Hebrew Melody

Hebrew Melody

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Thou art fallen, O Israel! thou art scattered abroad,
From the home of thy sires, by the hand of thy God;
Once the honor'd the cherish'd the chosen of Heaven,
Now forth on the world a poor wanderer driven!

Thy children may sigh, for their lot is forlorn -
Abandoned to exile, oppression, and scorn;
As pilgrims and strangers, unloved and alone,
They pass through all lands to no land of their own.

Wherever they dwell, or wherever they roam,
They never can find on this wide earth a home, -
There's a mark on their brow, and a stain on their breast,
Which tell that for them there remaineth no rest!

That mark is the seal which was set upon Cain -
The blood of God's Son is that terrible stain!
In the moment of madness and murder they prayed,
That on them and their seed His blood might be laid!

O wild was the deed! and most fearful the doom,
Which has followed that "hour" of ineffable gloom,
When with hearts and with hands set on fire of hell,
Beneath their blind fury, "The Holy One" fell!

Hath God cast them off? Are they never to gain
The rest they are hitherto seeking in vain?
Are they doomed in their wretchedness ever to rove,
Rejected on earth and rejected above?

No, no! their reproach shall be yet rolled away,
And the darkness that wraps them shall melt into day -
And the light of their morn o'er the nations shall spread,
And their waking shall be "like life from the dead!"

Anew shall the harps of their fathers be strung,
Which so long on the willows neglected have hung;
And the song of the ransomed to heaven shall rise,
The world listening dumb with delightful surprise.

From the east, and the west, and the south, and the north,
The dispersed will come marching exultingly forth?
And onward to Zion their streams they shall pour,
In their own hallowed land their great Lord to adore.

Jerusalem shall then be "the joy of the earth,"
Her streets all resounding with music and mirth;
And the remnant of Judah shall ever rejoice,
Singing praise to the Lamb with their heart in their voice.

W. MG.

New Series 1:48, p. 4

1841.01.30