The Late Rain

The Late Rain

Thou visitest the earth,
And waterest it;
Thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God,
Which is full of water.
Thou preparest them corn,
When thou hast so provided for it.

Thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly;
Thou settlest the furrows thereof;
Thou makest it soft with showers;
Thou blessest the springing thereof.

Thou crownest the year with thy goodness,
And thy paths drop fatness;
They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness,
And the little hills rejoice on every side.

The pastures are clothed with flocks;
The vallies also are covered over with corn;
They shout for joy:
They also sing.

Unattributed

New Series 2:20, p. 80

1841.07.17

We have thrown the above verses into parallelisms, according to which the second line echoes the sentiment of the first, that the form and beauty of Hebrew poetry may be more perceptible to the English reader. Would not this specimen of poetry be stript at once of all its tenderness and sublimity, if it were divested of the sentiment of religion, and failed to recognize God? Can Nature be seen in the perfection of its beauty, unless it is seen in God? Can the most touching scenes, the most sublime occurrences and manifestations, awaken the deepest emotions of which the heart is capable, unless they are associated with a spiritual world, and an eternal Power?

As religion is the first element of poetry, so it is the source of all gratitude and praise. David could not see the descending showers, under which the hills and vallies of Judea freshened into new life and beauty, without adoration; let not our readers, who have long mourned over their sun-burnt fields and stinted vegetation, fail to join in praise with the Psalmist, when all that scene is passing before their eyes, which his pencil has painted out in colors of living beauty.

- Cong. Journal.