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Innumerable! As when the potent Rod
Of AMRAM's fon, in ÆGYPT's evil day,
Wav'd round the coaft, up call'd a pitchy cloud
Of locufts, warping on the eaftern wind,
That o'er the realm of impious PHARAOH hung
Like night, and darken'd all the land of NILE:
So numberless were those bad Angels feen,
Hov'ring on wing under the cope of hell,
'Twixt upper, nether, and furrounding fires :
'Till, as a fignal giv'n, th' up-lifted fpear
Of their great Sultan waving to direct
Their course, in even balance down they light
On the firm brimftone, and fill all the plain :
A multitude! like which the populous north
Pour'd never from her frozen loins, to pass
RHENE or the DANAW, when her barbarous fons
Came like a deluge on the fouth, and spread
Beneath GIBRALTER to the LIBYAN fands.
Forthwith from ev'ry fquadron, and each band,

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The Head and Leaders thither hafte where stood

Their great Commander; God-like shapes and forms

Excelling human, Princely Dignities,

And Pow'rs! that earft in heaven fat on thrones;

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Tho' of their names in heav'nly records now

Be no memorial; blotted out and raz'd,

By their rebellion, from the books of life.

Nor had they yet among the fons of EVE

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Got them new names; till wand'ring o'er the earth,

Thro' God's high sufferance for the tryal of man,

By falfities and lies the greatest part

Of mankind they corrupted, to forfake

GOD their Creator, and th' invisible

Glory of Him that made them, to transform

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Oft to the image of a brute, adorn'd

With gay religions full of pomp and gold,

And Devils to adore for Deities:

Then were they known to men by various names,
And various idols thro' the heathen world.

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Say, Mufe, their names then known; who firft, who laft, Rouz'd from the flumber on that fiery couch, At their great Emp'ror's call, as next in worth Came fingly where he stood, on the bare ftrand, While the promifcuous crowd flood yet aloof? The chief were thofe who, from the pit of hell Roaming to feek their prey on earth, durft fix Their feats long after next the feat of GOD, Their altars by His altar, Gods ador'd Among the nations round, and durft abide JEHOVAH thund'ring out of SION, thron'd Between the Cherubim; yea, often plac'd Within His fanctuary itfelf their shrines, Abominations! and with curfed things His holy rites and folemn feafts profan'd,

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And with their darknefs durft affront his light.

First MOLOCH, horrid King, befmear'd with blood

Of human facrifice, and parents tears;

Tho', for the noise of drums and timbrels loud,

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Their childrens cries unheard, that paft thro' fire
To his grim idol. Him the AMMONITE
Worship'd in RABBA, and her watʼry plain,
In ARGOB, and in BASAN, to the ftream
Of utmoft ARNON. Nor content with fuch
Audacious neighbourhood, the wifeft heart
Of SOLOMON he led by fraud, to build

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His temple right against the temple of GOD,.
On the opprobrious hill; and made his grove

The pleasant valley of HINNOM, TOPHET thence
And black GEHENNA call'd, the type of hell.

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Next CHEMOS, th' obfcene dread of MOAB's fons,
From AROAR to NEBO, and the Wild

Of fouthmoft ABARIM; in HESEBON

And HORONAIM, SEON's realm, beyond

The flow'ry dale of SIBMA, clad with vines;

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And ELEALE, to th' ASPHALTICK pool:
PEOR his other name, when he emic'd

ISRAEL in SITTIM, on their march from NILE,

To do him wanton rites, which coft them woe.

Yet

Yet thence his luftful Orgies he inlarg'd
Even to that hill of scandal, by the grove
Of MOLOCH homicide; luft hard by hate;
Till good JOSIAH drove them thence to hell.
With these came they, who from the bord'ring flood
Of old EUPHRATES, to the brooks that parts
ÆGYPT from SYRIAN ground, had general names
Of BAALIM, and ASHTAROTH; those male,
These feminine: (For fpirits when they please
Can either sex affume, or both; so soft
And uncompounded is their effence pure;
Not ty'd or manacled with joint or limb,

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Nor founded on the brittle ftrength of bones,

Like cumbrous flesh; but in what shape they chufe,
Dilated or condens'd, brightor obfcure,

Can execute their airy purposes,

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And works of love or enmity fulfil.)

