Page:Complete Poetical Works of John Greenleaf Whittier (1895).djvu/147

Rh Just as the wreck lurched under,
 * All souls were saved at last.

Sail on, Three Bells, forever,
 * In grateful memory sail!

Ring on, Three Bells of rescue,
 * Above the wave and gale!

Type of the Love eternal,
 * Repeat the Master’s cry,

As tossing through our darkness
 * The lights of God draw nigh!

of years had come and gone Since the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth stone, When Captain Underhill, bearing scars From Indian ambush and Flemish wars, Left three-hilled Boston and wandered down, East by north, to Cocheco town.

With Vane the younger, in council sweet, He had sat at Anna Hutchinson’s feet, And, when the bolt of banishment fell On the head of his saintly oracle, He had shared her ill as her good report, And braved the wrath of the General Court.

He shook from his feet as he rode away The dust of the Massachusetts Bay. The world might bless and the world might ban, What did it matter the perfect man, To whom the freedom of earth was given, Proof against sin, and sure of heaven?

He cheered his heart as he rode along With screed of Scripture and holy song, Or thought how he rode with his lances free By the Lower Rhine and the Zuyder-Zee, Till his wood-path grew to a trodden road, And Hilton Point in the distance showed.

He saw the church with the block-house nigh, The two fair rivers, the flakes thereby, And, tacking to windward, low and crank, The little shallop from Strawberry Bank; And he rose in his stirrups and looked abroad Over land and water, and praised the Lord.

Goodly and stately and grave to see, Into the clearing’s space rode he, With the sun on the hilt of his sword in sheath, And his silver buckles and spurs beneath, And the settlers welcomed him, one and all, From swift Quampeagan to Gonic Fall.

And he said to the elders: “Lo, I come As the way seemed open to seek a home. Somewhat the Lord hath wrought by my hands In the Narragansett and Netherlands, And if here ye have work for a Christian man, I will tarry, and serve ye as best I can.

“I boast not of gifts, but fain would own The wonderful favor God hath shown, The special mercy vouchsafed one day On the shore of Narragansett Bay, As I sat, with my pipe, from the camp aside, And mused like Isaac at eventide.

“A sudden sweetness of peace I found, A garment of gladness wrapped me round; I felt from the law of works released, The strife of the flesh and spirit ceased, My faith to a full assurance grew, And all I had hoped for myself I knew.

“Now, as God appointeth, I keep my way, I shall not stumble, I shall not stray; He hath taken away my fig-leaf dress, I wear the robe of His righteousness; And the shafts of Satan no more avail Than Pequot arrows on Christian mail.”

“Tarry with us,” the settlers cried, “Thou man of God, as our ruler and guide.” And Captain Underhill bowed his head. “The will of the Lord be done!” he said. And the morrow beheld him sitting down In the ruler’s seat in Cocheco town.

And he judged therein as a just man should; His words were wise and his rule was good; He coveted not his neighbor’s land, From the holding of bribes he shook his hand;