Ah! foolish Ifrael, to comply

With Memphian idolatry!

And bow to brutes, (a stupid slave)

To idols impotent to fave!

Behold thy God, the fovereign of the sky,
Has wrought falvation in the deep,
Has bound thy foes in iron fleep,
And rais'd thine honours high:
His grace forgives thy follies paft,
Behold he comes in majesty,
And Sinai's top proclaims his law:
Prepare to meet thy God in haste ;
But keep an awful diftance ftill :
Let Mofes round the facred hill
The circling limits draw.

Hark! The fhrill echoes of the trumpet roar,
And call the trembling armies near;
Slow and unwilling they appear,

Rails kept them from the mount before,

Now from the rails their fear :

'Twas the fame herald, and the trump the fame
Which shall be blown by high command,
Shall bid the wheels of nature ftand,
And heaven's eternal will proclaim,

That time fhall be no more.

Thus while the labouring angel fwell'd the found,
And rent the skies, and shook the ground,
Uprofe th' Almighty; round his fapphire feat

7

Adoring

Adoring thrones in order fell;

The leffer powers at diftance dwell,

And caft their glories down fucceffive at his feet:
Gabriel the Great prepares his way,

"Lift up your heads, Eternal doors," he cries;
Th' Eternal doors his word obey,

Open, and fhoot celestial day
Upon the lower skies.

Heaven's mighty pillars bow'd their head,

As their Creator bid,

And down Jehovah rode from the superior sphere,
A thoufand guards before, and myriads in the rear.
His chariot was a pitchy cloud,

The wheels befet with burning gems;
The winds in harness with the flames
Flew o'er th' ethereal road :
Down through his magazines he past
Of hail, and ice, and fleecy fnow,
Swift roll'd the triumph, and as faft
Did hail, and ice, in melted rivers flow.
The day was mingled with the night,
His feet on folid darknefs trod,

His radiant eyes proclaim'd the God,

And scatter'd dreadful light;

He breath'd, and fulphur ran, a fiery stream :

He spoke, and (though with unknown speed he came) Chid the flow tempeft, and the lagging flame.

Sinai receiv'd his glorious flight, With axle red, and glowing wheel,

Did the winged chariot light,

And rifing finoke obfcur'd the burning hill.
Lo, it mounts in curling waves,
Lo, the gloomy pride out-braves
The stately pyramids of fire:

The pyramids to heaven aspire,

And mix with stars, but fee their gloomy offspring higher.

So have you feen ungrateful ivy grow

Round the tall oak that fix score years has stood,

And proudly shoot a leaf or two

Above its kind fupporters utmost bough,

And glory there to stand the loftieft of the wood.

Forbear, young Mufe, forbear;

The flowery things that poets fay,
The little arts of Simile

Are vain and ufelefs 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 fhall be nam'd no more,
Ætna the torch of Sicily;

Not half fo high

Her lightnings fly,

Not half fo loud her thunders roar

Crofs the Sicanian sea, to fright th' Italian shore.
Behold the facred hill: Its trembling spire

Quakes at the terrors of the fire,

While all below its verdant feet

Stagger and reel under th' Almighty weight:

Prefs'd

Prefs'd with a greater than feign'd Atlas' load
Deep groan'd the mount; it never bore
Infinity before,

It bow'd, and fhook beneath the burden of a God.

Freth horrors feize the camp; despair,

And dying groans, torment the air,

And shrieks, and fwoons, and deaths were there : The bellowing thunder, and the lightning's blaze Spread through the hoft a wild amaze;

Darkness on every foul, and pale was every face:
Confus'd and difmal were the cries,

Let Mofes fpeak, or Ifrael dies:
Mofes the spreading terror feels,
No more the Man of God conceals
His fhivering and surprize :
Yet, with recovering mind, commands
Silence, and deep attention, through the Hebrew bands.

Hark! from the centre of the flame,

All arm'd and feather'd with the fame,
Majestic founds break through the fmoaky cloud :
Sent from the All-creating tongue,

A flight of cherubs guard the words along,
And bear their fiery law to the retreating crowd.

A

"I am the Lord: 'Tis I proclaim

"That glorious and that fearful name,

Thy God and King: 'Twas I, that broke "Thy bondage, and th' Egyptian yoke; "Mine is the right to speak my will, "And thine the duty to fulfil.

F 4

-"Adore

"Adore no God befide Me, to provoke mine eyes: "Nor worship Me in shapes and forms that men devise; "With reverence ufe my name, nor turn my words to jeft; "Obferve my fabbath well, nor dare prophane my rest ; ❝ Honour and due obedience to thy parents give;

"Nor fpill the guiltless blood, nor let the guilty live : "Preferve thy body chafte, and flee th' unlawful bed; "Nor fteal thy neighbour's gold, his garment, or his "bread;

"Forbear to blast his name with falfehood, or deceit; "Nor let thy wishes loofe upon his large eftate.”

Remember your CREATOR, &c. Ecclef. xii. CHILDREN, to your Creator, God,

Your early honours pay,

While vanity and youthful blood
Would tempt your thoughts aftray.

The memory of his mighty name,
Demands your first regard;

Nor dare indulge a meaner flame,
Till you have lov'd the Lord.

Be wife, and make his favour fure,
Before the mournful days,

When youth and mirth are known no more,

And life and ftrength decays.

No more the bleffings of a feaft

Shall relish on the tongue,

The heavy ear forgets the tafte

And pleasure of a song.

Old