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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Untitled Article
And , from his everlasting seat Descending , here bis prophet meet * Watch ye the fires—and see they burn Brightly as now with sacred glow . Monarch I here wait till my return , If thou the will of Heaven wouldst know ,
Doubt not I will unfold to thee Whate v er the Lord shall shew to me . " Hasten ed the prophet from their sight To that wild mountain ' s loftiest height ; The king and chiefs bis word obey'd , And kneeling by the altars pray'd . But , lo 1 he comes— -all instant rise And rev ' rently before him bend , As if descended from the
skies—He speaks—and silent all attend . € From the children of Ammon , the sons of the east . Hath Balak , the king , call ' d bis servant the priest , And the monarch of Moab hath said to the Seer , Come , curse me this host , that hath filPd me with fear : But my tongue from its roots ye shall tear away first Ere I curse whom the God that I serve has not curs'd :
And how shall these lips , which his spirit doth guide , Ere defy whom the Lord hath himself not defied 1 From the summits of Baal , the God of the earth , Hath shewn me the people he nurs'd from their birth ; Who , O Jacob , can count half the tribes thou dost lead ? As the dust of the earth is thy numberless seed . May the death of the righteous , O Balak , be mine , And the sun of my life as serenely decline !"
" Prophet ! " the king in anger cried , And grasp ' d his bright sword ' s glittering hilt , " None yet have Balak ' s power defied , Whose blood this sharp blade has not spilt . Of all my priests thou art the first That dar'd to bless whom I have curs'd . " Undaunted answer'd that bold Seer ,
* ' Tho' like these slaughtered rams I bleed—A fate it seems I well may fear—The word of God his priest must heed : King ! from my lips that word will break When he commands those lips to 3 peak . "—
" Come , then / ' the monarch said , and seiz'd The prophet ' s mantle as he spoke , € t Thy answer bath my wrath appeased—Fear not this sabre ' s fatal stroke :
But haste thee to another height , Whence still this host shall meet thy sight . But not as here in prospect wide—Thou shalt but see their ' utmost part ;' The rest a inighty rock shall hide , That fear may leave thy trembling heart : Thence hurl thy curses on yon crowd Like lightning from the thunder-cloud . " Then hurried Balak aftd his train
Along AlnirinVs rocky chain , Where darkest cliffs—whose rugged 6 ide All tract to human foot denied , Their broken fragments hanging down—Seem'd o ' er the fearful road to frown .
Untitled Article
362 Poetry . — The Encampment of the Israelites in the Plains of Moab ¦ .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1826, page 362, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2549/page/46/
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