LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, Shelf---- UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. « \ THE CONFLICT BE'TWEEIT TruthandError And other Poems, TOGETHER FORMING A COMMENTARY ON THE BIBLE. %§g ffev'd r||t. $}. (/greensward, <|$. \o.JMU.&.i.d rt POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y. W. E. Boshart, Book and Job Printer, 35 and 37 Market St. 1881. ^■AiL'Ar Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1881, by REVD M. P. GREENSWORD, M. D., in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. PEEFACE. This Book was written for the purpose of giving to the masses a very cheap Commentary on the Bible. A celebrated writer said that " if allowed to write the songs of a nation, he cared not who wrote her laws " ; so, with that idea in view, this Commentary was written in verse. The style is so simple that a mere child may easily understand every thought expressed in this volume. Very few words have been used, so as to present truth in a nutshell. Many parts of the Bible are so plain they need no explanation — therefore those texts have not been referred to. While in manuscript, portions of this Book have been read to many Chris- tian people, and, with one accord, they have all desired to see them in a more permanent shape. I have tried, as far as possible, by placing one passage of Scripture near another, to explain Scripture by Scripture, knowing that God is the best inter- preter of His own Word, and that he will make it plain to all who try to do His will. I have made but v«ry few extracts from the writings of others, and when- ever I have done so I have placed them within inverted commas. The words of the poems, as well as a great many of the thoughts, are original, but some thoughts were selected from the writings and sermons of eminent ministers of the Gospel. If the careful perusal of these pages leads to a higher appreciation of the Word of God and to the Salvation of Souls, the end for which they have been written will have been attained. In the hope, dear reader, that you will remember many of the thoughts and words of these poems and be led to hide God's word in your hearts, that you may not sin against him, if you forget the writer's name, I will subscribe my- self, Your friend, M. P. GREENSWORD. Poughkeepsie, N. Y., July, 1881. NO Yoice has ever yet been heard, From any fish, or beast, or bird. Man's maker to him ever gives, A face that upward looks and lives. He lives — his maker to adore, Worship God asks and seeks no more. For man are bird, and beast, and flow'r, And highest mountains are his dow'r. He surely should not praise forego, 10 But serve God always here below. When in the garden man was placed He was allow 'd of fruit to taste, From ev'ry tree but one alone : For thus obedience might be shown. The tempter came, in form of beast, And man partook of hellish feast Man thus the downward road did go, His lower nature then did show ; That it rose above the higher, 20 And 'bove dependence did aspire. If he had always look'd to God, He would not have receiv'd the rod. Adam and Eve, by God, were meant Purest manhood to represent. As Eden was an earthly heav'n, To sinners it could not be giv'n. In order to escape. God's wrath, From Paradise God made a path. Away from Angels, and from God, In sorrow, our first parents trod. Fierce lightnings flash and tempests rave. From toil no man his race can save. And cherubim, with sword of flame, 'Tween man and tree of life then came. That tree man ne'er again shall see, Until from sin, and sorrow, free. Man was the only animal that was made with a countenance looking up to- Avards heaven, Paradise. Gen 2. Man's fall. Gen 3. 6 On earth shall thorns and thistles grow, Disobedience made it so. Had Eve been deaf unto the liar, Man would not fear perdition's fire. So soon as Eve commenc'd to sin, A tempting course she did begin. So in all ages, has it been Tempters as sinners first begin. Man had not been a sinner long, Ere, yielding to temptation strong, Fierce envy in his heart was found, And murd'rous hate did soon abound : And soon a brother's blood was found, 50 Crying for Vengeance from the ground. O hear it not yon heavenly star ! Man with his brother went to war. With mark of Murd'rer on his brow, Earth's firstborn son's an outcast now, Not only were men from their Eden cast, Death in the train of sin arrives at last. The happy home is twice defil'd, On which a heav'nly parent smil'cl. One sin unto another leads. 60 The vulture on the carcass feeds. But never yet remain'd alone : To comrades soon the prize is shown. How soon the fallen are destroy'd ? How many at such work employ'd ? No longer at his father's side, His firstborn son may now abide ; Another son lies cold and dead, A brother's hand his blood has shed. How soon did dust to dust return ? How vain for man from God to turn? No mortal man can truly tell The height from which our parents fell ; And still the race keeps going down, And virtue now's almost unknown. Man driven from Paradise. Gen 3. A sinner soon becomes a tempter. Envy leads to Murder. The first Murder. Gen 4. God now resolves man's race to drown, For man, himself, has ruin sown, A flood upon the earth is sent ; Vengeance on the race is spent. Now houses once so grand and tall, Totter, and in crumbling ruin fall. Of thousands, eight the truth receive. Man's hellish foes the rest deceive. Fathers, mothers, and children die, And 'neath the waves unburied lie. When Noah tried to build an ark, One shouted, "Wild fanatic, hark!" When beams were laid upon the plain, One said, "He surely is insane". And, while the sun shone bright and clear, 90 The frame was rais'd. Then some came near, And, on that bright unclouded day, "Fool of one Idea," they did say. And w T hen, repentance teaching, And wicked men beseeching, They said, "We need no teaching, We'll hear no silly preaching." And when the birds and beasts, one morn, He drove into the ark, with scorn They shouted, "Old enthusiast! Our ridicule we'll neer resist." When he and all his hosts' went in, "Erratic", said the men of siu : "A pleasant voyage to you, Sir. You go by water. We land prefer. i How soon were number'd with the dead. The men who thus to Noah said? God open'd fountains in the deep, And heaven on guilty man did weep ; And soon the rain commenc'd to fall r 110 And in hopeless ruin buri'd all. All — but the seekers after light,. Lay buried in a starless night. The flood. Gen. 6. Noah ridiculed, The church of Christ, like Noah's ark, is the only safe place. At length the earth again is dried, And fruits appear, on ev'ry side. And wine is found at Noah's feast And man, once more, becomes a beast. The father of the race is drunk, And Noah's better manhood sunk ; The race has prov'd itself too weak, And man must higher guidance seek. God's bow of promise now appears, No more shall earth be full of tears. No more beneath the flood shall lie, Such hosts of men who God deny. No lower now the race shall fall, For God will hear men when they call. To higher state man now aspires, But impure still are his desires. O'er the starr'd arch he now would rise, 130 And build a home above the skies. To heaven's high courts he will ascend, And dwell where rest shall have no end. A tower to reach above the sky, Is built by men who God deny. God would not now destroy the race, But sent confusion and disgrace ; How soon the workmen cease to build, Their language with confusion fill'd? A man of faith doth now appear, Who is to God, a friend sincere, A pattern now by men is seen, A man of faith on God doth lean. His only son to God he gives, For only in his smile he lives ; His lov'd son he would sooner slay, Than faithful father disobey. Little then did Abraham know, When God, to him, did quickly show, Noah becomes intoxicated. Gen 9. The first rainbow. Gen 9. The Tower of Babel. Gen 11. 9 The ram for sacrifice held fast ; A better substitute at last, Would on a future day appear On self same mount men's sins to bear. And Christ the heavenly lamb be slain, And man his maker's love regain. Another man of God appears, In wicked Sodom God he fears. And when the cities of Judea's plain, With sulphur and with fiery rain, Were made a dreadful sea of death, With horrid pestilential breath, To show to Nations, yet unborn, Man's folly and Jehovah's scorn ; God sent Eighteous Lot a guide, And Angels at his house abide. A fairer city then was found, Where Lot saw truth did more abound, So, on the dreadful Judgment day, Our God will save the men who pray.] Then shall another sea of death, Deprive the wicked men of breath. And, sunk beneath its fiery waves, Shall none be found who hears or saves. The way to he'ven appears more clear, As does by Jacob's dream appear. A ladder now from he'ven is seen, For faith now builds a bridge between, This earth and Paradise more fair. To heav'n a title's found most 3lear. And humblest sinner now may share, The glory of an upper sphere ; Abraham offers up Isaac on the same spot were Christ was afterwards cruci- fied. How beautiful are the pictures in the Old Test»ment. As the ram was a substitute for Isaac, so is Christ a substitute ior humanity. Gen. 22. Lot delivared by angels from the ruin'd cities of the plain. Gen, 19. Another sea of death shall overcome the wicked. Jacob, in a dream, sees a ladder, reaching from heaven to earth that was placed at the side of a sinner. Gen 28, 10 Lo ! at his side, this ladder's found, For him to rise above the ground. Believe in God's eternal son. % For thus Salvation is begun. He is the ladder that was seen, On him may humblest sinner lean. As Angels on the ladder trod, 80 holy men lead souls to God. No other road leads all the way All other paths lead men astray. Another star of light is seen, Another saint on God doth lean. His triumph by a dream is shown, Which is believ'd by him alone. His brethren sell him as a slave, But soon his arm grew strong to save. Now famine in their land is found, But Egypt's barns with corn abound. To Egypt then his brethern went, 200 Some corn to buy, by Father sent. They found their brother Joseph well ; But corn to them, he would not sell. True type of Christ he freely gave, Much food the perishing to save. No purer man on earth was found. Celestial fruit, on earthly ground Now gTew. And man did higher rise, And sought once more a Paradise. Oh ! that in ev'ry clime and age, 21-0 The Saint, the Savage, and the Sage, When tempted by alluring sin, Could like Joseph vict'ry win : And thus to fallen woman say, "I will not travel in thy way. It truly leads to death and hell. I will not purer manhood sell. * A Wickedness great I will not do, How can I such a course pursue? Christ is the ladder that Jacob saw. Hereafter ye shall see [the] heaven open [opened] and the angels of God ascend- i ng and descending upon the son of Man. John 1. 51. Joseph was a type of Christ, he was one of the purest of men. Gen. 37 and 24. 11 And sin against a holy God, 220 And then be punish'd with his rod." God's people now are slaves indeed In sorrow, now, they toil and bleed. For freedom now they weep and pray, And seek for God to lead their way. A nation's hope at last is sent, A babe to Pharaoh's daughter lent. She, to a river, goes to bathe, When woman's love caus'd her to save, An infant in an ark too frail, 230 For any length of time to sail. The mother of the darling boy, As faithful nurse, she does employ. How little then King Phar'oh knew, The infants that his servants slew, Were not design 'd his slaves to free. How strange he daily fail'd to see, That*Moses, in his palace bred, By God his heav'nly father led, Would freedom find for Hebrew slaves, 240 By path made dry thro' red sea waves. 241 While his own host would soon be dead. 242 Because they would be blindly led, To follow Isr'el as they fled, Altho' by God their Father led. God now, on earth, shall praise receive, For men shall serve him, while they live. So burning bush does now appear, Fit emblem of his church sincere. The bush shall burn but yet remain, 250 His church shall stand tho' saints are slain. A shepherd now is call'd to lead. God's people shall be free indeed. Now Moses' magic rod is shown, All sinners are slaves. A Nation's hope is found, in a Basket of Bulrushes. Exodus 2. Pharoah must have been dreadfully blinded by sin. The burning Bush an emblem of the church of Christ. Exodus 3. Moses, a Shepherd, called to lead God's people. A type of Christ the Great Shepherd. Exodus 3. 12 And Phar'oh trembles on his throne. For plagues on Egypt now are sent. 256 Freedom for Hebrew slaves is meant. The firstborn in the palace die. From house to house is heard death's cry, In ev'ry house, unmark'd by blood, The mother's tears ran like a flood. The parents and the children sigh, And none can help them when they cry. The firstborn child lays cold and dead. As Moses unto Phar'oh said. The Hebrews now thro' red sea tread, By Heavenly Father led. While Phar'oh's host, beneath the waves, 268 Lie buried in forgotten graves. And now unto the promis'd land, By path mark'd out by Father's hand, The Pilgrims, guided on their way, By fire at night and cloud by day, At Horeb unto God they cry ; "Now give us water or we die." The rock is struck by magic rod, And water then is sent by God. A stream now cheers them on their way. Fit emblem of a fairer day, When Christ shall wash our sins away. And as the rock receives the blow, 281 Ere from its bosom waters flow, 282 So Christ men, once, will crucify. But once, for sinners, he will die. While thus by Heav'nly father led, With manna were they daily fed. Death of the firstborn in Egypt. Exodus 12. As the Israelites were saved by blood, which was typical of Christ's blood, so are we saved by the blood of Christ. As the Israelites passed through the red sea on dry land so will God make a safe way for all his children thro' ev'ry Red Sea of difficulty. As the rock must be struck to obtain water so must Christ, who was the foun- tain opened in the house of David, be crucified or the fountain must be broken open, as it was on the cross, to save men. But He, Christ, must onlj' be cruci- fied once and afterwards spoken to in prayer. Exodus 17. They drank of that Spiritual rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. 1 Cor. 10. 4. 13 When in the wilderness of Zin, Moses and his brother sin, Their maker thus they disobey, "Speak to the rock," then God did say. But Moses struck it with his rod, Confusing thus a type by God Intended to convey to men, The welcome news of Savior, when, No more shall he be crucified. When, coming to his wounded side, 296 The soul that would in him abide. 297 In humble prayer to him may speak As Moses when the Hebrews seek For water. Must not strike but speak 300 Unto the rock. That men may seek For Heav'nly grace by fervent pray'r To Christ who is a friend sincere. When near unto the promis'd land, Moses ceas'd to lead the Hebrew band. His work to represent the law, That land from Pisgah's top he saw. So, in the law of God, may we The heav'nly Canaan daily see. As Moses only saw the land, 310 Ne'er prest his feet upon the sand, So sinners to the Savior go, The bible simply tells them so, It cannot make the wounded whole. 'Tis only Jesus saves the soul. 315 So Joshua now must lead the band, 316 Of Hebrews into promis'd land. His name and place like Jesus. Like Christ alone who saves us, And takes us from a world of sin ; To fairer land by us unseen,- With God eternally shut in. Moses was told to speak to the Rock in the Wilderness of Zin and not told to strike it as he did, to typify the truth that Christ was once to be crucified and afterwards to be spoken to in prayer. Numbers 20. The law was our Schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. Galatians 3. 24. [Law hath been our tutor to bring us unto Christ.] Joshua here represents Christ leading Penitents into the Heav'nly Canaan. Joshua 1. 14 And now the Hebrews onward go, To plant the truth in Jericho. Now God will to the Heathen show, TJiat those who serve him here below, When solid walls before them stand, Shall find from him a helping hand. Man's work is trumpets now to blow The walls shall fall as round they go. Fit emblem of a fairer day, When crumbling walls shall fade away : The brightness of the Gospel day, . Shall walls of error all throw down, 334 And moral darkness be unknown. On fairer, and on future, day, A stone some sought to roll away ; From door of tomb where Jesus lay. "Who shall this stone remove?" they cried, "From tomb of Him who lately died." 340 With fainting hearts the women go, And at the tomb arrive. When lo ! The stone, they find, is roll'd away, Their God had open'd out their way. The pow'r of truth God now will show, And nations, yet unborn, shall know ; That heav'n and earth shall fade away, Ere God shall fail to clear the way ; Of those who seek a brighter day. "Thou sun continue now thy light, Thou moon delay to rule the night." So Joshua spoke, by God inspir'd, 352 Who granted then what he desir'd. A woman wears the laurel now, Victory sits upon her brow : The fall of Jericho. Joshua 6. All walls of error must fall before the March of truth. Joshua 0. Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the rtombl sepulchre. Mark 16. 3. The Sun and Moon stand still. Joshua 10. Heaven and Earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away. Matt. The song of Deborah and Barak. Judges, 5. 15 And Barak's courage is reviv'd By weaker sex. From God deriv'd This pow'r to stir the nation's heart, And cause the men to do their part ; In warring now 'gainst Sisera, 360 Led on by valiant Deborah. Sing brothers ! sing the warlike song ! Sisera did not triumph long. Mountains tremble now before thy God ! Sinia shake before His rod ! For forty thousand had no spear. No shield had any Hebrew there. Ye that ride on white asses sing ! Ye that sit in judgment praises bring ! For, in their courses, forget the stars. 370 'Gainst Sisera Jehovah wars. The river swept his hosts away : In ancient Kishbon, drown 'd, they lay. 373 Jehovah's angel said to all, "Curse ye Meroz great and small : May its people ever fail. No help they give tho' hosts assail." The valiant Hebrews bleed and die, For help from Meroz is not nigh. Blessed 'bove women be Jael : 380 For when Sisera's men assail Her sex. She ends the unholy war, And sinks, in gloom, their brightest star. The mother of Sisera sought Her son. How little then she thought, That vice in slipp'ry places stands, And oft unholy men's commands, E'en their followers cannot obey, For God shall darken all their way. "Have they not divided the prey ?" 390 Did Sisera's mother say, "To ev'ry man a damsel fair ; Tho' greater spoil some now may share, 393 And two select from sex so weak ; That must from stronger sex now seek, 16 Protection from the lust of those, Who seek to humble all their foes." That wicken woman did not know, That even then, by JaeFs blow, The sensual Sisera fell. That, in coming ages, men might tell ; That God had caus'd a woman brave, In time of war, her sex to save. Thus perish all thy foes O Lord ! But prosper those who love thy word. Tho' woman first commenced to sin, . ] To serve her God she does begin : And proves that, oft, a lofty mind, In light and fragiLe form's combin'd. In scenes of danger or despair, She often wins her triumph there. Manoah fear'd the angel's call, It seem'dto him like funer'l pall. 413 "We soon shall be bereft of life," 414 Manoah said unto his wife. "God now we've seen and soon must die." He said. And then did deeply sigh. His wife replied, "The Angels' call, I do not fear. The Lord of all Intended good I plainly see, 420 For this the angel came to_me. To tell me that I soon will bear, And then a Nazarite shall rear. Who shall the Philistines confuse. Wild ruin in their ranks diffuse. And, judging Isr'el many years, Cause her to hope and dry her tears. 427 A son of courage and of strength Most rare was born at length. The Philistines did Samson fear. Manoah and his wife, Judges 13. The weaker sex often proves herself the stronger. The seeing of spirits in olden times was regarded as a sure sign of death. Manoah 's wife told not to drink wine or strong drink. Judges 13, 4. Samson. Judges 13. 17 430 Success God gave him everywhere. And always did he vict'ry win, Until he commenc'd to sin. Now gentle Kuth, with friendship rare, And love that only few may share, These trusting, loving, words did say : To one with whom she wish'd to stay, And mother of her husband dead, Herself a widow 'reft of bread, Not wishing one so young and fair 440 Longer her penury to share : "Entreat me not to leave thee here, Thy poverty I will share. Whither thou goest I will go, My love for thee thus would I show. Whither thou lodgest I will dwell, And try to serve thee very well. Thy people shall my people be. 448 Thy face I always wish to see. Thy God shall be my only Gocl. 450 When thou art laid beneath the sod, At thy lowly grave I'll oft appear, When, from my eye, shall fall a tear. Then will I tell to others near. When I too die then lay me here." Now, with a woman's nature strong, For loving child did Hannah long. Into the temple then she went, And soul and body both she bent. Her lips then mov'd in silent pray'r. But God did her petition hear. A solemn promise made she there, That child, for God, she'd truly rear. No wonder God did early 3all The child. And freely told him all, That unto Eli he would do ; Because he prov'd himself untrue. Ruth was a pattern of fidelty. Ruth 1. Hannah, 1st Samuel 1. The effectual fervent prayer of the Righteous avails much. James 5, 16. 467 His sons from God their father stray. At home he taught no better way. Thus did Jehovah mean to show, That even children small may know ; God will his holy spirit give, To all that try for him to live. While men who stand in places high, Shall surely fall, if they rely Upon themselves ; for blood alone Was meant for sinners to atone. Hannah's boy to manhood grew, And prov'd a Prophet true. An honest judge was Samuel too ; 480 Who gave to ev'ry one his due. Eejecting God as earthly King, A man to rule the Hebrews bring. The words of God they would not hear : 484 For samuel plainly told them there. No earthly king has ever done As God has done. No brighter sun Can shine upon your onward way. As that which rose on that dark day, When God from Egypt led your way, 490 With light by night and cloud by day ; While food from heaven did daily fall, Enough for each, enough for all. The Hebrews Samuel would not hear, For Heav'nly King they did not care ; So God for them a king did find ; That king did on them fetters bind. When Saul became the Hebrews' king His praises then did many sing. And many said, "God save the king!" Saul chosen as the first King of the Israelites. "God save the King." 1 Sam- uel, 10. 24. Even small children may be called by God to work in his vineyard. 1st Samuel, 4. The Israelites desire an earthly King. 1 Samuel, 10. 1 Samuel, 8. 19 At first Saul ruled his kingdom well, But soon forsook his God and fell. To Witch of Endor did he go. 503 His future path he wished to know. The Prophet from the dead was rais'd, At sight of whom the witch, amaz'd, Cried out with fear, for Saul she knew, Altho' disguis'd. But not untrue To her was Israel's king, Who said, "No harm to thee I bring." 510 Samuel then told wicked Saul That on the morrow he would fall ; "In midst of battle thou shalt be. Then come to spirit land with me." The morrow came, and Saul did die, And, with his sons, unburied lie ; On Mount Gilboa did they fall. Thus, sadly, ends the life of all Who from their heav'nly Father stray, And walk in folly's downward way. So soon as God rejected Saul, A shepherd minstrel he did call r To be the Hebrews' future king, When he did Samuel bring To Jesse's house. When, one by one,, Before him pass each stalwart son. When all before him pass'd This question then was ask'd : "Have you not another boy ?" "Yes ! one that now I do employ 530 As shepherd of my sheep. His face So ruddy that you would not place Him on a kingly throne to sit ; Boys like him must be unfit If not in sense, at least in size ; For men design 'd by God to rise To kingly stations, must be wise The witch of Endor. 1 Samuel, 28. King David. 1 Samuel, 16. Another Shepherd chosen to lead God's people. 20 And stalwart men, all people know, Were meant for rulers here below." But God did choose another way 540 To lead his people on that day ; Because he was so strong and tall The people might rely on Saul. 543 They did forget that even kings Must shelter seek beneath the wings Of Him who reigns as King of Kings. Man must not measure fellow man By size, but soul. God only can The human heart both search and try ; No outward forms deceive His eye. So stripling with the ruddy face Was chosen for the kingly place. David proved a king both good and true, The best the Hebrews ever knew. A man like God in heart was he, Because from sin he was set free. Jonathan, the son of Saul, A friend to David proved. In all His dealings was he good and true, For better friend none ever knew. 560 The love they bore each other then Could only come from honest men. If Jonathan had prov'd a friend To God, and walk'd unto the end With David in the heav'nly way, He would have seen a brighter day.' At side of Saul he could not be, And to Jehovah bow the knee. In ev'ry path that David trod Bespect is shown unto his God. Although Saul sought to take his life, David would not end the strife, Man looks on the outward appearance but God looks on the heart 1 Samuel 16. 7. Jonathan. 1 Samuel, 20. How careful David was to obey God, and in every way to glorify him, 21 For God he would not disobey, But sought for strength in that dark day. "Anointed by the Lord of all, I dare not slay the wicked Saul," He said. "God plac'cl him on the throne, For reasons known to him alone. Altho' so oft he vainly sought, And armed bands he led and brought, 580 Charging them to take my life, I will not quickly end the strife." 'Twere easy once, when in a cave, Unseen by Saul. But one so brave, 584 As David would not strike his foe. Skirt, from coat he cut to let him know, His danger and to also show He spar'd his life. When from the cave, Saul came, that nearly prov'd his grave. Then, quickly, David upward rais'd 590 The skirt. When Saul, amaz'd, Listen 'd to the noble man, As thus his story he began ; "To show thy life was in my hand, And, like unto a burning brand, I pluck'd thee from consuming 1 fire. Knowing well God would require It at my hand. I did not slay Thee. But I cut thy skirt away. Lo ! here I have it my in hand, 600 I would before thee righteous stand." Saul's better manhood now, once more, 602 Above the lower rose. The poor Downtrodden David well he knew, Unlike himself did not pursue Or try to do him any harm. For David never rais'd his arm Against Jehovah's chosen King. No glory could he ever bring, Unto himself by murd'rous blow ; David's Magnanimity. 1 Samuel, 24. King Saul. 22 610 As all the great and good do know. Saul therefore unto David said, "My son for me now have no dread, Is this thy voice ?" he said and wept. "How glad I am thou has been kept, From evil, by that arm alone, That plac'd me on the kingly throne : A better nature than my own, Thou hast, to all, now plainly shown. The wilderness Saul chooses now, 620 Fire in his eye and dark his brow, Now Saul unto his men did say ; "In order now to clear my way, 623 My rival David you must slay. My kingdom shall not pass away. The power of David now, I fear, He is to God a friend sincere. Now let us strike the final blow, And ev'ry Hebrew soon shall know There is no Hebrew King but Saul ; 630 Before him ev'ry foe shall fall. No longer shall the women sing The praises of a future King. The said that "Saul did thousands slay, But tens of thousands, in that day, When Giant Goliath of Gath, • With menace bold and words of wrath, Ignobly fell by David's blow." Which does, to all, most plainly show ; Ere long he will the kingdom take, 640 And slaves, of you, he soon will make. 641 But dark and dreary is the way, Of those who from Jehovah stray. Saul fast asleep in trench did lay, At close of long and weary day. Abner also near him slept, No watch by any man was kept : All felt secure from any harm. They knew not then that Satan's charm, Saxil had slain his thousands and David his tens of thousands. 1 Samuel, 18. King Saul. 1 Samuel, 26. 23 Had made them sleep like sinner dead 650 In sin. Now David's tread, Into the camp no soldier hears ; Away from side of Saul he bears His spear. And then on neighb'ring hill Aloud to Abner call'd until Saul and Abner both awoke. David unto the latter spoke, "Art not thou a valiant man ? No braver captain ever can Be found. Then why not keep the king ? 660 Who is like thee ? why not bring 661 Him rest from all his foes, And perfect safety in repose ? Worthy now you are to die, To save your king you did not try. You slept while waiting at your post : And now I'll tell you what you lost : One came and took away his spear ; Look at me now! I have it here." Saul then the voice of David knew. 670 Again was David good and true. "Is this thy voice, my son ?" Saul cried. "It is my Lord," he then replied. Asham'd Saul then confess'd his sin. "My son, a fool I've always been, 'Gainst thee my friend, io raise my arm : No longer will I do thee harm." And always, from that sacred day, Saul travel'd in a better way. In ev'ry path that David trod, 680 Respect he show'd unto his God. And never did he raise his arm, 682 'Gainst holy men or seek to harm The wicked Saul who often tried,! With blood stain'd hands, the truth to hide, For God, he knew, did plainly say, Yengeance is mine, I will repay." Dead in trespasses and sins. Ephes. 2. 1. [Dead through your trespasses and sins.] 24 And Christ did also later say, "That ev'ry one that takes the sword," Unless compell'd, so says his word, "Shall surely perish by the sword." The fears and hopes of lands afar, Were rous'd by David's rising star. With talents great— of virtue rare. What earthly King can we compare, With David. A warrior bold 696. A Poet of the finest mould. 697 The harp he play'd, with hallow'd lays, He sung his great Creator's praise. As Vassals to his sovereign will, 700 The King of Tyre sent men of skill : With cedar trees a house to build, For David. Which soon was fill'd, With treasure from far distant lands ; That afterwards, by skillful hands, Were into sacred vessels wrought, And to God's holy temple brought. The victor's crown he often wore : He prov'd a friend to rich and poor ; For equal does he make the share, 710 Of those who take and those who care For spoil in fiercest battle won. For David was indeed a son Of God. And never once he tried The light of holy truth to hide. How strange that David e'er began To fall. How frail, at best, is man ? In sorrow, now, the truth we tell ; 718 That. even righteous David fell. Soon ruin in his house appears, 720 Another nature now he wears. The sin of murder's written now, To me belongeth vengeance and recompense. 32 Deut. 35. Vengeance is mine, I will repay it, saith the Lord. Rom. 12. 19. They that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Matt. 26. 52. King David. 1 Samuel, 30. Uriah's death. David becomes a murderer and an adulterer. 2 Samuel, 12. 25 Upon that dark benighted brow. Adultr'r now he hides his head, When Nathan to him boldly said : "Thou art the man." The lovely wife, You took. And then Uriah's life, Was taken on that dreadful day ; When valiant soldiers ran away, From field of battle. Tho' so near, 50 Was vict'ry that lingering there, Uriah lost his life. Those men Who meanly thus deserted when, Needed most by that bold man, Did as you told them. How can You now escape the wrath of God ? You must be punish'd with his rod. From poor man thou hast taken all. His wife, his life. Oh! what a fall." J9 "I have sinned against the Lord." to Did David say. Nathan said "his word, To me was, thy sin is put away. Thou shalt not die. Now to him pray, And cease to travel in that way, Where darkness shuts out light of day." The child that was to David born, By Uriah's wife, must now be torn From her embrace. That child did die. In vain for help did David cry. In ev'ry age. In ev'ry land : 50 Sin and death go hand in hand. "Thou art the man !" tho' few his words, Yet sharper than a hundred swords, These words that Nathan then did say To David. Darkness turns to day. Once more God's ra diant light, Dispels the darkness of the night. A sinner then, by light Divine, David saw himself. O Father shine Thou art the man. 2 Samuel, 12. 7. Nathan. 2 Samuel, 12. David's child dies. 2 Samuel, 12. 26 Once more into my guilty soul, 760 He cried. Come and possess me whole. At thy footstool now I pray. O turn my darkness into day. O for such sermons ! how like nails, In sure places, such truth prevails. Short may such sermons ever be, May all this application see ; And when, with thunders of the law, Watchmen to Jehovah draw, The rebellious sons of men. 770 O ! to each wand'ring sinner then May a still small voice plainly say, "Thou art the man !" to Jesus pray. With simple faith, like sacred charm, And relying on Jehovah's arm, David to the battle went ; As tho' by God his father sent. 777 The Giant Goliath of Gath Shall not obstruct the Hebrews' path. "God gave me needed strength to kill The lion and the bear. He will His servant in the battle spare. I have no need of sword or spear, With sling and stones I soon will slay, This God defying man this day." How soon that Giant headless lay, At feet of David on that day ? No wonder now the women sing, The praises of the future king. They say, "King Saul did thousands slay 790 But tens of thousands in this day, When giant Goliath of Gath, With menace bold and words of wrath, Ignobly fell by David's blow : That ev'ry Hebrew now may know, God will the vict'ry ever give 796 To men who serve him while they live." I will fasten Him as a nail in a sure place. Isaiah 22. 23. Giant Goliath of Gath. 1 Samuel, 17. David firmly trusts in God. 27 When David heard that Saul was dead, He deeply mourn'd, and thus he said, For record then he made and kept, So that, even now, we know he wept. A poem did he then compose, As reader of the bible knows. '"Ye mountains of Gilboa! to you I speak. Let there be no dew Or rain upon your crests again, For Saul the valiant man is slain. May off'rings not be found in fields. No more thy land a harvest yields. The warrior's mighty shield 810 Is vilely cast into the field. The shield of the warrior Saul, As tho' anointed with oil, 813 He ne'er had bee*n. From the blood 814 Of the slain, which ran like a flood, From the fat of the mighty man The bow of Jonathan Turn'd not back. In his warlike hand Saul's sword prevail'd in ev'ry land ; And, when return'd unto the king, 820 'Twas never empty, but did bring Ruin unto his num'rous foes. The Hebrew nation upward rose, Like a star upon the brow of night Saul did their upward pathway light. 1 Lovely and pleasant in their lives, As ev'ry one may be who strives In pathway of the just to walk, And daily with Jehovah talk ; Saul and Jonathan, e'en in death, 830 Were not divided. Resigning breath, Hand in hand they onward went To fairer land. In battle sent, Stronger than lions and swifter than 834 Eagles were Saul and Jonathan. 835 Ye Hebrew daughters fair now weep ; Death of Saul and Jonathan, and David's poem on that memorable and mourn- ful event. 2 Samuel, 1. 28 O'er Saul now vigils keep. In scarlet by him were you clad ; Your hearts so often made he glad ; Now ornaments of gold you wear 840 On clothing and in beauteous hair, For valiant Saul has plac'd them there. How are the mighty fallen now ? In midst of battle do they bow In death. Sorrow now's on ev'ry brow. Jonathan ! in high places Wast thou slain. All thy graces Do we all remember now ; In sorrow at thy grave we bow. 1 am distressed for thee, my brother ; 850 Where shall I find another Friend like thee. Thy wonderous love Is recorded by angels above. 853 How are the mighty fallen now ? In midst of battle do they bow In death. Sorrow now's on ev'ry brow, War's weapons perish now. How true that, with pure heart and clean hand* The anointed David ever stands Opposed to murder or to crime 860 In any shape, at any time. To secure e'en the highest place ; Fearing hiding of Jehovah's face ? The murderer of Saul soon found That David stood on better ground Than any sought or known by him ; For David never sought to dim The light of truth that shone through him. He would not seize the Hebrew throne And Saul the former king dethrone, 870 Or sympathise with wicked men Who murd'rous blow will deal when 872 Place or pow'r they would gain, Saul's murderer. 2 Samuel, 1. David orders him to be slain. 29 Or favorite of a king remain. The man that slew the valiant Saul Shall surely now be slain, as all Must die who kill anointed men ; Place or power they ne'er shall gain. So David's order then to slay Saul's murd'rer on the fatal day; 880 Expecting welcome news to bring, He tells his story to the king. That murd'rous man soon fell in death, Depriv'd at once of pow'r and breath. How strange that man that would not take A crown from blood-stain 'd hands, or make Excuse for crime in any form, That sought his Nation to reform By charm of weaker sex should fall 889 So low he nearly buried all 890 His former greatness. Who could light His pathway in that darkest night Of sorrow ? When first he clearly saw Himself transgressor of the law Of God. His best and truest friend : "O heavenly father now attend Unto my cry. My darken 'd soul Illume. Make me once more whole. From sin for ever set me free. The world I love and only thee. 900 The weakness of the flesh I see. Henceforth may I trust none but thee. The body of this death remove ; Make perfect now my feeble' love. On swift pinions of the dove, Let me go to the heaven above ; To the better land that I love. How much of ruin and disgrace Is brought to men in highest place ; As well as unto those in vale David's fall. 2 Samuel, 11. Oh that I had the wings of a dove for then would I flee away and be at rest. Psalm 55. 6. 30 Of poverty. Who oft bewail Their lives of sorrow and assail 912 The righteous Judge of all the earth, For pangs that first had their birth From transgression '? as in the day That Jacob's mother turned away From God. And then her darling boy She does not scruple to employ A lie to act and also tell. Had she been able to foretell The sorrow that would surely fall Upon her house and would ruin all Her plans by conduct so unfair, Her pathway would have been more clear. Her elder son deceived, soon tried To banish from his father's side, That brother, so unfair, that he, Tho' younger, would the ruler be Of elder brother. How unwise Rebecca's course ! now Jacob tries 930 To flee unto a distant clime. And meeting at a better time That brother. When, by kindness great, 933 Forgiveness came— altho' 'twas late. Never more unto her fond embrace Did Jacob come. His lovely face In after years she never saw, Because she broke God's righteous law. God promis'd in his sacred word, That younger brother would be lord > 940 Over the elder' one. How unwise Man acts when, sinfully, he tries To gain the highest place or prize, By his own unaided arm. In God's' own good time, secure from harm, Jacob, plac'd by Jehovah's hand, A ruler in his native land, Would have had a happier place. His loving mother's form and face Resbecca and her son Jacob. — Terrible results following the telling of a lie. Gen. 27. 31 He then might ever daily see, 950 While hand in hand, they bend the knee To God who makes them fully free. If breaking but one moral law 953 Does ruin and disaster draw, Bringing sorrow in its train, How can a sinner heaven gain ? How shall we wash away the stain Of sin ? By blood, and blood alone, Of heavenly lamb, can Christ atone For sin of helpless ruin'd race, Thus man may see God's smiling face. From heavmly father David turn'cl, No wonder soon he deeply mourn 'd The downward course of Absalom ; Unwisely turn 'd he also from A loving father. That, with care, His future pathway did j)repare. His pleasant face and handsome hair No more to David does appear ; A rebel now, he tries to wear 970 The kingly crown. His only care The Hebrew nation to allure. So fair in form yet so impure. 973 Deal gently with my erring son ; For my sake, let no harm be done Unto that proud, rebellious boy. Now, for my sin God does employ Such means to win me from a land Where sin and sorrow, hand in hand, Are always found, in ev'ry place, 980 And will be until the radiant face Of Zion's king in beauty we behold. In city fair, with streets of shining gold." "Deal gently with the erring child." A warrior speaks. But oh how mild Fall of Absalom. 2 Samuel, 17. As David turned from his heavenly, so Absalom turned from his earthly father. Deal gently with the erring child. 2 Samuel, 18. 32 His words. How like our heav'nly King, Who would to us salvation bring ! Tho' man may much of sorrow know, Yet never harder is the blow Than is the power God gives to bear 990 The pain. For God is always near, And ev'ry man from sin set free, That to Jehovah bends the knee, 993 When earth's illusions fade and fly, While hope illumes the languid eye, May to that promise ever flee : "That as thy day thy strength shall be." How sadly ends the life of all, That will not hear Jehovah's call. Absalom— so exceeding fair, 1000 That soon the Hebrew crown might wear, Now, sunk in death, doth helpless lie, And deeply does his father sigh. David from Jerusalem fled. To shore of Jordan was he led. His people gather 'd round him there, When David bow'd his head in prayer, O when the heart is full of woe, When thoughts that only parents know, Come crowding quickly up for speech, 1010 And kindly words our ears do reach, 1011 The heart may pour itself in pray'r, And feel that God is ever near. He pray'd for Israel in tones Both strong and fervent. He pray'd for those. Whose love had always been his shield, And help'd him on the battle field. But oh ! for Absalom he pray'd : O Father now thy servant aid ! For that bright being who did try, 1020 My love to spurn and then defy ; The heart that cherish'd him I pray As thy day thy strength shall be. Deuteronomy 33. Death of Absalom. 2 Samuel, 18. David's prayer. 2 Samuel, 18. 33 O take his dark sin far away ! May God have call'd thee Absalom, Like a wand'rer home and from Sin for ever set you free. Altho' you turn'd away from me. When Shimei curs'd the Hebrew King, No harm to him did David bring, Because full well that monarch knew 1030 To Heav'nly King he prov'd untrue, 1031 But now to pass from earthly view Is David's turn. Soon vacant too His seat. His dying charge he gives. In son of wisdom rare he lives. "God, our heav'nly father, know 'Twere vain at other shrine to bow. Love and serve him with a perfect heart And willing mind. And ne'er depart, From wisdom's high and holy way, 1040 And God will brighten all your day." "In seeking you will find him near ; He will thy onward path prepare, Make smooth life's rugged way, And lead thee to the realms of day ; If you forsake that heav'nly friend, Your life in sorrow then will end." With wisdom great and virtue rare. The future king doth now appear ; And Solomon rul'd Judea well. 1050 But, sad to say, at last he fell. He fell, as wicked men must fall, 1052 And in hopeless ruin bury all Their better manhood. Truly pure Women may wicked men allure, To paths of virtue and of peace, Where purest pleasures never cease. So surely when they sadly fall, They carry downward with them all That travel in their hellish way, David's dying charge to Solomon. 