Listen, O Lebanon and every hill;

Cease the rude tempest; Jordan's waves, be still;

Hear him, Judea, all thy tribes attend,

And in his holy presence lowly bend!

Charg'd with a cheering message from the skies, "Repent, ye fallen race," Elias cries.

"Ye Pharisees, from that old serpent* sprung,
"Whose poison lay beneath a flattering tongue,

"And Sadoc's children, ye, who dare to say

"No trump shall wake us to a judgment-day,

* That Old Serpent, called the devil.

Ye are of your father the devil, &c.

Rev. ch. xii. v. 9.

John, ch. viii. v. 44.

"O whited sepulchres, devoid of sin,

"So fair without, and so corrupt within,

"Say, who hath warn'd you to desert your home,

“And learn of me to fly the wrath to come?

"Think not within your sinful selves to plead

"We are the sons of Abraham's chosen seed;

"The Lord can give these stones an equal claim,

"And equal right to that exalted name.

"If ye would still a chosen race remain,

"Bring true repentance, not professions vain.

"The fatal axe now hovers o'er the root

"Of every tree that bears not timely fruit.

"The great Immanuel comes! whose

"Is so superior-so supreme to mine,

power divine

"That e'en the shoes his holy feet shall wear,

My mortal hands are too unclean to bear

"Is so supreme, that my baptismal wave
"Can but prepare the soul for him to save:
"His pure-immortal fountain shall impart
"The living streams that sanctify the heart.
"The fan is in his hand to purge his floor
"With justice, judgment, and resistless power:
"His arms the wheat shall gather and convey

"To the rich garners of eternal day;

"The worthless chaff, his justly kindled ire

"Shall burn with fierce and never-ending fire.*

* But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of

Immanuel comes! whose halcyon days belong

To the sure promise of the Prophet's song.

The Lord from Heav'n shall tread the earth below! Ye valleys rise; ye lofty mountains bow;

vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance. And think not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham to our father; for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees; therefore every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, is hewn down and cast into the fire. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance; but he that cometh after me, is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear; he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

Matthew, ch. iii. v. 7.

Ye devious ways, let straightest paths be there;

Ye rugged rocks a polish'd plain prepare !*

ye

Let the bleak desert that no culture knows,
Its chaplets wear, and "blossom as the rose."+
Let murmuring springs its arid sands adorn ;‡

And firs and myrtles choke the noxious thorn.§

* The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness: prepare the way of the Lord; make strait in the desert a high-way for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the crooked shall be made strait, and the rough places plain. Isaiah, ch. xl. v. 3, 4.

† And the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. Isaiah, ch. xxxv.

And the parched ground shall become a pool; and the thirsty land springs of water. Isaiah, ch. xxxv. v. 7.

§ Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree. Isaiah, ch. lv. v. 13.