THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 AND 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS, 
 
 WITH OTHER POEMS. 
 
 BY MRS. JOHN G. GUINNESS. 
 
 DEDICATED BY PERMISSION TO 
 
 THE RIGHT HONORABLE THE VISCOUNTESS DE VESCI. 
 
 The profits arising from the sale of this Work are to be devoted to the aid of a respectable 
 family in reduced circumstances. 
 
 DUBLIN: 
 
 RICHARD MOORE TIMS, 85, GRAFTON-STREET, 
 AND W. CURRY JUN. & CO. SACKVILLE ST. 
 
 1834.
 
 PRINTED DY P. D. HARDY, 3, CECILIA-STREET.
 
 ?R 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 SAUL AND THE WITCH OK ENDOK 1 
 
 RUTH 16 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar's dream 32 
 
 defeat of sennacherib -u 
 
 belshazzar's feast 57 
 
 death of john the baptist 70 
 
 flight into egypt 8.5 
 
 raising of lazarus from the dead 90 
 
 christ's miracles at gennesareth 96 
 
 marriage at cana in galilee ,, 110 
 
 transfiguration 115 
 
 resurrection and ascension of our lord 120 
 
 lament of david over saul and jonathan 148 
 
 life v vapour 150 
 
 the evening meditation 152 
 
 the contrast storm and calm 15-t 
 
 SPRING 156 
 
 SUMMER 157 
 
 AUTUMN 158 
 
 WINTER 159 
 
 HYMN I 

 
 PREFACE. 
 
 It is with mingled feelings of earnestness for the glory 
 of the Divine Redeemer, and of deference to the public, 
 that this Poetical Essay is submitted to the judgment of the 
 latter, implicitly trusting to their candour and indulgence. 
 The subjects must be interesting to all who value the Sacred 
 Scriptures, and it has been the aim of the Writer to treat 
 them in a way calculated to excite the best feelings of the 
 heart, where these feelings have been produced by grace, 
 and to impress the mind of every reader with a conviction 
 of the great importance of the truths of the Gospel, and 
 thereby to lead, through the Divine Blessing, to the pos- 
 session of the treasures it contains. 
 
 In a poetic point of view, the composition was attended 
 with some difficulty from the exclusion of every fictitious 
 incident, the facts of Scripture alone being narrated in the 
 manner it might be supposed probable those facts occurred. 
 Some persons there are, who contending for the verbal in- 
 spiration of the word of God, disapprove of the least de- 
 viation even from its diction ; but to these it may be an- 
 swered, that while the subject matter of that word was un- 
 doubtedly communicated by the Holy Spirit influencing the 
 minds of those chosen instruments who exhibited it to
 
 VI PREFACE. 
 
 mankind, there appear to be many internal proofs against 
 its being verba//// inspired, one of which may be here 
 adduced. All who are conversant with Scripture harmo- 
 nies, will perceive by the parallel portions which are brought 
 together before the reader, that the Evangelists relate the 
 same occurrences with many variations, and that the dis- 
 courses of our Lord, although in substance the same, are 
 recorded differently with regard to the minutia of lan^ua^e 
 and circumstances respecting them. To instance this, the 
 one all-important fact of the Resurrection of our Lord is re- 
 lated in these particulars variously by all the Evangelists 
 none of them giving a connected view of the transaction, 
 but each describing several appearances of the risen 
 Saviour and his angelic messengers, leaving the order of 
 the events to be gathered from their united testimony. But 
 indeed the supposition of the verbal inspiration would lead 
 into the dilemma of restricting suck inspiration to the ori- 
 ginal Hebrew and Greek Scriptures, since it is impossible 
 to transfer even a single thought literally from one language 
 into another. The view, therefore, which the Writer would 
 humbly submit is this— that while the entire subject matter 
 of the word of God was supernaturally conveyed to the 
 minds of the sacred Historians, they were left to the exer- 
 cise of their own judgment as to the language and imagery 
 in which it was to be revealed ; and for this reason we ob- 
 serve a great variety in the style and ornamental diction of 
 the several Authors, who were men of very different degrees 
 of intellectual endowments, acquired knowledge, and rank 
 in society; to exemplify this, the figurative ideas of the 
 Prophet Amos, who was one of the herdsmen of Tekoa, 
 naturally vary much from those of Isaiah, who being of the
 
 PREFACE. vii 
 
 Royal Family, (and as since deservedly designated the 
 Demosthenes of the Hebrews,) evidences greater dignity of 
 thought, and a style suited to his more lofty associations. 
 The inference, therefore, which may fairly be drawn from 
 this position is, that if the minute circumstances, imagery, 
 and language, in which any Author may clothe the facts of 
 Scripture, neither militate against the truth of God, nor op- 
 pose national custom; it is admissible to adorn such facts so 
 as to produce additional interest. 
 
 In order to meet the possible charge of plagiarism, the 
 Writer can with truth assert, that not a single idea in this 
 Work has knowingly been borrowed from any Author 
 whatever. 
 
 In conclusion, if through the humble instrumentality of 
 these Poems any are led to the perusal of the Inspired 
 Volume, or are enabled to apprehend more clearly the re- 
 corded evidences of our Lord's Resurrection, (that import- 
 ant event on which the believer's eternal hopes are sus- 
 pended) the object for which they were written will have 
 been fully accomplished.
 
 SAUL AND THE WITCH OF ENDOR. 
 
 O'er a steep mountain path, at midnight hour 
 Low clouds in dense and gath'ring masses hung, 
 
 The deep-toned thunder rolled with distant lour, 
 And through the hills in dying echoes rung. 
 
 The moon with tearful ray and clouded brow, 
 Glided in vapoury robe of mourning hue — 
 
 Shed a pale glance on rugged rocks below. 
 
 And sunk in dull and darkling clouds from view. 
 
 B
 
 2 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 Then roared the mountain blast — the light'ning's glare 
 Fell flashing on a form of giant height, 
 
 Who, wrapt in mantle dark, with frantic air 
 Trod the defile amid the gloom of night. 
 
 With anxious eye he viewed the threat'ning lour, 
 
 While scarce a gleam pierced the deep shades around- 
 Sudden in rapid drops the rushing shower 
 
 Dashed, echoing on the bare and rocky ground ! 
 
 Through rolling clouds a passing lustre throws, 
 High o'er a frowning cave, the glimm'ring beams 
 
 That mark where pendant from its oozy brows, 
 Long trailing foliage in dark drapery streams. 
 
 He stops — he gazes on the lonely scene — 
 Returning moonlight pours her silv'ry ray — 
 
 Full on the dripping wreaths of mournful green 
 Whose lucid drops with pearly brightness play.
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 3 
 
 Upraised to heaven — his dark and languid eye — 
 Where manly beauty once in lustre shone — 
 
 Seemed to express the deep-felt agony 
 
 Of one whom hope had left to weep alone. 
 
 But no — he dare not — and with writhing brow 
 Turned from that sacred glance he once revered, 
 
 Rushed through the wat'ry wreaths that drooped below, 
 And banished heaven from his conscience seared. 
 
 A moment passed — ere yet his wand'ring thought 
 Could mark the scene that met his anguish'd eye, 
 
 Or calmly view the wild, terrific spot, 
 
 Where nought was heard save the lone night- wind's sigh. 
 
 From the high vault of its o'erhanging dome, 
 A glimm'ringlamp was hung — whose feeble ray 
 
 With flick'ring light amid the sable gloom, 
 
 Tinged the dark rocks with pale and livid gray.
 
 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 An altar hewn in rough unsightly stone, 
 
 Streamed with the blood of recent victim shed, 
 
 And o'er the space full many a scatter'd bone 
 Marked where the jackal in his wand'rings fed. 
 
 Near an expiring Game whose embers cast, 
 Full on the rugged stones a crimson glare, 
 
 And flashed uncertain in the midnight blast, 
 The sorceress sate reclined with pensive air. 
 
 O'er her dark brows where locks of raven dye 
 Hung loosely wild — the lines of troubled thought 
 
 Were deep imprest — while her bewilder'd eye 
 
 Showed where contending passions fiercely fought. 
 
 On a rude stone was laid a mystic book 
 
 Of astrologic tale, and fabled spell ; 
 There by enchantment's art — with anxious look 
 
 She sought the influence dark of demons fell. *
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 5 
 
 The stranger's footstep sounds upon her ear — 
 She starts — renews the flame with rapid hand, 
 
 On his tall form its falling radiance clear 
 Displays his sov'reign air of high command. 
 
 " Stranger — at this unhallowed midnight hour, 
 When storms unusual rack the cleaving sky — 
 
 Through the red light'ning's glare and mountain shower, 
 What spell to this lone cavern brings thee nigh ? 
 
 " Seek'st thou deserted in a world of woes 
 
 A lone retreat, in secret there to sigh ; 
 Or cast a wand'rer forth — would'st thou repose 
 
 A transient hour 'till morning gilds the sky ?" 
 
 A sudden pang then pierced the stranger's soul, 
 And o'er his cheek the burning tear-drops fell, 
 
 " Yes — yes — the tempest wild unheard may roll, 
 But who the storm of deep despair can quell?
 
 6 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 " Yes — friends have fled — but that were nought — if now 
 Hope would her taper lend to light my way, 
 
 Her smile might then relume my sadden'd brow, 
 And darkness flee before her cheering ray. 
 
 " Know thou, my soul would lift the secret veil 
 That hides the world of spirits from our view, 
 
 To gaze on one whom death's dim shades conceal, 
 One who in happier hours was loved and true !" 
 
 Chill terror blanched the sorceress's pallid cheek, 
 " What! know'st thou not our monarch's dark decree 
 
 Against th' enchanter's art — or dost thou seek 
 My ruin by thy baleful treachery ?" 
 
 " Fear not," he cried, " my solemn vow expressed, 
 Shall be the pledge that none thy secret know ; 
 
 For — ah — this lonely — this deserted breast — 
 Boasts not one partner of its joy or woe !
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 * { Search then thy page, with unknown magic rite — 
 
 The aid of thy familiar spirit crave — 
 Shed o'er my fate obscure — one beam of light, 
 
 And bring me Samuel from the darksome grave." 
 
 The book unclosed — where the slain victim bled 
 The sorceress laid a burning torch of fire, 
 
 Wide o'er the high-arched roof its glances spread, 
 While secret drugs inflamed the awful pyre. 
 
 Then the loud thunder burst the echoing gale, 
 
 The light'ning's blaze flashed fearful through the cave, 
 
 And threw its livid glare on phantom's pale, 
 That seemed to issue from the silent grave. 
 
 " What dubious forms are these ?" the stranger cried, 
 " That flit in vapoury clouds before my view?" 
 
 " These are the gods that on the tempest ride, 
 Departed shades of Israel great and true."
 
 8 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 Then wide the earth unclosed its yawning breast, 
 
 And lo ! an aged form in sable pall, b 
 With hue unearthly, from his silent rest, 
 
 Soft breathed as he arose — the name of Saul ! 
 
 Then wild the sorceress shrieked — and o'er her frame 
 Convulsive writhings passed — while her dark brow 
 
 Frowned fearful, " Saul ! at midnight hour he came 
 To strike unseen a treacherous deadly blow." 
 
 Moveless the phantom fixed a tranquil eye 
 
 On him o'er whom his spirit once could mourn, 
 
 And if that spirit now could breathe a sigh, 
 
 Thou hapless Saul ! would bid those griefs return. 
 
 But oh, that glance so deeply fixed— so still 
 Of mingled censure, and of pitying woe, 
 
 Froze through his blood with agonizing chill, 
 And bade anew the tide of anguish flow.
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 9 
 
 Dim through the cavern burned the dying flame, 
 But rays ethereal o'er the phantom played — 
 
 While accents soft thrilled through the monarch's frame 
 As low he bent before the sacred shade. 
 
 " Why from the sweet repose of spirits blest, 
 
 Where cloudless heaven beams on the raptured soul, 
 
 Where Eden's sunny joys breathe halcyon rest, 
 And sparkling floods of pleasure ceaseless roll : 
 
 " Why to this scene of more than death-like gloom, 
 
 This polar night of sin — which scarce a ray 
 Illumes — is my reluctant spirit come 
 
 From the pure blaze of bright immortal day ?" 
 
 " Oh, happy, envied shade — can'st thou forgive 
 The rash despair of one whom peace has fled ; 
 
 One who by sov'reign power condemned to live, 
 Weeps o'er each pleasure blighted, lost, and dead."
 
 10 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 Then starting from his suppliant knee, he speaks — 
 " Know'st thou that on Gilboa's lofty brow, 
 
 Ere the red morning's glow th' horizon streaks, 
 Th' embattled host its glittering front will show ? 
 
 " Yes, there the proud Philistine's muster'd throng 
 Will dip in deadly hate their murd'rous spear 
 
 With echoing clang of shield and helmet strong, 
 Will sound the warlike charge in Israel's ear. 
 
 " O, I have sought before the throne on high, 
 One beam of wisdom's all inspiring ray — 
 
 But ah ! that sov'reign God deigns no reply — 
 And in judicial clouds obscures my way ! c 
 
 " If then thy happy soul in Eden's bowers 
 Can'st feel — can'st pity him who now forlorn, 
 
 Once held the concmeror's and the prophet's powers- 
 Unfold the issue of the fearful morn."
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 1 I 
 
 Calmly the Spirit spake — " to mortal eye, 
 O, Saul ! how glorious were thine early days! 
 
 By power supreme — enthroned in majesty 
 With all th' imperial purple's gilded blaze. 
 
 " The conqueror's verdant wreath — the prophet's fire, 
 Th' attractive charm of youth in early bloom 
 
 Taught thee with hopes forbidden to aspire, 
 And shed a lustre on ambition's plume. 
 
 " But — though the ruby's glow — the emerald's light, 
 The peerless diamond with its varied beam 
 
 Adorn thee — yet beyond the heavenly height 
 A mightier monarch reigns, in power supreme. 
 
 " Oh, had'st thou to his righteous sceptre bowed, 
 And sought thy bliss from truth's celestial streams ; 
 
 Then would thy peace as rivers pure have flowed, 
 And all thy sorrows passed as summer dreams.
 
 1^ SACRED PORTRAITURE , 
 
 " Ah, if pale sorrow's wan and death-like form 
 
 Could enter Eden's groves — my soul would mourn, 
 
 Thou once-loved Saul ! the fearful coming storm 
 To which no tranquil calm can e'er return ! 
 
 " For know, and tremble, that Jehovah's power 
 
 Which once installed thee prophet, conqueror, king, 
 
 In the approaching battle's awful hour, 
 Thy spirit to his judgment bar shall bring. 
 
 " Torn from thine eager grasp — the royal crown 
 Of radiant gems, shall shine on David's brow ; 
 
 For thou, rebellious monarch, dared disown 
 
 That law, to which th' archangels prostrate bow. 
 
 " To-morrow — when the clash of glittering arms 
 Shall wake the echoes in Gilboa's vale, 
 
 And fill the sounding hills with loud alarms, 
 Then sudden fear shall Israel's ranks assail.
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 1.'! 
 
 " On the red field by frantic conquerors trod, 
 
 Thy warlike sons shall meet death's poisoned dart — 
 
 While thou — in bold defiance of thy God 
 
 Shalt guide the spear that wounds thy recreant heart!" 
 
 While yet the phantom spake his awful doom, 
 Senseless he fell — ere echo told the sound ! 
 
 And through th' enchanter's cave, a sudden gloom 
 Of shadowy clouds, poured dark'ning horrors round. 
 
 Returning life slow warms each icy limb, 
 
 And deep drawn sighs the bosom's anguish speak, 
 
 While his dark eye with baleful sorrow dim 
 Beholds the early dawn's first crimson streak! 
 
 His followers now who reach the sorceress' cave, 
 Plead with their lord to seek a calm repose — 
 
 " What! see ye not," he cries, " the yawning grave 
 Waits me on Gilboa's mount, 'mid Israel's foes ?
 
 1 1 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 Then with a shudd'ring look of deep despair 
 
 Towards that dark spot where passed the fleeting shade, 
 
 Wildly he flies— the battle's front to dare — 
 And meet Philistia's host in dread arrayed! 
 
 The orb of day retiring, glanced with beam 
 Of golden light full on the mountain's head — 
 
 Where many a warrior lay, and many a stream 
 Of sanguine hue — flowed o'er the silent dead ! 
 
 Thou too wast there, O Saul ! and by thy side 
 The broken spear — the plumeless helmet fell ! 
 
 The glitt'ring corselet in thy life blood dyed — 
 The ghastly cheek— death's awful conquest tell ! 
 
 Oh, had'st thou sought through faith that glorious God, 
 Whose love can veil the sinner's foulest stain, 
 
 Wafted by angels to his blest abode, 
 
 Thou there had'st joined the bright and ransomed train.
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 15 
 
 Unhonoured now — 'neath Gilead's mountain high 
 He sleeps within the drear sepulchral cave — 
 
 Where the dark foliage waves with mournful sigh 
 And droops unheeded, o'er his lonely grave!
 
 16 -ACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 RUTH. 
 
 Now morn with timid blushes drew the veil 
 That shadowy hung o'er heaven's ethereal blue, 
 And gliding gradual through th' enamelled plain 
 Shook from her rosy wing, pure silvery drops 
 To deck the silken leaf of varied flowers: 
 Then with her pencil, dipt in orient heaven, 
 With purple rich, suffused the mountain chain, 
 And tinged the surface of the waveless lake. 
 Each pallid star of night, with twinkling beam 
 Retiring, sunk behind th' expansive vault,
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 ■ 
 
 Which soon with added brightness gradual shed 
 A golden ray o'er all th' awakened scene; 
 Now wafts the fragrant breath of orange groves 
 With perfumed citron through the balmy air. 
 And bright the rose and starry asphodel 
 Smiled 'neath the plane trees' high embow'ring shade ; 
 There, in a grove where twined th' uncultured vine 
 In festive garlands through the verdant boughs, 
 A wand'rer sad, with sunk and tearful eye, 
 Gazes on nature's loveliness, while deep 
 The pangs of memory strike their poisoned dart, 
 She — with the fair companions of her way, 
 Who, in their youth's bright bloom, deplore the loss 
 Each, of her mate beloved— had journeyed far 
 Ere twilight pierced the sable vault of night. 
 Here rests Naomi, and with accents soft 
 Of tenderness maternal — pensive speaks : 
 " O much loved partners of my varying yean-,, 
 Ye who through gloomy changes of my fate, 
 
 17
 
 18 
 
 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 With filial love have dried the frequent tear 
 
 That sprung from sorrow's fount — here must we part ! 
 
