Poems on Several Occasions :: :: University of Virginia Library

Thee, Thee my rising Soul aspires to sing,
Almighty Father, everlasting King,
Benign Creator! wond'rous to survey,
Thy Works excite the grateful pious Lay.
So full, so plain through all the System shine
Thy glorious Pow'r, and Majesty Divine.

From Thy bright Throne beyond the starry Height,
Spread the vast Plains of Empyræan Light;
The Spheres assume the next inferior Place,
And form their Orbits through th' Æthereal Space.

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Denser beneath, and close-compacted lie
The Elemental Regions of the Sky;
Here sloat the Clouds, and hence the Thunders roll,
And Tempests shake the World from Pole to Pole;
And here thy Ministerial Spirits find
Thy dreadful Stores of Vengeance for Mankind;
And hence, well pleas'd, thy Orders to perform,
Lance the hot Bolt, or drive the raging Storm.

Till thou restrain'dst it, like an ample Robe,
The Deep involv'd the habitable Globe;
And now, though where permit thy dread Decrees,
Or through the Oceans, or the midland Seas,
Restless and proud the foaming Surges rise,
Range the wide wat'ry Waste, and threat the Skies;
Yet where Thou bidst the firm dry Land extend,
Fix'd is their Barrier, and their Tumults end;

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Aw'd with Thy Voice, aloof they vainly roar,
And tumble unincroaching to the Shore.
Meanwhile the penetrating Liquid strains
Through Paths unseen, and subterraneous Veins,
And thence forc'd up, and struggling into Light,
Gushes spontaneous from the Mountain's Height;
Down from each Hill the silver Currents flow,
And wind and wander through the Vales below:
And, whilst their Streams refreshing Moisture yield
To the dry Cattle panting from the Field,
Trees by the Sides project their Branches fair,
And lodge the little Songsters of the Air.

With grateful Food thy Creatures to sustain,
Thou send'st the former and the latter Rain:
The Earth receives it with a quick Embrace,
And straight springs up the Vegetable Race;

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Their sev'ral Fruits the sev'ral Seasons bear,
And various Plenty crowns the loaded Year:
Hence have the beasts, to answer Nature's Call,
Grass in the Field, and Fodder in the Stall:
And hence for Man, the fatt'ning Olive grows:
To chear Man's Heart, hence the rich Vintage flows:
And hence, his Life and Vigour to maintain,
O'er the long Furrows waves the rip'ning Grain.
Lord, how does thy all-bountenous Goodness send
Unnumber'd Gifts, and Blessings without end!

To their full Growth advanc'd, by just Degrees,
Firm and majestic stand the Forest-Trees;
Up to the Clouds their sturdy Arms they throw,
And seek the Center in their Roots below.
And here a hospitable Dwelling find
All the wild Nations of the feather'd Kind:

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And here the Stork, in the tall Fir-trees Height,
Leaves her young Brood and takes her airy Flight:
And whilst a long-extended Gloom they show,
And hang tremendous o'er the Mountain's Brow,
Beneath (for nothing breathes too mean to share
Thy tender Love and providential Care)
The Goat among the Precipices stroles,
And the small Conies borough in their Holes.

The Moon, refulgent with a borrow'd Ray,
Fills her pale Orb, and runs her destin'd Way.
The Sun revolving in his just Career,
Points out the Seasons, and divides the Year;
Duly withdrawing his diurnal Light,
He leaves o'ershaded with the Veil of Night
Half the Terrestial Globe; then rav'ning stray
The savage Beasts, outrageous for their Prey;

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Growling they roam the spacious Desarts o'er;
The Hills re-echo, and the Forests roar.

When the East reddens with the op'ning Day,
Back to their Dens abash'd they haste away;
And Man comes forth, his stated Task begun,
His Task, returning with the rising Sun,
Pursues his Work with anxious Toil and Strife,
And earns the needful Sustenance of Life;
Till Ev'ning aids him, wearied and Opprest,
With sweet Refreshment and alternate Rest.
O Lord, how various is thy Praise display'd
In all the Creatures which thy Hand hath made!
Lost at the View, in Wonder down we fall;
Lord, with what Wisdom hast Thou made them all!
How on the Earth thy Riches dost Thou show'r,
And bless it with an unexhausted Store!

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And yet, behold another Scene disclose!
Nor less the wat'ry World thy Goodness knows.
What Shoals, what endless Shoals fill ev'ry Space!
Or the testaceous, or the scaly Race.
What Forms uncouth innumerable stray!
Dive through the Deep, or on the Surface play!
How vast the huge Leviathans that reign,
Fierce in their Might, the Tyrants of the Main!
Their monst'rous Backs like floating Islands rise;
Their Nostrils spout a Tempest to the Skies.
And here the Ships in all their Glory ride,
And spurn the Billows with triumphant Pride.

These all subsist by thy paternal Care,
Only in thee they live, and move, and are.
To thee they owe their Life's perpetual Stay,
And ask of thee their Food from Day to Day;

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Enjoy the copious Good thy Hand bestows,
And solace on thy Bounty as it flows.
But, thy enliv'ning Influence once withdrawn,
No more does Joy, nor Light, nor Comfort dawn:
Tormenting Pain succeeds, and sad Decay,
And greedy Death demands his destin'd Prey.
The Soul thou gav'st us then resigns it's Trust,
And the poor Carcase tumbles into Dust.

Yet undiminish'd stand the Species all,
And slourish, whilst the Individuals fall.
A new Succession ev'ry Chasm supplies,
And still one rises, as another dies.
Hence is the Praise of thy all-glorious Name
From Age to Age, from Race to Race the same;
Thy Pow'r, throughout the whole Creation known,
As was, is now, and ever shall be shown,

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Till thou who mad'st it, with devouring Flame
Shalt quite consume the universal Frame.

O praise the Lord, my Soul, whilst Sinners wait
From his consuming Hand a dreadful Fate,
Praise thou the Lord; be he thy stedfast Friend,
He, the first Cause of all Things, and the End:
So over Time and Fate shalt thou prevail,
For God sustains thee, and thou canst not fail.