The wretched king breath'd out his furious soul In that tremendous groan.
Then, Judah, art thou free! The tyrant's fall'n! Jerusalem, Jerusalem is free!
Dan. BELboweth down*, and haughty Nebo stoops; The idols fall, the god and worshipper Together fall; together they bow down; Each other, or themselves, they cannot save. O Babylon, where is thy refuge now?
Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, meant to save, Pervert thee; and thy blessing is thy bane. Where are thy brutish deities, Chaldea?
Where are thy gods of gold? ——— O Lord of life! Thou very God! so fall thy foes before thee!
1st Jew. So fell beneath the terrors of Thy name The idol Chemosh, Moab's empty trust;
So Ammonitish Moloch sunk before Thee; So fell Philistine Dagon; so shall fall, To time's remotest period, all thy foes, Triumphant Lord of Hosts!
How chang'd our fate!
Not for myself, O Judah; but for thee, I shed these tears of joy. For I no more Must view the cedars which adorn the brow Of Syrian Lebanon; no more shall see
Thy pleasant stream, O Jordan! nor the flocks Which whiten all the mountains of Judea; No more these eyes delighted shall review Or Carmel's heights, or Sharon's flow'ry vales. I must remain in Babylon. So Heav'n, To whose awards I bow me, has decreed. I ne'er shall see thee, Salem: I am old; And few and toilsome are my days to come. But we shall meet in those celestial climes, Compar'd with which created glories sink; Where sinners shall have pow'r to harm no more, And martyr'd virtue rests her weary head. Though ere my day of promis'd grace shall come, I shall be tried by perils strange and new; Nor shall I taste of death, so have I learn'd, Till I have seen the captive tribes restor❜d.
1st Jew. And shall we view, once more, thy hal- low'd towers,
Yes, my youthful friends; You shall behold the second temple rise *, With grateful ecstasy: but we, your sires,
Now bent with hoary age; we, whose charm'd eyes Beheld the matchless glories of the first,
Should weep, rememb'ring what we once had seen, That model of perfection.
Shall such a wondrous structure grace the earth.
Dan. Well have you borne affliction, men of Judah;
Well have sustain'd your portion of distress;
And unrepining drank the bitter dregs
Of adverse fortune. Happier days await you. O guard against the perils of success! Prosperity dissolves the yielding soul;
And the bright sun of shining fortune melts The firmest virtue down. Beware, my friends, Be greatly cautious of prosperity.
Defend your sliding hearts; and, trembling, think How those, who buffeted Affliction's waves With vigorous virtue, sunk in pleasure's calm. He*, who of special grace had been allow'd To rear the hallow'd fane to Israel's God, By wealth corrupted, and by ease debauch'd, Forsook the God to whom he rais'd the fane; And, sunk in sensual sloth, consum'd his days In vile idolatrous rites. Nor think, my sons, That virtue in sequester'd solitude
Is always found. Within the inmost soul The hidden tempter lurks; nor less betrays In the still-seeming safety of retreat
Than where the world her snares entangling spreads, More visible to sense. Guard every thought: Who thinks himself secure is half undone ; For sin, unwatch'd, may reach the sanctuary : 'Tis not the place preserves us. Righteous Lot Stemm'd the strong current of corruption's tide, E'en in polluted Sodom; safe he liv'd, While circumspective Virtue's watchful eye Was anxiously awake; but in the shade, Far from the obvious perils which alarm. With palpable temptation, secret sin
Ensnar'd his soul; he trusted in himself; Security betray'd him, and he fell.
2d Jew. Thy prudent counsels in our hearts shall live,
As if a pen of adamant had grav'd them.
1st Jew. The dawn approaches; let us part, my friend,
Secure of peace, since tyranny is fall'n.
Dan. So perish all thine enemies, O Lord! So, mighty God, shall perish all who seek Corrupted pleasures in the turbid waves Of life's polluted stream, and madly quit The living fountain of perennial grace.
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