When God arises with an awful frown, To punish lust, or pluck presumption down; 250 Too just to wink, or speak the guilty clear. And thou a worshipper ev'n where thou mayst; Mere shadows now, their ancient pomp forgot; Thy Levites, once a consecrated host, No longer Levites, and their lineage lost, And, thou thyself o'er ev'ry country sown, 261 With none on Earth that thou canst call thine own; Cry aloud thou that sittest in the dust, Cry to the proud, the cruel, and unjust; Knock at the gates of nations, rouse their fears; Say wrath is coming, and the storm appears; But raise the shrillest cry in British ears. 271 What ails thee, restless as the waves that roar, And fling their foam against thy chalky shore? Mistress, at least while Providence shall please, And trident-bearing queen of the wide seasWhy, having kept good faith, and often shown Friendship, and truth to others, find'st thou none? Thou that hast set the persecuted free, None interposes now to succour thee. Countries indebted to thy pow'r, that shine 280 With light deriv'd from thee, would smother thine: Thy very children watch for thy disgrace— Thy rulers load thy credit, year by year, With sums Peruvian mines could never clear; As if, like arches built with skilful hand, The more 'twere press'd the firmer it would stand. The cry in all thy ships is still the same, Speed us away to battle and to fame. Thy mariners explore the wild expanse, Impatient to descry the flags of France: 290 But, though they fight as thine have ever fought, Return asham'd without the wreaths they sought. Thy senate is a scene of civil jar, Chaos of contrarieties at war; Where sharp and solid, phlegmatic and light, Where Obstinacy takes his sturdy stand, Where Policy is busied all night long In setting right what Faction has set wrong; 300 That yields them chaff and dust, and nothing more. Thy rack'd inhabitants repine, complain, Tax'd till the brow of Labour sweats in vain; War lays a burden on the reeling state, And Peace does nothing to relieve the weight; Succesive loads succeeding broils impose, Is adverse Providence, when ponder'd well, 311 Thou canst not read with readiness and ease Blind to the working of that secret pow'r, That balances the wings of ev'ry hour, The busy trifler dreams himself alone, 320 Frames many a purpose, and God works his own. States thrive or wither as moons wax and wane, Ev'n as his will and his decrees ordain: While honour, virtue, piety bear sway, They flourish; and as these decline, decay. In just resentment of his injur'd laws, He pours contempt on them and on their cause; None bars him out from his most secret thought; And Hell's close mischief naked in his sight. Stand now and judge thyself.-Hast thou in curr'd His anger, who can waste thee with a word, Who poises and proportions sea and land, Claim'd all the glory of thy prosp'rous wars? 340 |