ST. JOHN. [REVELAT. XXI. 14.] I. THE Church-how glorious to behold Her stately Towers arise, How flash her steepling Spires of gold Her Master-Builder was the Lord, His skilful Hand alone Her Twelve Foundations, deep and broad, Based on the Living Stone. II. But all its sheen of dazzling light Beside the splendours of the sight John, in his lonely island cave, Prophetic vision saw. III. There, on the Holy Mountain's height The City gleamed afar ; The glory of the Lord her light, The bright and Morning Star. Earth's countless tribes, redeemed from sin, Wore there the saintly crown, And mightiest kings but entered in To cast their greatness down. IV. Far as the eye could range, it shone All glorious to behold, From rampart to foundation-stone, One blaze of glittering gold. Twelve Stones composed the massive base, Each stone a radiant gem; Such an Archangel's brows to grace Might form a diadem. V. On every stone a Name was graved, None but the spirits of the Saved But John, to whose all-favoured eyne Heaven's mysteries were unsealed, To him that hour by gift divine The cipher was revealed. VI. And, as the titles he discerned Those Twelve Foundations bore, His human heart within him burned, With ecstasy of awe. Eleven his brethren's names, long passed To Judgment there foreshown O miracle of Love, the last Bore legibly his own! VII. Blest Saint; the written Word declares, By many a text approved, How just the name that there he bears, "whom Jesus loved." The man He oft, when others feared to speak, The common wish expressed: When others sate apart, his cheek Leaned on the Saviour's breast. D VIII. He saw the robe of Sovereign Power, He marked the Agonizing Hour He only of the riven Tomb IX. He trod the earth's remotest wild, And dared his Lord to own Before the Desert's ruthless child, The Cæsar on his throne: Heaven's secret truths his lips revealed, Hell's iron bonds he broke ; He bade the sick, and they were healed; The dead, and they awoke. |