SEE how he shines! the wondrous great God-man, Archangels’ wings theorising breezes fan; Their trumpets shake the joyful realms above, And hail his coming to a Father’s love: Th’ angelic choir the golden harps prepare, And waft their joyful strains to nether air, More sweet they chaunt, more vigorous their lays, They sing his love—a fond Redeemer’s praise; They sing of him who shed his peaceful blood, Who in the place of ruin’d mortals stood; Who, now the task is done, his throne resumes, ’Till sleeping men shall issue from their tombs. See how the cherubim their homage pay, And raise their hallelujahs thro’ the day; Around his throne the lovely rainbow {34} gleams, On His bright face its added glory beams: Yet this Eternal, fallen man to save, Hung on the cross, descended to the grave, Was marr’d with thorns, bore man’s vast load of guilt, To save e’en Jews his precious blood was spilt; But they, perverse, his promis’d ransom scorn’d, And lost in sin, to sin their safety pawn’d. Now comes the tainting force of sin’s harsh breath, War, famine, murder, slavery, and death. Now view the holy temple’s checquer’d floor Strew’d o’er with bodies welt’ring in their gore; Their op’ning veins send forth a crimson flood, The marble steps are overflown with blood; The rev’rend priest before the mob recedes, And sacrifice with sacrificer bleeds: Sons, fathers, brothers, ’gainst each other strive, And as their victims fall, with joy revive; While gnawing hunger, horror, and despair, Pervade each breast, and in their faces stare. A tender mother, by hard famine prest, Views her dear infant die upon her breast; The spouse returning sucks his partner’s breath, And with her sinks into the arms of death; A loving brother hears his sister’s cries, Kisses her haggard cheek, and with her dies. Now through the streets the mad’ning rabble pour, Thousands by thousands with their leaders—four; Ambitious souls, who strive to win the crown, Four able chieftains, and of great renown. First came Eleazer, Simon’s headstrong son, Whose fame was sullied e’er his deeds begun; His fiery soul by gentle love was sway’d, He sought for Judah’s crown to win the maid: A Jewish dame, possessing ev’ry grace, A splendid fortune and a lovely face; But high of birth, proud, arrogant, and vain, Such was the fair, Eleazer strove to gain; For her the claims of pity he withstood, And swore to gain her, tho’ through fields of blood Unhappy youth! with grief we see thy state, And think thee worthy of a better fate; By him oppos’d was Chezron, luckless fool, What claims are his that he alone should rule? Devoid of sense, impetuous and proud, Heedless in war, and in the senate loud; Cruel, revengeful, deadly in his hate, Fit man, indeed, to save a falling state.