41.

Come all ye Beasts, your Homage pay,
You of the fierce devouring Kind,
Who chiefly live on Prey;
And all the Night intent on Spoil,
Range up and down with restless Toil.
Where if by chance you wretched Trav'lers find,
Who are by Fate your Prey design'd,
On them without Remorse you seize,
And with their Blood your craving Stomachs please;
But when returning Day
Has chas'd the dusky Shades away,
Back to your Dens with Fear you run,
At once pursuing Men, and hated Light to shun:
And you, whose Innocence, and Use,
Keep you secure from all Abuse;
Ye harmless Flocks, who grace the Field,
And you, that milky Treasures yield:
All you that on the Mountains breed,
And you, that in the Vallies feed:
You, who on craggy Rocks reside,
And you, that in the Earth abide:
Let ev'ry individual Beast,
As well the largest, as the least,
Before their bounteous God rejoice,
And pay their Thanks with an united Voice.

42.

Ye Sons of Men, ye chosen Race
Whom God does with transcendent Favours grace:
You, who depend on his Almighty Pow'r,
And taste his Bounty ev'ry Hour;
Return those Thanks which are his Due,
And let the brutal Kind be all out-done by you:
Exert your Reason, ev'ry Thought improve,
And let your Faculties be all employ'd on Love:
That Love, to which our all we owe,
And which takes Pleasure freely to bestow.
When first this beauteous World was wrought,
While we existed but in Thought,
Love, even then our Good design'd,
Even then in ev'ry Part it shin'd:
Each Place had something to invite,
The whole was crouded with Delight.
The Air was calm, the balmy Spring
Did all its fragrant Treasures bring:
The Beasts rejoyc'd, and void of Strife,
Enjoy'd a pleasant, easie Life:
Sung the glad Birds, and all conspir'd
To make the Earth a Place desir'd,
A Paradise, that cou'd not be enough admir'd!

43.

When thus prepar'd, Love smiling came,
And did our happy Parents frame:
Beauteous they were as dawning Light,
Their Understandings clear and bright.
To you, said he, this Earth I give;
Amidst unnumber'd Pleasures live.
Prove but obedient, and your Bliss shall be
As lasting as my own Eternity.
He spoke; they listen'd to the joyful Sound,
Then cast their ravish'd Eyes around,
Where e'er they gaz'd, they some new Wonder found,
Ah! thoughtless Pair! how soon were you undone!
O cou'd you not the fatal Tempter shun!
Accursed Pride! thou Ruin of our Race,
Thou black Inhabitant of Hell,
How durst thou enter that forbidden Place,
And prompt them to rebel?
O 'twas the vain Desire of knowing more,
Of adding to your intellectual Store,
Which made both you, and all your wretched
Off-spring poor.

44.

Too late, alas! they their sad Change lament,
And to the Woods their fruitless Sorrows vent.
Its dire Effects their Guilt displays,
For Innocence once lost, Content no longer stays:
Pursu'd by Vengeance, of themselves afraid,
They were a Prey to ev'ry Terror made:
The Fear of Death, that unknown worst of Ills,
Their sad desponding Souls with black Ideas fills:
Where e'er they look'd, a dismal Horror reign'd,
And ev'ry Creature in its turn complain'd:
Full of Despair, they shun the hated Day,
And in dark Shades sigh their sad Hours away:
But they, alas! in vain retire;
Shades cannot hide from Wrath divine;
That all-consuming Fire
Will thro' the thickest Covert shine:
Nor subterranean Vaults, nor an Egyptian Night
Are Proof against the searching Rays of pure
Æthereal light.

45.

Offended Justice comes to try their Cause,
And from their close Recess the trembling Wretches draws.
Struck pale with Horror, self-condemn'd they stood,
And for themselves some vain Excuses made:
Deceiv'd they were by a pretended Good,
And all the Blame on the false Tempter laid:
The Judge incens'd, their Follies wou'd not hear,
The weak Results of Shame and Fear.
Their Wills were free, and they had Pow'r to chuse;
The Good they knew, and might the Ill refuse:
Felicity was theirs; and if they'd pleas'd
The glorious Treasure had been still their own;
They cou'd not be by Fraud, or Force disseiz'd:
Their Loss was owing to themselves alone:
Their Disobedience to the Law divine
Made Death, eternal Death, their Due:
In vain they at their Punishment repine,
Th' impartial Judge will no Compassion shew.
Their future Race with them must bear a Part,
Involv'd both in the Guilt, and in the Smart.

