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Show WOMAN'S EXPONENT, 86 -- Continued from vane 8 and wounding your feet with thorns; you cannot descend from the fire in which you have been moulded to the coldness of aur shaded unless the dew of your tears Ufroz'en in their fall, and the transparent vase.of youriicarts i broken hv the hailstones.'- This brings us face, to face with the mission of the poet among men. Says Holland: Verily the poets of the worlds are tlie prophets of manity. They forever reach .after. and foresee the ultimate good. They are evermore-buildinthe Paradise that is to be, painting the Millennium that is to come, restoring the lost image of (Tod in the human soul. When the world shallreach the ooet's ideal, it will arrive at perfection, and much good will it do the li i :i .Ju i... una m: .ui aimi , ...... worm iu JUi:auri lutui uy Miugueji real to'its level." lift the to Jofty gle I am not prepared to admit nor do I sup-- ' pose Dr. Holland meant to say that the paet3 of the world are its only prophets, .or that they are prophets in the samescnse and degree as . the inspired, oracles of sacred writ.. But.Jdo believe that: the gift of poesy and the gift of "prophecy are akin folcnotner; that both are of divine origin, and that they generally go hand inliand. -- Prophets are almost invariably .poets; and poets, in many instances, haVe been remarkably prophetic. Of the former class attest the writings of David.f Isaiah.j Jtremiah and others veritable prophets , and veritable' poets who, in some of the grandest poetry ever sung, have indeed "built the Paradise that is to be and "foretold the. .Millennium that h to come." Read the parables and sayings of the Savior, you who love poetry, and desire to pluck from its luxuriant parterres some of its sweetest and friut fragrant flowers: ' "Consider the lilies of the field, how tliey grow; they toil not neither do they spin, and yet I say unto' you that even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like cite of these. "Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which is and to morrow-icast into t he oven, shall ho. nyl n iu o rc e o t h e- you, U ye of little faith?" Can our lanuae boast anvthlny purer, ton- derer, truer, and more beautiful' Jesus of Nazareth was a poet, no less than a' prophet, of preeminent genius. Time and your patience would fail mo in even glancing over the many conspicuous beauties of Bible poetry. 'One more selection rora Isaiali and we will pas on: "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings .of good, that publisheth salvation;, that saith unto '" Zion, thy God reigneth. Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the oiee together shall they dug: fur they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall brintr ; to-da- y ch-m- . - -- truopoetr I do not include in this thought a knave or fool Or bigot plotting crime," ... Who, for the advancement of his race, Is wiser than his time. For him the hemlock shall distill, - - " For him' the axe be bared; r For him the gibbet shall For'him the stake prepared; Him shall the scorn and wrath of men, pursue with deadjy airn, And malice, envy, blight and lies Shall desecrate his name.the at shall But truth last, conquer 7F6F fouhd"arid round we run, And ever the right comes uppermost And ever is justice done. l'The man ttcml I need scarcely , "say the poetry of sensuality, of bcu tality.f hood, hypocrisy and lust; wnicn aisgraees, ami - not adorns, wherever found,' the world's Jitera- tare.. - .Neither do 1 palliate lipweycr mucn I admire genius,:its prostitution to ignoble ends.' STo truepoetry was ever based on anything low soil a sun and irrovelin. It is impossible his beam. The poet may pervert gift, as ihe . i i i i L judge may disgrace ins ermine, nut ine spirit ncvti uo oi poetry, ine genius ox. jujiiee, alse- - eu 'dragged in the mireV Dav and niht, drqss and gold, are not more sscntiallv separate, al though their edges may join, than. is the essence of poetry distinct from everything biisc, sensual and depraved. It is that high sense of right which suorns all wrong; the sword and balaneu 'of eternal justice;, the voice of mercy pleading-fothe fallenthtrtDtrgue. of truth heralding salvation and reform; the oracle of liberty pro.-- ' . claiming freedom to t lie captive, and-- dcK vef-- ' or retriance to the oppressed; the thunder-bol- t bution which lays the tyrant low. It is akin to that Spirit which leadeth into all truth; which reveals things-pastrathings to come; which takes of the things of God and fdjows them unto mortals. The pillar of faith which cannot, be broken; the light of hopo which is never extinguished; the fountain of charity and love which never fails. A few words in relation to prophetic poetry. An anonymous writer says: "So entirely do great poets soar beyond the reach, and almost beyond the ken of their own age, that Ave have only lately begun to ha a ri'gh t of Shakespeare, or of the masters 'of the Greek .drama to the principled which actuated them, the purposes thev had in - - ldeas they wished to impersonate. lie re is a prescient glinipse