THE COMING OF THE KINGDOM
By
W.H. Pepworth
Author of “The Joys of Heaven” and other
Poems
1922
Printed by R. Seed and Sons,
43 Guildhall Street and 12 Lune Street,
Preston.
THE LORD COMETH
Rejoice, O earth,
the LORD from heaven comes,
Now in the fulness of prophetic
time;
He comes, not with
the sound of warlike drums,
But in the plenitude of grace
sublime.
He comes to bind in
adamantine chains
The mighty adversary of our
race;
To purge the nations
from their sinful stains,
And all Satanic influence
efface.
To bend mankind to
His benignant sway,
To win by truth and
righteousness His foes;
To drive all want
and misery away,
To make the desert blossom as
the rose.
He comes, He comes,
our great Emmanuel,
To bid the world its angry
clamours cease;
He comes all forms
of tyranny to quell,
And usher in the thousand years
of peace.
The hour
approaches—yea, is now at hand,
The bright millennial dawn its
splendour flings;
Lift up your longing
hearts, expectant stand,
And hail the presence of
the King of kings.
PREFACE
In venturing to
publish these lines, I am conscious of their want of literary merit. Convinced,
however, from long thought and study of the near approach of Christ’ reign on
earth, and how little this is realised by many of His nominal followers, I do
so in the hope that under the blessing of God they may lead some to search the
Scriptures anew, where will be found clearly predicted those “Times of
Restitution” spoken of by St. Peter as being the theme of “all the holy
prophets since the world began.”
Recent events, such as the great
world war, the subsequent misery of the nations, and the return of the Jews to
their ancestral home, are evidence that prophecy is being rapidly fulfilled,
and that soon the voice of Him who stilled the Galilean storm will bid the
raging elements in the world be still, and there shall be a great calm.
The invasion of Palestine by the
anarchistic hordes, and their final destruction, which are taken from the
prophecies of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, will, I believe, form the culminating
stages in the great “Time of Trouble” referred to by our Lord in His memorial
prophecy, and immediately precede the inauguration of His Kingdom.
In order to impart a little more
of human interest to the story, several imaginary personages have been introduced,
together with scenes which may perhaps at first seem somewhat incongruous, such
as the use of an airship in connection with the coming of Israel’s deliverers,
but which will help to make more real the events of those tremendous days to
come.
Although the usual rhymed heroic
measure has been chiefly used, blank verse has been adopted in a few instances,
with the object of lending more dignity to the utterances of the speakers.
W.H.P.
THE COMING OF THE KINGDOM
Almighty Father,
who in days of old,
Inspired Thy
faithful prophets to unfold
Some features of
Thy vast and wondrous plan
For raising up
the fallen sons of man;
Whose
all-enlight’ning Holy Spirit came
In cloven tongues
of Pentecostal flame,
And stirred the
hearts of those with light and power,
Who long had
waited the auspicious hour;
Touch with Thy
fire these faltering lips of mine,
Which fain would
sing Thy purposes Divine,
And herald forth
in an exalted strain
The glory of the
great Messiah’s reign.
Oh deem me not
presumptuous, gracious Lord,
For daring thus
to use Thy Sacred Word,
Or vain in
seeking to portray in rhyme,
With my poor art
a subject so sublime.
Be Thine the
glory, all the praise be Thine;
The privilege of
serving Thee be mine.
I
“If I forget thee, O
Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let
my tongue cleave to the roof of my moth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my
chief joy.”—Psa. 137:5, 6.
__________
AWAKE, oh harp of
David! Let the strain
Triumphant roll o’er
mountain, sea and plain.
Rejoice ye little
hiss and valleys green,
And all ye rippling
streams that flow between;
Ye giant cedars clap
your hands with glee,
Jerusalem from all
her bonds is free!
No longer prostrate in the dust
she lies;
The light of liberty
is in her eyes,
And rising up, in
strength and beauty drest,
She takes her
long-lost children to her breast.
Dispersed among the
nations, lo, they come,
Not to the sound of
bugle, fife and drum,
But by an impulse
which divinely stirs
Their hearts to gain
the land they feel is theirs.
Long centuries have passed since
Caesar’s hand
Struck with an iron
blow the sacred land,
Since Rome’s
relentless legions thronged around
And crushed the Holy
City to the ground,
And Israel through
all these weary years,
Have drunk the cup
of bitterness and tears.