1 Kings, 21. Solomon. 1 Kings, 2. u And turn man's fair and pleasant day To blackest night. In ev'ry case, % Eecorded in God's word, disgrace Has fallen on the men allied To women strange ; 'twere vain to hide, The truth that men are temples fair, Design 'd by God their spires to rear To highest heaven. If men defile Those temples, ne'er can they beguile The Lord of all. He will destroy Such men that Godlike pow'rs employ, To sink in darkest deepest night, Their better manhood and to blight And blast with darkness ev'ry brilliant ray, 1074 That shines on manhood's middle day. In fallen woman's downward way, This wisest man, at last, did stray. On self alone he did depend, In sorrow then his days did end. Solomon did God's Temple build, And workmen that in art were skill'd The holy vessels made and brought Unto that temple. For God had taught Them by his spirit how to make Those vessels. They did patterns take, Prom Jehovah's sacred word ; And thus did they obey the Lord. David could no holy temple build, Altho' his heart with love was fill'd His prayer, "on earth thy will be done, From rising unto setting sun," But God will never warriors take, To build a house for him or make Successful any warlike plan, 1094 To send his truth to fallen man. Strange women ye are [a] the temple of God. If any man defiles that temple him shall God destroy. 1 Cor. 3. 16. 17. [If any man destroyeth the temple of God.] Building of the Temple. 1 Kings, 6. From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the Lord's name is to be praised. Psalm 113. 3. 35 "With wounds and garments rolFd in blood, With tears of widows like a flood, With orphan's sad and wailing cry, With groans from those who helpless lie God never will his temples build ; With praises shall his house be fill'd, There prayers and praises never cease ; For there man finds the "Prince of Peace." 'Midst storm on sea of Galilee, When fires of heav'n flash'd wrathfully, A light frail bark was fiercely toss'd ; And sails were torn and oars were lost. That bark from surge to dark surge leaping; Yet Jesus still lay sleeping. When o'er that bark the wild waves roar'd, 1110 The Hebrews tried to rouse their Lord, While blasts went howling round her, They cried, "Lord save us- or we founder!" He said, "Ye waters! peace be still!" The sea is calm — the waves are still. The doubters then were seiz'd with dread. And thus they all then quickly said, "Truly this is Judah's Lord ; We now believe his sacred word, For pow'rs Divine array him, 1120 He speaks ! and winds and waves obey him !" Judah's Lord yet speaks to ev'ry heart, In ev'ry pain he bears a part, To fightings without and fears within ; 3124 To those who leave the path of sin, 1125 But find the flesh rebellious still, Against Jehovah's sovereign will ; He sweetly says, "Peace! be still!" Every battle of the warrior is with a confused noise and garments rolled in blood. Isaiah 9. 5. Praise God in his Sanctuary. Psalm 150. 1, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9. 6. Storm on Sea of Galilee. Matt. 8. Peace be still. Mark 4. 39. __ 36 In seeking truly to decide, Who was the mother of a child. Bare wisdom Solomon display 'd, And fully prov'd that he was made For ruling well his fellow men. How soon he show'd the mother then ? "Divide the child in two," he said, When, by her higher nature led, The child's own mother stood reveal'd ; No longer could she be conceal'd. "Give her the living child," she cried. The other, woman then replied : 1140 "Yes, or else divide the child in twain, Because I will my child regain, If not in whole, at least in part." She truly showed no mother's heart. "Stay! Now give the living child Unto that woman now so mild ; 1146 She could not see her infant die. Now on this truth you may rely : She is the mother of that child." So spake the king so wise and mild. Now, from a far distant land, With but a small and feeble band, For twinkling of this brightest star The Queen of Sheba saw in far Off land. She comes unto the light, From shades of darkest heathen night, The shrewdness of this wisest man She tries. 'Twas thus that she began, With hardest questions did she try The king. She found she could rely, 1160 On ev'ry thing he then did say. He answer'd her in such a way, That all her darkness turn'dto day. In all the history of the earth, Even from our first parents' birth „ Solomon's judgment. 1 Kings, 3. The Queen of Sheba. 1 Kings, 10. Rumours less than the reality. 1 Kings, 10. 37 Eumours realities surpass'd. 1166 Now a change occurs at last. For once, less than the truth is told. How often men do unfold, Much more than can be said is true ; 1170 E'en from the highest point of view. The Queen returns unto her land, Her mind now brought to understand The truths she came so far to find ; The King had brightened all her mind. With judgment so exceeding rare, With Solomon who can we compare ? A statesman with a mind so clear That men from other lands both near And far, oft prov'd his judgment true ; 1180 And all surrounding nations knew On earth there was no brighter mind : For none possess'd such power to find The truth, tho' buried deep by those Who fear'd their actions to expose. Kenown'd in ev'ry age and clime, 1186 Not for a day but for all time, The sacred proverbs that he wrote Now writers in all climates quote. His songs are read in ev'ry land ; 1190 His wisdom's prais'd on ev'ry hand. Even on Afric's burning sands The wild wandering Arab bands Speak of the temple that he built, Freely confessing all their guilt ; And daily now they bend the knee, And seek for pardon full and free From Solomon's God that they adore, And try to love him more and more. King Solomon preaches now ; 1200 His words all men should truly know* His sermon in a book he writes— Solomon's Proverbs and Songs. 38 ' From all attention he invites. It is a sermon from his life, Kecording much of heartfelt strife, And speaks of empty pride in shapes That renders many lives mistakes. 1207 "Vanity" is the preacher's theme, And splendid illustrations teem Throughout all of his discourse, Showing constant intercourse With memory of the past. As long as heav'n and earth shall last This sermon will be read by all Who on Jehovah daily call. This preacher now appears to stand In his house, and tell to ev'ry land The wond'rous story of his time, When, in manhood's early prime, He sought the pleasures of his time, 1220 But found out soon there is no clime Where "Vanity" on pleasure fair Is not surely written there. Now the preacher riches seek and find, But soon he also is inclin'd To "Vanity" on them write. They do not make man's pathway bright, But often shut out heav'nly light. 1228 At best they are but golden toys, "Shall man, so near to heav'n's joys, 1230 Spend all of manhood's middle day In seeking what must fly away, At last upon his dying day?" On wordly wisdom he also writes, "Vanity of Vanities." Of making books there is no end, Studies in weariness end. The conclusion of the whole Vanity of vanities, Ecclesiastes 12. The book of Ecclesiastes appears to be a drama and in it Solomon tells the story of his life. 39 Should, by ev'ry human soul, Be noted down for coming time. 1240 That, in ev'ry age and clime, God should we always love and fear, And keep our pathway always clear. His commandments should we keep, And daily blessings we shall reap ; And in these words, so very few, He tells the work we have to do. The grass was parch 'd— the earth was dry, 1248 And, wither'd 'neath a cloudless sky, The harvest, like a ruined heap, 1250 Laid bare ; there was no grain to reap. Like autumn weeping at the sere Her parting kiss left on the dying ye'ar. Before the king the man of God Appear'd like Moses with his rod. In grandeur then he stood, alone, And Ahab trembled on his throne. "Full many a year, thou guilty king! Shall famine's haggard plumeless wing Terrors round thee spread," the Prophet said ; 1260 "No rain shall fall ; and many dead. The living vainly cry for bread. People and kingdom — both shall pass As, 'neath the summer's sun, the wither'd grass!' 5 Trembled then Ahab when he heard God's message, and saw the vial pour'd 1266 That doomed the guilty king to die ; As God had spoken from on high, He would have knelt, besought and pray'd, For all his sins made him afraid ; 1270 He felt 'twas but a kingly shade Sate on the throne of Israel. His quiv'ring hands alas! they fell ; Thick drops beaded his writhen brow. "O ! King, where are thy throne and sceptre now ?' Elijah. 1 Kings, 17. 40 So soon as the Prophet told Ahab all That would his kingdom soon befall, A voice he heard from heaven high : "Thou shalt not from the famine die ; Get thee down to Cherith's brook that lies 1280 Close by Jordan's stream. I'll send supplies Of food by ravens from the skies. Saved I thee not from Ahab's wrath ? [path." He might have swept thee, worm like, from his 1284 Obedient to his father then, He went to Cherith's lonely glen. With pilgrim's staff he slowly trod To resting place assign 'd by God. And lo ! the ravens, morn and night, Like mother birds in anxious flight, 1290 Bend thitherward unwearied wing, As to their nestlings food they bring. 'Twas banquet by Jehovah spread— The second manna on the desert shed. And now the sky, like furnace, glow'd For scarce a rack of pilgrim cloud Shadow'd the sun that bu'rn'd like flame. The earth all dry and parch'd became, The sicken 'cl flowers droop'd and died, And Cherith from her silver tide 1300 Now parted. For the brook was dried. The corn wither'd ere it sprang. No more Cherith's murm'ring music rang. The man of God had spoken true Earth's milkless bosom cried for rain and dew. 1305 And yet he fear'd not ; no ! tho' death Swift wing'd upon each scorching breath Of flame should sweep him from the earth, Because his faith had heavenly birth. The ravens take their farewell flight. 1310 No drops of rain now cheer his sight ; The water seems by famine curs't ; The old man cannot quench his thirst. Elijah fed by ravens, 1 Kings, 17. No rain. 41 Yet even now the servant of the Lord Need never fear 'mid famine, flame, or sword. And now life's gloomy cloud — the last, Appears to darken and o'ercast His onward way. No food at last ! "Surely death's bitterness is past!" Might, with the King, Elijah say : Now, Father, unto thee I pray. And even then, tho' all alone, From lips so pale escapes no groan ; Tho' all is dark and desolate and drear, Those sunken eyes nor dropp'd a tear. A smile plays round the lips — the eye As tho' the old man felt 'twas sweet to die. Cheer thee, thou man of God ! Not yet Thy sun so soon is doom'd to set ; Death spreads not now his dreamless bed Behind yon mountains of the dead. Oh, no ! A glorious mission's thine — A mission seemingly divine, To feed the hungry — dead t® raise, As Jesus did in after days. So cheer thee, man of God ! oh, cheer ! For lo ! thy master's voice fall on thine ear ! Arise thou man of God ! it said ; No more thy morn and evening bread Shall ravens fetch thee from the skies. Go ! get thee to Sarepta — rise ! Fear not, old man ! The father hand That sav'd when famine wasted all the land, And gave thee food and drink from high, Will not abandon thee to die ; Sarepta's widow, poor and lone, From her scant stock will render God his own. Before Sarepta's ruin'd gate A widow lone, disconsolate, Surely the bitterness of death is past. 1 Samuel, 15. 32. Elijah's mission like Jesus's. The widow of Sarepta. 1 Kings 17. 42 A few dry sticks did try to glean 1350 From land where famine then had been. Her last meal she would then prepare, For death appeared then very near. There as she bent her feeble frame, A stranger, in Jehovah's name, A cup of water sought, Which soon to him she brought. But, as she turned to seek the spring, He begg'd that she would also bring A morsel of her bread ; 1360 When forth his hands he spread. The mourner heav'd a deep-drawn sigh, 1362 "As lives thy God, no food have I To feed me or my child," She cried in accents wild. "Of meal remains one handful bare, With cruse of oil this scanty fare To dress. I now so sadly try, And then myself and child will die." "Fear not,", the man of God then said ; 1370 "Nor doubt Jehovah's aid ; A little cake first make for me : God's helping hand you soon shall see." "For thus declares the Lord most high : 'Nor meal shall waste nor cruse be dry Till rain on earth descend, Because the famine soon shall end. : 5 iy At the widow's house Elijah stay'd, And God supplied his daily bread ; The woman and her child were fed 1380 As God had by the Prophet said ; The widow saw God's helping hand, Tho' famine wasted all the land. A glory gilds the sacred page ; It gives a light to ev'ry age. 43 It says, none are from trouble free, Until the pearly gates they see. Another trial now appears : Again the widow 's found in tears. No famine now. Her child is dead. Unto the Prophet then she said : "Why did you slay my only child, Thou man of God ?" in accents wild She cried ; "what evil have I done That thou shouldst slay my only son ?" Elijah to the woman said, "Our God who gave us daily bread, E'dn tho' thy child lies cold and dead, 1398 Will send down blessings on thy head. 1399 Now give thy only son to me — 1400 God's helping hand you soon shall see." Now unto his place of fervent pray'r Elijah takes the child — and there He plac'd him on his humble bed, And thus unto Jehovah, said : "O must this woman ever mourn? Her son from her embrace is torn ; O ! let his soul come back again ; This mother would her son regain." This pray'r was heard in heav'n high. 1410 Jehovah sent a quick reply. Again the widow's son revives — Her darling son now once more lives. By Jehovah was the widow led, When but a morsel of her bread Unto the man of God she gave. That man did from the famine save Herself and son. No want of bread They felt. Blessings on their head 1419 They ev'ry day thro' him received. To God they pray'd— for God they liv'd, And death itself did not destroy The widow's son dies. 1 Kings, 17. Elijah prays to God and raises the widow's son to life. 1 Kings, 17. 44 Their perfect peace and holy joy. From death Elijah rais'd her boy. God's power all men should truly know; 'Twere vain at other shrines to bow. Now shall all heathen nations know Elijah's God on earth below, As well as in the heavens high, Will hear his servants when they cry. 1430 Elijah soon will also show, That Baal has no power now. Now whoever sends the fire down ; As Lord of all we'll quickly crown. Two bullocks were to slaughter led, To Baal's Prophets Elijah said. "Let one be offer'd to your God, Prepare an altar and some wood. The beast upon the latter lay, No fire use, but to Baal pray." 1440 The other beast Elijah takes, And, on an altar that he makes, The bullock's laid and water thrown Twelve barrels full, so as to drown The altar. The trench also He fiird. So that all might know Jehovah's pow'r and to him bow. At noon Elijah mocks the men Who call on Baal. "Speak again ! Speak loud ! He does to some one talk. 1450 Perhaps he's gone to take a walk ; Perhaps he does a journey take. Speak loud ! He sleeps — you must awake Him. For he is a God of pow'r — He'll send the fire in this very hour." But no fire comes from Baal now ; All the false Prophets vainly bow. He's but an Idol all may plainly see, That to Jehovah bend the knee. Baal is but an idol. 1 Kings, 13. Elijah mocks Baal. 1 Kings, 13. 45 Now, unto God Elijah prays, 1460 "May it now be known and always, That Thou art God, and that beside Thee no Idol may abide. Hear me, O Lord, and send the fire now : Those that reject thee overthrow." Then fire from heaven did fall ; The sacrifice was burn'd, and all The water into steam was turn'd, And then tlie people Baal spurn'd. On their faces did they quickly fall 1470 And call'd Jehovah "Lord of All." "The false Prophets now shall die," Elijah said ; "let no one try To save such base deceiving men. They never shall on earth again Deceive the people in the way That they have basely done to-day. " And soon Elijah slew them all. On Baal did they vainly call. 1479 Elijah offers prayer again ; 'Tis answer'd soon by welcome rain. Servants of God will surely find That wicked men are always blind,. And seek for light of heav'nly day, And sight to plainer make their way,. Or try their teachers soon to slay. Now, in a dark and dang'rous way The wicked Jezebel does stray. She tries Elijah now to slay, Because he walk'd in wisdom's way.. Unto the wilderness he fled, Where an angel unto him said,. Elijah prays and fire comes down from heaven. 1 Kings 18., Elijah slays the false Prophets. 1 Kings, 18. Elijah fed by an angel. 1 Kings, 19. Wicked people -will either hate their sins, or hate the preacher who tells them> of their sins. 46 When from sound sleep he did awake : "Arise'and eat ! Here is some cake And water now your thirst to quench, Because you'll soon be trav'ling hence." The food he ate, then down he lay ; The angel then to him did say : "Again arise, and once more eat : Your journey now is very great." The food again Elijah ate, And soon the angel ceased to wait. No hunger now Elijah knows, For forty days he onward goes. Unto Horeb then he went ; Not by Jehovah was he sent. At Horeb in a cave he stay'd. The Word of the Lord unto him said : "Elijah ! What doest thou here ? 'Tis only God you need to fear." "I have been jealous for my God ; Thy laws the people broke ; thy rod They oft despis'd ; thy holy word None care to read. Now, by the sword Jezebel would thy servant slay. She travels in the downward way. The Hebrews throw thine altars down ; Thy cov'nant they forsake, and frown 1518 On all thou told men in thy word. They've slain thy Prophets with the sword. I only have they left, alive — And now to take my life they strive." "Upon the mount before the Lord Now stand," then said the Lord's word. The Lord of heaven then passed by, Tho' then he was not very nigh. Strong winds now the mountains rend ; Elijah went to Horeb. 1 Kings, 19. What doest thou here, Elijah ? 1 Kings, 19. God speaks (not in the earthquake or the storm) but in a still small voice to Elijah. 1 Kings, 19. 47 Eocks are broken and trees now bend. But the Lord was not in the wind ; Not there Elijah God did find. 1530 An earthquake then was plainly felt ; Not then in that Jehovah dwelt. A fire now appears to burn, But not in that did God return. Then a still small voice was heard, The Prophet's inmost soul it stirr'd. In his mantle now he wraps his face. His steps to the cave he does retrace. A voice then came to him and said, "Elijah ! why art thou hither led ?" "I have been jealous for my God. Thy laws the people broke ; thy rod They oft despis'd ; thy holy word None care to read. Now, by the sword Jezebel would thy servant slay. She travels in the downward way. The Hebrews throw thine altars down ; Thy cov'nant forsake, and frown On all thou told men in thy word ; They've slain thy Prophets with the sword. 1550 I, only, have they left alive, And now to take my life they strive." To the Prophet then the Lord did say„ "Return now by the desert way, To the Wilderness of Damascus go. There shalt thou let Hazael know. Because thou shalt anoint him there ; 1557 The Syrian crown he soon shall wear. Jehu also anoint as king Over Israel. Honor bring Also unto Elisha's name, For great shall be his future fame. This voice must have been a person because it came to Elijah. 1 Kings, 19. Anoint Hazael king of Syria and Jehu king of Israel. 1 Kings, 19. Both of these were wicked men but they were no doubt better than many of the men of their time. 48 Anoint him Prophet in thy stead ; By me shall he be henceforth led. Yet seven thousand have I left ; Of followers I am not bereft. Their knees do not to Baal bow, None of their mouths do kiss him now. " Ahaziah while lying sick sends To his God. He daily bends To Baalzebub his knees : "O Baal, now wilt thou please To let me know if I shall die ? Now hear thy servant's humble cry." To the king Elijah wish'd to show His sin. "Why unto Baal bow ? 1576 Say to thy master, Why dost thou go Unto an Idol truth to know ? Is there no God in Isr'el now ? Why not to Jehovah bow ? 1580 The God who answer'd pray'r by fire Alone can tell what you desire. He told me thou shalt surely die, Because thou didst to Baal cry." This message did Elijah send Unto the king, when near his end. The king then to Elijah sent Some men of war, who quickly went. "Thou man of God," the captain said, "The king would now by thee be led. 1590 He says : Now come nown from the hill ; Myself and fifty wish no ill On thee and also on our king. He said : Go, now, Elijah bring ; I will consult the Prophet now, Altho' to Baal I do bow." "If I be a man of God, then, 1597 Let fire from the heav'ns fall when Thou and thy fifty shalt be burn'd, Because thou hast to Baal turn'd." 49 The fire then the soldiers slew ; Too late God's pow'r then they knew. Another captain then did say, "Thou man of God, now come away; Myself and fifty wish no ill On thee. Now come down from the hill. We've orders from the Hebrew king. He said : Go now, Elijah bring ; I will consult the Prophet now, Altho' to Baal I do bow," >10 "If I be a man of God, let Fire fall upon thy band ; e'en yet Thou hast not from thy Idol turn'd, Altho' thou hast been fully warn'd." The fire then the soldiers slew — Too late God's power then they knew. The third captain with his men bow Down unto Elisha now. "O man of God, our lives now spare, The Lord of all we now do fear. ' ' 320 God's angel then did quickly say : "Go with the Captain on his way- God will be thy staff and stay." Then went Elijah to the King, From God this message did he bring : "God told me thou shalt surely die, Because thou dost to Baal cry : Is there no God in Isr'el now, That to an Idol thou dost bow ; The God who answer'd prayer by fire 530 Alone can tell what you desire." As had been by the Prophet said, In death the King soon bow'd his head. Elijah brings fire down from heaven. 2 Kings, 1. 50 1633 Elijah's work Is nearly done, And soon shall set his earthly sun. The sons of Prophets now do say Unto Elisha, "On this day God will take from thee away Thy loving master from thy head ; Above the skies shall he be led." "Stay here ! To Bethel am I sent," Said Elijah, as he forward went. Elisha would not leave him then ; With him he went from Gilgal, when At Bethel. To Jericho they go. To Jordan Elisha also Goes, and with his mantle parts The waters. Still, onward starts The twain. On dry ground now they go- The pow'r of truth all men shall know. 1650 Elisha now these words did say : "Now brighter make my future way ; Of thy spirit to me give A double portion. May I live 1654 A follower of my God like thee> For soon from earth thou shaltbefree.'* Elijah then to him did say : "A hard thing hast thou ask'd to-day ;, But when from earth I pass away, If you see me, as now you pray, 1660 It will be henceforth unto you, If you remain both good and true." Then, as the Prophet onward went, A chariot of fire was sent, Into which Elijah went ; Horses, also of fire, then quickly drew Elijah from Elisha's view. To heaven now Elijah goes, No death his body ever knows ; Elijah parts Jordan's waters with his mantle. 2 Kings,2, Elijah goes to heaven in a chariot cf fire. 2 Kings, 2. 51 His mantle on the earth then fell, 1670 Which suited then Elisha well. With Elijah's mantle now he parts 1672 Jordan's waters, and onward starts^ At Jericho he now arrives— For God he walks, for God he lives. Its waters now are made to heal, And barren land is made to yield A harvest to the men of pray'r : Elisha showed them plainly there God's helping hand is ever near. The Prophet next to Bethel went ; While on his way, on mischief bent, Children mock in his way. Thus to Elisha did they say : "Go up, bald head! go up, bald head!" But soon those children from him fled. In God's name he curs'd them all, When many torn by bears did fall. Three Kings now vainly water seek ; Now do they with Elisha speak. Because one fears the Lord of all, 'Tis not in vain on Him they call. 1692 "Now bring a minstrel unto me," Elisha said ; "I'll plainly see, So soon as he begins to play, A light upon your future way." The minstrel plays — the light is seen. "I'll plainly tell you what I mean," Said the Prophet unto the Kings. God's servant now this message brings : "Now ditches make within this vale, The water here will soon prevail. No wind you'll feel, no rain you'll see, But from this drouth you shall be free ; Children torn by bears for mocking Elisha. 2 Kings, 2. Three kings seek water. 2 Kings, 3. God often helps man by invisible means. 52 By your hand the Moabites shall fall— Elisha's God is Lord of all." The morrow comes— the water fills The plain near Edom to the hills. This water now like blood appears, Because a reddish hue it wears. 1710 The sunlight made it look so red Moab's King said, "Our foes are dead, For blood appear's on ev'ry side — Victory does with us abide." His men for spoil do now prepare, But find their foes by far too near. Prepar'd for spoil, but not for flight,. Their sun soon sets in endless night. A widow seeks Elisha now : "O! shall my son in bondage bow ? My husband on the Lord did call ; Now at his feet I humbly fall. Because I owe and cannot pay, One came to take my sons away." "What hast thou in thy house ?" then said Elisha. "The Lord who gives you bread Will help you in this very hour, In a way you'll soon discover." 1728 "A pot of oil is all I have ; I've vainly tried some more to save." 1730 "Now borrow vessels not a few, For help shall quickly come to you. Next shut thyself and children in Thy house. Jehovah cannot sin. Thy heavy debt thou soon shalt pay ? As God to me did plainly say. Next oil into the vessels pour ; When one is full then pour in more In all the vessels in thy home — When that is done then to me come. A widow in trouble seeks Elisha. 2 Kings, 4. 53 1740 The widow quickly did obey All that Elisha then did say. With oil she did each vessel fill. The oil ne'er ceased to flow until Her last vessel she did fill. To Elisha she did quickly go, Her future course to fully know. He said, "Now sell the oil, and pay Your cruel creditor to-day." 1749 As Elisha travel'd on his way, A woman said to him, one day : "Come to my house and eat some bread." At other times she also fed And lodg'd Elisha at her home ; And there the Prophet oft did come. She has no child, her husband's old. Elisha did to her unfold The truth. "Thou shalt a son embrace." In course of time a son did grace Her fair and pleasant earthly home, Where Elisha did not cease to come. "My head !" the child at one time cried, And, on his mother's knee, he died. Upon the Prophet's bed she laid Her child, and to Mount Carmel sped. Unto Elisha did she say, "Did I a son of thee pray ? 1767 Thou knowest I had not such desire ; Bather did I not require Thee not to deceive me on that day ; 1770 When thou didst to me plainly say, "I would a loving son embrace." "That son in death now hides his face." Elisha to Gehazi said, "Take my staff, and, by this woman led, The house blessed that entertained Elisha. 2 Kings, 4. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. 13 Hebrews, 2. The woman's son dies, some commentators think, of sunstroke. 2 Kings, i. 54 Go quickly with her on her way. My staff on her dead child lay ; Salute none on your weary way ; To those that speak do nothing say." The woman said, "Thyself must go, I surely will not leave thee now." Elisha with the woman went : Gehazi had been forward sent. The staff upon the child he laid ; No sound by any voiae was made. No sounds were heard. The child was dead. Then unto God the Prophet pray'd. Soon from the dead the child arose. 1788 The woman also then arose, And to her husband took that son, 1790 "See," she said, "what God for us has done." One hundred men Elisha fed, With twenty loaves of barley bread. Full ears of corn he also gave These hungry men to quickly save. Enough they had, and some to spare — Thus did the Lord of all declare. A captain of the Syrian King Who did, thro' God, deliv'rance bring Unto 'the people ollhaMand ; "So brave in war few could withstand The soldiers that he onward led. Before them many warriors fled. . A leper was this man of war. A captive girl, from lands afar — A servant unto Naaman's wife— Her master soon to cure did strive. Of Elisha she did say, "He can heal on any day." Servants be obedient in singleness of your heart. Ephes. 6, 5. Elisha raises a dead child to life. 2 Kings, 4. If Gehazi had succeeded in raising the child to life, he might have claimed a reward secretly, as in the case of Naaman. A captive girl tells Naaman's wife about Elisha's medical skill. 2 Kings, 5. 55 To Elisha Naaman goes. His future course he straightway knows. "Go ! Wash thyself in Jordan's stream Seven times, and thy flesh will seem Like a child's, both pure and clean." Enrag'd, Naaman went away. "Lepers cannot be cured that way. I thought he'd surely call upon his God. His hand o'er the place strike, as with a rod. Abana and Pharpar better far, As rivers than muddy Jordan are. 1820 May I not wash in them and be clean ? Truly, what can the Prophet mean ?" His servants then to him did say : "Because he chose a simple way, You think you'll not be heal'd to-day, Something great you now would do, 1826 If such request were made to you. How easy ! Wash and then be clean ! By this the Prophet seems to mean He'll cure you in this very simple way, 1830 As well as if he made a great display." In Jordan's stream then Naaman went, As by God's Prophet he was sent. Seven dips in this water did he try, Then found the help for which he oft did sigh. Naaman is a new man now ; To Jehovah does he daily bow. Both soul and body now God quickly cures. Naaman said— "Long as life endures I'll daily serve the Lord of all ; 1840 'Twere vain on other God to call." The Prophet now he tries to pay Eor curing him in such a way. As seven is a perfect number, to wash seven times is to thoroughly try the remedy. Naaman did not like God's plan of saving him, because he had his own plan. Naaman cured of his leprosy. 2 Kings, 5. 56 Both soul and body were renew'd, 1844 With holy thoughts his mind imbued. Elisha would no pay receive. To Naaman did he freely give, For, from God, he freely did receive. Even the ground is holy now. Naaman wishes now to bow On Israel's sacred ground, For there he health and pardon found ; Unto his own land he would take Some earth, an altar there to make. Elisha's servant sought for pay, And followed Naaman on his way. He tries his master to deceive. "Is this a time now to receive Gifts for work that God has done? Why did you after Naaman run ?" Gehazi said, "I did not go ; I would a better feeling show." "My heart did also go with thee," Elisha said ; "did I not see 1864 Thee take pay from Naaman. Thou art a very wicked man. His leprosy to thee shall cleave ; Thee, or thy seed, 'twill never leave." Gehazi leaves Elisha now— He is a leper white as snow. Young Prophets' houses are too small ; There is not room enough for all. They therefore seek a larger home, And now to Jordan do they come, An axe then in the water falls, The loser on Elisha calls. No one can pay God for healing men's souls and bodies. Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gilt of Qoi may be purchased with money. Acts, 8, 20. The acts not the resolutions of the Apostles. Gehazi smitten with leprosy. 2 Kings, 5. An axe floats on the water. 2 Kings, 6. 57 "'Twas borrowed ! What shall I do ?" "Fear not, I'll give it back to you. "Where did it fall ?" The place he shows. The iron above the water rose So soon as a stick Elisha cast Into the place where the Prophet last Saw the tool most needed there A larger house then to prepare. Elisha seeks his King to save When often near an early grave. The Syrian King, tho' very wise, Israel's King could not surprise. Elisha told him where to flee ; That path his King did plainly see. Syria's King then tried to take God's Prophet and to quickly make An end of him and of his King : But God did then deliv'rance bring. Tho' hosts Elisha then oppos'd, New friends on ev'ry side arose. Those that will help Elisha now Are more num'rous than those who bow To Idols, and would harm him now, Elisha's servant greatly fears, For warlike men he sees and hears. Now unto God Elisha prays : "Thou, O God, hearest me always! Lord! Open now now my servant's eyes — Say to him now, Awake! arise!" The Prophet's servant horses saw ; Chariots did they quickly draw. All of them were of fire made, Warlike natures all of them display'd. God wished to pnable this borrower to return the axe to its proper owner— therefore this miracle. So he helps all men to try to pay their debts. My God shall supply all your need. Phil. 4, 19. Wicked men think that they know more than God. Elisha's servant's eyes opened so he sees the invisible friends of his master 2 Kings, 6. 58 : Elisha prays unto the Lord : "O Lord 1—according to thy word I've done. O ! help thy servant now. Before thee do I humbly bow. With blindness smite these warlike men/*' A quick reply is sent, when Instantly blind become his foes. They follow as he onward goes, Until Samaria they reach. When Elisha did beseech The Lord to open then their eyes. Their former blindness they despise. 1921 So soon as they did once more see, Elisha fed and set them free. Elisha fades from earthly view : His seat, at last, is vacant too. So all the good and great must die — In vain for them we weep and sigh. A dead man in his grave is thrown, When new life in the corpse is shown. Again he stands upon his feet, Once more he does his comrades greet. Of Ahab's wicked life we tell. Thro' Jezebel he sadly fell. Elijah told him that no rain For years would bless his land again. According to the Prophet's word, As, to Elijah, spake the Lord, He fell, as all must sadly fall 1938 Who on false Gods do daily call. Led by his wife, he downward goes. 1940 And never after upward rose. In ev'ry age, in ev'ry land. No man was strong enough to stand, Elisha's foes smitten with blindness. 2 Kings, 6. Elisha dies. 2 Kings, 13. A dead man stands on his feet as soon as his body touches Elisha's bones, 2 Kings, 13. King Ahab. 1 Kings, 16, 17. 59 While trav'ling in the fallen way, Of wicked women led astray, By folly and alluring sin — Never can they victory win. Before Elijah pray'd for fire, Which fell from heav'n at his desire, He met King Ahab in his way ; And thus to him the King did say : ; 'Art thou he that Israel troubles ? The sorrows of each man doubles ?" Elijah did to Ahab say : "Thyself hast troubl'd in that way. How plain your faults you see in me, 1956 Altho' from such faults am I free ; The Lord of all thou dost forsake, And to thy bosom Baal take." The victor's crown King Ahab wears ; 1960 Erom Syrian eyes fall many tears. Yictory now King Ahab knows. God fights against his num'rous foes. Tho' daily at an Idol's shrine He prays as to the God divine. The Lord did not King Ahab love, Tho' vict'ry gave he from above. His glory he will never give To other Gods. And none shall live, His glorious crown to win or wear ; 1970 This truth he plainly does declare. Vict'ry o'er the Syrian King He gives, for he would honor bring, Unto his great and glorious name. None shall succeed who God defame. As God of hills and not of plains, 1976 The Lord of all appears in chains, To Syria's unholy King. No wonder he did vict'ry bring, Art thou lie that troubleth Israel ? How easy it is to see your own faults in other people! 1 Kings, 18. 60 Unto his people, altho' led By Ahab. As the Prophet said. Naboth's vineyard Ahab wish'd to take, A garden did he wish to make. Naboth did not wish to change or sell His field. He then did love full well. That field his fathers to him gave, Thus did he also wish to save It for his children. When the grave Should hide him from their earthly view ; He spoke the truth king Ahab knew. 1990 Unhappy feels the wicked king, "What shall I do a change to bring ?" In pain he lies upon his bed, And now he will not eat his bread. 1994 Jezebel came unto the king. "Soon will I to you comfort bring. The vineyard I will to you give, Thou art a king— and, as I live, That neighb'ring field shall soon be thine. Now eat some bread ; the task be mine, 2000 That field, in any wicked way, From Naboth now to get away." Unto the nobles now she writes, The elders, also, she invites Not scrupling then to, basely, sign King Ahab's name. In ev'ry line She prov'd herself unfit to live. She wrote, "honor unto Naboth give: Proclaim a fast. Set him on high. Let some of you against him lie. 2010 Say God and the King he did blaspheme. Your course then very just will seem. Seize him and stone him'till he dies I'll pay you if you tell such lies." >> Syrians say that the Gods of the Israelites are Gods of the hills and not of the plains. 1 Kings, '20. Ahab wishes to buy Naboth's vineyard. 1 Kings, 21. Jezebel. 1 Kings, 21. 61 !014 'Twas clone as Jezebel had said, Kighteous Naboth laid cold and dead And Ahab took his field away. Elijah told him on that day, "God said his blood would soon be shed, Because he was willing to be led. 020 By one that he knew full well, Was going downard unto hell. The dogs shall lick thy blood, ere long, Tho' now you seem so very strong." "Hast thou found me O ! my enemy V 9 Ahab to him said, "Verily I have found thee," the Prophet said "Thou hast sold thyself; thy hands are red, With Naboth's blood that thou hast kill'd. Soon will thy blood also be spilPd. And Jezebel the dogs shall eat ; In Jezreel they'll enjoy their feast, None shall say, -This is Jezebel.' " 1033 Thyself and wife have sadly fell. False Prophets now Ahab deceive, God's message he would not believe. "At Bamoth Gilead thou'lt be slain." Micaiah said, "Now turn again Unto the Lord and know his will, No battle fight, but now keep still." !040 To prison is the Prophet sent, And Ahab unto battle went ; A certain man King Ahab slew, Altho' disguis'd. God's word how true ? Dogs iick'd up his blood as it fell From chariot wheels. O ! who can tell The troubles of the Hebrew race, While such a King did then disgrace The throne and country of their day ; And made, all, dark their future way. Naboth killed by the orders of Jezebel. 1 Kings, 21. The dogs shall eat Jezebel in Jezreel. 2 Kings, 9. False Prophets deceive Ahab and he is killed. 1 Kings, 22. 62 Where science does no longer dare Contend 'gainst king of terrors, there The weaker sex may oft be found. 2053 She grasps the couch of death. Around Her fragile form an arm unseen Is felt. A spirit says, "sister lean On me. Your feet I'll keep secure ; And now I'll help you to endure Fatigue of body and of mind. Heavenly strength you now shall find." 2060 He lifts her up to holy ground. A higher strength she now has found. An angel now she seems to be. Her weakness seems to fade and flee. Thus did the Saviour strength receive, As earth he was about to leave, When on his holy brow appear'd Drops of sweat, like blood, as then he near'd His time of pain on cruel cross. But most of all he felt the loss Of loving' father's holy smile, His future pathway to beguile. All needed strength he now receives. 'Tis thus an angel always gives Dying grace, only, on a dying bed ; 2075 To those by heav'nly father led. Woman altho' last at the cross, Bewailing there the Savior's loss ; At tomb of Christ the first appears, And there an anxious look she wears 2080 Even she may sadly fall ; Blighting curses on all befall Who travel in her downward way ; In darkness sink their brightest day. Like fireship 'mid a handsome fleet, She burns each vessel as they meet, A pestilence she may become, Ruin bring to many a home. Good women. There appeared an angel strengthening him. 1/uke, 22. 43. Bad women. 63 Elegantly her body may be form'd, And yet her soul may be deform'd. 090 A living vampire she is then, And leads to ruin foolish men. Where she treads the flowers wither, Sacred ties she soon does sever ; A moral sirocco she may be, Scorching all that to her flee. Shame the bridal pillows invade, A garden in a desert made ; Jezebel, the vilest of her race, Brought only ruin and disgrace ; Unto the land she tried to rule, And prov'd herself a wicked fool. Baal's Prophets could not save, Her ruin'd soul, nor give a grave Unto her body. Like a beast, She liv'd. Dying, dogs made a feast, Of her remains, and none could tell They look'd on proud Jezebel ; Skull, hands and feet they only saw, Who near to her remains did draw. 110 A youth before the Prophet stood, With high and lofty mien. On his young cheek the mantling blood W T as eloquently seen. No vice had marr'd his forehead fair, Nor passion left its impress there. That look of conscious innocence, Which virtue seem'd to give, 118 Met by the Prophets' piercing glance ; No longer could deceive. 120 Dark shadows o'er his vision crept, For Israel's coming night he wept. Why weeps my Lord ? Hazael said, In sympathising tone, "Oh well !" the man of God replied, The dogs eat Jezebel. 2 Kings, 9. Hazael. 2 Kings, 8. 64 "Thy future deeds are known. Our young men fall beneath thy hand, Our turrets 'neath thy burning brand. Thy sword shall spill the richest blood, That flows in Israel's veins, And desolation, like a flood, Sweep o'er these fertile plains. Alas the mother's dying groans The children dash'd against the stones. "Am I a dog ?" indignantly 2135 The youthful stranger said, And from the Prophet turn'd away, With slow and alter'd tread. But, ere the morrow's sun went down, Hazael wore his master's crown. 2140 The Assyrian King sent A letter that was really meant Hezekiah's God to defy. He felt himself exalted high. The Lord of all he then did try To conquer. Soaring very high, He felt himself above the Lord, And thought none could withstand his sword. That letter Hezekiah spread Before the Lord of all, who read 2150 The bold blasphemer's wicked lines ; And thus his punishment defines : "Not e'en an arrow shall he shoot; His pow'r and voice shall soon be mute ; Against Jerusalem no bank 2155 Shall he erect. His throne be blank. To God's city shall he never go." This to Hexekiah did God show. Into the Assyrian camp went An angel, by Jehovah sent, Is thy servant a clog that lie should do this great thing 2 Kings, 8. Hezekiah's God defied. Isaiah 37. 65 !160 Who many thousands then did slay Of soldiers, led in the wicked way Of Sennacherib ; on that day, That wicked King, tho' near his God, Worshipping, died by the sword. The Indian king a new Queen chose, And Esther to that station rose. Few knew she was of Hebrew race, She was as fair in soul as face, As a father Mordecai prov'd ; 170 The King Queen Esther greatly lov'd- Hainan to a higher station rose, No respect Mordecai shows. 173 Now Hainan's anger fiercely burns : Against the Jewish race he turns, For Mordecai was a Jew, Hainan knew that his word was true ; He said plainly, "I am a Jew." With murder in his heart, Haman tries To appear both good and wise. 180 Deceiv'd by him, the king commands, The death of Jews in all his lands. Now Mordecai sackcloth wears, And soon the news to Esther bears. To the king she was afraid to go ; He might, to her, no favor show. For thirty days she was not seen By the king. What did her husband mean ? Mordecai said, "thou must go, Thy work may be to fully show ; 190 The king the truth he now would know. Belief, at last, will surely come ; 192 And Haman meet a dreadful doom. If thou wilt henceforth nothing do, Destruction soon will come to you." "I'll dare to do right and be true," Esther chosen Queen. 