| BABYLON |
Pause in this desert! Here, men say, of old Belshazzar reigned, and drank from cups of gold; Here, to his hideous idols, bowed the slave, And here--God struck him dead! . . . . Where lies his grave? 'T is lost!--His brazen gates? his soaring towers, From whose dark tops men watched the starry hours? All to the dust gone down! The desert bare Scarce yields an echo when we question "Where?" The lonely herdsman seeks in vain the spot; And the black wandering Arab knows it not. No brick, no fragment, lingers now, to tell Where Babylon (mighty city!) rose--and fell! O City, vast and old! Where, where is thy grandeur fled? The stream that around thee rolled Still rolls in its ancient bed! But where, oh, where art thou gone? O Babylon! O Babylon! The giant, when he dies, Still leaveth his bones behind, To shrink in the winter skies, And whiten beneath the wind! But where, oh, where art thou gone? O Babylon! O Babylon! Thou liv'st!--for thy name still glows, A light in the desert skies; As the fame of the hero grows Thrice trebled because he dies! But where, oh, where art thou gone? O Babylon! O Babylon! |
| BELSHAZZAR |
Belshazzar is king! Belshazzar is lord! And a thousand dark nobles all bend at his board: Fruits glisten, flowers blossom, meats steam, and a flood Of the wine that man loveth runs redder than blood: Wild dancers are there, and a riot of mirth, And the beauty that maddens the passions of earth; And the crowds all shout, Till the vast roofs ring,-- "All praise to Belshazzar, Belshazzar the king!" "Bring forth," cries the monarch, "the vessels of gold, Which my father tore down from the temples of old;-- Bring forth, and we'll drink, while the trumpets are blown, To the gods of bright silver, of gold, and of stone; Bring forth!"--and before him the vessels all shine, And he bows unto Baal, and he drinks the dark wine; Whilst the trumpets bray, And the cymbals ring,-- "Praise, praise to Belshazzar, Belshazzar the king!" Now what cometh--look, look!--without menace, or call? Who writes, with the lightning's bright hand, on the wall? What pierceth the king, like the point of a dart? What drives the bold blood from his cheek to his heart? "Chaldeans! Magicians! the letters expound!" They are read,--and Belshazzar is dead on the ground! Hark!--the Persian is come On a conqueror's wing; And a Mede's on the throne of Belshazzar the king! |
| --Barry Cornwall. |
NEHEMIAH.
THE STORY OF THE BRAVE MAN WHO PREFERRED HARDSHIPS IN HIS NATIVE LAND, TO PLEASURE AND PLENTY IN THE KING'S PALACE.
(Nehemiah is one of the finest characters of which we are told in the Old Testament. He was a true patriot, brave, patient, persevering, fearing God, and not man. He had an important and profitable position in the royal court, but when he heard how his countrymen were suffering, how the walls of the city of his fathers were in ruins, he did not hesitate, but gaining the permission of the king, he set out to serve his country in its sore distress. How he heard of the need of the city, how he went to its relief, and how the people under his splendid leadership took courage and rebuilt the walls, he himself has told in these words:)--
The Need and the Man.
"Now it came to pass in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace, that Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men out of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said unto me, 'The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.'
"And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that [{213}] I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days; and I fasted and prayed before the God of heaven, and said, 'I beseech thee, O Lord, the God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments: let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee at this time, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, while I confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: yea, I and my father's house have sinned. We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandedst thy servant Moses. Remember, I beseech thee, the words that thou commandedst thy servant Moses, saying, If ye trespass, I will scatter you abroad among the peoples: but if ye return unto me, and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts were in the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to cause my name to dwell there. Now these are thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand. O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who delight to fear thy name: and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.' (Now I was cupbearer to the king.)