•:>;f^ PRINCETON, N. J. Diz'i.ui'ii f ... Shelf.. A>/ ;/?/'. v.... ^....0/s3 S:^'^ NAhBION; OR, THE BIBLE AND THE POETS. By SAMUEL W. BAILEY. " Images and precious thoughts That shall not die, and cannot be destroyed." Wordsworth. " Bibles laid open, millions of surprises." George Herbert. " Every one reads so much of every thing : The books they read are not the best 'tis true : But then they are for ever reading — reading ! Every one's heart to novelty is given : The/rtj/ is dead and gone — the present passion Is novelty! "' GOETHB. ') CAMBRIDGE: PRESS OF JOHN WILSON. AND SON. 1S74. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, ^7 SAMUEL W. BAILEY, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. PREFACE. THIS book is a growth of years. Unique in the English tongue, much smaller books of the kind have long been highly prized, at home and at school, by those speaking in another. Avowedly a book of books, it aims to make the chief things of the " Book of books " more widely, pleasingly, and thoroughly known. In these chapters are arranged passages amounting to about one-fourth part of all the language of the Bible, and many of the choicest gems from about three hundred and fifty of the poets of Christendom. Those things in the sacred volume which are most read and valued have been marshalled, chiefly in the order of time, thus showing- its unity and scope. Partly with this end in view, and in part for the sake of variety, the selections from the book of Job immediately follow those from Genesis, though it is most likely that patriarch lived between the dispersion from Babel and the call of Abraham. Some freedom, justifiable it is believed, has been exercised in arranging the selected Psalms and Proverbs. To show the relations between the Old Testament and the New, several of the acknowledged Messianic prophecies, belonging to a period of more than three thousand years, have been gathered in chapters to signalize the transition from the one to the other. The life and works of the Saviour have been set forth sometimes in the language of one evangelist, and IV PREFACE. sometimes in that of another. In arranging, the best Harmonies have been followed. Though the numerous and varied selections from the Old Testament have left less room than was desirable for those of the New, it is believed that all of the essential truths of the latter and its chief things are here embraced. As, in culling the poetry, the chief quest has been for what was fitting and forceful, passages quaint and rugged have sometimes been preferred to such as were more elegant, but feeble and diffuse. Such selections have been mostly made from poets contemporaneous, or nearly so, with King James's revisers of the Bible. And some, perhaps, will be surprised to find how many drafts have been made on the great English dramatist. No thoughtful student of Shakespeare, however, has failed to mark his familiarity with the Scriptures, as evinced by his allusions and reasonings. Three or four poetical passages appear twice, wholly or in part, in different chapters. At the end of the volume is an index of all the chapteis, showing whence the sacred text has been taken, also the authorship of the poetry, so far as it was known, if not lost in revising. In a separate catalogue the names of most of the poets are given, with the dates of their births and deaths, when ascertained. The spelling of the poetry has been conformed to that of the Bible, with few exceptions, and with an obvious intent. Last of all, to show the variations of the English language, a single brief specimen of the Holy Scriptures has been printed, as found in six historic versions. It was deemed fit that a volume designed for general use should bear, in one word, a significant title. As our language failed, one has been derived from the Hebrew. It was found that »^?3, nabi, the common word for prophet, also means poet, and is applied to one who freely utters impassioned language. By adding a Greek termination. PREFACE. V we have 7iabion; and by inserting a single letter, to secure a right pronunciation, we have NAHBION. Many books have been made, binding the reader to advance by the calendar. There may be advantages in such arrangements; but they do not seem to be thoroughly in keeping with that manly freedom vouchsafed by God under the economy of Nature or of Grace. Rules are good for the ordering of one's life, — the rule being a means, a good life the end, — yet it is wiser for him to be ever doing the right thing, which is mostly determined by circum- stances that are changeable. As we are enjoined by God, however, to keep every seventh day holy, there may be a routine in its public religious services without any felt bondage. While it is believed that this book is of the best kind for Daily Reading, every one can choose whether he will read one chapter, or several, or only a part of one at a time. In conclusion, the compiler would frankly avow that, in arranging these precious and beautiful verities, it has been his fondly cherished hope that they might beget tastes so refined and elevated, that the inanities of the popular literature shall be less relished and prized than now and heretofore. And he has ventured to believe, notwith- standing the prevailing passion for duodecimos, and for still more diminutive volumes decked with bright colours and gilt, that this stately octavo will be a cherished and life-long companion, and that it will escape the speedy doom of those butterflies of literature, which, after adorn- ing the table or shelf a few weeks or months, are banished to some dingy and obscure lodgement in garret or crypt, that there may be room for the new-comers in glittering array. Such as it is, this work is sent forth on its mission, the compiler being more hopeful that it will be approved by the matured judgments of the considerate and wise, than heedful of the decisions of hasty criticism. It goes vi PREFACE. forth, not as a lately turned literary kaleidoscope present- ing commonplace thoughts in new relations ; but it meets the eye like the nightly dome, all aglow with the priceless gems of inspired truth and poetic genius, whose beauties, fresh and fadeless as the stars, will never weary the thoughtful reader. INTRODUCTION. IF the reader ma)^ wisely ask why this book has been made, it is but right that he should fairly weigh what may be said to justify its being. He must not, however, look for a thorough unfolding of the religious and literary excellences of the Bible — a work for a large volume — in a brief prelude, nor hope to find the manifold merits of religious poetry fitly set forth within bounds so narrow. Though it behooves the philosophic sceptic heedfully to study such a phenomenon as the Bible, in order to a becoming self- respect, no discreet friend of the Scriptures fears that their authority can be lastingly impaired through scientific discoveries, or by just criticism. The chief and unfailing attractions of the Bible are the wondrous originality, scope, and freshness of its truths. It is a flower-garden which the devout reader approaches, not as the analytic botanist does his herbarium, but as a true lover of nature, to be delighted by graceful forms and variegated hues, and to be regaled by fragrant odours. As the latter is cheered by the pearly freshness of the summer's morning, is entranced by genial noontide glories, and is won to peaceful musings by the teeming aromas and the dreamy stillness at evening twilight, — so does the earnest and loving reader of the Scriptures find the morning of life's day cheered by sweet hopes, its noon dauntless and assured under the glowing light of the divine teachings, and its evening calm and joyful, as he waits for the approach of a day whose glories no cloud shall dim, and no night shall follow. But since so much of this book is taken from the Bible, it is worth while to consider what that volume is, and how it should be treated as containing special revelations from God to men, and as being His best gift to them. Its divine origin and authority are here assumed, not argued ! If there be those who regard the accounts of the Creation, the Fall, and the Deluge as mere fables, it is for them to justify their unbelief; if any viu n\rKO]u-CTiox. think they have such sure and thorough insight of the great world of matter, mind, and spirit, that they know there is no room for God to work otherwise than through natural laws and forces, they ought to be satisfied with the