2 Esther, 66' Said Esther, tho' dangers she knew Laid thick in her pathway, Yet she Bisk'd her life her nation to free. Now all the Jews and Esther fast, 2200 Belief shall come to them at last. There was a law, in Esther's day, Those who came unto the king to slay, Unless call'd unto his side, Or shown favor, they surely died. Eor thirty days she did not see Her Lord, who sign'd the dread decree. The Jews of ev'ry sex and age Must die. And from hist'ry's page, Their name henceforth must be eras'd, So their destiny may not be trac'd. 2211 God's people Ham an would destroy, Willing agents he did employ. With faith in God Queen Esther goes Unto the king. He upward rose And to the Queen much favor shows. Unto a banquet she the king And Haman invite. She would bring Soon her request unto her Lord. "Let not the Jews perish by the sword." 2220 At Esther's banquet did the king And Haman both appear. "Now bring Thy request," the king to Esther said, By wisdom now would she be led. "At another banquet I will tell The king, what now concerns me well. Another banquet will I give To the King and Haman, if I live, 2228 Then, on the morrow, thou shalt hear Thine own Queen Esther's humble pray'r. The king, on this night, 30uld not sleep. Esther dares to do right. Esther 4. Esther obtains favor from the King. Esther 5. The king could not sleep. Esther 6. •67 He calls for those who records keep. "Now read those records unto me. What has been done ? now let me see." "Mordecai did your honor save From death. He is both true and brave." "His reward I would truly know." Then said the King. "Tell that also." "No record of reward I see, O King ! It surely cannot be That one so true got no reward, For well I know his lot is hard." Haman tried, in a cunning way, All the Jews in his land to slay. But wiser than the wisest man 2245 Is God— because he only can The end of all things plainly see; From darkness is he fully free. Haman car'd not for the highest place, For Mordecai's form and face At King's gate he did daily see. "That form is hateful unto me," He said ; "that form from earth I'll free. His praises never shall be sung — I'll have him on a gallows hung." A gallows then was quickly made, Which Haman near his house display'd. "I'll now reward a loyal man," The King did one day say ; "how can I best a true man honor give — One I'll delight in while I live ?" Unto himself did Haman say, 2262 "How plain is now my upward way! The King does honor seek to give Unto my house while I shall live." Haman tried to have the Jews murdered. Esther, 3. Haman makes a gallows for Mordecai. Esther, 5. G8 He therefore spoke thus to the King : "Thus would I kingly honor bring Unto the man exalted high, By service to his King. A cry Should loudly sound from street to street ; 2270 Let all men, now, my servant greet : I place him in a station high, Where help from me is ever nigh ; On one of thy horses let him ride, With servant walking* at his side." "Thus Haman shalt thou quickly do To Mordecai, good and true, For favors on a former day. He safer made my kingly way." 2280 Soon Haman did the King obey, And clear 'd his rival's onward way. Zeresh to her husband said, "You are to ruin downward led. Now that you have commenc'd to fall,, You will keep on and soon shall all The Jewish people truly say, That you have fail'd in such a way • That ev'ry one'may plainly see, That is from error truly free, The Hebrew's G-od you did despise, 2290 Therefore you'll sink before his eyes, As ev'ry one must fall who tries, By murder and deceit to rise." Queen Esther said unto the King, "My own request, which now I bring, To thee O ! King is— my life now spare My people also now prepare For life, instead of cruel death, We're sold and soon must lose our breath." 2299 "Who did this evil unto thee, And thus did try to injure me ?" Mordecai exalted. Esther, 6. Esther makes known her request to the King. Esther T. '69 "Our foe is Haman sitting there, To kill my race he did prepare." Now the King's anger fiercely burns, Soon, rising from his seat, he turns, And into his garden goes ; Haman also then arose ; He pleads with Esther for his life. The King returns unto his wife, And then is told of gallows high 2310 That Haman built for Mordeeai. "Hang him on the gallows that he made, Let him fall into the pit he made." E'en in this favor'd gospel day, Men perish in this very way. 2315 For other men they make a snare. Into the pit that they prepare, • On future day they sadly fall. At last for help they vainly call. The sons of God did one day call. Upon Jehovah Lord of all. The artful Satan also came, The patient Job he did defame. "Because of wealth, exceeding great, Before thee does he daily wait. He would not in thy temple bend, If penury thou didst quickly send ; He cares more for his wealth than thee ? As you may very plainly see. Let me take all his wealth away ; Then soon from thee he'll turn away." "Take all his wealth, but spare his healthy, He loves me more than earthly wealth." Soon Satan took from Job away Haman hanged on the gallows that he made for Mordeeai'. Esther T. Pope Alexander IV. died from poison'd wine that he had prepared to kill some of his guests, whose wealth had tempted his cupidity, which was given him by mistake. Satan asks leave of God to tempt Job. Job L Job remains upright. Job, 1. 70 His wealth and darken'd all his way. Sabean swords did Job annoy, And Satan also did employ Some bandits from the Chaldee hills ; They steal Job's camels, and fire kills Both his servants and his sheep ; 2340 But Job does his uprightness keep. Satan made another call Upon Jehoval, Lord of all. Job truly is a perfect man ; God said, "You find you never can Cause him to turn away from me, Altho' he is an agent free ; He loves my holy name too well 2348 For you to lead him down to hell." "Soon will he curse thee to thy face, And bring upon himself disgrace," Did Satan to Jehovah say ; "If tempted in another way. Now let me touch his bone and skin, And then he will commence to sin." "Do as you say, but spare his life, And I will quickly end the strife." . The Devil tried, with fierce disease, To take away from Job all ease. Tho' full of sores and rack'd with pains, Job stands the test and honor gains. Job prov.'d both good and patient too, A better man none ever knew ; And Satan's arts did fail again : And now, without a single stain 2365 Of sin, does patient Job regain Both earthly wealth and comfort too, For heavenly path does he pursue. Job is a bright and shining star. Satan again allowed to tempt Job. Job, 2, Job submits to God, and regains his prosperity. Job 42. 71 In ev'ry land both near and far, 2370 He shines with purest ray serene. His brightness always will be seen. He is a pattern for his race. Throughout his life all men may trace The beauty of a patient soul, Even in bitterness of soul ; For he was always good and true, And men like him are very few. Isaiah knew he was too young, Ne'er before had he ever sung Of scenes celestial ; with fears He then was filPd. His work appears So great. He cries, "I am undone Woe is me that ever I begun !384 Such high and holy work to do ; How can I still that work pursue?" Soon, from God's throne, a seraph blest, With living lire, at heav'ns behest, He from an altar took and plac'd Upon the Prophet's lips which grac'd !390 His inmost soul so very well That thus he does the future tell. And thus he speaks as tho' he saw The God man who would to himself draw, And take unto the heavens high, The men that on God do rely. "A son is giv'n, a child is born ; For man there comes a brighter morn.- The government henceforth shall be Upon his shoulders. He shall free 100 All men who on him, daily, call And depart from sin and leave all That now enslaves the human race. For such he bought a better place. 404 Wonderful shall his name be call'd, And Satan's hosts shall be appalled ; Woe is me. Isaiah 6. Unto us a child is born, &c". Isaiah 9.- 72 When they see the rising of this star. In vain against him do they war. A counsellor he will also be, His people shall be fully free. He also is the mighty God, And wicked men shall feel his rod. As everlasting Father, he "Will have men bow to him the knee. As Prince of Peace, no coming day, Shall light the end of his bright way, Tho' heaven and earth shall pass away ; His truth, just like the king of day, Shall shine from eastern unto western skies. His light shall on the nations rise, 2420 And never will it ever set, But brightDess everywhere beget." 2422 At best we're in a vale of tears And worldly cares and worldly fears Go with us to our journey's end ; But God to us does comfort send — He gives us joy while there is light, And also songs in darkest night. E'en in the midnight of the soul, When sorrow's billows o'er us roll, 2430 And rainbow visions fade away, Yet God becomes our staff and stay. There is a land where all is bright, Where we shall never say, " 'Tis night " — A land where rainbows never fade — Heavenly mansions for us made ; Where friends that from us pass away Will always in our presence stay. "Isaiah scatters from his pictur'd urn [burn." Heav'nly thoughts that breathe and words that Jeremiah looked on this earth 2441 As one of higher, better birth Heaven and earth shall pass away, but mv words shall not pass away. Matt. 24, 35. Ye shall have a song as in the darkest night. Isaiah 30, v. 29. 73 Should look on ev'ry earthly thing. He knew his sorrows soon would bring Him to a land of bliss on high, Where none will ever weep or sigh. He was a weeping Prophet here, Altho' he knew that heav'n was near. He wept because of earthly sin, That many daily fail'd to win 2450 A place in Paradise so fair, Altho' to it they were so near. He wept because the crowns did fall From brows of men, who ceas'd to call Upon the Lord in heav'n high, Who unto man is ever nigh. Few cared to find a better home- Few would to loving father come. Nebuchadnezzar had a dream That very strange to him did seem. 2460 No interpreter could be found In land where wisdom did abound. The King forgot his dream, but tried Magicians, on whom all relied. From sorcerers _he sought to know Also, if they could to him show Or tell his strange and startling dream. Astrologers also did seem With Chaldeans to be unwise ; And none could gain the kingly prize. And proud Babylon's wisest men Were decreed to die on day ; when Daniel tried some time to gain, That he might make the matter plain. Daniel and his friends now pray For God to hear them on this day, And tell the dream so very plain, That they might Kingly friendship gain. , Oh, that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of rny people. Jeremiah 9, 1. Nebuchadnezzar's dream. Daniel, 2. 74 The secret God to Daniel gave, Because his life he wish'd to save. 2480 'Twas in the stillness of the night, Daniel had a vision bright ; Jehovah told him, then and there, The truths he call'd him to declare. By image with the head of gold, God, thro' Daniel, did unfold The greatness of that splendid realm ; And of Him who guided then the helm Of nation then so very great, And thus he also then did state : "O King! thou art the head of gold, To thee, the future, I'll unfold. The silver breast and arms are meant, The future King to represent. The belly and the thighs of brass Refer to King of lower class, Who will the silver King succeed, And give the King the people need. The legs of iron truly show, Another King the realm shall know. 2500 His feet of iron and of clay Refer unto a future day, When his great kingdom shall decay, And all its glory pass away. For clay and iron will not blend, Divided realms soon have an end. Tho' without hands, the stone will right y And put all enemies to flight. The iron, silver, brass and gold And clay, shall weakness then unfold, 2510 The stone will all of them destroy, No carnal weapons it'll employ. God's kingdom then on earth shall be, And error then shall fade and flee." Daniel interprets the King's dream. Daniel 2. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal hat mighty, through God, to the pulling down of strongholds. 2 Cor. 10, 4. Christ is here typified by the stone. 75 The King to Daniel then did say, "May ev'ry error pass away, My people see a brighter day. Your God is God of Gods and Lord Of Kings. I will obey his word. He does, to men, all secrets tell, No one can love your God too well." Dan'l was plac'd into a station high, And to his King was ever very nigh. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego To Babylon did quickly go. Daniel wish'd to have them there, That stations high they too might share. Success intoxicates some men — 'Bove Jehovah would they rise, when Too late, they sadly find they stand 2530 In slipp'ry places in the land. Down into ruin do they stray ; God will not hear them when they pray. To glory in himself man tries, And seeks to be. so very wise ; Above Jehovah would he rise. He often tries, with puny arm, The great Jehovah to disarm. Babylon's King, with image high, Tried God, his Maker, to defy. In Dura's plain his image stands, And near it are some minstrel bands. At sound of music all must fall, And crown that image Lord of all. Nebuchadnezzar thus did say : "All men must to my image pray, Nebuchadnezzar acknowledges God's power. Success intoxicates Nebuchadnezzar. But God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Gal. 6, 14. Nebuchadnezzar sets up a great image to be worshipped. Daniel, 3. 76 Or by fire they shall quickly die, And none can help them when they cry." Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego At that idol shrine would not bow ; To Lord of heav'n they daily pray, And walk in Wisdom's holy way. The King soon heard they would not pray To golden image on that day, For to Jehovah were they true, And help from him they truly knew Would come at time 'twas needed most — For pray'rs and tears are never lost When holy men to God do pray ; 2559 To help he finds or makes a way. Enrag'd, the King did then command 2561 The slaughter of the Hebrew band. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego Must now in the fiery furnace go, "Where is the God ?" the King did say, "That now can help you when you pray '?" Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego Did in the fiery furnace go. They w T alked unharm'd amid the flame, And God the Savior to them came. They side by side now forward go ; The King is puzzled now to know Why four men walk to and fro. "But three into the furnace went/' He said ; "strange pow'r is to them lent. Now four men walk amid the fire, And of the fourth I would enquire ; Is he the son of God V His face Appears so full of heav'n ly grace — Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego would not worship Nebuchadnezzar's image. Daniel, 3. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego cast into the fiery furnace. Daniel, 3. And the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. Daniel, 3, 25. 77 His glory shines above the fire — 2580 His look does in me awe inspire ; He is the Hebrews' future King- He will all men to Judgment bring." "Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego Come forth ! Because I truly know There is no God on earth below, As well as in the heavens high, That hears his servants when they cry, And helps them, with a pow'r so great, Like him on whom you daily wait." Thus spake the King, in pleasant way, To Shadrach and his friends that day. Forth from the furnace then they came — Kespect from all they justly claim. Their garments did not smell of fire ; More even than they did desire, God gave unto those Hebrews then, Thus he always does for holy men, He helps them in the highest way, 'Bove all that they can think or pray. Even in this favor 'd gospel day, Satan often finds or makes a way, To place God's servants in the fire. Thus they rise to stations higher. For perfect none can ever be, Who never do much suff' ring see. Like gold refin'd, in value do they rise ; Abundant entrance gain into the skies. 2608 The King promotes these holy men To higher stations, and he then Proclaim 'd their God as God alone, No idol had so brightly shone. Nebuchadnezzar dreamt one night, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego walk unharmed through the fire. Dan. 3. Unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. Ephesians, 3, 20. After that ye suffered awhile make you perfect. 1 Peter, 5, 10. Nebuchadnezzer's dream. Daniel, 4=. 78 2620 Of a great tree of monstrous height It bore much fruit, its leaves were fair, In width it was exceeding rare. It fed the flesh of all the land,' Its praise was heard on ev'ry hand. A watcher came from heav'n high With holy one he did draw nigh! ' He cried aloud, "hew down the tree I The branches from the body free, Shake off its leaves and all its fruit Scatter ; but leave untouch 'cl its root And also let the stump remain, That lovely form it may regain'; Let dews of heav'n on it fall. Like a beast he ceas'd to call Upon Jehovah Lord of all : A beastly nature to him give 2630 And, with the beasts, then let him live Till o'er him seven times have pass'd, Then bring him back to men at last." The King did fail to understand This dream ; and sought on ev'ry hand His wisest men— but all in vain, No explanation could he gain. Daniel came unto the King, This explanation did he bring : "O King ! thou art thyself the tree From homes of men will men drive thee By sin you made yourself a beast, And with brutes shalt thou daily feast ; Till o'er thee seven times have passed ' Then thou shalt truly say, at last, 'Jehovah is the King of Kings, I'll shelter find beneath his wings.' " Thy kingdom shall in safety stand, Daniel interprets the King's dream. Daniel 4 punTsh U eS" ngaperfeCtnUmberNebucll ^e Z za'r m n S t be perfectly or thoroughly 79 And none shall take it from thy hand. 850 The kingdom will for you remain. As the stump will in the land remain, Xing ! to God thy father live, He will a better nature give To thee. If thou forsake thy sin, Heavenly peace you'll surely win. In twelve months time, in palace fair, With very independent air, The King did walk and thus did say : "I ask no help of God this day. Now, for myself, I make a way. This city grown so very great, Where many vassals on me wait, Now stands unrival'd and alone ; Here is my might now fully shown. 1 built this city that I own — It stands in beauty all alone." Whjle thus he spoke a voice from heav'n did say "O King! thou fallest very low to-day; The kingdom from thy hand Jehovah takes, And now a lowly beast of you he makes ; And men shall drive thee from this city fair, And soon aD other nature thou shalt wear." And thus 'twas done, e'en in that very hour, 673 Nebuchadnezzar lost all his pow'r ; And soon, so very low he fell. With beasts he did commence to dwell. Grass he ate — on the ground he lay, And all his reason fled away. His body by the dew was wet — Like birds' claws then his nails did get ; 680 His hair like eagles' feathers grew — None but his fellow brutes he knew. In seven years' time he wiser got, Nebuchadnezzar had just filled up the measure of his iniquity. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Matt. 23, 32. Nebuchadnezzar transformed into a beast. Daniel, 4. 80 Then higher was his earthly lot ; His reason came to him again — 2685 His kingdom did he then regain. To Lord of all he tribute brought, And, daily, God his Maker sought. Belshazzar, urg'd on by Satanic pride, At one time tried Jehovah to deride ; He gain'd no wisdom from his father's fall. Upon his idols did he daily call. "The Lord of heav'n I'll now insult," he said ; "By such a God I never will be led." From the Temple did he sacred vessels bring ; His praises did his wives and women sing. From sacred vessels did they drink their wine, And ev'ry one in revelry did join. The gods of silver and of gold they praise — "What greatness is there in my works and ways ?" 2700 Unto himself the King did gaily say, 2701 "And never shall my grandeur pass away." The King turns pale — he is a coward nov/ ; His knees together smite, and troubled is his brow. Fiery letters on the wall appear, Those letters cause the King to greatly fear — The hand that writes does veng'ance now declare, And conscience whispers, "Punishment is near." Babylon's wisest men did vainly seek The meaning of the dreadful words to speak. 2710 No interpreter then could any find To comfort King Belshazzar's troubled mind. Daniel then was brought unto the King ; 2713 "Canst thou light upon this subject bring ?" "O King ! thy punishment is very near, Because God's warning voice thou wouldst not hear. Belshazzar, intoxicated by success, insults God. Daniel, 5. Belshazzar's feast. Daniel, 5. The handwriting on the wall. Daniel, 5. Daniel interprets the handwriting on the wall, Daniel. 5. Nabonnid, or Belshazzar, was the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar. 81 For years thy father like a beast did live, Because bis heart to God he would not give ; Thy doom is sealed by one who cannot lie — Soon shalt thou in the grave forgotten lie. Thou built thy earthly nest among the stars ; The God of earth and sky against thee wars. This God will bring thee from thy place on high — No longer shall thy puny arm defy The Lord of all, who dwells above the sky. Mene — God hath thy kingdom number'd o'er, Thy wealth now fades, thou art exceeding poor. Tekel — In the balance wast thou weighed to-day ; Now ends, at last, thy weak and sinful way. Thy character is light, and thin as air ; 2730 A home with devils must thou henceforth share. Peres — Thy kingdom God divides this day, Here now shall Medes and Persians have the sway. Daniel cloth'd in scarlet then appear'd, And many, then, the God of Daniel fear'd. Around his neck he wore a golden chain, A station very high he then did gain. Belshazzar on that very night was slain, Thus must all error end and truth remain. All good men may troubles see, 2740 But God will from all sorrow free Those men who on him daily call, For truth shall stand and error fall. Proud Belshazzar's kingdom changes now, To a Median do his people bow. O'er all Darius reigns as king alone ; No rival will he have about his throne, E'en to the God of heav'n he will not bow. Even Jehovah none shall worship now. Unto myself all pray'r must now be made. Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down — saith the Lord. Obadiah 1, 4. Belshazzar slain. Daniel, 5. The cornmou people heard Christ gladly. Mark, 12. Darius commands his people to pray to him. Daniel, 6. How few of the great men of earth love God ? 82 2750 I'm King of Kings and I must be obey'd : For thirty days to me shall pray'r be made, All other worship now must be delay'd. But true Daniel would not turn away, Nor once from God his loving Father stray ; E'en for a month, from God he would not turn ; Because infidelity did he spurn. He bow 5 d to God, in sight of fellow men, He bow'd in time of dreadful danger, when He knew his faith the lions fierce would try Because upon his God he did rely. He knew that help would come, when needed most, But, strong in trust, he counted then the cost Of praying to his God — to God alone. He knew, full well, he did not stand alone : Heavenly friends, on ev'ry side appear'd, And strength he felt as danger near'd. Into the den of lions was he thrown : And then upon its mouth was plac'd a stone, That stone was seal'd for fear of any change, 2770 None could this mode of punishment derange. King Darius felt sorry for his friend ; Not thus, he thought, his pride would find an end. He was too blind at first to understand ; His pride spread folly over all his land. He could not change the law that he had made, He could not save his friend— he felt dismay'd ; He could not sleep, no music would he hear ; At dawn unto the cave he did repair, "O Daniel ! canst thou hear me now ? 2780 To the living God thou didst daily bow. Did he save thee from a cruel fate, Or didst thou often on him vainly wait ?" "O King ! May you for ever live ! God will his blessing to you give. My God his angel quickly sent — Daniel refused to pray to King Darms. Daniel, 6. Daniel cast into the Lion's den. Daniel, 6. Darius could not sleep. 83 He knew that I was innocent ; . The lions did not dare to bite Or hurt thy servant in the night ; Like playful kittens at my side They did their savage natures hide. At rising morn they soundly slept — A w T atch the heav'nly stranger kept." "Now Daniel's foes shall surely fall," The King did say. And soon he cast them all 2795 Both men and women, with their children small, Among the lions, and they all did fall. "Unto Daniel's God shall pray'r be made," The King did say — and w T ell he was obey'd. Many are the battles truth must fight and win Ere mortal men are freed from earthly sin. Fierce lions stand in all the christian's way, But God makes clear and safe his onward way. For Judah's lion conquers ev'ry foe— A better friend no man can ever know. All error shall before him fade and flee, To him shall every creature bow the knee. A Prophet of the Lord, on errand sent, On board a ship, another way soon went. To Nineveh was he told to quickly go — 2810 His mission there did God his Maker show, But unto Tarshish did he try to go. But God did soon to him his weakness show ; A dreadful storm upon the sea arose, So strange it seems its cause now no one knows. Now on their Gods the mariners do call, But Jonah sleeps, he hears no sound at alL "Why do you sleep ? Upon thy God now call ; Without some help this storm will bury all Of us beneath these waves so very high. Awake ! To God your friend now quickly cry." Daniel came safely out of the lion's den. Daniel, 6. The lion of the tribes of Judah ;ev. 5, 5. Jonah disobeys God. Jonah, 1. The lion of the tribes of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed rovercome 1 Rev. 5, 5. Soon lots were cast the guilty man to find ; To mercy were the seamen then inclin'd. The lot on Jonah then did quickly fall— An explanation then demanded all. "Where are thy people ? From whence comest thou ? What has thy business been ? What is it now ;" "A Hebrew. And I fear the Lord of Sea, And land, and sky. To him I bow the knee, Altho' from him now do I vainly flee." 2830 "To save us from the storm, what shall we do ? How couldst thou to thy God prove so untrue ?" Jonah said, "Now cast me in the sea ; God sends this tempest now because of me." Once more the sailors vainly try to land ; This tempest does the stoutest oars withstand. Those sailors unto Jonah's God now pray, "Do not this sin unto thy servants lay." Johah then was cast into the sea, When from the tempest all were fully free. 28-40 Aside from path of duty, in our day, How many christian people vainly stray ? Their land is dark because no light they show ; God opens doors thro' which they will not go, And nations sit in darkness even now Because they do to wealth and pleasure bow. They fall asleep when they should watch and pray. Life's harvest ends, and all their summer day— Their work undone when God calls them away. As Jonah's prayer was heard while in the fish, So ail who pray in faith shall have their wish. Habakuk's pray'r does beautifully show, The lot falls on Jonah. Jonah, 1. Jonah cast into the sea. The path of duty is the path of safety. To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him is it sin. Jonah i, 17. Jonah's prayer answered. 85 That men should serve their maker, here below ; Not for the earthly food they eat, But rather, for the happiness complete They find in serving such a faithful friend, Whose love for them will never have an end. [The words in brackets are from the new version of the Testament.] 2857 In house of David was a fountain found, Where love and truth do evermore abound. Christ, in past ages, has this fountain been ; A remedy the best of all for sin. Ere man appear'd he was a fountain seal'd, Without this world he could not be reveaFd. At death an open fountain was he then, To cleanse from sin the souls of wicked men. 2865 On cross men open'd out this fountain wide, Eternal life flows from his bleeding side. A man of God did forward go, A world of sinners Christ to show ; The way he would for him prepare, That men might better natures wear. He daily forward goes and cries, "The way to heav'n thro' Jesus lies. In his name, with water, I baptise. He will a greater work soon do, His holy spirit pour on you. With heav'nly fire he will baptise, And make his servants very wise. Make straight Messiah's holy way, His light shall darkness shine away ; For evermore he must increase, While I, his herald, must decrease." The Baptist did himself deny, And sought to fit men for the sky. Habakiik's prayer. Habakuk, 3. Christ is the fountain opened in the house of David. Zachariah, 13. John the Baptist. John 1. I indeed baptise you with water unto repentance but he that cometh after me- is mightier than I whose shoes I am not worthy to bear. He shall baptise you>- with the Holy Ghost and with fire. Matt. 3, 11. All christians prepare the way of the Lord. 86 John was a man of virtue rare, He did, for Christ, the way prepare. In other lands — on other days, Men do their great creator praise. They cannot save but can prepare, To bring Christ unto sinners near. 2890 For ev'ry christian bears a light To lead men out of error's night ; Unto the land of endless day, For Jesus they prepare the way. "Art thou Messiah, that on earth, Hath come to speak of second birth ; Or must we for another wait, The truth now to thy servant state ?" This message the Baptiser sent, By one who to the Savior went. 'Twas thus that Jesus did reply : "Tell John the Gospel day is nigh. The blind do now their sight receive, Even the dead do once more live. The lame man walks once more again, The leper does sound flesh regain. My heav'nly voice the deaf now hear, And no more deaf to men appear. My Gospel's preach'd unto the poor, To Heav'n I am the open door." Tho' hand in hand some men together twine, And wicked men in many ways combine ; Yet ev'ry soul that sins shall surely die, Thus speaks the Heav'nly King who cannot lie. "Spirit ! proud spirit, oh think of thy state ! 2915 Let trifles alone, consider thy fate ; Like grass of the field thou must wither and die Thou heedest no pity, thou askest no sigh. Art thou he that [cometh] should come or do we look for another ? Matt. 11, 3. Show [tell] John that the blind receive their sight, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel preached to them. Matt. 11, 5. I am the door. John, 10, 7. t Tho' hand join in hand the wicked shall not go unpunished. Proverbs, 11, 21 87 But for thee, the immortal, no winter may throw Eternal repose on thy joy or thy wo ; 2920 Thou must live, and live ever, in glory or gloom, Beyond the world's precincts, beyond the dark tomb. A star upon the brow of night Some wise men's onward way did light To manger where an infant lay, Design 'd to light a future day. That light did then appear to them As promised star of Bethlehem, The bread of life from Bethlehem came ; House of bread was but another name That village bore, in years long past, But heav'nly bread appear'd at last. Years pass by — this feeble light Dispels the shades of heathen night, Becomes renown'd in ev'ry age, The glory of the saint and sage ; And barb'rous nations now attend His courts, and in his temples bend ; The Gentiles to his light come nigh, And Jesus' name 's exalted high. 2940 Kings before his rising brightness fall, And humbly crown him Lord of all. "Can a good man in Nazareth be found ? For in that city sin does everywhere abound." This question did Nathaniel ask, Philip's reply was made an easy task. His simple answer was, "now come and see. You'll find that Christ from sin is fully free." Of miracles we do but little say ; There is a brighter and a better way, 2950 To show that Jesus is the Christ indeed ; A friend that ev'ry man does truly need. Jesus Christ. I am the bread which came down [out ofj from heaven. John, 6, 41. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light and Kings to the brightness of thy rising. Isaiah, 60, 3. Can any good thing come out of Nazareth ? John, 1, 46, He speaks ! and sinners dead in sin revive. He speaks ! and men from graves arise and live. 'Twas not some dreadful poison'd wine, That some pronounc'd so very fine — 'Twas not from asps and dragons made ; But love and wisdom were display'd. When Jesus turn'd some water into wine He truly show'd he is the Christ divine. This better wine he gave at last of feast- He did not wish to make of man a beast. Even in the age that Moses wrote Of poison'd wines he made some note, As in the bible all may plainly see In latter part of Deuteronomy ; He spoke of wines of different make. The righteous did not then partake Of those from asps and dragons made. God's truth has always been array'd Against all poison'd hellish wine, And never did he call it fine. Such wine bites al] who drink at last ; From such wine ev'ry man should fast. The wine that Jesus made for man, When first his miracles began, Was meant to spread his glory then, And not to injure fellow men. He made such wine as all may drink Without approaching ruin's brink— 2980 That did not beastly drunkards make, Tho' much of it some then did take ; He could not spread his glory in that way, He therefore made the best of wine that day- Such wine as he will give in heaven fair To all who find a home and pleasure there. Christ proves himself the true God, The wine that Jesus made, 2 John. Their wine is the poison of dragons and the cruel venom of asps. Deut. 32, 33. At the last it biteth like a serpent and it stingeth like an adder. Prov. 23, 32. 89 For thousands sitting on the sod Of desert place, were by him fed With five loaves of barley bread, 99 D And two small fishes. Thus he said, "They shall not empty go away, I will for them a better way Provide. Those thousands now I feed, Because I give my people what they need. For them I'll bleed, for them I'll die ; And I will hear them when they cry. Their daily bread will I supply, And guard them with a watchful eye. I am, myself, the bread of heav'n ; 000 I have myself to mortals giv'n. The remnant of the food now save, More now they'll leave than e'er they gave." Twelve baskets full of food they find, No fragments must be left behind. "No food must now be thrown away, Tho' I work a miracle to-day." Christ's greatest work is saving men from sin. When e'er we see a ruin'd man begin 'Bove earth to rise and seek a heav'n fair, We know T the Christ of Galilee is near. At precipice of Gadara Some swine, one day, did wander And, plunging headlong in the sea, Did vainly seek from friends to flee ; Those devils from a man were driv'n, By Jesus who came down from heav'n. Five thousand fed by Christ with five loaves and two fishes. Matt. 14. God will supply our need but does not promise to supply all our wants. My God shall [fulfill every need of yours] supply all your need. Phil. 4, 19. I am the bread which came down [out ofj from heaven. John, 6, 41. Wasted his substance with riotous living, Luke, 15, 13. How many persons waste all their lives ? Devils driven into swine. Matt. 8. He that winneth souls is wise. Proverbs, 11, 30. Many men care more about winning money than souls. Wicked men are like swine. 90 The owners of the swine then pray, To Jesus to depart that day. They care not for their fellow man, 3020 But save all treasure that they can ; So has it been in ev'ry age, Man does his noblest pow'rs engage, In seeking earthly wealth to gain, While heav'n neglecting to regain. When good men fall, again they rise y With faces turn'd unto the skies, Like sheep that wander far away ; j But bleat until, on fairer day, They return into the fold to stay ; 3030 But wicked men, like swine, will try To root around and then destroy Their fold of shelter and repose ; And bring* their day unto a close, And sink, in darkness and dismay, Their better manhood's middle day. Bow'd by disease, a feeble woman tried To seek a cure, she would not be denied. A touch will give me all the help I need ; I know that Christ can save— I will succeed. She came to Christ, she knew that he could heal. E'en from his garment did she virtue feel. "I have been touch 'd," the Savior, quickly said ; "Because some virtue from me has just fled." The woman, trembling, fell at Jesus' feet, In kindest tones he did that woman greet, She told him all about the cure he made, "To day thou hast Messiahship display'd." Jesus said, "thy faith hath healing brought, Now go in peace, enjoy the health you sought." A woman healed of a plague by touching the clothing of Christ. Mark, 5, This woman did not doubt Christ's ability to cure her but doubted his willing- ness. There is some doubt in the belief of some of the best persons , Now at the best, we see [in mirror] thro' a glass darkly. 1 Cor. 13, 12. I am sorry that a miracle ever was needed to certify the Messiahship of Jesus. 91 3050 God and man combin'd we plainly see, In Jesus Christ of Galilee. We love him most for words he once did say : Not for the miracles he did display. Tho' sight he gave to one by means of clay. Yet better work he does for us to-day. His words remain to light us on our way, Mortal men, at best, are only clay. When God saves man by his fellow man, He does the greatest work that ever can 3060 Be done—and does it by a better plan Than saving man without the aid of man. While helping God his fellow man to save, Man does his highest work himself to save. Miracles were needed on a darker day, But brighter, better now is all man's way. "Dust thou art — to dust thou shalt return. Because thou didst thy maker spurn. This curse has fallen on thy race O man ! because thou didst disgrace, Thy nature so exceeding fair ; Thou must a better nature wear. How much of sorrow mortals know, In fairest places here below ? For everywhere disease and death Are found with pestilential breath ; They enter palaces of Kings, And each one much of sorrow brings, In hut, as well as palace fair, For men are sinners everywhere. 3080 All records of long ages past, Tell us that all men die at last. Where are our earthly fathers now ? Truly did they with the Prophets bow Their heads in death. And ev'ry age Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Psalm, 119, 105. Christ raising the dead. Luke, 7- Your fathers where are they ? and the Prophets do they live forever ? Zacha- riah, 1, 5. 92 Kecords on hist'rys brightest page, The death of savage, saint or sage. On beds of bluest, deepest seas An angel very often sees The remnants of man's fallen race. Death's work we everywhere may trace. Long ages come and pass away, On Judea shines a brightest day : . Predictions that men do not heed, They find to study now they need. An answer soon all men shall know, E'en while they live on earth below, "If man dies shall he live again, Shall he a future state attain ?" The man of Uz now does this question ask., 3100 Keply to it be now our pleasant task. In Nain, near Endor, do we st'and : And now there's mourning in the land, The mother of a lifeless son, A widow— from her husband torn By cruel death, now sadly cries, But help now very near her lies. - : On tree tops birds now gaily sing, No comfort to her heart they bring : A wand'rer in the land appears, A heav'nly look this stranger wears. And soon a fun'ral train he meets ; The stricken mother now he greets. "Weep not O woman for thy son ! For soon a great work will be done." Unto the bier that stranger came, Few knew his high and holy name. He said, "young man arise and live I They [went about] wandered about in sheep skins and goat skins, being desti- tute, afflicted, [evil entreated of] tormented, of whom the world was not worthy, [wandering] they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens, and caves of the earth. Hebrews, 11, 37, 38. Job, 14, 14. 93 Now once more life to you I give." The young man from the dead arose, 3120 Now Jesus Lord of all he knows. So in past ages was it true, The best of men few people knew. The good are strangers here below ; This world they care not much to know. This stranger rules the heavens high, In sorrow is he ever nigh. By pow'r within himself Christ rais'd the dead, To one he quickly heal'd these words he said : Thy sins, in number great, I now forgive ; 3130 In my own name I health and pardon give. All other Prophets, on a former day, Gave life and healing in a different way. Their works were done thro' God— and God alone. But Christ as God in man has brightly shone. The Lord of life we therefore plainly see, In Jesus Christ the man of Galilee. Christ's words of truth, in verse, we here record. May all whp read obey his sacred word. He said that men must all be born again, 3140 If they would heav'n and bliss eternal gain. To Jacob's well, one day, the Savior came, A woman there he saw, he knew her fame ; Some water from her hand he straightway sought. The water soon she drew and to him brought. Then said, "why does a Jew unto me speak ? From Samaritan's hands now water seek. For the Jews never with my people deal. They seek their own. For us they do not feel. If gift of God thou didst but fully know, 3150 You'd ask of me and I would clearly show ; Living water I can give you even now, If thou wilt henceforth to me humbly bow." Ye must be born [anew] again. John, 3, 7. The woman of Samaria. John, 4. 94 "How thou canst draw water from this well, Without a vessel I can never tell ? This well is deep no water can you bring, In way you speak from any earthly spring." "This water drank you soon will thirst again, But never will you ever thirst again. If you drink water that I offer now, And now, at once, to God your Savior bow." "Thou art a Prophet, now I clearly see, Give me this water— evermore I'll be Reliev'cl of thirst — nor water come to draw. You art the strangest man I ever saw." "O woman ! now thy husband quickly call." She said, "I have no husband now at all." "Well didst thou say, no husband have I now For rive you had — the man you live with now Is not thy husband I do truly know, 3170 Altho' I said— unto thy husband go." "Jerusalem, the Jews to all do say, Is the place where men to God should pray." "The hour comes when all of ev'fy race may pray, To God in ev'ry land— on any day." "Messiah comes and he will tell us all," The woman said ; "at his feet I'll humbly fall." "I that now do speak am He," The Savior said ; "now henceforth follow me." Soon the woman to the city went ; 3180 Some time, in talking to the men, she spent. She said, "Come see a man that told me all I 've done. This man I now do truly call Christ here showed his Omnipresence and Omniscience. Judaism was only a lighthouse, but Christianity is a sun. Judaism, when compared with Christianity, has no glory by reason of the glory that excelleth. 2 Cor. 3, 10. None but a converted person could have thus spoken. Never man [so spake] spake like this man. John, 1. 46. 95 The Christ— for God alone does truly know What happens to all men while here below. " When Priests did send the Savior to arrest, Unto this truth their servants did attest : No mortal man like him did ever speak, And none can higher wisdom than his seek. Repentant guilt before the Savior stood, And tears ran down her cheeks, just like a flood ; No frown did darken then his holy brow, No harshness did his nature then allow. "Go sin no more," was all he then did say ; ''I '11 not condemn you. Purer be thy way." No man did dare to throw at her a stone ; All knew, full, well, she did not sin alone. The men who then did on the woman frown Like her had sinn'd — their sins by Christ were known. In tempting Christ, the Devil vainly tried To cause the Savior once to lay aside His faith, that God would give him needful bread. 