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Article LANAH, A TALE OF THE FLOOD. ← Page 2 of 11 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Lanah, A Tale Of The Flood.
It was the great festival of their worship , —the day on which the licentious priests selected their dupe , the bride of their false god . Beneath an oak , whose aged roots were coeval with the earth , stood the idol of Tubal-Cain , first deified b y his descendants for his skill in working metals ,
and in after ages adored b y the Egyptians and Grecians under the name of Mulciber or Vulcan . Crowds of his infatuated votaries were seated on the sloping hills that rose like a natural amphitheatre on either side of the primeval wood that skirted the back of their rude deity , and enclosed
the scene . Young maidens , the most beautiful of earth's daughters , with their long tresses braided with flowers , were dancing to the timbrel and the lute in honour of the god , while bands of priests sang hymns and waved their censers in his praise . The bride—the victim—crowned and
garlanded , sat , surrounded by her friends , gazing upon the scene ; the fire of false enthusiasm was in her eye—burnt upon her cheek . Japheth shuddered , as at a distance he beheld the scene , and hastened his steps , lest the vengeance of an outraged God should fall upon them before his warning could be heard . As he approached the hymn of the idolaters fell upon his ear : —
Io triumphe—raise the strain , And wave the streaming censer high ; Breathe on the silver lute again Praise to the God who rules the sky . Young priestess , with thy flowing hair , Thy step of pride and eye of fire ,
Golden thy locks thy forehead fair—Hail ! worthy of a god's desire . Flowers before thy feet we cast , Countless the joys that soon are thine ; Within a god's embraces claspt , With him immoratal and divine . VOL . i . *
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Lanah, A Tale Of The Flood.
It was the great festival of their worship , —the day on which the licentious priests selected their dupe , the bride of their false god . Beneath an oak , whose aged roots were coeval with the earth , stood the idol of Tubal-Cain , first deified b y his descendants for his skill in working metals ,
and in after ages adored b y the Egyptians and Grecians under the name of Mulciber or Vulcan . Crowds of his infatuated votaries were seated on the sloping hills that rose like a natural amphitheatre on either side of the primeval wood that skirted the back of their rude deity , and enclosed
the scene . Young maidens , the most beautiful of earth's daughters , with their long tresses braided with flowers , were dancing to the timbrel and the lute in honour of the god , while bands of priests sang hymns and waved their censers in his praise . The bride—the victim—crowned and
garlanded , sat , surrounded by her friends , gazing upon the scene ; the fire of false enthusiasm was in her eye—burnt upon her cheek . Japheth shuddered , as at a distance he beheld the scene , and hastened his steps , lest the vengeance of an outraged God should fall upon them before his warning could be heard . As he approached the hymn of the idolaters fell upon his ear : —
Io triumphe—raise the strain , And wave the streaming censer high ; Breathe on the silver lute again Praise to the God who rules the sky . Young priestess , with thy flowing hair , Thy step of pride and eye of fire ,
Golden thy locks thy forehead fair—Hail ! worthy of a god's desire . Flowers before thy feet we cast , Countless the joys that soon are thine ; Within a god's embraces claspt , With him immoratal and divine . VOL . i . *