 But ere o'er wide Judea's desert drear, 
 
 Your steps retracing, seek the distant land 
 
 Of pagan Moab — to that gracious God 
 
 Whose word gave being to yon vast expanse, 
 
 And bade the verdant earth cast forth her fair 
 
 And flowery treasures — yes, to Zion's God, 
 
 My soul in ardent prayer would fain commend 
 
 Each circling moment of your future years. 
 
 And may that faithful tenderness ye showed 
 
 In past lamented years of wedded bliss, 
 
 Be richly yours, when ye once more shall wear 
 
 The happy bonds of hymeneal love. 
 
 For me — alone — a pilgrim through the path 
 
 Of desert earth — I'll seek the sacred fane 
 
 Where the full glories of Jehovah shine. 
 
 Long have I shunned the sacrilegious rite, 
 And wept <>'or altars raised to idol gods,
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 19 
 
 While my freed soul would fain in worship bow 
 At that blest shrine — irradiate with the beams 
 Of truth — from fountains pure of holy light. 
 But do I part, nor weep ? I dare not trust 
 My tongue to tell the poignant grief which now 
 Bursts my swoln heart, and fills my anguish'd eye, 
 "When I would breathe that sorrowing word farewell !" 
 Orpah — with many a tear and deepfelt sigh 
 Turned from the vale — and soon the pendant boughs • 
 Of drooping foliage, veiled her less'ning form. 
 " Ruth, wherefore now with wan and tearful cheek, 
 Child of my love, say, dost thou linger here ? 
 Why clasp me thus ? Orpah thou seest is now- 
 Back to her country, and her gods returned — 
 Leave me— oh, leave me— add not to the pangs 
 That tear my suff'ring heart by this delay- 
 Take then my soul's fond blessing — and farewell !" 
 " Parent beloved of him my bosom owned 
 
 A dearer self— and can I leave thee thus ? 
 
 r fJ
 
 go 
 
 SACRED PORTRAIT! Kl 
 
 What — in the autumn of thv (lavs alone — 
 Unfriended o'er the gloomy path of life 
 To trace thy weary steps? — that must not be- 
 Why may not 1 tread with thee on eacli thorn ? 
 And seek by anxious tenderness to chase 
 Each little cloud that hangs upon thy brow ? 
 Cease then to plead — for where thy footsteps stray — 
 Friend of my youth — there will I follow thee — 
 Thy people shall be mine — thy God my God — 
 And on the spot where death shall glaze thine eye 
 And pale thy cheek — there will thy child expire, 
 And in one common grave with thee repose ! 
 Hear then my vow — that nought but death's fell power 
 Shall break the chain that binds thee to this heart." 
 Now while consoled and calmed, they onward move 
 Through windings soft of Rephaim's lovely vale, 
 Th' ascending sun, with wreath of amber rays 
 Rolls his red chariot o'er the deep blue vault, 
 While fade the vapours 'neath his burning wheel.
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. ^1 
 
 There— as if trac'd on the cerulean sky, 
 
 The verdant heights of Bethi'liem met their view ; 
 
 Its snowy dwellings where the myrtle dark 
 
 Vies with the fairer tint of lofty palm ; 
 
 From the sharp ridges of their towering site 
 
 With peaceful air, on deep and clust'ring vales 
 
 Look down, where rich the fields of mellow corn 
 
 Wave in the dazzling fervors of the air. 
 
 " How bright," Naomi cries, " does mem'ry trace 
 
 Departed joys — when on the peaceful spot 
 
 Where dwelt our vanish'd bliss, we fondly gaze ! 
 
 Ah, yes ; each image in fair colours drest 
 
 Now gaily floats before my fancy's view — 
 
 Unreal forms — which melt in liquid air! 
 
 From the dread pow'r of an offended God 
 
 Here, as thou know'st, pale famine's horror frown'd, 
 
 And urged the wedded partner of my fate 
 
 To seek the distant plains of heathen Moab — 
 
 Plains— where alas ! the fabled Chemosh reigns,
 
 22 
 
 SACRED rOHTRAlTl'HE 
 
 And altars stream to dark Baal-Peor's name ! 
 
 But there — though smiling fields and vineyards lair 
 
 Yielded the fruits that feed the dying frame, 
 
 Full oft we languish'd for th' immortal bread 
 
 Which nourishes the soul, and 'mid the glare 
 
 Of tinsell'd idols sought the living God. 
 
 But more than exile's pang my bosom felt, 
 
 When the loved partner of my banish'd years 
 
 Sever'd by death" — awhile she paus'd, and wept — 
 
 " Left me on earth's drear waste — while the fair plants 
 
 I rear'd from early bud to bloom mature — 
 
 Mow'd by the awful conqu'ror's deadly scythe — 
 
 Bade me beware of sublunary joys — 
 
 But see! the blooms of nature strew these hills 
 
 With full luxuriance!— yes, my long-lost home, 
 
 I fain would greet thy well remember'd charms ; 
 
 But ah ! pale penury with icy touch 
 
 Chills — as it seeks to rise — each ardent glow, 
 
 And veils the landscape with her meagre form :
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 23 
 
 But most for thee — sweet Ruth — my bosom mourns" — 
 
 With anxious mien, her fair companion sought 
 
 To check the sudden murmur e'er it rose. 
 
 Her gentle eye upraised to heaven's bright arch 
 
 Soft glanc'd on Naomi — with smile resign'd, 
 
 " Fond — but too anxious friend — thou know'st whose hand 
 
 Clothes with a verdant robe these wavy hills, 
 
 And dyes with varied hues the glowing flowers ! 
 
 Who paints the rainbow-plumage of the bird, 
 
 That with glad note darts through the ambient air, 
 
 And seeks his portion from creation's God. 
 
 And ah ! will not that gracious hand support 
 
 The being he bestows ? doubt not that now 
 
 His bounty from earth's riches will afford 
 
 Our scanty portion too ! trust in his love — 
 
 Hast thou not taught me that Jehovah (-rod 
 
 Has found salvation for a guilty world, 
 
 And that the emblems of the Jewish fane 
 
 Show as in mirror bright — that off'ring pure
 
 ^1 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 Which God's long promis'd grace, in future days 
 Will realize for those his love will save ? 
 Know we by faith this truth — and can we doubt 
 That he who grants the greater will bestow 
 The meaner blessing? let us, while we mount 
 The steep ascent that crowns yon olive grove, 
 Gaze on th' expanse of nature — while our hearts 
 Own as our God its providential Lord !" 
 Far o'er the vale where aromatic flowers 
 Breath'd their elysian odours— while around 
 The dark green olive, and wild fig-tree wav'd 
 With gentle undulations in the breeze — 
 The sullen waters of th' Asphaltic lay — 
 Embosom'd in sharp crags, whose forms grotesque 
 Pil'd in rude heaps, as towers gigantic frown'd — 
 Or as bold amphitheatres, by hand 
 Of giant huge — carv'd from the solid rock : 
 Now 'neath the luminous meridian beam 
 
 Like a bright lake of chrysolite they shone,
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 25 
 
 With golden hues and shades of lucid green — 
 
 " There," with a sigh, the gentle Ruth exclaim'd — 
 
 " There we behold that deep and deadly sea, 
 
 Beneath whose bitter waters lie the wreck 
 
 Of wasted cities, by the fiery stream 
 
 Of livid sulphur, heaven's dread messenger 
 
 O'erthrown, and shrouded by the silent wave, 
 
 Resting as monument of vengeance just ! 
 
 But though Jehovah God, thus strikes to earth 
 
 The guilty city, and o'erwhelms the proud. 
 
 And impious sinner in its fearful fall, 
 
 Yet love, his dearest attribute, adorns 
 
 With pure refulgent light his glorious throne — 
 
 But ah ! thouYt weary — rest thee here awhile, 
 
 Where the green arch of foliage pendant droops. 
 
 Seest thou yon field, whose rich and golden grain 
 
 Falls 'neath the shining sickle ? let me haste 
 
 With willing step to glean the dropping ears 
 
 Which fall profuse around, meanwhile resign'd
 
 26 
 
 SACKED PORTRAITURE 
 
 And pray'rful thou wilt wait my glad return !" 
 
 As flies the bird on soft affection's wing 
 
 To the sweet tenants of her distant nest, 
 
 Swiftly she fled — and from her simple veil 
 
 Her ebon locks in full luxuriance fell 
 
 O'er her fair neck, while her expressive eye 
 
 Of pensive hue, beamed with the impress sweet 
 
 Of tenderness and unaffected love. 
 
 There, as with modesty reserv'd she shunn'd 
 
 To mingle with the rustic slaves, who now 
 
 In joyous groups reap'd down the glowing fields ; 
 
 Retir'd she trod th' expansive mead, where strew'd 
 
 The grain lay scatter'd on earth's verdant lap; 
 
 Now rapid flew the day — the morning shone 
 
 And evening ting'd with grey the cloudless sky ; 
 
 Sweetly the echoes of the reapers' song 
 
 Resounded through the hills — as Ruth renew'd 
 
 Her pleasing toil, and bent her graceful form 
 
 Low o'er the field — now bright with twinkling drops
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS, 27 
 
 Of ev'ning's gems — when lo, a gentle voice 
 
 In soft and winning tone salutes her ear ! 
 
 Sudden she rises, and beholds a form 
 
 Of noble manliness — whose air benign 
 
 And dignity of eye, bespeaks a mind 
 
 Fram'd in no common mould — with accents mild 
 
 He thus the timid blushing Ruth address'd : 
 
 " Shun not, fair stranger, one whose bosom owns 
 
 With sympathetic throb, the plea of woe ; 
 
 Yes — I have marked thy modest loveliness, 
 
 And from the partner of thy sorrows, heard 
 
 Of that dark cloud whose sad o'ershading gloom 
 
 Hung tearful o'er thine early joys, and chill'd 
 
 The op'ning bloom that graced each springing flower 
 
 On thy bright path of life. Ah, why that tear 
 
 That starting dims thy radiant eye, and falls 
 
 On thy soft cheek, where the retreating blush 
 
 Leaves nought but sorrow's dim and pallid hue. 
 
 Trust me, those faded blossoms shall revive,
 
 28 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 And with an added lustre strew thy way ! 
 
 Here in this favour'd region, where the earth, 
 
 Rich with heav'n's bounty, sheds profusely forth 
 
 From her fair bosom, fragrant herbs and flowers, 
 
 And beams with golden waves of clustering corn — 
 
 Here shall thy shining hours, on joyous wing 
 
 Fly in bright circles, till the happier day, 
 
 When from eaith's transient scene, thy heav'nward flight 
 
 To regions of eternal bliss shall bring 
 
 Thy disembodied spirit — well I know 
 
 Renouncing Moab's idols — thou hast bow'd 
 
 In heart to IsraTs God— and at his shrine 
 
 The fragrant incense of thy faithful prayers 
 
 Shall soon in od'rous clouds ascend — but see 
 
 How bright th' ethereal orb's full lustre pours 
 
 In streamy radiance o'er the placid scene ! 
 
 How the pale flow'rets in the moonlight ray 
 
 Wear the reflection of night's chasten'd smile ! 
 
 And fill the zephyrs with their perfum'd breath !
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 29 
 
 There the glad reapers cease their daily toil, 
 
 And with yon lovely train of maidens haste 
 
 To deck the rustic banquet — say, wilt thou 
 
 Partake the festive cheer, and make the hour 
 
 More joyous by thy presence, while the hymn 
 
 Of praises to the source benign of good 
 Wakes the loud echoes of the circling hills!" 
 
 Now on a tlow'ry bank — by graceful maids 
 
 The snowy cov'ring laid — is richly spread 
 
 With varied fruits that fill the rural vase 
 
 Of gaily interwoven reeds — which shine 
 
 With intermingl'd hues — there the pure grape 
 
 In drooping clusters, with the glowing peach, 
 
 The bright pomegranate, and the mellow fig, 
 
 Adorn the simple feast — no costly wine 
 
 In jewell'd vase, flows with abundant stream, 
 
 But lucid waters from the glitt'ring fount 
 
 Of Bethlehem, fill the rude unpolish'd gourd. 
 
 There smile the rosy flowers in garlands twin'd,
 
 30 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 And form a fragrant canopy, whose arch 
 Of breathing odours near the banquet placed 
 Perfume the night breeze with attractive sweets ! 
 How soft the hymn of gratitude arose 
 From the bright bower, where Ruth and Naomi, 
 Awaken'd now by hope's enliv'ning voice 
 From sorrow's lethargy — responsive sing ! 
 While Boaz, who rejoices in the claim 
 Of kinsman,* hails in thought the happy hour 
 When Ruth shall tread with him the mazy path 
 Of changeful life, join'd by the flow'ry bonds 
 Of soft affection and hymeneal love ! 
 O, if 'tis sweet with mental eye to dwell 
 On scenes like these of tranquil happiness, 
 Where joy perspective seems with brilliant touch 
 To trace new beaming objects of delight 
 Unshaded by the deep'ning glooms of woe — 
 How should the soul by blest Immanuel taught 
 
 • Ruth iv.
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. :;l 
 
 Through faith's illuminating power behold 
 That glorious region, where the ties that bind 
 Shall ne'er dissever, where no flatt'ring hope 
 Gilds an unreal prospect— where pure love 
 With angel plumes brightens the radiant scene, 
 And wafts his wings o'er all th' immortal plains !
 
 32 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S DREAM. 
 
 The eve had fled, and deep o'ershadowing night 
 Had filled the palace of the monarch high 
 
 With many a radiant lamp, whose glitt'ring light 
 Rivall'd the beamings of the noon-day sky. 
 
 Above the royal couch of broider'd hue, 
 A shaded lustre hung in chains of gold, 
 
 Which shed o'er drap'ries rich of azure blue 
 A moonlight paleness on each silken fold.
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 There when the painted pageants of the day, 
 With all the varied cares of regal state 
 
 Were hushed in silence — Babylon's monarch lay 
 While near his sleeping couch mute guards await. 
 
 But scarce had gentle slumbers' gradual sway 
 Fanned ev'ry sense with soft and downy wing, 
 
 When fancy's flight his spirit wrapt away, 
 
 And thought inspired, did forms unearthly bring. 
 
 He dream'd, and lo, at midnight's awful hour 
 Near the dark shade of an embow'ring wood, 
 
 When clouds with fate portentous seemed to lour, 
 A form colossal — fix'd — before him stood! 
 
 The moon in pale and cloudy robe array 'd, 
 
 Gleamed on its tow'ring head of massive gold, 
 
 Then on its giant breast of silver play'd, 
 
 And show'd the brassy limbs of firmest mould. 
 
 D 
 
 '«
 
 : >i SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 Each bold and pond'rous limb was strongly based 
 By feet of iron, mix'd with servile clay, 
 
 But here its beamy brightness seem'd defac'd 
 And mark'd the mould'ring hand of sad decay. 
 
 The clouds now gath'ring roll'd with threat'ning lour, 
 And op'ning wide with livid light'ning flow'd, 
 
 When lo ! a stone, hurl'd by unearthly pow'r, 
 Crush'd the gigantic form with thunder's loud, 
 
 Now ceas'd the rolling peal, the flashing light — 
 
 And morn with golden smile gleam'd o'er the sky- 
 Then grew th' expanding stone to heav'n's height, 
 And stretch'd o'er earth in tow'ring majesty ! 
 
 With wild and startl'd cry the monarch wakes — 
 Deep silence in the palace reigns around ! 
 
 He sleeps no more— and still when morning breaks 
 Revolves his mystic dream with thoughts profound.
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 35 
 
 The trumpets sound — the great divan appear 
 Assembled in the rich and drap'ried hall, 
 
 Where springing founts as sparkling crystal clear, 
 Murm'ring in bright and liquid columns fall. 
 
 With look perturb'd great Babylon's monarch rose, 
 With anxious gesture, yet commanding tone 
 
 Summons the magi, on whose word repose 
 The nations that surround Chaldea's throne. 
 
 " O ye to whom the stores of heav'nly light, 
 
 By superhuman skill are richly known : 
 Recal the fleeting visions of the night, 
 
 For now my shadowy dream's from mem'ry flown." 
 
 With suppliant eye they plead, " dread king unfold 
 
 The reveries that met thy wond'ring sight, 
 And soon in magic glass thou shalt behold 
 
 Th' eventful import of thy fancy's flight." 
 
 b2
 
 36 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 Amaze — suspicion — flush'd the monarch's brow — 
 " Magi, were ye by sacred influence fir'd — 
 
 Did ye fate's hidden page of myst'ry know — 
 
 Nought would lie veiled before your view inspir'd!" 
 
 Swift flies the rapid edict from the throne, 
 That at the hour of night's returning gloom, 
 
 If dream and import be not clearly known, 
 Then death shall seal the guilty magi's doom. 
 
 Soon glimm'ring eve appear'd with envious veil 
 To shade the features of resplendent day, 
 
 And sought her genial glances to conceal 
 Beneath the dusky folds of vapoury grey. 
 
 And now the parting ray through foliage twin'd, 
 Illumed the lattice of a chamber lone, 
 
 Where with a spirit sadden'd, yet resign'd, 
 A Hebrew captive pray'd in plaintive tone.
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 37 
 
 Judea's sorrows drew the deepfelt sigh, 
 
 And dimm'd the lustre of his youthful morn, 
 
 While hope at distance mock'd his anxious eye, 
 Or faintly beam'd on Isra'l's fate forlorn. 
 
 E'er yet his orison of eve is o'er, 
 
 Or day's last solar streak, in twilight fades, 
 
 The meteor flashings of red torches pour, 
 
 Their fearful gleamings through the dark'ning shades. 
 
 Then with stern looks that speak some edict dread, 
 A martial guard with falchions drawn appears, 
 
 Tells him his doom by Babylon's king decreed 
 Is instant death, with all its harrowing fears. 
 
 But oh ! though nature dreads th' appalling blow, 
 Death to his soul has lost its fatal sting — 
 
 He feels the presence of his God below, 
 
 And rests beneath the almighty guardian wing.
 
