And from the east a strong wind blew all night

Which made the sea dry land. The waters fled;

The floods stood upright in a heap; like walls

On right and left the sea's depths were congealed,

As Israel's children went into their midst

And passed on dry ground to the other shore.

Day broke, and Pharaoh's stubborn heart of pride

Still turned against God's people. When he saw

The mighty chasm of waters harmless spread;

The sea's depths parted; heard, too, from afar,

The song of Israel's triumph swell on high

The loud peal for deliverance from their foes,

He raised his voice and gave his stern command

To follow them into the sea! At once The deafening roll of chariots shook the earth;

Horsemen and horses rushed to the pursuit

The chosen captains of that mighty host,

Zealous to shine before their monarch's eye,

Spurred to the onset, swift as lightning flash,

With spears advanced, and falchions gleaming bright;

Around the king his courtiers thronging crowd,

The gilded chariot and the charioteer, The horseman and the horse, the king and slave,

High mettled youth, stout manhood, and old age

Found there a common grave beneath the wave.

Of all who followed Israel in its flight, All felt the judgment of offended God, And not so much as one of them remained!

Thus has the Christian hope. On life's last shore

By foes beset, with death's dark waves before,

The hand of God can part the angry flood

And lead him safely through the fearful chasm

Unto a promised land of peace. Till then,

Through all his journeyings, he will see The Book of Truth before him as a guide

Pointing the way where all his troubles cease,

And angel hosts forever hymn the praise

Of Him, man's rock, man's fortress, and man's strength.

Pour forth the notes of victory;
High let it swell across the sea,
For Jacob's weary tribes are free!

JOHN RUSKIN (1819-1900).

THE FIRST SONG OF MOSES. EXOD. XV.

I.

Now shall the praises of the Lord be

sung;

For he a most renowned Triumph won; Both horse and man into the sea he flung.

And them together there hath overthrown.

The Lord is he whose strength doth make me strong,

And he is my salvation and my song; My God, for whom I will a house pre

pare,

My father's God, whose praise I will declare.

2.

Well knows the Lord to war what doth pertain,

The Lord Almighty is his glorious

name:

He Pharaoh's chariots, and his armèd train,

Amid the sea o'erwhelming, overcame: Those of his army that are most renown'd,

He hath together in the Red Sea drown'd;

The deeps a covering over them were thrown,

And to the bottom sunk they like a

stone.

3.

Lord, by thy power thy right hand famous grows;

Thy right hand, Lord, thy foe destroyèd hath;

Thy glory thy opposers overthrows, And stubble-like consumes them in thy wrath.

A blast but from thy nostrils forth did go,

And up together did the waters flow: Yea, rolled up on heaps, the liquid flood Amid the sea, as if congealèd, stood.

My Sword, my thirsty Sword in Blood imbrue :

The Winds of God blew terrible and loud,

The Sea the Signal takes, and overwhelms the Proud.

Like Stones, like Lead they sink, they all expire

Like Stubble in thy Wrath's consuming Fire.

The Waters saw, thy Voice the waters hear,

Forget their Nature, and in heaps congeal with Fear.

Convulsions cleave the Seas int' horrid Caves,

And show a new Abyss beneath the Waves.

Great God of Israel! What vain Idol dare

With Thee th' Eternal Lord of Hosts

Miriam! She saw; then all to life awaking,

"Sing to the Lord," with a great voice she cried:

"Sing to the Lord," their many timbrels shaking,

Ten thousand ransomed hearts and tongues replied;

While, leading on the dance in triumph long,

Thus the great prophetess broke forth in song:

"Oh, sing to the Lord,

Sing his triumph right glorious;
O'er horse and o'er rider,

Sing his right arm victorious;
Pharaoh's horsemen and chariots
And captains so brave,
The Lord hath thrown down
In the bottomless wave.

"Man of war is the Lord, And Jehovah is his name; We trusted his pillar

Of cloud and of flame, Proud boasters, ye followed, But where are ye gone? Down, down in the waters,

Ye sank like a stone.

"O Lord, thou didst blow

With thy nostrils a blast, And, upheaved, the huge billows Like mountains stood fast. Egypt shuddered with wonder,

That pathway to see,Those depths all congealed In the heart of the sea.

"I too will march onward (The enemy cried)

I shall soon overtake;

I the spoil will divide; I will kill' O my God!

The depths fell at thy breath, And like lead they went down In those waters of death.

"But o'er us the soft wings

Of thy mercy outspread, To thine own chosen dwelling Our feet thou hast led. Palestrina, affrighted,

The tidings shall hear,

And your hearts, O ye nations, Shall wither with fear.

"Thus brought in with triumph,

Safe planted and blest,

On thy own holy mountain

Thy people shall rest. Shout! Pharaoh is fallen

To rise again never,

Sing! The Lord, he shall reign
Forever and ever."

E. DUDLEY JACKSON.

THE SONG OF MIRIAM.

A SONG for Israel's God!-Spear, crest, and helm,

Lay by the billows of the old Red
Sea,

When Miriam's voice o'er that sepulchral realm

Sent on the blast a hymn of jubilee; With her lit eye, and long hair floating free,

Queen-like she stood, and glorious was the strain,

E'en as instinct with the tempestuous glee

Of the dark waters, tossing o'er the slain.

A song for God's own victory!-O, thy

lays,

Bright Poesy! were holy in their

birth:

How hath it died, their seraph note of

praise,

In the bewildering melodies of earth! Return from troubling bitter fountsreturn,

Back to the life-springs of thy native urn!

FELICIA HEMANS (1793-1835).

SOUND THE LOUD TIMBREL..

MIRIAM'S SONG.

"And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances."Exod. xv: 20.

SOUND the loud timbrel o'er Egypt's dark sea!

Jehovah hath trimphed-His people are free.

Sing for the pride of the tyrant is broken,

His chariots, his horsemen all splen

did and brave,

How vain was their boast for the Lord hath but spoken,

And chariots and horsemen are sunk in the wave.

Sound the loud timbrel o'er Egypt's dark sea;

Jehovah has triumphed-his people are free.

Praise to the Conqueror, praise to the Lord!

His word was our arrow, His breath was our sword

Who shall return to tell Egypt the story

Of those she sent forth in the hour of her pride?

For the Lord hath looked out from His pillar of glory,

And all her brave thousands are dashed in the tide.

Sound the loud timbrel o'er Egypt's dark sea;

Jehovah has triumphed-his people are free!

THOMAS MOORE (1779-1852).

SACRED MELODY.

"Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.”— Exod. xv: 21.

YE daughters and soldiers of Israel, look back!

Where-where are the thousands who shadowed your track

The chariots that shook the deep earth as they rolled

The banners of silk and the helmets of gold?

Where are they-the vultures, whose beaks would have fed

On the tide of your hearts ère the pulses had fled?

Give glory to God, who in mercy arose, And strewed 'mid the waters the strength of our foes!

When we traveled the waste of the desert by day,

With his banner-cloud's motion he marshalled our way;