73. Melchizedek

Without father, without mother, without descent; having neither beginning of days, nor end of life.

THRICE bless’d are they, who feel their loneliness;

To whom nor voice of friends nor pleasant scene

Brings that on which the sadden’d heart can lean;

Yea, the rich earth, garb’d in her daintiest dress

Of light and joy, doth but the more oppress,

Claiming responsive smiles and rapture high;

Till, sick at heart, beyond the veil they fly,

Seeking His Presence, who alone can bless.

Such, in strange days, the weapons of Heaven’s grace;

When, passing o’er the high-born Hebrew line,

He forms the vessel of His vast design;

Fatherless, homeless, reft of age and place,

Sever’d from earth, and careless of its wreck,

Born through long woe His rare Melchizedek.