Lines
On Harvey’s Picture of the Covenanters Worshipping,
Among the Hills of Scotland
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[By S. C. Hall
.]
It came from out the silent glen
The mingled prayer of armed men ;
Their swords in sheath for one calm day,
“ And let us worship God,” they say.
They met---in fear, but not of man ;
In hope---but not of human aid ;
In faith---that dreads no mortal ban ;
In trust---mid perils undismayed.
As wearied travellers seek the brook,
They ask refreshment from “ the Book !’
The fountain gives them strength for strife,
And Freedom will be bought with life.
No Temple made by human hands
Is that in which the Pastor stands ;
Around him mighty mountains rise,
Pillars to yon vast roof, the skies ;
But Freedom consecrates the glen ;
And girlhood, boyhood, age, and youth,
Utter or breathe a stern “ Amen”
To words that Reason stamps with Truth ;
For God and Nature bade them be
All---like their free forefathers---free ;
Such message yon good Pastor brings---
A message from the King of kings !
Say, grandsire---thou should’st know it best---
Say, matron, with the babe at breast ;
Say, girl---thy lover still is near---
Can Patriot-passion banish fear ?
Old man, what councils thy grey hairs ?
Mother, what dost thou tell thy son ?
Boy, knowest thou what thy father dares ?
Girl, say how must thy heart be won ?
All answer, with a shout and sigh,
“ Go strike for freedom---do or die !
Nor let your children’s children name
Old Scotland’s mountain-men with shame !”
Thanks, Painter, for a lesson taught !
Thanks for a pictur’d store of thought !
Thus Art works out her great design,
Shapes the rough ore of Nature’s mine ;
Gives Beauty a perpetual youth ;
Bids Virtue teach and never tire ;
Shows that a halo shines round Truth ;
Tells what to shun and what desire ;
And makes Example bear to ages---
More forceful than a thousand pages---
Of good or ill, a painted story
To warn from shame or win for glory.
—From the Art-Union
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