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Deity

A Poem [by Samuel Boyse]

Boyse, Samuel (1708-1749)

[epigraph]

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DEITY: A POEM.

From earth's low prospects and deceitful aims,
From wealth's allurements, and ambition's dreams,
The lover's raptures, and the hero's views,
All the false joys mistaken man pursues,
The schemes of science, the delights of wine,
Or the more pleasing follies of the Nine!
Recall, fond Bard, thy long-inchanted sight,
Deluded with the visionary light!

A nobler theme demands thy sacred song,
A theme beyond or man's or angel's tongue!

But oh alas! unhallow'd and profane,
How shalt thou dare to raise the heav'nly strain?
Do thou, who from the altar's living fire
Isaiah's tuneful lips did once inspire,
Come to my aid, celestial Wisdom, come:
From my dark mind dispel the doubtful gloom:
My passions still, my purer breast inflame,
To sing that GOD from whom existence came;
Till heav'n and nature in the consort join,
And own the Author of their birth divine.

I. ETERNITY.

Whence sprung this glorious frame? or whence arose
The various forms the Universe compose?
From what Almighty Cause, what mystic springs
Shall we derive the origin of things?
Sing heav'nly Guide! whose all-efficient light
Drew dawning planets from the womb of night!

Since reason, by thy sacred dictates taught,
Adores a Pow'r beyond the reach of thought.

First Cause of causes! Sire supreme of birth!
Sole light of heav'n! acknowledg'd life of earth!
Whose Word from nothing call'd this beauteous whole,
This wide expanded all from pole to pole!
Who shall prescribe the boundary to Thee?
Or fix the æra of Eternity!

Should we, deceiv'd by error's sceptic glass,
Admit the thought absurd—that Nothing was!
Thence would this wild, this false conclusion flow,
That Nothing rais'd this beauteous All below!
When from disclosing darkness splendor breaks,
Associate atoms move, and matter speaks!
When non-existence bursts its close disguise,
How blind are mortals?—not to own the skies!

If one vast void eternal held its place,
Whence started Time? or whence expanded Space!

What gave the slumb'ring mass to feel a change?
Or bid consenting worlds harmonious range!
Could nothing link the universal chain?
No, 'tis impossible, absurd and vain!
Here Reason its eternal Author finds,
The whole who regulates, unites and binds,
Enlivens matter, and produces minds!
Inactive Chaos sleeps in dull repose,
Nor knowledge thence, nor free volition flows!
A nobler source those pow'rs etherial show,
By which we think, design, reflect and know;
These from a cause superior date their rise,
“Abstract in essence from material tyes.”
An origin immortal, as supreme,
From whose pure day, celestial rays! they came:
In whom all possible perfections shine,
Eternal, self-existent, and divine!

From this great spring of uncreated might!
This all-resplendent orb of vital light!
Whence all created beings take their rise,
Which beautify the earth, or paint the skies!

Profusely-wide the boundless blessings flow,
Which heav'n enrich, and gladden worlds below!
Which are no less, when properly defin'd,
Than emanations of th'Eternal mind!

Hence triumphs Truth beyond objection clear
(Let Unbelief attend, and shrink with fear!)
That what for ever was—must surely be
Beyond commencement, and from period free;
Drawn from himself his native excellence,
His date eternal, and his space immense!
And all of whom that man can comprehend,
Is, that he ne'er begun, nor e'er shall end.

In him from whom existence boundless flows,
Let humble Faith its sacred Trust repose;
Assur'd, on his eternity depend,
“Eternal Father! and eternal friend!”
Within that mystic circle safety seek,
No time can lessen, and no force can break;
And, lost in adoration, breathe his praise,
High rock of ages, ancient Sire of days!

II. UNITY.

Thus recogniz'd, the spring of life and thought!
Eternal, self-deriv'd, and unbegot!
Approach, celestial Muse! th'empyreal throne,
And awfully adore th'exalted one!
In nature pure, in place supremely free,
And happy in essential unity!
Bless'd in himself, had from his forming hand,
No creatures sprung to hail his wide command;
Bless'd, had the sacred fountain ne'er run o'er,
A boundless sea of bliss that knows no shore!

Nor sense can two prime origins conceive,
Nor reason two eternal Gods believe!
Could the wild Manichæan own that guide,
The good would triumph, and the ill subside!
Again, would vanquish'd Arimanius bleed,
And darkness from prevailing light recede!

In diff'rent individuals we find,
An evident disparity of mind;

Hence ductile thought a thousand changes gains,
And actions vary as the will ordains;
But should two Beings, equally supreme,
Divided pow'r, and parted empire claim;
How soon would universal order cease!
How soon would discord harmony displace?
Eternal schemes maintain eternal fight,
Nor yield, supported by eternal might;
Where each would uncontroul'd his aim pursue,
The links dissever, or the chain renew;
Matter from motion cross impressions take,
As serv'd each pow'r his rival's pow'r to break,
While neutral Chaos, from his deep recess,
Would view the never-ending strife increase,
And bless the contest that secur'd his peace!
While new creations would opposing rise,
And elemental war deform the skies!
Around wild uproar and confusion hurl'd,
Eclipse the heav'ns, and waste the ruin'd world.

Two independent causes to admit,
Destroys religion, and debases wit;

The first by such an anarchy undone,
The last acknowledges its source but one.
As from the main the mountain rills are drawn,
That wind irriguous thro' the flow'ry lawn;
So, mindful of their spring, one course they keep,
Exploring, till they find their native deep!

