Nothing can save her, naught devote to God Or man or beast or field can be redeemed Nor can a generous friend a ransom give The life so offer’d or the thing so chang’d Are both devote to God. Our holy laws ordains no change in this Tho’ common offerings are by gifts redeemed A sacred vow must ever be rever’d (_turn to the end_) _x x x_ So dear Bethulah strive against thy grief Which adds fresh anguish to the wounded heart Shall Jephthah ruler of our chosen race Infringe the law and break a solemn oath Would not the people taught by his example Deem their oaths light, which bind them to his sway Think o’er the woes which now, oppress our land But recent sav’d from powerful Ammon’s yoke Still bleeding with the wounds of bloody faction And numerous ills bro’t on by disobedience Jephthah’s example now must save or crush us Ah better that thy daughter rich in worth And lov’d thro’ Israel as a child of light Better that she, with all her virgin train Give their pure lives to fulfill a solemn vow Than we our rulers, and our numerous tribes Be taught by Jephthah to offend our God Dreadful in anger terrible in vengeance. BETHULAH. Forgive me heaven if I have grown rebellious Forgive me Jephthah and forgive me Israel My brain grows wild, I can’t endure the light. _ACT_ _Scene I._ (JEPHTHAH _and_ ELIZABETH.) ELIZABETH. Permit me lov’d father ere I quit the world To pay a parting tribute to the cot Which shelter’d us during our days of exile Where unambitious happiness was ours There with my young companions let me wander Amid the mountain groves I lov’d so well And take a last farewell of this world’s joys There mourn my sins. Prepare my mind to meet The awful hour, which fills my feeble soul With new felt terror. JEPHTHAH.