Art's foftening echoes in the mufick found,
And, answering nature's, from the roof rebound.
Here close my verse, the service asks no more,
Blefs thy good God, and give the transport o'er.
HABAKKU K.
NOW leave the porch, to vision now retreat, Where the next rapture glows with varying heat; Now change the time, and change the temple-scene, The following Seer forewarns a future reign. To fome retirement, where the Prophets' fons Indulge their holy flight, my fancy runs ; Some facred college, built for praife and prayer, And heavenly dream, fhe feeks Habakkuk there. Perhaps 'tis there he moans the nation's fin, Hears the word come, or feels the fit within; Or fees the vifion, fram'd with angels' hands, Ands dread the judgments of revolted lands; Ór holds a converf, if the Lord appear, And, like Elijah, wraps his face for fear. This deep recefs portends an act of weight, A meffage labouring with the work of fate.
Methinks the fkies have loft their lovely blue, A ftorm rides fiery, thick the clouds enfue. Fall'n to the ground, with proftrate face I lie : Oh! 'twere the fame in this to gaze and die! But hark the Prophet's voice; My prayers complain Of labour spent, of preaching urg'd.in vain,
And muft, my God, thy forrowing fervant still
Quit my lone joys, to walk this world of ill?
Where spoiling rages, ftrife and wrong command,
And the flack'd laws no longer curb the land?
At this a ftrange and more than human found
Thus breaks the cloud, and daunts the trembling ground,
Behold, ye Gentiles; wondering all behold,
What scarce ye credit, though the work be told i
For, lo, the proud Chaldean troops I raise,
To march the breadth, and all the region seize;
Fierce as the prowling wolves, at clofe of day,
And fwift as eagles in purfuit of prey.
As eastern winds to blast the season blow,
For blood and rapine flies the dreadful foe;
Leads the fad captives, countless as the fand,
Derides the princes, and destroys the land.
Yet thefe, triumphant grown, offend me more,
And only thank the gods they chofe before.
Art thou not holieft, here the prophet cries;
Supreme, Eternal, of the pureft eyes?
And fhall thofe eyes the wicked realms regard,
Their crimes be great, yet victory their reward?
Shall thefe ftill ravage more and more to reign,
Draw the full net, and caft to fill again?
As watch-men filent fit, I wait to fee
How folves my doubt, what speaks the Lord to me,
Then go, the Lord replies, fufpend thy fears,
And write the vifion for a term of years:
Thy foes will feel their turn when thofe are past,
Wait, though it tarry; fure it comes at last.
'Tis for their rapine, lusts, and thirst of blood, And all their unprotecting gods of wood,
The Lord is prefent on his facred hill,
Cease thy weak doubts, and let the world be still..
Here terror leaves me; with exalted head,
I breathe fine air, and find the vision fled;
The Seer withdrawn, infpir'd, and urg'd to write,
By the warm influence of the sacred sight.
His writing finish'd, Prophet-like array'd,
He brings the burden on the region laid;
His hands a tablet and a volume bear,
The tablet threatenings, and the volume prayer ;.
Both for the temple, where, to fhun decay,
Enroll'd the works of inspiration lay.
And awful, oft he stops, or marches slow,
While the dull'd nation hears him preach their woe.
Arriv'd at length, with grave concern for all,.
He fix'd his table on the facred wall.
'Twas large infcrib'd, that those who run might read:
"Habakkuk's burden, by the Lord decreed;
"For Judah's fins her empire is no more,
The fierce Chaldeans bathe her realm in gore."
Next to the priest his volume he refign'd,
'Twas prayer, with praises mix'd,. to raise the mind;
'Twas facts recounted, which their fathers knew,
'Twas power in wonders manifest to view;
"Twas comfort, rais'd on love already past,
And hope, that former love returns at last.
The priests within the prophecy convey'd,
The fingers' tunes to join his anthem made.
Hear, and attend the words: and, holy Thou
That help'd the Prophet, help the Poet now.
O, Lord, who rul'ft the world, with mortal car
I've heard thy judgments, and I shake for fear.
O, Lord, by whom their number'd years we find,
Ev'n in the midst receive the drooping mind;
Ev'n in the midft thou canst-then make it known,
Thy love, thy will, thy power, to fave thine own.
Remember mercy, though thine anger burn,
And foon to Salem bid thy flock return.
O, Lord, who gav'ft it with an outstretch'd hand,
We well remember how thou gav'ft the land.
God came from Teman, fouthward fprung the flame, From Paron-mount the one that 's Holy came; A glittering glory made the defert blaze,
High heaven was cover'd, earth was fill'd with praife.-
Dazzling the brightness, not the fun fo bright,
'Twas here the pure fubftantial Fount of Light;
Shot from his hand and fide in golden ftreams,
Came forward effluent horny-pointed beams :
Thus fhone his coming, as fublimely fair
As bounded nature has been fram'd to bear;
But all his further marks of grandeur hid,
Nor what he could was known, but what he did. -
Dire plagues before him ran at his command,
To waste the nations in the promis'd land.
A fcorching flame went forth where'er he trod
And burning fevers were the coals of God.
Fix'd on the mount he stood, his measuring reed
Marks the rich realms for Jacob's feed decreed:
He looks with anger, and the nations fly
From the fierce fparklings of his dreadful eye;
He turns, the mountain fhakes its awful brow;
Awful he turns, and hills eternal bow.
How glory there, how terror here, difplays
His great unknown, yet everlasting ways!
I fee the fable tents along the strand
Where Cufhan wander'd, defolately stand;
And Midian's high pavilions shake with dread,
While the tam'd seas thy rescued nation tread.
What burft the path? what made the Lord engage?
Could waters anger, feas incite thy rage,
That thus thine horfes force the foaming tide,
And all the chariots of falvation ride?
Thy bow was bare for what thy mercy fwore;
Thofe oaths, that promife, Ifrael had before.
The rock that felt thee cleav'd, the rivers flow,
The wondering defert lends them beds below.
Thy might the mountain's heaving fhocks confefs'd,
High fhatter'd Horeb trembled o'er the rest.
Great Jordan pafs'd its nether waters by,
Its upper waters rais'd the voice on high
Safe in the deep we went, the liquid wall
Curling arofe, and had no leave to fall.
The fun effulgent, and the moon ferene,
Stopt by thy will, their heavenly courfe refrain:
The voice was man's, yet both the voice obey,
Till wars completed clofe the lengthen'd day.
Thy glittering fpears, thy rattling darts prevail,
Thy fpears of lightning, and thy darts of hail,
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