Exalted Pow'r! invisible, supreme,
Thou sov'reign, sole unutterable Name!
As round thy throne thy flaming seraphs stand,
And touch the golden lyre with trembling hand!
Too weak thy pure effulgence to behold,
With their rich plumes their dazzled eyes infold;
Transported with the Ardors of thy praise,
The holy! holy! holy! anthem raise!
To them, responsive, let creation sing,
Thee, indivisible eternal king!

III. SPIRITUALITY.

O say, celestial Muse! whose purer Birth,
Disdains the low material tyes of earth!

By what bright images shall be defin'd
The mystic nature of th'eternal Mind?
Or how shall thought the dazzling height explore,
Where all that reason can—is to adore!

That God's an immaterial essence pure,
Whom figure can't describe, nor parts immure;
Incapable of passions, impulse, fear,
In good pre-eminent, in truth severe:
Unmix'd his nature, and sublim'd his pow'rs,
From all the gross allay that tempers ours;
In whose clear eye the bright angelic train
Appear suffus'd with imperfection's stain!
Impervious to the man's—or seraph's eye,
Beyond the ken of each exalted high;
Him would in vain material semblance feign,
Or figur'd shrines the boundless God contain;
Object of faith!—he shuns the view of Sense,
Lost in the blaze of sightless excellence!
Most perfect, most intelligent, most wise,
In whom the sanctity of pureness lies;

In whose adjusting mind the whole is wrought,
Whose form is spirit! and whose essence, thought!
Are truths inscrib'd by Wisdom's brightest ray,
In characters that gild the face of day!

Reason confess'd, (howe'er we may dispute)
Fix'd boundary! discovers man from brute;
But dim to us, exerts its fainter ray,
Depress'd in matter, and ally'd to clay!
In forms superior kindles less confin'd,
Whose dress is æther, and whose substance mind;
Yet all from Him, supreme of Causes, flow,
To Him their pow'rs and their existence owe;
From the bright cherub of the noblest birth,
To the poor reasoning glow-worm plac'd on earth;
From matter then to spirit still ascend,
Thro' spirit still refining, higher tend;
Pursue, on knowledge bent, the pathless road,
Pierce thro' infinitude in quest of God!
Still from thy search, the centre still shall fly,
Approaching still—thou never shalt come nigh!

So its bright orb, th'aspiring flame would join,
But the vast distance mocks the fond design.

If He, Almighty! whose decree is fate,
Could, to display his pow'r, subvert his state;
Bid from his plastic hand a greater rise,
Produce a Master! and resign his skies!
Impart his incommunicable flame,
The mystic number of th'Etlrnal Name!
Then might revolting reason's feeble ray,
Aspire to question God's all-perfect day!
Vain task! the clay in the directing hand,
The reason of its form might so demand,
As man presume to question his dispose,
From whom the pow'r, he thus abuses, flows.

Here point, fair Muse! the worship God requires,
The soul inflam'd with chaste and holy fires!
Where love celestial warms the happy breast,
And from sincerity the thought's express'd;
Where genuine piety and truth refin'd,
Reconsecrate the temple of the mind;

With grateful flames, the living altars glow,
And God descends to visit man below!

IV. OMNIPRESENCE.

Thro' the unmeasurable tracts of space,
Go, Muse divine! and present Godhead trace!
See where by place, uncircumscrib'd as time,
He reigns extended, and he shines sublime!
Should'st thou above the heav'n of heav'ns ascend,
Could'st thou below the depth of depths descend;
Could thy fond flight beyond the starry sphere,
The radiant Morning's lucid pinions bear!
There should his brighter presence shine confess'd,
There his almighty arm thy course arrest!
Could'st thou the thickest veil of Night assume,
Or think to hide thee in the central gloom;
Yet there, all patent to his piercing sight,
Darkness itself would kindle into light:
Not the black mansions of the silent grave,
Nor darker hell from her perception save;
What pow'r, alas! thy Footsteps can convey
Beyond the reach of omnipresent day!

In his wide grasp, and comprehensive eye,
Immediate, worlds on worlds unnumber'd lie:
Systems inclos'd in his perception roll,
Whose all-informing mind directs the whole:
Lodg'd in his grasp, their certain ways they know;
Plac'd in that sight from whence can nothing go.
On earth his footstool fix'd, in heav'n his seat;
Inthron'd he dictates—and his word is Fate.

Nor want his shining images below,
In streams that murmur, or in winds that blow;
His spirit broods along the boundless flood,
Smiles in the plain, and whispers in the wood;
Warms in the genial sun's enliv'ning ray,
Breathes in the air, and beautifies the day!

Should man his great immensity deny,
Man might as well usurp the vacant sky:
For were he limited in date, or view,
Thence were his Attributes imperfect too;
His Knowledge, Pow'r, his Goodness all confin'd,
And lost th'idea of a ruling Mind!

Feeble the trust, and comfortless the sense,
Of a defective partial Providence!
Boldly might then his arm injustice brave,
Or innocence in vain his mercy crave;
Dejected virtue lift its hopeless eye!
And heavy sorrow vent the heartless sigh!
An absent God no abler to defend,
Protect, or punish, than an absent friend;
Distant alike, our wants or griefs to know,
To ease the anguish, or prevent the blow!
If he, supreme Director, were not near,
Vain were our hope, and empty were our fear;
Unpunish'd Vice would o'er the world prevail,
And unrewarded virtue toil—to fail!
The moral world a second chaos lie,
And nature sicken to the thoughtful eye!

Even the weak embryo, ere to life it breaks,
From his high pow'r its slender texture takes;
While in his book the various parts inroll'd,
Increasing, own eternal Wisdom's mold.