Enduring hardships,
poverty and pain,
Despised and
persecuted, robbed and slain,
They kept inviolate
their faith in Him
Whose glory shone
between the cherubim;
And often would
their thoughts with longing dwell
Upon the land their
fathers loved so well,
Remembering the
ancient promise given
To Abraham, that, as
the stars of heaven
In multitude, and as
the grains of sand,
His seed should be
and dwell in all the land.
II
“A day of dankness
and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of think darkness......
For the day of the
LORD is great and very terrible, and who can abide it?”—Joel 2:2, 11.
__________
THE great world war was ended,
but a cloud
Hung o’er the weary
nations like a shroud,
Emitting thunders of
impending woe
And lurid flashes on
the world below;
And men, perplexed,
sought blindly for a path
To lead them safely
through the aftermath.
A League of Nations framed with
good intent,
All wars and
revolutions to prevent,
Seemed helpless to
arrest the surging tide
Of anarchy which
spread on every side,
Uprooting thrones
and kingdoms in its way
And filling hearts
of rulers with dismay.
Disease and hunger, anguish and
despair,
Swept like four
ghastly spectres through the air,
And in their wake, a
grim and solemn shade,
Went Death with his
insatiable blade.
In some more favoured realms
there still remained
Some law and order,
which awhile restrained
The anarchistic
forces and withstood
The threatened
carnival of crime and blood.
Such was the empire
whose protecting robe
Covered vast
territories of the globe,
Whose arm of power
outstretched with mighty stroke
Smote from Judea’s
neck the Turkish yoke,
And thus became the
means Divinely planned
To bring GOD’S
people to their promised land.
But even there and in that
far-off home,
Beyond Atlantic’s
thousand leagues of foam—
That land whose
starry banner floated free,
A symbol and a sign
of liberty—
Labour, a seething
mass of discontent,
Menaced the life of
every government;
And, like an ancient
tree with roots decayed,
Society’s vast
fabric shook and swayed.
The world seemed bankrupt and
its statesmen grew
More fearful at the
ever darkening view.
Strong men essayed
to drive with efforts great
The old and creaking
chariot of the State,
But failed and fell,
like fabled Phaeton,
Who sought to drive
the horses of the sun.
Vice struck with its
far-reaching tentacles
The hearts of men,
and Pleasure wove her spells,
Till all the nations
in made orgies sought
To stupify anxiety
and thought.
As when the ostrich
by fleet foes outsped
Buries beneath the
sand its foolish head,
So pleasure seekers
plunged their thoughts in mirth
And strove to elude
the coming woes of earth.
In those dark days, so pregnant
with distress,
Faith in eternal
verities grew less,
And Hope’s lone star
with ever-waning light
Flickered forlornly
in the troubled night.
No note of
inspiration sounded from
The influential
sects of Christendom;
Mankind without a
shepherd’s voice and care
Wandered in
helplessness, they knew not where.
Some roamed o’er
tracks of speculative thought,
Which neither
sustenance nor comfort brought,
Or sought in
“Christian Science” to obtain
Relief from all
imaginary pain.
And some in Esoteric
pastures fed
By Theosophical
professors led,
While others deemed
that Evolution brought
A substitute for
what the Bible taught;
And many found their
way to Endor’s cave,
In hope of gleaning
from the silent grave
Some crumbs of
knowledge which might haply bring
An answer to their
anxious questioning.
Deceived by spirits
from Tartarian gloom,
(For whom was near
their own swift hour of doom),
They fondly thought
sweet intercourse to hold
With those o’er whom
the stream of death had rolled.
But here and there, a little
flock, were some
Who saw the dawn of
the Millennium
Breaking in shafts
of pure and heavenly light
Through the dark
curtain of the sullen night—
The thousand years
wherein mankind should rise
From their low state
to a new paradise;
When from his throne
th’ usurping prince should fall
And CHRIST the
rightful King be LORD of all.
With loving zeal
they strove by word and pen
To spread the
message of good-will to men,
And seemed to those
whom they desired to bless
But voices crying in
the wilderness.
III.
“And it shall come
to pass in that day, that the LORD shall set His hand again the second time to
recover the remnant of His people, which shall be left....and shall assemble
the outcasts of Israel, and shall gather together the dispersed of Judah from
the four corners of the earth.”—Isaiah 11:11, 12.
