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THE

Third Chapter of HABAKKUK

PARAPHRASE D.

WRAPT

RAPT in the blaze of bright furrounding
flame,

From Paran's lofty brow th' ALMIGHTY came:
All heav'n with terror view'd His rifing frown,
His dazzling eyes with living splendor shone,
Blaz'd the blue arch! th' eternal portals glow!
Each rocking mountain bow'd, and groan'd below!
A troop of ghaftly phantomes strode before,
Blue blafting Plague, and War that floats in gore;
Loud Fury, roaring with tumult'ous cries,
And frantic Pain that tears her burning eyes;
Revenge, that boils like fome fermenting flood,
Grief that confumes, and Rage that weeps in blood.

ON Judah's broad domain He caft His view ; His eyes all-radiant piercing as He flew!

Then mark'd its bound, and with one stern command Th'affrighted nations fhook, and fwept them from the

land.

Then

Then heav'n-bred Terror feiz'd on ev'ry foul,
And rock'd the labouring earth from pole to pole;
Creation totter'd at the dreadful found!

Groan'd all the hills! and burst the folid ground! The fweeping winds each tow'ring mountain bear Full on their wings, and whirl them in the air!

ON Cufhan's tents He aim'd a fatal blow, And Midian trembled at th' Almighty Foe. He call'd the deep:-its tumbling waves obey; Th'astonish'd flood roll'd back to make Him way! Whence rofe His ire? did e'er the flood displease Its God? or raged His fury on the feas?

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When Ifrael's wond'ring hofts JEHOVAH led,
Why shrunk the backward rivers to their head?
Why roar'd the Ocean from its inmost caves?
What arm reprefs'd, and froze the boiling waves?
O'er its broad bofom heav'n's Eternal rode,
The waves divide before th' advancing God!
In heaps the cleaving billows lay o'erthrown,
He stopp'd their course, and touch'd them into stone!

Lo, where he comes !-descending from afar
In all the pomp of defolating war!

His cloudy brow with frowning vengeance lowrs,
And bursting round the forky thunder roars.

See

f

See His red arm unfheaths the fhining spear
The glittʼring blade hangs naked in the air!
It rends the rock !—from all its gushing veins
A fwelling deluge burfts, and pours along the plains.
Hark, He commands !-obedient to his will,
The pale Moon quakes, th' arrested Sun stands * ftill!
Earth hears and shakes, devouring tempefts rise,
Thick clouds and whirlwinds blacken all the fkies;
Tremble the poles,-in wild confufion thrown
Sink the steep Hills,-th'eternal Mountains groan.

WHAT dire portents my wond'ring foul affright! What scenes of terror swim before

my fight! See mighty Babylon (fo heav'n ordains)

The fcourge of God! ftalks wildly o'er our plains!
Sweeps like fome fwelling flood our hofts away,
Or fwift as lightning fprings, and grafps the prey.

YET fear not, Ifrael, at his dreadful ire; Thou fav'rite child of heav'n's exalted Sire! What though pale Rage, in her triumphant car, Drives o'er thy fields, and founds the blast of war!

* The Author is fenfible that there may appear fome impropriety in this fentiment, as it is feemingly repugnant to the fyftem of COPERNICUs. He chofe however to prefer this meaning of the words

What

to any other, as it is exactly conformable to the original, and as it may be supposed to refer only to the motion of the fun round his own axis.

What though thy warriors load the purple plain!
Though bellowing Slaughter ftrides o'er heaps of flain !
Though Horror numbs thy fenfe, and freezes ev'ry vein!
'Tis thus thy God makes boafted might fubfide,
Thus fpurns His foes, and bends the brow of pride:
Yet know, thofe wounds avenging Juftice gave,
Stern Ire impell'd, but Mercy meant to save.
Triumphant Mercy! that exalts the low,
Sighs o'er th' opprefs'd, and melts at human woe!
Wipes ev'ry tear, bids pining Anguish cease;
And pours o'er all the healing balm of peace.

BUT fee once more th' intrepid Victor near;
The shouts of battle thunder on my ear!
Mark, mark yon yielding throng!-'tis Ifrael flies!
Groans, noife, defpair, and tumult rend the skies.
I faint o'erpow'r'd beneath the whelming flood,
Wild numbing Grief congeals my creeping blood;
I fee, I fhudder at th' approaching train!
My lips too quiver with convulfive pain:
Fix'd dumb with horror at this dreadful blow,
I ftand,-a fpeechlefs monument of woe!

YET, Mighty God!-be all my pow'rs refign'd! And thine each nobler hope that warms the mind. Then though no more to crown the peasant's toil, The bleeding olive stream with facred oil

VOL. I.

M

Though

Though figs no more their leafy tendrils join;
Though fcorching lightning blast the budding vinë;
Though the rough steed lie panting on the plain,
Nor wave th' autumnal fields with golden grain:
Yet thall my
foul thy wond'rous grace proclaim;
Yet this fond heart fhall triumph in thy name.
When o'er the earth Thou wav'ft th' avenging rod;
When Nature trembles at an angry God;

When the bold breaft, with terror not its own,
Shakes at thy voice, and withers at thy frown;
Then by no ftorms difmay'd, no fears depreft,
In Thee my foul fhall find perpetual rest :
O'er me fecure thy hov'ring wings fhall spread,
And Sleep's mild opiate bless my peaceful bed *.

*The Reader will eafily obferve that this chapter hath been paraphrafed with fome liberty. The beauties of it are thick fown. The expreffion is uncommonly fublime, the figures bold, the painting rich, and the defcription animated. The Author hath enlarged on fome verfes, tranfpofed or even omitted others, and given

fuch a turn to the reft, as may convey moft perfpicuously the meaning of the Prophet. Upon the whole, he hath endeavoured to paint fome ftriking features; but where he found it impoffible in any measure to equal, he had not the temerity of attempting to imitate.

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