E'er long-wifh'd Night brings neceffary Reft: Each Age finn'd on; and Guilt advanc'd with Time; The Son ftill added to the Father's Crime; 'Till GOD arose, and great in Anger faid: Lo! it repenteth Me, that Man was made. Withdraw thy Light, Thou Sun! be dark, Ye Skies! And from your deep Abyss, Ye Waters, rise! The Audivere Undæ Dominum: & mandata fecuti Quæ voluit fupereffe DEUS: naufragia mundi Sed Venti pofuere, & decrefcentibus undis Emergit Tellus; pacifque Infigne Columba Ore refert placido ramum felicis Olivæ. At Noa, licèt alma fides mærentia firmat Pectora, adhuc tacitæ tangunt præcordia curæ; Dum poft terga videt mundi lugubre fepulchrum, Et defolatas communi funere gentes; Profpicit inde aliam faciem abfimilemque priori Surgere, vix relegens veteris veftigia formæ: Hic fefe in longum extendunt deferta locorum Squallida; prærupti hìc tollunt capita afpera montes. Vota Pater folvens, media inter facra frequentem Effundit lacrymam, & tacitus meliora precatur; Spemque fovet; miferas etiam dum fpectat aquarum Relliquias, omni ex numero quêis fpiritus auræ Purior ætheriæ, de tot modo millibus, Octo. Et The frighted Angels heard th' Almighty Lord; And o'er the Earth from wrathful Viols pour'd Tempests and Storms, obedient to his Word. Mean time, His Providence to NOAH gave The Guard of All, that He defign'd to fave. Exempt from general Doom the Patriarch stood; Contemn'd the Waves, and triumph'd o'er the Flood. The Winds fall filent; and the Waves decrease: The Beauties of the Antient Fabric loft, In Chains of craggy Hill, or Lengths of dreary Coaft? Snatch'd from the Wat'ry Grave,and fav'd from Nations drown'd; And Et tribus è Natis, qui jam fpes fola relicti Divino, æternâque onerantem labe nepotes. [Amicus, Rex quanquam illuftris, quanquam OMNIPOTENTIS At varios vitæ cafus, multofque labores Abramus fubiit; duri difcrimina belli Pertulit, & cæfis quæfivit regna tyrannis: Ipfum oculis fpectare DEUM data copia Mosi: Sed qualem vidit? denfâ circum undique flammiâ, Undique inacceffo velatum lucis amictu. Lumina fin radios potuiffent ferre corufcos; Quam brevis hæc, unâ vix nocte morata, Voluptas! And of three Sons, the future Hopes of Earth, And mark'd with Curses, fatal to his Race. ABRAHAM, Potent Prince, the Friend of GOD, Of Human Ills muft bear the deftin'd Load; By Blood and Battels muft his Pow'r maintain, And flay the Monarchs, e'er He rules the Plain; Muft deal juft Portions of a fervile Life To a proud Handmaid, and a peevish Wife; Muft with the Mother leave the weeping Son, In Want to wander, and in Wilds to groan; Must take his other Child, his Age's Hope, To trembling MORIAH'S melancholy Top, Order'd to drench his Knife in filial Blood; Destroy his Heir, or difobey his GOD. MOSES beheld that GOD; but how beheld? While present, too fevere for Human Sight, |