MOSES,

Under the Direction of Divine Providence,

CONDUCTING

THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL

FROM

EGYPT TO THE PROMISED LAND.

OH for that spirit which on Moses' lyre
Pour'd from the fount of light celestial fire,

Or which, 'mid Sion's courts, in later day,
Rais'd to sublime the Monarch-Prophet's lay!

For high the theme these numbers would rehearse,
High as e'er blest the happier Sons of Verse!

A nation fetter'd, from a tyrant land

Snatch'd by an arm outstretch'd, and mighty hand,

Through pathless wilds by signs and wonders led, While swept twice twenty summers o'er its head, And taught at length to rear its infant throne

In distant lands and regions not its own.

And ask of days that were from elder time,
Ask of yon orb which visits every clime,

If e'er they heard, since first they roll'd along,
A theme so worthy of an Angel's song!

Great was the shout from glad Arabia's shore,
"Sunk is Nile's warrior pride to rise no more!"
Sublime the triumph swells: to him, the Lord,
The God of Battles, wakes each tuneful chord ;
Their full applause the deep-mouth'd clarions raise,

And virgin timbrels join their softer praise:

From thousand altars holy perfumes rise,

And myriads bow in one vast sacrifice.

Are these the tribes which late by a Sihor's tide

a Another name for the Nile.

Wept o'er their wrongs, and loud for vengeance cried?
For them Hope beam'd not; but a night profound,
An endless night, seem'd gath'ring fast around;
Yet did the Day-spring rise, the captive's groan
Went not unheeded to his Father's throne;
He heard the mother's shriek, in anguish wild,
Ask from the tyrant's hand her murder'd child b;
He saw the toiling slave, th' inhuman lord,
And the keen tortures of the knotted cord.
Thrice-favour'd race! Jehovah's parent eye

Mark'd ev'ry tear, and number'd ev'ry sigh!
And though full many a dreary age had shed

Slav'ry's worst woes upon th' unshelter'd head, Though dark and long the night, yet morn could bring

Joy in its eye, and healing on its wing.

༣

Alluding to Pharaoh's edict for the destruction of all the

male children.

"

And lo! he comes, the Seer, whom Greece would

claim

Her Guardian-Pow'r by many a fabled name;
Meekest of men, by God's own voice decreed
His chosen flock, with shepherd care, to lead ;
For this was Mercy's arm outstretch'd to save
His infant promise from an early grave,

When Nile's tam'd billow kiss'd his rushy bed,
And the green snake play'd harmless o'er his head:
For this, when Science taught his wond'ring view
To read the stars, and look all nature through;
When Wealth and Honour led his Youth along,
And Pleasure woo'd him with her Siren song;
For this (as warm'd he felt his spirit rise,

And kindling claim its high born destinies.)

c Huet has given a list of the different Deities supposed to be the same with Moses.

For this he spurn'd them all; and now his hand Sheds pale dismay on Egypt's trembling land,

And waves exulting the triumphant Rod,

Israel's release, and symbol of his God.

'Tis past-that hour of death! the eye of light On its own tow'rs looks down, in glory bright: Yet ne'er on host so vast its golden beam, Waking, hath shone, as now, with mighty stream Of mingled man and herd, from Goshen's land

Pours frequent forth, a more than locust band.

They go; but all is silent as the tomb

For look! where, column'd high in massy gloom,
Deep as the darkness of the coming storm,
Moves slow before the host a giant-form;
And see, as all the twilight landscape fades,
A pale and dubious light the mass pervades,