'Twas thus unto the Savior then he said : [bread. "You're hungry now, now turn these stones to Your Eather will not — cannot give you bread." " 'Tis written thus," replied the Savior then ; "Man shall not live by bread alone, when God intends his friend to keep alive, 3208 By ev'ry word of His that man may live." On highest point of Temple then he plac'd Our Lord. Not even then was he disgrac'd. "Cast down thyself," then did the Devil say, Because you will be saved in any way ; Go and sin no more. John, 8, 11. [Go thy way; from henceforth sin no more.] A bad woman may seem worse, but is really no more worthy of condemnation than a bad man. Lead [take] captive silly women laden with sins. 2 Timothj r , 3, 6. Temptation of Christ. 4 Matthew. Man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live. 8 Deuteronomy, 3. 96 "lis written that God's angels ever keep His people, while they wake and while they sleep." Our Lord knew that the Devil told a lie ; Angels never keep those men who God deny. The Devil did not quote the passage right, As men do now who hate the Gospel's light. The Psalmist wrote for coming men to read, 3220 "God ever safely will his servants lead ; While they travel in their heavenly ways, Angels will keep them all their earthly days." If Christ had thrown himself from Temple high, No angels would have held him up on high ; He would have travel 'd in the downward way ; God would not hear or help him in that day. "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord," the Savior said ; "These words, in scripture, also should be read." On mountain high the Devil takes Christ now ; 3230 "If unto me you will hereafter bow, These kingdoms that you see— on ev'ry side — Will all be yours ; you'll find I have not lied. This world, with all its glory, now I own ; This earth is mine— this earth is mine alone." Altho' he did not own a foot of land, Not even space enough whereon to stand, The Devil falsely said that he could give This world to Christ if he would ever live A servant always true to him alone ; 3240 A richer ruler never was he shown. So, even in this favor'd gospel day Satan tries to steal men's hearts away ; To mortals daily does he falsely say, "The honors of this world I give away, And for my servants make a pleasant way." Too late they find this world he does not own ; He shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands lest thou dash'thy foot against a stone. 91 Ps. 11, 12. The Devil left out the words "in all thy ways." Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God. 6 Deuteronomy, 16. 97 Their lives in sorrow end, and all alone They downward go to darkness and despair, Where never shall they voice of pardon hear. 4 'Get thee hence," Jesus to the Devil said ; "By God, and God alone, thou shouldst be led. 'Tis written : Worship now thy God alone." Discourag'd, Satan left our Lord alone, When angels gave the strength he needed then, And Jesus was prepar'd to save all men. Christ taught his servants how and where to praj r . Man must not faint, but ever humbly pray. When God speaks peace unto a troubl'd soul, And takes a wounded heart and makes it whole, 3260 For ashes beauty gives, a garment makes Of praise, for one whose spirit oft partakes Of heaviness, and gives the oil of joy To mourning hearts who daily then employ Their talents, great and small, to hourly win The men who oft against their maker sin. He wants to hear them always daily pray, And words like these Christ wants them then to say "O Father! Praise to thee from earth and sky ; Now bring thy kingdom to us very nigh. 3270 May Thy will on earth be always done, From early morn till setting sun, Day by day. O give us needful bread : May we always be by thy Spirit led. Our sins forgive, as also we forgive Those who oft against us sin. May we live Where nevermore we shall be basely led Into temptation. As thy word has said, Thou art Jehovah. Thou, and Thou alone, I will in earth and sky forever own. From evil take thy servant far away. May thy great kingdom never pass away. Thou shalt worship no other God. Exodus, 34, 14. How and when to pray. Matt. 6. Men ought always to pray, and not to faint. Luke, 18, 1. To give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Isaiah, 61, 3. Thou must not pray to gain the praise Of men In corners of the streets ; but only when In God's temple, or in a secret place, You '11 hear God speak, you '11 see his smiling face, You must not seek to praise thyself in pray'r — No answer will God give ; he will not hear Those men who thus to him do often pray : But always will he hear, on any day, 3290 The lowly souls that to him humbly pray." "My kingdom in the hearts and homes of men," Christ said, "I'll liken unto virgins ten : Of wise ones only five did once appear, Altho' to wisdom all were very near ; The other five did foolish once appear. They all took lamps to light them on their way. The foolish ones did linger in their way. The wise took oil to cause their lamps to burn — For want of oil they did not backward turn 3300 To those who sold, when all the day was past, Like those who slept and woke too late at. last. "Give us some oil,'' the foolish ones did cry, "You have enough, do not your friends deny." "Not so," the wiser virgins now reply ; "Enough for you and us there cannot be, As very plainly now you all may see." Into the feast the wiser virgins go, With burning lamps, no darkness do they know. The foolish ones have backward turned away, 3310 And now to buy some oil they vainly stray ; They soon return, but find they are too late — The door is shut, 'tis vain for them to wait. How many sleep in sin till death draws nigh ? And at life's end for help do vainly cry. No grace can pious friend then spare, Altho' to God he may be very near,. Parable of the Ten Virgins. Matt. 25. The righteous scarcely are saved. 1 Peter, 4. 99 Scarcely sav'd is ev'ry righteous man; 'Twas ever thus since fall of man began. On earth our Savior wandered far and wide, He had no house wherein his head to hide. "Holes have foxes ; the birds of air have nests." Christ goes from place to place— he nowhere rests. Rest for weary souls in Christ is found, The heavy laden find in him abound Repose from earthly toil and pain and wo ; In heaven fatigue no one can ever know. When helpless men we try to aid, May words, once by the Savior said, Tell us that we also help Him then, 3330 As well as aiding fellow men. When men are tried on judgment day, These are the words that Christ will say : "I was naked but no clothes you gave ; You never did me from fierce hunger save. Tho' sick, yet never did you call on me ; You did not treat me well you '11 plainly see." "When did I see thee without food or clothes, And ever fail my store doors to unclose ?" "You did not help the needy at your door, 3340 They were my friends, and they were very poor." Thus, unto others, will the Savior say, "I have a rich reward for you to-day. You gave me food and clothes when I did need Them on the earth, and now I'll feed You with angelic food, in heaven high, And wipe away all tears from ev'ry eye." The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head. Matt. -8, 20. Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest- Matt. 11, 28. Naked and ye clothed me not. Matt. 25, 43. Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of one of these my brethren ye have it unto me. Matt. 25, 40 100 "Lord ! When did I so much kindness show ? If e'er I did I have forgotten now." "You help'd the needy daily from your store; Now stands, wide open, for your heav'n's door." The last shall bliss eternal know : The first, in darkness, writhe in pain and woe. In speking of one wounded in his way, Christ unto his people thus did say, " 'Tho' Priest and Levite pass'd him by, A noble hearted man did try To bind his wounds, and give him ease from pain ; And made arrangements for him to remain At friendly inn, and all the charges paid ; 3360 And even promis'd then his future aid. Who was the neighbor of this wounded man," Jesus said, "now tell me if you can ?" The lawyer said, "the man who tried to save His fellow man, from anguish and the grave." "Thy neighbor — it is he whom thou Hast pow'r to aid and bless ; Whose aching heart, or burning brow, Thy soothing hand may press. Thy neighbor. 'Tis that weary man 3370 Whose years are at their brim ; Bent down with hunger, toil and pain ; Go feed and shelter him. Where 'er thou meetest a human form, Less favor'd than thine own ; Eemember, 'tis thy neighbor warm, Thy brother or thy son." When near Jerusalem, one day, These words of sorrow Christ did say, "O Jerusalem! Jerusalem! thou That dost the Prophets kill. I'd let' thee know How oft I would thy children gather, Naked, and ye clothed me. 25 Matt. 36, Who is my neighbor ? Luke, 10, 36. Christ weeping over Jerusalem. Matt. 28, and Luke 19. 101 As a hen her chickens calls together,. To shelter find beneath her wings. But you would not listen to the things, That to your heav'nly peace belong, Tho' weak you would not come unto the strong* For strength. Soon shall your house be desolate, Truth is hidden now from you. It is too late To see me as your Savior now. 3390 Never will you to my altar bow, Until you say, "Blessed now is he Who comes to grant to sinners pardon free." If man would God his maker better know, If he would love to fellow creatures show, If more of truth he daily tries to know. If shining, like a star, on earth below, And evermore in heaven pure and high ; He would the highest place find in the sky. Work while the day lasts. No work of any value here below, No great wisdom can we ever know, Unless we, daily, strike a heavy blow. Let us strike poverty a stunning blow. If always short of money here below ; All of us may be rich in thought and mind. Heavenly wealth we can truly find. Work while the day lasts. Christ, speaking of the earthly wealth of men, Be f erred to one possess 'd of talents ten ; 3410 That he had increas'd from talents five, By work well done that did much profit give. And one that had received but talents two, That traded them, and likewise added two ; Whose ruler gave them stations very high, Because he saw that they did bravely try To help themselves, and thus did upward rise, Work while the day lasts. I [or we] must work the works of him that sent me while it is day. The nigh cometh when no man can work. John, 9, 4. He that received the five talents traded with the same and made them other five talents. Matt. 25. 102 As all must do to live above the skies, While one his only talent hid away, And said he never tried to make it pay. Work while the day lasts. So the moon might to the sun say, "Because I cannot rule the day, And because my light is small, I will not shine, at night, at all." ;.-. J The brook might to the river say, "Like you I cannot bear the sway ; No ships can on my bosom sail, I know I never can prevail. I am so very weak and small, 3430 I will not try to flow at all. " The hill might to the high mountain say, "I cannot rise as high as you to-day ; I will not rise, at all, on any day." The sailing craft might to the steamer say, "I cannot sail as fast as you to-day. I will not try to sail on any clay." Work while the day lasts. To all Christ would these words forever say, "Strike ev'ry error down — and strike to-day. 3440 Strike very hard, in all, and ev'ry way ; Strike right and left, at errors great and small. Strike now ! or you may never strike at all." Work while the day lasts. Christ spoke of a sin that he will ne'er forgive, That sin no man can e'er commit and live Because "There is a line by us unseen, That crosses ev'ry path ; The hidden boundary between God's patience and his wrath ; To pass that limit is to die — Behold, now is the accepted [or acceptable] time. Behold, now is the d^y of Salvation. 2 Cor. 6, 2. The unpardonable sin. Matt. 12, 31. 103 To die as if by stealth ; It does not quench the beaming eye, Nor pale the glow of health. He feels perchance that all is well, And ev'ry fear is calmed. He lives ; he dies ; he wakes in hell, Not only doom'd but damn'd." Some lab'rers, while working in a field, Found like prices did each one's labor yield. Some bore their burden, in the heat of day, But, at the time that they receiv'd their pay, Those who lab 'red at the close of day Receiv'd as much as those who lab'red more. "Our pay we think," the former said, "is poor, Because, of all the work, we did the most. While some have gain'd we've surely lost." This answer to those lab'rers quickly came, "My friends ! your price for work did you not name ? I only give those men what is mine own ; I surely may thus make my kindness known." So often last are first and first are last ; And vilest men oft get to heav'n at last. While some who early seek for pardon find, No brighter heav'n and oft no better mind 3475 Than some who later also heav'n find. Christ once an answer did not wish to give, Because dishonest men would not receive That answer in a light both good and true, The hearts of those dishonest men he knew, 3480 He therefore said, "from whence did John baptise ; From heav'n or men ? you now will me oblige, By plainly telling what you think to me. The truth we then will clearly try to see. Parable of the laborers. Matt. 20. The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent [man of violence] take it by force. Matt. 11, 12. Baptism of John. Was it of heaven or oi men ? Matt. 21. Dilemma of the chief Priests and Elders.^ 104 Those men dar'd not an answer then to give. They fear'd they very soon might cease to live If they had said, "John's pow'r came from men.'' They could not say it came from heav'n when They knew Jesus might to them truly say, "Why not then believe in him to-day ?" 3490 They said, "the reason now we cannot tell." Jesus said, "neither will I to you tell, Who gave the pow'r I now so freely use, No horn of this dilemma dare you choose." God said, "The soul that sinneth it shall die." So none should fear when little infants die For sinful acts an infant cannot do, And an ancient proverb is not true ; That children's teeth are set on edge By father's sin. For that is sacrilege 3500 Christ said, "heaven is compos'd of children small, And such can never suffer by man's fall. Truly Adam's fall has shapen man in sin, But Adam's fall compels no man to sin ; Man truly reaps what he himself has sown — 3505 The sins he suffers for are all his own. Christ's greatest work is saving man from sin. Whene'r we see a ruin'd man begin Of such is the kingdom of heaven. Matt. 19, 14. The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's ieeth are set on edge. Ezekiel, 18, 2. The soul that sinneth it shall die. Ezekiel, 18, 4. The sins of the fathers are visited upon their children in this sense. Diseases are transmitted to posterity. By sin came death, so death has passed upon all men — temporal death because of the sin of our first parents — eternal death be- cause all persons of mature age have committed actual sin. Rom. 5, 12. All men are dead in trespasses and in sins. But little children, although born in sin are in a saved state because they have never committed any actual sin. Christ died for them and therefore, of them, it may be truly said, "that as in Adam all die even so in Christ shall all be made alive." Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. 51 Psalm, 5. Despise not one of these little ones for I say unto you that in heaven thir an- gels do always behold the face of my father which is in heaven. Matt. 18, 10. All who are in Christ are saved. See Exodus, 20, Ephesians, 2, 1. 1 Cor. 15, 22. 2 Cor. 5, 17. Little children may be said to be in Christ because they have never committed actual sin so as to be out of Christ. They cannot do God's will but Christ does it for them. Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap. Gal. 6, 7. 105 ? Bove earth to rise and seek a heav'n fair, We know the Christ of Galilee is near. "Take not my friends from earth away," Christ did unto his Father pray ; "But keep them from the darkness and the sin Of earth — and help them heav'n at last to win." Jesus never tried himself to save, Either from sorrow or the grave ; Forgetting self, he always tried The mourner's heart to cheer. He laid aside Heaven's diadem that he once did wear. In faded garments did he once appear, That man in higher station might appear. He wore a crown of thorns that man might wear A spotless robe of light, with golden crown. He left a palace high, and great renown, For judgment hall, where men on him did frown, And then condemn'd him unto cruel death. He died forgiving them with latest breath. His body guard of angels did he leave, So strangely did he unto sorrow cleave, To suffer at the hands of cruel foes. No sin he knew, but cruel death he chose, To save a world of sinners lost. Ah, who can tell the sorrow that it cost Him when "My God ! my God !" he cried, "Why Hast thou forsaken me ? O how can I Endure the hiding of Thy lovely face ? This death is hard, but harder this disgrace." Christ lov'd so much his fellow men to save He thought not of his pain, when near his grave. When, 'mid the faithless, only faithful found, Pure woman's love did then for him abound ; And they wept because their friend was led to die, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Luke, 23, 34. My God ! my God ! 'why hast thou forsaken me ? Matt. 27, 46. Daughters of Jerusalem! weep not for me but weep for yourselves and for your children. Luke, 23, 28. To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise. * Luke, 23, 43. 106 Jesus saw their tears and heard their cry. He said, "daughters weep not now for me, Because much sorrow you will shortly see. Weep for yourselves and for your children dear ; Because your time of punishment is near." How quickly did the Savior once reply, To one he knew was just about to die ? "In thy kingdom Lord remember me, 3550 'Tho' I confess I have offended thee, My suff 'ring now is just. I know it well : O save my soul and body now from hell ! For sins of men this cruel death you die, Our crimes are great and we deserve to die, But unto all thou hast, most plainly shown, The sins you suffer for are not your own." The dying thief these words to Christ did say. While, upon a cruel cross, he hung one day. This answer then the Savior to him gave, 3560 "Our bodies soon must lie within the grave, But with me will thy spirit be this day, For I will lead you to the realms of day, To Paradise this very day, we go ; And no more pain or death you'll ever know." So man to Paradise may quickly go. And Christ the way to him will surely show. Man only needs to look above and live, For Christ will quickly to him pardon give : Unbaptis'd the thief to heaven went. 3570 He took one step to bliss from punishment. At cross some cried, "Himself he cannot save!" They should have said, "Himself he will not save." If Jesus saves himself men must be lost. None but Jesus can ever tell the cost Of saving sinful men from endless woe, Baptism, altho' necessary, is not a saving ordinance and therefore not indis- pensable. In Jestis Christ neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircum- cision but faith [working or wrought through love] which worketh by love. Gal. 5, 6. He saved others, himself he cannot save. Matt. 27, 42. 107 Oh that all might Jesus better know ! Many men, even in this present day, With light above them shining on their way, ' Have said of them, "themselves they cannot save." 3580 They find for others life — but for themselves a grave. They sink, at last, beneath the ocean wave. Forgetting self, they boldly try to save Their fellow men. Then sink, no more to rise, Till upward call'd to home above the skies. I ask'd the heav'ns "what foe could crucify The Lord of all who reigns above the sky ?" The heav'ns reply, " 'twas man who kill'd his Lord, And still refuses to obey his word- : We took the sunlight from the earth away, 3590 And darken'd part of that eventful day." I ask'd the sea. The sea replied, " 'twas man My weaves in wildness and confusion ran. Three hours, like days Christ laid in death's embrace My bosom heav'd and darken'd was my face." I ask'd the earth. The earth replied, " 'twas man, When Jesus died, then inward pains began To rend my bosom. From those rents arose The buried dead. And, ere that day did close, Appear'd alive. For man shall rise again, 3600 And all the dead new bodies shall regain." To smiling man I went and thus I said, "The 'Prince of life, in tomb, lies cold and dead. Who kill'd Jehovah Lord of earth and sky ?" He turn'd aside and made me no reply. Thinkest thou that I cannot [beseech my father] now pray to my father and he shall [even now send me] presently give me more than twelve legions of an- gels. Matt. 26, 53. The crucifixion. Matt. 27. And the third day he shall rise again [be raised up.] Matt. 20, 19. Verily this was a righteous man. Truly this was the son of God. Mark 15, and Luke 23. [Certainly this was a righteous man. Truly this man was the son of God] the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish or spot. 1 Peter, 1, 19. 108 'Tho' Jesus shar'd the weakness of man's race, No sin, in him, could any being trace A lamb without a single spot was he. From ev'ry blemish was he fully free. From father God came purity of heart. . From mother, weakness, with his mortal part. His enemies, at his cross, did say, "Christ is a righteous man, in ev'ry way, Truly, he does Jehovah's nature share ; Before his bar we all must soon appear." "He is the son of God." says earth and sky. "This King of Kings we dare not now deny, For none but God a death like this could die." Soon after Jesus Christ was crucified, To go to Emmaus some brethren tried, 3620 But, as they travell'd in their weary way, A stranger, speaking of Christ's death, did say, "Ought not Christ to have suffer 'd in the way He did, that man might see a brighter day ?" The scriptures, then, he made so very plain, They wish'd he always would with them remain. The hearts of those disciples then did burn, As homeward, full of joy, they did return. Christ does the holy bible yet explain, He walks with men, he makes his scriptures plain. 3630 Many men in dreams do not believe, And scarce attention do they ever give, To those who tell of visions in the night, And, neither in the darkness or the light, Do they love to hear a dream's news ; 3635 For such accounts are foreign to their views. The journey to Emmaus. Luke, 24. Lo I am with you always even unto the end of the world. Matt. 28, 20. Pilate and Christ. Pilate was like some of our modern politicians who are as venal as the daugh- ters of shame, and would sell soul and body for a little popularity. Come out from among them and be ye separate and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you and will be a father unto you, and ye shall be [to me] my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. 2 Cor. 6, 17, 18. 109 Thus unto Pilate did Paulina say, "Husband ! my dream was very strange to-day. I dream 't of Jesus who is good and true. Take my advice no harm now to him do." [clean. 3640 'Tho' wash'd were Pilate's hands they were not Pretended innocence can little mean. He gave our Lord to men to crucify. He said, "by cruel cross now let him die. I find no fault in Jesus good and true, Altho' to death I give him now to you." Pilate fear'd the people of his day And from the voice of reason turn'd away. His better nature said, "let Christ alone. In moral beauty has he brightly shone." 3650 E'en now how many reason in this way, "I'll wash my hands from sin, this very day, With water pure they surely will be clean ; By such an act. I'll surely show I'm clean. And clear from Jesus' blood you shed this day That I am innocent you all must say." But water cannot wash men's sins away. To make men pure there's but a single way. That path all find who unto Jesus go, Behold the man! John, 19, 5. That road the bible does most plainly show. The man by all condemn'd gave pardon full and Unto a thief who did in spirit bend his knee, [free,. And gave his heart to Jesus the messiah true. • Paulina the wife of Pilate never recovered from the shock her gentle spirit re- ceived on the day of Christ's crucifixion. She refused to visit places of amuse- ment and spent the most of her time in reading, meditation, and prayer. She had a distant view of Calvary, and the grotto where Christ smiled upon her as he passed to crucifixion, from her palace. Like a smitten flower, she faded grad- ually away in the midst of others which bloomed around her, and, when she was fast sinking into the cold embrace of death, she felt Christ's smile play around her throbbing heart and still its beatings, and from her clouded mind chase the dread gloom away. When her end approached and friends gathered around her couch to see her die she fixed her eyes upon the distant cross of Jesus which was still left standing on Golgotha, and was heard to whisper, "In death my Lord remember me," and then her countenance was lit up with an un- earthly radiance which gleamed like glory on her pallid cheek, and she faintly said, "Lord Jesus receive my spirit," and, as fades away the summer cloud, or as the transit of a beautiful star, her gentle spirit passed away to join her beau- tiful boy Calypso in the land of the blest. Over the entrance to her tomb was: inscribed, "Paulina the Christian." 110 This Jesus will his spirit quickly give to you. Thus Pilate might have quickly found a pardon too, If he had bow'd his spirit unto Jesus true. Pilate said, "behold the man ! he is your king Let ev'ry Jew now tribute to him bring." "Behold the man ! how glorious he ? Before his foes he stands unaw'd 3670 And, without wrong or blasphemy, He claims equality with God." Behold the man ! by all condemn'd Assaulted by an host of foes, By Jews and Gentiles both contemn'd ; A man of sorrow and of woes. "Behold tue man ! How weak he seems ? His awful word inspires no fear, But sure shall he who now blasphemes Before his judgment seat appear." 3680 How very foolish Pilate made the Jews appear, By the inscription that he wrote for Christ to wear. "This is the King of the Jews we crucify." It plainly said to all, "Our King we doom to die." No one can sin without becoming blind ; And men do light, as well as pardon find : When, leaving earth and earthly things behind, They seek the crowns that christians love to wear, The home above Christ does for man prepare. On solid rock all christian churches stand, 3690 The finest structures are they in the land. When Peter said, "thou art the Christ alone," Of living God the Son : in splendor shone, There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Acts, 4, 12. [Neither, is there any other name under heaven that is given among men wherein we must be saved.] The entrance of thy words giveth light. 119 Psalm, 130. Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of [Hades] hell shall not prevail against it. Matt. 16, 18. Ill A truth that flesh and blood could ne'er reveal ; Nor all the pow'rs of earth or hell conceal. 'Twas on this truth, alone, that Christ did build His church. With praises may it e'er be fill'd. Thrice Peter did his Lord deny, But ev'ry day some men deny The Lord who died on calvary 3700 To set the vilest sinners free. Thro' sudden trial Peter fell ; But many take the way to hell Thro' settled purpose of their mind. They say, "Heaven we will never find Thro' Christ, but thro' some other door; We hate that entrance more and more. We'll climb up in some other way — But unto Christ we'll never pray. Peter did not mean thus to deny His Lord. He rather meant to try To boldly own him Lord of all : He was astonish'd at his fall. Satan deceiv'd him on that day, By rashness was he led astray. "I'll follow you where'er you go, And none shall more devotion show," He said to Jesus ere he fell ; He thought he knew himself full well. » But Peter did not know his heart 3720 Enough to choose a better part. He did not long remain in sin, He was so anxious heav'n to win ; Peter denies Christ. Matt. 26. He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold [into the fold of the sheep] but climbeth up some other way, is a thief and a robber — John, 10, 1. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. — Jer. 17, 9. We should not trust such hearts. We ought to ask God to give us new hearts. And when thou art converted strengthen thy brethren. — Luke, 22, 32. [And do thou when once thou hast turned again, stablish thy brethren.] The Devil,' as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. — 1 Peter, 5, 8. 112 A look from Jesus and he wept ! Ko longer then his manhood slept, In after years these words he wrote— 'Twere well that many should them quote : "Satan like a roaring lion goes, And dang'rous is he to his foes ; Be sober therefore in your way, 3730 And daily watch and fervent pray." The rainbow and the cloud must pass away, So beauteous friends are not allowed to stay To brighten all of life's swiftly passing day. The stars are far above us in the sky, While here we cannot reach them tho' we try. But there is a land where rainbows never fade, Where Christ has heav'nly mansions for us made ; Where beings pure shall near us ever be, Where we, from sin and sorrow ever free, With Christ shall dwell to all eternity. •The stars, like islands, in the heavenly ocean sleep, No storms across that ocean's bosom ever sweep, With surrounding objects all so bright and fair, We'll soon forget the sorrow that we suffer'd here. The heav'n that Paul saw no mortal man can know Thro' any words men use while here below. It is in splendor so exceeding rare, No earthly scenes, however good or fair, With it can we at any time compare. 3750 In land of splendor, so exceeding rare, We'll soon forget all pain we suffer'd here. The vision that John did in Patmos see I love to read about. By faith I see The pearly gates — the streets of shining gold And feel the peace that never can be told ; But when Paul does to me most plainly say Paul heard, in Paradise, wherein he was caught up, unspeakable words, not lawful [or possible] to utter. 2 Cor. 12, 4. If heaven could be described, its glory could not be transcendant, its happi- ness ''could not be unbounded. 113 That none, on earth, can ever find a way To plainly tell about the heav'n he saw, My spirit warms ; and I closer draw 3760 To God. And heaven seems much brighter yet ; Those words of Paul I never can forget. Some very noble words Paul once did say : "I count all things but loss, in ev'ry way, For excellency of knowing well Of Jesus' way to save my soul from hell," "Faith without works is dead," A sacred writer said. That holy penman also wrote, "Show me thy faith that I may note, One spoke of faith yet did no work, And I'll show my faith by my work. For shadows never can be found, Where substances do not abound. They are but copies, at the best, As men of sense will all attest. Faith is the shadow of work done. On earth is holy work begun. 'Tis work in Jesus to believe, ■ 'Tis work a holy life to live. 3780 When Christ, to man, appears again Each sightless eye shall sight regain. And all shall see him, face to face, Some pleasure feel — and some disgrace ; Then clouds about him will he wear, Unto his friends he will be near, The first and last, for evermore, is he. I count all things but loss [to be loss] for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord. — Philippians, 3, 8. Show me thy faith without thy works, and I'll show thee my faith by my works. James, 2, 18. [Show me thy faith apart from thy works, and I, by my works, will show thee my faith.] It is best to have three kinds of faith, faith in God that he is able and willing to do what he has promised, faith in ourselves that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us, [Phil. 4, 13.] and faith in man that, altho' fallen low, he may be raised up to a higher and better life. Behold he cometh with [the] olouds and every eye shall see him. Rev. 1, 7. Christ being first and last must be eternal. 114 A better friend no man shall ever see. Jesus will force no man against his will, For such keep of the same opinion still. He often knocks at ev'ry human heart 3791 And says, "I offer you a better part Of life than all this world can ever give. Now give thy will to me and ever live In heav'nly beauty, like a fragrant rose. Open thy heart to me — thy mind unclose, And lay before me all thy naked soul, I'll heal thy sinful wounds and make thee whole." Like gold, all christian people shine, Because their brightness is divine, They stand the storms of earth and yet remain Unmov'd. And better manhood they regain. While, like baser metals, others rust ; Their highest hopes are written in the dust. God's churches are like candlesticks of gold. They spread the light around for young and old. They are not light, for God alone is light, But, in the darkest shades of heathen night, They spread God's truth, from pole to pole, And ev'ry day they tell each ruin'd soul, "In Jesus peace and pardon may be found, 3811 In Christ alone does light and truth abound." Like shining stars do holy men appear, Heav'nly robes of light they always wear. Among the candlesticks the Savior walks* And often to his faithful servant talks. In his hand he holds him safely, day by day, None can ever pluck him from his hand away, For, by his light, he shines his darkness all away. Behold I stand at the door and knock. Rev. 3, 20. I saw seven golden candlesticks, or light bearers, or churches. Rev. 1, 12. Having done all to stand. Ephesians, 6, 13. The wicked do not stand but fall. The wicked flee when no man pursueth but the righteous are' bold as a, lion. Proverbs, 28, 1 God is light and in him is no darkness at all. 1 John, 1, 5. 115 Seven perfection is to represent : 3820 As by seven days a perfect week is meant. In Patmos, unto John did Jesus say, "I was dead, but yet I live to-day ; And I intend to live for evermore, I have the keys of death and hell, yea more, In my right hand seven shining stars I hold ; Those stars are angels, pure are they like gold, They preach my gospel to their fellow men, I died for sinners and I rose again." The men who take no int'rest in God's word, 3830 Shall surely perish by his two edg'd sword. Better is it to be hot or cold Than lukewarm. For even those who are cold, May warmth from holy sunshine soon receive, Soon may this warmth the breathing spirit give. But lukewarm souls, tho' in the heav'nly way, Are passing to the dark and downward way ; They know the shining path, yet turn aside, And all God's holy light within them hide. Churches are found in many lands, Where worship many heathen bands ; Who unto Saints do daily pray, And call on men to lead their way. The mother of our Lord they deify. And seldom to the Christ apply. To the holy virgin do they pray, "Ask thy son to lead us in his way Of truth, and take our sins away." The Virgin never can be everywhere, He held [had] in his right hand [the best place] seven stars. Rev. 1, 16. Neither shall any pluck them out of niy hand. John, 10, 28. [No one shall snatch them out of my hand.] Seven represents perfection. [Perfect number.] I am he that liveth and was dead. Rev. 1, 18. [1 am the living one and I was dead.] Because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Rev. 3, 16. Papal churches described. Rev. 13, 17, 18. 116 E'en tho' alive she could not hear all pray 'r. ; 3850 They pray in vain for she is dead, And she can neither hear nor lead Them in the way of truth. For Christ alone Is God as well as man. 'Tis fully shown In word of God. He reigns supreme. The sacred writers' highest theme 3856 Is Jesus, and his pow'r to save All men from darkness and the grave. They teach, "No priest must take a wife. But must be single all his life. From meat alone they often fast, These errors cannot always last. From meat man should not fast alone, Is, by the bible, fully shown. Fast from sin, heavy burdens now undo ; To God, your maker, henceforth be more true. Neither Matthew, Luke, or John, Can bless the bed that we lie on : For dead men cannot hear, ■ And man cannot be everywhere. 3870 Like a woman does this church appear, Seven hills are round about her near. Seven heads and ten horns she truly wears, As a wild savage beast she oft appears. Blood of Saints and Prophets has she shed, And all her pathway with men's blood is red. Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1 Cor. 3, 11. Forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats. 1 Timothy, 4, 3. Is not this the fast that I have chosen to loose the bands of wickedness, to un- do the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke. Isaiah, 58, 6. How much like the sayings Of Christ are the words of Isaiah ? Fasting on one day out of seven has led many to act wickedly on other days, and criminals have plead in extenuation of certain crimes that they were not committed on Friday. It is best to fast every day from what is wrong. If meat [maketh my brother to stumblej make my brother to offend I will eat no flesh [for evermore] while the world stands. 1 Cor. 8, 13. For the same rea- son we should not pray on Sundays alone, but every day.- Pray without ceasing . 1 Thess. 5, 17. We ought to be every day christians. In her was found the blood of Prophets and Saints. Rev. 1 8, 24. Speaking lies in hypocrisy [hypoc- risy of men that speak lies.] 1 Timothy, 4, 2. 117 This woman is a city fair, Her head in grandeur does she rear. Serene she sits upon her seven hills. Her praise on many lips. She ever fills 3881) All lands with lies, and crime in ev'ry form, And never tries her people to reform. The horns are kingdoms that she rules, She hates the wisdom of the schools, Those horns upon this beast will turn, They'll hate her, and her flesh they'll burn ; For truth must stand and ev'ry error fall, And Jesus shall be crown'd the Lord of all. The bodies of God's saints have turn'd to clay, But their words are with us here to-day. Their purest, brightest, thoughts are in a bqdk ; There, for wisdom, let us often look ; And there we'll always truly find 'Tho' dead, they've left us all their mind ; Because their better manhood cannot die : We read their w T ords and feel that God is nigh. May christians never worship human bones, Or sacred shrines, or graves, or rocks, or stones. In Patmos did John see, in vision fair, The tree of life, its head in beauty rear. 3900 The pearly gates were open'd to his view : Heav'n's glories then, by sight, he truly knew. He saw the living throne the sapphire blaze, Where even angels tremble while they gaze. "Have you a name to live and are you alive ? To Jesus then your daily praises give. Thy hopes are they steadfast and holy, and high ? Are they.built on a rock ? are they raised to the sky ? Thy deep secret yearnings, — oh ! whither point they, To the triumphs of earth, to the toys of a day ? Tho' dead they speak. Hebrews, 11, 4. The tree of life. Rev. 22, 2. Thou hasT; a name that thou livest and [thou] art dead. Rev. 3, 1. 118 3910 Thy friendships and feelings — doth impulse prevail, To make them and mar them, as wind swells the sail? Thy life's ruling passion — thy being's first aim. What are they ? and yield they contentment, or shame?'* Bright star ey'd science never yet did see, The God who does from sin and sorrow free. If man would God his better maker know, And angel must, to him, his maker show. Thro' vail of flesh he cannot clearly see, Heav'n's fields of living green and glassy sea. 3920 Its walls of sapphire and its pearly gates Show the great wealth that for the christian waits. An angel show'd to John the city fair, Where God and Christ will be forever near ; To all who, daily, on God's grace depend, And truly serve him to life's latest end. No night in this fair land is ever known : A sun will shine — as suns have never shone. The God of earth and sky will reign alone J He'll be the light of everlasting day, 3930 And, by his brightness shine from man away All his darkness — turn his night to-day, And pain and death, forever, drive away. On that dire day when Christ appears again, All of the buried dead shall rise again. And those who lov'd him here will love him then, And ever with their heav'nly friend remain. But dreadful fears shall seize all wicked men. They'll hide themselves in dens, and rocks, and caves, And wish, for them, they were forever graves; They'll cry, "Kocks upon us fall! mountains hid© Us from the Lord. At his bleeding -side On earth, he ofter'd pardon full and free. Now from his presence would we gladly flee." He showed me a [river of water of life, bright as crystal] pure river of water of life. Rev. 22, 1. And there shall be [night no more] no night there-. Rev. 22, 5. And I saw the dead {the great and the small standing before the throne] small and great stand before God. Rev. 20 1 2. # And said [they say] to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us." ^Rev. 6, 16. 119 We say to ev'ry man who tells a lie, "You'll never see the world above the sky, Or ever get into a heaven fair, 3947 Unless, hourly, you look upward there, And search for truth as for hidden gold, And feel that peace that never can be told : For truth must stand and ev'ry error fall, And Jesus shall be crown'd the Lord of all. 'Twas true in ev'ry former age, And known to savage, saint and sage. That error falls to rise no more, 3955 While truth shines bright, from shore to shore Of time— and shines forevermore." "The book of truth I'd rather own Than all the gold or gems That e'er on monarch's coffers shone, 39H0 Or all their diadems. Yea, with the seas one, chrysolite, The earth a golden ball, And diamonds all the stars of night — God's book were worth them all." And [every one that] whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. Rev. 22, 15. Search for truth as for hidden treasure. Proverbs, 2, 4. The peace of God which passeth all understanding. Phillippians, 4, 7. Truth, like its author, is the same yesterday, to-day, and forevermore. The Bible the best of books. 120 'Written when the author was 14 years of age.) Let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his. Numbers, 23, 10. I would not die like those who have No hope beyond the gloomy grave. I would not bathe in seas of fire, When life's sad fitful dream is o'er. I would not madly plunge my soul 3970 In ruin without end. Nor would I dare to stand before my God, With soul unwash'd in Jesus' blood. Oh no ! I'd rather die like those Who joyous sing, when earth recedes, And all its joys forever, from Their view. "I see a world on high ; Where clouds and darkness cannot come, Where all are dress'd in garments white, And often bathe their weary souls In seas of heavenly rest supplied By streams from Jesus' flowing wounds. Like Baalam son of Balak would I say : "Let me like the right'ous Die. O ! let my last end be like His." 121 The Righteous shall flourish like the Palm Tree. Psalm 92, 12. How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight ? Deut. 32, 30. As the palm does its head in beauty rear, So do the great, in moral beauty rare, Their higher natures hold to heaven's view, And say to all, "Behold the tried and true !" 