grounds of their knowledge ; and if there be those who cannot believe the mira- cles of the Hebrew Scriptures, while they hold to the truth of those recorded in the New Testament, let them, if they can, maintain their consistency. If the faith of any is overtasked by the story of Jonah's entombment in the whale, they are told in the Gospels that the Saviour treated it both as a fact, and as a symbolic prophecy of His own burial and resurrection. A like toleration may be justly claimed for the large majority of Chris- tians, who hold that God, the Creator of all things, may work, and has wrought, otherwise than through such laws and forces as He has originated. They believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and the Saviour of men, because they find His coming and character foreshadowed and foretold by the types and prophecies of the Old Testament. Finding, in the New Testament, that He emphatically declares Himself to be THE TRUTH, they deem it soundly philosophical to regard all other truths subor- dinate and supplementary. Being there taught that He is ^' before all," and " head over all," and that " all power " belongs to Him, such Christians, recognizing in that wonderful person- age the Messiah of the Hebrews, see ample reason for the constrained separation of that people from idolaters, and for their long and strict religious discipline, that thus He might be duly introduced to the world both as the son of David and the Son of God. It does not disturb the faith of such believers to be reminded that the Jews, so long and highly favoured by Jeho- vah, and trained to a ceremonial holiness, were exceedingly per- verse, and often outrageously wicked ; for they also believe that when their crimes culminated in the rejection and crucifixion of their Messiah, and He had cried, " It is finished," and the vail of the temple had been rent in twain, the peculiar mission of that people had ended. At that hour they passed from a state of privilege to one of doom. In former times their ancestors had felt the rod of divine chastisements for correction ; but the bit- terness of the cup which they had so often quaffed was tem- pered by the kindness of their faithful and loving Father. In vain was it for them, though He still yearned to show forgiveness INTRODUCTION. IX to repentant believers. While the trustful followers of the cruci- fied One were bidden to pray and hope for a baptism of heroic strength, there was no remedy for the madness of those who had imprecated upon themselves the guilt of His blood ! They had forfeited their heritage of life and peace through wilful blind- ness. Confronted by the retributive severity which soon came upon Jerusalem and her infatuated people, it ill becomes sinful men to cavil against the works and ways of Jehovah. Their knowledge of them is too shallow and confined. With only the horizon of a snail, one would be a poor geographer. Though words may help us to right views of the Bible, no pen can fitly and fully set forth its character and mission. While God is its author, it is, in a lower sense, the work of many human agents who were widely separated as to the times and circumstances of their action. A collection of utterances, often fragmentary, and sometimes seeming to clash, it is, nevertheless, a whole and harmonious book. While it treats of things mostly unseen by men, their relations to them are supremely momen- tous. The things that are seen show forth the goodness, wisdom, and majesty of Jehovah, while His gracious charter of priceless and imperishable blessings to mankind is unfolded in the Bible. That volume is a great central sun, flooding their earthly being with light, vital and glorious ; piercing the gloomiest mazes of spiritual ignorance, wickedness, and despair, and begetting joy- ful hopes and experiences of God's benignity and love. As the great king of day safely rules the revolving planets, so the Bible surely guides -every loyal soul in the only pathway to its blissful home in heaven. It brings knowledge to the ignorant, wisdom to the foolish, hope to the despairing, peace to the guilty, divine joy to the sorrowing, the choicest comforts to the sick, and life to the dying. " Most wondrous brook ! bright candle of the Lord ! Star of eternity ! the only star By which the bark of man could navigate The sea of life, and gain the coast of bliss Securely ; only star which rose on time, And on its dark and troubled billows still, As generation drifting swiftly by Succeeded generation, threw a ray Of heaven's own light, and to the hills of God, The everlasting hills, pointed the sinner's eye." X INTRODUCTION. While no book is worthy of such earnest heed as the Bible, it is unpardonably neglected by most men in Christendom. If it be well to regret the evil, it were better to find a remedy. With such an end in view, every worthy effort should win encourage- ment from the wise and the good. Whatever shall quicken in men a zest for, or delight in, the Scriptures, or do aught to unfold their truths, or to enhance their power over the minds and hearts of those who read, should be deemed both needful and beneficent. Although it may not be easy to show why so many fail to become pleasurably and profitably familiar with the Bible, the grounds of such failure may not wholly lie in what that book is, nor yet in the characters and tastes of mankind. Indeed, there are manifold sources of good in the realm of Nature, neither duly known nor prized by most men, though by her devoted disciples they are loudly challenged and urged to the study of them as supremely important. Thus the ocean, by its solemn grandeur, and the mountains, by their majestic proportions, may awe and charm the beholder, though he be blind to untold other blessings which flow from their ministries. The man who should prize the atmosphere only for its relations to musical sounds, would be less pitiable and blameworthy than is he who can find nothing in the Bible to admire but its matchless literary attractions. It has other and higher claims. Enough, that it ■ deserves to be placed foremost, as making known the only remedy for human guilt and remorse. Enough, that it is the best means of arousing men, and leading them to the chief good, and of restraining them from evil. Yet it is not enough to claim that the Bible is the best moral and spiritual guide and teacher. From no other source can we so clearly learn the design and destiny of this world and of the universe. Plodding and bewildered scientists have been slow to discover and concede that to man belong that dignity and lordship with which the Bible authoritatively invests him. Though all branches of secu- lar knowledge are valuable, and ought to be thoroughly studied by some, it were wiser to ignore and banish them altogether than that the Scriptures should not be daily and lovingly read. More hopeful were it for a man to strive for a true knowledge of astronomy, the sun and his benign sway being kept from view, than to achieve life's great ends untaught and ungoverned by the truths of the Bible. INTRODUCTION. Xl It would be as unreasonable, however, to assert that all parts of the sacred volume are to be equally prized, as that every member and function of the human body is alike essential to life and health. Were one the owner of a store-house filled with ingots of various metals, it could not be justly inferred that he undervalued the others, should he first pick out and arrange the gold. So it is no disparagement of any portion of the Bible, if preference and prominence be given to passages allowed to be of surpassing value, or remarkable for beauty and interest. Some features of the Book of books, moreover, are more plain and pleasing than others, especially to youthful readers, while the charge of faultiness cannot be justly urged. The Bible would be incomplete without the genealogical tables, and the details of the Mosaic ritual ; yet few would rank them, for interest, with the history of Joseph or with the parables of the Saviour. Though such details have great value with profound and comprehensive scholars, most readers know too little to prize them duly. And hence they may, perhaps pardonably, if not fitly, adopt this couplet of Goethe, — "A hindrance, all that we employ not ; A burden, all that we enjoy not." Since Religious Poetry makes so large a feature of this book, such forced, even though fit, alliance to the divine Word, may seem to need apology. Eminently a product of deep feeling and of