No mean atonement does this lapse require;
But see the son, you must forgive the sire:
He*, the just prince-with ev'ry virtue blest
He reign'd, and goodness all the man possess'd;
Around his throne fair happiness and peace
Smooth'd ev'ry brow, and smil'd in ev'ry face.
As when along the burning waste he stray'd,
Where no pure streams in bubbling mazes play'd,
Where drought incumbent on the thirsty ground
Long since had breath'd her scorching blasts
around.
The prophet calls, th' obedient floods repair
To the parch'd fields, for Josaphat was there.
The new-spring waves, in many a gurgling vein,
Trickle luxurious through the sucking plain;
Fresh honours the reviving fields adorn,
And o'er the desert plenty pour her horn.
So, from the throne his influence he sheds,
And bids the virtues raise their languid heads:
Where'er he goes, attending truth prevails,
Oppression flies, and justice lifts her scales.
See, on his arm the royal eagle stand,
Great type of conquest and supreme command;
Th' exulting bird distinguish'd triumph brings,
And greets the monarch with expanded wings.
Fierce Moab's sons prevent th' impending blow,
Rush on themselves, and fall without the foe.
The pious hero vanquish'd Heaven by pray'r;
His faith an army, and his vows a war.
Thee too, Ozias, fates indulgent bless'd,
And thy days shone in fairest actions drest:
Tili that rash hand, by some blind phrenzy sway'd,
Unclean, the sacred office durst invade.
Quick o'er thy Im bs the scurfy venom ran,
And hoary filth besprinkled all the man.
Transmissive worth adorns the pious *son,
The father's virtues with the father's throne.
Lo! there he stands: he who the rage subdued
Of Ammon's sons, and drench'd his sword in blood.
And dost thou, Ahaz, Judah's scourge, disgrace
With thy base front the glories of thy race?
See the vile king his iron sceptre bear-
His only praise attends the pious their;
He, in whose soul the virtues all conspire,
The best good son from the worst wicked sire.
And lo! in Hezekiah's golden reign,
Long exil d piety returns again;
Again in genuine purity she shines,
And with her presence gilds the long-neglected
Ill-starr'd does proud Assyria's impious & Lord
Bid Heav'n to arms, and vaunt his dreadful sword;
His own vain threats th' insulting king o'erthrow,
But breathe new courage on the gen'rous foe.
Th' avenging angel, by divine command,
The fiery sword full-blazing in his hand.
Leaut down from heaven: amid the storm he rode,
March'd pestilence before him; as he trod,
Pate desolation bath'd his steps in blood.
Thick wrapt in night, thro' the proud hosthe pass'd,
Dispensing death, and drove the furious blast;
Nor bade destruction give her revels o'er
Till the gorg'd sword was drunk with human gore.
But what avails thee, pious prince, in vain
Thy sceptre rescued, and th' Assyrian slain?
Even now the soul maintains her latest strife,
And death's chill grasp congeals the fount of life:
Yet see, kind Heaven renews thy brittle thread,
And rolls full fifteen summers o'er thy head;
Lo! the receding sun repeats his way,
And, like thy life, prolongs the falling day.
Tho' nature her inverted course forego,
The day forget to rest, the time to flow,
Yet shall Jehovah's servants stand secure,
His mercy fix'd, eternal shall endure;
On them her ever healing rays shall shine;
More mild and bright, and sure, O sun! than thine.
At length the long-expected prince behold,
The last good king; in ancient days foretold,
When Bethel's altar spoke his future fame,
Rent to its base, at good Josiah's name.
Blest, happy prince! o'er whose lamented urn,
In plaintive song, all Judah's daughters mourn;
For whom sad Sion's softest sorrow flows,
And Jeremiah pours his sweet melodious woes.
But now fallen Sion, once the fair and great,
Sits deep in dust, abandon'd desolate :
Bleeds her sad heart, and ever stream her eyes,
And anguish tears her with convulsive sighs.
The mournful captive spreads her hands in vain,
Her hands, that rankle with the servile chain;
Till he*, great chief, in Heaven's appointed time,
Leads back her children to their native clime.
Fair liberty revives with all her joys,
And bids her envied walls securely rise.
And thou, great hallow'd dome, in ruin spread,
Again shall lift sublime thy sacred head.
But, ah! with weeping eyes, the ancients view
A faint resemblance of the old in you.
No more th' effulgent glory of thy God
Speaks awful answers from the mystic cloud;
No more thine altars blaze with fire divine;
And Heaven has left thy solitary shrine,
Yet, in thy courts, hereafter shalt thou see,
Presence immediate of the Deity,
The light himself reveal'd, the God confess'd
in thee.
And now at length the fated term of years
The world's desire have brought, and lo! the
God appears
The heavenly babe the virgin mother bears,
And her fond looks confess'd the parents cares;
The pleasing burthen on her breast she lays,
Hangs o'er his charms, and with a smile surveys:
The infant smiles, to her fond bosom prest,
And wantons, sportive, on the mother's breast.
A radiant glory speaks him all divine,
And in the child the beams of godhead shine.
* Zorobabel.
But now, alas! far other views disclose
The blackest comprehensive scene of woes.
See where man's voluntary sacrifice
Bows his meek head, and God eternal dies!
Fixt to the cross his healing arms are bound,
While copious mercy streams from ev'ry wound.
Mark the blood-drops that life exhausting roll,
And the strong pang that rends the stubborn soul,
As all death's tortures, with severe delay,
Exult and riot in the noblest prey!
And canst thou, stupid man, those sorrows see,
Nor share the anguish which he bears for thee?
Thy sin, for which his sacred flesh is torn,
Points ev'ry nail, and sharpens ev'ry thorn.
Canst thou?-while nature smarts in ev'ry wound,
And each pang cleaves the sympathetic ground!
Lo! the black sun, his chariot backward driven,
Blots out the day, and perishes from Heaven!
Earth, trembling from her entrails, bears a part;
And the rent rock upbraids man's stubborn heart.
The yawning grave reveals his gloomy reign, And the cold clay-clad dead start into life again. And thou, O tomb, once more shalt wide dis
Thy satiate jaws, and give up all thy prey.
Thou, groaning earth, shall heave, absorpt in flame,
As the last pangs convulse thy lab'ring frame ;
When the same God unshrouded thou shalt see,
Wrapt in full blaze of pow'r and majesty,
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