Nor views he only the material whole,
But pierces thought, and penetrates the soul!
Ere from the lips the vocal accents part,
Or the faint purpose dawns within the heart!
His steady eye the mental birth perceives,
Ere yet to us the new idea lives!
Knows what we say—ere yet the words proceed,
And ere we form th'intention, marks the deed!

But Conscience, fair vicegerent-light within,
Asserts its Author, and restores the scene!
Points out the beauty of the govern'd plan,
“And vindicates the ways of God to man.”

Then sacred Muse, by the vast prospect fir'd,
From heav'n descended, as by heav'n inspir'd;
His all-enlight'ning Omnipresence own,
Whence first thou feels thy dwindling presence known;
His wide Omniscience, justly grateful sing,
Whence thy weak science prunes its callow wing!
And bless th'eternal—all-informing soul,
Whose sight pervades, whose knowledge fills the whole!

V. IMMUTABILITY.

As the Eternal and Omniscient Mind,
By laws not limited, nor bounds confin'd;
Is always independent, always free,
Hence shines confess'd Immutability!
Change, whether the spontaneous child of Will,
Or birth of Force,—is imperfection still.
But he, all-perfect, in himself contains
Pow'r self-deriv'd, and from himself he reigns!
If, alter'd by constraint, we could suppose,
That God his fix'd stability should lose;
How startles reason at a thought so strange!
What Pow'r can force Omnipotence to change?
If from his own divine productive thought,
Were the yet stranger alteration wrought;
Could excellence supreme, new rays acquire?
Or strong perfection raise its glories higher!
Absurd!—his high meridian brightness glows,
Never decreases, never overflows!
Knows no addition, yields to no decay,
The blaze of incommunicable day!

Below, thro' different forms does matter range,
And life subsists from elemental change,
Liquids condensing shapes terrestrial wear,
Earth mounts in fire, and fire dissolves in air;
While we, enquiring phantoms of a day,
Inconstant as the shadows we survey!
With them, along Time's rapid current pass,
And haste to mingle with the parent mass;
But Thou, Eternal Lord of life divine!
In youth immortal shalt for ever shine!
No change shall darken thy exalted Name,
From everlasting ages still the same!

If God, like man, his purpose could renew,
His laws could vary, or his plans undo;
Desponding Faith would droop its chearless wing,
Religion deaden to a lifeless thing!
Where could we, rational, repose our trust,
But in a Pow'r immutable as just?
How judge of revelation's force divine,
If Truth unerring gave not the design;

Where, as in Nature's fair according plan,
All smiles benevolent and good to man.

Plac'd in this narrow clouded spot below,
We darkly see around, and darkly know!
Religion lends the salutary beam,
That guides our Reason thro' the dubious gleam;
Till sounds the hour!—when he who rules the skies,
Shall bid the curtain of Omniscience rise!
Shall dissipate the mists that veil our sight,
And show his creatures—all his ways are right!

Then when astonish'd Nature feels its fate,
And fetter'd Time shall know his latest date!
When earth shall in the mighty blaze expire,
Heav'n melt with heat, and worlds dissolve in fire!
The universal system shrink away,
And ceasing orbs confess th'almighty sway!
Immortal He, amidst the wreck secure,
Shall sit exalted, permanently pure!
As in the Sacred Bush, shall shine the same,
And from the ruin raise a fairer frame!

VI. OMNIPOTENCE.

Far hence, ye visionary charming Maids,
Ye fancy'd Nymphs that haunt the Grecian shades!
Your birth, who from conceiving fiction drew,
Your selves producing phantoms as untrue;
But come, superior Muse! divinely bright,
Daughter of heav'n, whose offspring still are light;
Oh condescend, celestial sacred guest!
To purge my sight, and animate my breast;
While I presume Omnipotence to trace,
And sing that Pow'r, who peopl'd boundless space!

Thou present wert, when forth th'Almighty rode,
While Chaos trembled at the Voice of God!
Thou saw, when o'er th'immense his line he drew,
When Nothing from his Word existence knew!
His Word, that wak'd to life the vast profound,
While conscious Light was kindl'd at the sound!
Creation fair! surpriz'd th'angelic eyes,
And sov'reign Wisdom saw that all was wise!

Him, sole almighty Nature's book displays,
Distinct the page, and legible the rays!
Let the wild sceptic his attention throw,
To the broad horizon, or earth below;
He finds thy soft impression touch his breast,
He feels the God, and owns him unconfess'd!
Should the stray Pilgrim, tir'd of sands and skies,
In Libya's waste behold a Palace rise,
Would he believe the charm from atoms wrought?
Go, atheist, hence, and mend thy juster thought!

What hand, Almighty Architect! but thine
Could give the model of this vast design?
What hand but thine adjust th'amazing whole?
And bid consenting systems beauteous roll!
What hand but thine supply the solar light?
Ever bestowing, yet for ever bright!
What hand but thine the starry train array,
Or give the moon to shed her borrow'd ray?
What hand but thine the azure convex spread?
What hand but thine compose the ocean's bed?

To the vast main the sandy barrier throw,
And with the feeble curb restrain the foe!
What hand but thine the wintry flood assuage,
Or stop the tempest in its wildest rage!

Thee infinite! what finite can explore?
Imagination sinks beneath thy pow'r;
Thee could the ablest of thy creatures know,
Lost were thy Unity, for he were Thou!
Yet present to all sense thy pow'r remains,
Reveal'd in Nature, Nature's Author reigns!
In vain would error from conviction fly,
Thou every where art present to the eye!
The sense how stupid, and the sight how blind,
That fails this universal truth to find?

Go!—all the sightless realms of space survey,
Returning trace the Planetary Way!
The sun, that in his central glory shines,
While ev'ry planet round his orb inclines;
Then at our intermediate globe repose,
And view yon lunar Satellite that glows!

