Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1839-01-09
POETRY.
LUTHER.

LUTHER.
Extract from posm which obtained the Chan
cellor's Medal, at the Cambridge Commencement,
England $780, Wards Miscellany
a1he night is DER; the day-spring from on high
Ia spreading radiance the Weakening sky.
Heard We that voiced All! well may Rome prepare
Each charm 10 soften, and each vile to snare.
And yer he c5mes not king like, circled round
By meil-cIad thousands, or with trophies srown'd.
Not his the pancply of conscious fame;
A simple monk, scarce heard of Luther came.
But on his brow there stood collected might
And ardor, ike warriors, for the fight;
And in his spirit blazed such zeal as sheds
kindred inspiration where it treads;
And Hottest courage kindled in his eye,
And hope that yeam'd te conquer or to die.
Slowly at first, but dauntlsssly, he rose,
And hurl'd defiance on surrounding foes.
Though dangers rhicken'd wheresoeer he went
Though all Hates venom'd shafts on him were bent,
Forward he rush'd, mistaken, undismay'd,
BY mighty consistency of soul upstay'd
And a warrior, TO his latest breath,
Exchanging, fought the battles of the faith.
Surely no energy Of human power
Could bear him scathless in the trying hour.
A holier armor fenced him, as he trod
His dangerous path-the panoply of God.
Yes! and no feebler spirit fred his tongue,
When glanced its magics on the list'ning throng.
Had ye but heard him, when, in loftiest mood
Ofrighteous zeal, he quelPd the astonish'd brood
or veual pardoners-when he babe be free
The felter'd nations of the western sea-
We would not wonder that, in hush'd amaze,
Surrounding myriads fx'd on him their gaze
That every heart responded the call
That strong conviction fash'd unsought on ALL
The torrent, lash'd to frenzy in its course
The thnnderpeal, re-echoing deep and hoarse-
The whirlwind, when it burstupon the strand,
Or whelms the Arab in his desert-sand,
Were but fit emblems of that eioquence,
Which reused the passions, and compelld the sense.
And yet, at times, in milder tones was heard
That voice, whose power the inmost soul hadstir'd.
And when he spoke of joys unfading, given
To those who nobly in the field had striven-
Told ofthat Savior, by whose mortal woe
Eternal life was brought for man below
Or pointed sinners to the thorny road,
Whose steep ascent should lead them to- their (iod,
Then Ger his spirit came gentle change,
And strange, in truth-Oh! beautifully strange
Appear'd the feeling of his o'erfraught breast,
That could not suffer one to be unblest.
"oh, too, he told them of that sacred lore,
That book Of mystery, unknown before,
Whose page, by priestly tyranny conceal'd
His hand TO every learner now reveard.
Seek ye for guidance thus his summons ran
geek We the Iight vonchsaf fed IN ary;no mani
Ask not the priest-his is meteor-ray,
That gilds the darkness but to lead astray;
Go not amid the abbey's cloistral cells
Unbroken gloom within their precincts dwells,
Come to this volume from its sacred page
Beams hope for youth, and happiness for age.
Drink at this fountain; in its healing wave
Alone, resides the energy to save.
Read, and believe! amid life's tangled maze
Its light shall pour nnremittng blaze:
In storm and sunshine, happiness and pain,
We shall not ask this heaven. born guide in vain.
"Seorch We the scriptures" He had ceased, yet still
They fslths accent on their bosoms thrill.
"Search ye the scriptures" Thro' Bavaria plains
In thundcr-tones, reverberate the strains;
And caught on angels pinions ere they fell,
Ponrd o'er the mountains, TO the land of Tell
To Zurich's waters bounded on the blast,
And woke the snow-clad submits as they past:
Till voices burst from every cliff aud brake,
And echo answered from each Alpine lake;
Then danced across the waters; and the sea
Crested her waves, all redolent of glee,
Till Britain heard. Al once, the islnnd-queen
Uprose, her spirits flashing in her mien,
And dash'd her chains in shivers to the ground,
And calld to freedom all the natiops round,
Yes. from that hour, her flag has been unfurrd,
To waft truths freedom DER the fetter'd WORLD,