The history of The Old Testament In verse With One Hundred and Eighty sculptures: In Two Volumes. Vol. I. From the Creation to the Revolt of the Ten Tribes from the House of David. Vol. II. From that Revolt to the End of the Prophets. Written by Samuel Wesley ... The Cuts done by J. Sturt |
I, II. |
The history of The Old Testament In verse | ||
CCLVI. Jonah, Chap. I.
Jonah commanded to go to Nineveh: He flees from the presence of the Lord: Is swallow'd by a Whale, &c.
Tho' his Pavilion he in Salem place;
The Nations too their Maker's Goodness share,
Nobly diffusive as the Sun or Air;
His Grief to punish, his Delight to spare.
For this to Nineveh was Jonah sent,
To bid their vast unnumber'd Crowds repent:
A hopeless Task! when Israel won't believe,
How shou'd the faithless Heathen him receive?
A Tyrian Bark the wayward Prophet bore
A different Course, for the Tartessian shore.
In vain he from the Omnipresent flies,
The Winds and Waves in Arms against him rise,
And stop the Fugitive, nor Oar, nor Sail
Can stem the Storm, nor nautic Art prevail:
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All Hope is gone, for now the Sailors pray:
On Moloch these, and these Astarte call,
On Dagon some, and some on mighty Baal;
Deaf to their Pray'rs, and helpless Idols all.
Jonah alone did still his Cabin keep,
(O how cou'd Jonah's Guilt so calmly sleep!)
Till rouz'd, among th'affrighted Crew he goes,
At once the Danger and the Cause he knows.
Glory he gave to Heav'n, and thus he said,
—I serve the Hebrews God, from him I fled:
Cease your mistaken Pray'rs and causless Fear,
This Storm, his Messenger, arrests me here.
Me, me, devoted to the raging Seas,
An Off'ring cast, you'll soon their Wrath appease:
Unwillingly they his Request perform,
They heave him o're, and with him lose the Storm:
—Nor is he yet beyond th'Almighty's Care,
Th'Almighty did a monstrous Fish prepare;
Which seiz'd him falling, whose capacious Womb,
Three dismal Days and Nights his living Tomb.
—Vain Grecian Poets hence, of after-date,
By Tyrian Hercules the Fact relate,
And steal their Hero's Fame from Jonah's wond'rous Fate.
The history of The Old Testament In verse | ||