Much of the ancient wealth and beauty shall be done away. In a few generations the shrines of thirty centuries will be no more. Fane and temple and pagoda will disappear; carvings, images, and Sikh-guarded courts. Long lines of yellow-robed priests will chant their last processional hymn to Buddha, and the smoking incense to waning gods shall be quenched forever. Where Tao rites were celebrated, silence shall fall; where fakir and dervish tortured and immolated their lives, happy children shall play. Instead of the lotos of the Ganges and the Nile, there shall bloom the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Vale.
But as the empires of Buddha and Muhammad fall, a new Empire shall prevail!
"Kings shall bow down before Him,
And gold and incense bring;
All nations shall adore Him,
His praise all people sing.
To Him shall prayer unceasing
And dally vows ascend;
His kingdom still increasing,
A kingdom without end."
IV. THE WORLD-MARCH: OF PRELATES AND EVANGELISTS
[LYONS]
O Majesty throned, O Lord of all Light,
Shine down on our spirits and scatter the night;
As Adam received his life-impulse from Thee,
Endued with all fulness, we quickened would be
Let all that we know—love, learning, and power—
Melt down in Thy Presence, and flame in this hour;
Anoint us and bless us and lift our desire
And grant us to speak as with tongues touched with fire!
Life flows as a dream—its pleasures are dear:
The world is about us—temptation is near;
Oh, guide us, and shew us the pathway to God
The feet of the prophets aforetime have trod!
The bells cease their chime,—the hosts enter in:
May many be purged of their sloth and their sin!
Cheer Thou the despondent, the weary, the sad,
Rouse all to rejoicing, that all may be glad.
And when life is o'er, and each must depart
In quaking and silence,—abide with each heart;
The songs of Thy saints then caught up to the skies,
As waves of great waters shall thunderous rise!