Nor fooner had the Priefts the Channel pass'd,
Who as they enter'd firft, afcended laft:
The Firm no fooner by their Sandals prefs'd,
And on the fedgy Banks the Ark did reft;
When Jordan breaks with burft of Thunder's

roar,

Like fome fierce Eagre fweeps each founding
Shore,

And shoots its foaming Waves as widely as before.

XCI.

JOSHUA, Chap. V. Ver. 13. to the End.

Joshua fees the Captain of the Lord's Hoft.

N And with a strong

TOW Ifrael's Army Jericho inveft,

And with a ftrong Blockade 'tis closely
prefs'd:

Alone the fearless Fofbua walks the round,
To view the Place, if any weakness found,
Or to furprize, or ftorm from advantageous
Ground.

Thoughtful he ftood, reclining on his Spear,
When lo! he fees an awful Form appear.
Mortal he seem'd, yet more than mortal Grace,
And Splendor terrible adorn'd his Face.
A Sword he grafp'd, as bright as it were made,
Of a portentous Comets flaming Blade:
When thus the General of the chofen Hoft,
The Great unknown undaunted did accoft.

From

"From whence, and whose? What art thou, foon

"declare,

"For Canaan or for Ifrael, Peace or War?
Michael am I, the fhining Form reply'd,
Sent from the Throne the Hoft of God to guide:
Proftrate the General falls, and prints the Sand,
And waits for his Superior's dread Command;
He bids, to loose his Sandals not disdain,

Nor with irreverend Steps the hallow'd Place profane :

Joshua obeys, new Orders he receives,

Whom, mounting to the Clouds, the heav'nly Vifions leaves.

XCII.

The Walls of Jericho fall down, the City taken: Rahab and her Family preferv'd.

TOW vain are human Arts, whose best

Ho Defence,

Betrays our Guilt, or owns our Impotence.
The strongest Walls an inward Fear confefs,
Corflets and Shields, and glittring Helms no less
And Force or Fraud o'er our weak Frames prevail,
Tho' arm'd with Tow'rs, or wall'd with Coats of
Mail.

If from our fellow Mortals unfecure,

What Fortress can, against juft Heav'n enfure? What rocky Ramparts may its Bolts endure? Nor needs it the red Thunder ftill unfheath, Nor grants each guilty Wretch fo great a Death.

It can with Arms contemptible confound,
And folid Subftance shake with airy Sound:
This, Jericho, thy tott'ring Walls declare,
No Steel-head Rams, no ftrong Machins of War
Provok'd that Fate which for thy Crimes was juft,
And roll'd thy ancient Honours in the Duft:
But Ifrael's Sons, fo Heav'n commands, furround
Thy Ramparts with the clanging Trumpet's found:
The Priests, the Ark in long Proceffion bore,
The harness'd Warriors filent march'd before:
A Week of Days they profecute their Toil,
While from the Walls th' abhorr'd Barbarians fmile:
But scarce the seventh blefs'd Morn had deck'd the

Skies,

When with new Hopes infpir'd th' Affembly rise: Sev'n times the nodding Tow'rs and Walls they pafs'd,

And Joshua gives the Signal at the last:

Now fhout, he faid, your Conqueft Heav'n affures;
Afcend! for the devoted Town is yours:
Let Rabab live, but all the reft muft die,
So loud their ripen'd Sins for Vengeance cry:
The Spoil is God's, beware th' accurfed Thing,
Left on yourselves and us the Curfe you bring.

He faid, with fhouts the Army rends the Skies,
Tumble the Walls, thick Clouds of Duft arife:
So burfts a Torrent from the Mountains fide,
So roars the Thunder thro' the Welkin wide:^.
Each in his Rank afcends from where he stood,
The City's won, and fill'd with Fire and Blood.
Rabab alone her Countries Lofs furvives,
And with her Fathers House in Ifrael lives;
Whom Holy Bands to Princely Salmon joyn,
Whence a long Race of Kings in Judah's facred

Line.

XCII.

JOSHUA, Chap. IV. Ver. 20. to 23.

167

v. 20. The people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets and it came to pass when the people heard the found of the trumpet, and the people fhouted with a great fhout, that the wall fell down flat, So that the people went up into the city, every man ftraight before him, and they took the city.

21. And they utterly defroyed all that was in the city, &c.

23. But they brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brethren, and all that She had, &c.

XCIII.

JOSHUA, Chap. VII. and VIII.

Achan and Ai.

Hunger of Gold,and Sacrilegious Thirft,

Unsatisfied to be alone accurs'd,

Your pois'nous Influence larger Conquests gains, And blafts th' unhappy Nation where it reigns. One Achan Ifraels Glory can deface,

And spread wide Vengeance round the facred Race. For Ai, Three Thousand Warriors now prepare, More than enough their Force,had God been there, --- But he was gone, and Conqueft with him led, Before their feeble Enemies they fled :

Some fall transfix'd, and wounded fome return;

They melt, they faint, the whole Assembly mourn: Proftrate on Earth afflicted Joshua lay

With Ifrael's Elders all that luckless Day,

Their Cloths they rend; around 'em Sackloth spread,
And scatter Duft on each dishonour'd Head.
When God to Joshua did the Crime disclose,
Which made his People naked to their Foes
The blafting Sacrilegious Guilt reveals,
Tho' for a while the guilty Wretch conceals:

But