a lively imagination, poetry is best employed on themes of the highest concern. The great and matchless poem was completed, when the chief Poet, the Maker of all things, had wrought out from the broad and dreary realm of chaos the wondrous mechan- ism of the universe, — a work so vast and varied, so massive and minute, yet so delicately exact in the adjustment of its countless parts and qualities, and in its complex movements. It was most fitting, therefore, that the Hebrew prophets and bards, when moved by the all-quickening and beautifying Spirit, should deliver their messages and discourses in the sublimest strains of poetry ever reached by mortals. While the poetry of the Bible is acknowledged to be every way unequallea, and while the good sense of translators and revisers in forbearing to signalize it by a factitious garb is to be praised, may not the choicest gems of the Christian poets serve worthy ends, when read jointly with those passages of Scripture whose xii INTRODUCTION. meaning they either enforce or reflect ? If when Moses came down from Sinai, his face radiant with heavenly glory, the gazing Hebrews were dazzled and awed, as never before, with a sense of Jehovah's dreadful majesty, is there not a power in poetic genius, especially when in close sympathy with the inspired Oracles, to quicken in the reader a more deep and lively sense of what they litter ? Then, too, the presence of such variety will not only please, but render the mind wakeful and alert. Men judge of the importance of persons and things by their discovered relations. If a numerous and imposing retinue fixes the gaze of men on a travelling monarch, and if the company of attached disciples and followers of the Saviour drew attention to Himself, will not such gems of poetry thus inserted alternately with passages from the Bible, and shining mostly by its light, help, by their varied contrasts and affinities, to beget wakeful and discriminating thought, while the eyes of increasing numbers shall be eagerly and admiringly turned to that great moral sun .-' And since the value of the sacred volume to the world is enhanced by its weighty utterances bearing the peculiar styles of its numerous authors, it may be hoped that the devoted ministries of such a galaxy of poetic geniuses will win and wed the thoughts of men full lovingly to that one great source of religious light, hardly more than of mental life and energy. Few well-informed and thoughtful persons will deny that there is both in the rhythm • and rhyme of poetry that which is peculiarly pleasing, especially to youthful minds. The power of poetry to call forth the finer feelings of men is well and widely known. Poetic genius not only shapes the utterance of the highest devotional sentiments, but of such as are patriotic and convivial. While it should be dreaded and denounced as a mighty worker of evil, it may well be wooed and welcomed, when its mission is to ennoble thought and inflame love, by high and holy themes. May we not believe that the heathen poet recognized a grand and vital principle as underlying his fable, when he represented Orpheus, the poet- musician, as drawing and swaying trees, rivers, and stones, by the wondrous power of his lyre .-* Through that beautiful myth we see mankind sluggish and grovelling, and needing to be roused and quickened, and impelled to high and worthy aims by alluring appeals to their susceptibilities for refined pleasures. This is better than a wild fancy, it is a thought well founded, INTRODUCTION. XIU whose truthfulness has been duly avowed. It must suffice, however, by way of confirmation, to quote what Sir Philip Sidney has well and profoundly said of the most degraded and barbarous tribes : " That if ever learning come among them, it must be by having their hard, chill wits softened and sharpened with the sweet delights of poetry ; for until they find a pleasure in the exercise of the mind, great promises of much knowledge will little persuade them that know not the fruits of knowledge." Although there be many, not among the least wise, who find their choicest pleasures in studying the Bible, it must be owned that the millions of Christendom hav'e too little relish for its truths. Will it, then, be a reliance altogether vain and fanciful, to trust to the " sweet delights " of such a handmaid as Religious Poetry, to allure reluctant minds to a profitable acquaintance with the Word of God .'* If Milton's blindness did not hinder the lofty flights of his soaring genius, may it not reasonably be hoped that thousands, should they here be and learn to "Smit with the love of sacred sons;," " Feed on thoughts that voluntary move Harmonious numbers" inspired by true devotion, will also derive moral health from the life-giving streams beside them .-' While genuine religious poetry deserves to be highly prized, there is much pious rhyming that is unworthy of the name. Such chaff failing to touch and sway the feelings, and to satisfy a correct taste, quickly flies before the critic's besom, or perishes through sheer neglect. But the wheat abides ever fresh and beautiful, and the world is blessed with many rich and cherished treasures, though not of equal value, which have long braved the winnowing process. Whether they be recognized as the loved melodies of the nursery, as the devotional lyrics of the sanctuary, or as the more stately poems of Christian literature, words can- not duly set forth how precious they are to sympathetic minds. They are living and most welcome guests in the soul, cheering the chambers of the memory when the outside world frowns with clouds of adversity and sorrow, or when the ebbing life throbs faintly in death's shadowy vale. XIV INTRODUCTION. " And when the stream Which overflowed the soul was passed away, A consciousness remained that it had left, Deposited upon the silent shore Of memory, images, and precious thoughts. That shall not die, and cannot be destroyed." If the work which the poets have achieved has neither been perfect nor all that was desirable, they have not wrought in vain. In their efforts to unfold the mysteries of Providence, and to "justify the ways of God to men," they may often have marred the beautiful proportions of truth. But the fallibility of the poets need not disqualify them to help us in understanding the Scriptures. As consistently may we decline the aid of sermons and commentaries, because preachers and writers are imperfect. No reflector can convey the sun's light to our eyes so well as the sun himself. Yet mirrors are indispensable ! And the truly Christian poet may be the most luminous and convincing of commentators. True it is that philology and logic are invaluable aids to the interpreter of the Scriptures, and modern scholarship owes much to such appliances. Without hermeneutical skill, indeed, revealed truth cannot be well and duly explained. Yet the Christian poet, by his peculiar gifts and temperament, m.ay often surpass the logical and learned but dry exegete. This advantage comes chiefly, however, through his loyal and loving sympathy with spiritual truths. Mere words and modes of speech are inadequate to express his thoughts and feelings. He may be delighted and improved by the literary beauties of the Bible, and far more by the divine fragrance which its teachings convey to his soul. But while the merely scientific interpreter may be expert in wielding the instruments of critical research and analysis, he may live and die a novice in regard to the vital beauty and meaning of the sacred volume, because the power of sight, of hearing, and of reasoning, cannot grasp them. " The natural man rcceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God ; for they are foolishness unto him : neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.'''' In a book where poetry renders such homage to the Bible, it may not be amiss to remind the reader how much the geniuses in other departments of art are indebted to the sacred volume for many of their most valued themes. If the Scriptures are not INTRODUCTION. XV wholly unmatched in this regard, the themes which they furnish are suggestive of truths and ideas most significant and sublime. Thus the Ark of Noah, and especially the Tabernacle and the Temple, built according to divine dictation, symbolized spiritual mysteries and heavenly realities thereafter to be more fully revealed. Thus, too, the massive and graceful beauties of Gre- cian and Roman architecture were first typified in the works of