Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

And not alone each sterner power
Proclaimed just Heaven's decree,
The faded leaf, the dying flower,
Alike said Cursed for thee."

Though mortal, doomed to many a length
Of life's now narrow span,

Sons rose around in pride and strength;
They, too, proclaimed the ban.

'T was heard, amid their hostile spears,
Seen, in the murderer's doom,
Breathed, from the widow's silent tears,
Felt, in the infant's tomb.

Ask not the wanderer's after-fate,
His being, birth, or name;
Enough that all have shared his state,

That man is still the same.
Still brier and thorn his life o'ergrow,

Still strives his soul within;

While Care, and Pain, and Sorrow show

The same dark secret-Sin. Miss M. J. JEWSBURY,

LESSON CLXIV.

PROPHETIC DESCRIPTION OF CHRIST.

BEHOLD, my servant shall deal prudently,

He shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.

As many were astonished at thee,

(His visage was so marred more than any man, And his form more than the sons of men,)

So shall he sprinkle many nations;

The kings shall shut their mouths at him :

For that which hath not been told them shall they see:

And that which they had not heard shall they consider.

Who hath believed our report?

And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?

For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant,

And as a root out of dry ground:

He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, There is no beauty that we should desire him.

He is despised and rejected of men;
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief:
And we hid, as it were, our faces from him;
He was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely, he hath borne our griefs,

And carried our sorrows:

Yet we did esteem him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities:

The chastisement of our peace was upon him,
And with his stripes we are healed.

All we, like sheep, have gone astray;

We have turned, every one to his own way;

And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,

Yet he opened not his mouth:

He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter,

And as a sheep before her shearers is dumb,

So he opened not his mouth.

He was taken from prison and from judgment,

And who shall declare his generation?

For he was cut off out of the land of the living:

For the transgression of my people was he stricken.
And he made his grave with the wicked,

And with the rich in his death;

Though he had done no violence,

Neither was any deceit in his mouth.

Yet it hath pleased the Lord to bruise him,

He hath put him to grief.

When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin,

He shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days,

And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied;
By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many;
For he shall bear their iniquities.

Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great,
And he shall divide the spoil with the strong;
Because he hath poured out his soul unto death:
And he was numbered with the transgressors;
And he bare the sin of many,

And made intercession for the transgressors.

ISAIAH.

LESSON CLXV..

TRIUMPH OF THE GOSPEL.

ARISE! shine! for thy light is come,

And the Glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.
For, behold! the darkness shall cover the earth,
And gross darkness the people:

But the Lord shall arise upon thee,

And his glory shall be seen upon thee.
And the Gentiles shall come to thy light,
And kings to the brightness of thy rising.

Lift up thine eyes round about, and see!

All they gather themselves together, they come to thee:
Thy sons shall come from far,

And thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side.

Then thou shalt see, and flow together,

And thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged;

Because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee,

The forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee.

Who are these that fly as a cloud?
And as the doves to their windows?
Surely, the isles shall wait for me,
And the ships of Tarshish first,
To bring thy sons from far,

Their silver and their gold with them,

Unto the name of the Lord thy God,

And to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee.

And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls,

And their kings shall minister unto thee:

For in my wrath I smote thee,

But in my favor have I had mercy on thee.

Therefore thy gates shall be open continually;

They shall not be shut, day nor night;

That men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles,

And that their kings may be brought.

For the nation and kingdom,

That will not serve thee, shall perish;

Yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.

Thou shalt know, that I, the Lord, am thy Savior;

And thy Redeemer the Mighty One of Jacob.

For brass, I will bring gold,

And for iron, I will bring silver,

And for wood, brass,

And for stones, iron:

I will also make thy officers, peace,
And thine exactors, righteousness.

Violence shall no more be heard in thy land,
Wasting nor destruction within thy borders;
But thou shalt call thy walls, Salvation,
And thy gates, Praise.

The sun shall be no more thy light by day,

Neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee;
But the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light,
And thy God, thy glory.

Thy sun shall no more go down,

Neither shall thy moon withdraw itself;

For the Lord shall be thine everlasting light,
And the days of thy mourning shall be ended.
Thy people, also, shall be all righteous;
They shall inherit the land forever,

The branch of my planting,

The work of my hands, that I may be glorified.
A little one shall become a thousand,

And a small one, a strong nation:
I, the Lord, will hasten it in his time.

ISAIAH.

LESSON CLXVI.

TRIUMPH OF HOPE.

UNFADING Hope! when life's last cmbers burn,
When soul to soul, and dust to dust return,
Heaven to thy charge resigns the awful hour;
Oh! then, thy kingdom comes! Immortal Power!
What though each spark of earth-born rapture fly
The quivering lip, pale cheek, and closing eye?
Bright to the soul thy seraph hands convey
The morning dream of life's eternal day:
Then, then, the triumph, and the trance begin!
And all the phenix spirit burns within!

Oh! deep-enchanting prelude to repose,
The dawn of bliss, the twilight of our woes!

Yet half I hear the panting spirit sigh,

It is a dread and awful thing to die!
Mysterious worlds, untraveled by the sun!
Where Time's far wandering tide has never run,
From your unfathomed shades, and viewless spheres,
A warning comes, unheard by other ears.

"T is Heaven's commanding trumpet, long and loud,
Like Sinai's thunder, pealing from the cloud!
While nature hears, with terror-mingled trust,
The shock that hurls her fabric to the dust;
And, like the trembling Hebrew, when he trod
The roaring waves, and called upon his God,
With mortal terrors clouds immortal bliss,
And shrieks, and hovers o'er the dark abyss!

Daughter of faith, awake, arise, illume
The dread unknown, the chaos of the tomb:
Melt, and dispel, ye specter-doubts, that roll
Cimmerian darkness on the parting soul!
Fly, like the moon-eyed herald of dismay,
Chased on his night-steed by the star of day!
The strife is o'er; the pangs of Nature close,
And life's last rapture triumphs o'er her woes.
Hark! as the spirit eyes, with eagle gaze,
The noon of heaven, undazzled by the blaze,
On heavenly winds that waft her to the sky,
Float the sweet tones of star-born melody;
Wild as that hallowed anthem sent to hail
Bethlehem's shepherds in the lonely vale,
When Jordan hushed his waves, and midnight still
Watched on the holy towers of Zion's hill!

pretty

LESSON CLXVII.

MEMORY AND HOPE.

CAMPBELL.

HOPE is the leading-string of youth; memory the staff of age. Yet, for a long time they were at variance, and scarcely ever associated together. Memory was almost always grave, nay, sad and melancholy. She delighted in silence and repose, amid rocks and waterfalls; and whenever she raised her eyes from the ground, it was only to look back over her shoulder

« AnteriorContinuar »