A poem on divine revelation

 This is a day of happiness, sweet peace, 
And heavenly sunshine; upon which conven'd 
In full assembly fair, once more we view, 
And hail with voice expressive of the heart, 
Patrons and sons of this illustrious hall.
 
This hall more worthy of its rising fame 
Than hall on mountain or romantic hill, 
Where Druid bards sang to the hero's praise, 
While round their woods and barren heaths was heard 
The shrill calm echo of th' enchanting shell.
 
Than all those halls and lordly palaces 
Where in the days of chivalry, each knight, 
And baron brave in military pride 
Shone in the brass and burning steel of war; 
For in this hall more worthy of a strain 
No envious sound forbidding peace is heard, 
Fierce song of battle kindling martial rage 
And desp'rate purpose in heroic minds: 
But sacred truth fair science and each grace 
Of virtue born; health, elegance and ease 
And temp'rate mirth in social intercourse 
Convey rich pleasure to the mind; and oft 
The sacred muse in heaven-breathing song 
Doth wrap the soul in extasy divine, 
Inspiring joy and sentiment which not 
The tale of war or song of Druids gave.
 
The song of Druids or the tale of war 
With martial vigour every breast inspir'd, 
With valour fierce and love of deathless fame; 
But here a rich and splendid throng conven'd 
From many a distant city and fair town, 
Or rural seat by shore or mountain-stream, 
Breathe joy and blessing to the human race, 
Give countenance to arts themselves have known, 
Inspire the love of heights themselves have reach'd, 
Of noble science to enlarge the mind, 
Of truth and virtue to adorn the soul, 
And make the human nature grow divine.
 


Oh could the muse on this auspicious day 
Begin a song of more majestic sound, 
Or touch the lyre on some sublimer key, 
Meet entertainment for the noble mind.
 
How shall the muse from this poetic bow'r 
So long remov'd, and from this happy hill, 
Where ev'ry grace and ev'ry virtue dwells, 
And where the springs of knowledge and of thought 
In riv'lets clear and gushing streams flow down 
Attempt a strain? How sing in rapture high 
Or touch in vari'd melody the lyre 
The lyre so long neglected and each strain 
Unmeditated, and long since forgot? 
But yet constrain'd on this occasion sweet 
To this fam'd hall and this assembly fair 
With comely presence honouring the day, 
She fain would pay a tributary strain.
 
A purer strain though not of equal praise 
To that which Fingal heard when Ossian sung 
With voice high rais'd in Selma hall of shells; 
Or that which Pindar on th' Elean plain, 
Sang with immortal skill and voice divine, 
When native Thebes and ev'ry Grecian state 
Pour'd forth her sons in rapid chariot race, 
To shun the goal and reach the glorious palm.
 
He sang the pride of some ambitious chief, 
For olive crowns and wreaths of glory won; 
I sing the rise of that all glorious light, 
Whose sacred dawn the aged fathers saw 
By faith's clear eye, through many a cloud obscure 
And heavy mist between: they saw it beam 
From Judah's royal tribe, they saw it shine 
O'er Judah's happy land, and bade the hills, 
The rocky hills and barren vallies smile, 
The desert blossom and the wilds rejoice.
 


This is that light and revelation pure, 
Which Jacob saw and in prophetic view, 
Did hail its author from the skies, and bade 
The sceptre wait with sov'reignty and sway 
On Judah's hand till Shiloh came.
 That light 
Which Beor's son in clearer vision saw, 
Its beams sore piercing his malignant eye; 
But yet constrain'd by the eternal truth 
Confess'd its origin and hail'd its rise, 
Fresh as a star from Judah's sacred line.
 
This, Amos' son touch'd with seraphic fire 
In after times beheld.
 He saw it beam 
From Judah's royal tribe; he saw it shine 
O'er Judah's happy land, and bade the hills, 
The rocky hills and barren vallies smile, 
The desert blossom and the wilds rejoice.
 


This is that light which purifies the soul, 
From mist obscure, of envy, hate, and pride; 
Bids love celestial in the bosom glow, 
Fresh kindling up the intellectual eye 
Of faith divine, in beatific view 
Of that high glory and seraphic bliss, 
Which he who reigns invisible, shall give 
To wait on virtue in the realms of day.
 


