XIII.

GENESIS, Chap. XVIII. Ver. 1.to 10.

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v. 6. Abraham faid to Sarah, make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth.

7. And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetcht a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man ; and he baftned to dress it.

8, And he took butter and milk, and the calf which he bad dreffed, and fet it before them; and he food by them under the tree, and they did eat.

XIV.

God reveals to Abraham the Deftruction of Sodom. He intercedes for it.

ΤΗ

THE Crimes of Sodom ripe for Vengeance grown
Two Angels haften to destroy the Town:

When God And fhall I from juft Abraham hide

My Secret Will, whofe Faith so often try'd? Who'll use his Pow'r with wife impartial Sway, And make his Sons and House my Laws obey? Then to his Friend the hov'ring Plague foreshows, Who thus for Grace did humbly interpose.

And shall the Righteous with the Guilty fall? When Some offend, shall Vengeance seize on All? O rather the devoted City spare,

If only Fifty Pious Souls are there!

I will, fays God; this gracious Answer take!
I'll all the City spare for Fifties fake.

When Abraham thus - Let Duft and Ashes speak!
If only of the number Five shou'd want
Wou'dft thou for lack of Five refume this Grant?
No, faid the Lord, I'll yet the Town forgive,
If of the Fifty wanting only Five.
Lower, and ftill more low the Patriarch came,
For Twenty pleads, his Anfwer ftill the fame:

Yet

Yet one, his laft Effort he trembling made,
If only Ten were there, for Mercy pray'd :
If Ten are Righteous there, thy Wish enjoy,
Jehova faid, I'll not the Town destroy.
And here at length the Wondrous Treaty ends,
Abraham departs, and God to Heav'n afcends.

"O thou whose boundless Pity still the fame "Still Fuft, and Good -- Jehova is thy Name! "Judge of the World! our finful Nation spare, "Who haft thy Fiftys, and thy Thousands there;

Who ftill besiege thyThrone with fervent Pray'r: "Or if our crying Guilt be th' fatal Cloud

"That ftops our Vows,yet hear,O hear our Saviour's Blood!

GENESIS, Chap. XVIII. from Ver. 17. to the End.

V. 17. The Lord faid, fhall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do, &c.

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23. Abraham Said, wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?

24. Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city; wilt thou alfo destroy, and not Spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?

25. Be it far from thee to do after this manner, to flay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous fhould be as the wicked, be that far from thee: fhall not the judge of all the earth do right, &c.

XV.

The deftruction of Sodom. Lot is preferod.

N°

O longer now cou'd Heav'n its Bolts forbear, No longer Sodom ripe for Vengeance, spare: Yet those who on the fatal bufinefs go;

While righteous Lor remains, fufpend the Blow:
With an obliging Force they him convey
From those devoted Walls, a moments stay
Wou'd coft his Life; one Glance he muft not caft,
But forwards to the neighb'ring Mountains hafte :
Their aged Sire his trembling Daughters joyn'd:
Loaden with Wealth his Wife came flow behind,
Yet wish'd for more; Her Eyes fhe cou'd not hold,
But caft a longing Look to her remaining Gold :

She look'd her laft, her Eyes no more her own, Unmov'd her Feet, rigid her Arms are grown, Rooted the ftands a Monumental Stone.

And now on Sodem's Walls the ruddy Vengeance fell,

And pour'd from angry Heav'n inevitable Hell: Broad Sheets of ghaftly Flame involve the guilty Town,

The golden Statues melt, the Walls come tumbling down:

Deep in a dire Abyss their Grave and Ruin find,

And leave a noifom Lake, and fulph'rous Flames behind.

Learn Mortals! learn from hence to dread th

Immortals Ire!

事

For here was fiery Luft reveng'd with hotter Fire.

XV.

GENESIS, Chap. XIX. Ver. 12. to 29.

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24: The Lord rain'd upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from heaven.

25. And he overthrew thofe cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.

26. But his wife looked back from behind him, and fhe became a pillar of falt.