All this and more the prophet-prince foresaw[46]; Messiah's self--Jehovah--Him beheld,-- The Perfect One, in whom was found no flaw, Though slander as an ocean round Him swelled. Life's deathless tree--deathless, though demon-felled; The crash resounding to this far-off shore, Whose winnowed remnant welcomed Him, revealed In risen glory, when had ceased the roar Of wrecking tempests, flung His radiant face before. At Whose rebuke the haughty mountains bowed. 1740 Shorn by the whirlwind, sunk, or swept away, No more their frown the lowly valleys cowed, Rising like billows 'mid the wrathful fray, And dashing 'gainst the skies their dusty spray. Rocks, boulders, hills, no titan strength could lift, Hurtle as pebbles in the storm-fiend's play. Earth opes her jaws, and through the yawning rift Cities, peoples, vanish; of hope, of life bereft. Three hours of tempest, and three days of night; Thick darkness, thunder-burst, and lightning flash; 1750 Millions engulfed, millions in prostrate plight, Groveling as slaves that feel or fear the lash, Mingling their groans and cries with grind and crash Of crags the cyclone's catapult impels, Whose shrieking flails the fields and forests thrash! Wild o'er the land roused ocean's anger swells, And flame's relentless tongue the final doom[47] foretells. Three hours of stormful strife--then all is still, Save for a voice the universe might hear, Proclaiming what hath hapt as heaven's high will, 1760 Dispensing pardon and dispelling fear. Anon a mightier marvel doth appear; Uprolls the misty curtain of the sky-- The midday sun no more their minister, Greater hath risen! and glories multiply, As angels in their gaze earthward and heavenward fly. He greets them as a shepherd greets his flock; Shows them His wounded side, His hands, His feet; Then builds His church upon the stricken Rock, Where flow life's healing waters, limpid, sweet, 1770 As infant innocence[48], that joys to meet Its great Original. With holy hand He ministers, bids death and hell retreat, And singles twelve from out the sainted band, To sow with words of life the trembling, tear-worn land. He bids them prize the truth from heaven outpoured-- What late His tongue hath told, and all that seers Of earlier days, who owned Him as their Lord, Have sounded in a world's unwilling ears; That truth with truth may blend in after years, 1780 As rivers many to one ocean flow; That when Messiah in his might appears, Men all may see Him as he is, and know The Majesty of Heaven, 'mid nations bending low.