nature, and were thence derived and appropriated by the mercurial sagacity and imitative genius of man. One has only to glance at the chief incidents of Sacred History, to be reminded of names which have been immortalized by the genius displayed in Painting and Music, on the part of those who bore them. Such world-renowned pictures as "Moses Found," "The Trans- figuration," and " The Last Supper," herald the fame of the Rembrandts, the Raphaels, and the Da Vincis ; while such oratorios as "The Creation," "Israel in Egypt," "The Messiah," and "Elijah," and such chants as the "Miserere," and the "Dixit Dominus," will, through all the ages, enshrine the Haydens, the Handels, the Mendelssohns, and the Palestrinas in the memories of all true lovers of Christian art. While these passages from the Bible and the poets would have great worth if printed separately, it is believed that this marriage of poetry to Scripture will largely enhance the value of both to the reader. In the reading of the sacred volume it has often been found that a word uttered, or a query raised, has so roused the mind, that it has seen the truth in a new light, and clothed with fresh beauty. Can* it be doubted that these appositely set gems of poetry, sometimes tenderly pathetic, now grandly solemn, then devotional, sublime, or severe, will greatly stir thought and enkindle feeling } And should the poetry, in some instances, seem to have been unfitly arranged, even thus it will beget an alertness of mind helpful to a clear understanding of what is read. Nor will the advantage of eminent and sympathetic companion- ship be wanting, if there be aught inspiring in that. The best utterances of hundreds of gifted minds, representing every age and phase of the Church catholic and visible, will here greet the reader, helping him to feel that its true life is one, throbbing in each member through his vital union with the common Lord of all. What has been true of every age is also true of this : it has its peculiar advantages, needs, and dangers. More than any XVI INTRODUCTION. civilized people, we are confronted by perils arising from the wonderful material prosperity and progress of the last fifty years. Within that time men have learned to travel with the fleetness of the wind, and to speed their behests from continent to conti- nent as quickly as they can be uttered or written. And the rush of events is hardly less rapid. Fortunes are gathered from the soil, from beneath the soil, and from trade, in a day. Every thing is done with a rush, and the eager strife and outcry are for things perishable. Only the few take time for reflection and research. Deafened by the din of business, dazzled by hopes of wealth and preferment, made dizzy by the whirl of fashionable pursuits, or debauched by low pleasures, never did a people more need the spurs and checks of moral and spiritual forces than they are needed to-day by the people of this land. Many on every hand loudly profess a regard for wisdom, though they are as far as were the ancient Hebrews from believing that true wisdom begins with the fear of Jehovah. Indeed, there is a growing school of philosophy heartily at one with our materialism, in the effort to ignore the fact that every man is responsible to Him. This statement is not made to be proved, though it may seem harsh and dogmatic. It is made in the firm belief that our literature, in many ways, is doing much to obscure in the minds of the people that greatest of thoughts, — the thought that every man is personally responsible to God ! While it will do little good to characterize or denounce what is objectionable in our popular literature, its blemishes and faults will not here be contrasted with what is commendable and good. To overcome evil with good was a maxim worthy of the great apostle, as it is of being adopted by all. It is the property of truth to displace and banish error ; and the great truths of the Bible are mighty to correct errors of thought and life. Thousands are pygmies^ as to their purposes for right doing, who are giants as to their passions for worldly aggrandizements and pleasures. Their true freedom and peace can only come through a loving reception of the weighty truths of God's Word, which is the best and safe guide of the child, the man, and the sage. A BRIEF OF THE WORK. PERIOD I. PAGE From Adam to the Call of Abraham. B.C. 4004-1921 i PERIOD II. From the Call of Abraham until the Death of Joseph. B.C. 1921-1635. Parenthetic. — Selections from the Book of Job 26 PERIOD III. From the Birth of Moses until his Death. B.C. 1571-1451 129 PERIOD IV. From Joshua to Saul ; or, the Era of the Judges. B.C. 1451-1095 . . 214 PERIOD V. The Reigns of Saul, David, and Solomon. B.C. 1095-975 267 PERIOD VI. From the Division of the Kingdom until the Close of the Old Testa- ment Prophecies. B.C. 975-400 362 PERIOD VII. The Gospel ; or, the Life and Works of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. B.C. 5 — A.D. 30 481 PERIOD VIII. The Teachings and Testimonies of the Apostles. A.D. 30-70 . . . 589 Index of Topics, Books, and Poets 677 Index of the Times of the Poets 694 Specimens from Bagster's English Hexapla 697 PERIOD I. FROM ADAM TO THE CALL OF ABRAHAM. B.C. 4004-192 I. CHAPTER L god's work of creation. THE FIRST FOUR DAYS. IN the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void ; and darkness was upon the face of the deep, Where eldest Night And Chaos, ancestors of Nature, hold Eternal anarchy amidst the noise Of endless war, and by confusion stand. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light : and there was hght. And God saw the hght, that it was good : and God divided the hght from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. Hail, holy Light ! offspring of Heaven first-born, Or of the Eternal coeternal beam, May I express thee unblamed ? since God is light, And never but in unapproached light Dwelt from eternity ; dwelt then in thee, Bright effluence of bright essence increate. Or hear'st thou rather, pure etherial stream, Whose fountain who shall tell ? Before the sun, Before the heavens thou wert, and at the voice Of God, as with a mantle, didst invest The rising world of waters dark and deep, Won from the void and formless infinite. I 2 THE BIBLE AND THE POETS. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament : and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. And God said. Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear : and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth ; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas : and God saw that it was good. And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth : and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind : and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day. A million torches, lighted by Thy hand, Wander unwearied through the blue abyss ; They own Thy power, accomplish Thy command, All gay with hfe, all eloquent with bliss. What shall we call them ? Piles of crystal light, A glorious company of golden streams, Lamps of celestial ether burning bright, Suns lighting systems with their joyous beams 1 But Thou to these art as the noon to night ! And God said. Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night ; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years : and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth : and it was so. And God made two great lights ; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night : he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness : and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. Mysterious Night ! when our first parent knew Thee from report divine, and heard thy name, Did he not tremble for this lovely frame, This glorious canopy of light and blue ? THE BIBLE AND THE POETS. Yet 'neath the curtain of translucent dew, Bathed in the rays of the great setting flame, Hesperus with the host of heaven came, And lo ! creation widened in man's view. Who could have thought such darkness lay concealed Within thy beams, O Sun ! or who could find, While fly, and leaf, and insect lay revealed. That to such countless orbs thou mad'st us blind ! Why do we, then, shun Death with anxious strife? — If Light can thus deceive, wherefore not Life ? CHAPTER II. THE WORK OF CREATION COMPLETED. THE SABBATH ORDAINED. As sparks mount upward from the fiery blaze, So suns are born, so worlds spring forth from Thee; And as the spangles in the sunny rays Shine round the silver snow, the pageantry Of heaven's bright army glitters in Thy praise. Thy Word created all, and doth create ; Thy splendor fills all space with rays divine ; Thou art, and wert, and shalt be ! Glorious ! Great ! Light-giving, life-sustaining Potentate ! AND God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind : and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying. Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind : and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind : and God saw that it was good. 4 THE BIBLE AND THE POETS. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our like- ness : and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God cre- ated he him ; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it : and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. Therefore of clay, base, vile, and next to naught, Yet formed by wondrous skill, and by His rnight, According to an heavenly patterne wrought, Which He had fashioned in His wise foresight, He man did make, and breathed a hving spright Into his face, most beautifull and fayre, Endewed with wisedome's riches, heavenly, rare. Such He him made, that he resemble might Himselfe, as mortall thing immortall could ; Him to be lord of every living wight He made by love out of His owne hke mould, In whom He might His mightie selfe behould : For Love doth love the thing beloved to see, That like itselfe in lovely shape may bee. And God said. Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed ; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat : and it was so. And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Bless M that eve ! The Sabbath's harbinger, when, all complete In freshest beauty from Jehovah's hand. Creation bloomed ; when Eden's twilight face Smiled Hke a sleeping babe : the voice divine A holy calm breathed o'er the goodly work : Mildly the sun upon the loftiest tree Shed mellowly a sloping beam. Peace reigned, And love, and gratitude ; the human pair Their orisons poured forth ; love, concord reigned. THE BIBLE AND THE POETS. 5 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made ; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it : because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. With silent awe I hail the sacred morn, Which slowly wakes while all the fields are still : A soothing calm on every breeze is borne, A graver murmur gurgles from the rill, And Echo answers sotter from the hill. And softer sings the hnnet from the thorn. The sky-lark warbles in a tone less shrill. Hail, light serene ! hail, sacred Sabbatli morn ! The rooks float silent by in airy drove ; The sun a placid yellow lustre shows ; The gales, that lately sighed along the grove, Have hushed their downy wings in dead repose ; The hovering rack of clouds forget to move : — So smiled the day when the first morn arose ! CHAPTER III. SUMMARY. EDEN. THE WOMAN. MARRIAGE. These are Thy glorious works. Parent of good ! Almighty ! Thine this universal frame. Thus wondrous fair ; Thyself how wondrous then ! Unspeakable, who sitt'st above these heavens To us invisible, or dimly seen In these Thy lowest works ; yet these declare Thy goodness beyond thought, and power divine. Speak ye, who best can tell, ye sons of light. Angels ! for ye behold Him, and with songs And choral symphonies, day without night, Circle His throne, rejoicing ; ye in heaven. On earth join all ye creatures to extol Him first. Him last. Him midst, and without end. THESE are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, and every plant of the field before 6 THE BIBLE AND THE POETS. it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew : for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life ; and man became a living soul. When God did man to His own likeness make, As much as clay, though of the purest kind, By the great potter's art refined, Could the divine impression take, He thought it fit to place him where A kind of heaven too did appear, As far as earth could such a likeness bear: That man no happiness might want, Which earth to her first master could afford, He did a Garden for him plant By the quick hand of His omnipotent word. As the chief help and joy of human life. He gave him the first gift ; first, even before a wife. And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden ; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food ; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good. and evil. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden ; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. The name of the first is Pison : that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold ; and the gold of that land is good : there is bdellium and the onyx stone. And the name of the second river is Gihon : the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. And the name of the third river is Hiddekel : that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates. And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat : but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it : for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone ; I will make him a help meet for him. And out of the THE BIBLE AND THE POETS. 7 ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air ; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them : and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field ; but for Adam there was not found a help meet for him. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept ; and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. When out of hope, behold her, not far off. Such as I saw her in my dream, adorned With what all earth or heaven could bestow To make her amiable. On she came, Led by her heavenly Maker, though unseen, And guided by His voice ; not uninformed Of nuptial sanctity, and marriage rites. Grace was in all her steps, heaven in her eye, In every gesture dignity and love. And Adam said. This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh : she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife : and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. Two of far nobler shape, erect and tall, Godlike erect, with native honour clad. In naked majesty seemed lords of all : And worthy seemed ; for in their looks divine The image of their glorious Maker shone, Truth, wisdom, sanctitude severe and pure, (Severe, but in true filial freedom placed,) Whence true authority in men ; though both Not equal, as their sex not equal seemed : For contemplation he and valour formed ; For softness she and sweet attractive grace : He for God only, — she for God and him. O lovely, happy, blest, immortal pair ! Pleased with the present, full of glorious hope. But short, alas, the song that sung their bliss ! Henceforth the history of man grows dark : THE BIBLE AND THE POETS. Shade after shade, of deepening gloom descends, And Innocence laments her robes defiled. Who farther sings, must change the pleasant lyre To heavy notes of woe. CHAPTER IV. THE TEMPTATION. THE FALL. THE SERPENT DOOMED. THE VANQUISHER PROMISED. THE EXILES. So spake the enemy of mankind, enclosed In serpent, inmate bad ! and toward Eve Addressed his way : not with indented wave. Prone on the ground, as since ; but on his rear, Circular base of rising folds, that towered Fold above fold, a surging maze : his head Crested aloft, and carbuncle his eyes ; With burnished neck of verdant gold, erect Amidst his circling spires, that on the grass Floated redundant. Pleasing was his shape And lovely. With tract oblique At first, as one who sought access, but feared To interrupt, sidelong he works his way. As when a ship by skilful steersman wrought Nigh river's mouth or foreland, where the wind Veers oft, as oft so steers, and shifts her sail : So varied he, and of his tortuous train Curled many a wanton wreath in sight of Eve, To lure her eyes. NOW the serpent was more subtile than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Y.ea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden } And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden : but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die : for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened ; THE BIBLE AND THE POETS. 