Elias by such abstinence,
    Seer of the desert, grew in grace,
  Who left the madding haunts of men
    And found a peaceful resting-place,
  Where, far from sinful crowds, he trod
    The pure and silent wilderness.

  Till by those fiery coursers drawn
    The swift car bore him through the air,
  Lest earth’s defiling touch should mar
    The holiness it might not share,
  Or some polluting breath disturb
    The peace attained by fast and prayer.

  Moses, through whom from His dread throne
    The will of God to man was told,
  No food might touch till through the sky
    The sun full forty times had rolled,
  Ere God before him stood revealed,
    Lord of the heavens sevenfold.

  Tears were his meat, while bent in prayer
    Through the long night he bowed his head
  E’en to the thirsty dust, that drank
    The drops in bitter weeping shed;
  Till, at God’s call, he saw the flame
    No eye may bear, and was afraid.

  The Baptist, too, was strong in fast—­
    Forerunner in a later day
  Of God’s Eternal Son—­who made
    The byepaths plain, the crooked way
  A road direct, wherein His feet
    Might travel on without delay.

  This was the messenger’s great task
    Who for God’s advent zealously
  Prepared the way, the rough made smooth,
    The mountain levelled to the sea;
  That, when Truth came from heaven to earth,
    All fair and straight His path should be.

  He was not born in common wise,
    For dry and wrinkled was the breast
  Of her that bare him late in years,
    Nor found she from her labour rest,
  Till she had hailed with lips inspired
    The Maid with unborn Godhead blest.

  For him the hairy skins of beasts
    Furnished a raiment rude and wild,
  As forth into the lonely waste
    He fared, an unbefriended child,
  Who dwelt apart, lest he should be
    By evil city-life defiled.

  There, vowed to abstinence, he grew
    To manhood, and with stern disdain
  He turned from meat and drink, until
    He saw night’s shadow fall again;
  And locusts and the wild bees’ store
    Sufficed his vigour to sustain.

  The first was he to testify
    Of that new life which man might win;
  In Jordan’s consecrating stream
    He purged the stains of ancient sin,
  And, as he made the body clean,
    The radiant Spirit entered in.

  Forth from the holy tide they came
    Reborn, from guilt’s pollution free,
  As bright from out the cleansing fire
    Flows the rough gold, or as we see
  The glittering silver, purged of dross,
    Flash into polished purity.

  Now let us tell, from Holy Writ,
    Of olden fasts the fairest crown;
  How God in pity stayed His hand,
    And spared a doomed and guilty town,
  In clemency the flames withheld
    And laid His vengeful lightnings down.