Thoughts Upon The Four Last Things Death; Judgment; Heaven; and Hell. A Poem In Four Parts. The Second Edition. To which are added, The I, CIV, and CXXXVII Psalms Paraphras'd [by Joseph Trapp] |
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 | Thoughts Upon The Four Last Things |  |
Begin, my Lyre, the great Creator's Praise,
Who, crown'd with Glory and Immortal Rays,
Majestick shines; unutterably bright
With dazling Robes of uncreated Light:
Who Spacious Sheets of Ether spreads on high,
And, like a Curtain smooth'd, unfolds the Sky.
Vapours condens'd, and fleecy Mists, support
The ample Floor of his Aëreal Court:
Who, borne in Triumph o'er the Heav'nly Plains,
Rides on the Clouds, and holds a Storm in Reins;
Flies on the Pinions of the bounding Wind,
While Light'ning glares before, and Thunder roars behind.
That no incumbring Flesh may clog the Flight
Of his fleet Messengers, or quell their Might,
Them pure unbody'd Essences He frames
Swift of Dispatch, more active than the Flames.
Who, crown'd with Glory and Immortal Rays,
Majestick shines; unutterably bright
With dazling Robes of uncreated Light:
Who Spacious Sheets of Ether spreads on high,
And, like a Curtain smooth'd, unfolds the Sky.
Vapours condens'd, and fleecy Mists, support
The ample Floor of his Aëreal Court:
Who, borne in Triumph o'er the Heav'nly Plains,
Rides on the Clouds, and holds a Storm in Reins;
Flies on the Pinions of the bounding Wind,
While Light'ning glares before, and Thunder roars behind.
That no incumbring Flesh may clog the Flight
Of his fleet Messengers, or quell their Might,
Them pure unbody'd Essences He frames
Swift of Dispatch, more active than the Flames.
He fix'd the steady Basis of the Earth,
And with a fruitful Word gave Nature Birth.
Then circling Waters o'er the Globe he spred,
And the dull Mass with pregnant Moisture fed:
Above the Rocks th'aspiring Surges swell'd,
And Floods the tallest Mountain-Tops conceal'd.
But when th'Almighty's Voice rebuk'd the Tide,
And in loud Thunder bade the Waves subside;
The ebbing Deluge did its Troops recall,
Drew off its Forces, and disclos'd the Ball.
They at th'Eternal's Signal march'd away,
To fill th'unfathom'd Channel of the Sea;
Where roaring, they in endless Wars engage,
And beat those Shores that bound and check their Rage.
And with a fruitful Word gave Nature Birth.
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And the dull Mass with pregnant Moisture fed:
Above the Rocks th'aspiring Surges swell'd,
And Floods the tallest Mountain-Tops conceal'd.
But when th'Almighty's Voice rebuk'd the Tide,
And in loud Thunder bade the Waves subside;
The ebbing Deluge did its Troops recall,
Drew off its Forces, and disclos'd the Ball.
They at th'Eternal's Signal march'd away,
To fill th'unfathom'd Channel of the Sea;
Where roaring, they in endless Wars engage,
And beat those Shores that bound and check their Rage.
| Thoughts Upon The Four Last Things | |