Miscellanies in Verse and Prose :: :: University of Virginia Library

Wake all thy Fire, Cœlestial Muse,
The lofty Song requires it all:
Abundantly into my Breast infuse
The strong Enthusiastic Heat:
Great is my Subject, let thy Aid be great;
Lest, unsustain'd, ingloriously I fall;
Who zealously affect Immortal Height,
And seek with willing Wings a more than human Flight.
Do thou approve and sanctify the Rhyme;
Exalt me with thy sacred Flame;
And with thy living Energy sublime
Ennoble, and succeed the consecrated Theme.

II.

The dedicated Verse propounds to sing
The Son of God, descending from above
T'unlock on Earth th'Eternal Spring
Of Wisdom by the Church, and seal the Father's Love.
Ev'n He, who, vested with Creating Might,
Gave to the various Worlds their Birth,

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And fram'd the Heav'n, the Seas, and Earth;
Who in the vast Expansion's Height
The radiant Luminaries slung,
Numberless Orbs of wakeful Light,
Unpropp'd in ambient Æther hung:
The Brightness of Paternal Glory, crown'd
With Pomp and Pow'rs ineffably Divine,
Anointed Regent of the Worlds around,
To finish his august Design,
Renounc'd his Royalties awhile,
And humbly in a Servant's Form was found;
And thus of gracious Choice did undergo
Humanity debas'd, and endless Toil:
Pursu'd with agonizing Woe,
Of Wrath awak'd the lashing Scourge he bore;
Pressures of urging Sorrows unallay'd,
By fiery Vengeance of Almighty Pow'r,
Driv'n home, and fasten'd in his Soul:
Guiltless, for us a guilty Victim made,
He drank the bitter Dregs, and felt for us the Whole.

III.

On Mercy's Golden Leaf, the Great Design
Was register'd in Characters Divine:
And there the native Spirits of the Sky,
(Th'unchanging Scroll permitted to their Eye,)
Acquainted with th'intended Wonder grew,
And early read it with preventing View.

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Below, the Prophets præscious Rage
Foretold th'amazing Birth, and sung in mystic Page.
On this desir'd expected Day
The Patriarch Line fix'd their believing Sight;
Tho' then behind a Length of Time it lay;
Of Years unborn thro' the wide Ocean, they,
To Vision purg'd and Distance of Survey,
Transfer'd their Prospect clear, and hail'd it with Delight:
And big and lab'ring with Desire,
All earnestly accomplish'd Grace require;
When, lo! the destin'd, the distinguish'd Hour,
The Flight of intermediate Ages past,
Turn'd up, and smil'd upon the World, at last,
To save from Hell deserv'd, and forfeit Bliss restore.

IV.

Lull'd in a Calm of Peace our Earth was found,
When on the solemn Ambassy,
Eternal Concord to promulge around,
The Prince and Pledge of Peace descended from on high,
And, with his Birth, the Golden Æra crown'd.
A Sov'reign rais'd, whose stedfast Throne
Founded imperishable, unconfin'd,
An Earthly Sceptre greatly do's disown,
And solely claims Dominion of the Mind.
Titles and Train, and Honours cumb'rous Load,
With all the splendid Vanities of Pow'r,

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Gay Toys, which wretched Man allure,
And tempt the silly Creature to be Proud;
Rejected to their mean Admirers lie,
Who taste the Steams of Praise, and worship Pageantry.
Then, unalarm'd with jealous Fear,
Imperial Cæsar, hold thy ample Reign,
Conquests perform, and Trophies rear,
Stretch out unwieldy Empire's Bound,
And thro' the many Nations round,
Enlarge Command Supream, and Lordly Rule maintain.

V.

Born to superior Deeds; to drive
Delusive Error and her various Train;
Unblemish'd Truth and Virtue to revive;
To rescue and assert degenerate Man
From Vassalage of Vice, this humble Monarch came:
Thus builds his Empire, thus aspires to Sway;
Reigns Spiritual, and signifies his Way
To Grandeur eminent, and large-predicted Fame.
Not introduc'd by Comets hung on high,
Flaming dire Omens in the nightly Sky;
By Kingdoms ruin'd, and by shaken Thrones,
A Waste of Battel, and translated Crowns.
But War, her boisterous Tempest o'er,
Slumber'd Supine, and hush'd her brazen Roar;
And a fair Sky, all chearful and serene,
Disclos'd, and gave an Auspice to the Scene.

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VI.

