ace of kings no more
Extinguished all their spirits' ancient fire;
E'en God, say they, withholds Himself from us:
So jealous, formerly, of Hebrews' fame,
He sees, unmoved, our grandeur crushed to earth,
And, in the end, His mercy's wearied out:
No more, for us, His terrible arm is seen
To awe mankind with marvels numberless:
The ark is mute, its oracles unspoken.

{JOAD.}

Yet, when was time so full of miracles?
When did God show His power with more effect?
Will you have always eyes that do not see
A people thankless?--still your ear be struck
With greatest wonders, and your heart unmoved?
Must I, then, Abner, call to mind the course
Of prodigies accomplished in our days?
Of Israel's tyrants, the notorious shame,
And God found true in all His menaces;
The impious Ahab ruined, and his blood
That drenched the field by homicide usurped;
Jezebel slaughtered near that fatal field;
That queen beneath the feet of horses crushed;
The dogs in her inhuman blood quenched full,
And the torn members of her hideous corpse;
Of lying prophets, the confounded crew,
And flames upon the altar fall'n from heaven;
Elijah speaking like a potentate
Unto the elements, the firmament
As heated brass becoming, closed by him;
The earth three years without both rain and dew;
The dead reviving at Elisha's voice?
O, Abner, own in these transcendant deeds,
A God such as He was throughout all time.
Who knoweth, when He wills, to show His glory,
His people always present in His thoughts.

{ABNER.}

But where the dignities to David promised,
And e'en foretold by Solomon, his son?
Alas! we hoped that from that happy race
Was to descend a numerous train of kings;
That over every nation, every tribe,
His domination one of them should fix;
Make war and tumult cease in every land,
And at their feet behold all earthly kings.

{JOAD.}

Wherefore renounce the promises of heaven?

{ABNER.}

Where shall we seek that monarch, David's son?
Can heaven itself repair that withered tree,
Dead, even to its roots? The infant king,
By Athaliah murdered in his cradle;
Can those, for eight years dead, forsake the tomb?
Ah! in her fury were she but deceived!
If of the royal blood one dr