The Poetical Works of Robert Montgomery Collected and Revised by the Author |
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 | The Poetical Works of Robert Montgomery |  |
THE FIRST MAN.
“Let us make man.”—Gen. i. 26.
Now, Heaven and Earth in finish'd beauty rise,
And Ocean peals her new-born harmonies;
And lo! awaking into life
With stainless glory rich and rife,
Under the breath of God's creative word,
The realms of Being into bliss are stirr'd.
And Ocean peals her new-born harmonies;
And lo! awaking into life
With stainless glory rich and rife,
Under the breath of God's creative word,
The realms of Being into bliss are stirr'd.
Oh! to have gazed on glorious earth and sea,
When, like the Infant of eternity,
Our breathing World began to smile;
Or, like some list'ning heart awhile,
In mute suspension waited for a Soul
To greet her glories, and command the whole.
When, like the Infant of eternity,
Our breathing World began to smile;
Or, like some list'ning heart awhile,
In mute suspension waited for a Soul
To greet her glories, and command the whole.
For, how could dumb magnificence display,
Or this blank world as reasonless, portray
The higher attributes of God,
Till earth by human feet was trod;
And young creation gain'd some priestly Mind
To offer incense, pure as God design'd?
Or this blank world as reasonless, portray
The higher attributes of God,
Till earth by human feet was trod;
And young creation gain'd some priestly Mind
To offer incense, pure as God design'd?
But, hark! within the deeps of that Recess
Where God enshrines His awful consciousness,
Three Persons speak, Three Minds commune,
A Council holds the dread Triune;
And “Let Us make” him, symbols forth to man
The outward meaning of Their inward Plan.
Where God enshrines His awful consciousness,
Three Persons speak, Three Minds commune,
A Council holds the dread Triune;
And “Let Us make” him, symbols forth to man
The outward meaning of Their inward Plan.
And thus, obedient to that forming call,
Emerges Man, the blissful lord of all;
Soft lustres o'er his features play,
And brow and bearing both display
That regal air, God's image ought to show
As priest and monarch of His world below.
Emerges Man, the blissful lord of all;
Soft lustres o'er his features play,
And brow and bearing both display
That regal air, God's image ought to show
As priest and monarch of His world below.
Hosannah! now ye choral planets sing;
Poetic winds and waters, hail your king!
Wake Sympathies! through earth and air
Your genial motion everywhere;
God's labours now their sabbath-haven reach,
And silence echoes with the charm of speech.
Poetic winds and waters, hail your king!
Wake Sympathies! through earth and air
Your genial motion everywhere;
God's labours now their sabbath-haven reach,
And silence echoes with the charm of speech.
O happy vision! O celestial scene!
What Heaven beheld, what sinless Earth hath been,
When Paradise and perfect bliss
Hallow'd a world sublime as this;
Wing'd angels quiver'd over Eden's bowers,
And Eve look'd fairer than the vestal flowers.
What Heaven beheld, what sinless Earth hath been,
When Paradise and perfect bliss
Hallow'd a world sublime as this;
Wing'd angels quiver'd over Eden's bowers,
And Eve look'd fairer than the vestal flowers.
Departed glory!—back to earth it seems
At times recall'd, in those seraphic dreams
When round us steals the witching sense
Of man's unblotted innocence,
And o'er the harp-strings of entrancèd soul
Fragments of forfeit Eden's music roll.
At times recall'd, in those seraphic dreams
When round us steals the witching sense
Of man's unblotted innocence,
And o'er the harp-strings of entrancèd soul
Fragments of forfeit Eden's music roll.
But, never let our joyless gloom repine,
Blest Lord! as though there breathed not hopes divine,
That earth may boast a nobler doom
Than Paradise in perfect bloom;
For Thou hast purchased, by atoning blood,
A world transcending what was once the “good.”
Blest Lord! as though there breathed not hopes divine,
That earth may boast a nobler doom
Than Paradise in perfect bloom;
For Thou hast purchased, by atoning blood,
A world transcending what was once the “good.”
And may the Spirit of Thy grace descend,
Our feelings hallow, and our hearts amend;
Inspire us, O Creative Three,
To image forth the Trinity,
Till man shall witness more than Eden saw,
His heart Thy temple, and Thy truth his law.
Our feelings hallow, and our hearts amend;
Inspire us, O Creative Three,
To image forth the Trinity,
Till man shall witness more than Eden saw,
His heart Thy temple, and Thy truth his law.
| The Poetical Works of Robert Montgomery | |