 38 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 Calmly the heralds of his fate he views, 
 
 Then pleads the respite of one short-lived hour, 
 
 That wrapt in secret thought his soul may muse, 
 And seek th' enlight'ning spirit's heav'nly pow'r. 
 
 His foes withdrawn awhile— with humble pray'r 
 His soul flies upward to the mercy seat ; 
 
 Like incense pour'd from golden vials there, 
 
 That faithful prayer does high heav'n's mercy meet. 
 
 Now many a lamp the royal halls illume, 
 
 But Babylon's king rejects the splendid state, 
 
 For long has pass'd the midnight hour of doom, 
 Nor yet return the messengers of fate. 
 
 The massy palace gates unfolding wide, 
 
 Display at length an arm'd and martial throng, 
 
 With eagle glance the anxious monarch eyed 
 A captive youth, their shining ranks among.
 
 AND ILLUSTRATION!?. 39 
 
 Pale sorrow's snow had blanch'd his blooming cheek, 
 Nor did youth's lustre light his pensive eye, 
 
 But if of Zion, or her God he speak, 
 
 That eye — that cheek — glow deep with fervency. 
 
 Unaw'd he stands before the kingly throne — 
 
 " Monarch of Babylon — mysterious fate 
 By art, or magic power 4 can ne'er be known, 
 
 Or by the wisdom of earth's carnal great. 
 
 " No magi learned with dark and mystic rite, 
 Unseals the volume dread of heaven's decree, 
 
 But there's a God, whose soul inspiring light 
 Can gild the shadows of futurity. 
 
 " The form thou saw'st in thy symbolic dream, 
 Appear'd that with a prophet's view inspir'd, 
 
 A moment thou might'st gaze on time's swift stream, 
 While yet Jehovah's light thy fancy fir'd.
 
 40 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 " In its proud head of pure and burning gold, a 
 
 Which brightly shone beneath the pale moon's wane, 
 
 There taught by IsraTs God, thou may'st behold 
 Th' imperial splendors of thy pow'rful reign. 
 
 " And when thy day- of regal pride is o'er, 
 And low on earth's cold bosom thou repose, 
 
 The silv'ry breasts which mark inferior power, 
 Thy high successor's brilliant reign disclose. 
 
 " The brassy limbs an empire strong display, 
 But one that shines with still decreasing light, 
 
 The iron base that seems to mock decay, 
 
 Points a fourth kingdom in its pond'rous might. 
 
 " But mark how earth's bright glories fade away, 
 How tarnish'd now the pure and radiant gold, 
 
 The iron feet debas'd by worthless clay, 
 A strange unnatural union feebly hold.
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 " So in that pow'rful state shall faction fell, 
 And envious conflict with corruption reign, 
 
 While direful vice with all its deeds of hell 
 Shall blot its fairness with polluted stain. 
 
 " Unhewn by earthly hands, a stone thou saw'st 
 Strike the colossal form with thunders dread, 
 
 Till as the chaff by rushing whirlwinds tost 
 Its strength, its brilliancy, in ashes fled. 
 
 " So that proud state, whose high aspiring eye 
 Views kings in vassalage beneath its sway — 
 
 Struck by heav'n's hand retributive shall die, 
 And like thy dream from mem'ry pass away. 
 
 " Thou saw'st the stone that smote the massive form 
 Uprais'd in majesty to heav'n's high throne, 
 
 While as it rose, it still'd the raging storm, 
 And spread its vastncss o'er earth's circling zone. 
 
 41
 
 42 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 " Thus e'er these transient kingdoms fade away, 
 Jehovah — IsraTs monarch — shall upraise 
 
 A powerful realm, whose strength can ne'er decay, 
 Whose fame shall scund in everlasting lays ! 
 
 " As the fierce torrent in its restless course, 
 Bears the light foam upon its rushing wave — 
 
 So time's vast stream draws with resistless force, 
 Earth's hollow splendours, to oblivion's grave ! 
 
 But O, the glories of Immanuel's reign, 
 Fix'd as the boreal star that gilds the sea, 
 
 When suns shall vanish and pale planets wane, 
 Shall light the ocean of eternity." 
 
 Awe-struck, the monarch fix'd his wond'ring gaze, 
 
 Prophetic fire irradiates his soul — 
 He hails Jehovah's reign and endless days, 
 
 Whose blissful rays shall shine from pole to pole.
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 43 
 
 Then, at his word, the sacrificial wine 
 
 Appears with incense rich in od'rous stream, 
 
 To yield the Hebrew prophet rites divine, 
 
 Whose spirit glows with more than mortal beam. 
 
 With uprais'd eye, and lowly bended knee, 
 
 The captive points to heaven's supernal throne — 
 
 " O, thou whose spirit fills immensity, 
 
 Whose might creation's glorious frame makes known: 
 
 " Release vain man — the being of an hour, 
 
 From slavish chains of base idolatry, 
 Till his freed soul by faith's inspiring pow'r, 
 
 Jehovah great, alone shall worship thee '" 
 
 Then rising — to Assyria's king he speaks — v 
 " Cease thou from man — from gilded idols cease, 
 
 The light that now thy slumb'ring spirit wakes, 
 Reveals thy God— the way to life and peace !"
 
 44 
 
 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 DEFEAT OF SENNACHERIB. 
 
 The purple blush of sunset o'er the sky, 
 Suffus'd with radiance rich the sacred fane, 
 And where her golden gates in tow'ring might 
 And lofty brazen pillars, deep inwrought 
 With mystic emblems, rear'd their shining front, 
 There in full glow reflected, played the bright 
 And redd'ning splendours of the western clouds. 
 With soul dejected, Israel's monarch trod 
 Each spacious court, that widely circled round 
 The hallow'd palace of th' Almighty King.
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 45 
 
 Slowly ascending, now the massy steps 
 
 Of stainless marble, wide th' unfolding gates 
 
 Display the temple's glories to his view. 
 
 'I he sacrifice of eve is o'er, yet still 
 
 A few faint wreaths of smoky vapour rise 
 
 High from the brazen altar, where the lamb 
 
 A spotless offering for sin was slain. 
 
 With clear aspiring llame the lamps illume 
 
 The ample lavers rich, and molten sea, 
 
 The sculptured flow'rs, and sun-like pavement fair ; 
 
 Glance o'er the lucid roof and sparkling beam 
 
 As with concentrate rays of thousand stars. e 
 
 The perfum'd odours of the incense pure, 
 
 Forth from the holy place in grateful streams 
 
 Still issued, breathing o'er the solemn scene ; 
 
 While on the mingled colouring of the veil 
 
 Which hid from view the sacred mercy seat, 
 
 Mysterious cherubim embroider'd, shone 
 
 With bright vibrations from their glist'ning wings !
 
 46 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 Before the brazen altar, bending low 
 There Israel's monarch lays the impious roll 
 Stain'd with foul characters, whose blasphemy- 
 Assails the throne and might of heaven's dread King. 
 " O, thou great power — whose pavilion high 
 Of darkling shadow, veils the glorious light 
 That radiates from thy resplendent throne — 
 Yet who in bounteous goodness deign'st to dwell 
 Between the blazing cherubim, whose wings] 
 Of golden fire o'ershade the mercy seat : 
 Thou, who with touch creative, did'st call forth 
 The glowing firmament and teeming earth ; 
 And with thy sceptre rul'st unnumber'd worlds 
 That spring from chaos at thy vast command; 
 Bow down thine ear Almighty, and with eye 
 Omniscient, view the dark Satanic lines 
 Which dare assault the great, the living God. 
 Yes, Lord ! Assyria's monarchs by fell pow'r 
 The nations hew with desolating sword,
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 And dash the boasted idols of the land 
 
 Deep in the furnace of devouring flame : 
 
 Now therefore, let thy wing of mercy wave 
 
 O'er thy belov'd Jerusalem, and shade 
 
 Thy hallow 'd temple from the impious hand 
 
 Of heathen monarch, who would blot thy fair, 
 
 Thy spotless glories with polluted touch. 
 
 Oh, guard from sword of infidel that ark, 
 
 The cov'nant of thy changeless love, where shines 
 
 In mild effulgence the soft lambent ray, 
 
 Symbolic flame of purity, which now 
 
 'Neath the bright drap'ry of yon mystic veil 
 
 With consecrated splendour pours its light. 
 
 Jehovah, Lord of Hosts, upraise thy sword 
 
 Of strength almighty, and avenge thy cause 
 
 Against the boasted vaunts of heathen foes. 
 
 Disperse the lurid cloud of awful gloom 
 
 Which threat'ning hangs o'er sad Jerusalem, 
 
 And bend thine eye of light beneficent
 
 48 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 On Israel's monarch, who desponding bows 
 
 Before thy sacrificial altar, where 
 
 The spotless lamb displays thy vast design 
 
 Of pard'ning love to weak and guilty man." 
 
 He ceas'd — and now a distant murm'ring rose 
 
 From the reverberating hills, whose might 
 
 Circles Jerusalem with massive strength, 
 
 The native bulwarks of her holy fane: 
 
 Soon from Moriah's height, the monarch's eye 
 
 Wanders o'er dark Jehoshaphat's lone vale, 
 
 Where gloomy Kedron lies beneath his feet, 
 
 While pours the silver flood of moonlight rays 
 
 Full o'er the lofty brows of Olivet, 
 
 And falls translucent on the cluster'd groves, 
 
 Whose shadowy foliage crowns each steep defile. 
 
 But hark! what fearful clang of warlike shield 
 
 Rings o'er the vale, and vibrates on the ear 
 
 Of silent eve — see, what bright torrent moves 
 
 Of flashing spears, which like a starlight stream
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 49 
 
 Flows in swift radiance down the mountain side, 
 While gleam the brazen helmets of a host 
 Unnumbered as the glitt'ring orbs that strew 
 Th' expansive sable of the midnight sky. 
 In golden panoply their royal chief 
 Distinguish'd shines — his cuirass starr'd with gems, 
 His purple plume wild waving in the breeze, 
 His daring front and warlike gesture speak 
 The dauntless soul of an unconquer'd king. 
 Now in vast columns march the hostile bands, 
 O'erspread the hills and guard each mountain pass, 
 With rapid hands a bold encampment raise — 
 Flank the denies and plant their banners bright. 
 The regal tent of broider'd crimson, stands 
 Full in the midst, while like the snowy peaks 
 That skirt the sides of lofty Ararat, 
 The circling camp surrounds their leader high 
 Invincible, and fearless of the morn. 
 
 E
 
 50 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 As flying meteors now from tent to tent 
 
 In quick succession blaze the glowing lamps ; 
 
 And soon the sounds of martial revelry 
 
 Rise on the night-breeze from the joyous host, 
 
 Who in glad thought divide the sumptuous prey, 
 
 Plunder the hallowed treasury, and deck 
 
 Their brows with trophies of their conquer'd foes. 
 
 Awhile dejected — Hezekiah views 
 
 Assyria's dread battalions — whose proud lance 
 
 And massive club, e'er long may vengeful fall 
 
 On lone Jerusalem's defenceless head, 
 
 And while he breathes an inward pray'r, behold 
 
 In simple garb the prophet's messenger 
 
 Brings the sweet gleamings of a dawning hope, 
 
 Whose heav'nly brightness cheers his gloomy soul. 
 
 " Hear," cries the prophet, " from th' eternal bar, 
 
 Where Israel's God in awful judgment sits 
 
 Th' unchanging fiat of his mighty will. 
 
 Against Assyria's monarch thou hast pray'd
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 51 
 
 The infidel Sennacherib, who here 
 With impious boasting tempts Jehovah's pow'r, — 
 Hear then thy answer from th' almighty throne." 
 Then pointing towards th' innumerable throng 
 That lay outstretched o'er the wide mountain side : 
 " Thus, saith the Lord, hast thou blasphem'd thy God, 
 Before whose sight the bright wing'd seraphim 
 Veil their pure eyes, and low adoring bow — 
 Hast thou defied his pow'r, and in thine heart 
 Already hewn the tow'ring cedars fair, 
 That crown the verdant brows of Lebanon, 
 Cropp'd the rich vine, whose full luxuriant wreath 
 Climbs o'er the wavy bend of Carmel's hill, 
 And * dried the rivers of each fort besieg'd 
 With the proud impress of thy princely foot? 
 Hast thou not heard that his creative hand 
 Moulded the mass unformed at nature's birth, 
 That mass which now an awful mountain tow'rs 
 
 " Isa. xxxvii. 25. 
 
 E 2
 
 52 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 Or smiles a fertile valley at his will ? 
 
 Has he with ramparts girt each city round, 
 
 That thou dismantling all its bulwarks strong, 
 
 Should'st lay it level with the wasted earth ? 
 
 No — though thine army like the flow'ring herbs 
 
 Strewed o'er the green hills in the op'ning spring, 
 
 Now gaily flourishes — the beam of heaven, 
 
 Shall blast with scorching flame its brilliant bloom. 
 
 Thine arrows shall not cleave the yielding air 
 
 To strike the favor'd city — nor shall now 
 
 The rising trench thy hostile legions guard. 
 
 Jehovah — for the glory of his name — 
 
 Shall send his warlike angel, who with sword 
 
 Of piercing fire shall hover o'er the scene, 
 
 And shield his temple with celestial might." 
 
 Scarce had the sounds of mirthful clamour ceas'd, 
 
 That loudly echoed in the heathen camp — 
 
 Scarce had the wand of sleep with magic pow'r 
 
 Wav'd o'er each wearied eye, and hush'd each thought,
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS 53 
 
 When fearful darkness veil'd the languid moon — 
 
 The shudd'ring stars died from the gloomy vault — 
 
 An adverse angel rode the midnight wind, 
 
 And pour'd a sanguine haze o'er all the air ! 
 
 The purple meteor fill'd with vapoury fire, 
 
 Moving in silence through the sleeping camp, 
 
 Exhaled terrific death, while o'er the moon 
 
 The crimson shadow pass'd with pois'nous flame, 
 
 And with'ring nature shrunk beneath its blast ! 
 
 'Tis o'er ! reviving nature breathes — and now 
 
 The sunny splendours of fair morning break — 
 
 Her ray of blushing fire illumes the camp, 
 
 And streaks with roseate hues each snowy tent — 
 
 Sennacherib from dream unquiet wakes, 
 
 And summons with high tone his royal guards— 
 
 : Tis silence all ! terrific stillness reigns, 
 
 As if some dark and fatal magic shed 
 
 Its dread enchantment through the spell-bound air. 
 
 Wildly he rushes forth— with awe-struck gaze
 
 54 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 » 
 
 He sees the bloodless mountain strew'd with pale 
 And ghastly dead ! the arm'd and warlike ranks 
 Girt with their martial weapons — cold and still ! 
 The warriors in each tent with glaring eyes, 
 As if in gaze of horror — lie beneath 
 That icy death, whose chilling damps bedew 
 The frowning brow, the wan and sunken cheek ! 
 Shudd'ring he casts a baleful glance to heav'n, 
 Then on the temple, whose imperial front 
 And golden glories court the rising sun- 
 He gazes with dark scowl of vengeful hate, 
 And with a mournful remnant who amaz'd, 
 Distracted view the scene of death — ascends 
 The steep defile, and flies with terror wing'd 
 As if the sword of judgment still pursues 
 His guilty steps — the distant Tigris seeks 
 Where the broad walls of royal Nineveh, 
 Flanked with colossal tow'rs the foe defies, 
 And ptostrate bows before bis idol's shrine.
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 55 
 
 But while he breathes the impious pray'r, behold 
 A murd'rous dagger strikes the fatal blow 
 Home to his guilty soul — and ere the last 
 Declining ray fades from his dying eyes — 
 Appall'd he views his miscreant sons who steep 
 Th' assassin's poniard in his bursting heart, 
 And with loud shriek of wild despair expires ! 
 Not by the marshall'd host whose war-girt bands 
 In dread battalia ranged — breathe threat'ning death, 
 
 Can mortal pow'r oppose thy mighty sway ! 
 
 Jehovah ! Lord of those celestial ranks, 
 
 Who in bright legions wait with outstretch'd wings, 
 
 To bear the olive branch of peace and love, 
 
 Or bend the bow of judgment at thy will — 
 
 Bind by thy spirit's pow'r a rebel world 
 
 In golden chains of love ! as captive's won 
 
 To heav'n's allegiance — may thy panoply 
 
 Shine on each warrior who the banner waves,
 
 I 
 
 56 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 That bears th' insignia of thy glorious cause! 
 Till victory enwreath'd with deathless flowers, 
 Shall shout exulting through the radiant spheres, 
 And peace in stainless robes shall breathe her calm, 
 And tranquil bliss o'er all th' eternal scene.
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. ^ 
 
 BELSHAZZAR'S FEAST 
 
 O'er the high arches of the banquet hail- 
 Where broider'd drap'ries beam with varied glow, 
 
 Pendant in graceful waves from columns tall- 
 Fair lamps illume th' illustrious guests below, 
 
 Beneath the painted dome, a mimic sky, 
 The fragrant fount as liquid brilliants clear 
 
 Reflected, plays in dazzling mirrors high, 
 And cools the fervors of the ambient air.
 
 58 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 There, where a silken festoon's shining fold 
 
 Forms a wide canopy of lofty height — 
 Appears an idol sun of sparkling gold, 
 
 Irradiate with gems of starry light. 
 
 And trac'd by limner's art in rich alcove, 
 
 Fair Venus treads the soft and glowing flow'rs 
 
 O'ershadow'd by th' expanded wings of Love, 
 And crown'd with myrtle by the rosy Hours. ' 
 
 Chaldea's thousand lords in bright array, 
 
 Grace with their splendid train th' imperial feast 
 
 Where courtly pomp, with nature's blooms display 
 Their charms, combin'd to tempt th' enchanted guest. 
 
 Arrayed in regal robe of Tyrian dye, 
 
 With brow encircled by the peerless crown, 
 
 Where diamonds fair with blushing rubies vie, 
 Belshazzar proudly fills th' Assvrian throne.
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 59 
 
 Now swift in crimson streams the mantling wine 
 Flows in rich vase by silv'ry vines enwreath'd — 
 
 While many a lovely rose which once did shine 
 In royal bow'rs, its native odours breath'd. 
 
 And loud the sacrilegious hymn they raise, 
 And vaunt of many a fabled hero's name, 
 
 Whose warlike deeds they chaunt in sounds of praise, 
 And pour libations to their idol's fame. 
 
