29 THE DESTRUCTION OF PHARAOH Mourn, Mizraim, mourn! The weltering wave The deep, the deep, the dreary deep! Before the God of Israel. Wake, Israel, wake the harp. The roar Shout, Israel! Let the joyful cry JOHN RUSKIN [At the age of thirteen] 30 MIRIAM'S SONG Exodus xv. 20-21 Sound the loud timbrel o'er Egypt's dark sea! His chariots, his horsemen, all splendid and brave, How vain was their boast, for the Lord hath but spoken, And chariots and horsemen are sunk in the wave. Sound the loud timbrel o'er Egypt's dark sea! Jehovah has triumphed-His people are free! Praise to the Conqueror! Praise to the Lord! Of those she sent forth in the hour of her pride? For the Lord hath looked out from His pillar of glory, And all her brave thousands are dashed in the tide. Sound the loud timbrel o'er Egypt's dark sea! THOMAS MOORE 31 MOSES ON MOUNT SINAI Up a rough peak, that toward the stormy sky Now Moses named, ascended reverently Vague consciousness of some self-centered strength, me, Only a voice, a motion of the air, A thing invisible, impalpable, Leaving a void, an unreality, Within my heart? I would with every sense Let me at least behold Thee as Thou art; Thus spoke the Prophet, and the Voice replied, As in low thunders over distant seas,— "Beneath the height to which thy feet have striven, A hollow trench divides the cliffs of sand, So Moses gazed across the rocky vale; Was changed at once into a sound-such sound Then Moses fell upon his face again, And prayed, "O pardon the presumptuous thought, LORD HOUGHTON (RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES) 32 THE ARMY OF ISRAEL AT THE FOOT OF MOUNT SINAI Their spears glittered bright in the beams of the sun; Their banners waved far, and their high helmets shone, And their dark plumes were tossed on the breast of the breeze, But the war-trumpet slumbered the slumber of peace. He came in His glory, He came in His might, His chariot the cloud, and His sceptre the light; 'Twas the great God of Israel, riding on high, Whose footstool is earth, and whose throne is the sky; He stood in His glory unseen and alone, And with letters of fire traced the tablets of stone. The eagle may soar to the sun in his might, O Israel, turn back from His glory, or die! The sun in its splendor, the fire in its might, Which devours and withers and wastes from the sight, Is dim to the glory which beams from His eye; LUCRETIA DAVIDSON |