University of Virginia Library

SCENE III.

The Borders of the Red Sea.
Moses and the Israelites on their March.
RECITATIVE.
1st Israelite.
The Joy of sudden Freedom is too great;
Th'expanding Heart is pain'd to give it Room.

2d Israelite.
My Spirits all mount upward, and I feel
As I could tread on Air; even Nature's Wants
Almost I could forget, and Toil, and Hunger,
Lose their Effects upon me as I march.

AIR.
Less are youthful Charms to Love,
Less is Danger to the Brave,
Less to Misers Gold must prove,
Less than Freedom to the Slave.

CHORUS.
This is sacred Truth's Decree,
Truth, the Friend of human Race;
Death is Honour to the Free,
Life is to the Slave Disgrace.

Enter Messenger.
RECITATIVE.
Messenger.
Cease the loud Triumph of your joyful Strains:
Egypt's stern Tyrant, dreadful and resistless,
As the blue Pestilence that rides the Wind,
Enrag'd pursues us with prevailing Speed;
The rapid Chariot plows the smoking Ground,
And the proud Courser scorns our tardy flight.

CHORUS.
O! Words of Horror! dreadful Sound!
A thousand Deaths beset us round!
Our Hope is vain, and vain our Pray'r,
'Tis Anguish all! 'tis all Despair.

Enter Moses.
RECITATIVE.
Moses.
So soon, ye Faithless! can ye fear so soon!
Turn not your Eye to yonder idle Pomp
Of mortal Foes, the Children of the Dust;
But look before ye, where the cloudy Pillar,
That marks your destin'd Way to Peace and Safety,
Veils the dread Pow'r who from himself began,
And fills Eternity! before whose Eye
All Nature stands rebuk'd.

1st Israelite.
Forgive th'involuntary Fears that rise
From Dangers such as these, so great, so sudden;
Behind us drives the Foe, whose Iron Hand
Our suffering Tribes have felt, and mourn'd so long;
Before us, with inexorable Wave,
The Sea, far sounding, beats the sullen Shore.

Moses.
Let me, while thus I lift my Hand to Heav'n,
Teach ye, once more, to trust eternal Truth.

[As he lifts up his Rod, the Sea is supposed to be suddenly divided.
A Symphony expressing the Commotion of the Waters.
CHORUS.
It parts! it parts! the liquid Walls behold,
Of Wave on Wave in foaming volumes roll'd!
In Terror fix'd, the Sea forgets to flow,
And leaves unveil'd the hoary Gulph below;
In Safety pass, ye chosen Tribes, along,
And let the parted Deep resound your Song.