AMID this roaring sea of
discontent
Submerging country,
town and continent,
Tranquility seemed
for a while to shine
Upon the favoured
land of Palestine.
Her children had
returned—from every clime—
With hope unbounded
and a faith sublime.
Some from the
teeming plains of fair Cathay
And some from
regions desolate and grey,
Beyond the Himalayan
peaks of snow
To where the mighty
streams of China flow,
And where Pacific’s
breezes beat upon
Th’ Imperial banner
of the Rising Sun.
From Norway’s rocky
coast; from sunny Spain,
And where Britannia
watches o’er the main;
From Teuton lands,
whence sprang the dogs of war
On those unhappy
countries near and far;
From classic realms
where Grecian poets sung
And Rom’s
far-spreading ensign proudly hung,
And from distracted
Russia’ vast domain,
Where many fell, in
bloody pogroms slain.
O’er land and sea they joyously
had come
Like exiles to their
native hearth and home,
Glad to escape from
Europe’s heaving breast
To find in Canaan a
place of rest.
Through some, like
their progenitors of old,
Held by the lure of
Babylonish gold,
In their adopted
countries still remained,
Contented with the
honours they had gained.
Great cities of the Western
Hemisphere,
Poured forth their
thousands, who, with vision clear
And hearts inspired
by patriotic flame
Hoped to restore
their Zion’s former fame.
And others came from
where the billows toss
Their crested heads
beneath the Southern Cross,
And many from the
land where toiled and wept
Their fathers, in
Egyptian bondage kept—
That ancient country
which for ages hid
The secrets of the
Sphinx and Pyramid.
Directed thus by GOD’S unerring
hand
They took possession
of their native land.
Some sought in
agriculture to obtain
A bountiful supply
of fruit and grain,
And soon the
long-neglected, slumbering soil
Awoke beneath their
unremitting toil.
But not by labour of
the hand alone,
Nor by the methods
to their fathers known:
No longer patient
oxen, yoked in twain,
Draw the rude
ploughshare o’er the stubbly plain;
No longer goes the
sower in his need
To scatter handfuls
of the precious seed;
No more the reaper
with his sickle cleaves
The weighted stalks
and binds them into sheaves,
Nor threshers now
laboriously beat
With wooden flails
the safely-garnered wheat:
the old has yielded
to the new and now
The mighty power of
steam impels the plough,
Disperses wide the
seed, and, when the plain
Shines with the
golden glory of the grain,
Cuts the ripe corn
and binds the sheaves secure
And then transports
them to the threshing floor.
Some skilled as artisans their
craft pursued,
And some, with
business energy endued,
To trade and
commerce turned attentive ear,
Or found in finance
a congenial sphere.
Gigantic irrigation
words were planned
To bring fertility
to barren land,
And schemes whereby
the cities were supplied
with water from the
hills and countryside.
Art reared her lofty dome and
Science drew
The marvels of the
universe to view,
And Learning, like a
huge umbrageous tree,
Spread its wide arms
from Jordan to the sea.
On whirling wheels the traveller
was borne,
And roads re-echoed
to the motor horn;
The ass, the camel
and the faithful steed
Gave way before the
iron horse of speed.
A tidal wave of modern life had
swept
Upon a country,
which so long had slept
In Oriental stupor,
unimpressed
By all the virile
splendour of the West.
Jerusalem became, as was
foretold,
A city fair and
wondrous to behold;
Her streets were
pleasant and her bulwarks strong,
Her dwelling-places
jubilant with song,
And daily offerings
of praise arose
To Him who brought
salvation from her foes.
IV.
Jehovah GOD will
raise
Our ever-grateful song.
To Thee all glory,
honour, praise
And majesty belong.
Eternal Father, GOD
of Grace,
The Saviour of Thy
chosen race.
Thine arm of
strength hath led
From far our wand’ring feet,
To this our ancient
country, spread
With mild and honey sweet.
And now our joyful
anthems swell
To Thee, the GOD of
Israel.
Jerusalem no more
In desolation pines,
Her cup with joy is
flowing o’er,
Her face with glory shines.
We praise Thee now
with all our powers,
Our father’s
gracious GOD, and our.
Still be our helper,
LORD,
Should enemies assail,
And let Thy
swift-descending sword
O’er Zion’s foes prevail
Almighty Father, GOD
of Grace,
Protector of Thy
chosen race.
