SAMARIA for her sins besieged was in a fearful strait;
Gaunt Famine stalked within her walls, the Foe was at her gate;
Despair had palsied all her sons, maternal love had flown.
Unhappy City! deeply doomed, how grievous was her moan!
But in the darkest of her night Hope's cheerful dawn appeared;
THE LORD on her in mercy looked, her dark horizon cleared:
Elisha in His Name proclaimed to her in all her sorrow,
That present dearth should melt away, and plenty flow to-morrow.
What tender pity had THE LORD for her in all her sins!
His erring creatures' wretchedness His deep compassion wins.
Ah! would that all the lesson learned the truth His goodness shows;
That He has mercy for the lost, forgiveness for His foes.
Four leprous men outside the walls had grief above the rest;
Unclean, and shunned in their complaint, they seemed indeed unblest;
Whichever way they looked for help, Death stared them in the face,
And they no brighter hope could see than in the Syrians' grace.
But God had good in store for them, of which they ne'er conceived,
And unlike man His word is sure, and e'er may be believed.
'Twas but a broken reed to trust the fierce, remorseless foe;
But God's a Rock, and Mercy's tide from Him Both freely flow.
If He had said, Where famine swayed, abundance soon should reign;
Where want her withering hand had spread, should rise the precious grain;
Though nature's eye could not a sign of this abundance see,
The heavens should sooner pass away than this should fail to be.
At twilight, then, these men arose, and to the camp they went;
But not a Syrian found they there, though there stood every tent;
The horses, too, and asses tied, but all their riders fled;
And in the tents were victuals found, on which these lepers fed.
These men had never raised an arm the victory to gain;
That all the glory was THE LORD'S, and His alone, 'twas plain.
And who the rich provision spread? 'Twas His, the Victor's spoil;
And not a morsel or a sup the fruit of Israel's toil.
The LORD of HOSTS, the MIGHTY GOD, had filled the foe with fear,
And noise of chariots, horses, men, had made the Syrians hear.
They thought that Israel's hireling hosts upon them all had burst,
And fast they fled, each for his life; for fear forbode the worst.
A greater than the Syrian foe hath God by Christ o'erthrown,
In that consummate victory which Christ achieved alone;
When He in flesh through death o'ercame, and Satan brought to naught,
And for us sinners in His grace His great Salvation wrought.
The flowing bounties of His grace, Salvation for the lost,
Are God's providing, full and free; the death A Christ the cost:
No works of man could grace produce; no toil, with zealous care;]
'Tis all of God, whose heart is Love, whose glory none can share.
These men, alas! made self their aim; for when well-filled with good,
They gold and silver sought and hid, and selfish ends pursued;
Forgetful of the famished souls who pined for want of bread,
While there was plenty for them all, by God in mercy spread.
But He who for His glory cares, and guards His gracious Name,
Aroused these lepers from their sin, and filled their souls with shame;
So they at length repenting, said, “From hiding let us cease,
This is a day of joyful news; how can we hold our peace?”
As face to face in pool responds, so heart of man to man,
And in these thoughtless, leprous men our likeness we may scan.
But, oh! may we, who're saved by grace, whose souls are well-sufficed,
The things of self no longer seek, but those of Jesus Christ.
The joyful tidings reached at last Samaria in her woe;
That God had gained a victory o'er her vindictive foe;
That on the spoil which He had won her people now might feast,
Her sons, her daughters, every one, the greatest and the least.
God's faithful word thus came to pass; for finest flour was sold,
And barley, at the value that the Prophet had foretold;
While every famine-stricken soul was satisfied with bread,
By that same power which fainting crowds in barren deserts fed.
'Twas grace, indeed, that gave the grain to this unhappy race,
At such a price that e'en the poor the blessing might embrace;
But, oh! the grace of God, in Christ, to sinners vile and lost,
That gives to poor and needy souls, Salvation free from cost!
Oh, yes, God calls on sinful souls, who're beggars and in debt,
To come to Him in Jesus' Name; and none denied He yet.
A rich provision, free to all, hath He in love prepared;
That Love which in His bosom burns, and is in Christ declared.
The faithless lord who doubt expressed at God's unfailing word,
The promise, by Elisha's mouth, accounted as absurd,
Was made to prove in his own case that God is ever true;
When told that he should surely die, with blessing full in view:
For as the people through the gate in their impatience rushed
To reach the food, they trod on him, and he' to death was crushed.
Thus, he who dared to doubt God's word, that He 'would food provide,
In judgment from His hand expired, and perished in his pride.
How black the sin of unbelief! God's witness to destroy;
And when He tells of life in Christ, to give to Him the lie!
How hateful is the heart of man! 'tis evil to the core;
AND HE THAT WILL NOT GOD BELIEVE, MUST PERISH EVERMORE.
T.