The aid of all your counsels, and the weight
Of grave authority.
Phar. With our immediate motive none, except A chosen band of friends, who most repine At Daniel's exaltation. But the scheme
I meditate must be disclos'd to all
Who bear high office: all our Median rulers,
Princes and captains, presidents and lords;
All must assemble. 'Tis a common cause:
All but the young Araspes; he inclines
To Daniel and his God. He sits attent,
With ravish'd ears, to listen to his lore:
With rev'rence names Jerusalem, and reads
The volume of the law. No more he bows
To hail the golden Ruler of the day,
But looks for some great Prophet, greater far,
So they pretend, than Mithras. From him, therefore, Conceal whate'er of injury is devis'd
'Gainst Daniel. Be it to thy care to-day
To keep him from the council.
Sor.
'Tis now about the hour of Daniel's pray'r:
Araspes, too, is with him; and to-day
They will not sit in council. Haste we then.
Designs of high importance, once conceiv'd,
Should be accomplish'd. Genius which discerns,
And courage which achieves, despise the aid
Of ling'ring circumspection. The keen spirit
Seizes the prompt occasion, makes the thought
Start into instant action, and at once
Pians and performs, resolves and executes.
Aras. PROCEED, proceed, thrice venerable sage:
Enlighten my dark mind with this new ray,
This dawning of salvation. Tell me more
Of this expected King! This Comforter!
This Promise of the nations! This great Hope
Of anxious Israel! This unborn Prophet!
This Wonderful, this Mighty Counsellor !
This everlasting Lord! This Prince of Peace!
This Balm of Gilead, which shall heal the wounds
Of universal nature! This MESSIAH!
Redeemer, Saviour, Sufferer, Victim, GOD!
Dan. Enough to animate our faith we know,
But not enough to soothe the curious pride
Of vain philosophy. Enough to cheer
Our path we see, the rest is hid in clouds ;
And Heaven's own shadows rest upon the view.
Aras. Go on, blest sage: I could for ever hear,
Untir'd, thy admonition. Tell me how
I shall obtain the favour of that God
I but begin to know, but fain would serve.
Dan. By deep humility, by faith unfeign'd,
By holy deeds, best proof of living faith.
O faith *, thou wonder-working principle,
Eternal substance of our present hope,
Thou evidence of things invisible!
What cannot man sustain, sustain❜d by thee!
The time would fail, and the bright star of day
Would quench his beams in ocean, and resign
His empire to the silver queen of night;
And she again descend the steep of heav'n,
If I should tell what wonders faith achiev'd
By Gideon, Barak, and the holy seer,
Elkanah's son; the pious Gileadite,
Ill-fated Jephthah. He of Zorah, too †,
In strength unequall'd; and the shepherd king,
Who vanquish'd Gath's fell giant. Need I tell
Of holy prophets, who, by conqu’ring faith,
Wrought deeds incredible to mortal sense;
Vanquish'd contending kingdoms, quell'd the rage
Of furious pestilence, extinguish'd fire.
Victorious faith! others by thee endur'd
Exile, disgrace, captivity, and death.
Some, uncomplaining, bore (nor be it deem'd
The meanest exercise of well-tried faith)
The cruel mocking, and the bitter taunt,
Foul obloquy, and undeserv'd reproach ;
Despising shame, that death to human pride.
Aras. How shall this faith be sought?
Solicit first the wisdom from above:
Wisdom, whose fruits are purity and peace.
Wisdom, that bright intelligence which sat
Supreme, when with his golden compasses *
Th' Eternal plann'd the fabric of the world,
Produc'd his fair idea into light,
And said that all was good. Wisdom, blest beam!
The brightness of the everlasting light!
The spotless mirror of the pow'r of God!
The reflex image of th' all-perfect Mind!
A stream translucent, flowing from the source
Of glory infinite! a cloudless light!
Defilement cannot touch, nor sin pollute,
Her unstain'd purity! Not Ophir's gold,
Nor Ethiopia's gems, can match her price!
The ruby of the mine is pale before her !
And like the oil Elisha's bounty bless'd,
She is a treasure which doth grow by use
And multiply by spending! She contains
Within herself the sum of excellence:
If riches are desir'd, wisdom is wealth!
If prudence, where shall keen invention find
Artificer more cunning! If renown,
In her right hand it comes! If piety,
Are not her labours virtues? If the lore
Which sage experience teaches, lo! she scans
Antiquity's dark truths; the past she knows,
Anticipates the future; not by arts
Forbidden, of Chaldean sorcerer,
But from the piercing ken of deep foreknowledge,
* See Paradise Lost, book vii, line 225. Proverbs, chap, viii,
From her sure science of the human heart
She weighs effects with causes, ends with means;
Resolving all into the sovereign will,
For earthly blessings moderate be thy pray'r,
And qualified; for light, for strength, for grace,
Unbounded thy petition.
Explain the secret doubts which rack my mind,
And my weak sense confound. Give me some line
To sound the depths of Providence! Oh say,
Why the ungodly prosper? why their root
Shoots deep, and their thick branches flourish fair,
Like the green bay-tree? why the righteous man,
Like tender plants to shiv'ring winds expos'd,
Is stripp'd and torn, in naked virtue bare,
And nipp'd by cruel Sorrow's biting blast?
Explain, O Daniel ! these mysterious ways
To my faint apprehension. For as yet
I've much to learn. Fair Truth's immortal sun
Is sometimes hid in clouds; not that her light
Is in itself defective; but obscur'd
By my weak prejudice, imperfect Faith,
And all the thousand causes which obstruct
The growth of goodness.
Within thou shalt peruse the sacred page,
The book of life eternal: that will show thee
The END of the ungodly: thou wilt own
How short their longest period; will perceive
How black a night succeeds their brightest day.
Thy purg'd eye will see God is not slack,
As men count slackness, to fulfil his word.
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