Indulge thy tears: the Heathen shall blaspheme:
Judah fhall fall, opprefs'd by grief and shame;
And men fhall from her ruins know her fame.
New Ægypts yet, and fecond bonds remain,
A harsher 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 fpires that wound the ambient sky,
Inglorious change! shall in destruction lie
Low, levell'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 fhall demand yon' facred load
Of gold and veffels fet apart to God.
Then by vile hands to common ufe debas'd;
Shall fend them flowing round his drunken feast,
With facrilegious taunt, and impious jest.
Twice fourteen ages fhall their way complete :
Empires by various turns fhall rise 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 a-ghaft,
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 neighb'ring willows hung,
Nor joyous hymn encouraging their tongue,
Nor chearful dance their feet: with toil opprefs'd,
Their weary'd limbs afpiring but to reft.
In the reflective ftream the fighing bride,
Viewing her charms impair'd, abafh'd shall hide
Her penfive head; and in her languid face
The bridegroom shall fore-fee his fickly race:
While ponderous fetters vex their close embrace.
With irkfome anguish then your priests shall mourn
Their long-neglected feasts despair'd return,
And fad oblivion of their folemn days,
Thenceforth their voices they fhall only raise,
Louder to weep. By day your frighted feers
Shall call for fountains to express their tears;
And with their eyes were floods: by night from
Of opening gulphs, black storms, and raging flames, Starting amaz'd, fhall to the people show
Emblems of Heavenly wrath, and myftic types of
The captives, as their tyrant fhall require,
That they should breathe the fong, and touch the
Shall fay can Jacob's fervile race rejoice,
Untun'd the mufic, and difus'd the voice?
What can we play (they fhall difcourfe) how fing
In foreign lands, and to a barbarous King?
We and our fathers from our childhood bred
To watch the cruel victor's eye, to dread
The arbitrary lafh, to bend, to grieve
(Out caft of mortal race) can we conceive
Image of ought delightful, soft, or gay?
Alas! when we have toil'd the longfome day;
The fulleft blifs our hearts afpire to know,
Is but fome interval from active woe;
In broken rest, and startling sleep to mourn,
'Till morn, the tyrant, and the scourge, return.
Bred up in grief, can pleasure be our theme?
Our endless anguish does not nature claim?
Reason, and forrow are to us the fame.
Alas! with wild amazement we require,
If idle folly was not pleasure's fire :
Madnefs, we fancy, gave an ill-tim'd birth
To grinning laughter, and to frantic mirth.
This is the feries of perpetual woe,
Which thou, alas! and thine are born to know.
Illuftrious wretch! repine not, nor reply:
View not, what Heaven ordains, with reafon's eye;
Too bright the object is: the distance is too high.
The man who would refolve the work of fate,
May limit number, and make crooked straight;
Stop thy enquiry then; and curb thy sense;
Nor let duft argue with Omnipotence.
"Tis God who muft difpofe, and man sustain,
Born to endure, forbidden to complain.
Thy fum of life muft his decrees fulfill;
What derogates from his command, is ill;
And that alone is good, which centers in his will.
Yet that thy labouring fenfes may not droop,
Loft to delight, and deftitute of hope:
Remark what I, God's meffenger, aver
From him, who neither can deceive, nor err.
The land at length redeem'd, fhall ceafe to mourn }
Shall from her fad captivity return.
Sion fhall raise her long dejected head;
And in her courts the law again be read.
Again the glorious temple fhall arife,
And with new luftre pierce the neighbouring skies.
The promis'd feat of empire shall again
Cover the mountain, and command the plain;
And from thy race diftinguifh'd, One shall spring,
Greater in act than victor, more than King,
In dignity and power, fent down from Heaven,
To fuccour earth. To Him, to Him, 'tis given,
Paffion, and care, and anguish to destroy.
Through Him foft peace, and plenitude of joy.
Perpetual o'er the world redeem'd shall flow,
No more may man inquire, nor angel know.
Now, Solomon, remembering who thou art,
A&t through thy remnant life the decent part.
Go forth be ftrong: with patience, and with care
Perform, and fuffer: to thyfelf fevere,
Gracious to others, thy defires fupprefs'd,
Diffufs'd thy virtues, firft of men! be beft.
Thy fum of duty let two words contain;
(O may they graven in thy heart remain!)
Be humble, and be juft. The angel faid:-
With upward speed his agile wings he spread;
Whilft on the holy ground I proftrate lay,
By various doubts impell'd, or to obey,
Or to object: at length (my mournful look
Heaven-ward erect) determin'd, thus I fpoke:
Supreme, all-wife, eternal Potentate!
Sole author, fole disposer of our fate!
Enthron'd in light, and immortality!
Whom no man fully fees, and none can fee!
Original of beings! power divine!
Since that I live, and that I think, is thine;
Benign Creator, let thy plastic hand
Difpofe its own effect. Let thy command
Reftore, great Father, thy inftructed Son;
And in my act may THY great WILL BE DONE.
|