This is that light which from remotest times 
Shone to the just; gave sweet serenity, 
And sunshine to the soul, of each wise sage, 
Fam'd patriarch, and holy man of God, 
Who in the infancy of time did walk 
With step unerring, through those dreary shades, 
Which veil'd the world e'er yet the golden sun 
Of revelation beam'd.
 Seth, Enos, and 
The family of him preserv'd from death 
By flood of waters.
 Abram and that swain 
Who erst exil'd in Midian did sing 
The world from chaos rising, and the birth 
Of various nature in the earth, or sea, 
Or element of air, or heav'n above.
 


This is that light which on fair Zion hill 
Descending gradual, in full radiance beam'd 
O'er Canaan's happy land.
 Her fav'rite seers 
Had intercourse divine with this pure source, 
And oft from them a stream of light did flow, 
To each adjoining vale and desert plain, 
Lost in the umbrage of dark heathen shades.
 
'Twas at this stream the fabling poets drank 
And sang how heav'n and earth from chaos rose; 
'Twas at this stream the wiser sages drank 
And straightway knew the soul immortal lives 
Beyond the grave and all the wrecks of time.
 


From Judah's sacred hills a partial ray 
Extraneous, visited and cheer'd the gloom 
Spread o'er the shaded earth; yet more than half 
In superstition and the dreams of night 
Each hoary sage by long experience wise, 
And high philosopher of learning fam'd 
Lay buried deep shut from the light of day.
 
Shut from the light of revelation clear 
In devious path they wandered oft, 
Nor could strong reason with the partial beam 
Of revelation, wholly dissipate 
The midnight horrors of so dark an age.
 
Vain were their searches, and their reason vain, 
Else whence the visionary tales receiv'd, 
Of num'rous deities in earth, or heav'n 
Or sea, or river, or the shades profound 
Of Erebus, dark kingdom of the dead.
 
Weak deities of fabled origin 
From king or hero, to the skies advanc'd 
For sanguinary appetite, and skill 
In cruel feats of arms, and tyranny 
O'er ev'ry right, and privilege of man.
 
Vain were their searches, and their reason vain, 
Else whence the sculptur'd image of a god, 
And marble bust ador'd as deity, 
Altar and hecatomb prepar'd for these, 
Or human sacrifice when hecatomb 
Consum'd in vain with ceremony dire, 
And rites abhorr'd, denied the wish'd success.
 
Reason is dark, else why heroic deem'd 
Fell suicide, as if 'twere fortitude 
And higher merit to recede from life, 
Shunning the ills of poverty, or pain, 
Or wasting sickness, or the victor's sword, 
Than to support with patience fully tried 
As Job, thence equall'd with him in renown.
 


Shut from the light of revelation clear 
The world lay hid in shades, and reason's lamp 
Serv'd but to show how dark it was; but now 
The joyous time with hasty steps advanc'd, 
When truth no more should with a partial ray 
Shine on the shaded earth; now on swift wings 
The rosy hours brought on in beauty mild, 
The day-spring from on high, and from the top 
Of some fair mount Chaldean shepherds view 
That orient star which Beor's son beheld, 
From Aram east, and mark'd its lucid ray, 
Shedding sweet influence on Judah's land.
 
Now o'er the plain of Bethl'em to the swains 
Who kept their flocks beneath the dews of night, 
A light appears expressive of that day 
More general, which o'er the shaded earth 
Breaks forth, and in the radiance of whose beams, 
The humble shepherd, and the river-swain 
By Jordan stream, or Galilea's lake, 
Can see each truth and paradox explain'd, 
Which not each wise philosopher of Greece, 
Could tell, nor sage of India, nor the sons 
Of Zoroaster, in deep secrets skill'd.
 


Such light on Canaan shone but not confin'd 
With partial ray to Judah's favour'd land, 
Each vale and region to the utmost bound 
Of habitable earth, distant or nigh 
Soon finds a gleam of this celestial day: 
Fam'd Persia's mountains and rough Bactria's woods 
And Media's vales and Shinar's distant plain: 
The Lybian desert near Cyrene smiles 
And Ethiopia hails it to her shores.
 
Arabia drinks the lustre of its ray 
Than fountain sweeter, or the cooling brook 
Which laves her burning sands; than stream long sought 
Through desert flowing and the scorched plain 
To Sheba's troop or Tema's caravan.
 


