The gasp of your expiring breath Ye stand upon a dreadful steep, And all beneath is hell ; Your weighty guilt will sink you deep, Where the old serpent fell. When iron slumbers bind your flesh, And tortures wake the mind! Then you I'll confess the frightful names Then shall ye curse that fatal day, Behold the saints rejoice to die, For heav'n shines round their heads; And angel-guards, prepar'd to fly, Attend their fainting beds. Their longing spirits part, and rise To their celestial seat; Above these ruinable skies They make their last retreat. Hence, ye profane, I hate your ways, THE LAW GIVEN AT SINAI. ARM thee with thunder, heav'nly Muse, To Israel first the words were spoke, Bent their knees to senseless bulls, Now had they pass'd the Arabian Bay, And march'd between the cleaving sea; The rising waves stood guardians of their wond'rous But fell with the most impetuous force And bury'd Egypt, all in arms, Blending, in watry death, the rider and the horse; O'er struggling Pharaoh roll'd the mighty tide, And sav'd the labours of a pyramid. Apis and Ore! in vain he cries, And all his horned gods beside- And curs'd the Hebrews as he died. Ah! foolish Israel, to comply And bow to brutes (a stupid slave,) Behold thy God, the Sov'reign of the sky, And rais'd thine honours high; And Sinai's top proclaims his law: Hark! the shrill echoes of the trumpet roar, Slow and unwilling they appear, Rails kept them from the mount before, Now from the rails their fear: 'Twas the same herald, and the trump the same, That "Time shall be no more." Thus, while the lab'ring angel swell'd the sound, The lesser powers at distance dwell, And cast their glories down successive at his feet: Gabriel the Great prepares his way, "Lift up you heads, eternal doors," he cries: The eternal doors his word obey, Open, and shoot celestial day Upon the lower skies. Heaven's mighty pillars bow'd their heads, As their Creator bid, And down Jehovah rode from the superior sphere, A thousand guards before, and myriads in the rear. His chariot was a pitchy cloud; The wheels beset with burning gems; Swift roll'd the triumph, and as fast Did hail, and ice, and melted rivers flow. The day was mingled with the night, His feet on solid darkness trod, His radiant eyes proclaim'd the God, And scatter'd dreadful light; He breath'd, and sulphur ran, a fiery stream: He spoke, and, tho' with unknown speed he came, Chid the slow tempest and the lagging flame. Sinai receiv'd his glorious flight, And rising smoke obscur❜d the burning hill. The stately pyramids of fire: The pyramids to heaven aspire, And mix with stars, but see their gloomy offspring higher. So have you seen ungrateful ivy grow Round the tall oak that sixscore years has stood, Above its kind supporter's utmost bough, Forbear, young muse, forbear; The flow'ry things that poets say, Are vain and useless here; |