Classic Poem

D E scend, Celestial Dove! my Voice inspire
O thou that tipt Isaiah 's Tongue with Fire!
Teach me like him to feel th' extatic Flame,
And raise my Numbers equal to my Theme.

" Rapt into future Times, the Bard begun, — —
" A Virgin shall conceive, a Virgin bear a Son. "
His Names Divine His Dignity declare!
Immanuel , the wondrous Counseller,
Th' eternal Father, the pacific Prince,
The God arm'd with His own Omnipotence.

Th' eternal Spirit shall profusely shed
His richest Unction on his sacred Head:
Wisdom and Knowledge, Piety and Might
Descend, and on His sacred Temples light.
The radiant Beam of His all-piercing Eyes
Shall dart thro' lurking Frauds obstruse Disguise.
Sly Hypocrites with all their artful Shews
On His Omniscience try in vain t'impose.

His Shoulders shall the Government sustain,
And He triumphant o'er the Nations reign.
His growing Empire o'er the World extend,
And know no Bounds but Nature's utmost End.
To this illustrious Ensign, high in Air,
The numerous Tribes of Adam shall repair:
Thither the Gentiles with unwearied Feet
Shall tend, and there in endless Armies meet;
With the M ESSIAH 's peaceful Conduct blest,
Shall, undisturb'd enjoy eternal Rest.
The scatt'red Remnant of the sacred Stock,
Shall to their own M ESSIAH 's Standard flock;
With eager Haste in endless Orders crowd
From foreign Climes and barb'rous Servitude.

Impartial Justice shall erect her Scale,
And weak, insulted Innocence prevail:
The Meek, the Poor defy impending Harm,
And smile secure beneath His Guardian Arm.
Eternal Righteousness shall rule the Globe,
The glorious Girdle of His royal Robe.
Confusion, Anarchy, with wild Dismay,
Shall fly afar from his well ordered Sway:
Serene and steady his Affairs shall run
In calm, harmonious Order ever on.

Nor shall His Reign those Revolutions know
That toss the petty Monarchies below;
But while eternal Years their Circuits run,
Triumphant He shall fit on David 's Throne.

Soft Peace shall bloom in His auspicious Reign;
The Olive flourish in eternal Green.
He into Peace the jarring World shall look,
And still their Contests with his dread Rebuke:
The jarring World, obedient to His Eye,
Shall lay their useless martial Weapons by.
The bloody Sword new form'd shall learn to plow,
And mortal Spears to Pruning-Hooks shall bow;
No more shall Fields drink in heroic Gore,
Nor brazen Trumpets kindle Fury more,
Nor deadly War with usual Thunder roar.

The Tribes that savage and rapacious rove
In Quest of Prey, shall soften Into Love;
And weary of their former sullen Joy,
Shall in the sacred Mount no more destroy,
" The Lambs with Wolves shall graze the verdant Mead.
" And Boys in flow'ry Bands the Tyger lead.
" The Steer and Lion at one Crib shall meet,
" And harmless Serpents lick the Pilgrim's Feet.
" The smiling Infant in his Hand shall take,
" The erected Basilisk, and speckled Snake;
" Pleas'd the green Lustre of the Scales survey,
" And with their forky Tongue and pointless Sting shall play. "
The proud Rebuke, the big insulting Frown
Shall on the smiling Earth no more be known.
" No Sigh, no Murmur the wide World shall hear;
" From every Face He wipes off every Tear. "

Then shall the Earth, the Air, the Sea, the Sky
Eccho with Praise and grateful Harmony.
To Thee J EHOVAH ! every Tongue shall sing;
And with loud Praise the wide Creation ring.
Tho' late Thy Wrath did with dread Fury glow,
The Flame is quench'd, and now Thy Mercies flow.
The Hand that wounded, now affords Relief,
And endless Joy succeeds to transient Grief.
Behold a God vouchsases to be my Aid!
Why should I, thus protected, be afraid?
Th' Omnipotent becomes my Strength and Guard,
And His Salvation my immense Reward.
Therefore my Tongue, the Glory of my Frame,
Exulting shall His grateful Praise proclaim.
My Soul with lib'ral Draughts be satisfy'd,
Where living Streams of pure Salvation glide:
In parched Desarts copious Streams shall burst,
And flow, and quench the Pilgrim's raging Thirst.

