The blest destroyer comes not there

To interrupt the sacred cheer:

Upon their doors he read and understood.
God's protection writ in blood;

Well was he skilled in the character divine,
And though he passed by it in haste,
He bowed and worshipped as he passed

The mighty mystery through its humble sign.

ABRAHAM COWLEY.

"TIS

The Passover

IS night, dark night! a solemn stillness reigns O'er Egypt's land; the midnight hour is come, Whilst Pharaoh's disobedience still detains

Against God's will his people; such a doom Ne'er fell on land, and ne'er will fall again, These were the words divine, which Moses gave To Egypt's king and court; but all in vain.

His heart is hardened, nothing now can save The land from desolation; for 'twas He, The Immutable, who gave this dread command, Death in his stead shall reign; Eternity

Shall swallow up the first-born of the land. But hard and harder grew the tyrant's heart; No fear of God had ever entered there; With Israel's children; how could man so dare, Not love but tyranny, forbade him part Against high Heaven's designs, his own to place, In competition! (what, but want of fear Of that high Power, could with unblushing face Have made him tempt Omnipotence, and rear His haughty head? but God in wisdom knew, In wisdom infinite divinely planned; Th' Eternal mind already had in mind Glorious redemption-infinitely planned Oh great deliverance! what love too great, What gratitude of ours can e'er repay

The mercy which released us from that state
Of servile bondage and tyrannic sway?
In every house is silence most profound,

Th' Egyptians sleep-not so the chosen race
Who, all prepared, now wait without a sound,
Whilst anxious hope is pictured on each face.
Now suddenly along the midnight air

A low and piteous wailing first is borne, Then loud and fearful shrieks of sad despair

Echo from house to house, where death has gone. Swiftly upon the sable wing of night,

The angel has gone forth; upon his brow

No pity can be traced; for in his sight

The prince and meanest slave are equalled now.
Then Pharaoh's voice amid the general cry,
In grief and haste for Moses loudly called,
Moses and Aaron he implored to fly,

For death surrounds him, he stands appalled.
Then did the Israelites come forth as one,

Their wives, their children-cattle in arrear In silence and in haste their flight began;

They marched triumphant, for their God was near.
He was their only guide by night and day,
A cloud by day-a pillar of fire by night
Thus gloriously He led them on their way.
And thus He ever keeps us in His sight.

Now scarce encamped besides the sea, they view,
With dread and horror Pharaoh and his host,
His chariots and his horsemen all pursue

To overtake them ere they reach the coast.

But what are human plans if God oppose,
"Fear not," then Moses said, "but wait and see
Salvation of the Lord; for these our foes

Will never more on earth be seen by thee."
He scarce had said, when at the voice of God
The sea divides they walk upon dry land,
Then, at the voice Divine, he lifts his rod-
Two upright walls of sea majestic stand.

The cloud, which until now, had gone before,
Suddenly changes its resplendent light,
The Israelites now crossed-the sea once more
Resumes its place, but in the Egyptians' sight
The light is darkness now; for all is seen

Dark on that side, where Pharaoh's horsemen dash On with rapid speed; while still between

That cloud remains. A loud and fearful crash, Another and another quick succeed,

'Tis God who fights against them; vain the thought To flee from Israel's face; for whence proceeds

Such wond'rous power, if not from God who fought On Israel's side? who safe had reached the shore Ere morning's faintest blush began to spread, They saw the Egyptians sink to rise no more, Not one that was not numbered with the dead. Then all the multitude, with one accord Joined Moses in à loud and heartfelt cry

Of gratitude and praises to the Lord;

"They sang to Him who triumphed gloriously."

R. E. S.

Out of Egypt

THE flaming sunset bathed the distant hills
In gold, the air was chill, and darkness fell
Upon the silent land. Then through the night
A cry of pain rose like a wave, and fell,
Again and yet again it soared aloft,

But dying to be born anew; a wail

Of anguish wild, of hoarse and deep despair

From countless hearts, who called unto their gods
With tears and sobs, with broken prayers in vain!
For death attired in red, with scourge and flail
Had swept through Egypt at the voice of God.
And as he passed behold his steps were stained
With blood. All first-born children in the land
Were dead. The Pharaoh and the shepherd mourned

Alike, for blood red tracks were traced from door
To door; from palace garden to the home

Of those who lived in pinch of utter want.
Then God spake, and the voices of the crowds
Were stilled: "I am the Lord. I am the Lord,
My children you have treated like the dust,
My chosen people you have bound with shame.
You hold them, and you would not let them go,
So I the Lord their God have taken all

The first-born in your land . . .

But Israel's children have I spared to live,
And death into their house hath entered not.
Repent, repent, and pray you be stiff-necked
And proud no more." Then ceased the voice of God.
And mourning into hatred turned, the fumes
Of passion smote upon their souls-"Begone,
Begone accursed of our sight, arise

And flee, lest we be all dead men; take gold,
And silver, flocks and herds, and leave us peace."
So Israel fled out in the night, and came
Not to that land again.

And now once more

A silence fell, and stars of heaven gazed
Upon the stricken homes, upon the palm
Trees listening to the whisper of the wind,
Upon the silent Nile, upon the land

Of sin.

DOROTHEA DE PASS.

WHEN

Psalm CXIV

'HEN Israel from proud Egypt's yoke
Of bondage first came forth,

And the house of Jacob from the land
Of strange tongues, in the North.

Judah His Sanctuary stood,

And Israel proud was His domain,
The Sea beheld, and straightway fled,
And Jordan backward, drove amain.

Like mountains, skipped the wethers, then,
Like playful lambs, the mighty hills;
Oh Sea! Why flee'st thou about?
And, Jordan, whence thy tiny rills?

Ye Mountains, that ye skip apace,
Ye mighty hills, like tiny sheep;
The earth in trembling fears the Lord,
For Jacob's God 'tis now ye weep.

Who turneth to a watery pool
The hard unstable rock,
The flint unto a living fount

Of waters, for His flock.

MYRTILLA E. MITCHELL.

The Passage of the Red Sea 'MID the light spray their snorting camels stood,

Nor bathed a fetlock in the nauseous flood-
He comes-their leader comes!-the man of God
O'er the wide waters lifts His mighty rod.
And onward treads-the circling waves retreat
In hoarse deep murmurs, from his holy feet;
And the chased surges, inly roaring, show
The hard wet sand and coral hills below.

With limbs that falter, and with hearts that swell,
Down, down they pass a steep and slippery dell.
Around them rise, in pristine chaos hurled,
The ancient rocks, the secrets of the world;

The flowers that blush beneath the ocean green,

And caves, the sea-calves' low-roofed haunt, are seen.
Down, safely down the narrow pass they tread;
The beetling waters storm above their head:
While far behind retires the sinking day,
And fades on Edom's hills its latest ray.
Yet not from Israel fled the friendly light,
Or dark to them or cheerless came the night,