46.

Love look'd with Pity on their lost Estate,
And strove to mitigate their rig'rous Fate:
But its Attempts all unsuccessful prove.
Relentless Justice nought could move:
'Twas deaf to all the soft Remonstrances of Love.
When it in vain all other Ways had try'd,
It put on Flesh, and for the Guilty dy'd:
Offer'd it self in Sacrifice for All,
And did a willing Victim fall.
O wondrous Goodness! Kindness all Divine!
The God does in the bounteous Action shine!

47.

See, he appears! he leaves his glorious Throne!
Puts off his Robes of dazling Light
And all alone
He downward takes his Way
To Realms remote from his eternal Day!
Where all those splendors which our Eyes invite,
Are if compar'd to those above,
Like Lunar Beams, or wandring Fires,
And all as mean, as transient Pleasures prove.
He comes! he comes! our Nature wears!
And all our sinless Frailties shares,
And all our Sorrows, all our Suff'rings bears!
Each Angel at the Sight admires,
And stooping low, with wondring Eyes,
Into th' awful Myst'ry pries.
Gaze on, gaze on, O holy Quire!
And as you gaze, his Praises sing;
Such wondrous Love you can't enough admire,
A Love which only cou'd from boundless Pity spring.

48.

But stay a while, your heav'nly Musick cease,
Behold a Scene your Wonder will increase:
A Scene, that wou'd, cou'd you be touch'd with Grief,
The deepest Sorrow in your Breasts excite,
A melancholy, an amazing Sight,
A Prodigy beyond Belief!
A God surrounded by insulting Foes,
And meekly yielding to their barb'rous Rage,
Condemn'd, despis'd, and scourg'd by those
For whose lov'd sakes he this hard Treatment chose!
With cruel Men, infernal Pow'rs engage,
And the Variety of Torments try:
No common Suff'rings can their Wrath asswage,
He must with complicated Tortures die.
View him! O view him on th' accursed Wood,
His tender Hands and Feet all stain'd with Blood,
Bending beneath an ignominious Fate,
The dire Result both of their Guilt and Hate.

49.

See, by his Cross, the Virgin Mother stands
With streaming Eyes, and lifted Hands:
Fixt on the mournful Object she appears,
And only speaks by Sighs and Tears.
Thou wondrous Pattern of maternal Love!
Cou'd Grief like thine no Pity move?
Such Sorrow might ev'n hungry Tigers charm,
And fierce Barbarians of their Wrath disarm:
But the more savage Jews were Strangers grown
To those soft Dictates Nature does inspire;
They did all tender Sentiments disown,
And were by Hellish Malice set on Fire:
But oh! our Sins strike deeper than their Rage,
And in their Cause, celestial Wrath ingage:
They pierc'd his Soul with Sorrows more intense,
Than ever since were felt by human Sense.
While thus he suffer'd, the condoling Sun
Withdrew his Light,
That he the dismal sight might shun;
Darkness, great as their Crimes, the World o'erspread,
And ev'ry Ray back to its Center fled.
While they are wondring at the sudden Night,
His dreadful Agonies increase,
Our Sins disturb'd his inward Peace:
With loud Complaints, and strong pathetick Cries,
He tow'rds his Father's Throne cast his expiring Eyes,
To him resigns his Soul, and full of Anguish dies.

50.

See! O thou holy Mourner! see!
Commiserating Nature joins with thee!
The trembling Earth resounds thy Moans,
And answers ev'ry Sigh with loud redoubl'd Groans:
The Beasts refuse their Meat, the Birds complain,
And with sad Notes fill each adjoining Plain;
The neighb'ring Hills return the mournful Sound,
And spread the melancholy Musick round:
The Rivers with condoling Murmurs flow,
And crystal Fountains Signs of Sadness show:
The Rocks are rent,
And the rough Soldiers wear
Th' unusual Badge of Sorrow and of Fear:
Full of Compassion each retires;
The moving Sight so vast Concern inspires.
All, but the cruel Jews relent;
Their harden'd Hearts cannot of Ill repent.