__________
THE joyful waves of
song came surging through
The synagogue’s
wide-open door and grew
In jubilance as,
soaring up on high,
They kissed the
sunbeams from the smiling sky.
The singing ceased; with
reverence imbued
The rabbi blessed
the waiting multitude,
And through the
stillness of the Sabbath day
Each worshipper went
on his homeward way.
But one—an
influential merchant Jew,
Who spent his
substance freely to renew
The city’s ancient
glory—stayed to hold
Important converse
with the rabbi old.
As when before the sun dark
clouds appear
And make the
landscape desolate and drear,
So, as they talked,
a shadow fell upon
The rabbi’s face and
left it grave and wan.
“This message,
Jonathan, which thou has brought
Is with anxiety and
trouble fraught,
For this beloved
country, but, think you,
The tidings are
reliable and true?”
“There is, I fear,
no doubt,” the other said.
“This early morn a
summons came to speed
Without delay to
where the Governor sat
In counsel with the
Officers of State.
‘Twas there I
learned that from a trusty source
The news had come
that Anarchists in force
Had marched on
Syria, and that plans were laid
Our peaceful
territories to invade.”
“What is their aim” the minister
enquired,
“And what the
motives which have thus inspired
Their chiefs to wage
unholy war upon
A harmless people,
who have undergone
Such trials and who
only seek to dwell
In peace and serve
the God of Israel?”
“Their aim” he answered, “is to
crush our state,
To stop our worship
and to confiscate
The wealth which we
by industry have earned
Since to Jerusalem
our feet returned.
They are the foes of
ordered government,
And ‘tis their purpose,
their avowed intent
The world to
revolutionise and force
All nations to their
communistic course.
So far their
violence has been restrained
From Palestine and
we have long remained
In peace and
quietness, but now they see
With jealous eye our
land’s prosperity,
And seek to bring
beneath their evil spell
The people of the
God of Israel.”
But shall we not,” the rabbi
then enquired,
“Receive from
Britain all the help desired?
She did so great and
wonderful a work
In freeing us from
the oppressing Turk
That surely now, in
such a crisis grave,
Her friendly arm
will be outstretched to save?”
“Alas,” the merchant said, “we
cannot build
Our hopes on
England’s aid, for she is filled
With her own
troubles, and her mighty power
And energy are
needed at this hour
to stem the tide
which threatens to o’erwhelm
With anarchy and
bloodshed all her realm.
As thus he spake the shadow grew
space
Upon Ben Ashur’s
venerable face,
And thoughtfully he
pondered; then there came
A smile of hope and
faith, which like a flame
Dispersed the
gloom—as when the morning light
Beams on the
darkness of the troubled night.
With eyes upraised
he fervently exclaimed,
“Though all forsake
us we shall not be shamed,
The GOD in whom we
trust—to whom we bow—
Who brought us
here—He will not leave us now.
His promises to
Israel are sure
And in His mighty
strength we stand secure.
Jeshurun’s GOD is
ours—He is our King—
and we are safe
beneath His sheltering wing.
At evening worship
we in earnest prayer
Will all invoke His
loving aid and care;
And, in the
meantime, fear thou not, my son—
Whate’er befalls us
may His will be done.”
The two then parted; each went
on his way
The merchant to his
home, the minister to pray.
V.
“Alas! For that day is great, so that none is
like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of
it.”—Jeremiah 30:7.
“Surely in that day there shall be a great
shaking in the land of Israel....and I will be known in the eyes of many
nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD.”—Ezekiel 38:19, 23.
_________
THE tranquil beauty of summer’s
eve;
A garden which the
sun seemed loth to leave;
Where, tarrying, he
cast a golden ray
Of benediction on
the closing day;
Where incense-laden
zephyrs softly crept
With fragrance
gathered from the flowers that slept;
Where drowsy
twitterings fell on the ear
From sleepy
fledglings in the thickets near,
And solitary
murmurings from some
Belated honey-bee
returning home.
Within a rustic alcove’s green
retreat,
O’erhung with
eglantine and roses sweet,
Three friends in
converse say: Ben Ashur one
And by his side the
merchant Jonathan;
The third a
traveller from England’s shore,
Known to the other
tow in days of yore.
