640
  No hour of his in fruitless ease destroy’d,
  But on the noblest subjects still employ’d: 
  Whose steady soul ne’er learn’d to separate
  Between his monarch’s interest and the state;
  But heaps those blessings on the royal head,
  Which he well knows must be on subjects shed.

   On what pretence could then the vulgar rage
  Against his worth and native rights engage? 
  Religious fears their argument are made—­
  Religious fears his sacred rights invade! 650
  Of future superstition they complain,
  And Jebusitic worship in his reign: 
  With such alarms his foes the crowd deceive,
  With dangers fright, which not themselves believe.

   Since nothing can our sacred rites remove,
  Whate’er the faith of the successor prove: 
  Our Jews their ark shall undisturb’d retain,
  At least while their religion is their gain,
  Who know by old experience Baal’s commands
  Not only claim’d their conscience, but their lands; 660
  They grudge God’s tithes, how therefore shall they yield
  An idol full possession of the field? 
  Grant such a prince enthroned, we must confess
  The people’s sufferings than that monarch’s less,
  Who must to hard conditions still be bound,
  And for his quiet with the crowd compound;
  Or should his thoughts to tyranny incline,
  Where are the means to compass the design? 
  Our crown’s revenues are too short a store,
  And jealous Sanhedrims would give no more. 670

   As vain our fears of Egypt’s potent aid,
  Not so has Pharaoh learn’d ambition’s trade,
  Nor ever with such measures can comply,
  As shock the common rules of policy;
  None dread like him the growth of Israel’s king,
  And he alone sufficient aids can bring;
  Who knows that prince to Egypt can give law,
  That on our stubborn tribes his yoke could draw: 
  At such profound expense he has not stood,
  Nor dyed for this his hands so deep in blood; 680
  Would ne’er through wrong and right his progress take,
  Grudge his own rest, and keep the world awake,
  To fix a lawless prince on Judah’s throne,
  First to invade our rights, and then his own;
  His dear-gain’d conquests cheaply to despoil,
  And reap the harvest of his crimes and toil. 
  We grant his wealth vast as our ocean’s sand,
  And curse its fatal influence on our land,
  Which our bribed Jews so numerously partake,
  That even an host his pensioners would make. 690
  From these deceivers our divisions spring,
  Our weakness, and the growth of Egypt’s king;
  These, with pretended friendship to the state,
  Our crowds’ suspicion of their prince create;
  Both pleased and frighten’d with the specious cry,
  To guard their sacred rites and property.