Egypt beholds the dawn of this fair morn 
And boasts her rites mysterious no more; 
Her hidden learning wrapt in symbols strange 
Of hieroglyphic character, engrav'd 
On marble pillar, or the mountain rock, 
Or pyramid enduring many an age.
 
She now receives asserted and explain'd 
That holy law, which on mount Sinai writ 
By God's own finger, and to Moses giv'n, 
And to the chosen seed, a rule of life.
 
And strict obedience due; but now once more 
Grav'd on the living tablet of the heart, 
And deep impress'd by energy divine, 
Is legible through an eternal age.
 


North of Judea now this day appears 
On Syria west, and in each city fair 
Full many a church of noble fame doth rise.
 
In Antioch the seat of Syrian kings, 
And old Damascus, where Hazael reign'd.
 
Now Cappadocia Mithridates' realm, 
And poison-bearing Pontus, whose deep shades 
Were shades of death, admit the light of truth.
 
In Asia less seven luminaries rise, 
Bright lights, which with celestial vigour burn, 
And give the day in fullest glory round.
 
There Symrna shines, and Thyatira there, 
There Ephesus a sister light appears, 
And Pergamus with kindred glory burns: 
She burns enkindled with a purer flame 
Than Troy of old, when Grecian kings combin'd 
Had set her gates on fire: The Hellespont 
And all th' Egean sea shone to the blaze.
 


But now more west the gracious day serene 
On Athens rising, throws a dark eclipse 
On that high learning by her sages taught, 
In each high school of philosophic fame; 
Vain wisdom, useless sophistry condemn'd, 
As ignorance and foolishness of men.
 
Let her philosophers debate no more 
In the Lyceum, or the Stoics porch, 
Holding high converse, but in error lost 
Of pain, and happiness, and fate supreme.
 
Fair truth from heav'n draws all their reas'ning high 
In captive chains bound at her chariot wheels.
 


Now Rome imperial, mistress of the world 
Drinks the pure lustre of the orient ray 
Assuaging her fierce thirst of bloody war, 
Dominion boundless, victory and fame; 
Each bold centurion, and each prætor finds 
A nobler empire to subdue themselves.
 


From Rome the mistress of the world in peace, 
Far to the north the golden light ascends; 
To Gaul and Britain and the utmost bound 
Of Thule famous in poetic song, 
Victorious there where not Rome's consuls brave, 
Heroes, or conquering armies, ever came.
 
Far in the artic skies a light is seen, 
Unlike that sun, which shall ere long retreat, 
And leave their hills one half the year in shades.
 
Or that Aurora which the sailor sees 
Beneath the pole in dancing beams of light, 
Playing its gambols on the northern hills.
 
That light is vain and gives no genial heat, 
To warm the tenants of those frozen climes, 
Or give that heav'nly vigour to the soul, 
Which truth divine and revelation brings; 
And but for which each heart must still remain, 
Hard as the rock on Scandanavia's shore, 
Cold as the ice which bridges up her streams, 
Fierce as the storm which tempests all her waves.
 


Thus in its dawn did sacred truth prevail, 
In either hemisphere from north to south, 
From east to west through the long tract of day.
 
From Shinar's plain to Thule's utmost isle, 
From Persia's bay to Scandanavia's shores.
 
Cheer'd by its ray now ev'ry valley smiles, 
And ev'ry lawn smote by its morning beam.
 
Now ev'ry hill reflects a purer ray, 
Than when Aurora paints his woods in gold, 
Or when the sun first in the orient sky, 
Sets thick with gems the dewy mountain's brow.
 


The earth perceives a sov'reign virtue shed 
And from each cave, and midnight haunt retires 
Dark superstition, with her vot'ries skill'd, 
In potent charm, or spell of magic pow'r; 
In augury, by voice, or flight of birds, 
Or boding sign at morn, or noon, or eve, 
Portent and prodigy and omen dire.
 
Each oracle by Demon, or the craft 
Of priests, made vocal, can declare no more 
Of high renown, and victory secure, 
To kings low prostrate at their bloody shrines.
 
No more with vain uncertainty perplex 
Mistaken worshippers, or give unseen 
Response ambiguous in some mystic sound, 
And hollow murmer from the dark recess.
 