Or cast along the azure vault thy eye,
When golden day enlightens all the sky;
Around behold earth's variegated scene,
The mingling prospects, and the flow'ry green;
The mountain brow, the long extended wood,
Or the rude rock that threatens o'er the flood!
And say are these the wild effects of chance?
Oh strange effect of reas'ning ignorance!

Nor pow'r alone confess'd in grandeur lies,
The glittering planet, or the painted skies!
Equal, the elephant's or emmet's dress,
The wisdom of Omnipotence confess;
Equal, the cumbrous whale's enormous mass,
With the small insect in the crouded grass;
The mite that gambols in its acid sea,
In shape a porpus, tho' a speck to thee!
Ev'n the blue down the purple plumb surrounds,
A living world, thy failing sight confounds!
To him a peopl'd habitation shows,
Where millions taste the bounty God bestows!

Great Lord of life, whose all-controuling might,
Thro' wide creation beams divinely bright,
Nor only does thy pow'r in forming shine,
But to annihilate, dread King! is thine.
Shouldst thou withdraw thy still supporting hand,
How languid Nature would astonish'd stand!
Thy frown the ancient realm of Night restore,
And raise a blank—where systems smil'd before!

See in corruption, all-surprizing state,
How struggling life eludes the stroke of fate;
Shock'd at the scene, tho' sense averts its eye,
Nor stops the wond'rous process to descry;
Yet juster thought the mystic change pursues,
And with delight Almighty Wisdom views!
The brute, the vegetable worlds surveys,
Sees life subsisting ev'n from life's decays!
Mark there, self-taught, the pensive reptile come,
Spins his thin shroud, and living builds his tomb!
With conscious care his former pleasures leave,
And dress him for the bus'ness of the grave!

Thence, pass'd the short-liv'd change, renew'd he springs,
Admires the skies, and tries his silken wings!
With airy flight the insect roves abroad,
And scorns the meaner earth he lately trod!

Thee, potent, let deliver'd Israel praise,
And to thy Name their grateful homage raise!
Thee potent God! let Egypt's land declare,
That felt thy justice, awfully severe!
How did thy frown benight the shadow'd land?
Nature revers'd, how own thy high command?
When jarring elements their use forgot,
And the sun felt thy overcasting blot!
When earth produc'd the pestilential brood
And the foul stream was crimson'd into blood!
How deep the horrors of that awful night,
How strong the terror, and how wild the fright!
When o'er the land thy sword vindictive past,
And men and infants breath'd at once their last!
How did thy arm thy favour'd tribes convey!
Thy light conducting, point the patent way?

Obedient ocean to their march divide,
The wat'ry wall distinct on either side;
While thro' the deep the long procession led,
And saw the wonders of the oozy bed!
Nor long they march'd, till black'ning in the rear,
The vengeful tyrant and his host appear;
Plunge down the steep, the waves thy nod obey,
And whelm the threat'ning storm beneath the sea!

Nor yet thy pow'r thy chosen train forsook,
When thro' Arabia's sands their way they took;
By day thy cloud was present to the sight,
Thy fiery pillar led the march by night;
Thy hand amidst the waste their table spread,
With feather'd viands, and with Heav'nly bread:
When the dry wilderness no streams supply'd,
Gush'd from the yielding rock the vital tide!
What limits can Omnipotence confine?
What obstacles oppose thy arm divine!
Since stones and waves their settled laws forgo,
Since seas can harden, and since rocks can flow!

On Sinai's top, the Muse with ardent wing
The triumphs of Omnipotence would sing,
When o'er its airy brow thy cloud display'd,
Involv'd the nations in its awful shade!
When shrunk the earth from thy approaching face,
And the rock trembled to its rooted base;
Yet where Thy Majesty divine appear'd,
Where shone thy Glory, and thy Voice was heard;
Ev'n in the blaze of that tremendous day,
Idolatry its impious rites could pay!
Oh shame to thought!—Thy sacred Throne invade,
And brave the bolt that linger'd round its head!

VII. WISDOM.

O thou, who when th'Almighty form'd this All,
Upheld the scale, and weigh'd each ballanc'd ball;
And as his hand completed each design,
Number'd the work, and fix'd the seal divine;
O Wisdom infinite! creation's soul,
Whose rays diffuse new lustre o'er the whole,
What tongue shall make Thy charms celestial known?
What hand, fair Goddess! paint thee but thy own?

What tho' in nature's universal store,
Appear the wonders of almighty pow'r?
Pow'r unattended, terror would inspire,
Aw'd must we gaze, and comfortless admire.
But when fair Wisdom joins in the design,
The beauty of the whole results divine!

Hence life acknowledges its glorious cause,
And matter owns its great disposer's laws;
Hence in a thousand different models wrought,
Now fix'd to quiet, now ally'd to thought;
Hence flow the forms and properties of things,
Hence rises harmony and order springs,
Else had the mass a shapeless chaos lay,
Nor ever felt the dawn of wisdom's day!

See, how associate round their central sun,
Their faithful rings the circling planets run;
Still equi-distant, never yet too near,
Exactly tracing their appointed sphere.

Mark how the moon our flying orb pursues,
While from the sun her monthly light renews;
Breathes her wide influence on the world below,
And bids the tides alternate ebb and flow.
View how in course the constant seasons rise,
Deform the earth, or beautify the skies:
First Spring advancing, with her flow'ry train,
Next Summer's hand that spreads the sylvan scene,
Then Autumn with her yellow harvests crown'd,
And trembling Winter close the annual round.
The vegetable tribes observant trace,
From the tall cedar to the creeping grass:
The chain of animated beings scale,
From the small reptile to th'enormous whale,
From the strong eagle stooping thro' the skies,
To the low insect that escapes thy eyes!
And see, if see thou can'st, in ev'ry frame,
Eternal Wisdom shine confess'd the same:
As proper organs to the least assign'd,
As proper means to propagate the kind,
As just the structure, and as wise the plan,
As in this lord of all—debating man!

