raa And hew to brutes, (a stupid slave) 'l'o idols impotent to save; (sky, Behold thy God, the Sov'reign of the Has wrought salvation in the deep, Has bound thy foes in iron sleep, And rais'd thine honours high Ilis grace forgives thy follies past, Behold he comes in majesty, And Sinai's top proclaims his law Prepare to meet thy God in haste I But keep an awful distance still: Let Moses round the sacred hill The circling limits draw. LYRIC 4 Hark ! The shrill echoes of the trumpet roar, And call the trembling armies near; Bow and unwilling they appear, Rails kept them from themount before, Now from the rails their fear; 'Twas the same herald, and the trump the some Which shalt be blown by high com- mand, Shall bid the wheels of nature stand, And heav'e's eternal will proclaim, That "Time shall be no more." Thus while the labouring angel swell'd the sound, And rent the skies, and shook the ground, Vp rose th' Almighty; round his sap- phire seat, Adoring thrones in orderfell ; The lesser powers at distance dwell, And cast their glories down successive at hisfeet Gabriel the great prepares his way. " Lift tip your heads, eternal doors," he cries: Th' eternal doors his word obey, Open and shoot celestial day 'Upon the lower skies. (head, Heav'n's mighty pillars bow'd their As their Creator bid, And down Jehovah rode from. the su- perior sphere, A thousand guards before, and myriads in the rear. His chariot was a pitchy cloud, The wheels beset with burning gems; The winds in harness with the flames Flew o'er eh' ethereal road : Down thro' his magazines he past Of hail, and ice, and fleecy snow, Swiftroll'd the triumph, and as fast Did hail, and ice, in melted rivers flow. The day was mingled with the night, His feet on solid darkness trod, His radiant eyes proclaim'd the God, And scatter'd dreadful light; He breath'd, and sulphur ran, a fiery stream : Ile spoke, and, tho' with unknown speed he came, Chid the slow tempest, and the lagging tame. POEMS. 7 Sinai received his glorious flight, With axle red, and glowing wheel Did the winged chariot light, And rising smoke obscur'd the burning hill. Lo, it mounts in curling waves, Lo, the gloomy pride out -braves The statelypyramids 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 sixscore years has stood And proudly shoot a leaf 'or two Above its kind supporter's utmost bough And glory there to stand the loftiest of the wood. 8 Forbear, young, muse, forbear ; The flow'ry things that poet's say, The little arts of simile Are vain and useless here; Nor shall the burning hills of old With Sinai be compar'd, Nor all that lying Greece has told, Or learned Rome has heard ; Etna shall be nam'd no more,. Etna, the torch of Sicily; Not half so high. Her lightnings fly, Not half so loud her thunders roar Cross the Sicanian sea, to fright the Italian shore. -. (spire Behold the sacred hill : Its trembling Quakes at the terrors of the fire, While all below its verdant feet Stagger and reel under th' almighty weight : Press'd with a greater than feign'd. Atlas' load Deep ground the mount ; it never bore Infinity before. It bow'd, and shook beneath the bur den of a God. 9 Fresh horrors seize the camp, despair, And dying groans, torment the air, And shrieks, and swoons, and deaths were there ; The bellowing thunder, and the light., ning's blaze Spread thro' the host a wild amaze; Darkness on ev'ry soul, and pale was ev'ry face : Con£ns'd and dismal were the cries, " Let Moses speak, or Israel dies :" Moses the spreading terror feels, No more the man of God conceal' His slivering And surprise : Yet, with recoveringmind,commands Silence, and deep attention thro' the Hebrew bands. Harki from the centre of the flame, All arm'd and featber'dwith the same, Majestic sounds break thro' the smoky cloud : Sent from the all- creating tongue, A flight of cherubsguardthe words along And bear their fiery lad to the retreat- ing crowd.
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