LV.—PALESTINE.
ALTERED FROM WHITTIER.
John Greenleaf Whittier is a well-known and popular writer in prose and verse.
1. Blest land of Judea! thrice hallowed of song,
Where the holiest of memories, pilgrim-like, throng
In the shade of thy palms, by the shores of thy sea,
On the hills of thy beauty—my heart is with thee.
With the eye of a spirit I look on that shore,
Where pilgrim and prophet have lingered before;
With the guide of a spirit I traverse the sod
Made bright by the steps of the angels of God.
2. Blue sea of the hills! in my spirit I hear
Thy waters, Gennesaret[413], chime on my ear;
Where the Lowly and Just with the people sat down,
And thy spray on the dust of His sandals was thrown.
Beyond are Bethulia’s[414] mountains of green,
And the desolate hills of the wild Gadarene[415];
And I pause on the goat-crags of Tabor[416] to see
The gleam of thy waters, O dark Galilee!
3. There sleep the still rocks and the caverns which rang
To the song which the beautiful prophetess sang,
When the princes of Issachar[417] stood by her side,
And the shout of a host in its triumph replied.
Lo! Bethlehem’s[418] hill-site before me is seen,
With the mountains around and the valleys between;
There rested the shepherds of Judah[419], and there,
The song of the angels rose sweet on the air.
4. And Bethany’s[420] palm trees in beauty still throw
Their shadows at noon on the ruins below;
But where are the sisters who hastened to greet
The lowly Redeemer, and sit at his feet?
I tread where the Twelve in their wayfaring trod;
I stand where they stood with the Incarnate God;
Where his blessing was heard, and his lessons were taught;
Where the blind were restored, and the healing was wrought.
[413] Gen-nesˊ-a-ret, a sea or lake in Palestine, the borders of which, in the time of Christ, were covered with numerous towns and villages; called also, Sea of Galilee.
[414] Beth-u-liˊ-a, a city which appears to have overlooked the plain of Esdraelon, and to have guarded one of the passes to Jerusalem.
[415] Gad-a-reneˊ, an inhabitant of Gadara, a city in a mountainous region near the Sea of Galilee.
[416] Taˊ-bor, an isolated mountain, of a conical form, a few miles southwest of the Sea of Galilee.
[417] Isˊ-sa-char, a son of Jacob and Leah; also, the tribe named after him.
[418] Bethˊ-le-hem, the city where Our Lord was born.
[419] Juˊ-dah, the name of one of the tribes of Israel, afterwards applied to the whole nation.
[420] Bethˊ-a-ny, a town near Jerusalem the residence of Martha and Mary.