University of Virginia Library

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A HYMN TO THE LIGHT of the WORLD.

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Printed in the Year 1703.

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III.

But when from vacant Space Creating Power
Had rais'd the Seeds of Things, and Elemental Oar,
Dress'd Nature's Magazine and Wealthy Hoard
For unform'd future Worlds with crude Materials stor'd,
Projected from Thy Face a Vital Ray
Thro' Chaos made its radiant Way,
And drew the tender Lines of dawning Day:
Thy smiling Offspring new-born Light,
Freed from the gloomy Chains of Night,
Did from the dusky Gulph arise,
And spread its shining Wings, ambitious of the Skies.
The grey Expansion hovers in the Air,
To which new Beams from Prison loos'd repair:
Thro' all the Space the bright Infection goes,
And chasing ancient Shades away,
Do's all young Nature's Charms disclose,
And propagate the ripening Day.
These pure Emissions of Thy Glorious Face,
To Heav'n return their Native Place,

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Reflected back to Thee, they wing their Flight,
Ocean Immense of Independent Light!

IV.

To Thee their Beams the Constellations owe,
Thou on the Stars their Beauty did'st bestow:
They, and the Milky Galaxy,
Shine by the Rays deriv'd from Thee,
Thy Magazines on high, that hold
Rich Stores of pure, Ætherial, liquid Gold,
Freely th' Expensive Sun supply,
And feed his boundless Prodigality:
The vast uncalculated Sums
Of Light, which daily he consumes,
Thy Treasures, whence they flow, can never waste;
Treasures, that, like Thy Self, for ever last.
Should'st Thou, the Fountain, stop Thy Glorious Streams,
The sick'ning Sun, defrauded of his Beams,
Would, with his dusky Orb, the World affright,
And yield his Empire to prevailing Night;

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And thus the Sun, that borrow'd Glory spends,
More, than on him the Moon, on Thee depends.

V.

Are not the Crowns of high Seraphick States,
And great Celestial Potentates,
Crowns beyond Expression bright,
And their wide spreading Robes of spotless Light,
Of thicken'd Rays, and labour'd Glory wrought,
From Thy Immortal Wardrobe brought?
These Seraphs, who Thy Throne surround,
And spread, with prostrate Throngs, the Heav'nly Ground;
These Eldest Stars, Sons of the Morn,
Who sing Thy Praises, and Thy Court adorn,
With intercepted Brightness shine,
Emitted from Thy Plenitude Divine.
On Thee they gaze, and with their eager Eyes
Imbibe Unutterable Joys:
So long they feed their ravish'd Sight
With Beatifick Luxury of Light,

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They view Thy Radiant Face so long,
They feel their Tides of Pleasure run too strong,
And with unequal Happiness contest,
Strugling with Glory, and with Bliss opprest.

VII.

Thy pow'rful Breath first quicken'd Adam's Frame,
Blew up and kindled there the Vital Flame,

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And Animated Clay a Living Mould became.
Then the warm Blood did from its Goal, the Heart,
To run its Purple Ring with Vigour start.
Then Infant Life began to play,
To bound and leap along th' Arterial Way,
And carry'd on the circling Tide,
Did thro' its winding Labyrinths, and Veiny Mazes, glide.
The moving Frame began
To breath and speak, and act the Man.
His noble Mind Thou form'd'st of Light refin'd,
A Thinking Substance of Celestial Kind;
A fair and undecaying Flame
Pure, like th' Eternal Fountain, whence it came;
Which, stampt with Thy blest Image, shone
Bright, as the Cherubs, who adorn thy Throne.
Thou bad'st the Heav'nly Guest in Flesh abide,
And by Thy Skill the Knot of Life was ty'd.
Thus Half-Immortal and Half-Mortal He
To Angels and to Brutes ally'd,
A true Æquator is design'd by Thee
In Halves the wide Creation to divide.

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X.

Whilst on the Earth such Darkness dwells,
Malicious Fiends forsake their hateful Cells,
Like rav'ning Wolves, or roaring Lions stray,
Hunt and devour by Night their Prey.
These Tyrants, as their Empire, did possess
This wide, unlightsome Wilderness,
And fierce infest th' unhappy Regions, grown
In Guilt and Blackness, like their own;
Should from the Earth the Sun conceal his Face,
What Terrors would invade this dismal Place?
Nature and Order would be soon depos'd,
And all their Subjects from Obedience loos'd;
Which their first Monarch Chaos would restore,
And prove the wild Assertors of his Pow'r:
Confusion, Misrule, Uproar, Chance,
His blind Adherents, would support
Their ancient Lord, and swift advance
To take their Stations in his lawless Court.

