Devteronomy. XXXII.
[Part 1.]
Lend, O you Heavens, unto my voyce an eare:
And thou, O Earth, what I shall utter, heare.
My words shall fall like Deaw, like April showers
On tender Herbs, and new-disclosed Flowers;
VVhile I the Goodnesse of our God proclaime:
O celebrate his great and glorious Name!
Our Rocke, whose VVorks are perfect. Justice leads,
And equall Judgement walks the VVay he treads.
In him unstain'd Sincerity excels;
The God of Truth, in whom no falshood dwels.
But you are all corrupt, perverse; nor beare
Those Marks about you, which his Children weare.
O fooles! depriv'd of intellectuall Light!
Doe you your great Preserver thus requite?
Your Father? He who made you? did select
From all the World, and with his Beauty deck'd?
Remember; aske the Ancient: They will tell
What in old times, and Ages past, befell:
VVhen the most High did distribute the Earth,
VVith liberall hand, to all of humane birth:
VVhen yet you were not, He, according to
Your numerous Race, design'd a Seat for you.
Part. 2.
His People are his Portion: Jacob is
Th'Inheritance alone reserv'd for His.
He, when he wandred through a desert land,
And in a horrid Wildernesse of sand;
Conducted, taught him his high Mysteries;
And kept him as the Apples of his Eyes.
As the old Eagle on her Ayery spreads
Her fostring Plumes; renewes their downy beds,
Feeds, traines them for the flight, subdues their feares;
And on her soaring wings her Eaglets beares:
So he sustein'd, So led him; He alone:
No stranger-Gods to Israel then were knowne.
Whom like a Horse the towring Mountaines bore;
That those rich fields might feast him with their store.
With Honey the hard Rocks supply'd his want;
And pure Oyle dril'd from cliffes of Adamant:
Him with the Milke of Ewes, with Butter fed;
With fat of Lambs, and Rams in Bashan bred;
With flesh of Goats, with Wheats pure Kernels fill'd;
And dranke the Bloud, which from the Grape distill'd.
Part. 3.
But Jesurun grew fat; kickt like a Horse,
Full of high feeding, and untamed force:
Forsooke his God, who made, sustein'd, adorn'd;
And that strong Rocke of his Salvation scorn'd:
VVith barbarous Gods, and execrable Rites,
His Jealousie and Wrath at once excites.
To Divels they profanely sacrific'd;
Gods made with hands, before their Maker priz'd:
Gods brought from forraigne Nations; strange and new:
Gods, which their Ancestors nor fear'd, nor knew.
Their Father, their firme Rocke, remembred not;
And Him, who had created them, forgot.
This having seene with burning eyes, the Lord
His Daughters, and degenerate Sons, abhor'd:
Said, from these Rebels I will hide my face,
And see the end of this unfaithfull Race.
Since they with Gods, that are but Gods in Name,
My Soule with so great Jelousie inflame;
And through their vanities my wrath incense;
I, by the like will punish their offence.
Their Glory to an unknowne Nation grant,
And in their roome a foolish People plant.
Part. 4.
A fire is kindled in my wrath, which shall
Even in the depth of Hell devoure them all:
Polluted Earth with her productions burne;
And ayery Mountaines into ashes turne.
One misery another shall invite,
And all my arrowes in their bosomes light:
Famine shall eate them, hot Diseases burne;
And all by violent deaths to Earth returne.
The teeth of salvage Beasts their blood shall spill;
And Serpents with their fatall poyson kill.
The Sword without, and home-bred Terrors shall
Devoure their lives. Their Youth untimely fall;
Betrothed Virgins, such as stoope with Age,
And sucking Babes, shall sinke beneath my Rage.
Scatter I would like Chaffe by Tempests blowne,
Nor should their Memory to Man be knowne:
If not withheld by their insulting Foe;
Lest he should triumph in their overthrow:
And boasting say; This our owne hands have done;
Our Swords, the Gods which have their battaile won.
Part. 5.
A Nation which hath no Intelligence:
Vncapable of Councell; void of sense.
O that my Words could to their hearts descend;
To make them wise, and thinke of their last End!
How would One man a Thousand put to flight!
And Two a Myriad overthrow in Fight!
But that their Strength hath sold them to their Foes;
And left them naked to their deadly blowes.
For, though our Enemies should judge, their Powers
Are faint to His; their Rocke no Rocke to ours:
Their Vine of Sodom, of Gomorrahs fields;
Which Grapes of Gall, and bitter clusters yields.
Poison of Dragons is their deadly Wine;
To which cold Aspes their drowsie venome joyne.
Is not all this unto my Sight reveal'd?
Laid up in store? and with my Signet seal'd?
To me belongs Revenge and Recompence:
Which I will in the time decree'd dispense.
The Day is neere which their destruction brings;
And Punishment now flies with speedy wings.
Part. 6.
God will his People judge; at length relent;
And of his Servants miseries repent:
Then when they are of all their power bereft,
No strength, no hope of humane succour left.
And say, Where are the God's of your defence,
Those Rockes of your presuming confidence;
Whose flaming Altars you so often fed
VVith fat of Bieves, and VVine profusely shed?
Now let them from their crowned Banquets rise,
And shield you from your furious enemies.
Behold! I am your God; I, onely I,
Assisted by no forraigne Deity.
I kill, revive; I wound and heale; no hand
Or power of Mortals can my strength withstand.
I, to the Heavens I made, my armes extend;
Pronounce, I ever was, and have no end.
VVhet I my glittering Sword; if I advance
My hand in Judgement; woes past utterance,
And vengeance, equall to their merits, shall
Vpon my Foes, and those who hate me, fall.
The hungry Sword shall eat their flesh, like Food,
My thirsty Arrows shall be drunke with bloud:
For Captives slaine, and for the bloud they spilt,
I will with horrour recompence their guilt.
You wiser Nations, with his People joy;
For he will all their Enemies destroy:
His Servants vindicate from their proud Foe;
And to their Land, and them, his Mercy show.