 Elate with sudden joy — the impious king 
 Commands the priests of Isra'l at his word, 
 
 The golden vessels of God's house to bring, 
 Prize of his ancestor's triumphant sword. 
 
 O, sacred temple, of celestial fame — 
 
 Thy vessels pure that bore the blushing wine, 
 
 When on bright altars to Jehovah's name 
 The hallow'd victim bled with rites divine,
 
 60 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 And must they bear the dark polluted stain 
 
 Of guilty sacrifice to idols base, 
 When long in Isra'l's once resplendent fane, 
 
 They saw the glories of th' Almighty's face ? 
 
 Yes — borne by conquer'd Zion's weeping priests, 
 The costly vessels grace the royal board, 
 
 While with loud shouts Belshazzar's godless guests, 
 In transports high the free libations pour'd. 
 
 Then Chaldea's king uplifts th' empurpled vase, 
 The beaming sun's transcendant fame t' extol — 
 
 But starts — his eye-balls glare with wild amaze, 
 And icy horror chills his shudd'ring soul 
 
 He gazes on a hand of ghastly hue — 
 
 Slow moving 'neath the golden idol's frame, 
 
 And tracing in his wrapt and awe-struck view, 
 Mysterious characters of livid flame!
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. '51 
 
 Hush'tl is the sound of mirth and revelry — 
 
 Pale looks of terror speak the death-like fear — 
 
 Where is the song of pagan chivalry, 
 
 Where is the banquet's gay and splendid cheer ? 
 
 The vase falls trembling from his nerveless hand, 
 " Yes — yes — some dread — some fatal spell is near — 
 
 Summon the magi" — at his high command 
 Th' astrologers with mystic page appear. 
 
 They gaze — but o'er each awful dubious word, 
 There hangs a shadowy veil of deepest night, 
 
 Xor can th' enchanter's art — one gleam afford 
 To chase the darkness from their mental sight. 
 
 Then while the palace rings with loud alarm, 
 And ev'ry heart beats high with boding fears — 
 
 Sudden in rich array — a female form — 
 With eye of thoughtful dignity appears.
 
 62 
 
 SACRED POUTllvUTUItt: 
 
 With anxious tone she speaks, " Let not, my Lord, 
 
 The lofty courage of thy spirit fail, 
 Nor let the import of a secret word, 
 
 The soul of Asshur's king with dread assail. 
 
 In the seclusion of a lonely cell, 
 
 Far from the splendid honors of the state 
 
 Dwells one, whose pow'r can break th' enchanted spell, 
 And search the deepest mysteries of fate. 
 
 For in thine ancestor's imperial reign, 
 The spirit of the Gods illumed his soul, 
 
 And high exalted in the kingly train, 
 
 His art unearthly gained supreme control. 
 
 Let Daniel by thy mandate now appear, 
 
 Then shall he solve thy doubts by heav'nly pow'r, 
 
 Of these dark lines the hidden myst'ry clear, 
 And give thy spirit to the festive hour."
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. fi."> 
 
 He comes— fall many a year has marked his brow 
 Since last in Chaldea's regal halls he trod — 
 
 Full many a year has shed its passing snow 
 Since there he spake the praise of Zion's God ! 
 
 But while within the impious idol fane, 
 
 His spirit backward shrinks with holy fear — 
 
 He views the livid lines — of import plain — 
 
 Where dread denouncements from his God appear. 
 
 Then Asshur's monarch speaks — " O if thine eye 
 Inspir'd by godlike prescience can behold 
 
 Through time's long vista — dim futurity — 
 Read, and these soul-appalling lines unfold. 
 
 For well I know thy spirit high can soar 
 To regions far beyond our mortal clime, 
 
 And there the sacred Deities implore 
 
 To gift thy mind with wisdom's light sublime.
 
 61 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 New if thine art these secret words unfold, 
 Trac'd by some shadowy messenger of fate, 
 
 Adorn'd with jewell'd chain of massive gold, 
 Thou'lt share the glories of th' Assyrian state." 
 
 A flash indignant lights the prophet's eye — 
 
 " Let those whose spirit seeks delight supreme, 
 
 In gilded wreaths of gay prosperity 
 
 Enjoy with thee, their vain and transient beam. 
 
 O, thou great monarch — lulled by fortune's spell 
 Thy senses sleep beneath its soft control — 
 
 While dark idolatry, with influence fell, 
 
 Her shroud of midnight, folds around thy soul. 
 
 Assyria's crown that glitters on thy brows, 
 Once by the concmeror of Israel borne — 
 
 Was heaven's rich gift, whose pow'r alone bestows 
 Those bounties which this favoured world adorn.
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. Ga 
 
 But when the victor o'er wide regions trod, 
 And bright the sceptre sparkled in his hand — 
 
 Elate with pride his soul defied that God, 
 
 Who holds creation 'neath his dread command, 
 
 Mark then, how vengeance laid the mighty low, 
 From heaven Jehovah's swift-wing' d angel flew, 
 
 Struck the tiara from his lofty brow, 
 
 And o'er his mind a veil of darkness drew. 
 
 Nor was that lurid veil of gloom undrawn, 
 
 Nor beam'd with thought that mind, to frenzy driv'n, 
 
 Till his adoring soul, at reason's dawn, 
 
 Confess'd Jehovah, Lord of earth and heav'n. 
 
 p 
 
 And thou, Belshazzar — thou his son — hast known 
 
 This edict from yon awful court above — 
 Yet hast thou dar'd defy th' Almighty frown, 
 
 And scorn the mercies of his bounteous love,
 
 Gti SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 In thy dark hour of idol revelry, 
 
 Thou'st stain'd the vessels of his blest abode, 
 Which hallow'd once, beneath that sacred eye 
 
 Bore pure and sinless off' rings to our God. 
 
 Thou — monarch — thou with each unholy guest, 
 
 Jehovah's name to idols base hast given, 
 While the loud echoings of thine impious feast 
 
 Pierc'd the expanse, and reach'd offended heav'n ! 
 
 Then did that shadowy hand of death-like hue, 
 Trace these pale characters of gleaming flame 
 
 To image to thy soul, with pencil true, 
 
 How short earth's splendours, and how vain earth's fame. 
 
 Hear then thy doom in awful words of fire — 
 Although the costly crown thy brows adorn, 
 
 Its dim and fading gems shall soon expire, 
 
 And none thy wan and setting sun shall mourn.
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 67 
 
 Light as the shining foam on ocean tost, 
 When in the balance of God's righteous law 
 
 Thy virtue's weigh'd, its transient ray is lost 
 
 While sins remorseless, heav'n's just vengeance draw. 
 
 The sceptre which unbroken in thy hand 
 
 Held o'er Assyria's realm its vaunted sway — 
 
 To other nations by divine command, 
 In justice to thy crimes shall pass away. 
 
 But oh ! ere yet death's dark o'er whelming flood 
 Hides from thy view the light of mercy's eye, 
 
 Fly to the fount of sacrificial blood, 
 
 And cleanse thy soul from stains of deepest dye." 
 
 Now on the whisp'ring gale low sounds were heard 
 
 Like the slow risings of a gath'ring storm — 
 
 Louder they grew — the flash of arms appear'd, 
 
 And sudden shrieks of fear spread wild alarm. 
 
 F 2
 
 OS SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 Belshazzar starts from reverie of woe — 
 Summons the royal guard with frantic tone, 
 
 But ere his word goes forth th' impetuous foe 
 Rush to the precincts of the kingly throne. 
 
 " They come — my doom is sealed — the foe — the foe" — 
 Sudden the sounds of warlike engines roll — 
 
 He grasps a sword — but pierc'd by many a blow, 
 Prostrate he falls, and yields his struggling soul ! 
 
 Where was thine arm, O Baal ! in that hour 
 Where were the thunders of thy godlike force, 
 
 When fell thy votary beneath the pow'r 
 
 Of those who trampled on his ghastly corse ? 
 
 How droop the flow'rs that late their sweetness breath'd, 
 How dim the lamps that beam'd with starry fire, 
 
 And where enraptur'd Joy his garlands wreath'd, 
 Pale Desolation lights her fun'ral pyre !
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 69 
 
 Around the monarch's tomb, no requiem spoke 
 
 Its plaintive sorrow for the spirit fled — 
 Nought but the wild bird's moan the echoes woke 
 
 That sigh'd their hollow dirges o'er the dead.
 
 70 SACRED rORTRAITURL 
 
 DEATH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST. 
 
 The lofty throne of Judah's haughty king 
 
 O'erhung with dazzling canopy — where art 
 
 With glowing semblance wove fair nature's flowers 
 
 In wreathy gems— with clear reflected light 
 
 Of thousand lamps — shines on the festive eve 
 
 That celebrates with pomp the monarch's birth. 
 
 There the bright rose beams in the ruby's dye, 
 The blossoms fair of pearl and emerald leaves, 
 
 In varied clusters shed their brilliant rays
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 71 
 
 O'er the proud ruler who in costly state 
 
 Crown'd with the jewelled diadem, beholds 
 
 With eye exulting the surrounding scene. 
 
 Now while he raises high the sparkling cup, 
 
 And gazes on the lovely groups who grace 
 
 The rich divan, there fair Herodias' charms 
 
 Attract his raptur'd sight, while his dark soul 
 
 Feels no repenting pang for lawless love 
 
 Indulg'd, despite of dread Jehovah's frown— 
 
 Or ponders a return to virtue's path : 
 
 For when Messiah's herald, as with voice 
 
 From heav'n's dread court, in tone of fearless zeal 
 
 Reproved the sensual king, whose glitt'ring crown 
 
 Had lured the guilty fair one from the arms 
 
 Of him who bore a brother's sacred name ; 
 
 Heedless of that high power, whose lightest word 
 
 Can quick recal the spirit which he gave, 
 
 And blast earth's pleasures with his with 'ring touch — 
 
 Madly he clasp'd the baneful flow'r, and wore
 
 72 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 Nearest his heart, its sweet, though pois'nous bloom 
 
 Then by the word of pow'r relentless, doom'd 
 
 To the deep solitude of dungeon dark 
 
 Th' undaunted messenger of God, who dar'd 
 
 Presumptuous to oppose his sov'reign's will, 
 
 Here, on this eve, the partner of his crime 
 
 And guilty honors, 'neath a shining vest 
 
 Of orient gems conceals th' ambitious throb, 
 
 The vain and sensual heart, and where a bright 
 
 And regal turban beams — there foul design 
 
 And impious daring — banish sacred peace. 
 
 Yet well the polish fair of courtly grace, 
 
 And lavish smile could veil the inmost soul 
 
 As pleased she lends an ear to flatt'ry's wile, 
 
 And seeks to dazzle by attractive charm. 
 
 Scarce had th' entrancing sounds of music rose 
 
 And wafted through the air their magic spell, 
 
 When as a meteor's golden splendor moves 
 
 Swift through the starry vault, a youthful form
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Lovely as op'ning rose bud, with light step 
 Glides thro' the festal hall, and graceful stands 
 A moment fix'd before the kingly throne. 
 Her fair and lucid robes are richly strewn 
 With mimic fiowrets, wove in wreathy gold, 
 Encircled by a zone of orient pearl, 
 And o'er her turban, many a diamond plume 
 Shines like the silv'ry play of moonlight waves. 
 Now with light bound as if on fairy wing 
 She treads, half flying, o'er the magic round, 
 And traces to soft music's mellow thrill 
 Th' enchanting measures of the varied dance. 
 A rosy garland in her snowy hands 
 She twines in festoon round her pliant form, 
 And then with playful air of homage lays 
 The fragrant off'ring on the sumptuous throne. 
 Raptured the monarch gazes on the fair, 
 Then from her prostrate attitude he lifts 
 The lovely maiden, who with modest blush 
 
 73
 
 1 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 Implores some favour from his bounteous hand. 
 
 " Ask what thou wilt — yes — half my kingdom's wealth 
 
 Bestow'd, would faintly tell what now I feel — 
 
 Or how the lustre of thy youthful charms 
 
 And graceful loveliness, has deep impressed 
 
 With fascinating pow'r thy monarch's soul." 
 
 Sparkling with radiant joy, she instant sought 
 
 The broider'd couch where bright Herodias sate 
 
 In sumptuous dignity, and bending low, 
 
 Gently she spake — " Instructed by thy word, 
 
 Lov'd author of my being — humbly here 
 
 To know thy will — thy child with anxious thought 
 
 Submissive waits — say then — what high demand 
 
 May I of royal Herod's bounty ask ? 
 
 The flush of beauty fled Herodias' cheek — 
 
 Her cpiiv'ring lip some inward conflict spake, 
 
 Which sought for utterance — her bright dark eye, 
 
 O'er which the gath'ring brow spake fell design, 
 
 Flash'd quick the light'ningof revenge — with air
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 75 
 
 Malignant " from our gracious monarch's hand, 
 
 Whose power, whose justice, sway these favored realms, 
 
 And doom the miscreant slave to death deserved, 
 
 Th' imprison'd prophet's guilty head demand !" 
 
 A startled gaze bespeaks the maiden's fear — 
 
 Her glowing tint— her joyous glances fade — 
 
 Dubious — alarmed — still on Herodias' face 
 
 Her eye intent is fix'd — but to that brow 
 
 No touching charm, relenting pity gave 
 
 That spoke the bosom's tenderness — she shrinks 
 
 To plead the boon terrific — till a stern 
 
 Commanding look forbids th' opposing thought. 
 
 Slowly, and fearfully she traces then 
 
 Her step unwilling to the regal throne — 
 
 A transient horror chills her bosom there, 
 
 While bending she implores the awful boon ! 
 
 And now o'er Herod's brow, a sudden shade 
 
 Of sorrow dims his wild exulting mirth — 
 
 Inly he grieves, " are these the pois'nous drugs,''
 
 76 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 His secret soul exclaims, " that mingle here 
 With the rich wine-cup of my festive joy ? 
 Are these the gloomy clouds, which, darkening, pour 
 Their baleful shadow o'er the beaming light 
 That gilds the social hour? fain would I now 
 Withhold the fatal grant my rashness gave — 
 What, stain the banquet's brightness with the blood 
 Of one so pure — so spotless— -can it be — 
 But yet the sov'reign word is past — and mark 
 How in each noble Roman's anxious eye 
 The inward thought exprest — compels my soul 
 To yield — it must be so — he dies — he dies!" 
 The solemn bell had tolled, the midnight hour, 
 Its echoings rang o'er the high dungeon's arch, 
 Beneath whose shrouded gloom the prophet sate, 
 Where the barr'd lattice show'd in streaming rays 
 Th' effulgent glances of the cloudless moon. 
 There as he view'd her pensive charms, and trac'd 
 Her silver footsteps o'er the dark blue sky,
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 77 
 
 Upward his spirit rose to that bright world 
 
 Where reigns th' eternal king, whose glorious Son 
 
 Now veil'd in mortal guise, by mighty pow'r 
 
 Should raise his kingdom in a rebel state, 
 
 And light with ray of pure and holy fire 
 
 The dark recesses of this death-like scene — 
 
 " If thy fair beams," he cried, " o'er this lone earth 
 
 Can shine unsullied by the stains of sin — 
 
 If here these twining flow'rs that seek to stray 
 
 Through the barr'd trellis of my prison drear, 
 
 Waft on the floating breeze their lavish sweets 
 
 Untainted by the pois'nous breath of crime ; 
 
 In that immortal region where no sin 
 
 Defiles its purity— how blest must be 
 
 Th' emancipated spirit ! ah ! methinks 
 
 I should not sorrow here — though in the full 
 
 Meridian of my days — a dungeon deep 
 
 Must be my earthly dwelling, where no hope 
 
 Tells me of liberty with cheering voice :—
 
 ~$ SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 Well — be it so — he who this being gave 
 
 Appoints its narrow bounds, and ev'ry sigh 
 
 Should turn to ardent praise, that here a lost 
 
 And worthless rebel feels a glowing hope 
 
 No prison's gloom can chill — no tyrant hand 
 
 Efface — a hope, if not of earthly, yet 
 
 Of blissful liberty beyond the skies. 
 
 Oh! if for human sin, that Lamb of God 
 
 Foretold in ancient prophecy, shall die, 
 
 And that Jerusalem's red fount shall cleanse 
 
 The leprous soul — why should I loathe these chains, 
 
 That with their chilly pressure clasp my frame? 
 
 No — rather let me fold the icy bonds 
 
 Still closer to this heart, since that divine, 
 
 That gracious Lord has bid me wear them. Hark ! 
 
 What echoing sound breaks on the midnight calm, 
 
 A distant footstep strikes my ear — it comes 
 
 Nearer my prison — and the crimson Hash 
 
 Of torchlight pours through each dark crevice — what,
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 79 
 
 The massy bolt is drawn, and with a sword 
 
 Unsheathed appears the guard of Herod ! speak !" 
 
 Armed, and with flaming brand, whose wand'ring glare 
 
 Streamed o'er the vaulted dungeon's lone recess 
 
 Enter'd the messenger of death, and closed 
 
 The massive door — then laid the burning light 
 
 In a rude niche, and forth the mandate brings 
 
 Of fatal import — " Read thou here," he cries, 
 
 " The royal will of Herod — well thou know'st 
 
 Our monarch's word supreme brooks no delay." 
 
 On the dark lines the prophet gaz'd with eye 
 
 Intent— then clasp'd in attitude of pray'r 
 
 His guiltless hands, and rais'd to heav'n's high court 
 
 A glance appealing from an earthly bar — 
 
 « Yes — in thy sight — thou holy God — my soul 
 
 Is deeply ting'd with sin's defiling stain, 
 
 And needs a hallow'd sacrifice to cleanse 
 
 Its foul pollution ; but 'gainst mortal pow'rs 
 
 Ne'er has my spirit e'en in thought rebell'd —
 
 SO SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 Would 1 had testified with deeper zeal 
 
 Thy glorious truth, and fear'd still less the frown 
 
 Of dying man — would that with ardour pure 
 
 As that which glows unchill'd in angel hearts 
 
 Here — to a guilty world I had proclaim 'd 
 
 Thy blest, thy saving mercy, which I feel 
 
 As wings of peace, o'ershade my fainting soul, 
 
 And sooth with heav'nly calm each thought perturb'd. 
 