No more of Lybian Jove; Dodona's oaks, 
In sacred grove give prophecy no more.
 
Th' infernal deities retire abash'd, 
Our God himself on earth begins his reign; 
Pure revelation beams on ev'ry land, 
On ev'ry heart exerts a sov'reign sway, 
And makes the human nature grow divine.
 


Now hideous war forgets one half her rage, 
And smoothes her visage horible to view.
 
Celestial graces better sooth the soul, 
Than vocal music, or the charming sound 
Of harp or lyre.
 More than the golden lyre 
Which Orpheus tun'd in melancholy notes, 
Which almost pierc'd the dull cold ear of death, 
And mov'd the grave to give him back his bride.
 


Peace with the graces and fair science now 
Wait on the gospel car; science improv'd 
Puts on a fairer dress; a fairer form 
Now ev'ry art assumes; bold eloquence 
Moves in a higher sphere than senates grave, 
Or mix'd assembly, or the hall of kings, 
Which erst with pompous panegyric rung.
 
Vain words and soothing flattery she hates, 
And feigned tears, and tongue which silver-tipt 
Moves in the cause of wickedness and pride.
 
She mourns not that fair liberty depress'd 
Which kings tyrannic can extort, but that 
Pure freedom of the soul to truth divine 
Which first indulg'd her and with envious hand 
Pluck'd thence, left hideous slavery behind.
 
She weeps not loss of property on earth, 
Nor stirs the multitude to dire revenge 
With headlong violence, but soothes the soul 
To harmony and peace, bids them aspire 
With emulation and pure zeal of heart, 
To that high glory in the world unseen, 
And crown celestial, which pure virtue gives.
 


Thus eloquence and poesy divine 
A nobler range of sentiment receive; 
Life brought to view and immortality, 
A recent world through which bold fancy roves, 
And gives new magic to the pow'r of song; 
For where the streams of revelation flow 
Unknown to bards of Helicon, or those 
Who on the top of Pindus, or the banks 
Of Arethusa and Eurotas stray'd, 
The poet drinks, and glorying in new strength, 
Soars high in rapture of sublimer strains; 
Such as that prophet sang who tun'd his harp 
On Zion hill and with seraphic praise 
In psalm and sacred ode by Siloa's brook, 
Drew HIS attention who first touch'd the soul 
With taste of harmony, and bade the spheres 
Move in rich measure to the songs on high.
 
Fill'd with this spirit poesy no more 
Adorns that vain mythology believ'd, 
By rude barbarian, and no more receives, 
The tale traditional, and hymn profane, 
Sung by high genius, basely prostitute.
 
New strains are heard, such as first in the morn 
Of time, were sung by the angelic choirs, 
When rising from chaotic state the earth 
Orbicular was seen, and over head 
The blazing sun, moon, planet, and each light 
That gilds the firmament, rush'd into view.
 


Thus did the sun of revelation shine 
Full on the earth, and grateful were its beams: 
Its beams were grateful to the chosen seed, 
To all whose works were worthy of the day.
 
But creatures lucifuge, whose ways were dark, 
Ere this in shades of paganism hid, 
Did vent their poison, and malignant breath, 
To stain the splendour of the light divine, 
Which pierc'd their cells and brought their deeds to view 
Num'rous combin'd of ev'ry tongue and tribe, 
Made battle proud, and impious war brought on, 
Against the chosen sanctified by light.
 
Riches and pow'r leagu'd in their train were seen, 
Sword, famine, flames and death before them prey'd.
 
Those faithful found, who undismay'd did bear 
A noble evidence to truth, were slain.
 
Why should I sing of these or here record, 
As if 'twere praise, in poesy or song, 
Or sculptur'd stone, to eternize the names, 
Which writ elsewhere in the fair book of life, 
Shall live unsullied when each strain shall die: 
Shall undefac'd remain when sculptur'd stone, 
And monument, and bust, and storied urn 
Perpetuates its sage and king no more.
 


The pow'r of torture and reproach was vain, 
But what not torture or reproach could do, 
Dark superstition did in part effect.
 
That superstition, which saint John beheld, 
Rise in thick darkness from th' infernal lake.
 
Locust and scorpion in the smoke ascend, 
False teacher, heretic, and Antichrist.
 
The noon day sun is dark'ned in the sky, 
The moon forbears to give her wonted light.
 