Long had they talked in earnest
tones on all
The dangers which
were threatening to fall
Upon the nation;
then the rabbi said
To him who came from
far, ‘You are well read
In Holy Writ, and,
though a Christian, you
Have been a
sympathiser with the Jew,
And know in prophecy
how large a space
Is given to the
future of our race,
Think you the
prophets in those days of old
This crisis in our
history foretold?”
“‘Tis clear to me,” the
Englishman replied,
That in the
Scriptures we may find a guide
To all GOD’S future
dealings with the Jew,
And with the
kingdoms of the Gentiles too;
For hath he not
declared that every knee
Shall bow before His
glorious majesty?
But, touching the
events which now engage
Our anxious thought,
methinks they are a stage
In the development
of His great plan
Designed before this
very world began.
In Jeremiah
reference is made
To “Jacob’s
trouble,” and we find portrayed
In vivid outline
what may now befall
This realm—though
couched in words symbolical.
And from Ezekiel we
understand
That Gog’s great
armies from the Northern Land
Shall, like a storm,
burst over Palestine,
With evil thoughts
and purposes malign.
That they shall come
with haughty confidence
Because these cities
are without defence,
Unwalled and having
neither bar nor gate—
An inoffensive,
unprotected State.
And so,” continued
he, “w may apply
These prophecies and
all they signify
To this momentous
hour, for it indeed
A time of trouble is
to Jacob’s seed.”
“Then we,” exclaimed the
merchant, “really are
In direst peril, for,
unused to war,
With military
weapons unsupplied
And with our
boundaries unfortified,
We cannot hope to
drive the foe away,
Or even keep his
countless hordes at bay.”
“But,” interposed the rabbi, “if
we view
One portion of these
prophecies as true,
Then surely the
remaining part should bring
Much comfort to us
in our suffering.
Jehovah through his
prophet has foreshown
How Gog and all his
hosts shall be o’erthrown:
Confusion suddenly
shall come upon
Their companies; the
hand of everyone
Shall be against his
fellow, and the breath
Of pestilence shall
wither them in death;
With blood and
hailstones and consuming fire
The Lord shall smite
them in His vengeance dire,
Until the mountains
and Megiddo’s plain,
Are strewn with all
the weapons of the slain.”
As thus they talked there came
upon the ear
The sound of music
from the dwelling near;
And then a voice,
far sweeter than the notes
Which rippling flow
from feathered songsters’ throats,
Rose like a vesper
hymn and filled with hope
And quiet confidence
the listening group—
“Our home is now in Zion,
The
city of our King,
His mercy we rely on,
His
praises ever sing;
We will not fear, for GOD is
near;
Our
sun and shield for ever.
Although the mountains tremble
And
ocean’s billows roar,
Though round us foes assemble
And
strive to wound us sore,
We will not fear, for GOD is
near,
His
grace will fail us—never!”
“This song has
cheered our hearts,” the rabbi said,
“Come let us thank
the singer who has shed
A ray of comfort on
our anxious thought.
It emphasises what
the prophet taught
That in this hour of
danger GOD will prove
An everlasting
source of strength and love.”
The merchant in response arose
and led
His friends across a
grassy lawn o’erspread
With sleeping
daisies to a pleasant room
Where, in the
silence of the gathering gloom
Before an
instrument, in dreamy ease,
Her fingers idly
staying o’er coming feet
Aroused her, and she
hastened forth to greet
Her father’s
honoured guests. Well known to her
The rabbi, but the
other visitor
She had not seen
before, though oft upon
Her father’s lips
she heard his name as one
Who lov’d her people
and had aided them
In all their labours
for Jerusalem.
“This, Miriam, is he of whom I
spake
But yesterday, who
for our nation’s sake
Is striving to avert
the tide of woe
Which threatens now
the land to overflow.
And this, good
Stephen, is my joy and pride,
My help and comfort
since her mother died.”
A flush of pleasure crossed the
stranger’s face
As he beheld a
figure full of grace,
From whose bright
eyes the light of welcome shone,
Like gleams of glory
captured from the sun.
“It is a privilege,” he said,
“to meet
Another Miriam, a
singer sweet
Of Israel. May He
who in the days
Of Moses, saved His
people, and with praise
The lips of your
great namesake filled, give you
Such opportunity of
service too.”
