Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Poetry.
POETRY .
AN ADDRESS , For the Fourteenth Anniversary Festival , in aid of the Asylum for Aged Freemasons , held on the 20 / A June , 1849 , in Freemasons ' Hall . On Jordan ' s banks the Hosts of Israel wait The passing of their Monarchgratulate
, At the conclusion of domestic strife . Triumphant Joab , faithful to the death , Defender and Adviser of his King , Has " brought the hearts of Israel once again Into the paths of faith and loyalty . " The assembled People rend the air with joy , While the sad Monarch mourns his faithless Son .
The sacred River past , upon the shore Stands the blest Shepherd Monarch , Heaven approved . And hand-to-hand with his , a grey old man , The faithful Barzillai , he whose stores In the sad hour of David ' s hasty flight , Had all been opened to the injured King . Then spoke the Monarch to the aged Sage
, " Come thou with me to Salem ' s peaceful towers ! Theie , in its Sacred Courts with me reside ; . To me thy presence and thy counsel give , That I may honour thee with thankful joy , Till life ' s remaining hours shall pass away ? "
With grateful eyes the old man views his King , And venerably thoughtful straight replies , " How many days have 1 to spare to life , That 1 should visit Salem with my King ? This day thy servant ' s years attain fourscore , The well-toned harmony of singing men And singing womenare to me as nought
, , Nor can thy servant taste the food he eats . Some distance farther wend I with my King , And then return to where the honoured bones Of my fond mother and my father lie ; I have lived near them , let me near them die . "
Let such as old Barzillai think as he : — If virtue make them favourites of a King , If fate have given them wealth and length of days , If birth have brought them riches , ease of life , If chance that found them poor have made them rich , Let them remember POOR AND AGED MEN 1 The way-worn pilgims of a weary world , With Abraham ' s sorrow but without his hope .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Poetry.
POETRY .
AN ADDRESS , For the Fourteenth Anniversary Festival , in aid of the Asylum for Aged Freemasons , held on the 20 / A June , 1849 , in Freemasons ' Hall . On Jordan ' s banks the Hosts of Israel wait The passing of their Monarchgratulate
, At the conclusion of domestic strife . Triumphant Joab , faithful to the death , Defender and Adviser of his King , Has " brought the hearts of Israel once again Into the paths of faith and loyalty . " The assembled People rend the air with joy , While the sad Monarch mourns his faithless Son .
The sacred River past , upon the shore Stands the blest Shepherd Monarch , Heaven approved . And hand-to-hand with his , a grey old man , The faithful Barzillai , he whose stores In the sad hour of David ' s hasty flight , Had all been opened to the injured King . Then spoke the Monarch to the aged Sage
, " Come thou with me to Salem ' s peaceful towers ! Theie , in its Sacred Courts with me reside ; . To me thy presence and thy counsel give , That I may honour thee with thankful joy , Till life ' s remaining hours shall pass away ? "
With grateful eyes the old man views his King , And venerably thoughtful straight replies , " How many days have 1 to spare to life , That 1 should visit Salem with my King ? This day thy servant ' s years attain fourscore , The well-toned harmony of singing men And singing womenare to me as nought
, , Nor can thy servant taste the food he eats . Some distance farther wend I with my King , And then return to where the honoured bones Of my fond mother and my father lie ; I have lived near them , let me near them die . "
Let such as old Barzillai think as he : — If virtue make them favourites of a King , If fate have given them wealth and length of days , If birth have brought them riches , ease of life , If chance that found them poor have made them rich , Let them remember POOR AND AGED MEN 1 The way-worn pilgims of a weary world , With Abraham ' s sorrow but without his hope .