HYMN OP THE HEBREW MAID.

When Israel, of the Lord beloved,

Out from the land of bondage came,
Her father's God before her moved.

An awful guide, in smoke and flame.
By day, along the astonish'd lands ^

The cloudy pillar glided slow ;
By night, Arabia's crimson'd sands

Retum'd the fiery pillar's glow. ^

There rose the choral hymn of praise.

And trump and timbrel answer'd keen;
And Zion's daughters pour'd their lays,

With priests* and warriors' voice between.
No portents now our foes amaze.

Forsaken Israel wanders lone ;
Our fathers would not know Thy ways,

And Thou hast left them to their own.

But present still, though now unseen.

When brightly shines the prosperous day,
Be thoughts of Thee a cloudy screen.

To temper the deceitful ray.
And, oh ! when stoops on Judah's path.

In shade and storm the frequent night, '
Be Thou, long-suffering, slow to wrath, •

A burning and a shining light I

Our harps we left by Babel's streams.

The tyrant's jest, the Gentiles' scorn ;
No censer round our altar beams.

And mute are timbrel, trump and horn.
But Thou hast said, " The blood of goat,

The flesh of rams, I will not prize ;
A contrite heart, an humble thought.

Are mine accepted sacrifice."

Sir Walter Scott.

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