3990 As the palm does above its fellows rise, So holy men above the wicked rise ; And daily do they upward point and say, "There stands my home in land of endless day!" As the palm unto the earth is anchor'd fast. So christians, in their liberty, stand fast. With thousand roots the palm trees firmly stand ; So, rooted well in love, no hostile band Can pluck the christian from the Savior's hand. The Arabs of the palm trees truly say, "To make them thrive this is the only way : Their feet must always in the water be — Their heads expos 'd to sunshine full and free." So must God's river flow and ever be, Near saints, that they may daily bathe, and free And cleanse themselves from ev'ry earthly sin ; Drink its waters, more and more, and thus begin To rise above this world of sin and care — A heav'nly crown begin to win and wear. Their icy hearts make warm by Jesus' love, 4010 And get their light and warmth from heav'n above. As from the roots of palm trees scions rise In numbers great — we view them with surprise ; So always from the good and great, arise In ev'ry land, men destin'd for the skies. One of them shall a thousand put to flight, Of those who ever dwell in error's night ; Two put ten thousand wicked men to flight : Thus may we always, very plainly see, Combin'd are christians sure of victory. The river of God. Psalm, 65, 9. Everything shall live where the river conies. Ezekiel, 47, 9. The righteous have their part in the first resurrection. Kev. 20, 6. 122 (Theioords inbrackets are from the New Version of the Testament.) Universalism Proved to be Untrue. I would rather any day believe, That never did I either breathe or live Than, speaking of the world of endless woe, Dare to say that such a world no man shall know. If I did thus believe I'd have to say, "The bible is not true, I will not pray." Then sacred Prophets and the Priests of old, Of Christ, the greatest lies have often told. Christ said he came on earth to save the lost. These words could not be true if none are lost. •4030 For sinners surely did Christ die in vain, If, without help, all men could heav'n gain. What need of judging men, on final day, If all may in one place forever stay ? Why speak of Jesus and his power to save, If ev'ry one himself may fully save ? Why speak of earth as place of trial great, If none have fallen from their high estate ? If all must in one place forever stay, Then the almighty chose a foolish way, 4040 To take man to a land of endless day. Christ also left the world above in vain. The suff 'rings of the good and great are vain. Perfection also, even in the skies, Were vain, for man would surely upward rise ; And wisdom none would very highly prize Unless there be an endless hell, Why does our father to us tell That soul and body, both in hell, Must be destroy 'd ; unless we fear The God who does for man prepare A home within his heav'n fair May we, forever, praise him there. What need of bible or a church at all, If man did not from a higher station fall. If all are sav'd, the bible is not true. From any, and from ev'ry point of view, Universalism's prov'd to be untrue. For the son of man [came] is come to [seek and to] save that which was lost. Luke, 19. 10. Fear him which is able to destroy both soul and boiy in hell. Matt. 10, 28. 123 An Answer to those who say that the Bible contradicts itself and is full of Inconsistencies. Want of harmony in the bible is not shown, 'Tis in the human heart that harmony's unknown. 4060 The hearts of sinful men are like the troubled sea, From sinful fear they never can be fully free. Want of harmony the wicked truly find, But 'tis between their lower nature and their mind. Let the higher o'er the lower man now rise, And you shall live forever happy in the skies. And as you think how Christ has sav'd your soul from hell, You'll truly say, "My Jesus has done all things well." God's word you'll better love from day to day. He'll make his word so plain that you will say, 4070 "Lord ever keep me in the narrow way." Say to God — and say it now, "Oh search my heart, I'm trying now to choose and act a better part. My heart deceitful is 'bove ev'ry thing, 4074 Just as it is — that heart to thee I bring." The wicked are like the troubled sea. Isaiah, 57, 20. He hath done all things well. Mark, 7, 37. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Jer. 17, 9. If a man told me that a building was erected from materials furnished and manufactured into the roof, pillars, walls, windows and doors, by men in past ages — the roof built one thousand years ago, the windows five hundred years after, the pillars four hundred years after, the walls two hundred years later, and the doors one hundred years after, and that when they were placed together they all fitted exactly, and that all this was brought about by chance — I would say that such a thing was impossible, and could only be done by the superin- tendence of one mind — the mind of a great Architect. Such a building, in a spiritual sense, is the bible. One great mind, the mind of God, inspired men to write as they have done in different ages of the world ; and when the thoughts of the different writers are placed side by side, as they a*e in the bible, the most marvellous harmony is found to pervade every page of this wonderful book. Another book like this cannot be found in the wide world, and this is one of the strongest proofs that God is its author. The triune God — one God and three persons — the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. How beautiful the explana- tion of the three in one, as given by the Indian, who said that water was an illustration of the "trinity in unity," and pointed to the river near which he was standing, saying, "There is the Water, the Ice, and the Snow — three in one sense, and yet these three are one." 124 The Power of Love. The clouds are only water in the sky, Kefin'd and elevated there. Those golden arches that the heavens dye, While on this earth look'd not so fair. Some of that water in the ditch was seen. 4080 Some in the river once did flow ; Some on the spider's webs was seen, between The tiny blades of grass that grow. When Christ man's moral sun appears again, A glory round him will we see. Then righteous men shall Paradise regain ; And blended, like a glassy sea, His friends with him shall ever be : Like drops of water they shall mingled be, The great are like the water from the river deep : 4090 The children like the drops of morning dew Upon the spider's webs we often view. The vile, like waters dark and foul that ever keep Disease about this world so fair, cause men to weep, And doom the young unto an early grave, Where none shall e'er be found to hear or save. 'Twas love that drew them from the land of dark despair— 'Twas christian love that sav'd and gently plac'd them there — 'Twas love that gave them all the beauty that they wear. For christians rais'd them up in arms of pray'r, 4100 God's arms of love are now beneath them there. Christ drew them to his high and better land. As air beneath the clouds does always stand, So always will God 'neath his people stand : Between them and an endless hell forever be ; And Christ will be their friend to all eternity. The power of love. Before the throne (as it were a glassy sea) was a sea of glass. Rev. 4, 6. Love is the fulfilling (fulfilment) of the law. Romans, 13, 10. Underneath are the everlasting arms. Deut. 33, 27. 125 Lead me to the Rock that is Higher than I. 61 Psalm, 2 V. My way is dark— the light I cannot see, From mists and fogs Lord set my spirit free ! Oh lead me higher up the mountain side ! In purer, higher, clime I would abide. 4110 O Lord take now possession of my heart ! I now would choose and act a better part. I feel so very wayward, weak and small, I dare not trust my foolish self at all. O lead me to the rock of ages, high 'Bove ev'ry rock within this world or sky ; 'Twill always stand unrivall'd and alone, ... There light of heav'nly day has ever shone. That light will shine when time shall be no more, May I stand on that rock for evermore. 4120 O Jesus ! thou must be my staff and stay. Thou art my life, my light, my joy, my way. Take my hand and lead me to the realms of day, Now shine the darkness o£ my heart away. 126 Never Strike a Fallen Man. Assassins strike their victims while asleep, But true warriors never malice keep ; They always give their foes a chance to fight ; They strike not in the dark, but in the light : They never trample on the fallen foe, But always do they truest bravery show. 4130 Then never strike a fallen man, But try to help him all you can. 'Bove the warrior does the christian rise, To aid a fallen foe he quickly flies ; And always tries to help his brother man, When fallen low, with all the help he can. Then never strike a fallen man, But try to help him all you can. Oh! never laugh when drundards prostrate lie, But to bless and save them boldly try. The time you spend to save them is not lost ; Then save them, if you can, at any cost. Don't frown upon them, tho' they sink so low— Their strong temptations you may never know. Then never strike a fallen man, 4145 But quickly help him all you can. 127 1 Have yet Many Tilings to saij unto You, but Ye cannot Bear them Nbiv. John, 16, 12. We are but children here below ; But little of God's truth we know. He tells us all the truth that we can bear ; We'll wiser be when in a world more fair. 4150 We see but part of all God's works and ways ; But yet we know enough to love and praise The almighty ruler of the skies, Who never to his children e'er denies The pow'r to make them wise and good and true ; Oh that wicked men their Maker better knew ! For ever shines a very brilliant light In pathway of the just. There is no night So dark as to blot out a single star In moral sky, of those engag'd in war 4160 Against alluring sin, in ev'ry form ; And all who seek to bring about reform, Wherever human feet have trod, Will get the help they need from God, God will tell us plainer, in a brighter day, Some truths we cannot learn while here we stay. The glass in which we look now is not clear, We'll lay that down as soon as we appear At home, within the land of endless day: When God will tell us what he wants to say. The path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto- the perfect day. Prov. 4, 18. Now we see (in a mirror) through a glass darkly. 1 Cor. 13, 12. Lo ! these are parts of his ways, but how little a portion is heard of him ? But the thunder of his power who can understand ? Job, 26, li. 128 Shall we Put the Good Old Bible Awaij ? Shall we put the good old bible away, That has told us so plainly of Christ our stay ? Clearly has shown us, in letters of light, The pathway of saints — a heaven so bright That earth and its cares are fading from view. Shall that bible, often tried and so true, Whose words seem daily so fresh and so new, Be laid on the shelf to moulder and fade ? Forbid it, we say — because it was made To tell about Jesus and point out the way 4180 That ev'ry man finds who in heav n shall stay. Our fathers lov'd that bible in their day ; Tho' long ago they pass'd from earth away. We love that bible very dearly yet ; Its words of truth we never can forget. That bible none shall ever take away, For its success we evermore will pray. That bible show'd us Jesus Christ so plain, We found him and are trying now to gain A place in heaven fair, at his right hand. 4190 Earth fades from view— we seek a better land. Tho' chang'd the dress in which the new appears, For the new translation we have no fears. Same yesterday, to-day, forever truth remains, By holy truth alone. man paradise regains. We'll place those bibles side by side ; 'Twere vain to try God's truth to hide. More of His truth we then shall know, And thus in grace and knowledge shall we grow. 129 Nature and Faith. Nature says, "The body of our friend is dead." 20U Faith says, " 'Tis only his spirit that has fled," Nature stops at Jordan's side — Faith sees the other side. Nature says, "We shall never see thee more." Faith says, "He is only gone before." Nature tells a doleful story — Faith has visions full of glory. Nature complains, and hates the rod — Faith looks up and blesses God. "Thou art gone, not lost, but flown ; Shall I then ask thee back mine own ? "Back— and leave thy spirit's brightness? Back— and leave thy robes of whiteness ? Back — and leave an angel's mould ? Back— and leave the streets of gold ? Back— and leave the lamb who feeds thee ? Back— from fountains where he leads thee ?" "I would rather live in solitude ; I would not ask thee if I could. But, patient, wait the high decree, 4220 Which calls my spirit home to thee." Nature and Faith. Hebrews, 11. They that are in the flesh cannot please God. Romans, 8, 8. [It is not the children of the flesh that are children of God.] 130 The Great Hereafter. " 'Tis tweet to think, when struggling The gaol of life to win, That just beyond the shores of time The better years begin. When, through the nameless ages, I cast my longing eyes, Before me, like a boundless sea, The great hereafter lies. Along its brimming bosom 4230 Perpetual summer smiles, And gathers, like a golden robe, Around the emerald isles. There in the blue, long distance, By lulling breezes fanned, I seem to see the flowering groves Of old Beulah's land. And far beyond the islands That gem the waves serene, The image of the cloudless shore Of holy heav'n is seen. Unto the great hereafter, Aforetime dark and dim, I freely now and gladly give Of life, the wandering bark. And in the far-off haven, When shadowy seas are pass'd, By angel hands its quivering sails 4248 Shall all be f url'd at last, ' ' The great hereafter. Rev. 4. And before the throne was [as it were a glassy sea] a sea of glass. Rev. 4, 6. 131 (Written by the author when he was 14 years of age.) Lines on the Cotton Tree* Bathing Place on the Bio Cobre, Sant Iago de la Vega, Jamaica, West Indies. 4249 Roll on thou clear and lovely stream, And cheer the peaceful solitude Which well thy pureness doth beseem, And for great thoughts is ever food. Two ancient cotton trees there stand, And high their heads in air they rear ; While, widely spread, their boughs expand Above their humble neighbors near, I often loiter o'er thy banks As evening's shades are gath'ring fast, And stars are thick'ning in their ranks, 4260 And sooth'd I think upon the past. There, when the birds their notes began, And when thy lulling voice I've heard — I've sat me down my life to scan, And mourn 'd that I so oft have err'd. I oft have sought thee at the hour When night was stealing from the dawn — When, strengthen'd by thy cleansing pow'r, My toil was easy on that morn. O ! oft I'll seek thy solitude, 4270 Which cheers man's aching, burning heart, Where natures rugged wild or rude, May pause and choose the better part. *The silk cotton tree, the cotton from which Nankeen is manufactured. Thus saith the Lord, consider your ways. Haggar, 1, 5. 132 Am I not a Man and a Brother ? I'm one of Afric's hated race, I've no excuse for my black face ; Once in no God did I believe, But now Jehovah I receive. Am I not a man ? The white man binds me with his chains, But, tho' I groan with aching pains, 4280 Yet still for white men do I pray, "O Jesus, bear their sins away." Am I not a brother ? When, with the candle of the Lord, I did peruse his sacred word, My inmost soul seem'd black as night, Till Jesus said, k 'Let there be light." Am I not a man ? Tho' fast Pm bound in fetters strong, There's lightness in my laugh and song ; 4290 I meekly bear my toil and grief, And wait till death shall bring relief. Am I not a brother ? In distant lands beyond the grave Ne'er surg'd 'neath sorrow's frowning wave ; I hope in endless day to sing "Of Him who did salvation bring." Am I not a man ? God hath made of one blood all nations of men. Acts, 17, 26. 133 Arise, Shine! Isaiah, 60, 1. Awake ! thy maker bids thee now arise, Thy light has come, thou trav'ler to the skies. 4300 Cling not to earth, but upward turn thine eye. Eise upward, daily, to thy home on high. Above the mists and fogs, forever, rise, Thy friends above now call thee to the skies. Lay ev'ry sin aside, o'er ev'ry error rise ; Improve each passing moment as it swiftly flies. Forever rise. High on God's holy mountain stand. Forever breathe the purest air, in all the land. It is the only place in heav'nly grace to grow. There daily men may God their maker better kuow. 4310 Shine ! because thou art a candlestick of gold, Thy light display. That light forever hold. As moonlight all is borrow'dfrom the sun, So, when thy heav'nly race was first begun, Thy light first shone thro' God's eternal son. As moonbeams oft are seen to span a river, With a splendid bridge of burnish 'd silver ; So silver o'er life's dark and stormy sea, And in thy life let others Jesus see. Shine in places dark where light is seldom seen, And tell men, plainly, of the God unseen ; Tell them with your lips and tell them in your life, To all who ask God will his spirit give. Shine even when from earth you pass away, Bid others meet you in the realms of day. 4325 Shine on earth and thou shalt shine in heaven, Make all thy pathway bright from earth to heaven. 134 A Dream. * I dreamt I pass'd into the world of woe, Where all the wicked men at last must go. An earnest consultation heard I there. 4330 A great revival then did devils fear. "My kingdom, truly, will be short of men, Unless I can regain my sway again." Did Satan to a crowd of demons say, "I've tried .in vain, the men to lure away, That daily seek to find the path of peace." A demon said, "let me go to earth— I'd preach There is no God, no heav'n, no hell ; I'd teach This at the meetings unto great and small, And thousands, by my arts, would daily fall." "Stand back!" did Satan to that devil say, "Men preach that doctrine better yet to-day." "I'll serve you, truly, in a better way," To Satan did another demon say. "I'll say, there is a God and heaven fair But vainly may you search, both far and near, For never will a hell to you appear." "Stand back!" did Satan to that devil say, "Men preach that doctrine better yet to-day." Another demon unto Satan said, 4350 "We cannot fail, if by my wisdom led ; I'll talk of God and of a heaven high ; And of man's home of bliss above the sky, Of yawning caverns in a dreadful hell. A place were man was never meant to dwell But where the sons of men must surely go, Unless in paths of heav'nly peace they go. . "Stand back !" did Satan to that devil say, "No better doctrine could men preach to-day." "Ay ! but some other words I soon would say, 4360 There's time enough— you need not watch or pray ; 135 Because you may be sav'd on any day ; This, does your bible very plainly say, Sinner, now is God's accepted time ; You'd better wait a more convenient time." Tempted thus, do thousands daily wait, Soon wake in hell and And it is too late : And in the world of woe, forever say, "Too late ! too late ! For life has pass'd away. Harvest now is past and all my summer day. I now would travel in the narrow way, 4370 But have no bible here— I cannot pray. Christ will neither hear or help me when I cry, I hope my friends will find him ere they die." Satan to that cunning devil thus did say, "Go on! let others follow in your way. More men are lost by putting off, from day to day, The work of faith, until that work they cannot do, Than e'er were lost by all the creeds that are untrue. ' ; Now is the accepted time. [Acceptable.] 2 Cor. 6, 2. At a more convenient season, I will call for thee. Acts, 24, 25 .» . 136 Strike the Tyrant one and all. To alcohol we once did bend the knee, 4380 Now, from his service, are we fully free. He plac'd us in a dungeon dark and deep, Where, many years, we sought in vain relief. He took our gold and finest clothes away, And turn'cl to darkest night our pleasant day. Let us strike this tyrant one and all, , And help from God our Father daily call. He stole our homes, our wives, and children fair, And to a burning hell he brought us near. Of his syren charms we say to all, beware ! In his folds he held us like a snake, And friends, of us, he often tried to make. He starv'd the orphans, widows turn'd he pale ; And those who lov'd him best he sent to jail. All men who love him tread the downward way, 4395 To save them let us spend life's passing day. Now let us strike this tyrant one and all, And help from God our Father daily call. 137 Once was I very Blind, but now I see. I've often wander'd very far and wide, Tho' hourly call'd to Jesus' bleeding side. 4400 Once I travell'd in the downward way ; From sin, I said, I would not turn away : Because I was too blind to understand, That Jesus wish'd to lead me by the hand : But now I know that Jesus died for me, Once was I very blind but now I see. When I was but a little wayward child, My Savior said to me, in accents mild, "My little son now give thy heart to me, When bright and happy will your pathway be." Not yet ! not yet ! I said until I know, More about the wild oats that my fellows sow ; But now I know that Jesus died for me, Once was I very blind but now I see. When I arriv'd at manhood's early prime Jesus said, "Now is the accepted time." Yet still I waited for a fairer day, 'Tho' God's spirit said, "Come from earth away, I'll lead you to the land of endless day, Where pain and death forever pass away." 1420 "Only a little longer will I stay In sin," I said, " and then I'll follow thee. At any time, I know, I may be free." At last, with death and danger full in view, And anguish greater than I ever knew ; For ashes, beauty did I quickly get, The oil of joy, while I was mourning yet : For a heavy heart a robe of praise I found ; And heav'nly peace does now for me abound. Now well I know that Jesus died for me, 4430 Once was I blind, but now by faith I see. One thing I know, that whereas I was blind now I see. John, 9, 25. To give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil ot joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Isaiah, 61, 3. 138 1 am the Way, the Truth and the Life. John, 14, 6. Sinner ! will you go to the realms of endless day ? To that brighter, better land there's but one way. Your higher must above your lower nature rise If you would live forever happy in the skies. The righteous dead rise first, and first their Savior see; The wicked dead rise last and try from Christ to flee. "Oh ! on the judgment day, may I from sin be free ?" "If brighter land you'd find and see a better day," Christ says, "To that bright land I am the way." 4440 So much falsehood do I daily view, I sometimes almost think there's nothing true. If there is truth, the truth I'd like to know ? Who will to me the truth most plainly show ? "I am the truth— from henceforth follow me." Christ says, "The truth from sin will make you free." So much of death, on ev'ry side, I view. Where shall I find the life ? what shall I do ? Earth's wealth and honors quickly pass away, And life itself is but a passing day. 4450 Where is that life that does not pass away ? "I am that life," does Jesus plainly say. 139 To the Mad Ewer near Dayton, Ohio. Thou madly rushing stream ! so hard to bridle ; 80 oft on mischief bent — so seldom idle. Banks cannot curb thee, nor levees thy wrath restrain, Like a wayward steed that strongest curbs cannot restrain. On thy beauteous banks large forests stand, With their verdure blessing all the land, Wrecks of forests there are often seen ; Between thy banks of living green. On thy bubbling bosom do they onward bound ; And, lastly, in the Miami* are found. Madly dost thou run unto thy death. So, hourly, do the wicked rush to death. They find no friend to shield — no arm to save, But sadly sink into oblivion's grave. Thus men with passions strong oft quickly pass away, For fires of lust soon burn their energies away, No beauteous garlands on their graves appear ; No widows sigh, no orphans drop a tear ; But silence reigns— and reigns forever there ! How truly may we in a river see, That lives, like rivers, flow on to the sea ? As rivers to the deep blue ocean run, And fire always ascends and seeks the sun ; So men borne onward to an endless sea, Must henceforth find a home and heaven free ; Or dwell where none to bliss can e'er return, Within a lake where fire does forever burn. Backward to their source the rivers cannot run, But man oft backward turns. With heav'n begun Within his soul he turns to earth again. An angel once, an animal again. An animal he truly cannot always be. A hell he soon must find or else a heaven free, An angel or a demon man must surely be. 140 Then, "forward go," as God to Moses said, When thro' the red sea were his people led. Tho' foes assail you are by wisdom led. Then hoist your sails and quickly leave the shore, 4490 This earth you soon must leave for evermore. Then steer your barks away from false lights on the shore; And forward sail, in spite of rocks and tempest's roar. Forward sail and trust in God to clearly point your way, And soon you'll safely anchor within heav'n's bay. *The Miami River. 141 Alone. Moses' greatest trial was his last; That trial all his former ones surpass'd. On a wild spot he had to die alone — The manner of his death to him unknown. By lightnings fierce he might be quickly torn, Or upward by a sudden whirlwind borne. 'Twere easier far a scaffold to ascend Than thus alone his earthly race to end. No friend is near to close his dying eyes, Or hear his last request before he dies. Milton's work a Homer could not do ; The Wesleys also would have been untrue To God, who gave to each his work to do, If other work those men had tried to do. If other paths those men had sought to find, They might have left their heaven far behind. Your battle must be fought by self alone ; Men will not fight for you is clearly shown. Inventors often do their work alone ; Despis'd and poor, no favor to them shown — Until, upon a fair and future day, Their ventures to them do much money pay ; When those who spurn 'd them once exclaim "Good I'm sure I always tried to be your friend. [day ! May blessings ev'ry day on you attend." 4520 Some men were born to lead — and lead alone. In all their lives their leading pow'r is shown, As iron horses always take the lead, And give the motive pow'r that railroads need ; And steamboats take the slower boats in tow, And seem to say, "I am your leader now." So some were born to serve and some to lead, And leading minds does every country need. Without such minds no country could succeed ; Within their proper spheres they rule alone, And always find a kingdom and a throne. The writer rules his kingdom, all alone ; Lawyers and teachers each secure a throne ; The doctor builds in many hearts his throne — 142 By kindness great he makes those hearts his own ; By skill he is a great and noble king- On ev'ry hand men tribute to him bring. God did once a shepherd minstrel bring- To represent him as Judea's king He said, "I know that he will do my will, 4540 Because his soul with truth I oft did fill ; For often David was with me alone, When on his pathway has my glory shone." Moses saw the burning bush with God alone, And left his sheep to occupy a throne, And led the Israelites thro' wildneroess and sea, And, ere he died, their Canaan he did plainly see. As water always will with w T ater blend, So may human nature with the Godhead blend, In union firm that never knows an end. 4550 So manhood pure, with God oft left alone, Has into the highest style of manhood grown. Moses and David were both great and true, And did much work that others could not do. But sin, like land between a lake and sea, Prevents the lake from blending with the sea. Sinners always run from God away, Because they always fear the light of day. As sunlight chases darkness all away, So darkness in repentant man can never stay. ' For light divine, with its serenest ray, Gives life and brightness to his middle day. If henceforth from your sin you would be always free, Thyself must work — no man can do thy work for thee. Christ did his part to save thee — all alone, 4565 So do thy part — and do it all alone. Then do thy work, and do it with thy might, And God will make thy pathway ever bright ; Tho' dark thy morn, at eve it shall be light. Moses died alone. Deuteronomy, 32. I have trodden the winepress alone. Isaiah, 63, 3. Whatever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Galatians, 6, 7. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Phillipians, 2, 12. 143 Help One Another'. If thy fellow man in sorrow you behold, 4570 Quickly help him. Freely spend thy time and gold. If, in a weaker moment, he has left the fold : Take him back to Jesus, in thine arms of pray'r, Take him gently to the shelter offer'd there. Christ bought him with a treasure richer far than gold. If on the mountain, numb and sleepy from the cold, Surrounded by the snow, your brother you behold. Chafe his frozen form ; rouse him from his sleep ; That effort may thyself from death and freezing keep. If, in life's battle, your brother faints from fear ; And you are bold, and can either do or dare ; Lead him forward by thy courage and thy cheer, Bravely try to stand between him and his fear. If tatter'd garments does your brother wear, If work is scarce and food is very dear ; Let him have some food to eat, new clothes to wear ; Behold thy Savior represented there. Eemember when you feed the needy at your door, They are Christ's earthly friends, and he was very poor. He will hereafter to you, very plainly, say, 4590 "In heav'n's better clime, thou shalt forever stay. Your love for me you did, to all, most plainly show. You fed and clothed me once, 111 bless and save you now." Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren ye have it unto me. Matt. 25, 40. 144 Lines Dedicated to a Bead Friend. Thy body sleeps ; it is not dead ; But forward, by your Savior led, You roam about now, ever free as air, Thy silent heart now knows no earthly care. Never will it tremble to another fear. Those folded hands, that on thy bosom lie,: Mutely say, "My work on earth is done. 4600 My home is now in heaven pure and high, Life's battle was well fought ; my vict'ry's won." Tho' nature said, "we ne'er shall see thee more." Thou art not lost, but only gone before. But from thy starry sky and sunny shore, Thou never wilt return — no — nevermore ! That sleeping dust will surely rise again, That icy form shall Paradise regain. Thou walk'd with Jesus on a darker day, Thou walk'd in white and Jesus led thy way. Thy robes were wash'd in Jesus' blood alone, His word upon thy pathway brightly shone. That silent heart tho' still'd forever, here, Is thrilling now with joy, in land forever fair. We know thou must have seen a vision fair, When unto death thou drew exceeding near; Tho' what it was does not to us appear, Because thou left some brightness here, 4618 That on thy cheeks does even now appear. 145 Passages of Scripture Referred to. Genesis 2, 16— line 11. 1 Samuel 24, 4, line 584. 3, 6— 16. 26, 12, 651. 3, 6— 42. 28, 8, 502. 3, 24— 29. 30, 24, 705. 4, 5— 47. 2 Samuel 1, 19 to 27, line 802. 4, 8— 53. 1,15, 877. 4, 17— 77. 11, 4 to 17, 887. 9, 21— 117. 11, 724. 11, 4— 133. 12. , 715. 19, 1— 163. 12; 7, 724. 22, 1— 143. 12, 19, 746. 27, 6 to 13— line 916 and 17, 963. 3944. 18,5, 972. 28, 12 to 15— line 174. 18, 1000. 37, 28— line 195. 18, 33, 1021. 42, 3— 200. 1 Kings 2, 1, 1034. Exodus 2, 6, line 226. 2, 12, 1047. 3, 2, 247. 2, 1077. 12, 257. 3,25, 1133. 17, 6, 274. 6, 7, 1078. 20, 5, 3494. 10, 1, 1153. 34, 14, 3252. 10, 7, 1156, Numbers 20, 8, line 286. 16, 17, 1930. 23, 10, 3965. 17, 1, 1252. Deut. 6, 16, line 3116. 17, 6, 1290. 8, 3, 3206. 17, 7, 1295. 32, 30, 4015. 17, 10, 1346. 32 4495. 17, 18, 1390. 32, 35, 686. 17, 22, 1411, 31, 33, 2963. 18, 26, 1430. 33, 25, 995. 18, 27, 1446. 33, 27, 4100. 18, 38, 1464. Joshua 1, 317. 18, 40, 1476. 6, .20, 329. 18, 17, 1950. 10, 13, 349. 19, 5. 1491. Judges 5, line 361. 19, 8, 1503. 13, 22 411. 19, 9, 1507. 13, 4 415. 19, 12, 1534. 13, 24 429. 19, 13, 1538. Book of Ruth— -line 433. 19, 15, 1555. 1 Samuel 1, 10, line 456. 20, 23, 1974. 1,20, 479. 21, 1980. 10, 19, 481. 21, 5, 1993. 10, 24, 497 and 611 21, 13, 2014. 15, 32, 1318. 22, 34, 2042. 16, 705. 2 Kings 1, 10, 1599. 16, 7, 536. 2, 8, 1645. 16, 13, 521. 2,H, 1663, 17, 37, 778. 2,24, 1686. 18, 7 , line 633. 3, 6 to 20, 1687. 20, 9 556. 4, 1, 1717. 146 Passages of Scripture Referred to. 2 Kings 4, 17, line 1757. Isaiah 9, 6, line 1101. 4, 20, 1762. 9, 6, 2397. 4, 35, 1786. 9, 2397. 5, 3, 1807. 22, 23, 763. 5, 9, 1808. 30, 29, 2428. 5, 14, 1833. 37, 2141. 5, 27. 1868. 57, 20, 4060. 6, 6, 1878. 58, 6, 3864. 6, 17, 1904. 60, 1, 4298. 6, 8, 1914. 60, 3, 2938. 8, 12, 2110. 61, 3, 4425. 8, 13, 2133. 61, 3, 3260. 9, 10, 2029. 63, 3, 4564. 9, 35, 2104. Jeremiah 9, 1. 2446. 13, 20, 1922. 17,9, 3871. 13, 21, 1928. Ezekiel 18, 2, 3494 Esther 2, 9, line 2165. 18,4, 3494 3, 8, 2241. 47,9, 4003 4, 16, 2194. Daniel 2, 2506. 5, 2, 2213. 2. 2490. 5, 14, 2254. 2, 2458. 6, 1, 2229. 2,47, 2514. 6, 10, 2278. 3, 2538. 7, 3, 2292. 3, 2527. 7, 10, 2312. 3, 2548. Job 1, 9, 2330. 3,25, 2577. 1, 21, 2341. 3, 2566. 2, 6, 2356. 4, 2639. 14, 14, 3097. 4, 2675. 26, 14, 4165. 4, 2612. 42, 10, 2366. 5, 2688. Psalm 51, 5, 3502. 5, 2737. 55, 6. 904. 5, 2704. 61, 2, 4006. 6, 2750. 65, 9, 4003. 6, 2753. 91, 11. 12, 3220. 6, 2767. 92, 12. 3986. 6, 2783. 113, 3, 1090. Obadiah 1, 4, 2720. 119,105, 3065. Jonah 1, 2807. 119, 130, 3684. 1, 2823. 139, 23, 3720. 2, 2849. 150, 1, 1101. Habakuk 3, 2851. Proverbs 2, 4 3947. Haggai 1, 5, 4272. 4, 18 4156. Zechariah 1, 5 3082. 11, 21 2910. 13, 278 and 2857 11, 30 . 3024. Gospel of Matthew— 23, 32 2972. 3 11 2876 28, 1 3800. 4 3199 Ecclesiastes 12 1206. 6 3256 Isaiah 6, 2384. 8 1102 9, 5, 1095. 8 3015 147 Passages of Scripture Referred to. Gospel of Matthew — 20 line 10. 11 11 U 11 12. 16. is; 19. 20. 20. 21. 2L 23. 23; 24, 24, 25. 25, 25. 25; 25; 25. 26. 26; 26. 27; 27; 27; 27. 28 ; Gospel of Mark— 4, 39 4, 5, 7, 37 12, 37 15, 16, 3 Gospel of Luke — 7, 9, 10, 36 15, 13 18, 1 19, 10 19, 22, 32 28 28 3 12 5 31 18 10 14 19 32 35 35 40 40 43 36 52 53 42 46 20 3323 4028 3323 2894 3471 2901 3446 2990 3630 3500 3500 3458 3593 3480 3493 3377 2665 346 2416 3343 3410 4592 3333 3343 3291 3697 690 3582 3630 3751 3533 3585 3628 1126 1102 3036 4067 2726 3613 338 3066 2990 3365 3005 3257 4028 3377 3700 Gospel of Luke 22 23 23 23 23 24 Gospel of John 1 1 1 3 2 4 6 6 7 6 8 9 9 10 10 10 10 14 16 17 19 43 34 28 43 51 46 7 41 41 46 29 11 4 25 1 28 7 27 6 12 15 5 line 2055 3526 3542 3561 3613 3619 2867 185 2942 3139 2954 341 2999 2928 3187 3766 3193 3393 4413 3705 3817 2905 3025 4431 4146 3510 3666 (Irenaeus fancifully said that there are four Gospels, because there are four winds, four divisions of the earth, and four faces to the cherubim, &c.) Acts 8, 20 line 1847 17, 26 4287 4, 12 3678 24, 25 4364 Eomans 5, 12 line 3500 8, 8 4199 12, 19 686 13, 10 4098 1 Corinthians 3, 16, 17, line 1067 3, 11 3853 8, 13 3864 10, 4 278 13, 13 3036 & 4166 15, 22, 3494 2d Corinthians 3, 10 line 3173 5, 17 3500 6, 2 3439 6, 2 4360 6. 17, 18 3630 10, 4 2506 148 Passages of Scripture Preferred to. 2d Corinthians 12, 14, line 3745 4, 18, 3317 Galatians 3, 24, line 307 5, 8, 3727 5, 6, 3560 5,10, 2604 J 6, 7, U, 7, 3504 2d Epistle of Peter- 4563 2,22, line 3030 6 ' 14 ' 2530 1st Epistle of John Ephesians 2, 1, 3500 & 649 1,5, line 3806 3,20, 2599 Kevelationl, 7 3784 6,13, 3720 & 3800 1, 12 3814 6, 5, 1777 1, 16 3816 Phillippians 3, 8, 3763 1, 18 3822 2,12, '4563 3, 20 3790 4, 13, 3766 3, 16 3831 4, 19, 1 882 & 2994 3, 1 3904 4 7 3948 4 4221 1 Thessal'ns 5, 17, 3864 4, 6 4086 & 4228 1 Timothy 4, 2, 3880 5, 5 2803 4,3, 3860 6, 16 3940 2 Timothy 3, 6, 3198 13 3839 Hebrews 11, 4199 17 3839 11, 37, 38, 3109 18 3839 11, 4, 3888 18, 24 3874 13, 2, 1758 20, 6 4007 Epist. of James 2, 18, line 3766 20, 12 3933 4, 17, 2829 22, 2 3899 5. 16, 460 22, 1 3922 1st Epistle of Peter— 22, 5 3926 1, 19, line 3607 22, 15 3944 NOTES. 149 NOTES. Note to Line 4. "Man was made in God's own image and, while other ani- mals by a single word were spoken out of the earth or sea, man was fashioned by God's own hand and intended to be the adoring voice of the universe. The High Priest of the speechless creation, because no voice of all the millons of voices of the lower animals could be lifted up to heaven to thank the author of their being for the gift of all their joy. The fish sport in the sea, the deer bounds over the green savannahs and the wolf and the bear scarcely see the light of day ere they seek the coverts of their secret dens ; the birds sing songs of gladness, but not songs of intelligent praise to their creator for neither to know or understand him as God were they created. The almighty has given them no laws of conduct, laid upon them no commands, forbidden them no gratification and limited in no way the full bent of their natures. They therefore can do neither good nor evil with reference to him but are governed by implanted instincts, obedience to which is their highest intelligence and their supreme law of conduct. As when Aaron stood in the most holy part of God's temple, he wore a breastplate in which were twelve stones representing the twleve tribes of Israel and when he prayed it was as if all the Israelites prayed although their voices were not heard in the sanctu- ary, so man was made to be the voice and worshipper of God for all the silent hosts of animals beneath him the High Priest of the speechless croation. Note to Line 2954. I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my father's king- dom— Matt. 26, 29, and Mark, 14, 25. Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise — Proverbs, 20, 1 . Note to Line 25. (Genesis, 2.) Eden was a province in Asia, in which was paradise. The topography of Edenisthus described: "And a river went out 150 NOTES. of Eden to water the garden, and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. The name of the first is Pison," &c. It may be inferred from a number of circumstances, that paradise was placed on a mountain, or at least in a country diversified with hills, because only such a country could supply the springs necessary to form four heads of rivers, and because all heads of rivers rise in hills, from whence their waters descend to the sea. Such a country has been found in Armenia, with such an elevation, or assemblage of elevations, also as appeared to be requisite for the purpose. On this supposition, the Phasis is the Pison of Moses, and the similarity of sound in the name would seem to confirm the opinion ; it is a natural consequence, that the Araxes should be the Gihon, since its waters are extremely rapid, and the Greek name Araxes, like the Hebrew Gihon, denotes the dart, or swift. About the two other rivers the Tigris and the Euphrates, there is then no question. Note to Line 25. "The Euphrates is a celebrated river of Asia, which has its source in the mountains of Armenia, and runs along the frontiers of Cappadocia, Syria, Arabia Deserta, Chaldea and Mesopotamia, and falls into the Persian gulf. At present it discharges itself into the gulf in union with the Tigris, but formerly it had a separate channel. Scripture often calls it the great river, and assigns it for the eastern boun- dary of that land which God promised to the Hebrews. (Deut. 1, 7. Joshua, 1, 4.) The Euphrates overflows in summer, like the Nile, when the snow on the mountains of Armenia begins to melt. The Euphrates is accompanied in most parts of its course (about 1400 miles) by the Tigris. There are many towns on its banks, which are in general rather level than mountainous. The river does not appear to be of any great breadth. At Hellah, the site of ancient Babylon, it is about 400 feet across. Near its mouth, stands the modern city Bassorah, a place of some importance. Note to Line 152. A Beief Account of the Mountains Mentioned in the Bible. — God has made the grandest exhibitions of himself NOTES. 151 on the summits of mountains. Mount Ararat now stands as the only memorial of the flood. It was also consecrated by the altar and illumined by the first rainbow. Mount Moriah stands just without Jerusalem and is crowned by the Mohammedan Mosque of St. Omar, which stands where the rude altar of Abraham rose nearly four thousand years ago. The sacrifice of Abraham has consecrated this mountain for all time. Although years afterward the temple of Solo- mon threw the sunbeams upon it, and the children of Israel paid their vows, yet it has no memorial like that of the offering up of Isaac. Mount Sinai stands in the midst of some of the most deso- late scenery in the world. Its bald and naked summit— its barren and rocky sides, and all its sombre features, corre- spond perfectly to the surrounding scene. Turned into sapphire by Jehovah's feet, consecrated by his touch, and baptised by the cloud of fire and of glory, Mount Sinai stands as one of the sacred mountains of the earth. Mount Hor, where Aaron died, will always be remem- bered by the followers of Christ. It is a lonely peak, seen at a great distance from the desert, and constitutes one of the landmarks by which the Arab guides his way. On its summit is a white building called the tomb of Aaron. Mount Horeb is one of the group that surrounds Sinai ; it presents the same barren appearance and stands amid the same desolate and forbidding scenery. Twice has this mountain been consecrated by the presence of deity. It was also Elijah's place of refuge when hunted by Jezebel. Mount Carmel stands by the sea, lifting its head two thousand feet above the water, looking off on Sharon towards the south. Its shape is that of a flattened cone, and it is one of the most picturesque objects in that land of glorious associations. We always think of Mount Carmel when Elijah's name is mentioned Under the reign of the despot Ahab, Israel forsook God's commandments and his worship. To bring them to reflec- tion God declared through Elijah that no rain should fall on the earth for years. And it was so. At first Ahab was angry with Elijah, because he predicted the calamity, and attempted to slay him as the cause of it, but the prophet fled from his hand. But, at length, the haughty king was 152 NOTES. frightened into apparent meekness, and then the prophet presented himself before him. The hunted fugitive trod the the courts of the palace, more like a king than their owner, and stood with a stern and haughty brow before the royal despot. The king looked on him a moment in surprise, and said, "Art thou he that troubleth Israel ?" The roused prophet, whose heart 'had bled over the sufferings of his beloved country, who would gladly have sacrificed his life to have saved it, could not brook the charge implied in this question. Hurling back the accusation in the very teeth of the king, he said, "I have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the command- ments of the Lord and thou hast followed Baalim." Ahab's conscience awoke, and he allowed himself to be bearded on his very throne, surrounded by his vassals. "'Gather me," said Elijah, "all Israel unto Mount Carmel. and with them four hundred and fifty of the prophets of Baal, and four hundred more of the prophets of the groves who sit at Jezebel's table." A strange proposal for a public criminal to make to a king, but there was something about him that awed the monarch, so that he dared not refuse his consent. The plainly-clad man in his mantle, who had been a by- word for children for years, now dictated to the king, who had hunted him like a common felon, the length and breadth of Israel. His order was obeyed, and all Israel came flocking to Carmel. The prophets of Baal went in the pomp becoming their high station. Elijah went on foot — and alone. Behold the top of Carmel covered by the multi- tude ! Below them heaves the blue Mediterranean, whose restless waters lose themselves in the distance ; behind them is Palestine, and, far away, the snow-capt heights of Lebanon fringe the horizon. Elijah said, "How long halt ye between two opinions ? if the Lord be God, follow him ; but if Baal then follow him." He then made a proposal to forever settle who was the true God. "Take two bullocks, cut one in pieces, and lay it on the wood without fire ; and I will dress the other bullock and lay it on wood, and put no fire under it ; and let the followers of Baal call on their God, and I will call on the Lord, and the God that answers by fire let him be God." This was agreed to by all the people. But Baal sent no fire down upon his sacrifice. Elijah then prayed to the Lord, NOTES. 