See Nature haftes her earlieft wreaths to bring,
With all the incenfe of the breathing spring:
See lofty Lebanon his head advance,
See nodding forefts on the mountains dance ;
See fpicy clouds from lowly Saron rife,
And Carmel's flow'ry top perfumes the skies!
Hark! a glad voice the lonely defart cheers ;
Prepare the way! a God, a God appears!
A God, a God! the vocal hills reply:
The rocks proclaim th' approaching Deity,
Lo, earth receives him from the bending skies!
Sink down, ye mountains, and, ye vallies, rife!
With heads declin'd, ye cedars, homage pay;
Be fmooth, ye rocks; ye rapid floods, give way!
The Saviour comes! by ancient bards foretold ;
Hear him, ye deaf! and, all ye blind, behold!
He from thick films hall
the vifual ray,
And on the fightless eye-ball pour the day:
'Tis he th' obilructed paths of found shall clear,
And bid new mufic charm th' unfolding ear;
The dumb fhall fing, the lame his crutch forego,
And leap exulting like the bounding roe.
No figh, no murmur, the wide world fhall hear;
From ev'ry face he wipes off ev'ry tear.
In adamantine chains thall death be bound,
And hell's grim tyrant feel th'eternal wound.
As the good th pherd tends his fleecy care,
Seeks fretheft, paiture, and the pureft air,
Explores the loft, the wand'ring fheep directs,
By day o'erfees them, and by night protects;
The tender lambs he raifes in his arms,
Feeds from his hand, and in his bofom warms :
Thus fhall mankind his guardian care engage,
The promis'd father of the future age.
No more fhall nation against nation rife,
Nor ardent warriors meet with hateful eyes,
Nor fields with gleaming feel be cover'd o'er,
The brazen trumpets kindle rage no more ;
But useless lances into fcythes fhall bend,
And the broad faulchion in a plough-fhare end.
Then palaces fhall rife; the joyful fon
Shall finish what his fhort-liv'd fire begun ;
Their vines a fhadow to their race fhall yield,
And the fame hand that fow'd fhall reap the field.
The fwain in barren defarts, with furprize,
Sees lilies fpring, and fudden verdure rife;
And ftarts, amidst the thirfly wilds, to hear
New falls of water murmuring in his ear.
On rifted rocks, the dragon's late abodes,
The reed trembles, and the bulrufh nods.
Wafte fandy valleys, once perplex'd with thorn,
The fpiry fir and fhapely box adorn;
To leaflefs fhrubs the flow'ring palms fucceed.
And od❜rous myrtle to the noifome weed.
The lambs with wolves fhall the verdant mead, graze
And boys in flow'ry bands the tiger lead ;
The fleer and lion at one crib fhall meet,
And harmless ferpents lick the pilgrim's feet.
The fmiling infant in his hand fhall take
The crefted bafilifk and fpeckled fnake,
Pleas'd the green luftre of their fcales furvey,
And with their forky tongue fhall innocently play.
Rife, crown'd with light, imperial Salem, rife!
Exalt thy tow'ry head, and lift thy eyes!
See a long race thy fpacious courts adorn ;
See future fons and daughters, yet unborn,
In crowding ranks on ev'ry fide arise,
Demanding life, impatient for the fkies!
See barb'rous nations at thy gates attend,
Walk in thy light, and in thy temple bend;
See thy bright altars throng'd with proftrate kings,
And heap'd with products of Sabæen fprings!
For thee Idume's fpicy forests blow,
And feeds of gold in Ophir's mountains glow.
See heav'n its fparkling portals wide display,
And break upon thee in a flood of day.
No more the rifing Sun fhall gild the morn,
Nor ev'ning Cynthia fill her filver horn,
But loft, diffolv'd in thy fuperior rays,
One tide of glory, one unclouded blaze
O'erflow thy courts: the Light himself shall shine
Reveal'd, and God's eternal day be thine!
The feas fhall waffe, the fkies in smoke decay,
Rocks fall to duft, and mountains melt away;
But fix'd his word, his faving pow'r remains :
Thy realm for ever lafts, thy own Meffiah reigns!
TEEK Twilight! hafte to fhroud the folar
And bring the hour my penfive fpirit loves;
When o'er the hill is fhed a paler day,
That gives to fillness, and to night, the groves.
Ah! let the gay, the rofeate morning hail ;
When, in the various blooms of light array'd,
She bids fresh beauty live along the vale,
And rapture tremble in the vocal fhade:
Sweet is the lucid morning's op'ning flow'r,
Her choral melodies benignly rife,
Yet dearer to my foul the shadowy hour,
At which her bloffoms clofe, her mufic dies:
For then mild nature, while the droops her head,
Wakes the foft tear 'tis luxury to'fhed.
HE Charmer of fweet Mona's* ifle,
With Death attendant on her fmile,
Intent on pilgrimage divine,
Speeds to Saint David's holy fhrine;
Too confcious of a finful mind,
And hopes fhe may forgiveness find.
What haft thou done thrice lovely maid?
What crimes can to thy charge be laid?
Didft thou contemn the fuppliant poor,
Drive helpless orphans from thy door,
Unduteous to thy parent prove,`
Or yield thy charms to lawlefs love ?.
No, Morvid, no; thy gentle breast
Was form'd to pity the diftrefs'd;
Has ne'er one thought, one feeling known,
That Virtue could not call her own;
Nor haft thou caus'd a parent's pain
Till quitting now thy native plain.
Yet, lovely nymph, thy way purfue,
And keep repentance full in view;
|