Hence, reas'ning creature, thy dictinction find,
Nor longer to the ways of heav'n be blind.
Wisdom in outward beauty strikes the mind,
But outward beauty points a charm behind.
What gives the earth, the ambient air or seas,
The plain, the river, or the wood to please?
Oh say, in whom does beauty's self reside,
The Beautifier, or the beautify'd?
There dwells the Godhead in the bright disguise,
Beyond the ken of all created eyes!
His works our love, and our attention steal,
His works (surprizing thought!) the Maker veil;
Too weak our sight to pierce the radiant cloud,
Where Wisdom shines, in all her charms avow'd!

O gracious God! omnipotent and wise,
Unerring Lord, and ruler of the skies;
All-condescending to my feeble heart,
One beam of thy celestial light impart;
I seek not sordid wealth, or glitt'ring pow'r,
O grant me Wisdom—and I ask no more!

VIII. PROVIDENCE.

As from some level country's shelter'd ground,
With towns replete, with green inclosures bound,
Where the eye kept within the verdant maze,
But gets a transient vista as it strays!
The pilgrim to some rising summit tends,
Whence opens all the scene as he ascends:
So Providence the friendly height supplies,
Where all the charms of Deity surprize;
Here Goodness, Power and Wisdom all unite,
And dazzling Glories whelm the ravish'd sight!

Almighty Cause! 'tis thy preserving care,
That keeps thy works for ever fresh and fair!
The sun from thy superior radiance bright,
Eternal sheds his delegated light,
Lends to his sister orb inferior day,
And paints the silver moon's alternate ray;
Thy hand the waste of eating Time renews,
Thou shed'st the tepid morning's balmy dews;

When raging winds the blacken'd deep deform,
Thy spirit rides commission'd in the storm;
Bids at thy will the slack'ning tempest cease,
While the calm'd ocean smooths its ruffled face;
When light'nings thro' the air tremendous fly,
Or the blue plague is loosen'd to destroy,
Thy hand directs, or turns aside the stroke,
Thy word the fiend's commission can revoke;
When subterraneous fires the surface heave,
And towns are bury'd in the yawning grave;
Thou suffer'st not the mischief to prevail,
Thy sov'reign touch the recent wound can heal.
To Zembla's rocks thou send'st the chearful gleam;
O'er Libya's sands thou pour'st the cooling stream;
Thy watchful Providence o'er all intends,
Thy works obey their great Creator's ends.

When man too long the paths of vice pursu'd,
Thy hand prepar'd the universal flood;
Gracious to Noah gave the timely sign,
To save a remnant from the wrath divine!

One shining waste the globe terrestrial lay,
And the ark heav'd along the troubled sea;
Thou bad'st the deep his ancient bed explore,
The clouds their wat'ry deluge pour'd no more!
The skies were clear'd,—the mountain tops were seen,
The dove pacific brought the olive-green.
On Arrarat the happy Patriarch tost,
Found the recover'd world his hopes had lost;
There his fond eyes review'd the pleasing scene,
The earth all verdant, and the air serene!
Its precious freight the guardian ark display'd,
While Noah grateful adoration paid!
Beholding in the many-tinctur'd bow,
The promise of a safer world below.

When wild ambition rear'd its impious head,
And rising Babel heav'n with pride survey'd;
Thy word the mighty labour could confound,
And leave the mass to moulder with the ground.

From Thee all human actions take their springs,
The rise of empires, and the fall of kings!

See the vast theatre of time display'd,
While o'er the scene succeeding heroes tread!
With pomp the shining images succeed,
What leaders triumph! and what monarchs bleed!
Perform the parts thy Providence assign'd,
Their pride, their passions to thy ends inclin'd:
A while they glitter in the face of day,
Then at thy nod the phantoms pass away;
No traces left of all the busy scene,
But that remembrance says,—The things have been!

“But (questions Doubt) whence sickly nature feels
“The ague-fits her face so oft reveals?
“Whence earthquakes heave the earth's astonish'd breast?
“Whence tempests rage? or yellow plagues infest?
“Whence draws rank Afric her empoison'd store?
“Or liquid fires explosive Ætna pour?”
Go, sceptic mole! demand th'Eternal Cause,
The secret of his all-preserving laws?
The depths of Wisdom infinite explore,
And ask thy Maker—why he knows no more?

Thy error still in moral things as great,
As vain to cavil at the ways of fate.
To ask why prosp'rous vice so oft succeeds,
Why suffers innocence, or virtue bleeds!
Why monsters, nature must with blushes own,
By crimes grow pow'rful, and disgrace a throne!
Why saints and sages, mark'd in ev'ry age,
Perish, the victims of tyrannic rage;
Why Socrates for truth and freedom fell,
Or Nero reign'd the delegate of hell:
In vain by reason is the maze pursu'd,
Of ill triumphant, and afflicted good.
Fix'd to the hold, so might the sailor aim
To judge the pilot, and the steerage blame;
As we direct to God what should belong,
Or say that sov'reign Wisdom governs wrong.

