His holy rites and folemn feafts profan'd,
And with their darkness durft affront his light. First Moloch, horrid King, besmear'd with blood Of human facrifice, and parents tears;
Tho', for the noise of drums and timbrels loud, Their childrens cries unheard, that paft thro' fire 395 To his grim idol. Him the Ammonite Worship'd in Rabba, and her wat❜ry plain, In Argob, and in Bafan, to the stream Of utmost Arnon. Nor content with fuch Audacious neighbourhood, the wisest heart Of Solomon he led by fraud, to build His temple right against the temple of God, On the opprobrious hill; and made his grove The pleasant valley of Hinnon, Topbet thence And black Gebenna call'd, the type of hell. Next Chemos, th' obscene dread of Moab's fons, From Aroar to Nebo, and the Wild
Of fouthmoft Abarim; in Hefebon
And Horonaim, Seon's realm, beyond
The flow'ry dale of Sibma, clad with vines; And Eleale to th' Afpbaltic pool:
Peor his other name, when he entic'd Ifrael in Sittim, on their march from Nile,
To do him wanton rites, which coft them woe.
Yet thence his luftful orgies he inlarg'd Even to that hill of fcandal, by the grove
Of Moloch homicide; luft hard by hate;
Till good fofiab drove them thence to hell. With these came they, who from the bord'ring food
Of old Exphrates, to the brook that parts Egypt from Syrian ground, had general names Of Baalim, and Afetaroth; thofe male, These feminine: (For fpirits when they please Can either fex affume, or both; so soft And uncompounded is their effence pure; Not ty'd or manacled with joint or limb, Nor founded on the brittle ftrength of bones, Like cumbrous flesh; but in what shape they chufe, Dilated or condens'd, bright or obfcure,
Can execute their airy purposes,
And works of love or enmity fulfil.)
For those the race of Ifrael oft forfook
Their living ftrength, and unfrequented left His righteous altar, bowing lowly down
To beftial Gods; for which their heads as low 435 Bow'd down in battel, funk before the spear Of despicable foes. With these in troop Came Aftoreth, whom the Phenicians call'd Aftarte, Queen of heaven, with crefcent horns: To whose bright image nightly by the moon, Sidonian virgins paid their vows and fongs; In Sion alfo not unfung, where stood Her temple on th' offenfive mountain, built
By that uxorious King, whofe heart, tho' large, Beguil'd by fair idolatreffes, fell
To idols foul. Thammuz came next behind, Whose annual wound in Lebanon allur'd The Syrian damfels, to lament his fate
In am'rous ditties all a fummer's day i
While smooth Adonis from his native rock Ran purple to the sea, suppos'd with blood Of Thammuz yearly wounded: the love-tale Infected Sion's daughters with like heat; Whose wanton paffions in the facred porch Ezekiel faw, when, by the vision led,
His eyes furvey'd the dark idolatries Of alienated Judah. Next came one
Who mourn'd in earnest, when the captive Ark Maim'd his brute image, head and hands lop'd off In his own temple, on the grunsel edge, Where he fell flat, and sham'd his worshippers; Dagon his Name; Sea-Monster! upward man And downward fish: yet had his temple high Rear'd in Azotus, dreaded through the coaft Of Palæftine, in Gath, and Afcalon, And Accaron, and Gaza's frontier bounds. Him follow'd Rimmon, whose delightful feat Was fair Damafcus, on the fertil banks Of Abbana, and Pharphar, lucid streams! He also against the house of God was bold: A leper once he loft, and gain'd a King, Abaz, his fottish conqueror, whom he drew God's altar to difparage, and displace, For one of Syrian mode, whereon to burn His odious off'rings, and adore the Gods Whom he had vanquifh'd. After these appear'd
A crew, who under names of old renown, Ofiris, Ifis, Orus, and their train,
With monstrous shapes and forceries abus'd
Fanatic Egypt, and her priests, to feek Their wandring Gods difguis'd in brutish forms, Rather than human. Nor did Ifrael 'scape Th'infection, when their borrow'd gold compos'd The calf in Oreb; and the rebel King Doubled that fin in Bethel, and in Dan, Lik'ning his Maker to the grazed ox,
Jebovah! Who in one night when he pass'd From Ægypt marching, equal'd with one stroke Both her first-born and all her bleating Gods. Belial came laft, than whom a spirit more lewd 490 Fell not from heaven, or more gross to love Vice for it felf: to him no temple ftood, Or altar fmok'd; yet who more oft than he In temples, and at altars, when the priest Turns atheist, as did Ely's fons, who fill'd With luft and violence the house of God?. In courts and palaces he also reigns, And in luxurious cities, where the noise Of riot afcends above their loftieft tow'rs, And injury and outrage: and when night Darkens the streets, then wander forth the fons Of Belial, flown with infolence and wine: Witness the streets of Sodom, and that night In Gibeah, when the hospitable door Expos'd a matron, to avoid worse rape.
These were the prime, in order and in might; The reft were long to tell, tho' far renown'd, Th' Ionian Gods, of Javan's iffue, held Gods, yet confefs'd later than heav'n and earth,
Their boafted parents. Titan, (heav'n's first-born,) With his enormous brood, and birthright feiz'd 511 By younger Saturn: he from mightier Jove, (His own and Rhea's fon,) like measure found; So Jove ufurping reign'd: these first in Crete, And Ida known; thence on the snowy top Of cold Olympus rul'd the middle air, Their highest heav'n; or on the Delpbian cliff, Or in Dodona, and thro' all the bounds
Of Doric land; or who with Saturn old Fled over Adria to th' Hefperian fields, And o'er the Celtick roam'd the utmost ifles.
All these and more came flocking, but with looks Down-caft and damp; yet fuch wherein appear'd Obfcure fome glimpse of joy, to have found their Chief Not in defpair, to have found themselves not loft 525 In lofs it felf; which on his count'nance cast Like doubtful hue: but he his wonted pride Soon recollecting, with high words, that bore Semblance of worth, not substance, gently rais'd Their fainting courage, and dispell'd their fears. 530 Then ftrait commands that at the warlike found Of trumpets loud, and clarions, be uprear'd His mighty standard: that proud honor claim'd
Azazel as his right, a Cherub tall;
Who forthwith from the glittering staff unfurl'd 535 Th' imperial enfign; which, full high advanc'd, Shone like a meteor streaming to the wind, With gems and golden luftre rich imblaz❜d, Seraphic arms and trophies; all the while
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