153 and fire from heaven consumed the sacrifice that he offered. But Elijah had not yet fulfilled his mission. Turning sternly to the people he bade them seize the prophets of Baal and not let one of them escape. God and his country demand their death, and down the mountain slope they are dragged by the indignant people, and there, by the margin of the brook Kishon, Elijah slays them, and the parched earth drinks up their blood. Still the prophet's work is not done ; his country's enemies are destroyed, but her sufferings are not allayed. Elijah now fervently prays for rain. He reascends Mount Carmel. As he closed his prayer he bade his servant go and look to- wards the sea. He obeyed, and returned, saying, "I see nothing." Again the prophet prayed, and sent his servant to see if there were no signs of rain. Again he returned as before. Still Elijah's faith did not falter. Again he prayed and again sent his servant, till the seventh time. But th e seventh time he came back saying : " There is a little cloud rising out of the sea, like a man's hand." Faith was satis- fied, and Elijah rose and said to his servant : "Go up, say unto Ahab : Prepare thy chariot and get thee down that the rain stop thee not." Dark and angry clouds began to roll up the scorching heavens— the sun went down in gloom- fierce lightnings traversed the angry masses— the thunder came muttering over the Mediterranean, as it rolled its vexed waters against the base of the mountain— the sound of wind and rain was borne landward, and day was turned into sudden night as the storm burst on the land of Israel. The thirsty and barren earth again smiled in verdure, and the long curse was removed. Lebanon is not an isolated peak, but a chain of mountains running through the south of Syria. There are two grand ridges rising above the rest, called Libanus— or Lebanon— and Antelibanus. This name signifies White Mountain. The highest mountain in Syria, covered with snow both in summer and winter, Lebanon naturally became a marked object to the Israelites in that warm climate. Mount Zion represents the ancient Jewish church. It was one of the hills on which Jerusalem was built. It stood near Mount Moriah, where Abraham offered up Isaac to the Lord. There is a Mount Zion in heaven, covered with harpers ; 154 NOTES. and the redeemed in white robes are there and sing the song of Moses and the Lord. In that city no unclean or vile per- son can enter, and there God shall wipe away all tears from all faces. About eighty years ago a form was seen standing on Mount Tabor, with which the world has since become familiar. That form was Napoleon Bonaparte, and the scene before him the fierce and terrible "battle of Mount Tabor." In the plain was Kleber with three thousand French soldiers con- fronted by the whole Turkish army — twenty-seven thousand strong. Kleber threw his handful of men into squares, with cannon at the angles, before the twelve thousand horse. The charging Turks fell so fast that a rampart of.clead bodies was soon formed around them. Behind this embank- ment of dead men and horses this band of warriors stood and fought for six hours, and was steadily thinning the ranks of the enemy, when Napoleon debouched with a single division on Mount Tabor, and turned his eye below. All was confusion. Napoleon could only tell where his own brave troops were struggling by the steady simultaneous vollies which showed how discipline was contending with the wild valor of overpowering numbers. Napoleon descended from Mount Tabor with his little band, while a single twelve-pounder— fired from the heights —told the wearied Kleber that he was rushing to the rescue. Then he took the offensive and carried death and terror over- the field. Confused and trampled under foot, the Turkish army rolled back towards the Jordan, where Murat-mingled in the fight. Dashing with his cavalry among the disordered ranks, he sabred them down without mercy, and raged like a lion amid the prey. Boll back twenty centuries and again view that field. How different is the scene. The Son of God stands on that height. Three friends are beside him. He is enveloped with celestial glory. His countenance is changed and burns like the sun in his midday splendor. Moses and Elias, wrapped in the same shining garments stand beside him. Peter says : " Let us make three tabernacles— one for thee, one for Moses, and one for Elias." The Mount of Olives stands just without Jerusalem, over the little stream of Kedron. In physical magnitude it is hardly entitled to the name of mountain, but in moral NOTES. 155 grandeur it rises over the summits of all the other mountains of history. Christ's agony here, previous to his crucifixion, will cause this mountain to be remembered as long as time endures. Mount Calvary, where Christ was crucified, towers grandly over all the other mountains mentioned in the bible, in a moral point of view. Mount Calvary is a little hill northwest of Jerusalem, sometimes called also Golgotha, because of its fancied resemblance to a skull. Note to Line 128. (Genesis 42 J Egypt is a celebrated country in the north of Africa, at the eastern part of the Mediterranean sea. The Hebrews called it Mizraim ; and hence it is now called by the Arabs Mizr. The Greeks and Eomans called it iEgyptus, whence Egypt ; but the origin of the name is unknown. The proper land of Egypt is, for the most part, a great valley, through which the river Nile pours its waters, extending in a straight line from north to south, and skirted on the east and west by ranges of mountains, which approach and recede from the river more or less in different parts. Where this valley terminates, towards the north, the Nile divides itself, about forty or fifty miles from the sea coast, into several arms, which enclose the so called Delta. The ancients numbered seven arms and mouths ; the eastern was that of Pelusium, now that of Tinch ; and the western that of Canopus, now that of Aboukir ; as these branches all separate from one point or channel, or from the main stream, and spread themselves more and more as they approach the coast, they form with the latter a triangle, the base of which is the sea coast ; and having thus the form of a triangle which represents the Greek letter Delta, this part of Egypt received. the name of the Delta, which it has ever since retained, The northern and southern points of Egypt are assigned by the Prophet Ezekiel 29, 10, 30, 6, from the mouth of the Pelusian arm to Syene now Essuan, namely to the border of Ethiopia. Essuan is also assigned by Greek and Arabian writers as the southern limit of Egypt. Here the Nile issues from the granite rocks of the cataracts, and enters Egypt proper. The length of the country therefore, in a direct line, is 112 geographical miles. The breadth of 156 NOTES. the valley, between Essuan and the Delta, is very unequal ; in some places the inundations of the river extend to the foot of the mountains ; in other parts there remains a strip of a mile or two in breadth, which the water never covers and which is therefore always dry and barren. Originally the name Egypt designated only this valley and the Delta ; but at a later period it came to include also the region between this and the Bed sea. The country around Syene and the cataracts is highly picturesque ; the other parts of Egypt, and especially the Delta, are exceedingly uniform and monotonous. The prospect, however is extremely dif- ferent, according to the season of the year. From the middle of the spring season, when the harvest is over, one sees nothing but a grey and dusty soil, so full of cracks and chasms, that he can hardly pass along. At the time of the autumnal equinox, the whole country presents nothing but an immeasurable surface of reddish or yellowish water, out of which rise date trees, villages, and narrow dams, which serve as a means of communication. After the waters have retreated, which usually remain only a short time at this height, you see, till the end of autumn, only a black and slimy mud. Bat in winter, nature puts on all her splendor. In this season, the freshness and power of the new vegeta- tion, the variety and abundance of vegetable productions, exceed everything that is known in the most celebrated parts of the European continent ; and Egypt is then, from one end of the country to the other, nothing but a beautiful garden, a verdant meadow, a field sown with flowers, or a waving ocean of grain in the ear. This fertility, as is well known, depends upon the annual and regular inundations of the Nile. The sky is not less uniform or monotonous than the earth ; it is constantly a pure, unclouded arch, of a color and light more white than azure. The atmosphere has a splendor which the eye can scarcely bear ; and a burning sun, whose glow is tempered by no shade, scorches through the whole day these vast and unprotected plains. It is almost a peculiar trait in the Egyptian landscape, that although not without trees, it is yet almost without shade. The only tree is the date-palm, which is frequent ; but with its tall, slender stem, and bunch of foliage on the top, this tree does very little to keep off the the light, and casts upon the earth only NOTES. 157 a pale and uncertain shade. Egypt, accordingly, has a very hot 3limate ; the thermometer in summer usually standing at eighty or ninety degrees of Fahrenheit. The burning wind of the desert Simoom or Camsin, is also sometimes experienced. The chief agricultural productions of Egypt are wheat, durrah or small maize, Turkish or Indian corn or maize, rice, barley, beans, cucumbers, watermelons, leeks and onions ; also flax and cotton. The date tree and vine are frequent. The papyrus is still found in small quanity. The animals of Egypt, besides the usual kinds of tame cattle, are the wild ox or buffaloes in great numbers, the ass and camel, dogs in multitudes without masters, the crocodile and hippopotamus. The inhabitants of Egypt are the Copts, or descendants of the ancient Egyptians. The Fellahs or husbandmen. The Arabs or conquerors of the country. The Turks and Mame- lukes. Egypt is divided into lower, middle and upper Egypt. The early history of ancient Egypt is involved in great obscurity. All accounts, however, and the results of all modern researches, seem to concur in representing culture and civilization as having been introduced and spread in Egypt from the south and especially from Meroe ; and that the country in the earliest times was possessed by several contemporary Kings or states, which at length were all united into one great kingdom. The common name of the Egyptian King was Pharaoh, which signified sovereign power. History has preserved the name of several of these Kings, and a succession of their dynasties. But the incli- nation of the Egyptian historians to magnify the great antiquity of their nation, has destroyed their credibility. Egypt was conquered by Cambyses, and became a province of the Persian empire about 525 B. C. Thus it continued until conquered by Alexander, 350 years B. C, after whose death it formed, along with Syria, Palestine, Lybia, &c, the kingdom of the Ptolemies. After the battle of Actium, 30 years B. C, it became a Roman province. Since that time it has ceased to be an independent State, and its history is incorporated with that of its different conquerors and possessors. In A. D. 610, it was conquered by the Arabs ; and in the 158 NOTES. later periods has passed from the hands of the Caliphs under the power of the Turks. Arabs, Kurds, Mamelukes, and since 1517 has been governed as a province of the Turkish empire. The religion of Egypt consisted in the worship of the heav- enly bodies and the powers of nature ; the priests cultivated at the same time astronomy and astrology, and to these belong probably the wise men, sorcerers and magicians mentioned in Ex. 7 : 11, 22. It was probably this wisdom in which Moses was also learned (Acts 7 : 22. But the Egyptian religion had this peculiarity, that it adopted living animals as symbols of the real objects of worship. The Egyptians not only esteemed many species of animals as sacred which might not be killed without the punishment of death, but individual animals were kept in temples and worshipped with sacrifices, as gods. The most extraordinary monuments of Egyptian power and industry were the pyramids, which still subsist, to excite the wonder and admiration of the world. A description of these extraordinary structures has generally been considered as matter of curiosity rather than as being applicable in illustrating the Scriptures, since there appears to be no allusion to them in the Bible. They have, however, by some, been supposed to have been erected by the Israelites during their bondage in Egypt. But the tenor of ancient history in general, as well as the results of modern researches,^ against the supposition of the pyramids having been built by the Israelites ; and they are usually assigned to a later period. The Biver or Stream of Egypt, mentioned in the bible, is understood not to be the Nile, but the small torrent Besor, emptying into the south-eastern corner of the Mediterranean, southward from Gaza. Note to Line 226. It is probable that the mother of Moses had received some intimation that she was discovered, and expected that the executioners would come and murder the child in the house before her eyes. She therefore took for him an ark, or a small basket, formed of rushes, and made waterproof by be- ing coated with a kind of bitumen and pitch within and without. Expecting some providential interposition in his behalf, and under the secret guidance of the Lord, she placed Moses in this ark, concealed it among the flags on the NOTES. 159 side of the river, and set his sister to watch it. This expe- dient did not seem likely to answer for any time, as the infant must at length have perished, or been devoured by the crocodiles with which the Nile abounds, if Pharaoh's servants had not found him. But she acted in faith, and the Lord answered her expectation. Perhaps she intended to take him home in the evening, if nothing had intervened, and to carry him out again in the morning, so that if sought after he might not be found. Pharaoh's daughter, who adopted Moses, was said to have been his only child. Note to Line 247. This angel is afterwards called Jehovah and God (Exodus 3 : 4 to 6.) God called to him out of the midst of the bush, and he said (Ver. 14) : "I am that I am." With what pro- priety can this language be used in a revelation expressly intended to instruct man in the knowledge and worship of the true God, and to withdraw them from idolatry of every kind, if we do not allow the doctrine of the co-equality and deity of trie Son of God, and that he is the speaker in this place ? Fire is a Scriptural emblem of the divine holiness and justice. Some think that the fire in the bush represented the manner in which the law would be given from the adja- cent mountain. The name Sinai seems derived from the word Sinn (Hebrew), rendered a bush, or to the bushes which grew upon it. Note to Line 251. Moses supposed that great eloquence would be requisite, both to persuade Israel and plead before Pharoah : and he objected, that in the Egyptian court he had, at all former times, been defective in the gift of a ready and graceful elocution ; and that ever since the Lord had spoken to him, he had received no alteration in this respect. We read, however, that he "was mighty in words" as well as deeds : and so was the Apostle Paul, though he affected no eloquence, and was deemed by some "in speech contempti- ble." They both could speak with energy and the purpose, 160 NOTES. though not with the enticing words and delusive charms of human oratory. Slow of speech Ischnophonos of a slender voice, or speak- ing with hesitation and interruptions of voice. Note to Line 303. Moses wished no doubt to enter the land of Canaan in order that he might view the land and tread the soil where the Messiah was afterwards to appear on the earth. In Deuteronomy 3, 25, we read Moses's prayer which was to see that goodly mountain and Lebanon, meaning Mount Moriah where Abraham offered up Isaac and where the Savior was to be crucified. Moses had the same desire to see Mount Calvary that every christian has. How many of us would like tosee that spot? would we not be more anxious than we are now if we should get as near to it as Moses then was ? Moses died in the mount but no man knows of his sepulchre to the present day. Angels buried him for we read of Michael the Archangel contending with the Devil about the body of Moses. Jude 1, 19. But Moses, although he must die before entering Canaan, was to rise and appear in that land, ages before the general Tesurrection. He was to be on Mount Tabor with Jesus and Elias. Moses was the representative of the myriads who shall rise from the grave. Elias of those who shall be found alive upon the earth at the last day and shall be transformed without seeing death. As they appeared in equal splendor so will the quick and dead at the last day. We may see the land of promise in the law, as in a looking glass, only Jesus, who Joshua represented, can bring us into it. Note to Line 315. (Joshua, 1.) Joshua, the son of Nun, was a distinguished leader of the Hebrews, and the successor of Moses. His name at first was Oshea, numbers 13, 8, 16 ; and in the new testament he is called Jesus, Acts, 7, 45, Heb. 4, 8. Both the names, Joshua and Jesus, signify savior, deliverer. Joshua led Israel NOTES. 161 over the Jordan, and took possession of the promised land ; he conquered the Canaanites, and then distributed the country among the tribes. The book of Joshua contains the narrative of all these transactions, and was written by Joshua himself, or under his direction. From Chap. 24, 27, on, was, of course, added by a later hand ; but all was done under the direction and inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Notes to Lines 346 and 2416. The glory and greatness of man is transitory and evane- scent in its character and, in some parts of the earth, the lights of civilization, learning, and refinement, are paling their ineffectual fires before the baleful shadows of ignor- ance, bigotry, and superstition. In Asia Minor the traveller treads upon a soil rich in historic lore, and the recollections of a glorious past, while the present population is degraded by ignorance and slavery. The glory and splendor of twenty different nations that rose and flourished there have been extinguished, and the star of the former greatness has set in the gloom of a starless night, on which no future morrow shall ever rise. The herdsman's flock and the wild beasts of the wilderness now wander over the tombs of Archilles and Hector, and the Antiochuses, and the once splendid palaces of Priam and Croesus, are now masses of shapeless ruins, over which the destroyer, time, has driven his ruthless and desolating ploughshare. The wealthy merchants and crafty tradesmen of Smyrna do not now stop to enquire where Homer was born, and the rich mellow sky of the ancient and once proud Ionia no longer inspires orators, painters, or poets, or lights the waning fires of a zealous and devoted patriotism. The same dark and terrible doom hangs like the gloomy pall of death over the banks of Jordan and Euphrates. The Republic of Moses is blotted from the book of nations ; the golden lyres of David and Isaiah are no longer swept by living hands, and the voiceless silence of death reigns supreme where music once ravished the happy hearts of busy thousands. The wandering Arab, without a home or a country, now comes, indifferent and unmoved, to rest the poles of his tent against the shattered columns of Palmyra, and to make 162 NOTES. his bed upon crumbling fragments of thrones and crowns. Babylon, the peerless Queen of Empires, has not escaped the common fate, and she also has fallen beneath the crushing stroke of an inevitable destiny, and that proud city, which swayed the sceptre of supreme power over the oppressed tribes of Asia's teeming millions, has scarcely left behind it a trace of its former greatness, or a crumbling pillar to show where the ramparts of Semiramis once stood. Note to Line 353. "The charms of women have been much praised by poets and writers of prose. The ideal of the angelic in humanity is always feminine in Cnristian literature. The nature of woman is purer and more unselfish than that of man. She is capable of descending to the lowest depths of degradation, but will rarely be found there unless almost irresistible temptations force it upon her as the only alternative. In her original purity she is the poetry of the world, as the stars are the poetry of heaven. Her love is the purest known this side of heaven. The love of man is selfish and centres in himself. When a woman centres her affections upon man she forgets herself, the world, and all that is in it, and desires to exist only for the object of her love. Who are the men that make any violent sacrifice to sentiment? There have been some women in every age who have sacri- ficed fortune and honor to pure and disinterested motives. Men surmount difficulties, brave dangers, obtain victories, and are received by applause whenever they are presented to their fellows. History inscribes their names upon her enduring tablets, and in the dying hour they are cheered by the thought that they will not be forgotten. Thousands of women sacrifice more for society and their country than these men of fame, whose names are not preserved from oblivion by the historian. A wife sends her husband to the war. Her soul and her entire being go with him. She imagines that all the missiles of the enemy are directed against him. She passes sleepless nights of sorrow. Repose flies from her couch, and with every letter from the distant field she expects to receive the announcement of his death, and through long years waits for the sound of his returning footsteps. In reality she sacrifices more for her country than her husband, who faces the enemy at the front. NOTES. 163 Thousands of women deserve to have their names written by the side of Deborah, who delivered Israel when not a Hebrew man dared to lift his hand in defence of his country till she led the way, who will never be known. Many of their names w T ould be as richly perfumed as that of Esther, w T ho saved the Jews when no man could have stayed the decree of death, if their virtuous deeds were on record. The Hebrew women, from the days of "Sarah, the mother of nations," kept the hope of Shiloh in their race. This divine faith, likea beam of light, has passed from hand to hand and shines in the character of all the Hebrew women. It is a notorious fact that while the Hebrew men could not be restrained from idolatry, licentiousness, and apostasy, the bible furnishes no record of an apostate Hebrew woman. The love, faith and energy of earth's mothers has pre- served the world from shipwreck a hundred thousand times, and has been its Eddystone lighthouse all down the ages. They rescued from his little boat Moses, to be the lawgiver of the w T orld ; made Samuel the High Priest of the Lord, and seated Solomon on the throne of David. Mothers have been intimately associated with all the great events which have affected the destiny of mankind ; without them there had been no Romulus, hence no Rome ; no Caesar, hence no Gallic war, nor bloody field of Pharsalus ; no Wellington, and hence no Salamanca, where he routed forty thousand French in forty minutes. By comparing the conduct of the women of any era with that of men, the superior standing of the former is discovered. For instance, compare the life of Cleopatra with that of Marc Antony. She was wicked, but she was less vile and gross in her wickedness than he- She stood firmly by the flag of her country and her people : he was a traitor to his country's flag and deserted his people. No higher virtue was known to the heathen mind than that of patriotism. Who was the most patriotic, Cleopatra or Marc Antony ? and which deserves the greatest honor ? As long as the ideal of woman was the divinity which gave the priest oracles and the people laws, domestic purity was preserved in Rome. In the vestal virgins the highest attri- butes of heavenly goodness, purity and mercy were repre- sented. They were obliged by vow to chastity, and held in great reverance ; but, if they broke their vow, were buried alive. 164 NOTES. The frightful demoralization of the nation commenced when the Eoman men, absent from home in long wars, lost the softening influence of their mothers. There was not an instance of divorce for the first five hundred years. So long as wives were honored they continued worthy of honor. When Cicero repudiated his wife for no cause only that he might gratify his evil propensities, and a multitude of divorces created a state of virtual polygamy, in which the women participated, then the Eoman Empire fell, never again to rise. The Lucretia's kept the republic alive ; the Messalina's put it to death. In almost every case the licen- tious example was set by men, and women have always been better than the men of their era. Note to Line 481. The Lord determined to give the Israelites such a King as they had set their hearts on, before he raised up for them a King after his own heart. • The Israelites were too blind to perceive that it was their privilege to be unlike other nations, especially in having none but a heavenly King ; but they were bent on having an earthly King, in order to become like them. So men in our day reject God in trying to do as other people do, or try to outshine them ; and follow fashions rather than God. (Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil. Exodus, 23, 2.) Amidst the sin and folly of the Israelites however, it should be noted to their commendation, that they showed great respect for Samuel. They did not attempt to set up a King of their own choosing, but sought his counsel and concur- rence; and on an intimation from him, that their request would be granted, they put such entire confidence in him, that they departed quietly to their own houses. The history of the world cannot produce another instance, in which a public determination was formed to appoint a King ; and yet no one proposed either himself or any other person to be King, but referred the determination entirely to God. Note to Line 551. It is evident that the Lord revealed himself to Samuel, on this and other occasions, by direct and immediate suggestion. Samuel did not yet fully understand, that the Lord in anger NOTES. 165 gave Isarael their first King, after, "their own heart." But that he now intended in mercy to give them one after "his own heart," being chiefly remarkable for his strong faith and fervent piety. David's name signifies beloved. David's anointing did not invest him with Kingly authority? but merely marked him out as Saul's successor and thus David himself understood it. Note to Line 606. "Not for my transgression nor for my sin, O Lord*" Psalm 59, 3. David had not in any thing offended Saul, but was perse- cuted by him and his adherents, for his good deeds, not for his sins : and in this he typified the suffering, but perfectly holy Jesus. Note to Line 777. The giant Goliath of Gath was called a champion, or dueller. He was of the race of Anak. On the most moder- ate computation he was above ten feet high : and the weight of his armor shows that his bulk and strength were proportionable. His coat of mail weighed above two hundred pounds troy weight, and his spear's head in proportion. Note to Line 782. (I Samuel 21, 9.) David had not been accustomed to such armor as Saul put upon him, and he was not satisfied to go forth in that manner. This was likewise from the Lord, who would have it made manifest that his servant fought and conquered by faith, and that victory was from him, who works by the most despised means and instruments. The courage of David appears illustrious in the whole- narrative. Goliath understood that his challenge was- accepted, by David's boldly marching out to meet him; and at this crisis David with great activity at once struck the fatal blow. Either Goliath, in fearless presumption and contempt of his opponent, had neglected to fasten on his helmet; or the stone, directed and impelled by the power of the Almighty, penetrated both the helmet and his 166 NOTES. skull, and sunk into his forehead, as a stone sinks - into the water. Perhaps the sword of Goliath was not so large and unwieldy in proportion, as the other parts. of his armor ; for we find that David afterwards used it, as well as on this occasion. Note to Line 996. There is a wise and unwise way of comparing ourselves with others. We may compare ourselves with others so that we may be stirred up to imitate them, or we may com- pare ourselves with others in such a way that feeling our own inferiority we may be disheartened. When we unwisely compare ourselves with others or compare our- selves with others so as to make us feel discouraged or disheartened we are not apt to think of the difference in circumstances, advantages, &c. Now we are apt to feel disheartened or discouraged when we compare our own courage or virtue with that of the ancient Martyrs. How much they had to endure ? how bravely and how cheerfully they went to the scaffold and the stake? but we believe that the piety of this age is not inferior to the piety of the age of the Martyrs. It is true that there are few christians now that would be willing to go to the stake. They have not the courage of the former Martyrs. J3ut this is no proof that religion has deteriorated. The stake and the scaffold are not the appointments of the times. If they were God's grace would be equal to the emergency. As our day so would our strength be. If a day of martyrdom should again dawn upon us God's grace would be equal to the emergency. The dungeons would be filled with just as unflinching men who would not be scared by death. In sickness and in affliction no more grace is given us than for present trials. The passion for accumulation is to be found in men busy for the next world as well as for this. The man of the world that accumulates lays up treasure not only for present but for future wants ; so the christian, tho' possessing what is needed by his actual condition, is apt to be thinking about what would be necessary if that condition were worse. How much needless trouble is borrowed in this manner ? An old lady once told me she was trying to get grace to die in the poor house. I answered, "God is not NOTES. 167 going to give you that grace because you won't need it. You are not going to die in the poor house but in your own bed with your friends around you." Eich men are not as independent as they seem, for riches often take to themselves wings and fly away. We never ought to try to make ourselves independent of God. We are commanded to pray for daily, not for weekly, or for yearly bread. In spiritual things there is not even the appearance of being independent of God. We cannot get any more grace than we need for present use. We are to make provision for the future by using the means at our disposal. If a man finds himself able to bear present bur- dens let him not repine if he feels unable to bear greater burdens. He may not have to bear them, or if compelled to do so will have grace proportioned to the trials. Some christians are harrassed by a great dread of death. They take to themselves much needless sorrow fearing that they will be unable to meet it with composure and assurance. What of that ? Does that man believe himself on his death bed ? If not he has no reason to expect death bed strength. If he was on his death bed he would not find himself to be the timid, stricken, shuddering thing which he had pre- viously pictured himself to be. When the Coliseum of Ancient Borne, a building large enough to seat twenty thousand people, was finished the Emperor Vespasian sat on a throne erected on a platform, and beside him, on another throne, sat the architect. In the arena christians had just been thrown to the wild beasts. One of the heroic martys fixed his dying eyes upon the architect and, so powerful is truth, he caught his eye and spirit, and choosing rather to die for Christ than to accept a blood stained crown from the Emperor, for Yespasian was just preparing to place a splendid crown upon his head, he cried out, "I too am a christian!" and was immediately thrown to the wild beasts and was torn to pieces and devoured by them, but his pure spirit went, hand in hand, with his brother martyrs to receive a greater crown in the city of the King of Kings. Although his death came suddenly yet his death bed strength also came suddenly. Truly as his day so was his strength. Note to Line 1033. (1 Kings, 2, 5, 6.) These dying counsels of David ought by no means to be 168 NOTES. imputed to personal resentment ; but to a regard to justice, and a wise and pious concern for the security of Solomon's throne, which was the cause of God and of Israel — Joab had long deserved to die : and David's timidity had left blood guiltiness upon his family and kingdom, His late conspi- racy proved him to be a factious and dangerous person : and though his influence seems to have been weakened by it ; yet his party was still so strong, that it was not probable Solomon would reign in peace while he lived. He had not so much as attempted to conceal the base murders which he had committed ; and it was evident that he did not now repent, but would readily repeat them. It is observable that David did not blame Joab for killing Absalom ; being doubtless conscious that he deserved to die ; and that his own desire to spare him was a weakness and a sin. Note to Line 1048. (1 Kings, 1,-2,) Solomon could not at this time be more than twenty years of age. Yery young for a King. But though a child in years he was a man in capacity. Note to Line 1103. The sea of Galilee or sea of Tiberias or lake of Gennesa- reth, or of Cinnereth, is so called from the adjacent country, or from some of the principal cities on its shores. It resembles, in its general api)earance, the lake of Geneva in Switzerland, though not so large. The Jordan passes through it from north to south. It is about sixteen miles in length, and six in breadth. The waters of this lake lie in a deep basin, surrounded on all sides with lofty hills, excepting only the narrow entrance and outlet of the Jordan at each extreme ; for which reason, long continued tempests from any one quarter are here unknown. A strong current marks the passage of the Jordan through the middle of this lake. Note to Line 1441. (1 Kings, 18, 31.) Elijah meant, in using this exact number of stones, to show that the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, notwithstanding divisions and apostacies were yet the people of Jehovah, and formed one church and nation :£and that NOTES. 169 they ought to unite in worshipping the God of their fathers, and in opposing all idolatry. By forming the trench or trough round about the altar, and both filling it with water and pouring a great quantity upon the altar, the burnt offering and the wood, Elijah excluded all possibility of suspicion that any fire had been concealed, and thus rendered the divine interposition more illustrious and convincing. Note to Line 1471. (1 Kings, 18, 40.) Baal's prophets, being Israelites, idolaters, and teachers of idolatry in Israel, were condemned by the prophets to die, according to the express injunctions of the Mosaic law. Deuteronomy, 13, 1 and 18. 20 to 22. The people, under the present impression, readily con- curred with Elijah, and Ahab did not interpose to prevent the execution of the condemned criminals. The four hundred prophets of the groves were not present on this occasion. Some learned men think, that they were Ziclonians, not Israelties ; and therefore their attendance had not been insisted on, or they had refused to come. Note to Line 1831. (2 Kings, 5.) The river Jordan is the chief river of Palestine, running from north to south, and constitutes the eastern boundary of Palestine proper. The distance between the lake of Tiberias and the Dead Sea is what is properly called the Plain or Valley of Jordan. This river is about 100 miles in length. The Jordan is skirted on each side by a chain of mountians. Note to Line 1867. How much milder is the christian than the Jewish dispen- sation. Under the latter Gehazi, the servant of Elisha was told that his sin would be punished by leprosy that would never leave either himself or his seed after him. 2 Kings, 5. But under the christian dispensation Paul told Elymas the sorcerer that his sin would be punished by blindness only for a time— "Thou shalt be blind not seeing the sun for a season." Acts, 13, 11.- 170 NOTES. Note to Line 3217. The Devil did not quote the passage from the 91st Psalm right. He left out the words "In all thy ways" which are the keystone to the whole passage. So, at the present day, his 'agents try to do with the words of the bible. They quote the words that suit them and leave out what does not suit them. A man might prove any doctrine from any book in that way— suppose they should want to prove from the bible that there is no God ; if allowed to garble that passage it would be easy to quote it thus, "There is no God," leaving out the preceding words, "The fool hath said in his heart." The only true way to quote from any book is to quote the passage, the whole of the passage, and nothing but the pas- sage. Thus, "The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God." Psalm, 14, 1. God promises to protect his people while travelling in their ways, not in the way of the wicked. Just as the conductor of a railroad train promises to protect the passen- gers while in the cars, but he promises them no protection if riding on the cow catcher or lying across the track on the rails. Note to Line 1977. Syria is called in Hebrew Aram or Aramoea, and is the name of a large district of Asia, lying between Palestine, Mount Taurus, and the Tigris, and thus including Mesopotamia, which means in Hebrew, Syria of the two rivers. Note to Line 2538. Babylon was a celebrated city situated on the Euphrates, the original foundation of which is referred, in the bible, to the attempt of the descendants of Noah to build a city and a tower ; on account of which their language was con- founded,and they were scattered, by the interposition of God himself. Gen. 11. Hence the name Babel or confusion. With this coincide the traditions related by other ancient writers, and professedly extracted from Assyrian historians. Another Assyrian account makes Semiramis, the Queen of NOTES. 171 Ninus, to be the founder of Babylon ; and a late Chaldean account describes. Nebuchadnezzar as its builder. These accounts may all be reconciled, by supposing that Semiramis rebuilt or greatly extended the ancient city; and that Nebuchadnezzar afterwards enlarged it still further, and rendered it more strong and splendid. Under Nebuchadnezzar, at any rate, Babylon reached the summit of her greatness and splendor. She was then the capital of the civilized world, and into her lap flowed, either through conquest or commerce, the wealth of almost all known lands. Justly, therefore, might the prophet call her the great (Dan. 4, 30.) ; the praise of the whole earth (Jer. 51, 41 J ; the beauty of the Chaldee's excellency, |(Isaiah, 13, 19.) ; the lady of kingdoms, (Isaiah, 47, 5.) ; but also the tender and delicate, and given to pleasures. Isaiah, 47, 1, 8. Indeed, these last epithets are gentle, in comparison with the real state of the case ; for, in consequence of the opulence and luxury of the inhabitants, the corruptness and licentious- ness of manners and morals were carried to a frightful extreme. Well, therefore, might the prophets proclaim woes against her. Well therefore might we expect Jehovah to bring down vengeance on her crimes. Indeed, the woes denounced against Babylon by the prophets, constitute some of the most awfully splendid and sublime portions of the whole bible. (Is. 13, 47, Jer. 50, 51), and elsewhere. Hence, ' too, as the great capital, in which all the corruptions of Idolatry were concentrated, Babylon, in the Bevelation of John, is put symbolically for Borne, at that time the chief seat and capital of heathenism. The city of Babylon, however, did not long thus remain the capital of the world; for already, under the reign of Nebuchadnezzar's grandson, Nabonnid, the Belshazzar of the Scriptures, it was besieged and taken by Cyrus. The accounts of Greek historians harmonize herewith that of the bible, that Cyrus made his successful assault on a night when the whole city, relying on the strength of the walls, had given themselves up to the riot and debauchery of a grand public festival, and the King and his nobles were revelling at a splendid entertainment. Cyrus had previously caused a canal, which ran west of the city, and carried oW the super- flous water of the Euphrates into the lake of Nitocris, to be cleared out, in order to turn the river into it ; which by this 172 NOTES. means, was rendered so shallow, that his soldiers were able to penetrate along its bed into the city. From this time its importance declined ; for Cyrus made Susa the capital of his kingdom ; and Babylon thus ceased to be the chief city of an independent state. He is said also to have torn down the external walls, because the city was too strongly fortified, and might easily rebel against him. It did thus revolt against Darius Hystaspes, who again subdued it, broke down all its gates, and reduced its walls to the height of fifty cubits (about seventy-five feet). Accord- ing to Strabo, Xerxes destroyed the tower of Belus. The same writer mentions that, under the Persians and under Alexander's successors, Babylon continued to decline ; especially after Seleucus Nicator had founded Seleucia and made it his residence. A great portion of the inhabitants of Babylon removed thither; and in Strabo 's time, or under Augustus, Babylon had become so desolate that it might be called a vast desert. From this time onward Babylon ceases almost to be mentioned ; even its ruins have not been dis- covered until within the last two centuries, and it is only within the present century that these ruins have been traced and described. In no place under heaven is the contrast between ancient magnificence and present desolation greater than here. The awful prophecy of Isaiah has been most literally fulfilled. Is. 13, 14. There was also a Babylon in Egypt, a city not far from Heliopolis. Some suppose this to be the Babylon men- tioned in 1 Peter, 5, 13. But this is not probable. Note to Line 2809. {Jonah 1.) Mnevah, the metropolis of the Assyrian empire, was called by the Greeks and Bomans, Ninus. Most writers have placed it upon the eastern bank of the Tigris, above Baby- lon ; while some represent it as having stood on the western bank. It may very probably have occupied both. The city was of great extent and very splendid. (Luke, 11, 32 ; Gen. 10, 11. The book of Nahum.) Diodorus Siculus said it was about twenty-one miles long and nine broad, and about fifty- four miles round. Its walls were a hundred feet high, and so broad that three chariots could drive abreast upon them. Its towers, of which there were fifteen hundred, were each NOTES. 