Winds, ye shall bear his name aloud Through the ethereal blue, For when his chariot is a cloud, Thunder and hail, and fires and storms, Shout to the Lord, ye surging seas, In your eternal roar; Let wave to wave resound his praise, While monsters, sporting on the flood, Speak terribly their Maker-God, And lash the foaming brine. But gentler things shall tune his name To softer notes than these, Young zephyrs breathing o'er the stream, Or whispering through the trees. Wave your tall heads, ye lofty pines, Let the shrill birds his honour raise, While grov❜ling beasts attempt his praise Thus while the meaner creatures sing, THE LAW GIVEN AT SINAI. ARM thee with thunder, heavenly muse, Bent their knees to senseless bulls, Now had they pass'd the Arabian bay, And march'd within the cleaving sea; The rising waves stood guardians of their wond'rous way, But fell with most impetuous force, On the pursuing swarms, And buried Egypt all in arms, Blending in wat'ry death the rider and his horse: O'er struggling Pharaoh roll'd the mighty tide, I Apis and Ore in vain he cries, And all his horned Gods beside, Ah! foolish Israel to comply And bow to brutes, (a stupid slave,) Behold thy God, the Sovereign of the sky, And Sinai's top proclaims his law: Hark! the loud echoes of the trumpet roar, Rails kept them from the mount before, Now from the rails their fear: 'Twas the same herald, and the trump the same Which shall be blown by high command, Shall bid the wheels of nature stand, And heav'n's eternal will proclaim, That time shall be no more. Horus or Orus, son of Osiris and Isis, one of the Egyp tian Deities. Thus while the labouring angel swell'd the sound, Up rose th' Almighty; round his sapphire seat The lesser powers at distance dwell, And cast their glories down successive at his feet: Lift up your heads, eternal doors, he cries; Open and shoot celestial day Upon the lower skies. Heav'n's mighty pillows bow'd their head, As their Creator bid, And down Jehovah rode from the superior sphere, His chariot was a pitchy cloud, The wheels beset with burning gems: His radiant eyes proclaim'd the God, And scatter'd dreadful light; He breath'd, and sulphur ran, a fiery stream: He spoke, and (tho' with unknown speed he came), Chid the slow tempest, and the lagging flame. Sinai receiv'd his glorious flight; With axle red, and glowing wheel Did the wing'd chariot light, And rising smoke obscur'd the burning hill. Lo, it mounts in curling waves, Lo, the gloomy pride out-braves The stately pyramids of fire; The pyramids to heav'n aspire, And mix with stars, but see their gloomy offspring higher. So have you seen ungrateful ivy grow Round the tall oak that six score years has stood, And proudly shoot a leaf or two Above its kind supporter's utmost bough, Fresh horrors seize the camp, despair And dying groans torment the air, And shrieks, and swoons, and deaths were there; Yet, with recovering mind commands Silence and deep attention thro' the Hebrew bands. All arm'd and feather'd with the same, A flight of cherubs guard the words along, And bear their fiery law to the retreating crowd. "I am the Lord: "Tis I proclaim |