Then various Tongues shall say with one Accord,
Come jointly let us praise th' Almighty Lord;
With reverent Lips invoke His awful Name,
And round th' astonish'd World His wond'rous Works proclaim.
Let thousand Tongues with glad Submission own,
J EHOVAH reigns exalted on his Throne;
Let thousand Voices in loud Accents sing
The vast Exploits of the eternal King;
Exploits to Earth's remotest Limits known,
Vast as his Power, and boundless as his Throne.

As some besieged City, when they spy
Their kind Deliverer's welcome Flag draw nigh,
With Shouts triumphant stun the ecchoing Skies,
And shock the Courage of their Enemies:
So sacred Zion ! with exulting Voice,
Shout loud thro' Heav'n and Earth thy boist'rous Joys;
For great in Majesty, and great in Arms,
Clad in fair Holiness with all its Charms,
Great in the Midst of thee J EHOVAH reigns,
And the fierce Rage of hostile Pow'r restrains.

Thy Arm, Great God ! has levell'd to the Ground
Proud Cities that proclaim'd Defiance round;
Laid in rude Heaps the strong aspiring Tow'r,
And Palaces to be repair'd no more.
These mighty Works convey'd on Wings of Fame,
Shall teach the World to reverence Thy Name.
Conqu'rors shall lay their Laurels at Thy Feet,
And savage Nations tremble and submit.
Tyrants shall feel the Terror of his Rod,
And own, reluctant, a superior God .
Oppression, blasted with his vengeful Breath,
Wither and sink in everlasting Death;
Thro' Rebel Crowds the Terror of his Word
Shall pierce resistless like a griding Sword.

Aspiring Mortals! hide you in the Rock
From the majestick Terror of His Look:
Into the Dust, abas'd, confounded sink,
And struck with Awe from his dread Presence shrink.
The supercilious Look, the lofty Brow,
The stubborn Haughtiness of Man shall bow;
And in that Day th' UNNUTTERABLE N AME ,
Shall reign unrivall'd on His Throne Supreme.
The proud, aspiring Monarchs of the World
Shall from their fancy'd Dignity be hurl'd.
His vengeful Thunder with destructive Strokes
Shall rend and blast proud Bashan 's sturdy Oaks,
The stately Cedars of Libanus scathe,
And blend their Fragments with the Shrubs beneath.
The tow'ring Mountains and aspiring Hills
Adoring fall and sink to humble Vales.
The Tow'r impregnable, the fenced Wall
Crumble to Dust, and with loud Ruin fall
The Ships of Tarshish , fraught with golden Store,
Founder in the rough Deep and float no more.
Struck with the Terror of J EHOVAH 's Look,
Aspiring Worms shall creep into the Rock;
To gloomy Clefts and Caves, with wild Dismay,
From His majestic Presence shrink away,
When He with Terror shall Himself enrobe,
And rises to affright the trembling Globe.

With pious Boasts then shall th' insulted Just
Proclaim the Issue of their patient Trust.
Ye impious Scoffers of our Patience, see!
Our God appears! th' Incarnate Deity
Our God appears! for Him, for Him we fought;
And lo! our patient Tears are not forgot.
This is our God ! and lo! the God appears!
Exult our Hearts! and flow no more our Tears!
Salvation on this glad Approach attends,
And grants the largest Wishes of his Friends.
Here shall Omnipotence itself exert,
And His right Hand shall never hence depart:
With wrathful Majesty His Feet shall tread
On Zion's Foes, and Heaps of hostile Dead;
Insult the Rebels prostrate struck with Awe;
So heavy Oxen tread the rotting Straw.

