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THE GENEALOGY OF CHRIST,

AS IT IS REPRESENTED ON THE EAST WINDOW

OF WINCHESTER COLL. CHAPEL.

WRITTEN AT WINTON SCHOOL, BY DR. LOWTHE.

AT once to raise our rev'rence and delight,
To elevate the mind, and please the fight,

Το pour in virtue at th' attentive eye,
And waft the foul on wings of extacy;
For this the painter's art with nature vies,
And bids the vifionary faint arife;
Who views the facred forms in thought afpires,
Catches pure zeal, and as he gazes, fires;
Feels the fame ardour to his breast convey'd,
Is what he fees, and emulates the shade.

Thy ftrokes, great Artift, fo fublime appear,
They check our pleasure with an awful fear;
While, thro' the mortal line, the God you trace,
Author himself, and Heir of Jeffe's race;
In raptures we admire thy bold defign,
And, as the subject, own the hand divine.
While thro' thy work the rifing day shall stream,
So long shall last thine honour, praise and name.

And may thy labours to the Mufe impart
Some emanation from her fister art,

To animate the verse, and bid it shine

In colours eafy, bright, and strong, as Thine.
Supine on earth an awful figure lies,
While fofteft flumbers feem to feal his eyes;
The hoary fire Heav'ns guardian care demands,
And at his feet the watchful angel stands.
The form auguft and large, the mien divine
Betray the founder of Meffiah's line.
Lo! from his loins the promis'd ftem afcends,
And high to Heaven its facred Boughs extends:
Each limb productive of some hero springs,
And blooms luxuriant with a race of kings.

Th' eternal plant wide spreads its arms around, And with the mighty branch the myftic top is crown'd.

And lo! the glories of th' illuftrious line At their first dawn with ripen'd splendors shine, In DAVID all exprefs'd; the good, the great, The king, the hero, and the man compleat. Serene he fits, and sweeps the golden lyre, And blends the prophet's with the poet's fire. See! with what art he ftrikes the vocal strings, The God, his theme, infpiring what he fings! Hark---or our ears delude us-----from his tongue Sweet flows, or feems to flow, fome heav'nly fong,

JESSE.

Oh! could thine art arrest the flitting sound,
And paint the voice in magic numbers bound;
Could the warm fun, as erft when Memnon play'd
Wake with his rifing beam the vocal thade:
Then might he draw th' attentive angels down,
Bending to hear the lay, fo fweet, fo like their own.
On either fide the monarch's offspring fhine,
And fome adorn, and fome difgrace their line.
Here Ammon glories; proud, incestuous lord!
This hand fuftains the robe, and that the fword.
Frowning and fierce, with haughty ftrides he tow❜rs,
And on his horrid brow defiance low'rs.
There Abfalom the ravish'd fceptre sways,
And his ftol'n honour all his fhame displays :
The base ufurper Youth! who joins in one
The rebel fubject, and th' ungrateful fon.

Amid the royal race, fee Nathan stand:
Fervent he seems to speak, and lift his hand;
His looks th' emotion of his foul disclose,
And eloquence from every gesture flows.
Such, and fo ftern he came, ordain'd to bring
Th' ungrateful mandate to the guilty King:
When, at his dreadful voice, a sudden smart
Shot thro' the trembling monarch's conscious heart;
From his own lips condemn'd; fevere decree!
Had his God prov'd fo ftern a Judge as He.
But man with frailty is allay'd by birth;
Confummate purity ne'er dwelt on earth :

Thro' all the foul tho' virtue holds the rein,
Beats at the heart, and fprings in ev'ry vein :
Yet ever from the clearest fource have ran
Some grofs allay, some tincture of the man.

But who is he ----deep-mufing----in his mind,
He seems to weigh, in reason's scales, mankind;
Fix'd contemplation holds his fteady eyes----
I know the fage *; the wifeft of the wife.
Bleft with all man could wish, or prince obtain,
Yet his great heart pronounc'd those bleffings vain.
And lo! bright glitt'ring in his facred hands,
In miniature the glorious temple stands.
Effulgent frame! ftupendous to behold!

}

Gold the strong valves, the roof of burnish'd gold.
The wand'ring ark, in that bright dome enfhrin'd,
Spreads the strong light, eternal, unconfin'd!
Above th' unutterable glory plays
Prefence divine! and the full-ftreaming rays
Pour thro' reluctant crouds intolerable blaze.
But ftern oppreffion rends Reboam's reign;
See the gay prince, injurious, proud and vain!
Th' imperial fceptre totters in his hand,
And proud rebellion triumphs in the land.
Curs'd with corruption's ever-fruitful spring,
A beardless Senate, and a haughty King.
There Afa, good and great, the fceptre bears,
Juftice attends his peace, fuccefs his wars :

SOLOMON.

While virtue was his fword, and Heaven his shield,
Without controul the warrior fwept the field;
Loaded with spoils, triumphant he return'd,
And half her swarthy Sons fad Ethiopia mourn'd.
But fince thy flagging piety decay'd,

And barter'd God's defence for human aid;
See their fair laurels wither on thy brow,
Nor herbs, nor healthful arts avail thee now,
Nor is heav'n chang'd,apoftate prince, but Thou.
No mean atonement does this lapse require;
But fee the Son, you must forgive the Sire:
He, the juft prince---with ev'ry virtue blefs'd,
He reign'd, and goodness all the man poffefs'd,
Around his throne, fair happiness and peace
Smooth'd ev'ry brow, and smil'd in ev'ry face.
As when along the burning wafte he stray'd,
Where no pure streams in bubbling mazes play'd,
Where drought incumbent on the thirsty ground,
Long fince had breath'd her fcorching blasts around;
The Prophet calls, th' obedient floods repair
To the parch'd fields, for Jofaphat was there.
The new-fprung waves, in many a gurgling vein,
Trickle luxurious through the fucking plain;
Fresh honours the reviving fields adorn,
And o'er the defart plenty pours her horn.

JOSAPHAT.

+ ELISHA.

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