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GIDEON,

OR

TRIALS OF FAITH.

FIRST TRIAL.

DOUBT.

......

"For the time would fail me to tell of GIDEON, &c...... Who THROUGH FAITH subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Ep. Heb. xi. 32, 34.

I.

ON Jezreel's plain the sun has set,
But his last beams illumine yet

The hills of Galilee;

Still on the land he loves the best,
He lingers, e'er he plunge his crest,
Behind old Carmel's rose-clad breast,

Into the Mighty Sea1:

1 The Mediterranean is commonly called in Scripture the Great Sea.

On Lebanon the cedars old
Still wave their giant tops in gold;
While nearer, Hermon's dewy hill,
Gilboa, and mount Tabor2, still
Give back his parting ray:
But gradual on the mountain's side,
The dark'ning shadows upwards glide,
Till, like the falling brave3, at length
In one last blaze he pours his strength,
Then dies at once away.

Her dewy tribute nature weeps,
While high o'er head the azure sleeps,
So deep, so clear, so fair;

That, as in some lake's waveless face,
Fancy might almost seem to trace

Earth's features imaged there.
And lo, as if she mocked the eye-
As the bright legions of the sky
Come rushing on the sight,

Ten thousand rays of baser birth

Seem answering back to them from earth;

Till not a heavenly light

But finds a sister spark below,

And heaven and earth are all a-glow

With cressets of the night.

2 Hills situated on or near the skirts of the μeya wedlov, or valley of

Jezreel.

3 Byron.

II.

For countless as the insect throng

That fills the summer fields with song,
Stretch'd far and wide that plain along,
Lies Midian's mighty host,

The warriors of the wilderness,

With steeds and camels numberless
As sand on the sea-coasta.

And wafted on the echoes rife,

While all around is still,

The ceaseless hum of crowded life
Comes mellow'd to the hill;

And ever as the breezes swell,

Mixed with the camel's peaceful bell,
Come the loud laugh, th' exulting cry
That tell of mirth and revelry.

For many a chief spoke impious boasts
That night against the Lord of Hosts,
Who saw his people Midian's slave,
Who lov'd the land yet could not save.
How many, e'er to-morrow's light,
Of all that wassail'd on that night,

And long'd for coming day,

Shall feebly draw the ebbing breath,
Or coldly lay the head in death,
Upon a bed of clay?

↑ And the Midianites, and the Amalekites, and all the children of the east, lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude: and their camels were without number, as the sand by the sea-side for multitude. Judges vii. 12.

III.

There is one who looks down, from the wild mountain side,
On that host in the hour of its power and its pride,
Sees the watch-fires out-number the stars of the sky,
And yet looks on the scene with a resolute eye;
Hears the voice of defiance swell high on the gale,
Yet his cheek does not blanch, and his heart does not quail;—
"Tis the chosen of God-- 'tis the queller of Baal!
And where is his host? Is that cowering band,

Are these the defenders of Israel's land?

Shall the stream of the mountain pretend to restrain
The impetuous flow of the far-rolling main?
With a handful of men will he venture to go
'Gainst the myriads of Midian that cluster below?
He asks not for more: he has plac'd not his trust
In the bow, or the spear, or the arm of dust;
He has trusted in Him who is Mighty and True;
And the harvest is ripe, though the reapers are few.

IV.

Dauntless he stood, for his a race
That look'd grim danger in the face;
And yet, if for a moment's space

Some shade of doubt there ran

5 And the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley. Judges vii. 8.

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