The damsel knew it was with good
intent
That Stephen paid
this graceful compliment,
For though not far
beyond the stage of youth,
His thoughtful
features bore the stamp of truth,
And from her father
she had learned that he
Possessed the very
soul of chivalry.
So, with a smile
that did not half conceal
The mantling blush,
she to the evening meal
Invited them; and
soon with one accord
They gathered round
the merchant’s welcome board.
VI.
“Having made known unto us the mystery of His
will, according to His good pleasure which He has purposed in Himself: that in
the dispensation of the fulness of time He might gather together in one all
things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in
Him.”—Ephesians 1:9, 10.
THE supper ended all while withdrew
Their former
conversation to renew,
(Perchance, as
Stephen thought, again to hear
The singer’s voice,
so pleasant to his ear).
And much they talked
of what the prophets said,
and many a verse the
learned rabbi read,
To prove that God
intended Israel
For ever in their
promised land to dwell.
Then Stephen spoke
and from the Scriptures showed
The various features
of the plan of GOD.
“You know,” he said,
“how honestly I seek
To understand His
will, and though I speak
Of things with which
you cannot now agree
Yet, listen for
awhile and bear with me.
I had a friend who
from his early youth
Was full of ardour
for the word of truth.
It was his meat and
drink; from it he drew
Such peace and
comfort as are known to few.
Through him I
learned the little yet I know
Of GOD’S design to
bless the world below—
Would he were here,
then we should be content
To listen to a voice
so eloquent.”
Emotion for a moment
shook the voice
Of Stephen, then he
said, “But I rejoice
That he was counted
worthy to achieve
Such honour as the
world could never give.
Long ere he died our
custom was to meet
For mutual study and
communion sweet
With others, who had
likewise found supreme
Delight and profit
from each Bible theme.
Devoted lovers of
the Truth were these,
And this their
reading of the prophecies:
GOD made with
Abraham a covenant,
Confirming it by
oath, that He would grant,
Not only that this
land should be possessed,
But in his seed all
nations should be blest.
This surely means
that Israel will be
A means of blessing
to humanity.
“This promise now begins to
operate,
For Abraham’s “seed”
have gained their lost estate;
Nor will they
evermore be driven from
The country which
they rightly deem their home.
Though trials sore
will in the meantime try
Their faith in Him
whose throne is in the sky.
But these will form
the culminating stage
In the great,
worldwide drama of the age.
These days of
trouble now upon the earth
Are but the pangs
preceding a new birth,
And are by many
ancient seers foretold
In striking phase
and imagery bold.
In Daniel’s writings
they are mentioned as
A “Time of trouble
such as never was”;
And some describe
them as the LORD’S great day—
A day of vengeance,
which shall sweep away,
All earthly
governments, that there may come
Messiah’s Kingdom,
the Millennium.
And then will
“Jacob’s trouble” all be past,
And this distracted
earth have peace at last!
“But ‘tis our thought that GOD
ere long will raise
To life again those
men of olden days,
Who in His service
lived and fought and died,
And by their faith
in Him were justified.
These “Ancient
Worthies” will as princes be
In all the earth,
and rule in equity,
For GOD to each
authority will give
To be His earthly
representative.
And then from Zion
shall the law proceed
And all thy people
shall be blessed indeed.”
“I see much food,” the rabbi
said, “for thought
In what you say, but
this has not been taught
By ministers and
priests in Christendom,
Who rarely speak of
the Millennium.”
“The churches,” Stephen’
answered, “long have lost
Their hold upon the
Word, and now are tossed
Like derelicts upon
a sea of doubt,
Bereft of chart or
compass and without
A pilot’s guiding
hand to keep them clear
From all the reefs
and hidden dangers near.
And she, the
greatest of them all in fame,
Now lies a wreck
upon the rocks of shame.
“You know, Ben Ashur, that I
follow Him
Whom I believe to
be, in GOD’S great scheme,
The Saviour of the
world, the true Messiah
So vividly depicted
by Isaiah,
But in my view these
systems of today
Have from His
teachings wandered far astray.”
“What then,” the rabbi asked,
“do you regard
As the distinctive
features of His word?
Some creeds of
Christendom do but repel
By what they teach
of a material hell,
And some the holy
Pentateuch reject,
Thus rendering their
words of small effect .
But you, In know,
have always sought to find
The path of Truth
with an unbiassed mind,
And I am therefore
curious to hear
The doctrines of the
faith you hold so dear.”