Proceed, my Muse, if able to sustain
Th'o'erwhelming Thought; and, trembling, see
Lone, unsurrounded with his shining Train,
Him, who had held the Honours of a God,
Humbly, and in a mean Abode,
Entring on Infant Life, beginning now to Be.
Shorn with Eclipse, dishonour'd, spoil'd
Of his effulgent Glory, bare to Sight,
Behold the Sacred Child!
Disrob'd of that excessive Light,
Which, on the Gross of antient Night,
Shot fierce, and made uncomely Darkness yield;
All pale it sicken'd into Day;
And, kindling from his Blaze their borrow'd Ray,
The sparkling Lamps on high rose in the Starry Way.

VII.

Hark! in the lightsome Chambers of the Sky,
Echo's the Sound of Solemn Harmony.
Sweetly the circling Spheres above,
In tuneful Revolutions move:
More sweetly the Cherubic Choir,
And joyful Saints, their Voices raise,
In Halleluiahs of Praise:

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And, taught by Master Spirits skill'd,
The breathing Pipe and copious Lyre
Speak Airs Divine, and waken round
Loud Melody in all its Tones fulfill'd;
And the big Organ and the Trump conspire
T'incorporate their stronger pealing Sound.
The Sons of God their Choral Strain,
Thus on Creation's Morn began,
Symphonious to th'Omnific Builder's Fame;
While from th'unreal vacuous Deep, amain,
Apparent Entity emerging came;
And, working off Confusion's black Array,
The new-born Worlds were publish'd into Day.
A World created, and a World preserv'd,
Occasion'd equal Joy, and equally deserv'd.

VIII.

Wing'd from the Presence, to convey
Th'important News, with speedy Flight,
Down thro' the trackless Sky's unmeasur'd Way,
Falls a swift Train of Seraphs bright:
And a fair Globe of running Light
From the brown Meadows rolls the Night,
Distinguishing the Heav'n, and calls the Shepherds Sight.
In Ecstasy the humble Swains
Receiv'd the Vision on the Plains;
And as with awful Fear they gaze,
Th'illustrious Host prepare their Lays;

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To tuneful Instruments around,
Glad Tidings, then the Song began;
To The Supream Ador'd, Eternal Praise;
Immortal Peace; Benevolence To Man;
An Universal Shout the Concert crown'd,
And to the Gates of Heav'n return'd the welcome Sound.

IX.

To lab'ring Nature's sickly Frame,
New Life the salutary Message brought;
Establish'd on her Base again:
But Horror and distracting Shame,
Disseiz'd and vanquish'd of his Reign,
Abaddon's raging Monarch caught.
He and his Traytor Crew of Hell,
(Vengeance defer'd but gathers Weight,
Strikes deeper, and with more of Fate)
Like hasty Lightning, from on high,
Swept down, precipitately fell,
And clear'd the disincumber'd Sky;
Defeated in th'accurs'd Design,
The new Creation to confound,
To spread their wasteful Empire round,
And Man with them in Ruin joyn.
For this, vindictive Wrath Divine

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Flam'd out, and visited intense:
Sharp Arrows, wing'd with righteous Ire,
From which they vainly wish Defence,
Shot Agonies, immortal Pain
Within them; and impetuous Fire
Pursu'd in raging Show'rs amain:
The long-impending Tempest, strongly blown,
Broke on them, and disgorg'd the sultry Deluge down.

X.

From meagre Death his lifted Weapon fell;
The sallying Dart all suddenly was stay'd;
Which long had stock'd the boundless Waste of Hell,
And, fierce of Prey, enormous Carnage made.
Reform'd to Grace, the horrid Mien,
And griesly Shape no more are seen;
A Friend become of an invet'rate Foe,
Pleasant his Look and mild his Brow,
Balmy the Shafts he sends, and Sov'reign is the Blow!
From Sorrows, and oppressive Cares,
From Sickness and unwieldy Years,
The Pains, Indecencies and Scorn
Of Sense obtuse, and Life to Ruin worn,
Welcome Deliv'rer! thou Release,
To fadeless Joys and Elegance of Bliss.

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XI.

Infinite King! Who can suffice,
The Secrets of thy Throne to trace?
Or dare to try, with curious Eyes,
Th'Abyss of thy Mysterious Ways?
Awful, inextricable Maze!
And what an Ocean is thy Grace!
The flaming Ardors of the Sky,
Pure Sons of Morn, a Princely Train,
Magnificent in Majesty,
And with exalted Honours crown'd;
Once dignify'd to serve around
Th'immediate Godhead, and sustain
His great Commands, amid the blazing Ray
Of living Light, and strong Cœlestial Day;
Revers'd in Form, and from their Station thrown,
Expung'd th'Eternal Roll on high,
Damnation sinks for ever down:
Chain'd in th'unfathom'd Gulf, they lie
Despairing, and unpity'd groan,
With Torture's eating Plague, and perfect Misery.

XII.