Full many a century the darkness rul'd, 
With heavier gloom than once on Egypt came, 
Save that on some lone coast, or desert isle, 
Where sep'rate far a chosen spirit dwelt, 
A Goshen shone, with partial-streaming ray.
 
Night on the one side settles dark; on Rome, 
It settles dark, and ev'ry land more west 
Is wrapt in shades.
 Night on the east comes down 
With gloom Tartarean, and in part it rose 
From Tartary beneath the dusky pole.
 
The ruthless Turk, and Saracen in arms, 
O'er-run the land the gospel once illum'd; 
The holy land Judea once so nam'd, 
And Syria west where many churches rose.
 
Those golden luminaries are remov'd, 
Which once in Asia shone.
 Athens no more 
For truth and learning fam'd.
 Corinth obscur'd, 
Ionia mourns through all her sea-girt isles.
 


But yet once more the light of truth shall shine 
In this obscure sojourn; shall shoot its beam 
In morning beauty mild, o'er hill and dale.
 
See in Bohemia and the lands more west 
The heavenly ray of revelation shines, 
Fresh kindling up true love and purest zeal.
 


Britannia next beholds the risen day 
In reformation bright; cheerful she hails 
It from her snow-white cliffs, and bids her sons, 
Rise from the mist of popery obscure.
 
Her worthier sons, whom not Rome's pontiff high, 
Nor king with arbitrary sway could move.
 
Those mightier who with constancy untam'd, 
Did quench the violence of fire, at death 
Did smile, and maugre ev'ry pain, of bond, 
Cold dark imprisonment, and scourge severe, 
By hell-born popery devis'd, held fast 
The Christian hope firm anchor of the soul.
 
Or those who shunning that fell rage of war, 
And persecution dire, when civil pow'r, 
Leagu'd in with sacerdotal sway triumph'd, 
O'er ev'ry conscience, and the lives of men, 
Did brave th' Atlantic deep and through its storms 
Sought these Americ shores: these happier shores 
Where birds of calm delight to play, where not 
Rome's pontiff high, nor arbitrary king, 
Leagu'd in with sacerdotal sway are known.
 
But peace and freedom link'd together dwell, 
And reformation in full glory shines.
 
Oh for a muse of more exalted wing, 
To celebrate those men who planted first 
The christian church in these remotest lands; 
From those high plains where spreads a colony, 
Gen'rous and free, from Massachusett-shores, 
To the cold lakes margin'd with snow: from that 
Long dreary tract of shady woods and hills, 
Where Hudson's icy stream rolls his cold wave, 
To those more sunny bowers where zephyrs breath, 
And round which flow in circling current swift 
The Delaware and Susquehannah streams.
 
Thence to those smiling plains where Chesapeak 
Spreads her maternal arms, encompassing 
In soft embrace, full many a settlement, 
Where opulence, with hospitality, 
And polish'd manners, and the living plant 
Of science blooming, sets their glory high [1].
 
Thence to Virginia, sister colony, 
Lib'ral in sentiment, and breathing high, 
The noble ardour of the freeborn soul.
 
To Carolina thence, and that warm clime 
Where Georgia south in summer heat complains, 
And distant thence towards the burning line.
 


These men deserve our song, and those who still, 
With industry severe, and steady aim 
Diffuse the light in this late dreary land, 
In whose lone wastes and solitudes forlorn, 
Death long sat brooding with his raven wing.
 
Who many 'a structure of great fame have rais'd, 
College, and school, upon th' Atlantic coast, 
Or inland town, through ev'ry province wide, 
Which rising up like pyramids of fire, 
Give light and glory to the western world.
 


These men we honour, and their names shall last 
Sweet in the mouths and memory of men; 
Or if vain man unconscious of their worth, 
Refuse a tear when in some lonely vale 
He sees those faithful laid; each breeze shall sigh, 
Each passing gale shall mourn, each tree shall bend 
Its heavy head, in sorrow o'er their tombs, 
And some sad stream run ever weeping by.
 
Weep not O stream, nor mourn thou passing gale, 
Beneath those grassy tombs their bodies lie, 
But they have risen from each labour bere 
To make their entrance on a nobler stage.
 