9 and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her ; and he did eat. So saying, her rash hand in evil hour Forthreaching to the fruit, she plucked, she eat ! Earth felt the wound ; and Nature from her seat. Sighing through all her works, gave signs of woe, That all was lost. , Aitd the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked ; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made .themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day : and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. Amidst the thrilling leaves. Thy voice at evening's fall drew near ; Father ! and did not man rejoice that blessed sound to hear ? Did not his heart within him burn, touched by the solemn tone ? Not so ! — for, never to return, its purity was gone. And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou } And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked ; and I hid myself. And he said. Who told thee that thou wast naked } Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat } And the man said. The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done } And the woman said. The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field ; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life : and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed ; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy con- ception ; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children ; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. lO THE BIBLE AND THE POETS. Could I turn to look With these twain eyes of mine, now weeping fast, — Now good for only weeping, — upon man. Because I looked on him ? Alas, alas ! And is not this much woe, to cry alas ! Speaking of joy ? And is not this more shame, To have made the woe myself, from all that joy ? To have stretched my hand, and plucked it from the tree, And chosen it for fruit ? Nay, is not this Still more despair, — to have halved that bitter fruit, And ruined, so, the sweetest friend I have, Turning the GREATEST to mine enemy? And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I com- manded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it : cursed is the ground for thy sake ; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life ; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee ; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground ; for out of it wast thou taken : for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. And Adam called his wife's name Eve ; because she was the mother of all living. Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them. O unexpected stroke, worse than of death ! Must I thus leave thee, Paradise ? thus leave Thee, native soil ! these happy walks and shades, Fit haunt of gods ? where I had hope to spend, Quiet though sad, the respite of that day That must be mortal to us both. And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil : and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever : there- fore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man : and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. Therefore in sight of man bereft The happy garden still was left ; The fiery sword that guarded, sliowed it too, Turning all ways, the world to teach. That though as yet beyond our reach, Still in its place the tree of life and glory grew. THE BIBLE AND THE POETS. II CHAPTER V. BIRTH OF CAIN AND ABEL. HOW THEY DIFFERED. ABEL MURDERED. THE MURDERER PUNISHED. There is pity in Thee, O sinned against, great God ! — My seed, my seed, Thou mystic seed that shalt be ! — leave us not In agony beyond what we can bear. Fallen in debasement below thunder-mark, A mark for scorning — taunted and perplexed By all these creatures we ruled yesterday, Whom Thou, Lord, rulest always. O my seed. Through the tempestuous years that rain so thick Betwixt my ghostly vision and thy face. Let me have token ! for my soul is bruised Before the serpent's head is. AND Adam knew Eve his wife ; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering : but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth } and why is thy countenance fallen .-' If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted .-* and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door : and unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. Tell, who began to breake the sacred band Of blessed peace, wherein man liued at first : Was 't not that Cain, who lifted vp his hand. And with a murthrous mind (O wretch accurst !) Brake peace, and foully slue his onely brother, Though they had both one father and one mother ? And Cain talked with Abel his brother : and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his 12 THE BIBLE AND THE POETS. brother, and slew him. And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother ? And he said, I know not : Am I my broth- er's keeper ? And he said, What hast thou done ? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand. When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength ; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth ; and from thy face shall I be hid ; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth ; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me. And the Lord said unto him. Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain^ lest any finding him should kill him. O the wrath of the Lord is a terrible thing ! Like the tempest that withers the blossoms of spring, Like the thunder that bursts on the summer's domain, It fell on the head of the homicide Cain. And lo ! like a deer in the fright of the chase, With a fire in the heart, and a brand on his face, He speeds him afar to the desert of Nod — A vagabond smote by the vengeance of God. And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. And Cain knew his wife ; and she conceived and bare Enoch : and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch. And unto Enoch was born Irad : and Irad begat Mehujael : and Mehujael begat Methusael : and Methusael begat Lamech. The murderer from his Judge's presence fled : Thence to the rising sun his offspring spread ; But he, the fugitive of care and guilt, Forsook the haunts he chose, the homes he built ; While filial nations hailed him sire and chief. Empire nor honour brought his soul relief; He found, where'er he roamed, uncheered, unblest, No pause from suffering, and from toil no rest. THE BIBLE AND THE POETS. 1 3 CHAPTER VI. THE GENEALOGY AND THE AGES OF THE ANTEDILUVIAN PATRIARCHS. Then, good my lord, take to your royal self This proffered benefit of dignity ; If not to bless us and the land withal, Yet to draw forth your noble ancestry From the corruption of abusing times, Unto a lineal true-derived course. THIS is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the Ukeness of God made he him ; male and female created he them ; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created. And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image ; and called his name Seth : and the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years : and he begat sons and daughters : and all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years : and he died. And Seth lived a hundred and five years, and begat Enos : and Seth lived after he begat Enos eight hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters : and all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years : and he died. And Enos lived ninety years, and begat Cainan : and Enos lived after he begat Cainan eight hundred and fifteen years, and begat sons and daughters : and all the days of Enos were nine hundred and five years : and he died. And Cainan lived seventy years, and begat Mahalaleel : and Cainan lived after he begat Mahalaleel eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons and daughters : and all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years : and he died. And Mahalaleel lived sixty and five years, and begat Jared : and Mahalaleel lived after he begat Jared eight hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters : and all the days of Mahalaleel were eight hundred ninety and five years ; and he died. I am one, Who finds within me a nobility, That spurns the idle pratings of the great, 14 THE BIBLE AND THE POETS. And their mean boast of what their fathers were, While they themselves are fools effeminate, The scorn of all who know the worth of mind And virtue. And Jared lived a hundred sixty and two years, and he begat Enoch : and Jared Hved after he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters : and all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two years : and he died. And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah : and Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hun- dred years, and begat sons and daughters : and all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years : and Enoch walked with God : and he was not ; for God took him. Him the Most High Rapt in a balmy cloud with winged steeds Did, as thou saw'st, receive, to walk with God High in salvation and the climes of bliss. Exempt from death ; to show thee what reward Awaits the good. And Methuselah lived a hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech : and Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons and daugh- ters : and all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years : and he died. And Lamech lived a hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son : and he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed. And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters : and all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years : and he died. And Noah was five hundred years old : and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Howe'er we differ in the herald's book, He that mankind's extraction shall o'erlook In nature's rolls, must grant we all agree In our best parts, immortal pedigree. THE BIBLE AND THE POETS. 