.
Paul was in Cyprus: the Proconsul prayed
To hear of faith from the Apostle's lips,
But Elymas withstood him, Elymas
The sorcerer. He beckoned up his legions dire
Of fierce and frowning shadows. Paul, unmoved,
Smote him, amid his gaunt and grisly troop,--
Smote him with instant blindness, and he stood 150
Dark in the midday sun.

STRANGER.

Was not the hand
Of God so visible, that ships of Tyre
Might bear the tidings from the east to west
From Tyre to Thule? South from Crete, behold
The land of ancient Egypt, scarce discerned
Above the sea-line, the mysterious land
Of Isis, and Anubis; of the Sphynx,
Of Memnon, resonant at early dawn,[143]
When the red sun rose o'er the desert sands; 160
Of those vast monuments[144]--their tale unknown-- 161
Which, towering, pale and solemn, o'er the waste,
Stand mocking the uplifted mace of Time,
Who, as he smites in vain, mutters, and hies
To other spoil! Yet there the timbrelled hymn
Rings to Osiris; there, great Isis reigns,
Veiled, and no mortal hath removed her veil;
There, Thoth,[145] first teacher of the mysteries
Of sacred wisdom, hid in signs obscure,
Is still invoked to lead the ghosts, that pass 170
Through the dim portal, to hell's silent king.

JOHN.

Hast thou forgotten, that in this dark land,
The passover--meet emblem of the Lamb
Of God--was first ordained? That here his power
In wonder and in judgment was displayed?
"Fire ran along upon the ground,"[146] with hail
Mingled; and darkness, such as might be felt--
Darkness, not earthly, was on all the land.
Arrested and suspended at God's word,
On either side the billows of the deep 180
Hung over those who passed beneath their shade,
While Pharaoh's charioteers and horsemen sank
In the Red Sea: "not one of them is left."

STRANGER.

And Miriam took a timbrel in her hand, 184
And all the women went out after her,
With timbrels, and with dances, and they sang:
And Miriam answered them, Sing to the Lord,
For he hath triumphed--triumphed gloriously!
The rider and his horse hath he cast down
Into the sea--the rider and his horse! 190
And the dar