What though with us they walk the humble vale 
Of indigence severe, with want oppress'd? 
Riches belong not to their family, 
Nor sloth luxurious nor the pride of kings; 
But truth meek-ey'd and warm benevolence 
Wisdom's high breeding in her sons rever'd 
Bespeaks them each the children[2] of a king.
 
The christian truth of origin divine, 
Grows not beneath the shade of civil pow'r, 
Riches or wealth accompanied with pride; 
Nor shall it bloom transplanted to that soil, 
Where persecution, in malignant streams, 
Flows out to water it; black streams and foul 
Which from the lake of Tartarus break forth, 
The sickly tide of Acheron which flows, 
With putrid waves through the infernal shades.
 
This plant of heaven loves the gentle beams, 
Of truth and meekness, and the kindly dew 
Which fell on Zion hill; it loves the care 
Of humble shepherds, and the rural swain, 
And tended by their hands it flourishes 
With fruit and blossoms, and soon gives a shade, 
Beneath which ev'ry traveller shall rest, 
Safe from the burning east-wind and the sun.
 
A vernal shade not with'ring like the gourd 
Of him who warned Nineveh, but like 
The aged oaks immortal on the plain 
Of Kadesh, or tall cedars on the hill 
Of Lebanon, and Hermon's shady top.
 


High is their fame through each succeeding age 
Who build the walls of Zion upon earth.
 
Let mighty kings and potentates combine, 
To raise a pyramid, which neither storm, 
Nor sea indignant, nor the raging fire, 
Nor time can waste, or from firm basis move.
 
Or let them strive by counsel or by arms, 
To fix a throne, and in imperial sway, 
Build up a kingdom shadowing the earth, 
Unmov'd by thunder or impetuous storm 
Of civil war, dark treason, or the shock 
Of hostile nations, in dire league combin'd.
 
They build a kingdom of a nobler date, 
Who build the kingdom of the Saviour God.
 
This, not descending rain, nor mighty storm, 
Nor sea indignant, nor the raging fire, 
Nor time shall waste, or from firm basis move.
 
Rounded on earth its head doth reach the skies, 
Secure from thunder, and impetuous storm, 
Of civil war, dark treason, or the shock 
Of hostile nations in dire league combin'd.
 
This still shall flourish and survive the date, 
Of each wide state and empire of the earth 
Which yet shall rise, as now of those which once 
From richest Asia or from Europe spread 
On mighty base and shaded half the world.
 
Great Babylon which vex'd the chosen seed, 
And by whose streams the captive Hebrews sat, 
In desolation lies, and Syria west, 
Where the Seleucidæ did fix their throne, 
Loud-thund'ring thence o'er Judah's spoiled land, 
Boasts her proud rule no more.
 Rome pagan next, 
The raging furnace where the saints were tried, 
No more enslaves mankind.
 Rome papal too 
Contracts her reign and speaks proud things no more.
 
The throne of Ottoman is made to shake, 
The Russian thund'ring to his firmest seat; 
Another age shall see his empire fall.
 
Yet in the east the light of truth shall shine, 
And like the sun returning after storms 
Which long had raged through a sunless sky, 
Shall beam beningly on forsaken lands.
 
The day serene once more on Zion hill 
Descending gradual, shall in radiance beam 
On Canaan's happy land.
 Her fav'rite seers 
Have intercourse divine with this pure source; 
Perennial thence rich streams of light shall flow, 
To each adjoining vale and desert plain 
Lost in the umbrage of dark heathen shades.
 
The gospel light shall gloriously survive 
The wasting blaze of ev'ry baser fire.
 
The fire of Vesta, an eternal fire, 
So falsely call'd and kept alive at Rome; 
Sepulchral lamp in burial place of kings, 
Burn'd unconsum'd for many ages down; 
But yet not Vesta's fire eternal call'd 
And kept alive at Rome, nor burning lamp 
Hid in sepulchral monument of kings, 
Shall bear an equal date with that true light, 
Which shone from earth to heav'n, and which shall shine 
Up through eternity, and be the light 
Of heav'n, the new Jerusalem above.
 
This light from heav'n shall yet illume the earth 
And give its beams to each benighted land 
Now with new glory lighted up again.
 
Then ruthless Turk and Saracen shall know 
The fallacies of him Medina bred, 
And whose vain tomb, in Mecca they adore.
 