Then answered Stephen: “Adam by
his fall
In Paradise brought
death upon us all.
To save mankind and
for the sin atone
GOD sent the Logos,
His beloved Son,
To earth in mortal
flesh that He might be
A ransom price for
all humanity.
Thus, as the prophet
says, our griefs He bore,
For our
transgressions He was wounded sore,
And, pouring out His
soul in death, became
Jehovah’s meek,
unblemished paschal Lamb.
You know full well
the story of His death
How on the cross He
yielded up His breath;
But we believe that
He was raised again
O’er all the
multitudes of earth to reign.”
“Long centuries,” the rabbi
said, “have come
And gone since then,
and no Millennium.
What in the meantime
has been done to bring
Upon the earth the
rule of CHRIST your King”?
“GOD’S purpose is,” he answered,
“to provide
A faithful number
who shall form the bride
In glory, honour,
immortality.
To change the
figure—He the head and they
The body of the
CHRIST complete, whose sway
Shall from the
heavens to the earth extend,
A Kingdom which
shall never have an end,
Till at the name of
JESUS every knee
Shall bow before His
grace and majesty.
Throughout the
Gospel age the call went forth
To win this prize of
such transcendent worth,
But few obtained,
for, as the Master said,
The way thereto was
narrow, hard to tread,
And those who
entered left the world behind—
The hopes and aims
and pleasures of mankind,
And now the
bridegroom for His bride has come,
The ‘little flock’
have all been gathered home,
And soon shall
Restitution blessings pour
In streams
beneficent the wide-world o’er.”
As thus he spake it seemed to
those who heard
As if they listened
to a prophet’s word,
And felt much more
deeply than they dare confess,
It was the word of
truth and righteousness.
VII.
“Fear thou not, for I am with thee; be not
dismayed, for I am thy GOD; I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right
hand of my righteousness. Behold all they that were incensed against thee shall
be ashamed and confounded; they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with
thee shall perish.”—Isaiah 41:10, 11.
__________
A GLOOM hung ‘er the city like a
pall,
And dark forebodings
filled the minds of all.
The Anarchists who
for awhile had made
No progress to the
south, had now displayed
A disposition to
invade the land,
And subject it to
their supreme command.
Men walked the
streets with a dejected air,
As if already shaken
with despair;
While others met to
earnestly debate
The measures taken
to protect the State.
And some had sought
encouragement to gain
From Holy
Scriptures, which for long had lain
Misunderstood or
misinterpreted,
Though in their
synagogues each Sabbath read.
Long hours the Council sat in
anxious mood,
Considering the
course to be pursued
In striving to avert
the coming blow
From so implacable
and strong a foe.
At last, when each
considered scheme was found
To be impracticable
or unsound,
The merchant,
Jonathan, proposed that they
Ambassadors should
send without delay,
to meet the enemy,
so that, perchance,
Diplomacy might stay
the foe’s advance,
And should they
tribute finally demand
the Council by such
means might hold their hand.
That even if no
benefit accrued
It was the only
course to be pursued.
“I have,” he said,
“a friend, an Englishman,
Well known to some
of you, who, if he can
Of service be, will
gladly give his aid
In any efforts which
may now be made
To save our land
from being over-run
By foes more
ruthless far than Goth or Hun.
His character is
such that even they
May listen to the
words he has to say,
For to their leaders
he is known to be
A fervent lover of
democracy;
One who has freely
given of his best
To help the poor,
the sick and the distressed.”
To Jonathan’s suggestions all
agreed
And welcomed
Stephen’s offer to proceed
With special envoys
and negotiate
The best terms
possible to save the State.
Arrangements then were
made to send next day
The mission on its
long and dubious way.
The meeting over Jonathan
returned
With hasty steps and
with a heart that burned
Alternately with
hope and doubt to where
His friends were
waiting the result to hear;
And as he reached
his home there came again
Upon his ears a
sweet melodious strain—
The voice that but
the night before had brought
Such consolation to
their troubled thought.
“A vision came before me
Of
earth as it shall be,
When He the King of Glory
Shall
reign from sea to sea;
A vision so entrancing,
So
wonderfully fair
It set my heart a-dancing,
With
longing to be there.
Along a highway spacious
There
moved a happy throng,
Who wore a look so gracious
And
sang a joyful song;
And on this way to Zion
There
was no evil thing,
Nor any ravenous lion,
By
order of the King.
