A Collection of Poems on Various Subjects :: :: University of Virginia Library

Tho' we unsettled wearing Life consume
Like our Fore-fathers, and without a Home,
Vagrants thro' vast and howling Desarts roam;
Yet Thy protecting Care Indulgent God,
Has been our constant and secure Abode.

E'er yet th' aspiring Mountains had their Birth,
Or the strong Pillars, which sustain the Earth,
Were reer'd, e'er yet the World's extended Frame
From the dark Vacant into Being came,
Great God, Thou art, and always wer't the same.
Destruction is th' inevitable Doom
Of short-liv'd Man, who breaking from the Womb,
Begins his hasty Journey to the Tomb.

374

When a few Days within its Vital Urn,
His Flame of Life has been allow'd to burn,
Thou bid'st him, whence he came, to Dust return.

The spacious Circle of a Thousand Years,
To Thee by Age uncircumscrib'd appears
But as a Day that's past with speedy Flight,
Or the swift Watches, that divide the Night:
Thou Human Kind do'st as a Torrent sweep
From Earth, who as the empty Scenes of Sleep,
Illusive Dreams and Shades, the Mind amuse,
And soon their unsubstantial Figure loose.
As the gay Offspring of the Verdant Mead,
Man in the Morning blooms, but hangs his Head
When Evening comes, decays and with'ring dies,
Or by the Scythe cut down in Ruin lies.

We in this wasteful Wilderness distrest,
And by unnumber'd Plagues and Deaths opprest,

375

By Thy Displeasure are to Sorrow doom'd,
And by Thy unrelenting Wrath consum'd.
To shew our secret Sins Thou do'st delight,
And set our Errors in the strongest Light
Before Thy Face; and accurate observe
Our Steps, that from the Paths of Virtue swerve.
Sunk and opprest by Wrath Divine, behold,
We spend our Minutes, like a Tale that's told;
Minutes, which with unheeded Swiftness fly,
And vanish like a Thought, a Breath, or Sigh.

The usual Period of the Age of Men
Extends its Bounds to Threescore Years and Ten;
And if by Nature, some robust and strong,
To Stages much remoter Life prolong,
Pinch'd by the Frosts of hoary Age they find
Pain in their Limbs, and Sorrow in their Mind;
Nor as in blooming Youth, by Steps decay,
But fly like Birds of swiftest Wing away.

376

Who form such true Ideas of the Force
Of Thy fierce Anger, as with just Remorse,
And pious Sense of their own Guilt, to shew
Becoming Fear to Thy Displeasure due?
Instruct us how to calculate the Train
Of our few Days, Days full of Care and Pain,
That we attentive may our Thoughts apply
To sacred Wisdom, and prepare to die;
And with th' Account made ready, free from Fear,
And unsurpriz'd, may at Thy Bar appear.

How long, Blest Lord, shall we Thy Absence mourn?
At length intreated, merciful return
To suff'ring Jacob; let Thy Soul relent,
Thy Bowels yearn, and of Thy Wrath repent.
Lay down Thy Arms, nor as a Foe destroy,
That we may taste our Change of Fate with Joy:
Soon, e'er with Plagues we wholly are consum'd
And to Despair unsufferable doom'd,

377

Dismiss Thy Anger, and Compassion show,
That we may Peace possess, and Pleasure know.

Let, in Proportion to our Sorrows past,
Thy mild Indulgence, and our Comforts last:
Nor may our fair delightful Days be less
In Number, than were those of our Distress.
By their Deliv'rance let Thy Servants find
Thy glorious Work, long promis'd and design'd,
At last compleated; let the Nations see
The Scheme accomplish'd of Thy high Decree:
And let of Thy blest Countenance the Light
And glorious Presence glad Thy People's Sight;
And that our Guilt may not Thy Work obstruct,
By Thee directed let us so conduct
Our Ways, that Jacob's Crimes excite no more
Thy dreadful Wrath, as they have done before.