Might cheer the lonely hour. Their blest retreat
Was Eden's' groves. "Of all the trees, save that
Which in the midst exalts its head, 'tis yours
To taste; but if the interdicted fruit
Ye dare to touch, the deed devotes ye both
Victims to death;" said that Creative Voice
Which form'd the spacious globe.-O happy pair,
Lords of fair Eden's blooming range, where earth,
Benignant parent, from her verdant lap
Spontaneous pour'd immortal sweets, and gave
Whate'er could minister delight! too soon,
Alas! this scene, was clos'd. Behold them now,
(So lately rich in happiness, and blest
With converse of the Living God) o'erwhelm'd
In misery, and tortur'd by the stings
Of conscious guilt." The day in which ye dare
To taste, dooms ye to death."-Like the dire voice
Of thunder to benighted travellers, sounds
The awful sentence. Heav'n's avenging Judge
Descends, and ratifies His word. Yet still
Though rebel guilt calls down dread vengeance, God,
In mercy as in justice infinite,
Acts not like tyrant man array'd in pow'r;
Celestial justice dooms the erring pair
To death, yet, 'midst the terrors of the doom,
Celestial mercy sends a comforter
To cheer the wounded mind, and dissipate
Exile's dark gloom. Though sentenced Adam stand To forfeit Eden's bow'rs, to have the ground
Accurs'd, by daily labour to provide
For life's support; though Eve be doom'd to feel
The sorrows of conception, bright'ning hope
Allays the sharpness of their fate: assur'd
The woman's seed should bruise the serpent's head,
They better can sustain the load. "Twas this
Prophetic declaration, that their fall
Should be aveng'd, which in the trying hour
Of anguish could alone avert despair.
Hence pass we on to that accursed age,
When sin with giant stride through all the world
Triumphant stalk'd. Chain'd in the servile bonds
Of fell iniquity, degen'rate man
To idols bent the prostituted knee.
By Heav'n's command th' accumulated waves
Of ocean burst their limits, o'er the face
Of the wide earth rolls the avenging flood,
And in its gulf o'erwhelmed all, save those
Whose hearts amidst the universal lapse
Untainted stand. Then God preserves, restores,
And having rescued, thus declares: "No more
For human sins the ground shall be accurs'd."
Hence men, by these vindictive judgments warn'd,
For many ages walk'd upright, nor swerv'd
From piety's straight path. In all that time,
That golden time, no word of prophecy
Was giv'n.-But see! again idolatry
Erects its head profane; rebellious man
In impious error plung'd revolts. Here God,
To reinstate religion, to call back
The alienated heart, once more renews
His saving oracles. The Son of Terah,
Led by celestial auspices, from Ur,
Chaldean Ur, the seat of idols, bends
His unwilling steps. Tho' round him num'rous tribes, Sworn foes to Heav'n's dread Ruler, pitch their tents, No wayward doubts nor coward fear appal
The patriarch's soul. By the bright hope sustain'd
That in his seed all nations should be blest,
Calm and unmov'd the delegated seer
Submissive bends to the eternal will.
When Israel's sons in Egypt dwelt, what time
Temptations numberless assail'd their faith,
To cherish this immortal hope, and arm
The breast against the hand of tyrant pow'r,
Thus Jacob with his dying voice pronounc'd:
"The sceptre ne'er from Judah shall depart,
Nor a lawgiver from between his feet,
'Till Shiloh come."
What hope of this remains
To Israel? Pharaoh gives the dire decree,
That ev'ry male of Hebrew born, to death
Should be consign'd. But who can counteract
Th' eternal will? What mortal arm oppose
Th' immutable decree of God? Thermutis*
Now rescues Amram's son, and for her own
Adopts him. Spurning the nefarious court
And all its wanton pomp, he rather chose
With his own people to endure distress
And bondage, than be hail'd adopted son
Of Egypt's crown.-Why should I here recite
The name given by Josephus to Pharaoh's daughter.
The judgments of offended Heav'n pour'd forth
Upon the head of Pharaoh? How the waves,
Aw'd by the rod of Moses, overwhelm'd
Proud Egypt's marshall'd legions ?-Israel's sons,
Beneath the guidance of the Lord of Hosts
Secure, to Canaan's promis'd fields direct
Their steps; yet ever and anon the soul,
Revolting from its due allegiance, dares
In discontented murmurings arraign
The acts of Providence. With wondrous pow'r
Endu'd, oft Moses calms the factious crew,
And leads them to their faith. Him 'bove the rest
Jehovah favours, unto him declares,
"A prophet 'mongst thy brethren will I raise
In pow'r miraculous like thee; to him
Shall all the people with attentive ears
Incline, for from his sacred mouth My words,
My hallow'd dictates shall proceed. Whoe'er
Unmindful of My works by him achiev'd,
Or swoll'n with contumacy, disregards
My gracious precepts, him with ruin dire
Will I extirpate."
Onward as we trace
God's oracles, Redemption is the point
To which they all converge. When strong in faith,
And fir'd with holy zeal to vindicate
Heav'n's violated honours, Jesse's son
Undaunted sought th' embattl'd ranks, then fell
Philistia's glory; he, who had defied
The armies of the Living God, the tow'r,
The bulwark of the vaunting foe, o'erthrown
By the weak arm of a derided youth,
Fell prostrate on the earth. Avenging Heav'n
Rais'd David to the throne; nor left him thus
Without a future hope to calm the hour
Of death, but gave His never-failing word,
That from the root of Jesse there should spring
Perpetual empire. "When the stated years
Of life are pass'd, and in the silent tomb
Thou with thy fathers rest, (Jehovah said)
Thy seed will I exalt, and on thy throne
In glory 'stablish it. My mercy ne'er
From thee will I withdraw; thy kingdom, fix'd
Upon a base which neither pow'r can shake,
Nor rolling years subvert, shall ever stand."
O goodness infinite! What could ye less, Ye chosen race, than raise to Heav'n alone The choral hymn? What less, than unto Him, Whose gracious oracles had thus pronounc'd You heirs of such supreme, immortal blessings, All honour, praise and majesty ascribe? Yet the obdurate heart, of the rich gift Unmindful, spurn'd the Giver, and ingrate Rejected Heav'n's exalted love. The tribes, Th' apostate tribes, revolting from the laws Ordain'd by God, sunk in idolatry, On ev'ry hill, and under ev'ry tree Vain images erect. To Baal then, And unto all th' ethereal host, they raise Their altars, and around the impious fires
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