Classic Poem

Forth from Egypt's house of bondage,
Calls us now the God of Love:
See, the cloudy, fiery Pillar
Marshalls us the way we move!
God's right hand and holy arm
Smote the realm that wrought us harm;
Many a sign and mighty wonder
Burst the tyrant's bands in sunder.

When the sea spread out before us,
And behind us raged our foe,
Walls of waves stood firm as crystal,
Till the ransomed Tribes passed through.
Pharaoh's hordes at morn were found
In the roaring waters drowned;
While, with timbrels and with dances,
Our exulting host advances.

From the top of stony Sinai
God declares His perfect Law:
Trumpet tones and fires and thunders
Thrill the soul with trembling awe.
There the thirsting Flock complain;
There the Rock is cleft in twain:
And wherever Israel goeth,
Lo, the Living Water floweth!

On the Altar, morn and evening,
Smokes the daily Sacrifice:
Every dawn the luscious manna
Freshly greets our longing eyes.
O'er the golden Mercy-seat
Floats the cloud of incense sweet;
While the King, once slain and gory,
Fills the silence with His glory.

On before Him, in their order,
March the priests, in rich array;
Loudly peal their silver trumpets,
Signalling our onward way.
Israel's ranks, in armor tried,
Flash afar on every side,
Standards set, and banners flying,
All the foes of God defying.

Drought and pestilence surround us;
Sinners tempt, and fiends deride:
Midst the fiery flying serpents
Lift we up the Crucified!
Murmurers, cowards, rebels, drones,
Pave the desert with their bones:
Lasts our Pilgrimage the longer?
Purer grows our host, and stronger!

What to us the scorns of Edom?
What the swords of Amalek?
While the prayerful hands are lifted
No defeat our course shall check.
Vain are Moab's lustful snares;
Vain are Balaam's hireling prayers;
God's eternal truth confessing,
All his curses turn to blessing.

Now behold! the swelling Jordan
Rears aloft his watery walls;
At the voice of Israel's shouting,
Jericho in ruin falls.
All the Promised Land is ours,
Fields, and folds, and royal towers,
Vineyards, groves, and snowy mountains,
Seas, and ever-flowing fountains.

There, enclosed in hills of beauty,
Shining like a jewelled Bride,
Stands Jerusalem the Golden,
All her portals opened wide.
There the King, upon His Throne,
Sees and claims us for his own;
Clothes us with His glory splendid:
And our Pilgrimage is ended.

Join we now the Angelic chorus,
Cherubim and Seraphim,
Saints in light gone Home before us,
Chaunting their triumphal hymn:—
Holy, holy, holy, Lord,
Three in One, by all adored,
Praise to Thy eternal merit,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.