Her ways are ways of pleasantness,
And all her paths are peace.
BEHOLD! the mountain of the Lord
In latter days shall rise
Above the mountains and the hills,
And draw the wondering eyes.
To this the joyful nations round,
All tribes and tongues, shall flow;
Up to the hill of God, they'll say,
And to his house we'll go.
The beam that shines on Zion hill
Shall lighten every land;
The King who reigns in Zion towers
Shall all the world command.
No strife shall vex Messiah's reign,
Or mar the peaceful years,
To ploughshares soon they beat their swords,
To pruning-hooks their spears.
No longer hosts encountering hosts,
Their millions slain deplore;
They hang the trumpet in the hall,
And study war no more.
Come then-O come from every land,
To worship at his shrine;
And, walking in the light of God,
With holy beauties shine.
BEHOLD! the Ambassador Divine,
Descending from above,
To publish to mankind the law
Of everlasting love!
On him, in rich effusion pour'd,
The heavenly dew descends;
And truth divine he shall reveal
To earth's remotest ends.
No trumpet-sound, at his approach,
Shall strike the wondering ears;
But still and gentle breathe the voice
In which the God appears.
By his kind hand the shaken reed
Shall raise its falling frame;
The dying embers shall revive,
And kindle to a flame.
The onward progress of his zeal
Shall never know decline,
Till foreign lands and distant isles
Receive the law divine.
He who spread forth the arch of heaven, And bade the planets roll,
Who laid the basis of the earth,
And form'd the human soul,
Thus saith the Lord, "Thee have I sent, A Prophet from the sky,
Wide o'er the nations to proclaim
The message from on high.
"Before thy face the shades of death
Shall take to sudden flight;
The people who in darkness dwell
Shall hail a glorious light;
"The gates of brass shall 'sunder burst,
The iron fetters fall;
The promised jubilee of heaven
Appointed rise o'er all.
"And lo! presaging thy approach,
The heathen temple shake,
And trembling in forsaken fanes,
The fabled idols quake.`
"I am Jehovah: I am One:
My name shall now be known;
No idol shall usurp my praise,
Nor mount into my throne."
Lo, former scenes, predicted once,
Conspicuous rise to view;
And future scenes, predicted now,
Shall be accomplish'd too.
Now sing a new song to the Lord!
Let earth his praise resound;
Ye who upon the ocean dwell,
And fill the isles around.
O city of the Lord! begin
The universal song;
And let the scatter'd villages
The joyful notes prolong.
Let Kedar's wilderness afar
Lift up the lonely voice;
And let the tenants of the rock
With accent rude rejoice.
O from the streams of distant lands Unto Jehovah sing!
And joyful from the mountain tops Shout to the Lord the King!
Let all combined with one accord
Jehovah's glories raise,
Till in remotest bounds of earth
The nations sound his praise.
MESSIAH! at thy glad approach
The howling wilds are still!
Thy praises fill the lonely waste,
And breathe from every hill.
The hidden fountains, at thy call, Their sacred stores unlock; Loud in the desert, sudden streams Burst living from the rock.
The incense of the spring ascends
Upon the morning gale:
Red o'er the hill the roses bloom,
The lilies in the vale.
Renew'd, the earth a robe of light, A robe of beauty, wears;
And in new heavens a brighter sun Leads on the promised years.
The kingdom of Messiah come,
Appointed times disclose ;
And fairer in Emmanuel's land
The new creation glows.
Let Israel to the Prince of Peace
The loud hosannah sing!
With hallelujahs and with hymns,
O Zion, hail thy King!
WHEN Jesus, by the Virgin brought,
So runs the law of Heaven,
Was offer'd holy to the Lord,
And at the altar given;
Simeon the Just and the Devout,
Who, frequent in the fane,
Had for the Saviour waited long,
But waited still in vain,
Came, Heaven directed, at the hour
When Mary held her Son;
He stretched forth his aged arms,
While tears of gladness run:
With holy joy upon his face
The good old father smiled,
While fondly in his wither'd arms
He clasp'd the promised Child.
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