Till, like a fea, the great Belochus' fon
Breaks upon both, and both does over-run;
The laft of Adad's ancient stock is flain,
Ifrael captiv'd, and rich Damafcus ta'en:
All this wild rage to revenge Judah's wrong;
But woe to kingdoms that have friends too strong!
Thus Hezekiah the torn empire took,
And Affur's king, with his worfe gods, forfook;
Who to poor Judah worlds of nations brings,
There rages, utters vain and mighty things;
Some dream of triumphs, and exalted names,
Some of dear gold, and some of beauteous dames;
Whilft, in the midst of their huge sleepy boast,
An angel scatters death through all the host.
Th' affrighted tyrant back to Babel hies,
There meets an end far worse than that he flies.
Here Hezekiah's life is almost done!
So good, and yet, alas! fo fhort, 'tis fpun:
Th' end of the line was ravel'd, weak, and old;
Time must go back, and afford better hold
To tie a new thread to' it, of fifteen years:
'Tis done; th' all-mighty power of prayer
Backward the fun, an unknown motion, went;
The itars gaz'd on, and wonder'd what he meant.
Manaffes next (forgetful man !) begins;
Enslav'd and fold to Afhur by his fins;
Till, by the rod of learned mifery taught,
Home to his God and country both he's brought :
It taught not Ammon, nor his hardness brake;
He's made th' example he refus'd to take.
Yet from this root a goodly cyon springs;
Jofiah, beft of men, as well as kings.
Down went the calves, with all their gold and coft;
The priests then truly griev'd Ofiris lost ;
These mad Egyptian rites till now remain'd;
Fools! they their worfer thraldom still retain'd!
In his own fires Moloch to ashes fell,
And no more flames must have befides his hell;
Like end Aftarte's horned image found,
And Baal's spired stone to dust was ground:
No more were men in female habit feen,
Nor they in men's, by the lewd Syrian queen:
No luftful maids at Benos' temple fit,
And, with their bodies' shame, their marriage get:
The double Dagon neither nature faves,
Nor flies fhe back to th' Erythræan waves.
The traveling fun fees gladly from on high
His chariots burn, and Nergal quenched lie;
The king's impartial anger lights on all,
From fly-blown Accaron to the thundering Baâl. 680
Here David's joy unruly grows, and bold,
Nor could fleep's filken chain its violence hold,
Had not the Angel, to feal faft his eyes,
The humours ftirr'd, and bade more mifts arise:
When ftrait a chariot hurries fwift away,
And in it good Jofiah bleeding lay;
One hand 's held up, one ftops the wound; in vain They both are us'd: alas! he 's flain, he 's flain.
Jehoias and Jehoi'chim next appear;
Both urge that vengeance which before was near: 690
He in Egyptian fetters captive dies,
Thus by more courteous anger murder'd lies.
His fon and brother next do bonds sustain,
Ifrael's now folemn and imperial chain.
Here's the last scene of this proud city's state }
All ills are met ty'd in one knot of Fate.
Their endless slavery in this trial lay;
Great God had heap'd-up ages in one day:
Strong works around the wall the Chaldees build,
The town with grief and dreadful business fill'd;
To their carv'd gods the frantic women pray,
Gods, which as near their ruin were as they.
At last in rushes the prevailing foe,
Does all the mifchief of proud conquest show:
The wondring babes from mothers' breafts are rent,
And fuffer ills they neither fear'd nor meant;
No filver reverence guards the stooping age,
No rule or method ties their boundless rage:
The glorious temple shines in flame all o'er,
Yet not fo bright as in its gold before :
Nothing but fire or flaughter meets the eyes;
Nothing the ear but groans and dismal cries.
The walls and towers are level'd with the ground,
And scarce aught now of that vaft city 's found,
But fhards and rubbish, which weak figns might keep
Of forepaft glory, and bid travellers weep.
Thus did triumphant Affur homewards pass,
And thus Jerufalem left, Jerufalem that was!
This Zedechiah faw, and this not all
Before his face his friends and children fall,
The sport of infolent victors; this he views,
A king and father once! ill Fate could use
His eyes no more to do their master spite;
All to be seen she took, and next his fight.
Thus a long death in prison he outwears;
Bereft of grief's last solace, ev'n his tears.
Then Jeconiah's fon did foremost come,
And he who brought the captiv'd nation home:
A row of worthies in long order pass'd
O'er the short stage; of all old Joseph last.
Fair angels pafs'd by next in feemly bands,
All gilt, with gilded baskets in their hands:
Some, as they went, the blue-ey'd violets strew,
Some, fpotless lilies in loofe order threw;
Some, did the way with full-blown roses spread; 735
Their fmell divine, and colour strangely red;
Not fuch as our dull gardens proudly wear,
Whom weathers taint, and winds' rude kisses tear:
Such, I believe, was the firft rofe's hue,
Which at God's word in beauteous Eden grew;
Queen of the flowers which made that orchard gay!
The morning blushes of the fpring's new day.
With fober pace an heavenly maid walks in,
Her looks all fair; no fign of native fin
Through her whole body writ; immoderate grace 745
Spoke things far more than human in her face :
It cafts a dufky gloom o'er all the flowers;
And with full beams their mingled light devours!
An Angel ftrait broke from a fhining cloud,
And prefs'd his wings, and with much reverence bow'd;
Again he bow'd, and grave approach he made,
And thus his facred meffage fweetly faid:
"Hail, full of Grace! thee the whole world shall call "Above all bleft; Thee, who fhalt bless them all. "Thy virgin womb in wondrous fort shall shroud 755 "Jefus the God (and then again he bow'd); "Conception the great Spirit fhall breathe on thee; "Hail thou! who muft God's wife, God's mother, be! "With that, his feeming form to heaven he rear'd; "She low obeifance made, and disappear'd.
"Lo! a new ftar three eastern fages fee
66 (For why should only earth a gainer be?)
They faw this Phofphor's infant-light, and knew
"It bravely usher'd in a Sun as new:
"They hafted all this Rifing Sun t' adore;
"With them rich myrrh and early spices bore:
"Wife men! no fitter gift your zeal could bring;
"You'll in a noisome stable find your King.
"Anon a thousand devils run roaring in;
"Some with a dreadful smile deform'dly grin;
"Some stamp their claven paws, fome frown, and tear "The gaping fnakes from their black-knotted hair ; "As if all grief, and all the rage of hell,
"Were doubled now, or that juft now they fell: "But, when the dreaded maid they entering faw, 775 "All fled with trembling fear and filent awe. "In her chafte arms th' eternal infant lies, "Th' Almighty voice chang'd into feeble cries. "Heaven contain'd virgins oft, and will do more; "Never did virgin contain Heaven before,
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