1 5 CHAPTER VII. THE WORLD DOOMED. THE ARK BUILT. Shall yon exulting peak, Whose glittering top is like a distant star, Lie low beneath the boiling of the deep ? No more to have the morning sun break forth, And scatter back the mists in floating folds From its tremendous brow ? no more to have Day's broad orb drop behind its head at even, Leaving it with a crown of many hues ? No more to be the beacon of the world, For angels to alight on, as the spot Nearest the stars ? AND it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair ; and they took them wives of all which they chose. And the Lord said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years. There were giants in the earth in those days ; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. O sin ! what hast thou done on this fair earth ? The world, O man ! is wailing o'er thy birth. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth ; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air ; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. These are the generations of Noah : Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The 1 6 THE BIBLE AND THE POETS. earth also was corrupt before God ; and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt ; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. All is oblique ; There's nothing level in our cursed natures, But direct villainy. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me ; for the earth is filled with violence through them ; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood ; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of : The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above ; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof ; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it. And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven ; and every thing that is in the earth shall die. But with thee will I establish my covenant ; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee. And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee ; they shall be male and female. Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creep- ing thing of the earth after his kind ; two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive. And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee ; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them. Thus did Noah ; according to all that God commanded him, so did he. Earth shall be ocean ! and no breath, Save of the winds be on the unbounded wave ! Angels shall tire their wings, but find no spot : Not even a rock from out the liquid grave Shall lift its point to save. Or show the place where strong despair hath died, After long looking o'er the ocean wide For the expected ebb which cometh not ; All shall be void, destroyed ' THE BIBLE AND THE POETS. 1 7 CHAPTER VIII. THE DELUGE. Ah, blighted earth ! by sins of men defiled ; Ah, giant sinners still on ruin bent ! Thus will ye grieve Jehovah to repent That man He made, and treated as a child ! How all the race, impelled by passions wild, , In hateful lusts and vilest deeds delight, And madly thwart His will and scorn His might, Though vengeance is restrained by mercy mild ! Ah, steeped in crimes, by revelry debased, Puffed up with pride, the sense of shame effaced, Reform ye would not, were it not too late ! — Full soon the clouds, with bolts of fire in store. Will on your heads their vengeful torrents pour. Nor, till Death's work is done, will they abate ! AND the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark ; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female : and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female ; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth. For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights ; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth. Ye wilds, that look eternal ; and thou cave. Which seem'st unfathomable ; and ye mountains, So varied and so terrible in beauty ; Here, in your rugged majesty of rocks And toppling trees that twine their roots with stone In perpendicular places, where the foot Of man would tremble, could he reach them — yes. Ye look eternal ! Yet, in a few days, Perhaps even hours, ye will be changed, rent, hurled. Before the mass of waters ; and yon cave, Which seems to lead into a lower world. Shall have its depth searched by the sweeping wave, And dolphins gambol in the lion's den ! And man — Oh, men ! my fellow-beings ! Who Shall weep above your universal grave ? 2 1 8 THE BIBLE AND THE POETS. And Noah did according unto all that the Lord commanded him. And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth. In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark ; they, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort. And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life. And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him : and the Lord shut him in. Meanwhile the south-wind rose, and, with black wings Wide-hovering, all the clouds together drove From under heaven ; the hills to their supply Vapour, and exhalation dusk and moist, Sent up amain ; and now the thickened sky Like a dark ceiling stood. Down rushed the rain Impetuous ; and continued, till the Earth No more was seen : the floating vessel swum Uplifted, and secure with beaked prow Rode tilting o'er the waves. And the flood was forty days upon the earth ; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lifted up above the earth. And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth ; and the ark went upon the face of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth ; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.- Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail ; and the mountains were covered. And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man : all in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven ; and they were destroyed THE BIBLE AND THE POETS. I9 from the earth : and Noah only remained ahve, and they that were with him in the ark. And the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days. Sunk beneath the wave, The guilty share an universal grave ; One wilderness of water rolls in view, And heaven and ocean wear one turbid hue ; Still stream unbroken torrents from the skies, Higher beneath the inundations rise; A lurid twilight glares athwart the scene, Low thunders peal, faint lightnings flash between. — — Methinks I see a distant vessel ride, A lonely object on the shoreless tide ; Within whose ark the innocent have found Safety, while stayed Destruction ravens round ; Thus, in the hour of vengeance, God, who knows His servants, spares them, while He smites His foes. CHAPTER IX. ARARAT AND THE ALTAR. The mighty ark Rests upon Ararat ; but naught around Its inmates can behold, save o'er the expanse Of boundless waters, the sun's orient orb Stretching the hull's long shadow, or the moon In silence through the silver-curtained clouds Sailing, as she herself were lost and left In hollow loneliness. AND God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark : and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged. The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. And the waters returned from off the earth continually : and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated. And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month : in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen. 20 THE BIBLE AND THE POETS. Ye, too, the free and fearless Birds of air, Were charged that hour, on missionary wing, The same bright lesson o er the seas to bear, Heaven-guided wanderers with the winds of spring ! " Sing on, before the storm, and after, sing ! And call us to your echoing woods away From worldly cares ; and bid our spirits bring Faith to imbibe deep wisdom from your lay. And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made : and he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth. Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground. But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark ; for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. Then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark. And he stayed yet other seven days ; and again 4ie sent forth the dove out of the ark. And the dove came in to him in the evening, and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth. And he stayed yet other seven days, and sent forth the dove, which returned not again unto him any more. And the messenger dove went forth again On an eager plume, at morn ; And returned at the evening hour, but then With a leaf from the olive torn. Once more, away ! and a last farewell. For she came no more in the ark to dwell, But she found a home in the silent wood. Where the fadeless groves of the olive stood. There wanders a spirit from many a breast, O'er the wide world's troubled sea. That seeketh some bower of peaceful rest, And a sweet tranquillity : But it turns full oft from a fruitless flight. Like the dove with a wearied wing. Till it findeth a bower of calm delight Where the flowers of Virtue spring ! And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth : and Noah removed the covering of THE BIBLE AND THE POETS. 21 the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry. And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month', was the earth dried. And God spake unto Noah, saying, Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee. Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepcth upon the earth ; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth. And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him : every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark. And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord ; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offer- ings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a sweet savour ; and the Lord said in his h^art, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake ; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth : neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. What though the swelling surge thou see impatient to devour, Rest, mortal rest, on God's decree, and thankful own His power. Know when He bade the deep appear, Thus far, the Almighty said, Thus far, nor farther, rage, and here let thy proud waves be stayed ! CHAPTER X. THE BLESSING. THE RAINBOW. Ox Noah, and in him on all mankind. The charter was conferred by which Ave hold The flesh of animals in fee, and claim, O'er all we feed on, power of life and death. But read the instrument, and mark it well ; The oppression of a tyrannous control Can find no warrant there. Feed then, and yield Thanks for thy food. Carnivorous through sin, Feed on the slain, but spare die living brute. 22 THE BIBLE AND THE POETS. AND God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea ; into your hand are they delivered. Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you ; even as the green herb have I given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. And surely your blood of your lives will I require : at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man ; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed : for in the image of God made he man. And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply ; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein. But mark ! what arch of varied hue From Heaven to earth is bowed ! Haste, ere it vanish, haste to view The Rainbow in the cloud ! How bright its glory ! there behold The emerald's verdant rays, The topaz blends its hue of gold With the deep ruby's blaze. And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,' And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you ; and with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth, with you ; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth. And I will establish my covenant with you ; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood ; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said. This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations : I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud : and I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh ; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud ; and I will look upon THE BIBLE AND THE POETS. 23 it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every hving creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth. Still young and fine ! but what is still in view We slight as old and soiled, though fresh and new. How bright wert thou, when Shem's admiring eye Thy burnished, flaming Arch did first descry ! When Terah, Nahor, Haran, Abram, Lot, The youthful world's gray fathers in one knot, Did with intentive looks watch every hour For thy new light, and trembled at each shower ! Bright pledge of peace and Sunshine ! the suretye Of thy Lord's hand, the object of His eye ! When I behold thee, though my light be dim, Distant and low, I can in thine see Him Who looks upon thee from His glorious throne, And minds the Covenant 'twixt All and One. And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were'Shem, and Ham, and Japheth : and Ham is the father of Canaan. These are the three sons of Noah : and of them was the whole earth overspread. And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years : and he died. Bow of beauty, arching o'er us, tinted with unearthly dyes, Stealing silently before us on the cloud of stormy skies ; In thy beaming radiance seeming, like an angel-path from heaven ; Or a vision to our dreaming, of some fairy fabric given. Thou art Mercy's emblem, brightly smiling through an angry frown ; Fairer for the gloom, as nightly glow the gems in Ether's crown. And when wrath is darkest glooming on the countenance divine. Love's and Mercy's light assuming, like the rainbow it doth shine. 24 THE BIBLE AND THE POETS. CHAPTER XI. NOAH's sons and grandsons. BABEL AND THE DISPERSION. N'OW these are the generations of the sons of Noah, — Shem, Ham, and Japheth : and unto them were sons born after the flood. The sons of Japheth ; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras. And the sons of Ham ; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan. Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him were children born. The children of Shem ; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram. These are the famihes of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations : and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood. Let them that would build castles in the air, Vault thither, without step or stair. Instead of feet to cHmb, take wings to fly, And think their turrets top the sky. But let me lay all my foundations deep. And learn, before I run, to creep. Who digs through rocks to lay his groundworks low. May in good time build high, and sure, though slow. The whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar ; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city, and a tower whose top may reach unto heaven ; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. Glory is like a circle in the water, Which never ceaseth to enlarge itself, Till, by broad spreading, it disperse to naught. THE BIBLE AND THE POETS. 2$ And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language ; and this they begin to do : and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth : and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel ; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth : and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. God, in derision, sets Upon tlieir tongues a various spirit, to rase Quite out their native language ; and, instead, To sow a jangling noise of words unl