But on lone banks where drooping willows fade,
And withering branches cast a leafless shade,
His idle harp the weeping captive sees
In silence trembling to the passing breeze.
"Nation perverse! what mortal eye may trace
The long disasters of thy guilty race?
Again thy sons the lofty fabric raise,
Proud cities tower, and golden columns blaze;
Again they bid the ripening harvests bloom,
Taste the pure stream and breathe the sweet perfume;
But boast no more the ample range
Nor claim the bright reversion of a throne:
Usurping lords the favour'd seats profane,
And Gentile standards mock the hallow'd plain.
"Now o'er the shadowy fields and dim-seen bowers,
Night's sullen breath embrowns the wintry hours:
O'er slumb'ring nature no rude murmur flows,
'Tis all hush'd stillness and a dumb repose.
But, hark! how sweet those solemn strains arise
Swell from the vale and echo to the skies.
'Glory to God on high; to man be giv❜n,
Peace and good will-I hear the song of heav'n.
Angelic choirs symphonious voices raise,
Tune their loud harps and pour the stream of praise.
See darting radiance cleave the waste of night t,
See ether flaming with a blaze of light!
He comes, the promis'd star; exult and sing,
Ye distant isles, and hail your new-born king.
He comes, the Prince of Peace! this sacred hour
Shall own the fulness of a Saviour's power.
Ye blind, approach the light; ye dumb, rejoice;
And in new concert raise th' enraptur'd voice.
* Luke ch. ii. ver. 13, 14.
↑ Matt. ch. ii. ver. 2, &c.
Ye, who the paths of night's dark vale have trod,
Behold the rising dawn, behold your God!
To us a child is born, a son is giv'n,
The world's last hope, the last best gift of heav'n.
At his rebuke hell's baffled legions flee,
The winds are hush'd and calm'd the raging sea.
Death hears his mandate, and the silent grave
Proclaims his word omnipotent to save.
"Now swells the kindling strife; hoarse cries ascend On every gale and all the concave rend.
Crowds roll on crowds to Calvary's lofty brow,
And shouts convulsive shake the plains below.
He dies! the Lord of Life resigns his breath;
Nails pierce the hands that grasp the keys of death.
The veil is rent in twain, disparted fly
The shatter'd rocks, and midnight veils the sky.
Burst the dark tombs; upheaves the trembling ground,
And shudd'ring nature groans and quakes around.
Seraphic hosts forsake their thrones above,
Το gaze in wonder on the scenes of love.
Shall man alone in proud rebellion rise,
Hurl the proud vaunt and mock avenging skies?
Lo? from the brightness of his high abode,
In solemn gloom descends the pomp of God.
Famine and plague and all the train of war
Wait on his march and bear his flaming car.
He comes in vengeance; earth his presence feels,
And rocks convuls'd beneath his living + wheels.
Clouds, mantling clouds, his burning path proclaim,
And whirlwinds speak the terrors of his name.
No more with silent step heav'n's milder light
Walks in soft glory through the gloom of night:
In allusion to the signs preceding the destruction of Jerusalem. ↑ Ezek. i. 19, 20.
But howling tempests all the sky deform,
And ocean boils beneath the rushing storm.
In forky trains the winged bolts are hurl'd,
And sweep vindictive through a wasted world.
Peal swells on peal; careering thunders roll,
And wild commotion shakes the tott'ring pole.
On Jordan's banks that swim with native gore,
Rome's black battalions all their fury pour.
Less fierce some eagle through mid ether springs,
The thunder balanc'd on his sounding wings.
No tears, no prayers, their furious wrath can charm,
Nor age appease, nor innocence disarm.
From east to west the driving tempest pours *,
From plain to plain the whelming deluge roars:
Thy cities fall; the lofty flames aspire,
And God's own temple sinks in floods of fire.
"Tremendous doom! what shrieks of anguish rise,
What groans of serrow pierce averted skies.
To distant climes, with devious steps and slow,
The sad survivors of their country's woe
Move silent on, a melancholy train,
Or plead for mercy, but they plead in vain,
Whilst superstition spreads her baneful plume,
And Canaan mourns beneath th' unhallow'd gloom.
"But, lo! the standard waves again unfurl'd †,
And draws around a renovated world.
On Sion's brow the sacred splendours shine,
And earth's far confines hail the welcome sign.
Ye kings approach and beud the grateful knce;
Ye Gentiles, share the general jubilee.
At once the east and west and south and north
Feel the bright beam and pour their legions forth.
• Luke ch. xvii. ver. 24.
To Salem's courts what gathering crowds ascend,
What prostrate myriads in her temple bend!
Assembled nations pour th' adering strain,
Mix voice with voice and bless th' auspicious reign.
Worthy the Lamb, for us his blood was giv❜n,
The Sons of God, the ransom'd heirs of heav'n!'
From sea to sea the glowing transports roll,
Shore calls on shore and pole resounds to pole.
Heroes no more shall urge the thund'ring car,
Or hurl their vengeance through the ranks of war:
The din is hush'd; the storms of discord cease,
And savage natures harmonize in
peace.
The tawny lion, tyrant of the wood,
Forgets to rage, no more athirst for blood.
Fierce wolves and flocks in mild accordance feed,
Drink at one stream and crop one common mead :
The feather'd minstrels wake the tuneful grove
And hymn the reign of universal love.
Earth's utmost bounds the swelling concert raise,
And seas wide-weltering murmur notes of praise.
"Haste, haste, ye years; on swifter pinions borne,
Speed your glad course, and rise the destin'd morn :
Bid earth's dark realms with realms celestial vie,
A lower heav'n, an image of the sky.
For me a throne of purer radiance waits,
And heav'n unfolds her everlasting gates.
Let the last trump its rending terrors sound,
Let pealing thunders shake the vaulted round:
Let stars and skies in liquid flames expire,
And rolling suns dissolve in seas of fire-
High o'er the wreck my soul shall wing her flight,
And soar transported to the realms of light.
Father, I come; no more shall earth delay
The bursting visions of eternal day.
Ev'n now thy beams a sacred life impart,
Rouse my weak frame and cheer my languid heart.
Ev'n now I mount, I climb the blest abode,
Bask in the smiles and tread the courts of God.
There streams of life in endless glory rise,
Ambrosial fruits and trees of Paradise.
There kings and priests empyreal mansions own,
And circling seraphs guard the burning throne.
My kindred spirit hastes with them to prove
Th' unmeasur'd fulness of immortal love;
With angel choirs in prostrate joy to fall,
Heav'n my sure home, and God my all in all."
On receiving a Print of Cowper, engraved from a Sketch painted by Lawrence.
BY THE REV. DR. RANDOLPH OF BATH.
SWEET Bard! whose mind, thus pictur'd in thy face,
O'er every feature spreads a nobler grace;
Whose keen, yet soften'd, eye appears to dart
A look of pity through the human heart,
To search the secrets of man's inward frame,
To weep with sorrow o'er his guilt and shame;
Sweet Bard! with whom in sympathy of choice,
I oft have left the world at nature's voice,
To join the song that all her creatures raise,
To carol forth the great Creator's praise;
Or, wrapt in visions of eternal day,
Have gaz'd on truth in Zion's heavenly way;
Sweet Bard! may this thine image, all I know,
Or ever may, of Cowper here below,
Teach one who views it with a Christian's love,
To seek and find thee in the realms above!
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