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Rails kept them from the mount before,

Now from the rails their fear:

'Twas the same herald, and the trump the same,
Which shall be blown by high command,
Shall bid the wheels of nature stand,
And Heaven's eternal will proclaim,
That "Time shall be no more."

Thus, while the lab'ring angel swell'd the sound,
And rent the skies, and shook the ground,
Up rose the Almighty: round his sapphire seat,
Adoring thrones in order fell;

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;
The winds in harness with the flames,
Flew o'er the ethereal road:
Down thro' his magazines he past
Of hail, and ice, and fleecy snow,

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,
With axle red, and glowing wheel
Did the winged chariot light,

And rising smoke obscur'd the burning hill.
Lo, it mounts in curling waves,
Lo, the gloomy pride outbraves

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,
And proudly shoot a leaf or two

Above its kind supporter's utmost bough,
And glory there to stand the loftiest of the wood.

Forbear, young muse, forbear;

The flow'ry things that poets say,
The little arts of simile

Are vain and useless here;

Nor shall the burning hills of old
With Sinai be compar'd,

Nor all that lying Greece has told,

Or learned Rome has heard; Ætna shall be nam'd no more, Etna, the torch of Sicily;

Not half so high

Her lightnings fly,

Not half so loud her thunders roar 'Cross the Sicanian sea, to fright the Italian shore. Behold the sacred hill: its trembling spire Quakes at the terrors of the fire,

While all below its verdant feet

Stagger and reel under the Almighty weight: Press'd with a greater than feign'd Atlas' load. Deep groan'd the mount; it never bore Infinity before,

It bow'd and shook beneath the burden of a God.

Fresh horrors seize the camp; despair,

And dying groans torment the air,

And shrieks, and swoons, and deaths were there: The bellowing thunder, and the lightning's blaze Spread thro' the host a wild amaze;

Darkness on every soul, and pale was every face:
Confus'd and dismal were the cries,

"Let Moses speak, or Israel dies:
Moses the spreading terror feels,
No more the man of God conceals
His shivering and surprise;

Yet, with recovering mind, commands

Silence, and deep attention, through the Hebrew "bands.

Hark! from the centre of the flame,

All arm'd and feather'd with the same, Majestic sounds break through the smoky cloud: Sent from the All-creating tongue,

A flight of cherubs guard the words along, And bear their fiery law to the retreating crowd.

"I am the Lord: 'tis I proclaim

"That glorious and that fearful name,
"Thy God and King: 'twas I that broke
"Thy bondage, and the Egyptian yoke:
"Mine is the right to speak my will,
"And thine the duty to fulfil.

"Adore no God beside me, to provoke mine eyes: "Nor worship me in shapes and forms that men

"devise;

"With reverence use my name, nor turn my words

"to jest ;

"Observe my sabbath well, nor dare profane my "rest:

"Honour and due obedience to thy parents give; "Nor spill the guiltless blood, nor let the guilty live: "Preserve thy body chaste, and flee the unlawful "bed:

"Nor steal thy neighbour's gold, his garment, or "his bread

"Forbear to blast his name with falsehood or

"deceit,

"Nor let thy wishes loose upon his large estate."

REMEMBER YOUR CREATOR, &c.

ECCLES. XII.

CHILDREN, to your Creator, God,
Your early honours pay,
While vanity and youthful blood
Would tempt your thoughts astray.

The memory of his mighty name,
Demands your first regard;

Nor dare indulge a meaner flame,
have lov'd the Lord.

Till you

Be wise, and make his favour sure,

Before the mournful days,

When youth and mirth are known no more, And life and strength decays.

No more the blessings of a feast
Shall relish on the tongue,
The heavy ear forgets the taste

And pleasure of a song.

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