I faid; and instant bad the Priests prepare
The ritual facrifice and folemn prayer.
Select from vulgar herds, with garlands gay,
A hundred bulls afcend the facred way.
The artful youth proceed to form the choir;
They breathe the flute, or ftrike the vocal wire.
The maids in comely order next advance;
They beat the timbrel, and inftruct the dance.
Follows the chosen tribe from Levi sprung,
Chaunting, by juft return, the holy fong.
Along the choir in folemn state they past:
-The anxious King came last.
The facred Hymn perform'd, my promis'd vow
I paid and, bowing at the altar low,
Father of Heaven! (I faid) and Judge of Earth!
Whofe word call'd out this univerfe to birth;
By whofe kind power and influencing care
The various creatures move, and live, and are ;
But, ceafing once that care, withdrawn that power,
They move (alas !) and live, and are no more:
Omniscient Master, omni-prefent King,
To thee, to thee, my laft diftrefs I bring.
Thou, that canft ftill the raging of the feas,
Chain up the winds, and bid the tempefts cease!
Redeem my fhipwreck'd foul from raging gufts
Of cruel paffion and deceitful lufts:
From ftorms of rage and dangerous rocks of pride,
Let thy strong hand this little veffel guide
(It was thy hand that made it) through the tide
Impetuous of this life: let thy command
Direct my course, and bring me fafe to land!
If, while this weary'd flesh draws fleeting breath, Not fatisfy'd with life, afraid of death,
It haply be thy will, that I fhould know
Glimpse of delight, or pause from anxious woe; 685
From Now, from inftant Now, great Sire! difpel
The clouds that prefs my foul; from Now reveal
A gracious beam of light; from Now infpire
My tongue to fing, my hand to touch the lyre;
My open thought to joyous profpects raife;
And for thy mercy let me fing thy praise.
Or, if thy will ordains, I still shall wait
Some new Hereafter, and a future ftate;
Permit me strength, my weight of woe to bear;
And raise my mind fuperior to my care.
Let me, howe'er unable to explain
The fecret labyrinths of thy ways to man,
With humble zeal confefs thy awful power;'
Still weeping hope, and wondering still adore.
So in my conqueft be thy might declar'd :
And for thy justice be thy name rever❜d.
My prayer fcarce ended, a ftupendous gloom
Darkens the air; loud thunder fhakes the dome.
To the beginning miracle fuccced
An awful filence and religious dread.
Sudden breaks forth a more than common day
The facred wood, which on the altar lay,
Untouch'd, unlighted, glows
Ambrofial odour, fuch as never flows
From Arab's gum, or the Sabœan rose,
Does round the air evolving scents diffuse :
The holy ground is wet with heavenly dews :
Celestial mufic (fuch Jeffides' lyre,
Such Miriam's timbrel, would in vain require)
Strikes to my thought through my admiring ear,
With ecftacy too fine, and pleasure hard to bear.
And lo! what fees my ravish'd eye? what feels
My wondering foul? An opening cloud reveals
An heavenly form embody'd, and array'd
With robes of light. I heard. The Angel faid:
Ceafe, man of woman born, to hope relief,
From daily trouble and continued grief;
Thy hope of joy deliver to the wind;
Supprefs thy paffions, and prepare thy mind;
Free and familiar with misfortune grow;
Be us'd to forrow, and inur'd to woe;
By weakening toil and hoary age o'ercome,
See thy decrease, and haften to thy tomb;
Leave to thy children tumult, ftrife, and war,
Portions of toil, and legacies of care;
Send the fucceffive ills through ages down;
And let each weeping father tell his son,
That, deeper ftruck, and more diftinctly griev'd,
He muft augment the forrows he receiv'd.
The child, to whofe fuccefs thy hope is bound, 735 Ere thou art fcarce interr'd, or he is crown'd,
To luft of arbitrary fway inclin'd
(That curfed poifon to the prince's mind!)
Shall from thy dictate and his duty rove,
And lose his great defence, his people's love;
Ill-counfel'd, vanquifh'd, fugitive, disgrac'd,
Shall mourn the fame of Jacob's strength effac'd ;
Shall figh the King diminish'd, and the crown
With leffen'd rays defcending to his fon
Shall fee the wreaths, his grandfire knew to reap
By active toil and military sweat,
Pining, incline their fickly leaves, and fhed
Their falling honours from his giddy head ;
By arms or prayer unable to affwage
Domestic horror; and inteftine rage
Shall from the victor and the vanquish'd fear,
From Ifrael's arrow, and from Judah's fpear;
Shall caft his weary'd limbs on Jordan's flood,
By brother's arms disturb'd, and stain'd with kindredblood.
Hence labouring years fhall weep their deftin'd race, Charg'd with ill omens, fully'd with difgrace.
Time, by neceffity compell'd, fhall go
Through fcenes of war, and epochas of woe.
The empire, leffen'd in a parted stream,
Indulge thy tears: the Heathen fhall blafpheme:
Judah fhall fall, opprefs'd by grief and shame;
And men fhall from her ruins know her fame.
New Egypts yet and second bonds remain,
A harfher Pharaoh, and a heavier chain.
Again, obedient to a dire command,
Thy captive fons fhall leave the promis'd land.
Their name more low, their fervitude more vile,
Shall on Euphrates' bank renew the grief of Nile.
These pointed spires, that wound the ambient sky, 770 (Inglorious change !) fhall in deftruction lie
Low, level'd with the duft; their heights unknown,
Or measur❜d by their ruin. Yonder throne,
For lafting glory built, defign'd the feat
Of kings for ever bleft, for ever great,
Remov'd by the invader's barbarous hand,
Shall grace his triumph in a foreign land.
The tyrant shall demand yon' facred load
Of gold, and veffels fet apart to God,
Then, by vile hands to common use dehas'd,
Shall fend them flowing round his drunken feast,
With facrilegious taunt, and impious jeft.
Twice fourteen ages fhall their way complete;
Empires by various turns fhall rife and fet;
While thy abandon'd tribes fhall only know
A different mafter, and a change of woe,
With down-caft eye-lids, and with looks aghaft,
Shall dread the future, or bewail the past.
Afflicted Ifrael fhall fit weeping down,
Faft by the streams where Babel's waters run;
Their harps upon the neighbouring willows hung,
Nor joycus hymn encouraging their tongue,
Nor chearful dance their feet; with toil opprefs'd,
Their weary'd limbs afpiring but to rest.
In the reflective stream the fighing bride,
Viewing her charms impair'd, abafh'd, fhall hide
|