The Gentile comes, as destiny decrees,
To Zion's land[62], for freedom held in store,
And Israel's triumph. Friends of freedom, these,
Like to the pilgrim bands that long before
A refuge found upon this sheltering shore.
But followers of right oft wrong the right;
Oppressed become oppressors[63] in an hour;
And now, as day that pushes back the night, 1900
The strong the weak assail, enslave, and put to flight.
Nor yet can fate forsake them: Japheth's hand
'Gainst Jacob's wrath-doomed remnant still prevails.
Tyrants oppress him from the motherland[64];
The Lord of Hosts a champion arms and mails,
To quell whose might no human power avails;
Nor grander cause or chieftain e'er came forth.
Him as its sire the new-born nation hails,
And e'en would crown the man of matchless worth[65],
Did heaven vouchsafe such king to shame the kings 1910
of earth.
But thou hast heard: No king upon this land
From Japheth's loins. Yet shall there come a King,
And Japheth's host with Jacob's equal stand,
While bending nations to that Monarch bring
Their gold, their glory—friendship's offering.
What though invasion, anarchy, shall strive
To strangle right, to poison freedom's spring?
Naught that conspires 'gainst Zion's weal can thrive.
Jehovah—He shall reign, and righteous rule survive. 1920
Forerunner thou, and thy forerunners these,
Prophet of Ephraim, Joseph's namesake seer[66]!
More than those ancient bridgers of the seas,
Unveiler of the long hid hemisphere,
Whose mystery lies booked and buried here.
Mass thou the might of Joseph, yet to join
With Judah's might, Messiah's throne to rear;
That on this sacred shore may rise and shine
The City Pure-in-Heart—Kingdom of King divine.
Woe to the tongue that 'gainst thee shall contend! 1930
Break weapons all that smite this iron rod[67],
Beginning of the burden of the end—
The promised fulness of the word of God;
The voice of ages whispering from the sod.
That voice withstood, remaineth shut and sealed
The mightier things in mystery's abode,
Volume on volume slumbering unrevealed,
While wake these lesser truths till now from man concealed.
Speak thou to Laman's remnant, and reveal
The great things done, the greater yet to do, 1940
That bring deliverance unto Israel.
To white, to red, to men of every hue,
To all redeemed His mighty merit through,
Teach thou the way—tell how by Grace sublime
The spirit gardens[68] of the endless blue
Are visited, each vineyard in its time,
While glad sabbatic bells ring out their grateful chime.
Earth's hour is nigh—her blest millennial hour,
And dawn there shall a higher, holier day,
Prepared for by these principles of power, 1950
Divinest laws that loftiest worlds obey,
Where gods and angels honor them alway.
There greatest by humility are known,
There order reigns, and right doth all realms sway;
Like claiming like, and cleaving to its own,
Sovereign and subject sharing the glory of the Throne.
But earth's proud will must bend to will of heaven,
Or twain can ne'er be one, that one for all;—
By angel love the demon lust be driven,
And man set free from self's ignoble thrall. 1960
Let not the mighty task thy mind appall.
What God hath done shall He not do again?
A day of power shall batter down the wall;
The willing heart shall rend the hampering chain;
And o'er this ransomed world, first Son, then Sire, shall reign.
Proclaim the Dispensation of the End,
Era pre-destined, pre-ordained of yore,
When all of Christ's, on earth, in heaven, shall blend,
And build the Empire of the Evermore.
Ascendeth One who all things shall restore— 1970
The dead to life, the dew-drop to its source.
Spirit must reign, the carnal rule no more;
And this lest earth, winging the sunward course,
Unmeet for such a change, melt 'neath consuming curse.
Smite thou that sin of self, which binds the world
In fetters fell, than all save truth more strong;
That sin most serpentine, round all men curled,
Within whose fatal fold earth writhes full long.
To loose the coil doth unto thee belong.
To free the soul from sordid tyranny, 1980
Be sacrifice the burden of thy song.
Ay, sacrifice shall set the prisoner free,
And men this truth shall learn, that light is liberty.