The Ogden standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1902-1910, 1909-12-14

She goats, undr1yen, shall bring Iull
udders home,
Tho herds no longer fear the lions
spring;
The ground beneath shall cradle thee
In flowers.
The venomed snake shall die. the
poisonous herb
Perish from out thy path, and leave
the almond there.
But when with growing years the
child shall learn
The old heroic glorias of his race.
And know what honor means; then
-- shall the plains ---
Glow with the yellow harvest silently,
The grape hang blushing from the
tangled brier
And the rough oak drip honey like
the dew
Yet shall some evil lcaven Of the old
strain
Lurk still unpurged, still vans shall
So when the years shall seal thy man
hoods strength.
The busy merchant shall forsake the
seas
Barter they shall not need: the soil
shall bear
For all mems use all products OF all
climes.
Come, claim thine honors, for the
time draws nigh,
Babe OF immortal race, the wondrous
seed of Jovei
Lo, at thy coming, how the starry
spheres
Are moved to trembling, and the
earth below,
And widespread seas, and the blue
vault OF heaven!
How all things JOY to greet the rising
age,
If but my span of life be stretched to
Thy birth. and breath remain to sing
thy praise.
Not Thracian Orpheus should DER
match my strain.
How soon. fair infant, shall thy first
smile greet
Thy happy mother, when the slow
month crown
The heartsick hopes that waited for
thy birth?
Smile then. oh babe, so shall she
smile on thee.
The child on whom no parents smile
hath beamed,
No god shall entertain nor goddess
love"
This is a purely pagan spirit OF eX-
preston, but an IT deals With the ono
who should redeem from sin usher In
time of great plenty, and at whose
coming the stars should give due
token. it has by many been connected
with the time OF Christ
1t WeG six hundred years after the
deluge that the Ethyraean Sibyl in
one Of the GreCian divinationS, ut
tered a message OF thirty-four Greek
lines. which is an acrostic. the first
letters of each line spelling the SEN
ttcnce; "JesrT Christ. Son OF God.
Saviour OF the World We do not
know if this be the Sibyl TO which Wiz
ell refers. but we do know that when
tianity. he wrote an account of his
conversion. which account Is IN exist
ence today and in which he ascribes
large place among the trends which
led him to become a Christian to this
eclogue of Virgil and the mesrage OF
the Sibyl, and we do know that as
late as the eleventh century when at
Christmas the Hebrew prophets who
foretold the ChrS-t were represented
in the religious plays and oratorlos.
they were always accompanied by
persons representing Virgil and the
Sibyl as If they. too, were to be af-
counted as among the prophets. And
as recent a man a. Trench has writ.
ten a book upon this very question. in
which he call these Unconscious
prophecies of heathendom." All the
earlier church writers from Augustine
down allude TO the same belief. This
much can be said III explanation OF
these passages: The Hebrew prophe-
cieS and belief as to the coming of
Christ were known among many Gen
tile races. and especially at Rome, for
both Tactus and SuetOnius tell us a
little later than there was an intense
conviction among the learned and
lowly alike that a great leader would
be given to the world. whose sway
should be one of peace rather than
one Of war.
There are clear lessons for us In
tho-e pagan messages They tried to
be religious without being spiritual,
and they could not. Many q nominal
church member is finding the some
failure In life today. There is no
I more dreary, heartleSs and dlsappoint-
Ing life than that of the one who en-
deavors to find strength, hope and
peace in empty profession and world
ly service What wonder they turned
TO Hebrew prophecies for a CLEAN Of
n more spiritual day
Again. it may be that the same
great God who inspired the Hebrews
also led the Romans TO speak of the
Christ to come. He could do 1t If he
| would and ar Rome was to act so
great a part in Christs kingdom,
these messages may have been given
to cheer them for the present and aid
| In nrnnarln Ihonn inr fhn f,i,1rn