Nor always vice does uncorrected go,
Nor virtue unrewarded pass below!
Oft sacred justice lifts her awful head,
And dooms the tyrant and th'usurper dead;

Oft Providence, more friendly than severe,
Arrests the hero in his wild career;
Directs the fever, poinard, or the ball,
By which an Ammon, Charles, or Cæsar fall:
Or when the cursed Borgias brew the cup
For merit, bids the monsters drink it up;
On violence oft retorts the cruel spear,
Or fetters cunning in its crafty snare:
Relieves the innocent, exalts the just,
And lays the proud oppressor in the dust!

But fast as Time's swift pinions can convey,
Hastens the pomp of that tremendous day,
When to the view of all created eyes,
God's high tribunal shall majestic rise,
When the loud trumpet shall assemble round
The dead, reviving at the piercing sound!
Where men and angels shall to audit come,
And millions yet unborn receive their doom!
Then shall fair Providence, to all display'd,
Appear divinely bright without a shade;

In light triumphant, all her acts be shown,
And blushing Doubt, eternal Wisdom own!

Mean while, thou great Intelligence supreme,
Sov'reign director of this mighty frame,
Whose watchful hand, and all-observing ken,
Fashions the hearts, and views the ways of men,
Whether thy hand the plenteous table spread,
Or measure sparingly the daily bread;
Whether or wealth or honours gild the scene,
Or wants deform, and wasting anguish stain;
On thee let truth and virtue firm rely,
Bless'd in the care of thy approving eye!
Know that thy Providence, their constant friend,
Thro' life shall guard them, and in death attend;
With everlasting arms their cause embrace,
And crown the paths of piety with peace.

IX. GOODNESS.

Ye seraphs who God's throne incircling still,
With holy zeal your golden censers fill;

Ye flaming ministers to distant lands,
Who bear, obsequious, his divine commands;
Ye cherubs who compose the sacred Choir,
Attuning to the voice th'angelic lyre!
Or ye fair natives of the heav'nly plain,
Who once were mortal—now a happier train!
Who spend in peaceful love your joyful hours,
In blissful meads and amaranthine bow'rs,
Oh lend one spark of your celestial fire,
Oh deign my glowing bosom to inspire,
And aid the Muse's unexperienc'd wing,
While Goodness, theme divine, she soars to sing!

Tho' all thy attributes divinely fair,
Thy full perfection, glorious God! declare;
Yet if one beams superior to the rest,
Oh let thy Goodness fairest be confess'd:
As shines the moon amidst her starry train,
As breathes the rose amongst the flow'ry scene,
As the mild dove her silver plumes displays,
So sheds thy Mercy its distinguish'd rays.

This led, Creator mild, thy gracious hand,
When formless Chaos heard thy high command;
When pleas'd, thy eye thy matchless works review'd,
And Goodness, placid, spoke that all was good!

Nor only does in heav'n Thy Goodness shine,
Delighted Nature feels its warmth divine;
The vital sun's illuminating beam,
The silver crescent, and the starry gleam;
As day and night, alternate they command,
Proclaim that truth to ev'ry distant land.

See smiling nature, with thy treasures fair,
Confess thy bounty and parental care;
Renew'd by Thee, the faithful seasons rise,
And earth with plenty all her sons supplies.
The generous lyon and the brinded boar,
As nightly thro' the forest walks they roar,
From thee, Almighty Maker, seek their prey,
Nor from thy hand unsated go away:
To thee, for meat the callow ravens cry,
Supported by thy all-preserving eye:

From thee, the feather'd natives of the plain,
Or those who range the field, or plough the main,
Receive, with constant course th'appointed food,
And taste the cup of universal Good;
Thy hand thou open'st, million'd myriads live;
Thou frown'st, they faint;—thou smil'st, and they revive!

On virtue's acre, as on rapine's stores,
See heav'n impartial, deal the fruitful show'rs!
“Life's common blessings all her children share,”
Tread the same earth, and breathe a gen'ral air!
Without distinction, boundless blessings fall,
And Goodness, like the sun enlightens all!

Oh man, degenerate man! offend no more!
Go, learn of brutes, thy Maker to adore!
Shall these, thro' ev'ry tribe, his bounty own,
Of all his works, ungrateful thou alone!
Deaf when the tuneful voice of mercy cries,
And blind, when sov'reign Goodness charms the eyes!
Mark how the wretch his awful name blasphemes,
His pity spares,—his clemency reclaims!

Observe his patience with the guilty strive,
And bid the criminal repent and live;
Recall the fugitive with gentle eye,
Beseech the obstinate, he would not die!
Amazing tenderness—amazing most,
The soul on whom such mercy should be lost!

But would'st thou view the rays of Goodness join,
In one strong point of radiance all divine!
Behold, celestial Muse! yon eastern light;
To Beth'lem's plain, adoring, bend thy sight!
Hear the glad message to the shepherds giv'n,
“Good-will on earth to man, and peace in heav'n.”
Attend the swains, pursue the starry road,
And hail to earth the Saviour and the God!

Redemption! oh thou beauteous mystic plan!
Thou salutary source of life to man!
What tongue can speak thy comprehensive grace!
What thought thy depths unfathomable trace?
When lost in sin our ruin'd nature lay,
When awful Justice claim'd her righteous pay!

See the mild Saviour bend his pitying eye,
And stop the light'ning just prepar'd to fly!
(O strange effect of unexampled love!)
View him descend the heav'nly throne above;
Patient, the ills of mortal life endure,
Calm, tho' revil'd, and innocent, tho' poor!
Uncertain his abode, and coarse his food,
His life one fair continued scene of good:
For us sustain the wrath to man decreed,
The victim of eternal justice bleed!
Look to the cross the Lord of life is ty'd,
They pierce his hands, and wound his sacred side!
See God expires! our forseit to attone,
While Nature trembles at his parting groan!

