{JOAD.}
Your saintly troops and you alone remain?
{AZARIAH.}
Twice I have walked around the sacred courts,
And all are fled; dispersed without return,
Scattered in fear--a miserable crew!
God by His holy tribe's no longer served:--
E'er since that people Pharoah's steps escaped,
An equal panic has not seized on them.
{JOAD.}
A people in performance loose, and born
For slavery--bold against God alone!
Let us pursue our work. But who retains
These children, even in our midst?
_One of the daughters of the choir_
Alas, could we, sire, part ourselves from you?
In the Lord's temple are we aliens?
Around you are our fathers and our sires.
_Another._
Ha! if to avenge the shame of Israel
Our hands may not as Jael's, formerly,
Have power to pierce God's impious enemies' head,
Yet we at least may give our lives to Him.
Whilst you are fighting for His temple stormed,
We may, at least, invoke Him with our tears.
{JOAD.}
Eternal Wisdom, in Thy quarrel armed
Here, then, are Thine avengers--priests and children!
But Thou sustaining, who can cast us down?
From death Thou canst recall us when Thou wilt!
Thou strikest and Thou healest, Thou destroyest
And Thou resuscitatest. We rely
Not on our own deserts, but on Thy name,
Invoked so frequently, and on Thy oath
Sworn to the most devout of all our kings,
Within this temple made Thy holy dwelling,
And which the sun's duration is to last.
But whence this sacred thrilling of my soul?
Am I transported by the Holy Spirit?
It is so: it inflames me: speaks to me:
My eyes are opened, and the times obscure
Unveil themselves before me! Levites, lend
Your harmony of sounds, and by their swell
Support my ecstacy!
_The Choir sing to the sound of every symphony of the
instruments._
O let the voice of God be heard,
And to our hearts, His oracle divine,
Be as the freshness of the morn
Is to the tender grass in spring.
{JOAD.}
Heaven, hear my voice. Earth, lend thine ear.
No more, O Jacob, say thy God doth slumber,
O sinners disappear; the Lord's awake.
_Here the symphonies are resumed, and Joad instantly
continues._
How into worthless lead pure gold is changed!
Who is that priest slain in the holy place?
Weep, weep Jerusalem, perfidious city,
Wretched destroyer of the sacred seers;
God of His love for thee divests Himself;
Thy incense in His eyes is incense foul.
Where do you take those children and those wives?
The queen of cities God has overthrown:
Her priests are captives, and her kings disowned.
Temple be overthrown! Cedars cast your flames!
Jerusalem, thou object of my grief,
Who in one day has ravished all thy charms?
O who will change, to weep thy miseries,
Mine eyes to two fountains of tears?
{AZARIAH.}
O holy temple!
{JOSABET.}
O David!
{THE CHOIR.}
Restore, O God of Sion, O restore,
Thy ancient benefactions in her favour.
_The symphonies resume, and immediately after Joad
continues._
What new Jerusalem arises from
The desert's depths in dazzling splendour,
And bears upon her brow a stamp immortal?
{JOAD.}
Sing, people of the earth,
Jerusalem reborn more grand and beautiful!
Whence on all sides repair to her
The progeny not fostered in her bosom?
Lift high, Jerusalem, lift high thy head!
Look on those monarchs of thy marvellous glory:
The kings of nations are before thee prostrate,
Kissing the dust of thy feet:
The people in thy light walk emulous.
Blest, who for Sion with a holy fervour
Doth feel his soul expanded!
Heavens scatter your dew, and let the earth
Bring forth its Saviour!
{JOSABET.}
Alas! from whence this signal benefaction?
If kings from whom Messiah's to descend--
{JOAD.}
Let Josabet prepare the diadem
Which David's self bore on his sacred brow.
(To the Levites.)
And you, attend me to the place to arm
Yourselves, where is concealed from strangers' eyes
That formidable heap of swords and lances,
Which ever in Philistine's blood were drenched;
And which triumphant David, full of years
And honours, caused to be unto the God
That had protected him made consecrate.
Could we employ them in a nobler cause %
Follow, I will myself distribute them.
_Scene VIII._
{SALOMITH, THE CHOIR.}
{SALOMITH.}
What fears my sisters, O what mortal broils!
All powerful God, are these the sacrifices,
The first-fruits and the perfumes we
This day should offer at Thy altars?
_One of the daughters of the Choir._
What spectacle unto our timid eyes!
Who could have feared we ever should behold
The murderous sword, the homicidal lance
Flashing within the house of peace?
_Another._
Whence comes it that Jerusalem,
Full of indifference to her God,
Is silent in her present danger?
Whence comes it, sisters, that for our protection
Brave Abner, at the least, speaks not aloud?
{SALOMITH.}
Ah! in a court, in which prevails
No other law than force and violence;
In which its honours and employments are
The price of blind and base obedience,
Who will desire, my sister, to lift up
His voice for sorrowing innocence?
_Another._
For whom's that sacred diadem prepared
In this confusion--peril violent?
{SALOMITH.}
The Lord has deigned to speak;
But who can make us understand
What to his prophet He has now revealed?
Arms He Himself in our defence?
Or does He arm to overwhelm us?
_All the choir sing,_
O promise! threatening! mysterious gloom!
What evil and what good by turns foretold!
How can we reconcile
So much of wrath and love?
_One voice alone._
Sion will be no more; a cruel flame
Will burn up all her excellence.
_Another voice._
O God, shield Sion; Thy eternal word
She holds for her foundations.
_The first_
How all her splendour fades before my eyes.
_The second._