University of Virginia Library

Sitting by a Rivulet.

I.

Ah lovely stream, how fitly may'st thou be,
By thy immutability,
Thy gentle motion and perennity,
To us the Emblem of Eternity:
And to us thou do'st no less
A kind of Omnipresence too express.
For always at the Ocean thou
Art always here, and at thy Fountain too;
Always thou go'st thy proper Course,
Spontaneously, and yet by force,
Each Wave forcing his Precursor on;
Yet each one runs with equal haste,
As though each fear'd to be the last.
With mutual strife, void of contention,
In Troops they march, till thousands, thousands past.
Yet gentle stream, thou'rt still the same,
Always going, never gone;
Yet do'st all Constancy disclaim,
Wildly dancing to thine own murmuring tunefull Song;
Old as Time, as Love and Beauty young.

II.

But chiefly thou to Unity lay'st claim,
For though in thee,
Innumerable drops there be,
Yet still thou art but one,
Th' Original of which from Heav'n came:
The purest Transcript thereof we
I'th' Church may wish, but never hope to see,
Whilst each Pretender thinks himself alone
The Holy Catholick Church Militant;
Nay, well it is if such will grant,
That there is one elsewhere Triumphant.

III.

But gentle stream, if they,
As thou do'st Nature, would their God obey;
And as they run their course of life, would try
Their Consciences to purify:
From self-love, pride, and avaricy,
Stubbornness equal to Idolatry;
They'd find opinion of themselves,
To be but dang'rous sandy Shelves,
To found or build their Faith upon,
Unable to resist the force
Of Prosperity's swelling violent sorce,
Or storms of Persecution:
Whose own voracity (were't in their power)
Wou'd not only Ornaments devour,
But the whole Fabrick of Religion.

IV.