Then Jews shall view the great Messiah come, 
And each rent tribe in caravan by land, 
Or ship by sea, shall visit Palestine 
Thrice holy then, with vile Idolatry 
No more defil'd, altar on mountain head, 
Green shady hill, or idol of the grove.
 
For there a light appears, with which compar'd, 
That was a twilight shed by rite obscure, 
And ceremony dark and sacrifice 
Dimly significant of things to come.
 
Blest with this light no more they deviate 
In out-way path; distinguished no more 
By school or sect, Essene or Saducee, 
Cairite or Scribe of Pharisaic mould.
 
Jew and Samaritan debate no more, 
Whether on Gerizim or Zion hill 
They shall bow down.
 Above Moriah's mount 
Each eye is raised to him, whose temple is 
Th' infinitude of space, whom earth, sea, sky 
And heav'n itself cannot contain.
 No more 
The noise of battle shall be heard, or shout 
Of war by heathen princes wag'd; There's nought 
Shall injure or destroy; they shall not hurt 
In all my holy mountain saith the Lord.
 
The earth in peace and ev'ry shadow fled, 
Bespeaks Emmanuel's happy reign when Jew, 
And kindred Gentile shall no more contend, 
Save in the holier strife of hymn and song, 
To him who leads captive captivity, 
Who shall collect the sons of Jacob's line, 
And bring the fulness of the Gentiles in.
 
Thrice happy day when Gentiles are brought in 
Complete and full; when with its genial beams 
The day shall break on each benighted land 
Which yet in darkness and in vision lies: 
On Scythia and Tartary's bleak hills; 
On mount Imaus, and Hyrcanian cliffs 
Of Caucasus, and dark Iberian dales; 
Japan and China, and the sea-girt isles 
The ancient Ophir deem'd; for there rich gems 
And diamond pearl, and purest gold is found.
 


Thrice happy day when this whole earth shall feel 
The sacred ray of revelation shed, 
Far to the west, through each remotest land 
With equal glory rivalling the day 
Pour'd on the east.
 When these Americ shores 
Shall far and wide be light, and heav'nly day 
Shall in full glory rise on many a reign, 
Kingdom and empire bending to the south, 
And nation touching the Pacific shore.
 
When Christian churches shall adorn the streams 
Which now unheeded flow with current swift 
Circling the hills, where fiercest beasts of prey, 
Panther and wolf in nightly concert howl.
 
The Indian sage from superstition freed, 
Be taught a nobler heav'n than cloud-topt-hill, 
Or sep'rate island in the wat'ry waste.
 
The aged Sachem fix his moving tribe, 
And grow humane now taught the arts of peace.
 
In human sacrifice delight no more, 
Mad cantico or savage feast of war.
 
Such scenes of fierce barbarity no more 
Be perpetrated there, but truth divine 
Shine on the earth in one long cloudless day, 
Till that last hour which shuts the scene of things, 
When this pure light shall claim its native skies; 
When the pure stream of revelation shall, 
With refluent current visit its first hills: 
There shall it mix with that crystalline wave, 
Which laves the walls of Paradise on high, 
And from beneath the seat of God doth spring.
 
This is that river from whose sacred head 
The sanctified in golden arms draw light, 
On either side of which that tree doth grow 
Which yields immortal fruit, and in whose shade 
If shade were needed there, the rapt shall sing, 
In varied melody to harp and lyre, 
The sacred song of Moses and the Lamb: 
Eternity's high arches ring; 'Tis heard 
Through both infinitudes of space and time.
 


Thus have I sung to this high-favour'd bow'r, 
And sacred shades which taught me first to sing, 
With grateful mind a tributary strain.
 
Sweet grove no more I visit you, no more 
Beneath your shades shall meditate my lay.
 
Adieu ye lawns and thou fair hill adieu, 
And you O shepherds, and ye graces fair 
With comely presence honouring the day, 
Far hence I go to some sequest'red vale 
By woody hill or shady mountain side, 
Where far from converse and the social band, 
My days shall pass inglorious away: [3] 
But this shall be my exultation still 
My chiefest merit and my only joy, 
That when the hunter on some western hill, 
Or furzy glade shall see my grassy tomb, 
And know the stream which mourns unheeded by, 
He for a moment shall repress his step, 
And say, There lies a Son of Nassau-Hall.

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