Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

(A sight to which our eyes are strangers yet)
A world that does not dread and hate his laws,
And suffer for it is crime; would learn how fair
The creature is that God pronounces good;
How pleasant in itself, what pleases him.
The groans of nature in this nether world,
Which heaven has heard for ages, have an end
Foretold by prophets, and by poets sung,
Whose fire was kindled at the prophet's lamp.
The time of rest, the promised Sabbath comes:
Six thousand years of sorrow have well nigh
Fulfill'd their tardy and disastrous course
Over a sinful world; and what remains
Of this tempestuous state of human things
Is merely as the working of a sea
Before a calm, that rocks itself to rest;

For He whose car the winds are, and the clouds,
The dust that waits upon his sultry march,
When sin hath mov'd him, and his wrath is hot,
Shall visit earth in mercy; shall descend
Propitious, in his chariot, pav'd with love;
And what his storms have blasted and defaced
For man's revolt, shall with a smile repair.
O scenes surpassing fable, and yet true!
Scenes of accomplish'd bliss! which who can see
Though but in distant prospect, and not feel
His soul refresh'd with foretaste of that joy?
Rivers of gladness water all the earth,
And clothe all climes in beauty; the reproach
Of barrenness is past. The fruitful field
Laughs with abundance; and the land once lean,
Or fertile only in its own disgrace,
Exults to see its thistly curse repeal'd :

The various seasons woven into one,

And that one season an eternal spring;
The garden fears no blight, and needs no fence,
For there is none to covet-all are full;

The lion, and the leopard, and the bear,

Graze with the fearless flocks; all bask at noon

Together, or all gamble in the shade

Of the same grove, and drink one common stream;
Antipathies are none. No foe to man

Lurks in the serpent now; the mother sees
And smiles to see her infant's playful hand
Stretch'd forth to dally with the crested worm,
To stroke his azure neck, or to receive
The lambent homage of his arrowy tongue.
All creatures worship man, and all mankind
One Lord, one Father. Error has no place;
The creeping pestilence is driv'n away,

The breath of heaven has chas'd it. In the heart
No passion touches a discordant string,
But all is harmony and love.

Disease

Is not; the pure and uncontaminate blood
Holds its due course, nor fears the frost of age.
One song employs all nations, and all cry—
"Worthy the Lamb, for he was slain for us!"
Come then, and added to thy many crowns,
Receive yet one, the crown of all the earth,
Thou who alone art worthy. It was thine
By ancient covenant, ere nature's birth;
And thou hast made it thine by purchase since,
And o'erpaid its value with thy blood.
Thy saints proclaim thee King, and thy delay
Gives courage to their foes, who, could they see
The dawn of thy last advent, long desir'd,
Would creep into the bowels of the hills,
And flee for safety to the falling rocks:
The very spirit of the world is tir'd

Of its own taunting question, asked so long,-
"Where is the promise of your Lord's approach ?"

THE JEW

THE RECIPIENT OF THE GLORY OF GOD,

AND

BLESSING TO THE WHOLE EARTH.

"I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion, for Israel my Glory.” (Isaiah xlvi. 13.)

"What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the Oracles of God.” (Rom. iii. 1, 2.)

"For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth (i. e. belongs) the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the Law, and the service of God, and the promises." (Rom. ix. 3, 4.)

"A Light to lighten the Gentiles, and the Glory of my people Israel." (Luke ii. 32.)

“And (Elohim) said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and past not withheld thy son, thine only son: That in blessing I will bless thee: and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice." (Gen. xxii. 16, 18.)

"And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." (Gen. xii. 3.)

"This people have I formed for myself: they shall shew forth my praise." (Isaiah xliii. 21.)

PART II.

THE Great and Almighty God, Creator and Supporter of the heavens and earth, and all things that are therein, had a right to choose, to elect, and adopt one people, as a recipient, to contain, preserve, and through whom to manifest his Great Name "above all people upon the face of the whole earth." (Deut. vii. 6.) This people and recipient are the literal Jews- the lineal descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

That God must choose some recipient as a medium of communication is self-evident; for without this medium of communication his creatures must be left destitute of the knowledge of his power, wisdom, righteousness, holiness, and truth; indeed, without a knowledge of his divine attributes.

And as his creation necessarily includes all creatures, the inferior as well as the superior, and was intended to manifest all properties, natures, births, growth, and dispositions, and in which there could not be an equality,* or else there

* How ridiculous then for some weak-minded persons to accuse God of partiality because of inequality.

could be no diversity or difference manifested, which different lives, natures, and dispositions are necessary to constitute a world.

Then God's first object in creating this world, was a desire and design to manifestation; all properties, natures, births, and dispositions were permitted and intended to burst forth into the wheel of time, and hence the great wrestling of Light with Darkness Life with Death Sin with

[ocr errors]

-

Righteousness-and Time with Eternity-took place, until the superiority of Light and Truth should be for ever manifested and established over Darkness, Sin, and Error.

This was commenced by God's choosing and adopting a recipient for his great name in the person of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the great primogenitors of the present literal despised Jew or Israelite.

Of these I say, God made an election and adoption, "choosing them to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth." "For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth." (Deut. vii. 6.) And his written word is the only medium through which he has made known his will to his creatures. This appears self-evident from many of the declarations and prophecies

« ZurückWeiter »