Moses in the Desert

GO where a foot hath never trod,

Through unfrequented forests flee;

The wilderness is full of God,

His presence dwells in every tree.

To Israel and to Egypt dead,

Moses the fugitive appears,

Unknown he lived, till o’er his head

Had fallen the snow of fourscore years.

But God the wandering found

In his appointed time and place,

The desert sand grew holy ground,

And Horeb’s rock a throne of grace.

The lonely bush a tree became,

A tree of beauty and of light,

Involved with unconsuming flame

That made the moon around it night.

Then came the Eternal voice that spake

Salvation to the chosen seed,

Thence went the Almighty arm that brake

Proud Pharaoh’s yoke, and Israel freed.

By Moses, old and slow of speech,

These mighty miracles were shown;

Jehovah’s messenger! to teach

That power belongs to God alone.