Mankind had lost their blindness
And
bowed before the face
Of Him, whose loving kindness
Had
raised their fallen race;
And everyone was striving
To
do his fellow good,
For all the world was living,
In
one great brotherhood.
No heart with grief was aching,
No
eye was dim with tears,
For Grace Divine had taken
Away
all doubts and fears.
It was a dream more splendid
Than
tongue can ever tell,
For sin and woe had ended,
And
Love had come to dwell.”
“GOD grant,” said Jonathan,
“that this may be
Not vision only but
reality;
Although it may well
be”—and as he spoke
There came into his
eyes a wistful look—
“That some will even
then be seen to weep
For those they
loved, whom death had called to sleep.”
The faltering voice betrayed the
hope that moved
Within his breast to
see the wife he loved.
Nor unobserved was
this by Miriam,
And to her father’s
side she softly came,
And kissed his brow and
stroked with tender care
The scanty remnants
of his silver hair.
“Forget not, father
dear, the Scriptures say
That GOD himself all
tears will wipe away;
And Stephen states
that in Messiah’s reign
All those who died
shall come to life again;
So let us rest
assured that she will come—
It may be soon—to
join us from the tomb.”
With eyes that brightened ‘neath
the soft caress,
And with a heart
more full of hopefulness,
He turned
enquiringly as if to know
The grounds that
Stephen had for saying so.
“Messiah was a ransom,” Stephen
said,
“Not only for the
living, but the dead,
And all these
‘prisoners of hope’ shall rise
By virtue of His
might sacrifice.
Those faithful ones
of old, of whom I spake,
Will be the first
from Sheol to awake,
And then will follow
in their order due
The Jew, the
Christian, and the Heathen too.
These all the call
of Jesus shall obey
To face the great
Millennial Judgment Day.
Mankind will then be
freed from Satan’s thrall
And judgment will be
met ed out to all.”
“But,” said the rabbi, “as I
know, a Jew
Does not accept as
the Messiah true
The found of your
faith—yet do I feel
Impressed by what
your earnest words reveal,
And if events
corroboration bring
Then gladly will I
hail your JESUS king.”
“That time,” he
answered, “surely is at hand—
But, tell us,
Jonathan, what has been planned
To meet the present
crisis and if I
Assistance can in
any shape supply.”
The merchant told the plans that
had been made
And how the Council
welcomed Stephen’s aid—
That on the morn the
mission would set forth
With Stephen on its
journey to the north.
“Is not this journey with much
danger fraught?”
Asked Miriam, with
apprehensive thought;
“An evil reputation
has the foe,
And he may dark and
sudden treachery show.”
“No harm can come to us, if such
His will—
He who commandeth
and the waves are still;
Before whose eyes
the serried ranks of war
But grains of dust
upon the balance are;
His strong right arm
the anger will restrain
Of these our foes,
and bring us back again.”
His voice so full of faith and
courage stirred
To confidence the
hearts of those who heard.
“May He who saved
the Hebrew children three—
May He,” the rabbi
said, “watch over thee;”
And Miriam, because
she did not dare
To trust her voice,
breathed out a silent prayer.
VIII.
“Therefore, son o man, prophesy and say unto
Go” Thus saith the LORD GOD: In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth
safely shalt thou not know it? And thou shalt come from thy place out of the
north parts, thou and many people with thee....a great company and a mighty
army; and thou shalt come up against my people of Israel as a cloud to cover
the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my
land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog,
before their eyes.”—Ezekiel 38:14-16.
__________
A WEEK had gone since from
Jerusalem
The mission left and
yet no tidings came
To those, who with
alternate hope and fear,
Waited in patience
the result to hear.
Beyond the northern
borders of the State
No means existed to
communicate
By rail or road or
wire with other lands,
For all were in the
foe’s relentless hands.
Then when another
week of deep suspense
Had passed away
there came intelligence
By wandering Arabs
that the enemy
Had forcibly
detained the Embassy,
And now in
multitudinous array
Were marching on
their devastating way.
Already from
Damascus to the coast
Their troops like
locusts swarmed, a mighty host,
And round the slopes
of Lebanon their van
Had penetrated even
unto Dan.
As leaves before the bursting of
a storm,
The hearts of men were trembling with