CLXXII. 1 Kings, Chap. XVIII. from Ver. 1. to Ver. 16.
Obadiah hides the Prophets in Caves: He meets Elijah.
The
Famine rag'd, but Jezebel accurs'd
Of all her wasted Country's Plagues the worst,
Ahab, to Murther and to Mischief prone,
She to his Ruin urges and her own:
With such a Friend to all her black Designs,
She Persecution to her Idols joyns:
Who e're the King's Religion dar'd oppose,
Are doom'd to Death, proscrib'd for public Foes:
God's Prophets who her Idols still withstand,
Pursu'd with Fire and Sword around the Land:
Where e're the Heretic is found, he dies,
To Baal and Ashtaroth a Sacrifice:
But Virtue ev'n in Tyrants Courts has Friends,
And pious Obadiah them defends;
Forc'd from their Colleges their Wants relieves,
At once Provision and Protection gives.
An Hundred from the gen'ral Wreck remain'd,
Whom he in subterranean Vaults sustain'd:
Behold him ready to forsake the Light,
Whence fearless wading thro' the gloomy Night;
He tempts alone, the doubtful deep descent,
And to his refug'd Friends with kind Refreshments went.
Thro' the blind Grott he oft Relief conveys,
And oft returns thro' secret winding ways;
Thus long eludes the jealous Tyrant's Cares,
Who now a Progress thro' the Land prepares,
For his half-perish'd Steeds relief to find,
And save what Drought and Famine left behind.
A diff'rent Course he bids his Servant steer,
Happy, the Tyrant was no longer near!
Proceeding, soon he did Elijah meet,
And prostrate on the Ground embrac'd his Feet;
Who bids him to the wand'ring Prince repair,
And let him know Elijah waits him there:
He thus returns—thro' all the Nations round,
Which our unhappy famish'd Country bound,
My Lord has search'd in vain, but no Elijah found:
If I the News of his Arrival bring
To our enrag'd and disappointed King;
While thee the sacred Spirit far hence shall bear
Thro' distant Fields, or else sublime in Air,
Thy Servant's Life th'Inhuman will not spare:
Nor mine a Victim to his Rage alone;
And was it never to Elijah shown,
(Or can there ought to him remain unknown?)
When Jezebel the Prophets did pursue,
And with insatiate Rage proscrib'd and slew;
How many I preserv'd—which all must die,
If I am lost and they have no supply.
Dismiss thy Fears, he said—So God to me,
Unless this Day thy angry Lord I see:
To Ahab strait he with the Message went,
And brought him half displeas'd, and half content;
But what their mutual Salutations were
The Verse awhile must breath, and then at large declare.
