(Gen. 10. and 11.)
WHEN men erected Babel’s tower,
And spread their buildings o’er the plain,
They wrought for glory, pride, and power;
Of their ambitious purpose vain.
They wish’d to gain a founder’s fame,
And o’er the earth no more to roam;
The homage of the world to claim,
By gath’ring greatness round their home.
But God who dwells in heavenly light,
The works and ways of all can see;
There’s nothing hidden from His sight,
And none can thwart His fix’d decree.
If ‘twas His will, the human race
Should spread and scatter far and wide,
‘Twas vain for men to choose a place,
And think that there they would abide.
So He, to bring their plan to naught,
From His abode to earth came down,
And look’d on all that they had wrought;
Their heaven-aspiring tower, and town.
He mark’d it all, — their skill and art,
And all that they design’d to do;
And noted well the pride of heart
With which they would their aim pursue.
The blessing of a common speech,
In which they could with all converse,
They used their evil end to reach,
And turn’d it to a grievous curse.
Their language, then, did God confound,
That none his friend might understand;
Each spake to each a senseless sound:
Thus strangers made, did they disband.
Their city, too, they ceas’d to build,
And roam’d as wand’rers o’er the earth:
The word of God they thus fulfill’d,
And show’d what all their plans were worth.
“Confusion” is the city’s name,
Its ruin it can ne’er retrieve,
But still shall bear its evil fame,
Till earth her heavenly King receive.
Then, when the Lamb who once was slain, —
The King of kings, and Lord of lords, —
Shall take His rod of power, and reign,
And beat to ploughshares are the swords,
His holy will, in language pure,
To tribes and nations shall be taught;
For He alone can work the cure
Of all the evil man hath wrought.
T.