Advance, thou hopeless mortal, steel'd in guilt,
Behold, and if thou can'st, forbear to melt!
Shall Jesus die thy freedom to regain,
And wilt thou drag the voluntary chain?
Wilt thou refuse thy kind assent to give,
When dying he looks down to bid thee live!

Perverse, wilt thou reject the proffer'd good,
Bought with his life, and streaming in his blood!
Whose virtue can thy deepest crimes efface,
Reheal thy nature, and confirm thy peace!
Can all the errors of thy life attone,
And raise thee from a rebel, to a son!

O Blest Redeemer, from thy sacred throne,
Where saints and angels sing thy triumphs won!
(Where, from the grave thou rais'd thy glorious head,
Chain'd to thy car the pow'rs infernal led)
From that exalted height of bliss supreme,
Look down on those who bear thy sacred Name;
Restore their ways, inspire them by thy grace,
Thy laws to follow, and thy steps to trace;
Thy bright example to thy doctrine join,
And by their morals prove their Faith divine!

Nor only to thy Church confine thy ray,
O'er the glad world thy healing light display;
Fair sun of Righteousness! in beauty rise,
And clear the mists that cloud the mental skies!

To Judah's remnant, now a scatter'd train,
Oh great Messiah! show thy promis'd reign;
O'er earth as wide, thy saving warmth diffuse,
As spreads the ambient air, or falling dews,
And haste the time when vanquish'd by thy pow'r,
Death shall expire, and sin defile no more!

X. RECTITUDE.

Hence distant far, ye sons of earth profane,
The loose, ambitious, covetous, or vain;
Ye worms of pow'r! ye minion'd slaves of state,
The wanton vulgar, and the sordid great!
But come ye purer souls from dross refin'd,
The blameless heart and uncorrupted mind!
Let your chaste hands the holy altars raise,
Fresh incense bring, and light the glowing blaze;
Your grateful voices, aid the Muse to sing,
The spotless Justice of th'Almighty King!

As only Rectitude divine he knows,
As truth and sanctity his thought compose;

So these the dictates which th'Eternal Mind,
To reasonable beings has assign'd;
These has his care on ev'ry mind impress'd,
The conscious seals the hand of Heav'n attest!
When man perverse, for wrong forsakes the right,
He still attentive keeps the fault in sight;
Demands the strict attonement should be made,
And claims the forfeit on th'offender's head!

But Doubt demands,—“Why man dispos'd this way?
“Why left the dang'rous choice to go astray?
“If heav'n that made him did the fault foresee,
“Thence follows, heav'n is more to blame than he.
No—had to good the heart alone inclin'd,
What toil, what prize had virtue been assign'd?
From obstacles her noblest triumphs flow,
Her spirits languish, when she finds no foe!
Man might perhaps have so been happy still,
Happy, without the privilege of will,
And just because his hands were ty'd from ill!
O wond'rous scheme to mend th'almighty plan,
By sinking all the dignity of man!

Yet turn thy eyes, vain Sceptic, own thy pride,
And view thy happiness and choice ally'd;
See virtue from herself her bliss derive,
A bliss, beyond the pow'r of thrones to give;
See vice of empire and of wealth possess'd,
Pine at the heart, and feel herself unbless'd.
And say, were yet no farther marks assign'd,
Is man ungrateful? or is heav'n unkind?

“Yes, all the woes from heav'n permissive fall,
“The wretch adopts,—the wretch improves them all.”
From his wild lust, or his oppressive deed,
Rapes, battles, murders, sacrilege proceed;
His wild ambition thins the peopled earth,
Or from his av'rice, famine takes her birth;
Had nature giv'n the hero wings to fly,
His pride would lead him to attempt the sky!
To angels make the pigmy's folly known,
And draw ev'n pity from th'Eternal Throne.

Yet while on earth, triumphant vice prevails,
Celestial Justice ballances her scales,
With eye unbiass'd all the scene surveys,
With hand impartial, ev'ry crime she weighs;
Oft close pursuing at his trembling heels,
The man of blood her awful presence feels;
Oft from her arm, amidst the blaze of state,
The regal tyrant, with success elate,
Is forc'd to leap the precipice of fate!
Or if the villain pass unpunish'd here,
'Tis but to make the future stroke severe;
For soon or late, Eternal Justice pays
Mankind the just desert of all their ways.

'Tis in that awful all-disclosing day!
When high Omniscience shall her books display;
When Justice shall present her strict account,
While Conscience shall attest the due amount;
That all who feel, condemn'd, the dreadful rod,
Shall own that righteous are the ways of God!

Oh then while penitence can fate disarm,
While ling'ring Justice yet with-holds its arm;
While heav'nly patience grants the precious time,
Let the lost sinner think him of his crime;
Immediate, to the seat of mercy fly,
Nor wait to-morrow—lest to-night he die!

But tremble, all ye Sins of blackest birth,
Ye Giants that deform the face of earth;
Tremble ye sons of aggravated guilt,
And ere too late, let sorrow learn to melt;
Remorseless Murder! drop thy hand severe,
And bathe thy bloody weapon with a tear;
Go, Lust impure! converse with friendly light,
Forsake the mansions of defiling night;
Quit, dark Hypocrisy, thy thin disguise,
Nor think to cheat the notice of the skies!
Unsocial Avarice, thy grasp forgo,
And bid the useful treasure learn to slow!
Restore, Injustice, the defrauded gain!
Oppression, bend to ease the captive's chain,

Ere awful Justice strike the fatal blow,
And drive you to the realms of night below!

