(AIR.--STEVENSON.)
Go forth to the Mount; bring the olive-branch home,[1]
And rejoice; for the day of our freedom is come!
From that time,[2] when the moon upon Ajalon's vale,
Looking motionless down,[3] saw the kings of the earth,
In the presence of God's mighty champion grow pale--
Oh, never had Judah an hour of such mirth!
Go forth to the Mount--bring the olive-branch home,
And rejoice, for the day of our freedom is come!
Bring myrtle and palm--bring the boughs of each tree
That's worthy to wave o'er the tents of the Free.[4]
From that day when the footsteps of Israel shone
With a light not their own, thro' the Jordan's deep tide,
Whose waters shrunk back as the ark glided on[5]--
Oh, never had Judah an hour of such pride!
Go forth to the Mount--bring the olive-branch home,
And rejoice, for the day of our Freedom is come!
[1] And that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in
Jerusalem, saying, "Go forth unto the mount, and fetch olive-branches,'!
etc.--_Neh_. viii. 15.
[2] "For since the days of Joshua the son of Nun unto that day had not the
children of Israel done so; and there was very great gladness."--
_Ib_. 17.
[3] "Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon and thou Moon, in the valley of
Ajalon."--_Josh_. x. 12.
[4] "Fetch olive-branches, and pine-branches, and myrtle-branches, and
palm-branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths."
--_Neh_. viii. 15.
[5] "And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood
firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed
over on dry ground."--_Josh_. iii. 17.