For those the race of ISRAEL oft forfook

Their living ftrength, and unfrequented left

His righteous altar, bowing lowly down

To beftial Gods; for which their heads as low

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Bow'd down in battle, funk before the spear

Of defpicable Foes. With these in troop

Came ASTORETH, whom the PHOENICIANS call'd

ASTARTE, Queen of heaven, with crefcent horns:
To whose bright image nightly by the moon,
SIDONIAN virgins paid their vows and fongs;
In SION alfo not unfung, where flood

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Her temple on th' offenfive mountain, built

By that uxorious King, whofe heart, tho' large,
Beguil'd by fair idolatreffes, fell

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To idols foul. THAMMUZ came next behind,
Whose annual wound in LEBANON allur'd
The SYRIAN damsels, to lament his fate
In am'rous ditties all a fummer's day;

While fmooth ADONIS from his native rock

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Ran purple to the fea, fuppos'd with blood

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Of THAMMUZ yearly wounded: the love tale
Infected SION's daughters with like heat;
Whose wanton paffions in the facred porch
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EZEKIEL faw, when by the vifion led,

His eyes furvey'd the dark idolatries

Of alienated JUDAH. Next came one

Who mourn'd in earnest, when the captive Ark
Maim'd his brute image, heads and hands lopp'd off
In his own temple, on the grunfel edge,

Where he fell flat, and fham'd his worshippers,
DAGON his name; fea-monster! upward man,
And downward fish; yet had his temple high
Rear'd in Azotus, dreaded through the coast
Of PALESTINE, in GATH, and ASCALON,
And ACCARON, and GAZA's frontier bounds.
Him follow'd RIMMON, whofe delightful feat
Was fair DAMASCUS, on the fertil banks
Of ABBANA, and PHARPHAR, lucid ftreams!
He also 'gainst the house of GOD was bold:
A leper once he loft, and gain'd a King,
AHAZ, his fottifh conqueror, whom he drew
GOD's altar to difparage, and difplace,
For one of SYRIAN mode, whereon to burn
His odious off rings, and adore the Gods
Whom he had vanquifh'd. After these appear'd
A crew, who under names of old

renown, OSIRIS, ISIS, ORUS, and their train,

With monftrous fhapes and forceries abus'd
Fanatic ÆGYPT, and her priefts, to feek

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Their wandring Gods difguis'd in brutifh forms,
Rather than human. Nor did ISRAEL 'scape

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Th' infection, when their borrow'd gold compos'd
The calf in OREB; and the rebel King
Doubled that fin in BETHEL, and in DAN,
Lik'ning his Maker to the grazing ox,
JEHOVAH! Who in one night, when he pass'd
From ÆGYPT marching, equal'd with one ftroke
Both her first-born and all her bleating Gods.
BELIAL came last, than whom a spirit more lewd
Fell not from heaven, or more grois to love
Vice for it felf: to him no temple ftood,
Or altar fmok'd; yet who more oft than he
In temples, and at altars, when the priest

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Turns

Turns atheists, as did ELI's fons, who fill'd
With luft and violence the house of GOD?
In courts and palaces he also reigns,
And in luxurious cities, where the noise
Of riot afcends above their loftiest tow'rs,
And injury, and outrage: and when night
Darkens the streets, then wander forth the fons
Of BELIAL, flown with infolence and wine :
Witness the streets of SoDoм, and that night
In GIBEAH, when the hofpitable door
Expos'd a matron, to avoid worse rape.

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Their highest heav'n; or on the DELPHIAN cliff,
Or in DODONA, and thro' all the bounds
Of DORIC land; or who with SATURN old
Fled over ADRIA to th' HESPERIAN fields,
And o'er the CELTIC roam'd the utmost ifles.

These were the prime, in order and in might;
The reft were long to tell, tho' far renown'd,
Th' IONIAN Gods, of JAVAN's iffue, held
Gods, yet confefs'd later than heav'n and earth,
Their boafted parents. TITAN, (heav'n's firft-born,)
With his enormous brood, and birthright feiz'd
By younger SATURN; he from mightier Jove,
(His own and RHEA's fon,) like measure found ;
So Jove ufurping reign'd: these first in CRETE,
And IDA known; thence on the fnowy top
Of cold OLYMPUS rul'd the middle air,

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All these and more came flocking, but with looks Down-cast and damp; yet fuch wherein appear'd Obfcure fome glimpfe of Joy, to have found their Chief Not in despair, to have found themselves not loft In lofs itself; which on his count'nance caft Like doubtful hue; but he his wonted pride Soon recollecting, with high words, that bore Semblance of worth, not fubftance, gently rais'd Their fainting courage, and difpell'd their fears. Then ftraight commands that at the warlike found Oftrumpets loud, and clarions, be uprear'd

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