 Soldier! this hand which beats with life's warm pulse, 
 
 Shall soon lie cold and motionless — yet now 
 
 Ere the last throb departs, it points to heav'n — 
 
 It bids thee seek forgiveness there, through him 
 
 The stainless Lamb of God, whose pitying love 
 
 Unfolds the banner of salvation — there 
 
 Thy restless spirit shall enjoy a peace, 
 
 A sure repose of blessedness — farewell ! 
 
 I do forgive thee, and would pray my God 
 
 In the rich ocean of his boundless grace 
 
 To cleanse thy soul polluted" — bending now,
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 81 
 
 He kneeling fix'd a steadfast gaze on high — 
 
 A glow suffus'd his pallid cheek — his eye 
 
 Beamed with a light unearthly. " Hark, I hear 
 
 The choral songs of angels — loudly there 
 
 They celebrate the blest Messiah's reign ! 
 
 O, for a seraph tongue harmonious tun'd 
 
 To join the note of rapture." Scarce had ceased 
 
 The last— th' impressive word — when sudden fell 
 
 The murd'rous stroke with loud and deadly blow 
 
 On his devoted head, which streaming lay 
 
 Low on the earth's chill breast— the naming torch 
 
 Gleam'd on the ghastly horrors of the scene, 
 
 And shudd'ring echo sighed his dying groan ! 
 
 The midnight hour has fled — yet still the bright 
 
 And glitt'ring banquet with its pompous state 
 
 And sensual splendor charms each noble guest ; 
 .Salome who in youth's unclouded dawn 
 
 Beheld the vision of her future days 
 
 'Till now, one glowing scene of rich delight —
 
 S'2 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 Pale and dejected sate with anxious gaze 
 Of fearful expectation. " Ah, how soon," 
 Her inward thought exclaims, " a mournful blight 
 Has nipped the rose-bud of my early joys — 
 How soon the brilliant hopes that fiatt'ring smiled 
 With promis'd pleasure, change to wo and death." 
 Sudden the fatal messenger appears — 
 But ah, what human eye unmov'd can view 
 His awful burden — borne in charger rich 
 Stain'd with a crimson tide — the guiltless head 
 Where the prophetic fire of God had dwelt — 
 Lay sever'd from the cold and lifeless heart 
 Once glowing with the spirit's holy flame ! 
 The lips that oft proclaim'd with fervent zeal 
 Th' atoning Lamb of God, now clos'd and still, 
 While o'er the raven locks a gushing stream 
 Imbues the livid cheek with sanguine dye ! 
 Her eye averted, and her trembling hands 
 Palsied by terror, fair Salome laid
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 83 
 
 The awful boon at proud Herodias' feet — 
 Who like the monster of the desert view'd 
 Her vanquish'd prey with glad exulting thought, 
 While man's arch enemy in spirit joyed, 
 And triutnph'd at the black and hellish deed. 
 Now vanishes the night of gloom, and morn 
 Steals with soft blushes o'er the mountain chain 
 And breathes a sweetness through the tranquil scene ; 
 Fair nature smiles unconscious, though her gay 
 And varied beauties wear the stains of sin. 
 What mournful train ascends yon winding path, 
 Bearing the shrouded form of one they lov'd 
 In sadness tow'rds the monumental cave ? 
 While the slow measured step, the downcast eye, 
 Speak the full anguish of the aching breast ? 
 Yes— thou art fled — but where ? — O raise the eye 
 That droops with wo, to that empyreal world 
 
 Bright with the spirits of the ransom'd dead, 
 
 Who by a hand omnipotent are deck'd 
 
 g2
 
 81 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 With spotless robes, enriched with gems of light, 
 
 And fadeless as that pure eternal scene : 
 
 There freed from mortal chains — from mortal pangs 
 
 He breathes th' extatic air of blissful love, 
 
 And bears upon his brow the martyr's crown 
 
 Amid the smiles of heaven's seraphic choir.
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 85 
 
 THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. 
 
 Beneath the sapphire plain of heav'n serene, 
 Not e'en one cloud in vapoury brightness sail'd, 
 
 And in her silver car, night's pearly queen 
 Glided majestic through th' ethereal field. 
 
 Yet though her ray as lucid diamonds shone, 
 No scene of loveliness retlects its light ; 
 
 It beam'd on drear and arid sands alone, 
 
 Which boundless lay along the waste of night.
 
 86 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 No llow'ry grove — no perfume-breathing gale 
 Charms For a while the weary traveler's pain, 
 
 But shrieks of monsters wild his ears assail, 
 
 Which fearless wander through the burning plain. 
 
 With patient step along the desert wild, 
 
 Watch'd by the friend belov'd who shared her woes, 
 The virgin mother, with her hallow'd child, 
 
 Sought through its loneliness a safe repose. 
 
 For loud the cry of death, by Herod's art 
 
 Sounded — a murd'rous watchword — through his host, 
 
 And many a savage spear had pierc'd the heart 
 Of infant innocence on Rama's coast. 
 
 Ah, then was frequent heard the mournful wail 
 That speaks a sorrow language ne'er can tell, 
 
 While o'er her slaughtered babe, now cold and pale, 
 The anguishVl mother breath'd a last farewel !
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 87 
 
 But o'er the infant Saviour's sacred head, 
 Celestial hands a heav'nly banner wav'd, 
 
 Bore him triumphant through surrounding dead, 
 And from his foes th' adored Messiah saved. 
 
 Here — as they onward tread the lonely sands, 
 No princely guards with martial state attend : 
 
 But o'er the babe belov'd, angelic bands 
 Hover on radiant wings, and watchful bend. 
 
 And though no crown with rich and glowing gem 
 Adorns his royal brow with lustre bright — 
 
 The stars entwine in wreathy diadem 
 
 To grace his head, whose wisdom formed their light. 
 
 And can " affliction's" land of error dark 
 
 Be for the sacred child a sure abode, 
 Where earthly wisdom's faint and dying spark 
 
 Leads man to worship a material God?
 
 88 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 Where votaries crowd around the pagan shrine, 
 And purple streams from human victims flow, 
 
 Where to the basest idols rites divine 
 Egypt, dishonouring heaven, can bestow. 
 
 Yes — here the babe of Bethleh'm can repose, 
 And 'neath the eye of light and love remain, 
 
 Until Jehovah's flat call his foes 
 
 From royal state to death's resistless reign. 
 
 iyike some sweet flower that grows amid the wild, 
 
 Where nought but noisome weeds their breath exhale, 
 
 So on Egyptian soil the heavenly child 
 
 Breath'd forth his fragrance on the pois'nous gale. 
 
 And long this fair and amaranthine flower 
 Shone with pure lustre on a barren earth, 
 
 Till cropped in bloom mature, by death's fell pow'r, 
 To grace the scene of its celestial birth,
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 There its undying glories shall expand 
 
 When sparkling suns and systems fade away, 
 
 There flourish with the plants of God's right hand, 
 Amid the splendors of immortal day, 
 
 89
 
 '»0 SACRED PQHTlUITUIli; 
 
 RAISING OF LAZARUS FROM THE DEAD. 
 
 Morn o'er the heights of Carmel sweetly gleams; 
 
 And lights on cedar tall and cypress shade, 
 And with her golden glances brightly beams 
 
 On vineyards rich, with clustering fruits arrayed. 
 
 Each gilded spire of fair Jerusalem, 
 
 Her domes — her temple with majestic brow, 
 
 Shine as if wrought with many a polished gem, 
 And with Aurora's blush reflected glow.
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. ( J1 
 
 Amid the stillness of an olive grove, 
 
 In sacred solitude — the Lord of light 
 Had breathed his inward orisons of love, 
 
 And passed in musings sweet the wakeful night. 
 
 When lo ! a sudden sound the silence breaks — 
 An echoing footstep trembles on the gale — 
 
 A form appears — whose anxious eye bespeaks 
 Some sorrow ere he tells his mournful tale. 
 
 " Behold, O Lord ! he whom thy soul doth love, 
 Now lies beneath the chastening hand of God — 
 
 O haste thee — for each hour doth swiftly move 
 And with thy presence cheer the sad abode." 
 
 " Not unto death" — replied our gracious Lord — 
 " This sickness is — but for Jehovah's praise ; 
 
 That ages yet unborn may know his word, 
 And hymn his glory in immortal lays."
 
 •'2 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 Then to the few whom grace had made his own 
 
 With pensive air he spoke, " Lazarus, our friend, 
 
 Dies not — but rests in slumbers sweet alone, 
 
 A sleep, whose transient reign shall shortly end." 
 
 And soon with solemn and impressive eye 
 He plainly spake — " Yes, Lazarus is no more ! 
 
 Yet though within death's icy grasp he lie, 
 
 That grasp shall loosen by Immanuel's power." 
 
 Still many a wearying hour of long delay 
 
 He lingered, ere he sought the distant plain — 
 
 Then silent led towards Bethany the way, 
 
 While anxious thoughts oppressed the doubtful train. 
 
 But there, a female form with pallid cheek 
 
 And trembling frame, knelt lowly by his side ! 
 
 Scarce her swoln heart th' expressive words can speak - 
 " Hadst thou been here — my brother had not died!"
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. •'•> 
 
 Touched with the pang of sympathetic wo 
 
 In broken sighs his spirit sought relief — 
 At length restrained no more — the tear-drops flow, 
 
 Which spoke his secret soul's mysterious grief. 
 
 With deep and echoing plaints assembling round, 
 Appeared in union sad — a sorrowing train 
 
 To whom he pensive said, " In what lone ground 
 " Does Lazarus lie — released from earthly pain ?" 
 
 He ceased — then followed to the mournful scene — 
 
 It was a desert spot, with rugged brows 
 O'erhung with nightshade dark and cypress green 
 
 Twining in funeral wreaths their wavy boughs. 
 
 There — where the craggy cliff ascended high, 
 
 Pale drooping flow'rets strew'd its withered breast, 
 
 There— save the lone bird's wild and sudden cry — 
 No sound disturbed sad nature's tranquil rest.
 
 VM 
 
 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 Before them rose a steep and rocky cave, 
 
 With mossy bank, and heather brown o'erspread — 
 
 There — 'neath its high-arched vault, th' appointed grave, 
 Was Lazarus sleeping 'mid the silent dead ! 
 
 A massive stone before the entrance lay — 
 
 To guard the darksome precincts of the tomb ; 
 
 But soon — at Jesu's word — 'tis rolled away, 
 And shows the twilight of the cavern's gloom ! 
 
 In mute suspense, as if transfixed to earth, 
 
 Each mourning sister pants with breathless fear ; 
 
 " Lazarus" — aloud the Saviour cries, " come forth !" 
 The echoing voice dies through the cavern drear ! 
 
 A moment's pause — and lo ! in grave-clothes bound — 
 A form moves slowly through the shadowy cave — 
 
 With hand, and foot, and visage wrapped around — 
 Issuing with eye bewildered from the grave !
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 9") 
 
 " Loose him, and let him go !" the mandate spoke, 
 And sudden health returns with blushing hue — 
 
 The eye beams bright with life— death's bands are broke, 
 And Lazarus stands before th' enraptured view ! 
 
 Thou art the life— the resurrection thou ! 
 
 He that by faith beholds thy glory here, 
 Shall see thee, when bright crowns adorn thy brow, 
 
 And death lies vanquished 'neath thy conquering spear.
 
 96 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 CHRIST'S MIRACLES AT THE LAKE OF 
 GENNESARETH. 
 
 Where brightly Cinnereth's blue waters play 
 With lucid softness round th' expansive shore ; 
 The vast, unwooded hills, successive rise 
 And cast their giant shadows o'er the lake, 
 Contrasting with the faint cerulean hue 
 That dyes the surface of th' embosomed sea, 
 The gloomy colouring of their rugged peaks, 
 Which frown amid the lone and silent scene. 
 There, with its gentle undulations, shine
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 97 
 
 The Jordan's mingled streams, now ent'ring where 
 The lofty heights receding from the shore 
 Receive their silver current, that with soft 
 Melodious rippling parts the limpid plain, 
 And through the gap that breaks its southern mount, 
 Flows 'neath the shade of wreathy tamarisks, 
 And drooping willows to th' Asphaltic Sea. 
 Now like a blazing seraph hover'd midst 
 Ethereal splendor — the declining sun — 
 Shedding illumin'd vapours o'er the scene, 
 And waving on the deep empurpled flood 
 The broad expansion of his dazzling wing. 
 There as his brilliant drap'ry lightly touch'd 
 The gilded outline of the western clouds — 
 On a vast height where thousands anxious list 
 With wond'ring ear, the gracious words that fall 
 In gentle cadence from that heavenly voice, 
 Which breathes the ardent language of a mind 
 Inspir'd from sacred wisdom's fount divine; 
 
 H
 
 98 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 The flush of radiance from his setting beam 
 
 Attracts the Saviour's eye ; with air of soft 
 
 Celestial pity, he beholds the group 
 
 Who clust'ring o'er the hill had linger'd on 
 
 Unwearied, still to hear the tidings blest 
 
 Of that high kingdom where Immanuel God 
 
 Shall bear th' immortal sceptre, and with rule 
 
 Of love unspeakable, display his will 
 
 To all th' adoring subjects of his realm. 
 
 Then as he gazes with compassion sweet, 
 
 And turns to one whose energetic eye 
 
 Dwells ceaseless on his Lord, " my soul," he cries, 
 
 " With sympathy beholds these scattered sheep 
 
 Who wander o'er th' unfertile wilderness 
 
 Of earth's drear scene, unguarded by the care, 
 
 Unguided by the love of one who owns 
 
 A shepherd's tender name ! whence shall we now 
 
 Sustain with bread their fainting spirits here, 
 
 Which drooping languish on this barren heath ?"
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 99 
 
 To whom — forgetful of that sov'reign pow'r 
 
 Which from the dark profound of chaos pour'd 
 
 Oceans of light and being at his word; 
 
 Thus Philip spake — " From what exhaustless store 
 
 Could we this vast, this thronging group supply, 
 
 Which numb'ring full five thousand far have stray 'd, 
 
 And to thy heav'nly words with earnest ear 
 
 Have listen'd since the sun's illumin'd car 
 
 Roll'd o'er yon eastern peak, until this hour 
 
 When sunk from view behind the western heights 
 
 His rosy lustre and mild gleamings fade ! 
 
 In this wide multitude — one youth alone 
 
 A scanty portion offers — but can we 
 
 Suffice these numerous souls whose sinking frame 
 
 Declares their suffering, with five loaves alone, 
 
 And two small fishes from Tiberias lake ? 
 
 This would but mock their need — bid each depart 
 
 The wearying way that leads to his lov'd home, 
 
 Ere evening's gloom o'ershades the dark'ning sky." 
 
 H 2
 
 100 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 With smile of sweet benignity, his Lord 
 
 Points to the flow'ry turf whose verdure spreads 
 
 Its emerald colouring o'er the sloping hill — 
 
 And bids them there in social order rang'd 
 
 Await his will — then from the favor'd few 
 
 Who on their much-loved Master anxious gaze — 
 
 Receives the humble portion — and with eye 
 
 Rais'd upwards to the azure firmament — 
 
 Footstool of great Jehovah's bounteous throne — 
 
 Blesses his providential love, who deigns 
 
 To visit with his gifts unworthy man. 
 
 Now as his condescending hand divides, 
 
 And to his wond'ring followers soon imparts 
 
 Th' allotted meed — still as from group to group 
 
 His loved disciples bear the welcome boon — 
 
 Lo ! with increase miraculous they view 
 
 The still augmenting store ! — in tones of praise 
 
 Th' astonished multitude exalt the name 
 
 Of him whose wonder-working hand provides,
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. lQ1 
 
 Thus with creative power, a full repast, 
 
 To cheer their fainting spirit — " gather ye 
 
 The fragments now which strew the verdant space ; 
 
 Remember of the gifts that God bestows, 
 
 Ye may not with unthankful spirit lose 
 
 The meanest residue." Then swift they place 
 
 In rustic vase of simple woven reeds 
 
 The refuse of the feast — and soon each eye 
 
 Lights with the beaming ray of glad surprise 
 
 As with repeated toil, twelve times they fill 
 
 The ample vessel ! loud hosannas burst 
 
 From the enraptured groups who prostrate bend 
 
 And hail as prophet, and as monarch high 
 
 The lowly Nazarene, who seeks retired 
 
 To shun the carnal honors of the world, 
 
 And with a lofty spirit slights the pomp 
 
 And hollow triumphs of this earthly scene ! 
 
 Wrapt in deep solitude while evening's robe 
 
 With misty folds hung o'er the passes wild,
 
 102 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 And drooping touch'd the dull and shadowy lake ; 
 
 Soon as each sound in faint vibrations died 
 
 On the soft twilight breeze — in musing thought 
 
 Beneath the o'erhanging crag, whose rugged brow 
 
 Shades the uncultured dell— the Lord of Life 
 
 Sought that exalted throne where richly beams 
 
 The rays ineffable of light divine : 
 
 Which now forsaking for a rebel world 
 
 And shrouding with inimitable love 
 
 His radiant glories 'neath a fleshly veil, 
 
 He had with purpose fix'd on earth's low sphere 
 
 Descended to endure — to die — to save. 
 
 There — as in secret orisons he bends — 
 
 A holy stillness breathes around the scene, 
 
 And pure seraphic forms in wonder gaze 
 
 And bow their shining heads, and stretch their plumes 
 
 To waft his accents on their wings to heaven ! 
 
 Meanwhile as cleaving through the ruffled wave 
 
 Of wide Gennesareth — an humble bark
 
 AND ILLUSTRATION?. 103 
 
 Steer'd onward towards the shelt'ring shore where lay 
 
 Bethsaida's city — vapoury shadows cast 
 
 Their streaming mantle o'er the lunar ray — 
 
 Across the azure waste of waters ran 
 
 Pale streaks of light, with wan and fading hue, 
 
 Which sunk in gradual gloom, as murmuring rose 
 
 With hollow echoings from the caverned heights 
 
 The stormy rushings of an adverse wind. 
 
 Fearful the loved disciples gaze around— 
 
 And from their bark solicitous behold 
 
 'Neath the faint glimmer of the flitting moon, 
 
 The billowy swellings of the foaming deep. 
 
