And, Idumea! thou fhalt fwim in blood.
The Lord fhall haften from the lofty skies;
Destruction on his aweful footsteps waits;
Death ftalks before, ruin on every
fide

Proclaims the terror of an angry God.

The ravenous fword, pamper'd with reeking gore,
Drunk with the blood of half the rebel world,
Shall there be sheath'd in Ifrael's stubborn foes.
Bozrah with human facrifice shall smoke,

And Idumea, thoughtless of her fate,

Shall feel the smart of heav'n's avenging rod.

The great, the small, th' oppreffor, and th' opprefs'd,
Shall join promifcuous in the common heap;

And one vaft ruin fhall involve them all.

For Ifrael's God is girt with burning rage,
And vows a laft revenge to Zion's foes.
The filver ftreams, that fhine along the plain,
And chide their banks, and tinkle as they run,
Shall ftop, and ftagnate to a fable pool;
And, black with mud, unconscious of a tide,
No more fhall charm the sense, or lull the foul,
Or in foft murmurs die upon the ear:
But in crude ftreams and deadly ftench exhale,
And with contagious vapours load the sky.

Rapacious flames, in pyramids of fire,

Shall burn unquenchable; and fulph'rous fimoke,

Advancing o'er the horizontal plain,
In dufky wreaths roll ever to the skies.
Th' inhospitable land, left defolate,
Unfruitful, but in ev'ry noxious weed,
Shall be a lonely defart, wafte and wild;
Within whofe filent confines none fhall dwell;
Nor ever more be heard th' harmonious voice
Of warbling birds, that heretofore were wont
In vocal choir to animate the grove,

And from the fhady covert of the trees
Dispense sweet mufic to the lift'ning vale:
But hooting owls, that spread their lazy wings
O'er the dark gloom, and with their boding screams
Double the native horrors of the night;

These with the cormorants fhall dwell therein,
Securely in the upper lintels lodge,

And in the windows direful dirges fing.

God fhall extend, and bare his thund'ring arm;
And with confufion circumfcribe the land.
Where are the nobles, and the mighty chiefs,
That in foft ease their filken moments wafte;
To whom their proftrate vaffals throng in crowds,
Striving who first shall aweful homage pay,
And adoration! Them fhall they invoke;
But all in vain; their names shall be no more,
But in their ftead more worthy favages,

With rapine uncontrouble fhall reign;

And nobler brutes fhall canton out the land,
Thofe regal domes, and tow'ring palaces,

That high in clouds exalt their impious heads,
Reflecting thro' the liquid firmament

Home to the diftant ken a dazling blaze,
Thorns fhall furround, and nettles grow within:
Ivy fhall creep along the painted walls :

The matted grafs o'erfpread the polish'd floor;
And brambles vile entwine the
empty throne.
While beasts from different climes, joyous to find

A place of reft to man alone denied,

Shall take poffeffion of the gilded domes:
The fhaggy fatyrs, that old forefts haunt,
The oftrich and his mate, and dragons huge

Shall sport, and revel in the dreary waste.

There the hoarfe fcreech-owls, that in dead of night
Upon the chimney tops perch ominous,

While fongs obscene the filent hours disturb,
Shall in loud fhrieks their fad presages tell,
Shall unmolefted folitude enjoy,

And defolation make more defolate.
Ravens, and vulturs, fcenting from afar
The univerfal flaughter, fhall come forth
From the high mountain, and the humble vale,
Croaking in hideous concert, as they fly,
Dark'ning the heavens with their ghaftly train;
And glut their hungry jaws with human prey,

Not

Not one of these shall fail; none want her mate;
But shall for ever, fuch the Lord's decree,
In Edom's ruins wanton undisturb'd.

This is the fate, ordain'd for Zion's foes.

W

ISAIA H XXXV.

HEN Idumea, and the nations round,
Th' inveterate foes of Ifrael, and of God,
Lie vanquish'd, dormant on the dreary waste
Of far extended ruin; and involv'd
In hideous woe, and desolation wide,
Then fhall Judea lift her cheerful head;
Put forth the leaves of glad profperity;
And, after all the gloomy scene of grief
And fad affliction, flourish and revive
In all the bright ferenity of peace.

As the gay rofe, when winter storms are past,
Warm'd with the influence of a kinder fun,
Comes from the bud with a vermilion blush,
Cheering the fight, and scattering all around
A balmy odour, that perfumes the skies.
She shall rejoice with joy unfpeakable,
And, fraught with richest bleflings from above,
Spring forth in all the pride of Lebanon,
Whose lofty cedars, wond'rous to behold,
In bodies huge, and to the skies erect
Stand eminent, branch over branch out-fpread

In reg'lar diftances, and verdant shades,

Emblem of happy state.

Nor fhall the hills

Of fragrant Carmel, rich in fruitful foil;

Nor Sharon's flow'ry plain in all its bloom,
Array'd in Nature's goodlieft attire,

And breathing fresh a gale of heav'nly sweets,
Spring forth in greater glory. For the Lord
His goodness will declare, that knows no bounds;
And all the people fhall behold his might,
And fee the wonders of omnipotence.

Strengthen the languid nerves, ye feers! and bid
The trembling hand be ftrong. Call into life
The diffipated fpirits; and confirm

The feeble knees; th' unactive joints fupport;
And bid the lazy blood flow brifkly on,

And circulate with joy thro' every vein.

Comfort th' opprefs'd; and fimooth the ruffled mind;
Say to th' afflicted heart, devoid of hope,
Behold! th' Almighty rushes from the skies,
Ev'n Ifrael's God from his refulgent throne
Of glory comes, but not with radiant blaze
Of light, ev'n light invifible, as when
'To Mofes on Mount Horeb he appear'd,
And fent his faithful fervant to redeem
Ungrateful Ifrael from Egyptian bonds ;
Nor with the mufic of a ftill, foft voice,
As when h' inform'd the prophet of his will;
But in a black and dreadful hemisphere

Of