ?
Here I am sinking to my hopeless rest
Mid storms and darkness, on this desert waste.
TABOn MELODIES.
121
J
IIKAVENLY PEACE.
r^l^HOU art of li(!iiven only, sweot, sweet Peace ;
"^ Methinks 1 see tliee in its luiHtures «,'r(!en
Where tlie still waters flow the liills between,
Or lightly hovering o'er the s(!a of glass, —
Thy radiant form all nianlh;d o'er with grace,
i*.nd bright with majesty as of a queen.
In simple folds thy snowy robes are seen.
And in thine eye the dews of lowliness.
Soon may'st thou hasten to this troubled earth,
And bring with thee the light of calm contejit.
Here discord revels, as if strife were mirth,
And her stained garb were worn to be rent.
When will the earth sit still and be at rest.
With all the fruits of peace forever blest?
-<^m>-
THE HEAVENLY SABBATH.
.«f3
rJTORTH from the seraph's joyous Sabbath-day,
•"^ With vesper light adown the heavens serene,
As if from ling'ring on some heavenly scene
Where we might list the heaven's angelic lay,
I catch that halo, whose diviner ray
Sheds its faint light on the dim eyes of men, —
Bring now a vision of the things unseen, —
If but one glimpse to cheer us on our way.
Doth it not here diffuse some softer lidit
Of that great Sabbath kept within the veil ?
These shadows soon shall drop from mortal sight,
And we ourselves within its rays shall dwell.
Sweet foretaste of this Sabbath rest, con. ^ down,
And heaven itself this Sabbath calm shall crown.
12i
TABOR MELODIES.
m
THOMAS.
5 '
^^TAY, doubting soul, wliat put tliy faith to Higlit i
Lost in those depths of self -projected dread,
Tiiy gathei-ed ])ro\v grows pale, as if dismayed.
Hatli the (iai'k angel, who in death doth smite,
Struck out the in, and plunged thee into night I
And m those dei)tlis where thou alone dost wade,
Are there no stars to gem the ebon shade I
Where are the heralds of the dawn of li<dit i
Are there no stars within the amethyst,
Wliose glowing brow the rising morn dotii liide i
Behold, the Son of Man, the risen Christ !
Nay, here to thee he shows his pierced side.
Those crimson<Hl feet your rugged highways trod,
Behold the living Christ, the Son of Cod !
1
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I'll
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I'll
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timp:'s couiisE.
iS ^^^^^> 1^'^® ^^^e Indus, sinks in its own sand,
And like that ancient stream, with mighty sweep,
Bears all its own memorials to the deep.
Where is the hallo wed home of youth unstained,
With prattling lips, so poweriiil to command I
Doth lone sad Rachel there her viwils keen
Still bending o'er the waters but to weep {
Our childhood's hopes, — like hei-s they seemed to stand ;
But now they all are scattered far around,
And tloat like freighted siglis upon the flood,
Sinking through eddies to the dei)ths profound :
j^o trace is left to show us where they stood.
Swift stream, gleam white beneath the twili^xJit stars.
Blanched like the cheek of age with flowing tears.
1
TABOR MELODIES. 123
GOG AND MAGOG.
.cW SEE the forces of ju'oplietic time,
Of ( TOg and Mago<; o'er the nations spread ;
Tlie shores of oceans tremble 'neath their tread.
The crimson front of war in marcli sublime
Doth sound from every shore, from every clime.
Woe to the living ! blessed are the dead !
Now is earth's vintage drooping, ripe and red ;
The bells of heaven ring out earth's vesper chime.
And Time's dim shadows deepen as they fall.
The hosts of Magog and the hosts of God
In deadly conflict battle, one and all ;
Till our Messiah there shall lift his rod
And point the lightnings of God's vengeful ire,
'Neath which the enemies of truth expire.
DEATH OF TIME.
HE leaden air sank into sullen rest, —
As if 'twere severed from the thinofs that be^
And lost its force elasticity, —
A waveless void — and then with change unblest,
It seemed with gusts of clamorous sounds oppressed ,-
The din of distant discord passing by
That rang like thunder through a cloudless sky ;
It came from north and south and east and west,
And then 'twas hushed, and the bewildered sisrht
Saw not familiar objects, but beheld
In heaps confused, all horrors that affright, — ■
The shades of those in utter darkness sealed, —
The glare of populous cities all ablaze —
Earth's desolations to the end of davs.
124
TABOR MELODIES.
I HEAR ITS ECHOES.
(.|gIKE Moses, I ascend loiie Nebo's lieiglit,
^^" Soon from its toj) to see tlie goodly land.
My soul's horizon here doth so expand,
Naught intervenes between ine and its lijrht ;
I seem endued with stronijer, clearer si^^lit.
And I am waiting for the viewless hand,
The whispered greeting of yon angel band
Whose voices till the list'ning ear of night.
xVnd there are visions of the golde;n plain,
Its fruitful vales, its vineyards, and its vine.
Which, 'neath the dews of Hermon's mount, doth stain
TJie grapes of Eshcol with its luscious wine.
[ hear faint echoes o'er the Jordan's Hood,
Tlie voice of harpers round the throne of God.
1
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CHORAL MUSIC.
J,S if on earth an angel choir did woo
^^ Their fuU-tmied harps, such is this minstrelsy,
Its tones descending on us lavishly,
In clusters of sweet sounds at every touch ; —
Now softly as the fall of gentle dew, —
Now rolling forth in grandest harmony.
The music answering to each changing key
Glides on aerial wing of every hue ;
Till the rapt soul, held captive to the ear,
No more would marvel though the heavens should bend
Such rich orchestral symj)honies to heat ;
Or that such strains might to the heavens ascend,
Tuned to the cymbals and the golden lyres.
In tlie full chorus of celestial clioirs.
TABOE MELODIES.
125
1
WAITING.
^.S when, outside tlie bar, tlie prosperous hark
^^■^ Slips her slieot anchor, waiting for the tide,
And with short cabhi dotli securely ride ;
While evening rustles, and the so- ring lark
Flings her wild music on the waters dark ;
Still, peering fitful from tlie mountain-sid^s
The shadowy pines home's gleaming turrets hide.
Till the dim, distant roof-tree we can mark :
Thus in the othng patiently I wait.
With Hope's ])right streamers flying on before ;
Till heaven's spring-tide o'erflow death's rocky strait,
And float my vessel safely to the shore.
I count a little while life's fleeting hours ;
Come, quickly, come, I wait, ye heavenly powers !
CLOSING SONNET.
.0, precious night-thoughts of the silent past !
I wordd ye all were beautiful and true ;
Ye came to me like star-rays through the blue,-
Each following ray seemed purer than the last :
If here reflected, ye are overcast.
Yet there ye glisten still to mortal view,
Fair as the light, and })urer than the dew,
In words divine, all crystallized and gla.ssed.
I am content to lie 'neath these brown leaves,
Unheard, unseen, lulled by their rustling sound,
And voice each varying tint, I hat beautv weaves
Through their frail tissues, as they circle round.
Thus shadowed o'er, the muse may softly sing ;
Perchance some wood-nymph doth here fold her wing.
,