173 two hundred feet high. At the time of Jonah's mission, (Jonah. 4, 11,) it was reckoned to contain more than 120,000 persons "who could not distinguish their right hand from their left ; " that is, young children. By a computation founded on this basis, there ought to have been then in Nin- evah more than 600,000 persons. Note to Line 3092. The name Judea was applied in different ages either to the whole or to a part of Palestine. In the time of David the name Judah denoted that portion of the country which be- longed to the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. (Joshua, 11, 21, 2 Samuel 5, 5.) After the secession of the ten tribes the territory of the kingdom of Judah was called Judea, inclu- ding the tracts belonging to Judah and Benjamin, and also part of that which appertained to the tribes of Dan and Simeon. Hence it became at length a general name for the southern part of Palestine, while the northern part was called Galilee, and the middle Samaria. After the captivity, as most of those who returned were of the kingdom of Judah, the name Judah, or Judea, was applied generally to the whole of Palestine. Note to Line 3291. The wise Virgins fed their new natures. The foolish Vir- gins starved their new natures, for they took no oil in their lamps. They presumed upon getting some at any moment. They were always intending to feed, but never really fed their better natures. These foolish Virgins must have had some oil in their lamps, but they did not add to it. We are to add to faith, virtue, &c. (2 Peter, 1, 5.) Many who were once in Christ starve out their better man- hood. They were in the bosom of the church. They %>os- sessed the love of God, but did not get rooted and grounded in it. How can a tree grow without being rooted ? Babbi Solomo says, "It was the the custom in the land of Ishmael to bring the bride from the house of her father to that of her husband in the night time ; and there were about ten staffs ; upon the top of each was a brazen dish contain- ing rags, oil, and pitch, and this being kindled formed blaz- ing torches, which were carried before the bride." Each 174 NOTES. Virgin besides her lamp, or rather torch, had an oil can with which to replenish the lamp. The following extract from Ward's view of tne Hindoos will in some degree illustrate the circumstances of this par- able : "At a marriage the procession of which I saw some years ago, the bridegroom came from a distance, and the bride lived at Serampore, to which place the bridegroom was to come by water. After waiting two hours, at length, near midnight, it was announced, as if in the very words of scripture, * Behold the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him.' All the persons employed now lighted their lamps and ran with them in their hands to fill up their sta- tions in the procession ; some of them had lost their lamps, and were unprepared, and it was then too late to seek them, and the cavalcade moved forward to the house of the bride, at which place the company entered a large and splendidly illuminated area before the house, covered with an awning, where a great multitude of friends, dressed in their best apparel, were seated upon mats. The bridegroom was car- ried in the arms of a friend and placed upon a superb seat in the midst of the company, where he sat a short time and then went into the house, the door of which was immedi- ately shut and guarded by Sepoys. I and others expostu- lated with the doorkeeper, but in vain. Never was I so struck with our Lord's beautiful parable as at this moment, ' and the door was shut ! ' I was exceedingly anxious to be present while the marriage formulas were repeated, but was obliged to depart in disappointment." In this case the nuptials took place at the bride's house ; in the case of the parable, at the bridegroom's, as appears from the foolish Virgins being excluded by him. Note to Line 3379. These words were Christ's parting address to his unbe- lieving countrymen. They are very solemn. He was bid- ding farewell to those he had tried by every means to lead to repentance. He had wrought the most wonderful mira- cles among them. Delivered the most persuasive discourses to them. But all had been in vain. The time was at hand when they would fill up the measure of their guilt by the crucifixion of their Lord. This chapter is full of rebuke and emphatic denunciation. Nowhere is there to be found NOTES. 175 such a specimen of lofty and withering eloquence. You cannot read it without emotions of awe, and almost of fear. Confronted by those who he knew thirsted for his blood, Christ intrepidly charged them with their crimes and pre- dicted their punishment. Had he been invested with all human authority, in place of standing as a defenceless and despised individual, he could not have uttered a sterner and more heart searching invective. The marvel is that his ene- mies should have allowed him to pour forth his tremendous oratory, and that they did not fall upon him and take a fierce and summary revenge. "Wo unto you Scribes and Pharisees, Hypocrites," is the burden of his address. He reiterates the wo till the temple walls must have rung with the ominous syllables. And then he bids the nation fill up the measure of their fathers. Their fathers had slain the Prophets. But the national guilt was not yet complete. There was a crime by which the children were to outdo the sinfulness of their fathers. And Christ calls them to the perpetration of this crime. They were bent on accomplish- ing his death. Let them nail him to the cross, and then would their guiltiness reach its height, and the accumu- lated vengeance descend with a wild and overwhelming weight. " That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias, whom ye slew tween the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, all these things shall come upon this generation." And here the Savior may have been said to have ex- hausted threatening; for what denunciation could have been more tremendous or more compreheasive? We may picture him to ourselves launching this terrible sentence, a more than human fire in his eye, and a voice more deep- toned and thrilling than ever issued from mortal lips. I know of nothing that would be more sublime and com- manding in representation, if there could be transferred to canvass the vivid delineations of thought, than the scene thus enacted in the temple. We figure the Kedeemer un- daunted by the menacing looks and half suppressed mur- murs of the fierce throng by which Ire is surrounded. He becomes more and more impassioned in his eloquence, rising from one bold rebuke to another, and throwing into his language a greater and greater measure of reproachful- 176 NOTES. ness and defiance. And when he has compelled his hearers to shrink before the force of his invective, he assumes the prophetic office, and, as if armed with all the thunders of Divine wrath, denounces authoritively the approach of un- paralleled desolation. This is the moment we would seize for delineation ; though what pencil could portray the lofty bearing, the pre-eminent dignity, the awful glance, the terri- bleness yet magnificence of gesture which must have char- acterized the mediator when he broke into the overwhelming malediction, " Verily I say unto you, all these things shall come upon this generation ? " But, if the scene of this moment defy the painter's art, what shall we say of that of the succeeding ? No sooner had Christ reached that height of intrepid vehemence at which we have just beheld him, than he gave way to a burst of tenderness, and changed the language of invective for that of lamention. At one moment he is dealing out the arrows of a stern and lacerating oratory, and the next he is melted into tears, and can find no words but those of anguish and regret. Indeed, it is a transition more exquisitely beautiful than can be found in the most admired specimens of human eloquence; and we feel that there must have passed a change over the countenance and the whole bearing of the Savior which imagination cannot catch, and which, if it could, the painter could not fix, There must have risen before him the imagery of a wrath and a wretchedness such as had never yet overtaken any nation of the earth. And the people that should be thus signalled out were his coun- trymen, his kinsmen after the flesh, over whom his heart yearned, and whom he had affectionately labored to con- vince of danger and conduct to safety. He felt therefore, we may believe, a sudden and excrutiating sorrow, so that the judgments he foretold pressed on his own spirit and caused him great agony ; and hence the rapid and thrilling change from the preacher of wrath to the mourner over suffering. Hence the sudden laying aside of all his violence and the breaking forth into pathetic and heart-touching expressions. Oh, you feel that the Kedeemer must have been subdued, as it were, and mastered, by the view of the misery which he saw coming on Judea, and by the remem- brance of all that he had done to avert it from the land, ere he could have passed thus instantaneously from indignant NOTES. 177 rebuke to exquisite tenderness. And it cannot, we think, be without mingled emotions of awe and delight that you mark the transition from the herald of vengeance to the sympathiser with the wretched. Just as you are shrinking from the fierce and withering denunciations, almost scathed by the fiery eloquence which glares and flashes with the anger of the Lord— just as you are expecting a new burst of threatening, a further and wilder malediction from the voice which seems to shake the magnificent temple, there is heard the sound as of one who is struggling with sorrow; and in a tone of rich plaintiveness, in accents mu- sical in their sadness, and betraying the agony of a stricken spirit, there fall upon you these touching and penetrating words, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not." Note to another part of the Chapter commented on {Matt. 23) in Line 3379, and also inlNote on preceding Lines. Hypocrite : The Greek word literally means play actor. These actors in ancient times not only acted a part, but wore a mask. A great writer says that, while Hypocrites have the ex - pression, Christians have the experience of Christianity. How can ye escape the damnation of hell ? The question is sometimes the strongest mode of affirmation. Our Lord here means to assert that they cannot escape the damnation of Hell. The word here used for Hell is in the original Gehenna. Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, " Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." This means that the Jews shall be converted to Christ as a race, and doubtless Jerusalem as a city be restored, before the second coming of Christ. Note to Line 3458. Borne the burden— -The weight of the whole day's labor instead of a single hour. Heat in the original the Kayson or scorcher ; which was the burning east wind coming at mid-day from the Arabian desert. They had toiled through this hot blast, while the others had labored only in the one cool hour. 178 NOTES. . Note to Line 3762. (Acts, 9, 26 J As Paul (formerly Saul of Tarsus) went to Damascus to persecute the Christians he saw a light much brighter than that of the sun, when he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying, " Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me ? " Saul re- plied, " Who art thou, Lord ? " when Christ replied. " I am Jesus whom thou persecutest." Saul was astonished, be- cause he supposed that he had been opposing an imposter, but when he found out he had been persecuting the Lord of life and glory he trembled and said, " Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ? " Christ might, with one blow, have struck the furious per- secutor dead ; but he chose a better way— a way that has been a blessing to all his churches in all ages since ; instead of killing Saul he killed the enmity there was in his heart to his Gospel, and converted the furious persecutor into the great Apostle to the Gentiles. Note to Line 3780. -The book of Kevelation really needs no commentary, be- cause it is a commentary on itself. The latter part of the first chapter explains the first part. In Ver. 11 Christ speaks of himself as the " Alpha and the Omega," or the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, and in Ver. 17 he says plainly, " I am the first and the last," In Ver, 12 he speaks of golden 3andlesticks, and in Ver. 20 he says that the golden candlesticks are churches. In Ver. 16 he speaks of stars, and in Ver. 20 he tells us that those stars are Angels (or Ministers) of the churches. You will find that the 17th and 18th chapters explain the 13th. The book of Kevelation is a progressive book. It goes from one period to another regularly. It commences by telling us about the seven churches in Asia. As seven is a , perfect number The World then had churches enough, but ; there was not piety enough in those churches. Next we read of seven plagues to be sent upon the earth. Thus the earth, or the inhabitants of the earth, are to be perfectly or thoroughly tried. Next the beast with seven heads and ten horns is to be overthrown, or the Papal church is to be destroyed. NOTES. 179 Next Satan is to be bound for a thousand years. (A thous- and years sometimes mean One day, and One day a thous- and years. See 2 Peter, 3, 8.) Next the first resurrection is to take place. Next the Saints are to reign with Christ a thousand years. Next Satan is to be let loose again. Next the Devil is to be cast into a lake of lire and brim- stone. Next the general resurrection is to take place. Next the General Judgment is to take place, when the Kighteous shall enter into heaven and the Wicked shall be dragged down to hell. Note to Line 4020. The meaning of that word " lost " is the separating point from which diverge the most important sentiments that divide the Christian world. It affects all of our religious sentiments, all of our character, all of our career. If one sees in it nothing but a flourish of rhetoric, or an oriental exaggeration, then his conscience slumbers ; then his sym- pathies feel no deep appeal from man's condition and pros- pects, and his heart lies chilled beneath the cold moonbeams of the gospel. For to such a man that gospel opens on the one hand no thrilling scene of spirits fallen, defiled, be- nighted, and decursed ; and on the other hand no enraptur- ing display of love — of condescension lower than Angels had dared anticipate — of mercy's immeasurable sacrifice made in despite of base ingratitude and of parricidal rebellion. Note to Line 2801. First Persecution of the Christians and Martyrdom of the Apostles. — No prediction of our Savior has been more strikingly fulfilled than that which related to the persecu- tions and sufferings of his people by reason of their faith- fulness and love to him. These things he bequeathed to them as a portion of their inheritance in this world ; and, lest they should become disheartened at the complicated scenes of human misery that awaited them, he not only ap- prized them that they should be hated of all men for his name's sake, but pronounced a glorious benediction upon 180 NOTES. all such as should be*found worthy to suffer on his account. These gracious promises he often repeated to them during the days of his public ministry, and renewed them again after his glorious resurrection from the dead, accompanied with assurance of the aid and support of his Holy Spirit, which should dwell with them as a comforter to the end of the world. Nor was it long after his ignominious death and glorious ascension to heaven, that they were brought to feel the truth of what he had so often told them. For, notwithstanding the purity of that religion that they pro- fessed, which taught them to live peaceably with all men, and to do unto others as they would that others should do unto them; still, inasmuch as its sublime doctrines and precepts were directly at war with the natural propensities of the human heart, and set forth the One Living and True God as the only object of adoration, through Jesus Christ his only begotten Son ; the enmity and rage of both Jews and Heathens was soon aroused against them. From the time of the crucifixion of our Savior to the day of Pentecost, which occurred fifty days after, it appears that the Apostles, together with the other disciples of Jesus, enjoyed a respite from persecution, and were suffered to assemble themselves together for worship unmolested ; but when on that memorable day they spoke boldly in the name of Jesus, and their converts began to be numbered by thous- ands, the envy and bigotry of their Jewish friends was at once awakened, and a regular system of persecution and opposition to the progress of the gospel. was commenced. This, however, was for a while carried on by gentle means, which proving ineffectual, the increasing enmity of the peo- ple at length broke out into open outrage, and more than two thousand Christians perished within the city of Jerusa- lem. Stephen was the first who suffered death for embracing the religion of Jesus Christ, and therefore was crowned with the immortal honor of being the man who led the van of that glorious band of Christian Martyrs that soon fol- lowed after. Being a very zealous and faithful servant for his Lord and master, several of the principal persons be- longing to five of the Jewish synagogues entered into an argument with him, on the principles of the religion that he professed, and being unable to withstand the soundness of his doctrines were greatly irritated ; and to gratify their NOTES. 181 revenge they suborned false witnesses, who accused him of blaspheming God and the law of Moses. He was accord- ingly brought before a council, where he made a noble de- fence, proving from the scripture of the Old Testament that Jesus of Nazareth, whom they had crucified and slain, was no other than the true Messiah, At this they were very much enraged, and were about to pass sentence upon him, when he saw a vision from heaven, disclosing to his view the Lord and Savior in his glorified state. He exclaimed in rapture, "Behold I see the heavens open, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God! " Still more en- raged at this, they immediately passed sentence upon him, and dragged him out and stoned him to death. He died like his Divine Master, imploring mercy for his murderers ; saying, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." On the place where he was martyred the Empress Eudocia after- ward caused a magnificent church to be erected to his mem- ory. Being put to death on the 26th day of December, it is consequently observed in commemoration of this event. James the ^Great, one of Christ's favorite apostles, was beheaded on 25th July, A. D. 44. Phillip, born at Bethsaida in Galilee, was the first apostle that was called a disciple. He was crucified May 1st, A. D. 52. Matthew, the apostle and evangelist, was born in Naza- reth of Galilee. He. wrote his gospel in Hebrew, which he left behind for the use of his Jewish converts. He traveled into Ethiopia and Parthia, and on his return to the former place was slain with a halbert in the city of Madabar, on the 21st September, A. D. GO. Mark, the apostle and evangelist, was an amanuensis to Peter. He was tied by the feet, while in Alexandria, and dragged through the streets of that city till he was nearly dead ; when they cast his mangled body into prison, where he soon after expired. This occurred on the 25th day of April. The year is not known, but it is supposed to have occurred during the latter part of Nero's reign. James the Less. This apostle was the son of Joseph, the reputed father of our Lord by his first wife. He was cast down from a pinnacle of the temple,, after which they beat out his brains with a fuller's club. He was ninety-four years of age at his death, which occurred on the first day ^ of May. The year is unknown. 182 NOTES. After Christ's ascension into heaven Andrew was ap- pointed to preach the gospel in Scythiaand the neighboring countries. He traveled through Cappadocia, Galatia, and Bithynia, instructing the inhabitants in the faith of Christ, and continued his journey along the Euxine Sea into the deserts of Scythia. On his arrival at a place called Amyn- sus he was. received with great civility by a distinguished Jew of that town ; upon which he went into the synagogue, preached to them concerning Jesus, and from the prophe- cies of the Old Testament proved him to be the Messiah and Savior of the world. During his stay here he converted many to the 'true faith, having done which, previous to his departure, he ordained them priests, and settled the times of their public meetings for the performance of Divine Worship. Leaving Amynsus he proceeded to Trapezium, a mari- time city on the Euxine Sea, whence, after visiting many other places, he went to Nice, where he stayed two years? preaching and working miracles with great success. From Nice he proceeded to Nicomedia, and thence to Chalceclon, where he took shipping, and sailing- through the Propontis, passed the Euxine Sea to Hefaclea, and afterward to Amastris; in all which places he met with great difficulties, but overcame them by an invincible patience and resolution. Andrew also visited Sinope, a city on the Euxine Sea, where he w T as treated with great cruelty, but he converted many from the error of their ways, and induced them to become disciples of the blessed Jesus. From Sinope he re- turned to Jerusalem, and soon traveled over Thrace, Mace- donia, Thessaly, Achaia, and Epirus, a Grecian city, where he preached the gospel and performed several miracles. At length he arrived at Patrea, a city of Achaia. It happened that iEgenas, the pro consul of Achaia, came at this time to Patrea, where, knowing that many of the people had abandoned the heathen religion and embraced the gospel of Christ, he had recourse to every method, both of favor and cruelty, to reduce the people to their old idol- atry. The apostle, whom no difficulties or dangers could deter from performing the duties of his ministry, addressed himself to the pro-consul, calmly putting him in mind that being only a judge of men he ought to revere Him who was the supreme and impartial Judge of all ; pay Him the NOTES. . 183 divine honors due to his exalted majesty, and abandon the impieties of his idolatrous worship ; observing to him that -if he would renounce his idolatries and heartily embrace the Christian faith, he might, with him and the members who had believed in the Son of God, receive eternal happiness in -the Messiah's kingdom. The pro-consul told Andrew he would never embrace the religion he had mentioned, and that if he did not sacrifice to the gods (in order that all those whom he had seduced might, by his example, be brought back to the ancient reli- gion they had forsaken) he would cause him to be immediate- ly put to death. The apostle replied, that he saw it was in vain to endeavor to persuade a person incapable of sober counsels, and hardened in his own blindness and folly, to forsake his evil ways ; and that, with respect to himself, he might act as he pleased, and if he had any torment greater than another he might inflict it upon him ; as the stricter constancy he showed in his sufferings for Christ, the more acceptable he should be to his Lord and Master after his departure from this wicked world. This so irritated' iEgenas that he immediately condemned him to death. Accordingly, after being scourged in the most unmerciful manner by seven lictors, he was led away to be crucified. As soon as he approached the cross he knelt down and saluted it in words to this effect: " I have long desired and expected this happy hour. The cross has been consecrated by the body of Christ hanging on it, and adorned with his members as with so many inestimable jewels. I therefore come joyfully and triumphantly to it, that it may receive me as a disciple and follower of him who once hung upon it, and be the means of carrying me safe to my Master, being the instrument on which he redeemed me." After offering up his prayers to the throne of grace, and exhorting the people to constancy and perseverance in the faith he had delivered to them, he was fastened to the cross , on which he hung two whole days, teaching and. instructing the people. In the meantime great interest was made with the pro-consul- to save his life ; but the apostle earnestly begged of God that he might then depart, and seal the truth of his religion with his blood. His prayers were heard, and he soon after expired on the last day of November, but in what vear is not certain. 184 NOTES. The cross on which he was fixed was made of two pieces of timber, crossing each other in the middle, in the shape of the letter X, (which has ever since been known as " St. An- drew's cross,") and to this he was fastened, not with nails, but with cords, to make his death more painful and linger- ing. His body being taken down from the cross was de- cently and honorably interred by Maximilla, a lady of great quality and estate, and whom Nicephorus tells us was wife to the pro-consul. Constantine the Great afterward removed his body to Constantinople, and buried it in the great church he had built in honor of the apostles. This structure being- taken down some two hundred years after by the emperor Justinian in order to be rebuilt, the body of Andrew was found in a wooden coffin, and again deposited in the same place it had been before, which was afterward reverenced by all true professors of the Christian religion. Matthias was one of the seventy disciples whom our blessed Lord made choice of to assist him in the discharge of his public ministry. After his death, Matthias was elected into the apostleship .to supply the place of Judas, who was so struck with remorse at having betrayed his Master as to put a period to his existence. After our Lord's ascension into heaven Matthias spent the first year of his ministry in Judea, where he was so success- ful as to bring over a prodigious number of people to the Christian faith. From Judea he traveled into other coun- tries, and proceeding eastward came at length to Ethiopia. Here he likewise made many converts, but the inhabitants in general being of a fierce and untractable temper, resolved to take away his life ; which they effected by first stoning him, and then severing his head from his body. Peter, the apostle, was born in Bethsaida in Galilee, being the son of Jonah, a fisherman, which employment he also followed. He was persuaded by his brother Andrew to be- come a follower of Christ, who gave him the name of Cephas : which implies, in the Syriac language, a rock. He was called to be an apostle at the same time with his brother Andrew, and gave uncommon proof of his zeal and faithful- ness to Christ, notwithstanding his fears, on one occasion, so far overcame him that he denied him. After the death of Christ, the Jews, still continuing to per- secute his followers, ordered Peter, with several of the other NOTES. 185 apostles, to be scourged. This they bore with patience, re- joicing that they were found worthy to suffer for the sake of their Redeemer. When Herod Agrippi had caused James the Great to be put to death, because it pleased the Jews, he proceeded next against Peter and cast him into prison ; intending, after the festival of Easter, to bring him out to suffer a public execu- tion. And the better to secure him had appointed sixteen soldiers to keep constant watch at the door of the prison. But an angel appeared to Peter on the evening preceding the day appointed for his execution, and delivered him out of prison ; at which Herod was so much enraged that he caused the soldiers to be put to death. After various other miracles, Peter retired to Rome, where he defeated all the artifices and confounded the magic of Si- mon Magnus, a great favorite of the Emperor Nero. He also converted to Christianity one of the favorite concubines of that monarch, which so exasperated him that he caused both him and Paul to be apprehended. During the time of their confinement they converted two of the captains of the guard to Christianity, with forty-seven others. Having been nine months in prison, Peter was brought out from there and after being severely scourged, was crucified with his head down- wards. This position was, however, of his own choice, as he counted himself unworthy to suffer in the same manner as did his Master. His festival is observed on the 29th day of June, on which day he as well as Paul suffered. His body was taken down, embalmed, and buried in the Vatican, over which a splendid church was erected. This was, however, destroyed by the Emperor Heliogabalus, and the body re- moved, till Cornelius, the twentieth Bishop of Rome, had it returned, and Constantine the Great erected one of the most magnificent churches in the world over the place. Previous to the death of Peter, his wife suffered martyrdom for her faith in Christ, and behaved with great calmness and con- stancy. Paul the apostle was a Jew, of the tribe of Benjamin, born at Tarsus, in Cilicia, and before his conversion was called Saul. He was at first a great enemy and persecutor of the Christians, and a principal promoter of the death of Stephen. Going to Damascus soon after, for the purpose of arresting all such as he should find calling upon the name of the 186 NOTES. Lord, suddenly a light from heaven shone round about him, accompanied with a voice saying, " Saul, Saul, why perse- cutest thou me?" At this he was struck to the ground, and was smitten with blindness during three days. Immediately after his recovery he became a professor and an apostle. During his labors in spreading the gospel he converted to the faith Sergius Paulus, the_pro-eonsul of Cyprus ; on which account he took his name, and, as some suppose, was from thence called Paulus instead of Saulus. After his many labors he took with him Barnabas and went up to Jerusalem, to Peter, James, and John, where he was ordained and sent out to preach to the Gentiles. At Iconium he and Barnabas were near being stoned to death by the enraged Jews, and fled from thence to Lystra. Here they were stoned, dragged out of the city, and left for dead. They however revived and escaped to Derbe. At Phillippi they were imprisoned and whipped, and afterward greatly persecuted at Thessalonica. Being afterward taken at Jerusalem, Paul was sent to Caserea, but upon his appealling to Caesar he was sent to Borne. Here he was detained for awhile as a prisoner at large, but being at length released, he visited the churches in Borne, and in Greece, and traveled into France and Spain. Beturning again to Borne, he was a second time ap- prehended, and by the order of Nero was beheaded with a sword. Two days are dedicated to this apostle, one in com- memoration of his conversion, and the other of his death ; the first being the 25th January, and the other 29th June. John, the Evangelist, although the youngest of the apostles, yet he was admitted into as great a share of his Master's confidence as any. He was one of those to whom our Lord communicated the most private messages of his life ; one of those whom, he took with him when he raised the daughter of Jairus from the dead ; one of those to whom he gave a specimen of his divinity in his transfiguration on the mount; one of those who were present at his conference with Moses and Elijah, and heard that voice which declared him " the beloved Son of God ; " and one of those who were companions in his solitude, most retired devotions, and bit- ter agonies in the garden. John was very faithful and constant, and although he first deserted his Master on his apprehension, yet he soon discov- ered the impropriety of his conduct : he therefore went back NOTES. 187 to seek his Savior ; confidently entered the High Priest's Hall ; followed our Lord through the several particulars of his trial ; and at last waited on him at his execution, owning him, as well as being owned by him, in the midst of armed soldiers and in the thickest crowds of his inveterate enemies. Here it was that our Great Redeemer committed to his care his sorrowful and disconsu late mother with his dying breath. When the apostles made a division of the provinces among them, after our Savior's ascension into heaven, in order to circulate the doctrine of their Lord and Master, that of Asia fell to the share of John, though he did not immediately en- ter upon his charge, but continued at Jerusalem till the death of the blessed Virgin, which happened about fifteen years after our Lord's ascension. In Asia he preached the gospel where it had not been known, and confirmed it where it was already planted. Many churches of note and eminence were founded by him> particularly those of .Smyrna. Philadelphia, Laodicea, and others; but, his chief place of residence was Ephesus, where Paul had founded a church, and constituted Timothy its pastor. After John had spent several years at Ephesus, an accusa- tion was laid against him before the Emperor Domitian (who had then begun a persecution against the Christians) as be- ing an asserter of false doctrine and impiety, and a public subverter of the religion of the empire. In consequence of this, and in conformity to the orders of Domitian, the pro- consul of Ephesus sent him bound to Rome, where he met with that treatment which might have been expected from so barbarous a prince, being thrown into a caldron of boiling oil. But the Almighty, who reserved him for further service in the vineyard of his Son, restrained the heat, as he did in the fiery furnace of old, and delivered him from this seem- ingly unavoidable destruction. But miracles could not con- vince this cruel Emperor, or abate his fury. He ordered John to be transported to a desolate island in the Archipel- ago, called Patmos, where he continued several years, in- structing the poor inhabitants in the knowledge of the Chris- tian faith ; and here, about the end of Domitian's reign, he wrote his book of Revelation, exhibiting, by visions and pro- phetical representations, the state and condition of Chris- tianity that would take place in the future periods and ages of the church. 133 NOTES. On the death of Domitian and the succession of Narva, (who repealed all the odious acts of his predecessors, and by public edicts recalled those whom the fury of Domitian had banishedj John returned to Asia, and again fixed his resi- dence at Ephesus, on account of Timothy, their pastor, having some time before been put to death by the people of that city. Here, with the assistance of seven other bishops, or pastors, he took upon himself the large diocess of Asia Minor, spending his time in an indefatigable execution of his charge, traveling from one part to another, and instruct- ing the people in the principles of that holy religion he was sent to propagate. In this manner did John continue to spend his time, until death put a period to his labors, which happened on the 27th day of December when he was nearly one hundred years of age. His remains were deposited in the city of Ephesus. He was the only apostle who escaped a violent death. Having been brought up to the business of a fisherman, he never received a liberal education ; but what was wanting from human art was abundantly supplied by the excellent constitution of his mind, and that fullness of Divine grace with which he was adorned. His humility was admirable. In his epistles he never styles himself either apostle or evangelist ; the title of " i>resbyter," or "elder," is all he assumes, probably referring more to his age than his office. He was very charitable. Charity and love are the great veins that run through all his writings. When age and infirmity rendered him so weak that he was unable to preach he was led, at every public meeting, to the church at Ephesus, where he generally addressed himself to the peo- ple in these words : " Little children, love another." Of his inimitable writings the first, in point of time, was the Eevelation which he wrote while in Patmos. Next, in order of time, are his three epistles, the first of which is Catholic, calculated for all times and places. Before he undertook the task of writing his gospel, he caused a general fast to be kept in all the churches through- out Asia, to implore the blessing of Heaven on so great and momentous an undertaking. When this was done he set to work and completed it in so excellent and sublime a man- ner, that the ancients generally compared him to an eagle soaring aloft among the clouds, whither the meek eye of man was not able to follow him. NOTES. 189 In respect to the writings of this apostle, it may be said; " Among all the evangelical writers none are like John for the sublimity of his speech and the height of his discourses, which are beyond any man's capacity fully to reach and comprehend." This is corroborated by Epiphanius, who says : " John, by a loftiness and speech peculiar to himself, acquaints us, as it were out of the clouds and dark recesses of wisdom, with the divine doctrine of the Son of God." Such is the character given of the writings of this great apostle and evangelist, who was honored with the endearing title of being the beloved disciple of the Son of God ; a wri- ter so profound as to deserve, by way of eminence, the character of St. John the Divine. The evangelist Luke was a native of Antioch in Syria, and by profession a physician ; and it is the general opinion of most ancient historians that he was also well acquainted with the art of painting. After our Lord's ascension into heaven, he spent a great part of his time with Paul, whom he accompanied to various places, and greatly assisted in bringing over proselytes to the Christian faith. This so endeared him to that apostle that he seems delighted with owning him for his fellow la- borer, and in calling him "the beloved physician," and the " brother whose praise is in the gospel." Luke preached the gospel with great success in a variety of places, independent of his assisting Paul. He traveled into different parts of Egypt and Greece, in the latter of which countries the idolatrous priests were so incensed against him that they put him to death, which they effected by hanging him on the branch of an olive tree. The anniver- sary of his martyrdom is held on the 18th of October. Luke wrote two books for the use of the church ; namely, his Gospel, and the Acts of the Apostles. Both these he dedicated to Theophilus, which many of the ancients sup- pose to be a feigned name, denoting a lover of God, a title common to all sincere Christians. But others think it was a real person, because the title of "most excellent" is at- tributed to him ; which was the usual form of address in those times to princes, and other distinguished characters. His Gospel contains the principal transactions of the life of our blessed Redeemer ; and in his Acts of the Apostles, which it is probable he wrote at Rome about the time of 190 NOTES. Paul's imprisonment, are recorded the most material actions of the principal apostles, especially Paul, whose activity in the cause of Christ made him bear a very great part in the labors of his Master; and Luke, being his almost constant attendant, and privy to his most intimate transactions, was consequently capable of giving a more full and satisfactory account of them than any other of the apostles. In both these treatises his manner of writing is exact and accurate; his style noble and elegant, sublime and lofty, and yet clear and perspicuous, flowing with an easy and natural grace and sweetness, admirably adapted to an his-. torical design. In short, as an historian he was faithful in his relations, careful and diligent for the good of souls; as a Christian, devout and pious ; and to crown all the rest, he laid down his life in testimony of the gospel he had both preached and published to the world. He was hanged on an olive tree, by order of the heathen Priests of Greece. The anniversary of his martyrdom is on the 18th October. The apostle Jude was the brother of James the Less, and is also called Thaddeus, Being sent to Edessa, he wrought many miracles, and made many converts, which, stirring up the resentments of the people, he was crucified on the.- 28th October, A. D. 72, which is dedicated to his memory. The apostle Bartholomew preached in many countries, healed many diseases, and performed other miracles. He finally traveled into India, where he translated the gospel into the Indian language, and made many converts in that country. But the idolators becoming weary of his preach- ing, first scourged, then crucified him, and then cut off his head. The anniversary of his martyrdom is on the 24th August. The apostle Thomas was called, in his native language Thoma!s, but in the Syraic Didymus. .-He preached in Par- thia and India ; where, displeasing the Pagan priests, he was thrust through with a spear. His martyrdom is com- memorated on 21st December. The apostle Simon was distinguished for his zeal, by the name of Zelotes. He preached with great success in Mauri- tania and other parts of Africa, and even in Britain ; where, though he made many converts, he was finally crucified, A. D. 74. The anniversary of his death, together with that of Jude, is commemorated on the 28th October. NOTES. 