The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1870-11-26
The Ascension of Christ.
BY REV. J. Il. HAGANY.

From toll, reproach, and more than mortal
pain,
He comes, the Prince of life, late from tho
grave,
To sit triumphant on his fathers throne.
Daughters Of Israel, weep for his fair eyes
At Salem's gates shall weep no more for
you.
Your day of visitation now is past;
Your sun goes down in clouds your night
has come;
A stormy night through centuries of years.
Your widows now are desolate indeed,
For his sweet.voice shall calm their funeral
wall
No more nor call their children back to life,
Till that great day when Death himself
shall die.
1t was the morning watch, and from the
OF ancient Solyma, the joy of earth,
The weary watchers had retired at dawn.
Silence was in the city, save the noise
Of Kidron's babbling brook that wandered
by,
Or the loud scream of the ascending eagle,
OH omened bird to Abrams guilty race,)
That rose strong winged above the Temples
dome;
And STILL rs soaring toward the fading stars,
Through the dim twilight of the shadowy
morn,
Round Salem's walls looked sad, prophetic
things.*
Soon as the sacred gates stood open wide,
He, with his chosen witnesses, went forth
On his last journey to the holy mount;
They to return in joy, but he no more
Till the long Gentle age shall be fulfilled.
At his right hand, a tall, athletic form,
With countenance severe, and kindling eye,
And full of manhood's strength, walked by
his side,
And boldly talked as with familiar friend.
At left and nearest the Redeemer's heart,
In contrast with the first, a meeker face,
And kindlier eye, almighty love nee made;
And as the sunflower drinks the solar ray,
Still turning to the sun from morn till eve,
So as he walked he leaned on Jesus arm,
Nor ceased to gaze on his diviner face.
Next him countenance as wise as grave,
The index of mind for counsel formed,
Like sages old preserved insculptured stone.
The rest with eager step followed apace,
While each in turn spake of the burning
hope
Of Israel's ransom, and the eternal reign
Of Davids Son, on David's vacant throne.
And now the day in orient splendor rose,
Zion was bathed in dew, and Judah's hills
Greeted the flaming sun with countless tears.
They gained the mountains summit, and
awhile
Resting beneath the olives cooling shade,
Surveyed the loveliest scene in Jacobs
land.+
High DER their heads an alabaster cloud,
Slowly descending from the eternal sphere,
Hung in the deep blue sky, and hid from
sight
Horses of fire and chariots of flame,
And twice ten thousand angel charioteers,t
And eldest choirs that sung creations song,
Who on that morning left the starry gates
To meet the ascending conqueror in mid-sky
1t was the calmest hour earth's stranger
knew
Since angel voices broke the morning dreams
Of Bethlehem's shepherds.
His tolls were past,
His strange, mysterious agony was DER
And Joseph's tomb was tenantless again.
The bloody scourge was hung in Pilates
Hall,
| The bitter cross lay broken to the dust;
Yet not forgotten, but henceforth to stand
The sign Of quilts last hope, till the bright
trumpeter
Der sea and land shall swear by Him that
lives
| Forever and for ever more, that time
Shall be no longer
Forty days had fled
Since from his beauteous locks and temples
pale
He shook the damps of the cold sepulchre,
And by the might Of his redeeming arm
Spoiled the dark grave of all its victories,
And bore its keys fast by his wounded side,
And stood immortal among the wrecks of
| men,
Deaths sorest plague-the graves trium-
plant Lord.
| His hour was come,
The pang of parting fell ON all our hearts
AS nearer to the sacred form they pressed,
To see the beauty of his face once more,
And share his latest gift.
He raised his hands
And laid their healed wounds on every head;
A strange, deep 10y came DER their sorrow
ing souls;
Their closed eyelids could not stay their
| tears,
Which rushed impetuous from their hidden
founts.
They looked again-but he was in the air,
Ascending to his father and his God.
Matt. XIV, IS: "Where the carcase
is" &c.
I Stephens "Incidents of Travel" &c.
Pisa. LXvIII, II: "The chariots of God
are twenty thousand" &c.