Then shall He scatter the dark Glooms of Hell,
And from benighted Nations tear the Veil,
The universal Veil that now excludes
The cheerful Light from groping Multitudes.
So bright a Glory shall He dart around,
The dazzling Deluge shall the Sun confound,
Absorpt and lost in the superior Light,
The Sun shall hide his Face, in everlasting Night:
The Moon confounded, thro' the midnight shade
Shall gleam no more, nor feeble Radiance spread.
For as th' accumulated Waters crowd
Th' unbounded Deep, old Ocean's vast Abode;
Th' unbottom'd Cavity compactly fill
With Waves on Waves, Billows on Billows still:
So shall the Dawn of bright celestial Light
O'erflow the World, and banish ancient Night;
Thro' thickest Glooms of Ignorance shall pierce,
And dart its Lustre round the Universe
The wretched Tribes that walk in Death's dark Shade,
With Clouds of Ignorance and Guilt o'erspread,
Observe the heavenly Ray, with glad Surprize,
Dart thro' the hideous Gloom and bless their Eyes.
(Not so the Tribes beneath the Artic Bear,
Immur'd in Ice and Darkness half the Year,
Rejoice to see the Stranger-Sun appear.)
With brighter Splendors fir'd, the languid Moon
Shall shine the Rival of the Noon-day Sun;
The Noon-day Sun with sevenfold Lustre glow,
And seven Days Eight at once the World o'erflow.

The heav'nly Branch from Jesse 's sacred Root,
To bless the World shall germinate and shoot;
See clad in vernal Beauty, bow it blooms!
And breathes among the Nations rich Perfumes:
Blest with its Fruit th' expiring World revives,
And Death avoids the Fragrance of its Leaves.
O'ercome with sultry Hear, the fainting Head,
Reclin'd beneath its fragrant cooling Shade,
Shall fresh returning Life and Vigour feel,
And in the Blaze of Noon himself regale.
When ruptur'd Clouds in rapid Torrents burst,
And rush o'erwhelming with outragious Gust,
The verdant Shelter guards the Tempest off,
That raves in vain around the arb'rous Roof.
As with a Cloud Thou dost the Earth regale,
When Noon-day Beams and scorching Suns prevail;
As cooling Streams in barren parched Lands
Refresh the Trav'ler on the burning Sands;
As some great Rock with its propitious Shade
Protects from piercing Beams the drooping Head;
So shall Thy Grace relieve the helpless Poor,
When round them Crowds of hostile Strangers roar;
Their fiercest Rage shall ineffectual fall
Like Blasts that ravage round a brazen Wall.

The Lord of Armies shall his Table spread
On Zion Mount, and famish'd Nations feed;
With heav'nly Dainties form the sumptuous Feast,
Where luscious Marrow shall delight the Taste;
The gen'rous Grape her vig'rous Juice bestow
And vet'ran Wine in copious Rivers flow;
Wine well refin'd, extracted from the Lees.
Season'd by Time, and ripen'd fit to please.
Th' expiring World shall take what He prepares,
Appease their Hunger and renew their Years.

On barren Wastes th' eternal Spirit pours
His sacred Influence in prolific Show'rs:
The Desart flourishes a fruitful Field,
And verdant Groves adorn the horrid Wild.
The Desert blossoms like the fragrant Rose,
And there sweet Leb'non 's flow'ry Beauty glows.
There a new Sharon breathes its sweet Perfumes,
Fresh Lilies spring, and sudden Verdure blooms.
" The Trav'ler starts amidst the Wilds to hear
" New Falls of Water murm'ring in his Ear. "
Thro' the wide Wastes eternal Justice reigns,
And Judgment blooms thro' all the dismal Plains;
Celestial Splendors from the Source Divine
Thro' the sad Realms of Desolation shine.
The barren Rocks, the bleak unwater'd Hills
Shall with irriguous Streams refresh the Vales;
From parched Mountains copious Rivers flow,
And on their barren Peaks eternal Verdure grow!

Surprizing Event! yet we rest assur'd;
A God , a God has spoke the solemn Word;
Even jealous Unbelief shall own it true,
For what his Lips declare His Pow'r can do.