191 Barnabas was a native of the Island of Cyprus. The time of his death is uncertain ; but is supposed to have occurred on the 11th June, A. D. 73. Note to Line 3352. {Matthew 25, 41.) " Everlastiug fire prepared for the Devil and his angels. — Sad mistake of these men! A glorious kingdom was pre- pared and predestinated for them from the foundation of the world ; but lo ! they have missed that predestinated lot, and fallen into an everlasting fire not intended for them, but prepared for the Devil and "his'angels ! As if God had provided no hell for men ! He had secured a Redeemer mighty enough, and a heaven capacious enough for all, and had made no other arrangements. So God's plans of mercy are not accomplished, and his predestinations are not ful- filled. But as they had made themselves utterly unfit for heaven, he stows them awav for ever in the Devil's lake of fire." Note to Line 3541. The Via Dolorosa, or the way to Crucifixion, the only Pathway to the Crown. -The time has not yet arrived, but is not far distant, when things will be called by their right names. At the present day, if a man possesses wealth, he is sure to be respected by the masses. The world does not care how the money was amassed. Men care less about a shining character than they do about a splendid house and equipage. The world respects the power or the ability men possess for enjoyment and display. Wealth, in the hands of a good man, is a great and good power ; but in the hands of a wicked man it is an evil power — is only evil, and that continually. It certainly must be very hard for a rich man to enter heaven. How can he get there? The very possession o^ wealth proves that he refuses to travel in the only road that leads to the City of the Great King. How can he ever ex- pect to go to the land where there are crowns and harps and golden pavements if he refuses to sell all things and buy the pearl of great price ? He is too poor to enter heaven because he only possesses wordly wealth. He does not even possess 192 NOTES. enough of heavenly wealth to enable him to purchase a wedding garment, and he cannot enter the city whose walls are of sapphire, whose gates are of pearl, and whose streets are of gold,iwithout appropriate raiment. Who will open the door of heaven for him ? He has no friend to open that door for him, because he failed to make friends for himself of the mammon of unrighteousness while he was on earth, and, therfore, in the eternal world he will have no friends to receive him in their everlasting habitations. This life is our childhood. As we spend our childhood so will we spend our manhood. " Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." How can the rich man, who will not allow either his feet or any part of his money to run on errands of love and mercy, ever ex- pect to enter heaven ? If he loved God supremely he could not help loving his children. He could not lock up his money and allow it to rust in his garner, but would scatter it about so as to cause it to fill all the land around him with happiness. He would convert his bars of gold into coin and send them about, like the Divine Master, doing good. In short, if he gets to heaven, he will have to start as a poor and not as a rich man. He must be poor, at least, in spirit. The Christian is not merely a light, but a bril- liant city set on a hill, and as such cannot be hid. The world cannot shut out his holy, sunshiny influence. Speak- ing in an earthly sense, such men may live in poverty's low vale, and their earthly prospects may be dark, but, in a spiritual sense, they live in a house built of gold and glit- tering diamonds on the mountain top, and their characters are so bright that the Gentiles are anxious to come to their light, and even Kings are glad to come to the brightness of their rising. Who is able to set bars and doors and bounds to a sea of fire, and to so completely fence it in as to be able to' say, "Thus far thou shalt go and no further, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed " ? If the man who locks up his wealth and refuses to use it to bless and benefit his fellow men gets religion, which is compared to fire shut up in a man's bones, how soon will he find it as impossible to keep his money locked up as it is to keep the fire in his bones locked up. How soon some of it would be spent for food for the hungry and clothes for the NOTES. 193 naked ? Like winter in the lap of spring his wealth and his icy heart would soon become thawed out, under the influ- ence of the burning rays of the Son of Kighteousness. So it is with earthly pleasure. The flowery pathway of the man of pleasure, that so many desire, must soon end in everlasting fire. Some persons are but children all their days. They never arrive at the measure or stature of full grown men and women in Christ Jesus. They are ever anxious to grasp earth's golden toys, Altho' very near to heaven's eternal joys. What would you think of the college student who had every rough path made smooth for him by a friend ? Could he ever become as successful, in after life, as the boy who bravely battles against his difficulties in getting an educa- tion and, by opposing them, ends them ? As there is no royal road to science, so there is no royal road to heaven. As Christ, bearing his cross, had to pass through a street in the city of Jerusalem, called the Yia Dolorosa, or the mournful way, to his place of execution, so have all good and great men and women a Via Dolorosa to travel in as they pass to their spiritual calvary, there to crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts. Without a Via Dolorosa or sorrowful way to travel in, our feet could not become properly shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace, for we are only made perfect by suffering. I have often heard the remark, " I wish I had the reputation of such a man, but I would not like to suffer as he did." The plain truth is, he never could have achieved so much greatness without enduring much suffering. That pathway of sorrow that he traveled in was his Via Dolorosa. It was his royal road to fame, and bravely did he travel in it. But for John Bunyan's imprisonment in Bedford jail for twelve long and weary years, perhaps his " Pilgrim's Progress " would not have seen the light of day. But for his blindness, Milton would never have composed that inimitable book, entitled " Paradise Lost." But for the constant appearance of death from consumption before his eyes, Baxter never could have written his celebrated book, entitled " A Call to the Uncon- verted, "which has been translated into almost every known language of the earth, and has led to the conversion of mil- lions. If he had not passed through a Via Dolorosa, boldly 194 NOTES. bearing his cross, he never could have written so many use- ful books ; he, certainly, never could have written them so well. As we have to wound the maple tree to exact its sweetness, so it is necessary for God to wound our fellow men by caus- ing them to pass through their Via Dolorosa, or Mournful Way, in order to make them successful in carrying the lamp of life, to enlighten the pathway of the benighted sons of earth, and the cup of salvatioa ; to quench the raging thirst of a parched and perishing world. Note to Line 4600. The possession of the moral character which we make upon earth, and its growth in eternity, will constitute the horrors of hell, or the bliss of heaven. Untried states of being are conceived by our minds with many circumstances which do not in reality surround them. If this be true of death, of the physical effects of which we have some knowl- edge by observation, it is most certainly true of the state beyond the grave; a state of existence of which we have seen nothing, and from which no one has ever returned to give us information. We know something, however, from the bible ; and reverently using that, and carefully observ- ing the aoalogy of nature, we may be enabled to strip eter- nity of the false colors and mists with which our imagina- tions have clothed it. From childhood too many of us have been accustomed to attach undue importance to what maybe called the physical or exterior circumstances of heaven and hell ; such as crowns, thrones, mansions, golden pavements, and harps in the one ; and fire, the worm, darkness, chains, and frightful fiends in the other. Now, these things do not make heaven or hell. No outward circumstance of beauty or glory *50uld surround a guilty soul with heaven to such a degree as to make him feel happy. Our present experience teaches us that happiness or misery does not depend upon outward things. The wretch who has secretly defrauded the widow, and oppressed the orphan, who has polluted the pure, and taken the life of his fellow, may bring around him all forms of beauty, and all ensigns of greatness, may enthrone him- self amid the trappings of power, and feast his eyes with surpassing splendor, and yet a voiceless worm sits on his NOTES. 195 heart, and is quietly sucking his life-blood out. A man of a pure heart and clean hands, whose heart has not sent, its top-root into the soil of earth, and fixed him forever to one spot ; a man whose soul is wedded to Christ by the holiest nuptials, who lives as seeing Him that is invisible, and con- stantly looks for the life to come, such a man may be stripped of every thing, property, wife, children, all rela- tives, and even of reputation and health ; all that is sup- posed to beget misery in the soul, all that men dread may be heaped upon him, and still, upon the cold prison floor, as he feels the slimy vermin of the filthy place twining around his limbs in darkness, in that suffocating dungeon air he may feel peace, like the river of God, softly flowing through his spirit, with its deepest, widest, calmest motion. It is thus we prove by daily experience upon earth, that mis" ery and happiness depend not upon the outward world, but upon the inner man. It should teach us to " keep our hearts, for out of them are the issues of life," and of happiness. Now, if when we cross seas we change our climate, but not our disposition, so when we cross the line which divides eter- nity from time, (which is as invisible and intangible as the imaginary lines which divide our world into hemispheres* and our continent into states) our inner man will be the same, and if it be such as makes us unhappy now, we may be assured that it is such as will make us miserable forever. That it needs no additional element to our sinful nature to make a place of severest punishment, may appear thus. If a city or town could be instantly surrounded by a wall of adamant, high as heaven, and deep as the centre of the earth, and every moral sentiment which now exists be de- stroyed, if the hope of heaven and the fear of any future were removed, and the passions which we now possess were suddenly let loose in all the wildness of unbridled fury, would not such a town be a picture and a type of hell ? The fire of lust would soon burn out our activity and leave us prostrate for awhile, but returning vigor would bring back malignity, and rage, and flaming desire. Now, add to this such spiritual bodies as we shall all possess after death bodies which will be capable of sustaining any shock of pas- sion, and any drain of lust; and add the crushing thought of eternity, and the perpetual presence of despair, and you have all the hell I have read of in the bible, the elements of 196 NOTES. all the horrors I have ever been able to conceive. But we turn from this painful picture to the joy which this thought must give the hearty, humble, laborious Christian. The burden is on him now, and the cross. He feels how difficult it is to keep Himself "unspotted from the world ; " he feels that it is often a toil to live in the constant discharge of his duties, and to be training himself to stern, virtuous habits, while the world and hell environ his spirit with manifold seductive and baleful influences. Over his joys steals the twilight of sadness, when the thought of the possibility of missing heaven occurs to him. But let him toil on ! When once housed with God he shall be holy, and consequently happy forever. Let him toil on ! He is building his heaven by the spiritual labors of this present life. The retention and the growth of the present elements of his character will create his everlasting bliss. My brethren, do you think that this view of heaven degrades that happy state ? Let me appeal to you. In the discharge of the active duties of your profession, when laboring to extend the triumphs of the Kedeemer's kingdom, or when, away from the hum of business and the laugh of mirth, you have been supporting the head of the dying, or ministering to the necessities of the wretched, have you not often felt how high, how holy, how angel-like, yea, how Christ-like was the blessed em- ployment ? When alone with God in the hallowed retreat of your closet, you have been freely communing with the Holy Spirit; when pondering .the truths of the bible, its sublime doctrines have grown up before your mind, and seemed to open the veil of eternity and let rays of the heav- enly glory in upon your mind, have you not felt as though you had an antepast of heaven ? Could you ask more than to be. permitted to live in this holy, happy frame of spirit forever, and to be engaged in these blessed employments without fatigue or cessation ? God grant me an ever-ex- panding mind, constantly kept filled by perennial streams of knowledge, and a heart deepening its purity, and holi- ness, and benevolence forever, and constantly enlarging fields of untiring labor, and all that I may love Him more and serve him better— and I ask no higher heaven ! But is this a scriptural view of that upper glory ? We are told " we shall be like the angels of God," in our resurrec- tion estate. And " are they not all ministering spirits sent NOTES. 197 forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation ? '"> If like them, then we shall all be engaged in some holy and benevolent work. Then we shall be like Jesus, for we shall see Him as He is. But Jesus is still pleading for the world ? still regards it with infinite benevolence, still is carrying- forward the great plan and work of redemption. In the book of Kevelation we have a glorious example of a saint in heaven laboring for the world. When the angel had showed John the magnificent things of eternity and the future his- tory of the church, overcome with rapture at the ravishing vision, he fell to worship his heavenly teacher. " See thou do it not, for I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them that keep the sayings of this book: worship God." Here there was one who had been holy on earth, and righteous in keeping the commandments of the Lord. It appears that he was still keeping these commandments in heaven, and with all his superior and ce- lestial training he had not become so divorced from the sympathies of humanity as not to call John a brother and a fellow prophet. A Eetrospective View of the Revelation of John. — In the eighth chapter, under the seventh seal, the sounding of seven trumpets is announced. Four of these trumpets pre- dict the gradual subversion of the Roman empire, after it became professedly Christian, but was continually more and more corrupted with superstition and idolatry, and stained with persecution by the Goths, Huns, Moors, and Vandals ; till the whole fabric seemed completely demolished, by the death of the last feeble and obscure emperor, called Momil- lus, or, contemptuously, Augustulus. The sounding of the fifth and sixth trumpets, or the two first wo trumpets, in the ninth chapter, with the events re- corded under each, is interpreted to predict the Mohamme- dan imposture and its most destructive success ; especially in the east, first under the Saracens, headed by Mohammed and his successors ; and then, the Othmans, or Turks, the effects of which remain to this present day. The tenth chapter is considered as a vision introductory to the opening of "a little book," a kind of appendix, or codicil, to the book with the seven seals ; attended by some 198 NOTES. other intimations, which are afterwards more particularly elucidated. The eleventh chapter which, (exclusive of the concluding- verses, relating to the sounding of the seventh trumpet) is here supposed to be this little book, or appendix, is inter- preted to predict the state of the church in the western re- gions, during the term of the fifth and sixth trumpets : while Mohammedanism made such tremendous ravages in the east, or during the period of the twelve hundred and sixty years. This prediction shows the extremely corrupt state of the nominal Christian church ; which yet is supplied during the whole term with a competent number of suffer- ing witnesses for the truth, who protest against these cor- ruptions ; till at length they are slain, their testimony is silenced, and their enemies triumph : but only for a very short time, after which the witnesses arise, ascend into heaven, and tremendous judgments on their enemies make way for the sounding of the seventh trumpet, and the final and universal triumph of the Redeemer's cause, or are con- nected with those events. The concluding verse of the eleventh chapter introduces the prophecy of the twelfth chapter, in which the apostle resumes his subject from the close of the sixth or seventh chapter ; or the revolution by which the Roman empire be- came professedly Christian, under Constantine the Great; in order to give a more detailed prediction of those events, especially in relation to the western world, which had before been very compendiously intimated. Satan, by his agents and vicegerents, the Pagan persecuting emperors, having in vain endeavored to prevent this revolution ; and being, with all their coadjutors, cast out, degraded from authority, and deprived of power to do mischief, in the way which they had formerly done, have recourse, with great zeal, to other measures. And the Devil, having failed of success as a roaring lion, appears as a dragon, a deceiver, yet a destroyer. The church, however, and her seed, before the new projects are ripe, has a place provided in the wilderness, to which she flees at the appointed time, and is secured during the period of twelve hundred and sixty years ; which is repeat- edly mentioned both by the apostle and the prophet Daniel. The thirteenth chapter predicts the rise, establishment, and dominion of the Papal persecuting Eoman empire, as NOTES. 199 the two-horned beast ; (temporal and spiritual power in one priest, or union of Church and State) and of the Pope, as the image of the beast: with the mark and number of the beast ; and the persecutions and cruelties which would be perpetrated by this anti-Christian power. The fourteenth chapter predicts the opposition made by the remnant of true believers, to this anti-Christian power ; and their protest against its abominations, under the name of " Babylon the Great " ; and the several stages of that ref- ormation, which at length was effected in the protestant and reformed churches ; with a general intimation of those tre- mendous judgments, by which at last the whole Papal persecuting empire will be destroyed, under the image of a harvest and a vintage. The fifteenth chapter contains a vision of seven angels : having "seven vials, containing the seven last plagues," which were about to be poured out, and in which the wrath of God would be fulfilled. The pouring out of all these vials is here supposed to take place under the seventh trumpet ; as all the seven trumpets fall under the seventh seal. The sixteenth chapter records the pouring out of the seven vials, which is interpreted to predict the succession of judg- ments, by which the Papal persecuting empire and' church and Kome itself, the metropolis and center of both, will be utterly desolated. The whole, or by far the greatest part of of this prophecy, however, is considered as yet unfulfilled ; though some interpret the pouring out of the first three vials, to predict the late events on the continent of Europe. The seventeenth chapter gives a figurative, but most intel- ligible description of the beasts, both the ten horned beast, and the two horned beast, with the extent and seat of their empire. The eighteenth chapter is interpreted by all protestant expositors, as a prophecy of the utter desolation of Kome, for all her abominations ; with the terror, distress, and ruin of all her adherents, and the exulting joy of the true church of Christ. In the ninteenth chapter ; after a still more animated de- scription of the joy and praise of all the servants of God, on account of these events, and the glorious and blessed effects which will follow, is a prophecy of the subsequent efforts against true Christianity, made by the remains of the anti- 200 NOTES. christian party, under the conduct of "the beast, and the false prophet," or "the two-horned beasts ;" and of the final victory obtained over them, ending in their entire destruction, and the casting of "the beast and the false prophet into the lake of fire burning with brimstone." Still, however, Satan himself, the grand deceiver of all nations, remains at liberty ; and ready to make further efforts against the cause of Christ : but the twentieth chapter opens with a prediction of his being bound, and cast into the bot tomless pit for a thousand years. Then the Millennium or triumphant reign of Christ for a thousand years takes place ; at the close of which, Satan, being again liberated, success- fully renews his efforts ; and impels those whom he has deceived and draws into apostacy from God, to levy war, with tremendous force and violence, against the remnant of believers. But at that crisis, fire from heaven consumes the assailants, the devil is finally consigned to the place of tor- ment ; the general judgment immediately succeeds ; and, all the wicked being cast into the lake of fire, the state of the righteous in heaven is described in the two concluding chap- ters, with many coincident instructions and exhortations. INDEX. The Lines in brackets are from the new translation of the New Testament. LINE. Abraham 139 Absalom. Fall of— 2 Samuel, 17 963 As thy Day thy Strength shall be— Deut., 33, 25 995 Absalom, Death of — 2 Samuel, 18 1000 Axe Floats on the Water— 2 Kings, 6, 6 1878 Ahab, King— 1 Kings, 16, 17, 1930 Art thou he that troubleth Israel ?— 1 Kings, 18, 17. . . 1950 Ahab wishes to buy Naboth's Vineyard — i Kings, 21 . 1980 Ahab, deceived by false Prophets, goes to War and is Killed 2041 A Woman healed of a Plague by touching the cloth- ing of Christ 3046 And the Third Day He shall [be raised up] rise again — Matthew, 20, 19 3593 Angels mean God's messengers 3826 And there shall be (Night no more] no Night there — Kev. 22, 5 3925 And before the Throne [as it were a Glassy Sea] was a Sea of -Glass -Rev., 4, 6 4228 And I saw the Dead, small and great, stand before God. [The great and the small standing before the Throne]— Rev., 20, 12 3933 And [they say] said to the Mountains and Rocks, " Fall on us."— Rev., 6, 16 3940 And [every one that] whosoever loveth and maketh a Lie— Rev., 22, 15 3944 Abraham offers up Isaac on the same spot where Christ was afterwards Crucified Gen., 22 143 As the Ram was a Substitue for Isaac, so is Christ a Substitute for Humanity . . . 150 Another Sea of Death shall Overwhelm the Wicked . . 169 All Sinners are Slaves 223 As the Israelites were Saved by Blood, which was Ty- pical of Christ's Blood, so are we Saved by the Blood of Christ. ' 259 All Walls of Error in the Way of Truth must Fall ... 329 As the Israelites passed through the Red Sea, on dry land, so will God make a Safe Way for all his Children through every Red Sea of Difficulty. . . . 265 As the Rock must be struck to obtain Water, (Exodus, 17, 6,j so must Christ, who was the Fountain opened in the House of David, (Zachariah, 13) be Crucified, or the Fountain must be Broken open, as it was on the Cross, to save Men. But Christ must only be Crucified once, and afterwards Spo- ken to in Prayer— Exodus, 17 275 202 INDEX. LINE. Another Shepherd chosen to Lead God's People 530 As David Turned from his Heavenly Father, so Absa- lom turned from his Earthly Father 963 Anoint Hazael King- of Syria, and Jehu King of Is- rael— 1 Kings, 19, 15 1556 As Seven is a Perfect number, to wash Seven times is to thoroughly try the Eemedy 1812 And the Form of the Fourth is like the Son of God- Daniel, 3, 25 2577 After [that] ye have Suffered awhile make you Per- fect. . ........ 2141 Haman tried to have the Jews Murdered— Esther 3, 8, 2241 Haman builds a Gallows for Mordecai— Esther 5, 14. 2254 Hainan hanged on the Gallows that he built for Mor- decai— Esther 7, 10 2312 Handwriting on the Wall— Daniel 5. 2702 INDEX. 2C7 LI NE. Habaku": 's Prayer— Hababuk 3 2851 How an d When to Pray— Matt. 6 3256 He that received the Five Talents traded with the same and made them other Five Talents — Matt. 25 3410 He saved others, Himself He cannot save— Matt. 27, 42 3571 He (had) held in his Right Hand (the place of honor) Seven Stars— Rev. 1, 16 3816 He showed me a [river ofi Water of Life, bright as crys- tal! pure river of Water of Life— Rev. 2, 1 3922 Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but my Words shall not pass away— Matt. 24, 35 2416, 346 How careful David was to obey God, and in every way to try to Glorify Him 572 How few of the great Men of Earth love God ... ..... 2746 He shall give his Angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways— 91 Psalm, 11, 12 3220 He that wins Souls is Wise— Prov. 11, 30 3024 Heart is Deceitful above all things, and Desperately Wicked— Jer. 17, 9 3871 Having done all to Stand — Ephesians 6, 13 3720, 3800 How much like the Words of Christ are those of Isaiah ? Truly the people of God all speak one language. . 3864 He that entereth not by the Door but [climbeth] climbs up some other way, [the same is] is a thief and a robber— John 10, i 3705 How many Persons waste all their Lives 3006 How should One Chase a Thousand, and Two put Ten Thousand to Flight ?— Deut. 32, 30 4015 He hath Done all things Well— Mark 7, 37 4067 Hypocrite, The Greek word for, literally means Play Actor Help one Another 4569 Joseph sold as a Slave for Twenty Pieces of Silver. (Christ was betrayed for Thirty Pieces.) 201 Jacob ! 174 Joshua 315 Jericho, Fall of— Joshua 6 329 Jonathan— 1 Samuel, 20 556 Jonathan and Saul, Death of 802 Jezebel- 1 Kings, 21, 5 1995 Jezebel— 1 Kings, 21, 5 1993 Is thv Servant a Dog that he should do this Great Thing ?— 2 Kings, 8, 13 2133 Job remains Upright - Job 1, 21. 2341 Job submits to God and regains his Prosperity — Job 42,10 2366 Isaiah 2379 Jeremiah 2441 Jonah disobeys God — Jonah 1 2807 Jonah, The lot fell on— Jonah 1 2823 Jonah. . , 2807 Jonah's Prayer answered — Jonah 2 2849 John the Baptist— John 1 2867 208 INDEX. LINE. Jesus Christ. 2922 I Pray not that thou shouldst take them out oi [from] the World, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil [one]— John 17, 15 3510 I count all things to be but Loss for the Excellency of the Knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord -Phil. 3, 8 .............. 3763 I saw Seven Golden Candlesticks, or Light Bearers, or Churches . 3804 I am [the Living Oue and I was Dead] he thatLiveth and was Dead— Rev. 1, 18 3822 Is not this the Fast that I have chosen to unloose the Bands of Wickedness, to undo the Heavy Burdens and to let the Oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke ?— Isaiah 58, 6 .... 3864 Jacob, in a dream, sees a Ladder reaching from Heav- en to Earth , that was placed at the side of a Sinner, so there is a way for a Sinner to get to Heaven, as well as a Saint; Christ is that way—Gen. 28, 12 to 15 174 Joseph was a tvpe of Christ ; he was one of the purest of men— Gen. 37 and 42 .203 Joshua here represents Christ leading Penitents into the Heavenly Canaan — Joshua 1 317 Israelites desire an Earthly King— 1 Samuel, 10 481 I will Fasten him as a Naii in a sure place— Is. 22, 23, 763 Jonah cast into the Sea 2838 I Baptise you with Water, but Christ shall Baptise you with the Holy Ghost and with fire— Matt. 3, 11 2876 I am the Door— John 10, 7 2909 I am the Bread which came down [out of] from Heaven —John 6, 41 ... . .... 2928, 2998 Judaism was only a Lighthouse, but Christianity is a Sun 3173 Judaism, compared with Christianity, has no glory by reason of the glory that excelleth —2 Cor. 3, 10 3173 Inasmuch as ye have done unto the least of one of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. [In- asmuch as ye did it unto one of these my brethren, even these least ye did it unto me.] — Matt. 25, 40. 3343 I [we] must work the works of Him that sent me while it is day ; the night cometh when no man can work— John 9, 4 3392 If a man die shall he live again ? — Job 14, 14 3097 In Jesus Christ neither Circumcision availeth any- thing nor uncircumcision, but faith which work- eth by love [working through love]— Gal. 5, 6 3560 It is best to fast every day from what is wrong. 3864 If meatmake [maketh] my brother to [stumble] offend I will eat no flesh while the world lasts [for ever- more]—! Cor. 8, 13 3864 In her was found the blood of Prophets and of Saints —Rev. 18, 24 : . 3874 INDEX. 209 LINE. Ireneeus fancifully wrote that there are four Gospels, because there are four Winds, four Divisions of the Earth, four faces to the Cherubim, &c. I am sorry that a Miracle ever was needed to Certify • the Messiahship of Jesus , 3053 If Heaven could be described, its glory could not be Transcendant, its happiness could not be un- bounded , 3745 I can do all things through Christ who Strengthens me— Phil. 4, 13 3786 Indian's Explanation of the Trinity in Unity — some lines below. 4074 I have yet many Things to say unto you, but ye can- not bear them now -John, 16, 12 4146 If any man be in Christ, he is a new Creature— 2 Cor., 5, 17. .-. 3500 I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life— John, 14, 6. . 4431 Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my Brethren, ve have done it unto me. Matt., 25, 40 ..". 4592 I have Trodden the Winepress alone — Isaiah, 63,3... 4564 King David— 1 Samuel, 16, 13 521 King Saul— 1 Samuel, 10, 24 497 King could not Sleep— Esther, 6. 1. 2229 Kingdom of Heaven suffereth Violence, and [men of violence] the Violent take it by Force — Matt., 11,12....... 3471 Lot— Genesis, 19, 1 163 Law [hath been our tutor to bring us unto Christ] was our Schoolmaster to bring us to Christ — Gal., 3, 24.......... 307 Lines on the Cotton Tree Bathing Place 4249 Lines Dedicated to a Dead Friend 4593 Lot delivered by Angels from the Ruined Cities of the Plain —Genesis, 19 155 Lot fell on Jonah — Jonah, 1 2823 Lead [take] captive Silly Women— 2 Timothy, 3, 6. . . 3197 Lo ! I am with you always, even unto the End of the World— Matt., 28, 20. 3628 Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the root of David hath prevailed [overcome]— Rev., 5, 5 2803 Let me die the death of the Righteous, and let my last end be like his— Numbers, 23, 10 3965 Love is the fulfilling [fulfilment] of the Law — Ro- mans, 13, 10 4098 Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I— Psalm, 61, 2 4006 Lo! These are parts of his ways, but how little a portion is heard of him ? But the Thunder of his Power who can understand ? " — Job, 26, 14 4165 Man's fall— Gen., 3, 6.......... 16 Man driven from Paradise — Gen., 3, 24 29 Murder, The first— Gen., 4, 8 53 210 INDEX. LINE. Moses— Exodus, 2, 6 226 Moon and Sun stand Still — Joshua, 10, 13 349 Manoah and his Wife — Judges, 13 411 Man, Thou art the— 2 Samuel, 1 724 Murderer of Saul— 2 Samuel, 1 877 Mordecai Exalted— Esther. 6, 10 2278 My God ! My God ! Why hast thou Forsaken me ? — Matt., 27, 46 , . . . . 3533 Man was the only Animal that was made with a coun- tenance looking up towards Heaven 4 Moses, a shepherd, called to lead God's People, was a Type of Christ, the great Shepherd 251 Manoah's wife told not to drink Wine or Strong Drink— Judges, 13, 4 414 Moses told to speak to the Kock in the Wilderness of Zin, and not to strike it 286 Man looks on the Outward Appearance, but God looks on the Heart — 1 Samuel, 16, 7 546 Man doth not live by Bread only, but by God's Word —Deuteronomy," 8, 3 ' 3206 Many men care more about winning Wealth than souls 3024 Men [they] ought always to Pray and not to Faint — Luke, 18, 1 ' 3257 My God shall supply all your Need — Phillippians, 4, 19 1882 My Sheep hear my Voice, &c. — John, 10, 27 3025 Mountains mentioned in the Bible. See note to line 152. Mad Kiver near Dayton, Ohio 4452 Moses died alone — Deuteronomy, 32 4497 Nathan— 2 Samuel, 12 '..' 723 Naaman — -2 Kings. 5 1797 Naaman cured of his Leprosy — 2 Kings, 5, 14 1833 Naboth Killed by the orders of Jezebel — 1 Kings, 21, 13 ■. 2014 Nebuchadnezzar's Dream — Daniel, 2 2458 Nebuchadnezzar acknowledges God's power — Daniel, 2, 47 2514 Now is the Accepted Time [acceptable] — 2 Corinthi- ans, 6, 2 r 4360 Nebuchadnezzar sets up a great Image to be Wor- shipped — Daniel, 3 2538 Nebuchadnezzar transformed into a Beast — Daniel, 4. 2675 Never man [so spake] spake like this man— John, 7, 46 3187 Naked and ye clothed me not — Matt., 25, 43 3333 Naked and ye clothed me— Matt., 25, 36 3343 Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. [No one shall snatch them out of my hand] — John, 10, 28 3817 Noah ridiculed , 86 Noah becomes Intoxicated— Genesis. 9. 21 117 INDEX. 211 LINE. Nation's hope found in a basket of Bulrushes — Exo- dus, 2 225 Naaman did not like God's plan of Saving him, be- cause he had his own plan 1820 New Testament is the best Commentary on the Old. No one can pay God for healing Men's Souls and Bodies 1849 Nebuchadnezzar Intoxicated by Success — Daniel, 3. . 2527 Nebuchadnezzar's Dream — Daniel, 4 2612 Nebuchadnezzar had just filled up the Measure of his Iniquity 2665 Nabonnid, or Belshazzar, was the Grandson of Nebu- . chadnezzar 2714 None but a Converted person could have thus spoken. 3181 Now, at the best, we "see thro' [in a mirror] a glass darkly. Now we see God and the truth by reflected rays of light as in a mirror, hereafter we shall see God and the truth by direct rays of light, or face to face— 1 Cor., 13, 12 3036, 4166 Neighbor ? Who is my— Luke, 10, 36 3365 Never strike a Fellow Man 4124 Nature and Faith Hebrews 5 11 4199 Of such is the Kingdom of Heaven— Matt., 19, 14 3500 Oh that I had the wings of a Dove, for then would I flee away and be at rest — Psalm, 55, 6 904 Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a foun- tain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people — Jere- miah, 9, 1 2446 Once I was very blind, but now I see 4398 Omnipresence and Omniscience of Christ 3032 Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ — 1 Cor. 3, 11 3853 One thing I know that whereas I was blind now I see —John, 9, 25 4423 Paradise —Gen., 2, 16 11 Paradise, Man driven from — Gen., 3, 24 29 Prince of Peace — Isaiah, 9, 6 1101 Peace be still !— Mark, 4, 39 1126 Proverbs and Songs of Solomon 1186 Prayer 3256 Parable of the Ten Virgin s— Matt., 25 3291 Parable of the Laborers— Matt., 25 3458 Pilate and Christ— Matt,, 27 3630 Pilate denies Christ— Matt., 26 3697 Papal Churches described 3839 Passages of Scripture referred to. Pictures in the Old Testament. How beautiful are they ? 149 Pharaoh must have been dreadfully blinded by sin. . 236 Prayers of the Righteous avails much. [Supplication of a righteous man availeth much] — James, 5, 16. 460 Praise God in his Sanctuary— Psalm, 150, 1 1101 212 INDEX. LINE. Path of duty is the path of Safety 2838 Pilate was like some of the Modern Politicians, who are as venal as the daughters of shame, and would sell soul and body for a little popularity 3630 Pray without ceasing— 1 Thess., 5, 17 3864 Peace of God which passeth all understanding— Phil- lippians, 4. 7 3948 Paul heard in Paradise, wherein he was caught up, unspeakable words not lawful (or possible) to utter— 2 Cor., 12, 14 3745 Power of Love. (Lines written while observing a beautiful sunset) 4075 Path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day— Prov., 4, 18. 4156 Queen of Sheba— 1 Kings, 10, 1 1153 Rainbow, The — Gen., 9 121 Ruth, Book of 433 Rebecca and her son Jacob— Gen., 27 916 Rumours less than the Reality— 1 Kings, 10, 7 1166 Rain, No— 1 Kings, 17 1295 Ruth was a pattern of Fidelity— Ruth, 1, 433 Righteous Lis] scarcely are saved— 1 Peter, 4, 18 3317 Righteous shall flourish like the Palm Tree— Psalm, 92,12 3986 River of God— Psalm, 65, 9 4003 Righteous have their part in the first Resurrection- Rev., 20, 6 4007 Sun and Moon stand still— Joshua, 10 349 Song of Deborah and Barak— Judges, 5 361 Samson— Judges, 13 429 Samuel — 1 Samuel, 1, 20 479 Saul, King— 1 Samuel, 10, 24 497, 611, 651 Saul and Jonathan, Death of 802 Saul's murderer; David orders him to be Slain— 2 Samuel, 1 877 Solomon— 1 Kings, 2, 12 — 1047, 1077 Strange Women— 1056 1056 Storm on Sea of Galilee— Matt., 8 1102 Solomon's Judgment— 1 Kings, 3, 25 1133 Sheba, Queen of— 1 Kings, 10, 1 1153 Solomon's Proverbs and Songs 1186 Syrians say that the Gods of the Israelites are Gods of the Hills and not of the Plains— 1 Kings, 20. 23 . 1974 Satan asks leave of God to tempt Job— Job, 1, 9 2330 Satan again allowed to tempt Job— Job, 2, 6 2356 Success intoxicates Nebuchadnezzar— Daniel 3 2527 Shadrack, Meshach, and Abednego cast into the Fiery Furnace— Daniel, 3 2566 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego would not Wor- ship Nebuchadnezzar's image— Daniel, 3 2548 Shadrack, Meschack, and Abednego walk unharmed amid the fire - Daniel, 3 2580 INDEX. 213 LINE. Show me thy faith without thy works and I will show thee my faith by my works. [Show me thy faith apart from thy works and I by my works will show thee my faith]— 2 James, 18 : 3766 (This is the work of God that ye believe on him whom he hath sent— John, 6. 59) 3766 Seven represents Perfection : 3819 Search for Truth as for Hidden Treasure— Proverbs, 2, 4 " 3947 Sinner soon becomes a Tempter Genesis, 3 42 Seeing spirits in olden times was regarded as a sure sign of death , 415 Saul chosen as the first King of the Israelites— 1 Sam- uel, 10, 24 497 Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands — 1 Samuel, 18, 7 633 Surely the bitterness of Death is past — 1 Samuel, 15, 32.... 1318 Servants be obedient in singleness of your heart — Ephesians, 6, 5 1777 Seven being a Perfect Number, Nebuchadnezzar must be perfectly or thoroughly punished 2643 Show [tell] John the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the Gospel preached to them — Matt., 11,5 2901 Samaria, Woman of — John, 4 3141 Sow that was [had] washed returned to her wallowing in the mire - 2 Peter, 2, 22 3030 Some doubt in the belief of the best persons 3040 Sin, Unpardonable — Matt., 12, 31 3446 Soul that Sinneth it shall die -Ezekiel, 18, 4 3494 Speaking lies in Hypocrisy. [Hypocrisy of men that speak lies] — l Timothy, 4, 2 3880 Sins of the Fathers visited upon the Children — Exo- dus, 20 3494 Shall we put the good old Bible away ? 41 70 Strike the Tyrant one and all 4379 Truth, The conflict between, and Error 1 Tower of Babel— Gen., 11, 4 133 Thou art the Man— 2 Samuel, 12, 7 724 Temple, Building of the 1078 Tho' hand join in hand the Wicked shall not go Un- punished—Proverbs, 11, 21 2910 Temptation of Christ— Matt., 4 3199 The righteous [is] scarcely are saved— 1 Peter, 4, 18. . . 3317 The Unpardonable Sin - Matt., 12, 31 3446 The Eoxes have holes and the birds of the [heaven have] air nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head. (How many have no room for Christ, either in their homes or hearts ?)— Matt., 8, 20 3321 214 INDEX. LINE. Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of [hades] hell shall not prevail against it — Matt., 16, 18 3630 The Crucifixion— Matt., 27 . . ... 3585 To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise— Luke, 23, 43 ...... 3561 The journey to Emmaus— Lu^e, 24 3619 The Devil, as a roaring Lion, seeks whom he may de- vour — 1 Peter, 5, 8 .......... 3727 Tho' dead they speak— Hebrews, 11, 4 3888 Thou hast a man that thou livest and [thou] art dead Rev., 3, 1 3904 They drank of [a] that spiritual rock that followed them, and that [the] rock was Christ— 1 Cor., 10, 4. 278 To me belongeth Vengeance and Eecompense — Deut- eronomy, 32, 35 .... 686 Thev that take the Sword shall perish with the Sword —Matt. 26, 52 690 Terrible results following the telling of a lie — Gene- sis, 27 . . 914, 3944 Thy [silver] money perish with thee, because thou hast thought [to obtain the gift of Gocl with money] that the gift of God may be purchased with money — Acts, 8, 20 1847 The Acts not the resolutions of the Apostles 1847 There apx>eared an Angel from Heaven strengthening him— Luke, 22, 43. 2055 "'' Tho' thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and tho' thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down," saith the Lord— Obadiah, 1, 4 2720 To him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin — James, 4. 17 2829 Their wine is the poison of Dragons, and the cruel venom of Asps— Deuteronomy 32, 33 2963 Thou shalt worship no other God— Exodus, 34, 14 . . . 3252 They [went about] wandered about in sheep skins and goat skins, being destitute, afflicted, [evil en- treated of] tormented of whom the world was not worthy; they wandered [wandering] in deserts and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth— Hebrews, 11, 37, 38 3109 The precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish or spot — 1 Peter, 1, 19 3607 Three Kings seek water — 2 Kings, 3 1688 Thy word is a Lamp unto my feet and a Light unto my path— Psalm 119, 105 3065 To give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness— Isaiah 61, 3 3260, 4425 Thinkest thou that I cannot [beseech my father] now pray to my father, and he shall [even now send me] presently give me more than twelve legions of angels— Matt. 26, 53 8582 INDEX. 215 LINE. There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved [Neither is there any other name under heaven that is given among men wherein we must be saved] — Acts 4, 12 3674 The entrance of thy words giveth light — Psalm 119,130 3688 Truth, like its author, is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever " 3949 They that are in the flesh cannot please God [It is not the children of the flesh that are children of God]— Komans, 8, 8 4199 The Great Hereafter— Rev. 4 4221 Thus saith the Lord, "Consider your ways" — Haggai 1,5 4272 Uriah, Death of — 2 Samuel, 11 724 Unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think — Ephes. 3, 20. ... . 2595 Universalism proved to be untrue 4020 Underneath are the everlasting arms — Deut. 33, 27. . 4100 Unto us a'Child is Born, &c. — Isaiah 9, 6 2397 Vanity of Vanities — Ecclesiastes, 12 . 1206 Verily [certainly] this was a righteous man ; truly this [man] was the Son [or a son] of God— Mark 15 and Luke 46, 23 .... 3613 "Vengeance is mine— I will repay," saith the Lord [Vengeance belongeth unto me — I will recom- pense]— Komans 12, 19 686 Voice must have been a person (the Angel Jehovah of the Old Testament Scriptures, or "the Word or Second Person in the Trinity, that was afterward made flesh and dwelt among men) because it came to Elijah— 1 Kings, 19, 13 1538 Witch of Endor— 1 Samuel, 28 502 Women, Strange 1056 Widow of Sarepta— 1 Kings, 17, 10 1346 Widow's Son dies— 1 Kings, 17, 18 1390 Water sought by three Kings — 2 Kings, 3, 6 to 20 1687 Widow in trouble seeks Elisha — 2 Kings, 4, 1 1717 Women, Good 2049 Women, Bad 2075 Wo is me— Isaiah 6 2384 Wine made out of Water by Christ — John 2 2954 Woman of Samaria — John 4 3141 Wicked Men are like Swine 3030 Who is my Neighbor V 3361 Work while the Day lasts 3399 Whatsoever a man Soweth that shall he also Reap— Gal. 6,7 3504 Who shall roll us away the Stone from the Door of the [tomb ] Sepulchre ?— Mark 16, 3. 338 Weaker Sex often proves herself the stronger 417 Wicked Men think that they know more than God. . 1890 Woman's Son dies, some commentators think, of Sunstroke— 2 Kings, 4, 20 1762 216 INDEX. LINE. Weapons of our Warfare are not [of the flesh 1 carnal but mighty, through [before] God, to the [casting] pulling down of strongholds — 2 Cor. 10, 4 2506 Wasted his substance with riotous living (The Prodi- gal Son)— Luke 15, 13 3005 Woman healed of a Plague by touching the Clothing of Christ— Mark 5 3036 This woman did not doubt Christ's ability to cure her, but doubted his willingness (Mark, 5). An- other person believed in Christ's willingness, but doubted his ability (If thou canst do anything, help us.,— Mark 9, 22 3036 Wicked do not stand but fall (Isles shake at the sound of thy fall)— Ezekiel 26, 15 . . 3800 Wicked flee when no man pursueth, but the Eight- eous are bold as a lion — Proverbs 28, 1. 3800 We should not pray on Sundays alone, but every day 3864 We ought to be everyday Christians. .' 3864 Woman, Bad, may seem worse but is really no worse than a bad man 3193 Wicked are like the troubled Sea— Isaiah 57, 20. .... . 4060 Ye shall have a Song as in the Night (The Night 'of Affliction, Night of Calamity, Night of Disease, , Night of Old Age or time of waiting for the great change, and Night of Death— Isaiah 30, 29 . 2428 Ye are the [a] temple of God ; if any man [destroy eth the temple of God] defiles that temple him shall God destroy— 1 Cor. 3, 16, 17 1067 Ye must be born [anew] again— John 3, 7 3139 Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God — Deut. 6, 16 . . 3116 You hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins [And you did he quicken when ye were dead through your trespasses and sins] — Eph. 2, 1 3500 Your fathers, where are they ? 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