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Since Guilt did first Admission find,
This is the fatal State of Humane Kind.
Passions Subjection to their Guide disown,
Insult their Soveraign, and subvert his Throne.
Fancy does fickle reign in Reason's Seat,
And Thy wild Empire, Anarchy, uphold,
Hostile Desires fierce Wars repeat,
By Turns victorious, and by Turns controul'd:
Which e'er prevails the Suff'ring is the same,
A Tyrant 'tis, tho' with a milder Name.
All that unhappy Man can hope to gain
Is various Servitude, and endless Change of Pain.

XI.

Thou, Kind Redeemer, toucht to see
Such Scenes of Woe, such moving Misery,
Did'st soon determine to dispell
These Shades of Death, and Gloom of Hell.
Soon as kind Heavn, of Love th' exhaustless Source,
Pronounc'd, that Thy Superior Might

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Should break th' infernal Serpent's Force,
And to benighted Minds restore Celestial Light,
Early Thou mad'st Thy blest Essay,
And here and there did'st dart a Ray
Preluding to maturer Day.
In every Age Thou did'st indulgent shew
Distinguish'd Kindness to a chosen few;
'Till Thou to Abraham, and his pious Race,
More fully did'st reveal the Beauties of thy Face.
O Jacob, Thy Auspicious Star,
That promis'd Night should soon be chas'd away,
Smil'd beauteous in the East, and from afar
Did Beams presaging brighter Scenes display.
Then were the shining Strokes and Outlines drawn,
Then did the Morn of blest Redemption dawn.
The Fav'rite Nation was reviv'd with Light,
While Pagan Kingdoms lay involv'd in Night;
Had scarce a Streak or glimmering Ray,
Thro' the dark Maze of Life to guide their doubtful Way:

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Only some Happy Men, who dwelt
Upon the Confines of Thy People, felt
A Skirt of that Resplendent Show'r,
Which on this Chosen Race Thou did'st abundant pour.

XII.

At various Seasons, and in sundry Ways,
Thou did'st dispense Thy Heav'nly Rays.
Sometimes the Form of Man Thou did'st assume,
Assuring Thy Incarnate State to come.
Thou, who did'st fit enthron'd on High;
Above the Convex of the outmost Sky,
Whose Robes of Glory, spread abroad,
Fill'd all the spacious Heav'ns, Thy blest Abode
Thou did'st forsake Thy Blissful Place,
To honour with Thy Presence Adam's Race;
From Thy sublime Immortal Throne,
To Abraham's Tent on Mamre's Plain,
In Humane Shape Thou cam'st in private down,
Attended but with two of all Thy Heav'nly Train.

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Thou did'st converse, O condescending Grace!
With this blest Fav'rite Face to Face:
To Him, as to a Friend, Thou did'st disclose
Thy secret Thoughts, and thy Designs propose.
When pious Jacob, by Divine Command,
Return'd from Laban to his Native Land,
Thou met'st the Patriarch on the Road,
Who wrestled with, and overcame his God:
Crown'd with so great a Victory,
Well might he Esau's Force defy;
In vain the Pow'rs of Earth and Hell assail
The Victor Saint, who does o'er Heav'n prevail.

XIII.

Often did humble Moses see
The bright Eruptions of Thy Majesty:
Before that happy Hebrew's Face,
Thou mad'st thy glorious Goodness pass.
In Sinai's Mount he staid with Thee alone,
'Till with thy dazling Light his Face infected shone.

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When Joshua first the Land survey'd,
Where Jericho's proud Kings the Scepter sway'd,
Thou, Warrior like, did'st in his Passage stand,
Thy Sword up-lifted in Thy threat'ning Hand:
And did'st Thyself the ready Chief declare,
To lead Thy People to successful War.
The pious General, with due Rev'rence, struck,
And, conscious of the sacred Place,
Off from his Feet his Sandals took,
And worship'd Thee fall'n prostrate on his Face
Tho' not the highest Angel of the Lord
Did e'er consent to be by Man ador'd.

XIV.

Sometimes without a Shape in Glory clad,
Or wrapt in Robes of awful Darkness made,
Thou did'st from Thy Etherial Seat
To these low Regions kind retreat.
But chiefly with the Mind Thou did'st converse,
And to thy People inwardly reherse

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Thy Purpose, and Thy sacred Will;
And, with pure Light, their Understandings fill.
From Time to Time Thou did'st those Prophets raise,
To guide Thy People, and correct their Ways,
Some Lustre still Thou did'st dispense
To cherish Thy Inheritance.
And on their Minds did'st in a Pillar stay
Of Heav'nly Light, to lead the Way
Thro' this Pathless Wilderness
To Mystick Canaan's Realms of endless Peace and Bliss.

