One song employs all nations; and all cry,

66

Worthy the Lamb, for he was slain for us!"
The dwellers in the vales and on the rocks
Shout to each other, and the mountain tops
From distant mountains catch the flying joy;
Till, nation after nation taught the strain,
Earth rolls the rapturous Hosanna round.
Behold the measure of the promise fill'd;
See Salem built, the labour of a God!
Bright as a sun the sacred city shines;
All kingdoms and all princes of the Earth
Flock to that light; the glory of all lands
Flows into her; unbounded is her joy,

And endless her increase. Thy rams are there,
Nebaioth, and the flocks of Kedar there; P

The looms of Ormus, and the mines of Ind,
And Saba's spicy groves, pay tribute there.

800

Nebaioth and Kedar, the sons of Ishmael, and progenitors of the Arabs, in the prophetic scripture here alluded to, may be reasonably considered as representatives of the gentiles at large.

Praise is in all her gates; upon her walls,

And in her streets, and in her spacious courts,
Is heard salvation. Eastern Java there
Kneels with the native of the farthest west;
And Æthiopia spreads abroad the hand,
And worships. Her report has travell❜d forth
Into all lands. From ev'ry clime they come,
To see thy beauty, and to share thy joy,
O Sion! an assembly such as Earth

Saw never, such as Heav'n stoops down to see.

810

Thus Heav'nward all things tend. For all were

once

Perfect, and all must be at length restor❜d.

So God has greatly purpos'd; who would else 820
In his dishonour'd works himself endure

Dishonour, and be wrong'd without redress.
Haste then, and wheel away a shatter'd world,
Ye slow revolving seasons! we would see

(A sight to which our eyes are strangers yet)

A world, that does not dread and hate his laws,
And suffer for it's crime; would learn how fair
The creature is, that God pronounces good,

How pleasant in itself what pleases him.
Here ev'ry drop of honey hides a sting;

830

Worms wind themselves into our sweetest flow'rs,

And ev❜n the joy, that haply some poor heart
Derives from Heav'n, pure as the fountain is,
Is sullied in the stream, taking a taint
From touch of human lips, at best impure.
O for a world in principle as chaste

As this is gross and selfish! over which
Custom and Prejudice shall bear no sway,

That govern all things here, should'ring aside

The meek and modest Truth, and forcing her 840

To seek a refuge from the tongue of strife

In nooks obscure, far from the ways of men:

Where violence shall never lift the sword,

Nor cunning justify the proud man's wrong,
Leaving the poor, no remedy but tears:

Where he, that fills an office, shall esteem

Th' occasion it presents of doing good

More than the perquisite: where Law shall speak Seldom, and never but as Wisdom prompts

And Equity; not jealous more to guard

A worthless form, than to decide aright:

Where Fashion shall not sanctify abuse,

850

Nor smooth Good-breeding (supplemental grace) With lean performance ape the work of Love!

Come then, and added to thy many crowns, Receive yet one, the crown of all the Earth, Thou who alone art worthy! It was thine

By ancient covenant, ere nature's birth;

And thou hast made it thine by purchase since; And overpaid it's value with thy blood.

860

Thy saints proclaim thee king; and in their hearts

Thy title is engraven with a pen

Dipp'd in the fountain of eternal love.

Thy saints proclaim thee king; and thy delay

Gives courage to their foes, who, could they see The dawn of thy last advent, long desir'd,

Would creep into the bowels of the hills,

And flee for safety to the falling rocks.

The very spirit of the world is tir'd

Of it's own taunting question, ask'd so long,

870

"Where is the promise of your Lord's approach?" The infidel has shot his bolts away,

Till, his exhausted quiver yielding none,

He gleans the blunted shafts, that have recoil'd,
And aims them at the shield of Truth again.
The veil is rent, rent too by priestly hands,
That hides divinity from mortal eyes;
And all the mysteries to faith propos'd,
Insulted and traduc'd, are cast aside,

As useless to the moles and to the bats.

880

They now are deem'd the faithful, and are prais'd,

Who, constant only in rejecting thee,

Deny thy Godhead with a martyr's zeal,

And quit their office for their errour's sake.