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He climbed the mountain; and behold!
The land before him lay:
Here Jordan’s bounding waters rolled,
There Carmel stretched away.
From northern Lebanon, outspread,
To Araby the wild,
Where strangers’ lives the Patriarchs led,
Their promised Canaan smiled:
A land of fountains and of rills,
Where milk and honey flowed;
Whose stones were iron, from whose hills
Brass in the furnace glowed:
A land of corn, and wine, and oil,
Whose trees with fruitage hung,
While birds, to soothe the laborers’ toil,
Amid the branches sung.
Valleys stood thick with golden grain,
Goats bounded on the rocks,
And white and dark, on slope and plain,
Roamed pasturing herds and flocks.
But all the soil with blood was stained,
Revenge and rapine strove;
Pagan abominations reigned
In every haunted grove.
From cities populous and proud
The shrieks of children came,
Where drums and cymbals led the crowd,
Round Moloch’s altar-flame.
The vision changed;—then Moses saw
The Idols overthrown,
God out of Zion giving law,
God worshipped there alone.
And still the vision grew more bright;
On humble Bethlehem shined
The star of Jacob, and a light
To lighten all mankind.
In silent trance the prophet gazed:
“It is enough,” he cried;
His hands with holy rapture raised,
Saw the Lord’s Christ, and died.
His spirit returned to God who gave;
His body, nowhere found,
Shall keep the secret of its grave
Till the last trumpet sound.
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marker 99
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LYRICS
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Meter:
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8 6 8 6 (C.M.)
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Writer(s):
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Trans/Adapted:
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Dates:
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Bible Refs:
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echo ' | ';
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Hymn Writer