of. Shakespeare's worthy of one of the old Hebrew prophets: - ' ; . Tennyson, in, Loeksley Halrr. fore tells, the "triumphs yet to be of aerial navigation, and the advent of the Millennium: -- For-1 ; Saw the heavens fill with commerce, argosies of magic ' sails, Pilots of the purple twilight, dropping down with costly , "Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of" Jerusalem: for the Lord hath d his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem. bales; eom-forte- Heard the heavens fill with shouting, and there rained a ghastly dew From the nation's airy navies grappling in the central blue; Far along tha world-wid- e whisper of the south wind rush- -' " ; ... ,. ing warm, . With the standards of the people plunging through the thunder-storm- . . r . Till the war drum throbbed no longer, and the battle flags T were furled In the Parliament el man, the FederatbnoTUic world. Theje the coinmoii.sense of jnosi'aalthol.! fretful world' in awe, And the kindly earth shall slumber, l ipt in universal law." ' Byrant, our American birdgives this: "Truth crushed to caith shall rise again; v The eternal years of God are hers; Error, wounded, writhes with pai-)And diei.an.idjiia worshippers. P.ut . " - - . r - 7 Pacii through thy cell, old Socrates,' ..; Cheerily to'and fro; to Trust the impulse of'thy soul And let the'pb!s3n flow; They may jjhatte,to earth the lamp of clay That holds a light divine, But they cannot .quench the fire of thought . By any such deadly wine; blot cannot words thy spoken They . From the memory of man' ' By all the poison ever was brewed Since time its course began. To-da- y abhorred adored, So roundind round we run, And ever the truth comes uppermost " """" And ever is justice done. . I loci in thy cave, gray Anchorite; Be wiser than thy peers; . Augment the' range pf human power'"" And trust. to coming years. They may call thee wizard, and monk accursed, load thee with dispraise, - Thou wert born five hundred years too soon r For the comfort of thy days. But not too'soon for human kind, . h Ti m e hat reward jq store; And the demons of our, siresT)ecome , The saints whom we adore. The blind can see, the slave is lord; So round and round we run, And ever the wrong is proved to be wrong And ever is justice done. -- : - -- The cloud-cap- t towers, the gorgeous palaces, Tiie solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea,-al-l that it inherit shall dissolve,-' And like the baseless fabric &f a vision. .. Leave not a rack behind." human eye coiikl see'- ,dipt into the future,-ar-- as vision Saw the of the world and all the. wonder yet.'to be; . -- under--standin- g -t- he-- ; , r i w'the)aekiiowk4gelr:a4id 7 ' t -- the-- la . . i mi view, is be-irai- lt; I 1 "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. "For, behold.' the darkness shall cover .the earth, and gross darkness the people; but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. . "And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising." There are some people who think there is no poetry in religion. Such people, I fear, do not know what poetry mean or what religion means. Religion is full of poetry; and poetry is full of religion. The loftiest and subliincsf .poetry, a well as theswectfcst and te:ulerestis ' religious poetry, and it cannot be otherwise. I .could cite many of the sayings of the Prophets, Joseph SmilhBfigham Youug, iieber C. Kimball, Parley P. Pratt, John Tavior, and scores of others with whom we are" familiar, , - a-ai- LlOW, Charles Mackay, in a.poem entitled "Eternal Justice," supplies this generation. with some choice food for reflection: 5 and you would feel the poetry breathing in every syllable, blazing from every teulence. The fabled lire that Prometheus inched from heaven is .not more strikingly a symbol for poetic inspiration, .thair is the Spirit of the eternal God the very muse that has inspired all j Keep, Galileo, to thy thought, And nerve thy soul to bear; They may gloat o'er the senseless words they wring . - From the pangs of thy despair. They may veil their eyes, but they cannot hide The sun's meridian glow; ' The heel of a priest may tread thee down And aiyrant work thee woe; But never a truth has been destroyed: They may curse it and call it a crime; Pervert and betray, or slander and slay ;. Its teachers for a time; But the sunshine aye shall light the sky, As round and round we run; And the truth shall ever come uppermost And justice shall be done. - , these And live there now such men-aWith thoughts like the great of old? Many have died in their misery, ' And left their thought untold, And many live and are ranked as mad " And placed in the cold world's ban, souls For sending their bright, Three centuries in the van; They toil in penury and grief, . Unknown if not maligned; :....r-..- -Forlorn, forlorn, bearing the scorn Of the meanest of mankind; But yet the world goes round and round And the genial seasons run, , '. And ever the truth comes uppermost And ever is justice done." f s far-seei- . . .' , . - . . Poets do not always know what crcat truths they are- telling. Like the prophets, whom - |