 Loud with its rolling gust the tempest raged 
 
 And dashed the helpless vessel, while with awe 
 
 They view a form unknown, whose airy step 
 
 Presses th' unyielding bosom of the sea, 
 
 And gliding calmly o'er its liquid hills 
 
 As on a base of adamant— appears— 
 
 Firmly to tread the rough tempestuous flood !
 
 104 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 With cry of terror while inlawed it moves, 
 Their eye intent — dwells on the phantom dread — 
 When lo ! a voice whose gentle harmony 
 Seems with its magic charm to still the winds — 
 Bids them allay each restless doubt, and cheers 
 Their deep despondence with this heavenly truth 
 That Jesus, in the dark and stormy hour, 
 And 'midst the clouded glooms of starless night — 
 Is near — and watchful o'er each cherish'd soul 
 On whom his love immutable is fix'd ! 
 " Lord, if 'tis thou," the wondering Cephas cries, 
 " Who thus with might miraculous can sway, 
 And bind the laws of nature at thy will — 
 Bid me descend, and on the turgid lake 
 Traverse — upborne by faith — its wat'ry waste." 
 Now as advent'rous o'er the troubled sea 
 The rash disciple treads a trackless path- 
 Sudden the whirling tempest drives the bark 
 Far from his anxious reach — the billows wild
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 105 
 
 Threaten destruction with terrific swell — 
 
 His dizzy thought amid the danger reels, 
 
 And soon his falt'ring voice aloud exclaims, 
 
 " Save me — O Lord! — I sink beneath the flood 
 
 And perish in this fearful dark abyss." 
 
 " O thou of little faith"— the Saviour cries — 
 
 " Wherefore though death with awful aspect frowned, 
 
 Didst thou in unbelief distrust thy Lord ?" 
 
 Then with that gracious hand whose pow'r upholds 
 
 The pond'rous spheres in their celestial course, 
 
 Yet deigns support with providential love, 
 
 The lowliest object through creation's bound — 
 
 He raises — he sustains — the feeble frame 
 
 Palsied by terror — and ascending now 
 
 The rolling bark— with dignity divine 
 
 Rebukes the raging tempest — and exclaims 
 
 t 
 
 Loud to the rushing waters— u Peace— be still." 
 Lo ! as he speaks, the spell-bound storm is hush'd— 
 Night's shining vestal drops her sable veil—
 
 106 
 
 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 The waves subsiding, form a glassy plain, 
 And o'er the surface of the silvery deep 
 The bark scarce pressing on its trancruil breast 
 With lightning's speed darts to Bethsaida's shore! 
 Upborne by gladsome winds the loud acclaim 
 Resounds throughout Gennesareth — and now 
 The wond'ring multitude submissive kneel, 
 And hail him prophet high of Israel's race 
 And blest Messiah, glorious son of God. 
 Then while the lunar radiance streaked the hills, 
 And quiv'ring glanc'd across the sparkling lake, 
 Painting with pearly light the vales serene; 
 Lo ! in assembled groups with ready haste 
 They lay before the gracious Saviour's feet 
 Each fragile form by pain and sickness worn — 
 Each wild demoniac, whose distracted mien 
 Speaks the dread influence of Satanic might — 
 Each hapless being who ne'er hailed the beams 
 Of bright returning sunlight— with the sad
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 107 
 
 And mournful mute — who ne'er with cheerful tone 
 
 Had breath'd affection's word — or heard the sound 
 
 Of tenderness and sympathetic grief! 
 
 These as he views, what deep compassion moves 
 
 Th' Almighty Guardian, who with pitying love 
 
 Extends to ev'ry child of sorrow there 
 
 The needed mercy, while his spirit touch'd 
 
 With sight of human misery, displays 
 
 The joys unfading of eternal bliss, 
 
 And points the guilty sinner to that faith, 
 
 Jehovah's gift — whose superhuman might 
 
 Unfolds the thrice-barred gates of unbelief — 
 
 Watch'd with unceasing vigilance by sin 
 
 The world — and Satan — gates which oped disclose 
 
 Visions of blessedness ineffable; 
 
 Where radiant pleasure wreathes eternal flowers, 
 
 Where ceaseless praise in odorous perfume 
 
 Fills with its incense heaven's empyreal scene 
 
 Wafting through Eden's gales Messiah's name.
 
 1*08 SACRED rORTUAITURE 
 
 O Saviour ! thou who healeth ev'ry wound — 
 
 Who bindeth up the lacerated heart — 
 
 Who with thy purifying touch can cure 
 
 The leprous soul, can ope the mental eye, 
 
 Unseal the ear, and bid the mind possess'd 
 
 With sin's demoniac power, submissive yield — 
 
 Thou by thy dove-like spirit canst alone 
 
 Breathe an Elysian balm to sooth with peace 
 
 The conscience stung by dread desert of sin. 
 
 Thou art the bread of life — unfading joy 
 
 Flows in augmenting streams to him whose faith 
 
 Lives on thy righteousness and dying love — 
 
 By thee upborne o'er daik and threat'ning waves 
 
 That dash their whirling waters to the sky, 
 
 The soul beloved shall pass the fearful bourne 
 
 And reach the city of Immanuel King : 
 
 There shine the sumptuous streets of lucid gold — 
 
 The moonlight hues from gates of spotless pearl — 
 
 There spring th' immortal trees, whose blossoms fair
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 109 
 
 Are nourish'd by that clear resplendent flood 
 Which from the sapphire throne of Deity 
 Dispenses bliss in rich unfailing springs • 
 O'er all th' illimitable plains of heaven,
 
 10 -ACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 THE MARRIAGE AT CANA IN GALILEE. 
 
 Th' illumin'd splendor of the bridal liall 
 
 Shone full on brilliant wreaths of blushing flow'rs, 
 
 Which gaily twined around the pillars tall, 
 
 And vied in charm with nature's summer bow'rs. 
 
 And many a form of loveliness was there — 
 And many a diamond shone with rainbow light 
 
 On robes of wavy gold, whose tissue fair 
 
 Beam'd like the stars that gem the veil of night.
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. HI 
 
 Then soft the silver tones of music rose, 
 
 While swift the hours flew by on dazzling wing, 
 
 And soon the ruby wine abundant flows, 
 And perfumes rich their balmy odours fling. 
 
 But one amid the throng, with brow serene, 
 
 With dignity of air and eye benign — 
 Deigned not, though mingling in the festive scene, 
 
 To offer vows at pleasure's gilded shrine. 
 
 While round the Syren flung her chaplets gay, 
 
 Inly he burned with ardent, holy zeal, 
 Jehovah's name and glory to display, 
 
 And work on earth his heav'nly father's will. 
 
 Now long in vases rich the purple wine 
 Had sparkled at the lip of many a guest, 
 
 Till passing hours beheld its quick decline, 
 
 And none remained to grace the sumptuous feast. 6
 
 112 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 Warned of their need by her whose anxious love 
 Unceasing shone through many a changing moon, 
 
 He, in whom life, and thought, and being move, 
 Disdained not here to grant the humble boon. 
 
 Now as he viewed the festal hall within, 
 
 Those vessels fair which bore the lustral stream, 
 
 To cleanse the guilty hands defil'd by sin, 
 
 And cheer the soul with mercy's glad'ning beam : 
 
 With mild majestic air, the heav'nly guest 
 
 Commands that straight each ample vase they fill, 
 
 Then bear unto the ruler of the feast — 
 
 With prompt obedience they perform his will. 
 
 And now the shining lymph as silver flows, 
 Pure and translucent as Siloam's stream — 
 
 But sudden — as the morning cloud it glows 
 When deeply crimson'd by the rising beam !
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 113 
 
 Creator ! — here thy peerless glories shine, 
 
 Obedient nature moulded by thy word 
 Needs but the mandate of that word divine 
 
 Her stores of countless riches to afford. 
 
 When Joshua led the hosts of Isra'l on, 
 
 And Aj'lon's valley rang beneath their tread, 
 
 The wreath of victory was well-nigh gone, 
 For closing eve her fading gleam had shed. 
 
 But soon thou didst command the burning Sun, 
 Whose fiery steeds sped onward to the west, 
 
 To rein their ardour, till that wreath was won, 
 And bid his blazing car on Gibeon rest. 
 
 And when the fair moon hasten'd to conceal 
 Her timid charms beneath the veil of night, 
 
 Thy word recalling, bade her still reveal 
 
 O'er Aj'lon's warlike scene, her mellow light.
 
 1 1 1 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 And O, if voiceless nature owns thy pow'r, 
 And pays submissive homage to thy will, 
 
 With what deep fervency should man adore, 
 And with what zeal thy high command fulfil. 
 
 O Saviour ! if thy spirit-piercing ray 
 
 Beam on the lone obscure that clouds the heart, 
 Then the dark reign of sin shall pass away, 
 
 And error's wild chaotic glooms depart.
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. I 15 
 
 THE TRANSFIGURATION. 
 
 The amber ray of noon refulgent shone— 
 Judea's valleys smiled beneath its light — 
 
 The shadows lessen'd by the tow'ring sun 
 
 Seem'd but as points beneath the mountain's height. 
 
 The gleaming waters of the rapid fall, 
 
 Rose high in show'ry spray of liquid gold, 
 
 Then gently murm'ring through the forest tall, 
 
 Laved the dark foliage with their surface cold. 
 
 I 2
 
 10 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 There in a fertile plain where amaranths shed 
 Their purple lustre 'neath the glist'ning grove — 
 
 In converse blest each moment swiftly lied, 
 While Jesus dwelt on his eternal love. 
 
 Three favoured followers list with anxious ear, 
 And look expressive of their inmost soul, 
 
 As oft he brings far distant glories near, 
 
 When time with restless wheel shall cease to roll. 
 
 Ascending now the verdant mountain's side, 
 
 Where orient blooms display'd their sunny smile, 
 
 The Saviour paused — for there unfolding wide 
 A valley opened in the green defile. 
 
 Long streaming garlands of wild nature's flow'rs, 
 With artless grace across the banks were flung, 
 
 Which gaily form'd fresh interwoven bow'rs, 
 Whose foliage in fantastic drap'ry hung.
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 117 
 
 A silence there angelic seem'd to dwell, 
 
 They breath 'd in thought the atmosphere of heav'n ; 
 A feeling deep — which words but faintly tell — 
 
 Of sacred peace was to each spirit giv'n. 
 
 With eye intent they still their Lord behold, 
 Fix'd on his face with wrapt incessant gaze, 
 
 When lo ! it radiates like the dazzling gold 
 That paints the sun in his meridian blaze ! 
 
 And o'er his robes resplendent show'rs of light 
 Fall like the silv'ry snow on Alpine brow — 
 
 While all the Godhead in his fulness bright, 
 Beams from his eyes with rich effusive glow ! 
 
 Now gliding from the sky's soft azure veil, 
 Two forms celestial part the trackless air, 
 
 Then press with silent step the flow'ry dale, 
 And commune sweetly with their Saviour there.
 
 »lo SACKED 1'ORTRAITURJ-: 
 
 The one in robes of priestly splendor drest, 
 With mitre fair inwrought with living gold, 
 
 Bears the " memorial" on his mystic vest, 
 
 And in each hand does God's high mandates hold. 
 
 He who the title great of Prophet claims, 
 Speaks with an earnest eye, a zealous lire 
 
 Of that blest time when hearts as sacred flames 
 On incense altars shall to heav'n aspire : 
 
 When Jesus, antitype of ancient rite, 
 Shall suffer at the dread appointed hour, 
 
 And rising to a throne of sov'reign might, 
 Dispense his Spirit with omnific pow'n 
 
 There, while amaz'd th' entranc'd disciples gaze, 
 They plead with humble pray'r and suppliant knee, 
 
 " Lord, let us here three tabernacles raise 
 
 That these thy favoured friends may dwell with thee.''
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Then instant fell a pure illumined cloud 
 
 That hid the scene sublime with brilliant glare, 
 
 While tones supernal spake in accents loud, 
 " Hear my loved Son eternal truth declare !" 
 
 The voice was pass'd, yet o'er their senses shed 
 A sudden thrill of deep o'erwhelming awe — 
 
 But as it ceased th' enchanting vision fled, 
 
 And veiled in human guise their Lord they saw ! 
 
 O sweet, though transient view of holy light, 
 
 Like beams that through a darksome vapour shine 
 
 Which to their favor'd souls with glories bright 
 Displayed the Saviour's majesty divine ! 
 
 Bear then ye heralds — his immortal name 
 To lands by error's wand 'ring footsteps trod, 
 
 Till the imperial standard of his fame 
 
 Unfurled — proclaims the vict'ries of our God! 
 
 119
 
 120 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 THE RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION OF 
 
 OUR LORD. 
 
 Darkness with gloomy wings still hover'd o'er 
 Th' horizon wide — her sable plumage spread, 
 Conceal'd the lunar beams with shade obscure ; 
 And while the war-clad soldier's frequent step 
 Traced the lone path before the rocky cave, 
 Where silently Messiah's relics slept — 
 Sudden th' o'erhanging clouds in thunder burst 
 That pealed reverberating through the air — 
 A hollow trembling shook the cleaving earth,
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS- 121 
 
 And rent the mountains with terrific shock ! 
 Awe-struck, the Roman guards with upward gaze 
 Behold the lurid vault where flows a glare 
 Of livid fire, and opes the turbid sky ! 
 With rapid flight descends an angel form, 
 From whose pure wings and robes of stainless snow, 
 Bright streams of wavy lustre pour their. light, 
 While from his eyes, as fiery arrows sharp 
 Red light'ning darts with fearful flashes round, 
 And gilds with awful ray the Saviour's tomb ! 
 On the huge stone whose pond'rous mass conceals 
 The deep recess, one hand of might he lays — 
 Backward it rolls — and seized with panic dread 
 The warriors who had trod the blood-stained field 
 And dared the terrors of th' embattled foe 
 Low on the reeling earth now senseless fall ! 
 Then gaped the yawning graves — the sainted dead 
 Forth from their sepulchres in spotless garb 
 Entered the holy city, and when wild
 
 ' 22 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 Streamed the electric blaze, were seen to glide 
 
 Swift through the plains and o'er the mountain pass 
 
 While loud the bursting tempest raged around. 
 
 The storm is o'er and twilight's gentle ray — 
 
 Fair herald of the rosy blush of morn — 
 
 Scarce streaks th' enamelled verdure of the hill, 
 
 Or lights the surface of the pallid stream. 
 
 The clustered foliage of fair Olivet 
 
 Now gradual rises from the dull profound, 
 
 And o'er the vales, a dim and vapoury mist 
 
 Waves its grey mantle 'neath the clouded sky. 
 
 With mournful steps a white veiled group advance, 
 
 Their air afflicted speaks the feeling soul 
 
 Surcharged with sorrow — while the burning tear 
 
 Frequent bedews the drap'ry that conceals 
 
 The wo-worn cheek — along a winding path 
 
 That leads to Calv'ry's lone and death-like mount, 
 
 They bear the fragrant aromatics — there 
 
 T' embalm, in grateful memory, the remains
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 123 
 
 Of him, beside whose cross with bursting heart, 
 Yet silent anguish — they had knelt and wept, 
 And when full many a timid recreant fled, 
 Their gracious Lord in his expiring hour, 
 Uunawed they followed to the harrowing scene : 
 There while the infidel revil'd and scorn'd, 
 They gazed despairing — on his suff 'ring frame, 
 And met with sad response each dying sigh. 
 There — though the awful darkness that o'erspread 
 With black terrific veil — the glowing orb 
 That sick'ning viewed the dread m} T sterious hour 
 Which doom'd the Source of Life, to death of Shame — 
 Still, still they linger'd by the blood-stain'd cross, 
 'Till the pale form in death-shroud wrapt, was laid 
 In the chill bosom of its gloomy grave. 
 Now in the dawning twilight, ere the ray 
 Of smiling morn had mock'd their pensive grief 
 With deep solicitude they sought the spot 
 That gave sepulture to his relics lov'd,
 
 124 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 'Twas stillness round, save where the passing bird 
 Whose painted plumage beamed with orient dyes 
 Waved in the foliage thick, his flutt'ring wing : 
 While the cold dewy flow'rs that gemmed the earth, 
 Mov'd not a leaflet in the sleeping breeze 
 To break the lonely silence of the grove. 
 A solemn awe stole o'er each sense as now 
 Beneath the pensile cypress boughs they view 
 The final dwelling of th' illustrious dead. 
 They start — they tremble — see the massive stone 
 Already roll'd away — the Roman guards 
 Who watch'd the fast seal'd sepulchre are fled, 
 With quick 'ning steps they pass the portal dark — 
 While the first gleams of the relucent rays 
 That deck with diadem the brow of morn 
 Faintly displays its dim recess — but ah ! 
 Their eye intent, through the abode of death 
 Seeks vainly their belov'd, their hallow'd Lord. 
 Then while renew'd the tide of grief returns —
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 125 
 
 She who once laved with many a bitter tear 
 His sacred feet — and with the wavy hair 
 Which fell luxuriant o'er her bended form, 
 Had dried the stains of sorrow, while her soul 
 Touched by the Spirit's pow'r, amidst the pangs 
 Of conscious guilt, beheld a dawning hope 
 Of pardon as that eye beneficent 
 Beam'd with the light of mercy — she with haste 
 Fled from the sepulchre, and sought the spot 
 Where the disciples of her buried Lord 
 Their weeping vigils kept. With throbbing heart 
 And fait' ring tongue she tells her bosom's fears, 
 And wakes the sympathetic plaint of wo. 
 Meanwhile as ling'ring still with anxious thought 
 The female mourners tread the lonely cave — 
 A lambent flame plays o'er the dusky scene— 
 And lo ! a form benign with shining robes 
 Pure as the humid cloud, whose fleecy light 
 Reposes on the deep cerulean vault ;
 
 126 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 Beholds with eye seraphic the pale group 
 
 Who frighted turn from his unearthly gaze. 
 
 " Fear not," he cries with'voice whose thrilling tone 
 
 Breathes like the music of celestial spheres, 
 
 " Ye seek the mortal frame of him who died 
 
 On that dread cross, stained with the crimson blood 
 
 Which from the fountain of his sinless heart 
 
 Flowed for a guilty world — ah, weep no more — 
 
 He sleeps not in the cold deserted grave 
 
 'Neath the drear shroud that wraps the icy form, 
 
 He sleeps not here — where echo's plaint repeats 
 
 The voice of sorrow — no — ere yon bright sun 
 
 Shed his first twilight glimpse o'er heav'n's blue arch, 
 
 With pow'r supreme he burst the chains of death 
 
 And rose, eternal victor, from the tomb. 
 