XV.

Thus Thy Etherial Beams Thou did'st display,
The Pledge and Preface of ensuing Day;
Which by Degrees o'erspread the East,
And, as Thy Rays advanc'd, encreast;
'Till rolling Years had all the Stages run,
Set by Divine Decree, e'er Measure first begun:
And now the Fulness of the Time was come
For Thee our Nature to assume.

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Then Thou, O Sun of Righteousness, did'st rise
Spreading Thy Beams thro' Palestina's Skies.
The Prophets, those illustrious Stars,
Thy Envoys, Heralds, and bright Harbingers,
And all the glitt'ring Beauties of the Morn,
That did Judea's Heav'n adorn,
No longer now their Beams convey,
Sunk in full Glory, and effac'd with Day.
Thy gushing Floods of Light o'erpass'd the Mound,
And dark Inclosures, that did Israel bound,
And overflow'd the Pagan Nations round.
Triumphant in its radiant Course
It did thro' thickest Shades its Passage force;
It made curst Fiends from this Terrestrial Seat,
And all the Horrors of the Night retreat.
As soon as Thy propitious Star had blest,
With its fair Beams the Princes of the East,
They left the Sun, and their remote Abode,
An Orb of greater Lustre to adore,
Such as the World ne'er saw before,
Incarnate Glory, and indeed a God.

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XVII.

Blest be the Day, be blest the happy Morn,
In which th' Eternal Infant God was Born.

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Let it in all the Pomp of Joy appear,
And with its brighter Glory crown the Year.
Ye swift-wing'd Hours for ever shew
The Rev'rence to your Soveraign due.
When it returns, halt for a while to gaze,
And bless this Pride of Time, this Chief of Days.
Mercy, Compassion, Pleasure, Peace
And Plenty, in your gayest Dress,
All your celestial Charms display,
And here your Annual Homage pay,
For is not This your Restoration Day?
When Weeks and Years, their circ'ling Eddies done,
Shall their appointed Course have run;
When aged Time his ebbing Streams shall see
Sunk in the stagnant Gulph of vast Eternity,
Let that blest Day escape the Fate,
Which on vulgar Hours must wait;
Let it be rescu'd from the common Doom,
And live to Ages still to come:

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Let it be sav'd, that did Salvation bring,
And shew'd Apostate Man his Great Redeemer King.

XVIII.

When this blest Day returns, be calm the Air,
Let the fair Morn her richest Purple wear,
And let her spring from the dark Womb of Night,
Pure as the smiling first-born Light.
Let all her heav'nly Roses spread the Way
Before this glorious rising Day.
Let it advance, as lovely and serene,
As the blest Peace and Joy it brought to Men:
And let its Face appear so charming mild,
That all the Earth may see kind Heav'n is reconcil'd
In all his Splendor let the Sun
From his Rooms of State sublime,
As an eager Bridegroom run
To wed this Day, the fairest Child of Time:
Nor let the Sons of Art in Plannets wise
With long far-seeing, Astrologic Eyes,

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Be able now to trace
One Spot or Speck in all his radiant Face.
Let no outrageous Winds the Seas molest,
Let Storms, their Fury sooth'd, in Caverns rest.
Let no black Cloud, no sullen Vapour rise,
To trouble, or pollute the Skies:
Let not a Frown appear
Upon one Brow, or on one Face a Tear:
Let Grief this Day be silent, let Despair
With no sad Accent vex the peaceful Air.
Let anxious Care not dare to sigh, nor Pain
Presume to groan, nor Anguish to complain.
Let nothing but melodious Lays,
Triumphant Shouts, and cheerful Sound,
No Voice but that of Joy, no Song but Praise,
Ring thro' the Earth, and from the Skies rebound.

XIX.

Let the succeeding Night approach in Peace,
Let not the Caves their stormy Guests release.

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Only, ye Zephyrs, now prepare
Your softest Breath to fan the Air:
Curle gliding Rivers with a gentle Breeze,
With silken Wings pass rusling thro' the Trees,
And let no boist'rous Blasts essay
To interrupt your inoffensive Play.
Let no unwholesome Reeks ascend this Night,
No ill-presaging Fires Mankind surprize;
May only harmless Meteors take their Flight,
And shoot in lambent Flames across the Skies.
Let not the Nightly Raven croak,
Nor Owls forsake the Hollow Oak;
May no fantastick Horrors of the Air,
The late benighted Trav'ller scare.
Let no wild Beast rush from his secret Hold,
To fright the Shepherd, and destroy the Fold;
In cavern'd Rocks let no Sea-Monsters yell,
Nor Fiends the Earth infest, but rage and howl in Hell.

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