“The Manner of the Kingdom”
By Lindley M. Stevens
“AND Samuel told the people the manner of the kingdom, and wrote it in a book, and laid it up before the Lord.” “And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle.” There is much that is told
In that story of old,
As to me it is given to know,
With a pathos as deep
As the Keeper of Sheep
Ever sang in The Song of the Bow. From the giver who loved
Were the weapons that proved;
And they won in the warfare, at length:
'Twas a girdle of might
With a sword for the fight,
And a bow that abideth in strength. It was love in accord
With the will of the Lord,
When the prince did bestow of his own;
But they passed from his hand,
At his spirit’s command,
With a scepter, a crown, and a throne. When on Gilboa’s height,
In the thick of the fight
With the archers that sorely oppressed,
Though no evil he’d done,
Like that other King’s Son,
He was numbered with those who transgressed. Though the shafts that he flung,
Ere his bow was unstrung;
From the mighty not backward did turn,
'Twas a song that was wailed
For the weapons that failed
That the children of Judah did learn. Then I read it once more;
And I ponder it o’er
For the lesson to me it shall show;
Then I lift up my eyes
On the fields, and the skies,
And the Life of the world that I know. From the seed that is trod
’Neath the covering clod,
Where it dieth the blade to sustain,
To the bread that is mine,
In the order divine;
From the sheaves that have studded
the plain; From the nestling at rest
’Neath the sheltering breast
Of the mother that buffets the storm,
To the she-wolf at bay,
As she dies, and doth slay,
For the whelps that she guardeth from harm; From the mother who dies
Ere she knows the first cries
Or the touch that her firstborn may give,
To the upturned eyes
That behold not the skies,
That the land that he loveth may live; From the striving with sin,
And the wrestling within,
That the life of the spirit be true,
To the life He did live
Who said, “Father, forgive,
For they know not the things that they do;” From the counting as loss,
And from sharing the cross,
That the life of the Risen be shared,
To the, “Come ye, mine own,
And inherit the throne
That for you from of old was prepared;” And I hear Him again
Who did walk among men,
As He spake to His learners below:
Unto them is the sign
Of the kingdom divine,
But to you it is given to know. Then the truth doth unfold
From that story of old:
All the way from the throne to the clod,
Where a David doth reign
Lies a Jonathan slain,
For of such is the kingdom of God. And I read it afresh.
Then, in weakness of flesh,
Do I say, with a strength that is given:
Even so may I live;
Even so may I give;
For of such is the kingdom of heaven. — Lindley M. Stevens, in The
American Friend.