Far otherwise, O Father, Judge Supream!
With fallen Man thy Methods were:
To Him all Charity; to Them
Consuming Wrath unquench'd, and Punishment severe.

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What a Distinction hast thou made!
Of lofty Seraphim the radiant Row,
Disclaim'd and lost, no Pardon know,
Out of the Line of Grace, and Mercy's Aid:
While Man, a Creature meanly born of Clay,
A sudden Thing of Yesterday,
Reduc'd in Mind, and sluggishly allay'd
With Body, of abated Soul;
Spirit tam'd with Sense, and lessen'd in the Whole:
When vilely from his Faith he fell,
And dar'd, Allegiance to depose;
Supplanted by th'industrious Wiles of Hell,
Th'Extent of thy Compassion found;
Plenipotent th'imbosom'd Son arose
On his Behalf; and, in his Stead,
Who can prescribe his Love, and streighten with a Bound?)
The Fury of insulted Law,
Receiv'd, discharging on his Head.
Aghast th'Apostate Spirits saw,
When, to conclude the tainted Race,
Justice, inflam'd, reach'd hasty to the Blow,
The rushing Stroke, in Pity, stay'd;
And Exhibitions of absolving Grace,
The Deity, assuag'd, indulgently bestow.

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XIII.

Bought with a Price, and not our own;
His Claim appropriate we are,
Who paid the costly Ransom down;
Be Righteous then to Gratitude, nor dare
Profanely to defraud th'Almighty Purchaser.
Unhallow'd Lusts let be expell'd,
That impiously usurp'd the Sway within;
Each guilty Passion combated and quell'd;
With Native White the Soul renew'd agen,
From all discolour'd Soil and Turpitude of Sin;
And Sanctify, with Innocence, the Mind,
Ornate in Virtue's Garb Divine;
A Royal separated Shrine,
Inscrib'd to Heav'n, and from the World refin'd.
To Spirit purifying, when our End
Mature accomplishes for perfect Joys,
Th'immortal Mansions thus we shall ascend,
Assum'd to high Promotions in the Skies;
From whence th'unnumber'd shining Legions fell;
In Glory with the Hierarchies to dwell,
A Holy Church select, and fill their Vacancies.

XIV.

Increas'd from Infancy's imperfect Years
To smiling Youth, and thence absolv'd to Man,
One Tenour of the sacred Life appears:
Opprobriously he set, as lowly he began.

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A Life still varying, and distinguish'd still
With Wants, Contempt, and exercising Ill.
Rais'd by Adversity, superior grew
The Deity, to more Advantage shown,
Vouch'd and attested thus to View,
The genuine Son of God, Messiah true,
Deeds, no less than Name, a real Saviour known.
Of Grace abundant, on the Croud
Promiscuous Mercies he bestow'd;
For scurril Taunts, and Blasphemy abhorr'd,
He rais'd the Dead, the Lame restor'd,
Expell'd possessing Fiends, and wasting Sickness cur'd.
Constant, and truly regular,
He roll'd along his destin'd Sphere,
And greatly measur'd his compleated Year.
Thus in the Skies the Champion Sun,
(If Things so Great we may compare with Small)
Drives steadily his Chariot on;
Sweeping around the glitt'ring Belt on high,
His chearful Beams he freely throws on all,
While climbing Fogs and Vapours vainly try
To blunt his Golden Rays, and cloud th'Etherial Ball.

XV.

But, conscious of abated Fire, forbear,
My weary'd Muse, t'attempt the rest,
Thy feeble Force exceeding far,
And curb thyself in thy ungovern'd Haste.

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A Train of Virtues so divinely bright,
Able t'endure the proving Test
Proportion'd, perfect, of Immortal Height,
Cannot be worthily exprest.
Besides the Wonders of his Death behind:
When, lab'ring on the Cross, his earnest Pray'rs
(Made prevalent by Blood and Tears)
Were for his Murderers design'd:
In Blessings then his anguish'd Soul he breath'd,
And everlasting Life to Rebel Man bequeath'd!
The Glories, also, thou must leave untrac'd,
When, breaking from the solitary Tomb, he rose,
August with purchas'd Honours grac'd,
In Triumph o'er his vanquish'd Foes.
Thro' purple Clouds serenely as he rode,
Applauding Angels, spread on high,
With Songs of Joy receiv'd the Victor God:
A Blaze of Suns the frequent Host appear'd;
And loudly, in th'expanded Sky,
The choral Voice of hailing Praise was heard.
Such Crouds, and such a pompous Train
Agen shall fill that spacious Plain,
When his Tribunal high
Erected in the Sky,
Shall, by the Trumpet's Clangor wake
The sleepy Dead, and their long Slumber break;
And summon all the World, to come,
And meet their Just and Everlasting Doom.

1709.