Not always as the whirlwinds rush On Horeb’s mount of fear, Not always as the burning bush To Midian’s shepherd seer, Nor as the awful voice which came To Israel’s prophet bards, Nor as the tongues of cloven flame, Nor gift of fearful words----
Not always thus, with outward sign Of fire or voice from Heaven, The message of a truth divine---- The call of God given! Awakening in the human heart Love for the TRUE and RIGHT---- Zeal for the Christian’s “better part: Strength for the Christian’s fight.
Nor unto manhood’s heart alone The holy influence steals: Warm with a rapture not its own, The heart of WOMAN feels! As she who by Samaria’s wall The Savior’s errand sought---- As those who with the fervent Paul And meek Aquila wrought.
Or those meek ones whose martyrdom Rome’s gather’d grandeur saw: Or those who in their Apline home Braved the Crusader’s war, When the green Vaudois, trembling, heard Through all its vales of death, The martyr’s song of triumph pour’d From woman’s failing breath.
Oh, gently, by a thousand things Which o’er our spirits pass, Like breezes o’er the harp’s fine strings Or vapors o’er a glass, Leaving their token strange and new Of music or of shade, The summons to the RIGHT and TRUE And MERCIFUL is made.
Oh, then, if gleams of Truth and Light Flash o’er the waiting mind, Unfolding to our mental sight The wants of human kind; If, brooding over human grief, The earnest wish is known To soothe and gladden with relief An anguish not our own: Though herald with nought of fear, Or outward sigh, or show; Though only to the inward ear It whispers soft and low; Though dropping, as the manna fell, Unseen----yet from above---- Holy and gentle----heed it well! The call to TRUTH and LOVE!
written by John G. Whittier
Cast in Shadow · Tue Nov 07, 2006 @ 04:03am · 0 Comments |