Palestine | AdventAI

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Jan 2, 1879

Palestine.

BLEST land of Judea, thrice hallowed of song, Where holiest memories pilgrim-like throng, In the shade of thy palms, by the shores of thy sea, On the hills of thy beauty, my heart is with thee. With the eye of a spirit I look on that shore, Where pilgrim and prophet have lingered before; With the glide of a spirit I traverse the sod, Made bright by the steps of the angels of God.

THE sea of the hills! In spirit I hear, Thy waters, Gennesaret, chime on my ear, Where the Lowly and Holy with people sat down, And the spray on the dust of his sandals was thrown. Beyond are Bethulia’s mountains of green And the desolate hills of the wild Gadarene; And I pause on the goat-crags of Tabor to see The gleam of thy waters, O, dark Galilee!

There sleep the still rocks and the caverns that rang To the song which the beautiful prophetess sang, When the princes of Issachar stood by her side, And the shout of a host in its triumphs replied. Lo! Bethlehem’s hillside before me is seen, With the mountains around and the valleys between; There rested the shepherds of Judah, and there The song of the angels rose sweet on the air.

And Bethany’s palm trees in beauty still throw Their shadows at noon on the ruins below; But where are the sisters who hastened to greet The lowly Redeemer and sit at his feet? I tread where the twelve in their wayfaring trod; I stand where they stood with the Chosen of God, Where his blessing was heard and his lessons were taught, Where the blind were restored and the healing was wrought.

But wherefore this dream of the earthly abode Of humanity clothed in the brightness of God? Were my spirit but turned from the outward and dim, It could gaze even now on the presence of Him— Not in clouds and in terrors, but gentle as when In love and in meekness He moved among men; And the voice which breathed peace to the waves of the sea, In the hush of my spirit would whisper to me!

--Sel.