The Ruler of the Nations

“I have set thee this day over the nations, and over the kingdoms.”—Jer. i. 10.

THE LORD hath set me o’er the kings of earth,

To fasten and uproot, to build and mar;

Not by mine own fond will: else never war

Had still’d in Anathoth the voice of mirth,

Nor from my native tribe swept bower and hearth;

Ne’er had the light of Judah’s royal star

Fail’d in mid heaven, nor trampling steed and car

Ceas’d from the courts that saw Josiah’s birth.

“’Tis not in me to give or take away,

But He who guides the thunder-peals on high,

He tunes my voice, the tones of His deep sway

Faintly to echo in the nether sky.

Therefore I bid earth’s glories set or shine,

And it is so; my words are sacraments divine.”