 Come and behold, where for a transient hour 
 
 The Lord of angels and of mortals lay !" 
 
 With dubious heart they pierce the cavern's gloom, 
 
 And reach the spot where once the sacred dead
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 127 
 
 Reposed in awful solitude — perplexed — 
 And thoughtful while they view the vacant grave, 
 Increasing floods of starry brightness flows 
 From the fair drap'ry of two angel forms 
 Who fill with crystal light the funeral cave — 
 " Why in the darkling chambers of the dead 
 Seek ye for him who through creation vast 
 Breathes ceaseless streams of vivifying life ? 
 He rests not here — but raised by sov'reign might 
 Lives through unfading years, the source of bliss. 
 Have ye forgot those sad and solemn words 
 Spoke by the man of sorrows, while despised, 
 Rejected, he sojourned on earth's wild waste ? 
 That stricken by Jehovah's sword, his soul 
 Should bear the fearful weight of human guilt, 
 And offered on the ignominious cross 
 By sinner's hands remorseless — should atone 
 For crimes of deepest dye ? have ye forgot 
 That ere the third revolving sun should beam
 
 128 
 
 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 With golden fervours through th' illumined air ; 
 
 His lifeless form waked by supernal might 
 
 Should cast the bonds of Hades, and arise 
 
 A conqu'ror o'er the fell terrific powers 
 
 Of Death— the grave, and sin ?" Thus sweetly spake 
 
 The angel visitant ; and now the fair 
 
 And heavenly partner of his earthward flight 
 
 With soothing voice addressed the wond'ring group : 
 
 " Seek ye in haste Messiah's sorrowing friends 
 
 Impart these joyful tidings and console 
 
 The drooping penitent who groans beneath 
 
 Th' oppressive burden of his conscious guilt, 
 
 Yes — bid the mourning Cephas now rejoice 
 
 That Jesus— Intercessor — Saviour lives, 
 
 And heals with gentle balm the deadly wounds 
 
 Which rankle in th' unpardoned sinner's heart. 
 
 Far in the mountain heights of Galilee 
 
 Assembled shall ye view your living Lord, 
 
 And at his feet adoring homage pay."
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 129 
 
 Prompt at the angel's word they leave the tomb, 
 
 And soon the twining foliage veiled each form, 
 
 And echo ceased to whisper to the wind 
 
 Their fast retreating steps. Unconscious now 
 
 The loved disciple treads the mountain path, 
 
 And followed by the hapless penitent 
 
 Who once disowned the glorious name of him 
 
 Whose grave he sorrowing seeks — swiftly descends 
 
 Where the dark boughs an arch funereal raise 
 
 To shade the melancholy haunt of death. 
 
 They gaze — but solitude and silence there 
 
 Reply not to their soul's enquiring thought. 
 
 Within the dull obscure, nought meets their eye 
 
 Save the pale shroud that wrapt his hallow'd form 
 
 In folded order laid — pond'ring they leave 
 
 The lonely scene, and pensive seek their home. 
 
 But Mary lingers still — her full swoln heart 
 
 Now seeks relief in many a-streaming tear, 
 
 While on the air with trembling notes resound 
 
 K
 
 130 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 Her frequent sighs that murmur through the grove, 
 
 Still as she wept, and at the portal hung 
 
 With eye desponding fix'd — behold a gleam 
 
 Effusive flows from two seraphic forms 
 
 Who in soft accents of compassion seek 
 
 To cheer the mourner's grief — " Ah ! wherefore fall 
 
 Those tears of wo, and why with sadden'd gaze 
 
 Still dost thou linger near death's dark abode, 
 
 And wake with plaintive cries the slumbering gale ?" 
 
 " Yes, I must weep — these tears but feebly speak 
 
 The deep-felt anguish of my aching heart, 
 
 Since my loved Lord is numbered with the dead 
 
 And now by cruel foes, denied a grave. 
 
 Here, in this gloomy sepulchre he lay — 
 
 But now his sacred form torn from its shroud" — 
 
 She ceases — for a gentle footstep falls 
 
 Near the embowered recess — a stranger there 
 
 With pitying tone demands the secret cause 
 
 That wakes the inward sorrows of her soul ?
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 131 
 
 " Ah, if 'tis thou," she cries, " who tend these flowers 
 
 Which breathe their fragrance round the cheerless tomb ! 
 
 If on that fatal eve thou saw'st him laid 
 
 A cold and lifeless corse in this drear spot, 
 
 If thou hast borne him hence— ah, tell me where, 
 
 Where hast thou laid him ? let me seek his grave 
 
 And pour the plaints of gratitude and wo 
 
 O'er the sad relics of that gracious Lord, 
 
 Who on the cross a bleeding victim died." 
 
 Ere the last falt'ring word is faintly breathed, 
 
 Sudden an accent sweet salutes her ear 
 
 Whose cadence penetrates her thrilling frame; 
 
 She gazes with intent, with earnest eye, 
 
 " 'Tis he — that voice — that look — he lives — he lives." 
 
 Raptured she kneels, and wildly clasps his robe, 
 
 While mingled tears of joy of wonder flow 
 
 Forth from her beaming eyes which seek to trace 
 
 Each well known lineament. — " Detain me not," 
 
 With air benign he cries, " I rise not yet 
 
 K 2
 
 132 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 # 
 
 In glory to my heavenly Father's throne. 
 
 Say to my anxious brethren, I ascend 
 
 Triumphant intercessor to my God, 
 
 Who as your God and Father dwells on high, 
 
 Exhaustless source of beatific love." 
 
 Still would her willing ear have heard those sounds, 
 
 Which reached her inmost soul and like the ray 
 
 Of gilded morn dispelled the dismal clouds 
 
 Whose gloomy shadows o'er her senses hung ; 
 
 But winged with ardour arid with joyful hope, 
 
 She flew submissive at her Saviour's word 
 
 To bear the tidings of celestial peace 
 
 Where with emotion deep his followers wept. 
 
 Now o'er the heights of Terebintha's vale, 
 
 The fervid glances of the cloudless sun 
 
 Enrich with glowing light the craggy hills, 
 
 Illume each barren mount, whose sides disclose 
 
 The arid bed where once a torrent rolled, 
 
 And mark where shapeless rocks disrupted lie
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Rudely suspended o'er the path which winds 
 Through the rough scenery of the dreary dell. 
 There on the flinty stones which sparkling catch 
 The ardent beams that scorch the withering flowers, 
 Two pensive travellers tread with measured step : 
 Their tone desponding and their thoughtful brow 
 Speak the afflicted spirit as they wend 
 Towards Emmaus their lone and weary way. 
 Scarce had they reached a fairer scene where hung 
 The verdant drapery of the balmy fir, 
 Wreathing with charm uncultured the wild hills 
 That rise successive to the vaulted skies ; 
 When lo! a stranger as they onward move 
 Traces with them the rugged path — his eye 
 Of dignity and condescending grace, 
 Fixed in soft sympathy, beholds their grief: 
 While thus with voice by sweet compassion tuned, 
 He breaks the silence sad — " What mournful theme 
 Invites the ready sorrows of your souls 
 
 133
 
 134 
 
 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 While ye in melancholy union stray ?" 
 " And art thou then a stranger to the deeds 
 Of wonder and of wo, which late have filled 
 The Jewish capital with dread alarm ? 
 And was the Nazarene unknown to thee ? 
 Jesus — that glorious prophet — on whose head 
 The dew of heaven in rich effulgence poured 
 Shone in each mighty act — each potent word 
 That shed a splendor o'er his bright career : 
 While on his form a godlike impress stamped 
 Which beamed through poverty, and station mean, 
 Cheered his devoted followers with the hope 
 That he by power miraculous should break 
 The foreign chain which binds the conquered neck 
 Of hapless Israel. But with heartfelt grief 
 Scarce can I speak the fatal issue — seized 
 By wicked hands — the godless Sanhedrim 
 Condemned the guiltless to a death of shame, 
 And nailed his sinless body to the tree
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 135 
 
 Where torn by fearful suff 'rings he expired ! 
 
 Forgive me if I weep— thou too would'st mourn 
 
 Hadst thou but known that loved, that gracious Lord, 
 
 But ah ! my tears avail not— twice the sun 
 
 Has lit the heavenly concave since that deed 
 
 Of darkness and of horror stained the earth ! 
 
 And yet though passing rumours reached our ears, 
 
 That angel visitants at morn revealed 
 
 His resurrection to the female train 
 
 Of mourners at the sacred sepulchre — 
 
 Him we beheld not, and our drooping hearts 
 
 Since he has fled — seek vainly in this wild 
 
 And desert world — a gleam of smiling hope 
 
 To cheer the deep despondence of our souls," 
 
 With look reproachful and with rising sigh 
 
 The stranger gently spake — " O. ye unwise 
 
 And slow of spirit to believe those truths 
 
 Which by Jehovah's holy influence fired, 
 
 Each prophet of your land with ardour sung ;
 
 136 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 Truths, which your ancient lawgiver inspired, 
 By rites symbolic preached to fallen man ! 
 Ought not Messiah through the suff'rings dread 
 Foretold by voice from heaven, thus to pass 
 Th' ordeal dark of death, raised then with power 
 To re-assume his glorious robes of light 
 And fill the mediatorial throne on high ?" 
 Then with a solemn tone, a wisdom pure 
 And superhuman, he unveiled those truths 
 Which brightly shone beneath the secret type 
 And shadowy emblem of th' Almighty's law. 
 While as he spake, his words like balmy dew 
 Distilled on arid lands, with gentle sway 
 Consoled their thirsty souls, which eager list 
 The wond'rous doctrines of their guide unknown, 
 And wake to hope's exhilerating beam. 
 And now the sun as dazzling monarch robed 
 Lowered his sceptre in the flaming sky — 
 Swiftly fair evening came with fragrant breath,
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 137 
 
 Perfumed with aroma along the plain 
 
 And waved the drooping verdure of the grove. 
 
 Still on each little word the stranger spoke, 
 
 List'ning they hung with ear intent, as now 
 
 They reach the spot secluded where arose 
 
 The rustic dwellings of fair Emmaus. 
 
 There as they paused— th' unknown with hastened step 
 
 Passed onward from their dwelling — 'till o'ercome 
 
 He yielding graced their hospitable dome : 
 
 Where soon the rural feast with anxious care 
 
 Is spread by hands officious — unadorned 
 
 Their simple viands deck the humble board, 
 
 While with an upward glance of grateful praise 
 
 They own the fountain blest of earthly good. 
 
 The stranger now with mild impressive eye 
 
 And air of heavenly majesty divides 
 
 The mystic bread — with startled cry they gaze, 
 
 A sudden light shines on their souls—" 'tis he." 
 
 A joy extatic fills their throbbing breast —
 
 138 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 But while they raptured view the well-known form 
 Which beams with halo of celestial rays, 
 Wrapt from their sight, it vanishes in air ! 
 " Did not our hearts with deep-felt ardour burn 
 While as we journeyed, he unveiled with clear 
 Convincing wisdom, those mysterious truths 
 Disclosed in dark prophetic vision oft 
 To blest, to favored Israel— let us haste 
 To pour into the suff 'ring hearts of those 
 Who weep their buried Lord — the gentle balm 
 Of consolation sweet — transporting thought — 
 He lives — he lives ! — O let us swiftly now 
 Retrace our steps guarded by gracious love, 
 And guided by the silver lamp of night, 
 And seek his followers who deploring keep 
 Their sorrowing vigils — see, the glitt'ring ray 
 Pierces the dusky shade that evening drew 
 O'er the aerial dome of glowing clouds, 
 Hope now re-animates the saddened soul
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 And wings us on our way." Unheeding then 
 
 The silent hour— the lone and wearying path 
 
 They tread the rocky vale of Terebinth, 
 
 And reach Judea's capital : but ah ! 
 
 While joyful they unfold their rapturous tale, 
 
 Th' assembled train of sad disciples there 
 
 Who now secluded at the midnight hour, 
 
 In secret breathe their holy orisons — 
 
 Feel the dark power of unbelief pervade 
 
 Their wav'ring hearts, and bind with icy chain 
 
 Their stubborn will — but while they coldly doubt — 
 
 Sudden they view unveiled their risen Lord, 
 
 Who with soft air of recognition mild 
 
 Bends a complacent eye, on those who now 
 
 Turn fearful with wan cheek and shudd'ring frame 
 
 As from terrific phantom.—" Fear ye not 
 
 But with sweet peace compose your troubled souls, 
 
 Why look ye now with wild solicitude 
 
 As though some dread delusion met your sight— 
 
 139
 
 110 
 
 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 Beholdthese hands— these feet — once scarred with wounds, 
 
 Which bear their fatal impress — gaze ye now 
 
 Here on this side pierced 'till the crimson stream 
 
 Flowed from this anguished heart, ere life's last sigh 
 
 Breathed from these cold expiring lips — and say — 
 
 Say while ye touch this frame material — glows 
 
 An airy shadow with the warmth of life, 
 
 Or with resistance meets the hand that tries 
 
 Its solid structure ?" Joy and shame unite 
 
 With mixed emotion in each gladden'd heart, 
 
 While their divine, their living Saviour now 
 
 Partakes their simple viands, and with tone 
 
 Of tenderness and free-forgiving love 
 
 Unfolds celestial truth, whose dawning light 
 
 With animating power dispels their fears, 
 
 And breathes enchantment o'er each tranquil soul. 
 
 But one, who absent at that joyful hour 
 
 Soon hears the wond'rous tale, now dubious cries : 
 
 Rely not on these visionary thoughts ;
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 141 
 
 Nor deem realities the hollow shapes 
 
 That tloat before disordered fancy's eye ; 
 
 Ah, no ! my soul rejects th' illusive dream 
 
 For if I see not on those sacred hands 
 
 The awful print that fixed them to the cross, 
 
 And feel not, warm with life, that throbbing side 
 
 Once lacerated by the savage Roman's spear : 
 
 Still, still in doubt, desponding still, my heart 
 
 Lends not its faith to phantoms light as air." 
 
 Then as the eighth revolving moon arose 
 
 High o'er Jerusalem, and glancing filled 
 
 With argent rays the spot retired where now 
 
 The still devoted followers of their Lord 
 
 Poured forth their consecrated vows, appeared 
 
 Again the glorious Being, but with look 
 
 Of mild reproach on doubting Thomas fixed. 
 
 " Behold," he cries, " and touch these wounded hands 
 
 That on the cross once bled for human sin, 
 
 And press this side whose warm pulsation tells
 
 M2 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 The breathing heart, that beats with ceaseless love 
 
 To lost mankind which through this ghastly rent 
 
 Poured its last life blood, as a fountain pure 
 
 To cleanse thy deep defilement. Banish then 
 
 Distrust and doubting from thine anxious breast, 
 
 And with the confidence of faith repose 
 
 Here on thy risen Lord, who once was dead, 
 
 But now triumphant lives through endless years." 
 
 O'erpowered, and filled with reverential love, 
 
 Low at his feet the penitent adores, 
 
 And owns ImmanuePs sacred presence there, 
 
 Exclaiming as he bends, " my Lord, my God !" 
 
 " Because thou hast beheld with mortal eye 
 
 And proved with mortal touch, thou hast believed; 
 
 Supremely blessed are they whose heaven-born faith 
 
 Untaught by evidence of sense relies, 
 
 And owns unseen, their Saviour and their God." 
 
 Soon on the heights of lofty Galilee 
 
 Before a wondering multitude appears
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. H3 
 
 The Lord of glory, robed in human guise 
 
 And when the sunny orb had swiftly traced 
 
 Full many an arch diurnal o'er the sphere 
 
 Terrestrial, to the mount of Bethany 
 
 He leads the ardent train, whose mental thought 
 
 Turns with emotion from th' approaching hour : 
 
 " Depart not from Judea's capital, 
 
 But wait ye there Jehovah's promised grace, 
 
 Whose glorious spirit winged with sacred fire 
 
 Shall rest inspiring on each favoured soul ! 
 
 For John with pure symbolic wave baptised, 
 
 But ye shall feel the dews of heaven descend 
 
 In copious streams of new-creating power, 
 
 To form each heart with energy divine." 
 
 " Lord" — they exclaim, " and will thy gracious hand 
 
 Now break the foreign bondage from our neck 
 
 And raising abject Israel from the dust 
 
 Restore her wealth — her dignity— her crown ?" 
 
 With eye upraised their Lord benignly spake —
 
 1 44 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 " The times and seasons of th' Almighty King 
 Writ in the heavenly archives, are unknown 
 To mind created — wrapt in mystery 
 They lie beyond the reach of mortal sight, 
 Nor may ye search the dark and hidden page. 
 But know, that gifted by the Spirit's grace 
 Throughout the utmost bounds of Palestine, 
 And in the distant regions of the globe 
 Ye shall exalt the standard of the truth, 
 And loud proclaim your loved Immanuel's name. 
 Yes — go ye wide throughout the peopled earth, 
 And preach undaunted by opposing powers 
 The free — the glorious Gospel — let each soul 
 Hear the glad tidings of immortal bliss 
 Through Jesu's righteousness and dying love. 
 Sound ye the lofty trumpet through the world, 
 'Till its glad echoes reach the furthest shores, 
 And circle round this vast terrestrial sphere ! 
 He that believeth and baptised receives
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 145 
 
 This saving truth, released from endless death — 
 The dread desert of sin — shall rise to joys 
 Unfading in the Paradise of God. 
 But he, whose mind by Satan's influence swayed, 
 Rejects the cleansing blood on Calvary shed, 
 When the last judgment's great tribunal sits, 
 Condemned to chains of darkness and of death, 
 The flame undying and corrosive worm — 
 Through an eternity of wo shall bear 
 The wrath tremendous of offended God. 
 Baptise ye in the Father's hallowed name, 
 The Son and Holy Spirit, while these signs 
 As sacred pledges of the truth shall mark 
 Its source Almighty ; they that now believe 
 Invested with bright superhuman powers 
 And gifts miraculous, shall shine on earth 
 With beams reflected from their Saviour's light, 
 And deck as brilliant stars the vault above. 
 And lo ! in spirit still I rest on earth
 
 146 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 And bear you on my heart, 'till the last hour 
 When earth's material glories fade, and Time 
 Beneath Jehovah's fiat shall expire." 
 Then as he raised with love ineffable 
 His sacred hands in benediction sweet, 
 And glanced a farevvel smile of heavenly light 
 On those who gazed, with deep emotion filled; 
 Sudden an azure cloud descending wraps 
 Its folds of lucid drapery round his form, 
 Upraised with gradual flight he mounts the skies 
 And vanishes in soft and viewless air! 
 Entranced and motionless — in wonder lost 
 Towards the blue concave as they raptured fix 
 Their gaze of ecstacy — two forms divine 
 Address in gentle tones th' admiring group : — 
 " Ye men of Galilee — why thus intent 
 Dwell ye on yon bright arch with look amazed ? 
 This glorious Saviour who ascends on high, 
 Enwreathed with crowns celestial shall return,
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 147 
 
 And shine with sun-like radiance o'er the earth. 
 