But Doubt resumes,—“If Justice has decreed,
“The punishment proportion'd to the deed;
“Eternal misery seems too severe,
“Too dread a weight for wretched man to bear!
“Too harsh!—that endless torments should repay
“The crimes of life,—the errors of a day!

In vain our reason would presumptuous pry,
Heav'n's counsels are beyond conception high,
In vain would thought his measur'd Justice scan!
His ways, how different from the ways of man?
Too deep for thee, his secrets are to know,
Enquire not, but more wisely shun the woe;
Warn'd by his threat'nings, to his laws attend,
And learn to make Omnipotence thy friend!

Our weaker Laws, to gain the purpos'd ends,
Oft pass the bounds the Law-giver intends;

Oft partial pow'r, to serve its own design,
Warps from the Text, exceeding reason's Line;
Strikes, biass'd, at the person, not the deed,
And sees the guiltless unprotected bleed!

But God alone, with unimpassion'd sight,
Surveys the nice barrier of Wrong and Right;
And while, subservient, as his will ordains,
Obedient Nature yields the present means;
While neither force, nor passions guide his views,
Ev'n Evil works the purpose he pursues!
That bitter spring, the source of human pain!
Heal'd by his touch does mineral health contain;
And dark affliction, at his potent rod,
Withdraws its cloud, and brightens into Good.

Thus human justice—(far as man can go)
For private safety strikes the dubious blow;
But Rectitude divine, with nobler soul,
Consults each individual in the whole!
Directs the issues of each moral strife,
And sees creation struggle into life!

And you, ye happier souls! who in his ways
Observant walk, and sing his daily praise!
Ye righteous few! whose calm unruffled breasts,
No fears can darken, and no guilt infests,
To whom his gracious promises extend,
In whom they centre, and in whom shall end,
Which (bless'd on that foundation sure who build)
Shall with eternal Justice be fulfill'd:
Ye sons of life to whose glad hope is giv'n,
The bright reversion of approaching heav'n,
With grateful hearts his glorious praise recite,
Whose love from darkness call'd you out to light;
So let your piety reflective shine,
As men may thence confess his truth divine!
And when this mortal veil, as soon it must,
Shall drop, returning to its native dust;
The work of life, with approbation done,
Receive from God your bright immortal crown!

XI. GLORY.

But oh advent'rous Muse, restrain thy flight,
Dare not the blaze of uncreated light!

Before whose glorious throne with dread surprize,
Th'adoring seraph veils his dazzled eyes;
Whose pure effulgence, radiant to excess,
No colours can describe, or words express!
All the fair beauties, all the lucid stores,
Which o'er thy works thy hand resplendent pours;
Feeble, thy brighter glories to display,
Pale as the moon before the solar ray!

See on his throne the gaudy Persian plac'd,
In all the pomp of the luxuriant east!
While mingling gems a borrow'd day unfold,
And the rich purple waves, emboss'd with gold;
Yet mark this scene of painted grandeur yield,
To the fair lilly that adorns the field!
Obscur'd, behold that fainter lilly lies,
By the rich bird's inimitable dyes;
Yet these survey, confounded and outdone,
By the superior lustre of the sun;
That sun himself withdraws his lessen'd beam,
From Thee, the glorious author of his frame!

Transcendent pow'r! sole arbiter of fate!
How great thy glory? and thy bliss how great,
To view from thy exalted throne above,
(Eternal source of light, and life, and love!)
Unnumber'd creatures draw their smiling birth,
To bless the heav'ns, or beautify the earth;
While systems roll, obedient to thy view,
And worlds rejoice—which Newton never knew!

Then raise the song, the gen'ral anthem raise,
And swell the consort of eternal praise!
Assist ye orbs that form this boundless whole,
Which in the womb of space unnumber'd roll;
Ye planets who compose our lesser scheme,
And bend, concertive, round the folar frame;
Thou eye of nature! whose extensive ray,
With endless charms adorns the face of day;
Consenting raise th'harmonious joyful sound,
And bear his praises thro' the vast profound:
His praise, ye winds that fan the chearful air,
Swift as they pass along your pinions bear!

His praise let ocean thro' her realms display,
Far as her circling billows can convey!
His praise ye misty vapours wide diffuse,
In rains descending, or in milder dews;
His praises whisper, ye majestic trees,
As your tops rustle to the gentle breeze!
His praise around, ye flow'ry tribes, exhale,
Far as your sweets embalm the spicy gale!
His praise, ye dimpled streams, to earth reveal,
As pleas'd ye murmur thro' the flow'ry vale.
His praise ye feather'd choirs distinguish'd sing,
As to your notes the vocal forests ring!
His praise proclaim, ye monsters of the deep,
Who in the vast abyss your revels keep!
Or ye fair natives of our earthly scene,
Who range the wilds, or haunt the pasture green!
Nor thou, vain lord of earth, with careless ear,
The universal hymn of worship hear!
But ardent, in the sacred chorus join,
Thy soul transported with the task divine!
While by his works th'almighty is confess'd,
Supremely glorious, and supremely bless'd!

Great Lord of life! from whom this humble frame,
Derives the pow'r to sing thy holy name,
Forgive the lowly Muse, whose artless lay,
Has dar'd thy sacred Attributes survey!
Delighted oft thro' Nature's beauteous field,
Has she ador'd thy Wisdom bright reveal'd;
Oft have her wishes aim'd the secret song,
But awful rev'rence still with-held her tongue:
Yet as thy bounty lent the reas'ning beam,
As feels my conscious breast thy vital flame,
So, blest creator, let thy servant pay,
His mite of gratitude this feeble way,
Thy Goodness own, thy Providence adore,
And yield thee only—what was thine before!

FINIS.