JOAD, JOSABET, JOAS, ZACHARIAH, ABNER, SALOMITH,
LEVITES, AND THE CHOIR.

JOSABET (to Joad).
My lord, Did you o'erhear that haughty queen?


JOAD.
I heard the whole, and I bewailed your anguish.
To lend you aid, these Levites and myself,
Were close at hand, resolved to die with you.

(To Joas.)
May God watch over you whose courage, child,
Has just returned this noble testimony
Unto His name! I recognize, dear Abner,
This important service: bear in mind
The hour when Joad expects you. We, whose sight
This inpious, murderous woman has defiled,
Whose prayers has interrupted, will return:
And let immaculate blood, shed by my hands,
Cleanse to the marble what her steps have touched.


THE CHORUS.
One of the daughters of the Choir.
What star has burst upon our sight?
What will that marvellous child one day become?
He braveth pompous haughtiness,
And will not let himself be lured
By any of her dangerous baits.

Another.
Whilst each to Athaliah's god
With incense to the altar runs,
A child unfearing publishes
That God alone eternal is,
And speaks as once Elijah spoke
Before the other Jezebel.

Another. Who will reveal to us thy secret birth
Dear child? Art thou some holy prophet's son?

Another.
And thus the lovely Samuel was seen
To grow beneath the tabernacle's shadow;
Become the Hebrews' hope and oracle.
May'st thou like him console our race!

Another sings.
O blessed, a thousand times,
The child that loves the Lord,
Who early hearkens to His voice,
Whom God, Himself, doth deign to teach!
Far from the world he, nurtured, is adorned
By all heaven's blessings from his birth;
And the contagious company of the bad
Doth alter not his innocence.

All the Choir.
O happy, happy is the child
That God instructs and vindicates!
The same voice alone. So, in a secret vale upon the banks
Of a pellucid stream,
Beneath the shadow of an oak,
A tender lily bloometh, nature's love.
Far from the world arising, 'tis adorned
With all heaven's blessings from its birth;
And the contagious company of the bad
Doth alter not its innocence.

All the Choir.
O blest, a thousand times, the child
That God doth render docile to His laws.

One voice alone.
My God, how can a growing virtue walk
Amongst so many dangers with sure step %
What obstacles are found to his designs
Who seeketh Thee, and wisheth innocence
What enemies make war on him!
Where can Thy saints conceal themselves?
The evil-doers overspread the earth.

Another.
O David's palace, and his cherished city,
Famed mount, where even God a long time dwelt,
Why hast thou from the heavens drawn down His
wrath?
Sion, dear Sion, what sayest thou,
When thou, alas! beholdst upon the throne
Of thine own kings, an impious stranger sat?

All the Choir. Sion, dear Sion, what sayest thou,
When thou, alas! beholdst upon the throne
Of thine own kings, an impious stranger sat!

The same voice continues.
Instead of David's pleasing strains,
In which he poured his holy raptures,
And blessed his God, his Father and his Lord:
Sion, dear Sion, what sayest thou,
When thou dost hear them laud the strangers' god,
And curse the name thy princes have adored?

One voice alone.
How long, O Lord, and yet again how long
Shall we behold the wicked rise 'gainst Thee?
They come into Thy temple braving Thee:
The people who adore Thee, treat as frenzied.
How long, O Lord, and yet again How long
Shall we behold the wicked rise 'gainst Thee?

Another.
Wherefore, say they, this sombre piety?
Why flee the use of many joys so sweet?
Your God does naught for you.

Another.
Come laugh and sing, exclaims this impious band;
From flower to flower, from sweet to sweet,
Let us give air to our desires,
In the insensate future who confides?
Doubtful the number of our fleeting years:
Then let us haste to-day to relish life;
Who knows if we shall be to-morrow?

All the Choir. O let them weep, my God, and groan for fear,
The miserable, who will not see
The eternal splendour of Thy holy city.
But we must chant, to whom Thou dost reveal
Thy everlasting light;
Of all Thy gifts and grandeur we must sing.

One voice alone. What will remain of all their empty pleasures
In which their soul is sunk? I' the dregs of dreams
Whose error's recognized.
At their awaking—awaking full of horror!—
Whilst at the table the just poor will taste
The sweets of peace unspeakable,
The hideous cup exhaustless they will drink,
Which in the day of wrath thou wilt present
To all the guilty race.

All the Choir. O waking full of horror!
O fleeting dream!
O dangerous error!


END OF THE SECOND ACT.