 Then shall the nations own his mighty name, 
 
 And hymn his conquests in unceasing songs, 
 
 When the rich stream of plenteous grace shall pour 
 
 Its sparkling waters o'er this arid world, 
 
 And in the wilderness, the blooms of spring 
 
 Shall spread immortal verdure o'er the boundless plains!" 
 
 L 2
 
 MS SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 THE LAMENT OF DAVID OVER SAUL AND 
 
 JONATHAN. 
 
 O Israel ! on thy lofty mountain's height 
 Expires the lustre fair of beauty's ray, 
 
 There fell the mighty in th' embattled fight, 
 And low on earth lie mouldering in decay ! 
 
 Hush ye, in Gath, the victor-trumpet's sound, 
 Or bid its shrill and warlike melody 
 
 Change into requiems, and breathe around 
 In funeral lament, sorrow's mournful sigh. 
 
 Hush ye, in Gath, the victor-trumpet's sound, 
 Lest the uncircumcised Philistine boast, 
 
 Recount his deeds of martial prowess round 
 And tell whose conquered arm Gilboa lost.
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 1 19 
 
 O Israel's daughters ! weep with soul-felt grief, 
 Your monarch slain, who oft in glitt'ring arms, 
 
 Fought in the ranks of war, a peerless chief, 
 
 And decked with rich array your blooming charms. 
 
 Ill-fated Saul ! amid the sanguine slain, 
 
 Thy dying moan sinks on the heedless breeze, 
 
 Thy frowning brow bespeaks the mental" pain 
 That rent thy spirit in its agonies. 
 
 O Saul, O Jonathan, how nobly shone 
 Your manly beauty and illustrious fame ! 
 
 Now like a dream whose bright illusion's flown, 
 
 Nought rests to sorrowing memory, save their name. 
 
 Oh, thou more dear than brother to my heart — 
 Thou much loved Jonathan, how deeply sinks 
 
 My cureless wo, which like a poison'd dart 
 My spirit's life-blood from its fountain drinks.
 
 150 
 
 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 O dark Gilboa! let no dews distil, 
 
 Nor genial rains to cheer thy parched field, 
 
 Let barrenness o'erspread thy gloomy hill, 
 
 Nor there let smiling spring its flow'rets yield. 
 
 O Israel ! on thy lofty mountain's height 
 Expires the lustre fair of beauty's ray, 
 
 There fell the mighty in the embattled fight, 
 And low on earth lie mouldering in decay ! 
 
 LIFE— A VAPOUR. 
 
 " FOR THE WIND PASSETH OVER IT, AND IT IS GONE, AND THE 
 PLACE THEREOF SHALL KNOW IT NO MORE." 
 
 Mark you yon flower, whose crimson dyes 
 
 Glow in the noon-tide's sunny ray, 
 Before the evening star arise 
 
 Its day of life shall pass away.
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Seest thou that bird of brilliant plume, 
 Through azure fields he proudly flies- 
 
 But ah ! the shaft that seals his doom, 
 Now rends the air— he falls— he dies ! 
 
 ■4 
 
 Behold yon fabric's glitt'ring walls 
 
 Whose Parian column mocks the snow, 
 
 Successive monarchs graced its halls, 
 Whose dust unhonoredlies below. 
 
 The rich and jewelled diadem 
 
 That sparkled on their lofty brow, 
 
 With every bright and kingly gem 
 Recal's their dying glories now. 
 
 See too those soft embowered groves, 
 Where youth appears in radiance drest, 
 
 There the destroying conqueror roves, 
 
 And strews the flowers on earth's cold breast. 
 
 151
 
 152 
 
 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 Slow o'er life's dial moves the shade- 
 Yet is the hour of sunset nigh— 
 
 Seek then that world where joys ne'er fade, 
 Where deathless light illumes the sky. 
 
 THE EVENING MEDITATION. 
 
 Why if through yonder lonely grove 
 At eve in thought I silent rove, 
 Does the sweet stillness of the scene 
 Shed o'er my soul a joy serene ? 
 
 Why do those fading tints of light, 
 That dim the landscape from my sight, 
 Those twilight hues of varied flowers, 
 Sooth with soft calm my mental powers ?
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Say is it, that the restless din, 
 The riot, and the rage of sin, 
 The gay parade, the vain display, 
 Steal not the hurried thought away ? 
 
 It is that here the still small voice, 
 Bids the believing soul rejoice, 
 And whispers through the echoing grove 
 This glorious truth, that God is love. 
 
 Love, as creation's Architect, 
 Who built the world, the heavens decked, 
 Love as the providential Lord 
 Upholding nature with his word. 
 
 But oh, his love in that vast scheme, 
 He formed lost sinners to redeem ; 
 Soars to immeasurable height 
 Above the reach of mortal sight. 
 
 153
 
 154 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 Wake then the loud harmonious lyre, 
 Whose tones can purest joys inspire, 
 Attune its cords to heavenly love, 
 Theme of the sacred choir above. 
 
 And hovering o'er the sounding string, 
 Let the bright dove on halcyon wing, 
 The glooms of earthly sorrow chase, 
 And breathe of peace thro' Jesu's grace. 
 
 THE CONTRAST.— STORM AND CALM. 
 
 The spirit of the tempest rides abroad, 
 
 A wreath of light'ning flashes round his brow; 
 
 His sable car along the heaven-ward road 
 
 Rends with its thundering wheels the plains below.
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. liJJ 
 
 The howling winds, his dreaded heralds, fly 
 
 In fierce chaotic tumult thr.o' the air, 
 Then moaning in the hollow mountains, die, 
 
 Or from their caves the slumbering echoes tear. 
 The ocean trembling at his giant form, 
 
 Whirls its rough billows to the turbid clouds, 
 While the torn vessel reeling 'mid the storm, 
 
 'Whelms beneath foaming surge its scatter'd shrouds. 
 From his Atlantean shape disordered flies, 
 His mantle wild, and shades the starry skies. 
 
 * * # =H= * 
 
 The stormy spirit's past — celestial calm 
 
 Descends from yon pure space where opes the sky, 
 Her braided hair entwined with verdant balm 
 
 Which dropping, gems her robe of purest dye. 
 She leads the raging winds by suasive power, 
 
 Down to their coral caves beneath the sea, 
 Then noiseless treads the clear cerulean floor, 
 
 Whose waves abashed her gentle pressure flee.
 
 156 
 
 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 And lo! her radiant smile illumes the air, 
 
 And o'er the heavens its bright reflection throws, 
 
 The meads a fresher grace and fragrance wear, 
 And deeper blushes paint th' enamoured rose. 
 
 While choirs unseen from earth, and air, and sea, 
 
 Resound her praise in mystic harmony. 
 
 SPRING. 
 
 See where the blushing Spring, with modest air 
 
 In humid wreath and robe of palest green, 
 Walks from yon wintry forest — while her hair 
 
 Yet shines with spangled frosts and dew-drops sheen. 
 See, at her kindling glance the vapours fly, 
 
 The flowers upspring and ope th' expanding bloom, 
 The wakening zephyrs with their softest sigh, 
 
 Hovering around, inhale her sweet perfume.
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 157 
 
 With gentle hand she frees the ice-bound floods, 
 And guides them thro' the mead and arching grove, 
 
 4 
 
 Then hangs on each lone bough her snowy buds, 
 
 And tunes the plumed choir to notes of love. 
 Her soft enchantment lulls the rising storm, 
 And wakes with magic power each latent charm. 
 
 SUMMER. 
 
 The fervid Airs on wings of golden beams 
 
 Chace the retreating Spring, while from bright horn 
 Now joyous Summer pours effulgent streams 
 
 Of mingled clouds to deck the robe of morn. 
 The blooming nymphs that form his graceful train 
 
 Fling from clear urns, the iridescent flowers, 
 And sprinkle with rich light the azure main, 
 
 Whose undulations court the sparkling showers.
 
 158 SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 Then while his chaplet of o'erpowering rays, 
 Flames with its fires intense — the lovely hours 
 
 Seek out some shade obscure where softly strays 
 The lucid rivulet, 'neath pensile bowers, 
 
 While echo sounds her ever-varying shell, 
 
 And Fancy breathes her soul -entrancing spell. 
 
 AUTUMN. 
 
 In brilliant robe of varied hue appears 
 
 Autumn with mantle dipped in sunshine bright, 
 And 'neath her lustre rich the landscape wears 
 
 The deep suffusion of the solar light. 
 Now as she strays where bends each clust'ring bough 
 
 By Summer hung with crude and vapid fruit, 
 Her mystic touch imparts the blushing glow, 
 
 And mellow sweetness to each loaded shoot.
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Then wandering near the expansive fields of corn 
 That scarcely wave beneath the tranquil breeze, 
 
 Her gilded shadow by the meadows worn, 
 Embrowns the hills and deepens on the trees. 
 
 Around — the flutt'ring hours on purple wing, 
 O'er her gay robes the latest flow'rets fling. 
 
 1 59 
 
 WINTER. 
 
 While Autumn musing walks the shadowy grove, 
 
 She hears the lonely whispers of the breeze 
 And leaves the scene, as Winter wildly roves, 
 
 And sweeps the golden foliage from the trees. 
 O'er his dark brow an icy diadem, 
 
 Shines 'neath the tearful glances of the sun, 
 While his cold sceptre starred with frosty gem, 
 
 Sways with dread power, the conquest he has won,
 
 lo'O SACRED PORTRAITURE 
 
 Soon as he flies o'er each cerulean fount, 
 
 His withering presence chills the glassy floor, 
 
 And when his wings expanding shade the mount, 
 Their snowy plumage falls in frigid shower. 
 
 Unwilling the pale hours attend his flight, 
 
 And murmuring sigh for Spring's ethereal light. 
 
 HYMN. 
 
 O source of good ! whose forming hand 
 
 Strewed o'er the heaven's illumined strand, 
 Those sparkling spheres — like sands of golcl- 
 Which thy majestic power unfold. 
 
 Before primeval beauty sprang 
 From chaos deep — ere thou didst hang 
 Those lamps of purest amber bright, 
 Beneath yon dome of lucid light :
 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 161 
 
 Thy Wisdom — vast almighty mind 
 Ere time — ere nature's birth, designed 
 Redemption's great immortal scheme 
 Where shines thy Loves unequalled beam. 
 
 Then Justice bowed beneath thy sway, 
 Hope smiled with brighter, livelier ray, 
 Joy struck his lyre's enraptured strings, 
 And Mercy waved her angel wings. 
 
 Illumed by thy celestial flame, 
 Let sinners hail the Saviour's name, 
 And in yon world of heavenly calm 
 Receive the victor's fadeless palm. 
 
 31
 
 NOTES.
 
 NOTES. 
 
 SAUL. 
 
 Note a — page 4, line 16. 
 " She sought the influence dark of demons fell." 
 
 Many elaborate arguments have been written to prove the existence 
 as well as non-existence of demoniacal influence ; without searching 
 into the controversy, a few remarks on the subject may be necessary 
 in this place. The religion of every idolatrous nation, from that of 
 the ancient Egyptians to every varying form of modern heathenism, 
 has embodied different systems of magic and sorcery, which have ob- 
 tained almost universally ; and it is remarkable that this belief has 
 prevailed equally among the refined and philosophical Greeks and 
 Romans, as in later times among the savage nations of the Asiatic, 
 African, and American Continents. 
 
 The philosophy of Pythagoras and Plato, was interwoven with de- 
 monology, and the Poets and Historians of other times abound with 
 professions of the same belief. The Jewish oracle was undoubtedly 
 intended to point out to mankind the vast difference between the 
 clear manifestations of the Divine will as revealed there, and the dark 
 and dubious answers, with respect to futurity, delivered in the heathen 
 temples to those who consulted their occult oracles. 
 
 In the sacred writings this subject is not treated in an argumentative 
 way, but the simple and positive denunciations against necromancy 
 contained in the Old Testament, and the demoniacal possessions re- 
 lated in the New, afford, perhaps, as strong an evidence of the reality 
 of this species of diabolical influence, as could be given by a plain de-
 
 166 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 duration of its truth. The nature of the communication between 
 magicians and demons must remain a mystery ; but the manner in 
 which they sought that communication was generally by the sacrifice 
 of various victims, and the study of certain volumes, which, like the 
 books of the Sybil, have never been clearly ascertained. 
 
 In the Acts of the Apostles it is recorded as an evidence of the 
 faith of some converts to Christianity, who had used curious arts, that 
 they brought their books and destroyed them — thus publicly renounc- 
 ing the whole system of sorcery and divination, and bearing an open 
 testimony to the religion of our Lord Jesus Christ. It may be de- 
 manded of those who, " not ignorant of his devices," admit the 
 reality of Satan's power in a spiritual sense, on what ground do they 
 consider as improbable his influence upon the imagination and senses 
 of unbelievers, " who lie in the wicked one — the ruler of the dark- 
 ness of this world '?" In connection with this subject, the declaration 
 of our blessed Lord, " I saw Satan as lightening fall from heaven," 
 opens to our view that glorious period, when the permissive power 
 of the evil one shall cease for ever, and God in Christ shall reign 
 throughout ete rnity. 
 
 Note b — page 8, line 2. 
 " And lo ! an aged form in sable pall." 
 
 It is evident, that although the witch purposed deceiving the senses 
 of Saul by some magical delusion, yet that on the appearance of the 
 spirit, she was much alarmed, perceiving him to be indeed the true 
 Samuel. Some writers have conjectured that the phantom was not 
 a beatified soul, but an evil spirit who had assumed the form of 
 Samuel. But the declaration of the inspired writer that it was truly 
 Samuel, who addressed the abject King of Israel, (1 Sam. xxviii. 
 14 — 20) as well as the professed devotedness of the spirit to that God 
 who had sent him to proclaim the Monarch's doom, (16, 17 verses) 
 render such a supposition irreconcileable with Divine truth. The 
 sorceress was undoubtedly not in possession of any power to recall 
 the spirits of the dead ; but as a manifestation of God's displeasure 
 against Saul for his disobedience, the departed Prophet appears to 
 have been sent at that awful moment, to declare the message of 
 Jehovah.
 
 NOTES. 167 
 
 Note c — page 10, line 12. 
 " And injudicial clouds obscures my way." 
 
 It was highly natural that Saul should attempt to justify himself 
 for acting in violation of the command of God, who declared — " A 
 man also, or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, 
 shall surely be put to death : they shall stone them with stones : 
 their blood shall be upon them." And that he should desire to ex- 
 onerate himself in the sight of Samuel, whose aid he anxiously sought. 
 It was also true that he had applied by various means to Jehovah for 
 instruction and assistance in his emergency, but not seeking by faith, 
 (for it is manifest that he had never been converted,) his petition was 
 unanswered. 
 
 NEBUCHADNEZZAR. 
 
 Note* — page Ad, line 1. 
 " In its proud head of pure and burning gold." 
 
 In the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, the reader will 
 recognise the views of Bishop Newton, in his discourses on the Pro- 
 phecies. Perhaps no image could be found more strikingly calcu- 
 lated to illustrate the facts it was intended to foreshow,than that which 
 was presented to the view of the King of Chaldea. The Assyrian 
 state in its monarchy and splendor was aptly represented by the head 
 of gold ; the Medo-Persian Kingdom at first a binarchy, and inferior 
 in wealth to the Assyrian Empire, was clearly displayed by the breasts 
 of silver, as' was also the Macedonian in its strength, and the warlike 
 disposition of the nation, by the brazen body, which was afterwards 
 divided on the death of Alexander the Great. The Roman Empire 
 was plainly exhibited in its power and primitive simplicity, by the 
 legs of iron, which, perhaps, have reference to its kingly and repub- 
 lican governments. Its subsequent decline, the decay of public and 
 private virtue, the growth of faction and its dependance upon foreign 
 mercenaries for the support of its dominion, appear evident by the 
 union of the miry clay with the feet of iron. Of these states it may
 
 1G8 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 be said, as in modern times has been observed of Charles the Twelfth 
 of Sweden, they 
 
 — " Left a name at which the world turned pale, 
 To paint a moral or adorn a tale." 
 
 The Messiah, " the stone of Israel," by unearthly power, has over- 
 thrown these heathen kingdoms, leaving not a vestige of their former 
 grandeur. The Christian looks forward with joyful anticipation to 
 that happy period when this stone shall become a great mountain and 
 fill the whole earth, and when the adoring nations, under the powerful 
 influence of the Gospel, shall exclaim unitedly, " come and let us go 
 up to the mountain of the Lord our God." 
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Note f — page 58, line 8. 
 " And crowned with myrtle by the rosy hours.'' 
 
 It appears that though the Phenicians in their worship of the sun 
 had their views particularly directed to Baal-Peor, that this latter 
 was invoked by the Chaldeans under the title of Mars. It will, how- 
 ever, be recollected, that the sun, moon, and the Goddess Venus, were 
 particularly adored throughout the Assyrian Empire. 
 
 MARRIAGE OF CANA. 
 
 Note e — page 111, line 16. 
 " And none remained to grace the sumptuous feast." 
 
 To the generality of readers, it will be unnecessary to observe, that 
 nuptial feasts among the Jews were continued for the period of seven 
 days, during which time there was often a succession of guests. This 
 will therefore account for the circumstance of the wine having failed 
 before the expiration of the entertainment.
 
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