Fruits of Retirement Or, Miscellaneous Poems, Moral and Divine. Being Some Contemplations, Letters, &c. Written on a Variety of Subjects and Occasions. By Mary Mollineux ... To which is Prefixed, Some Account of the Author |
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Of the Rainbow.
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Of the Rainbow.
O how Stupendious are thy Wonders, Lord,Which thou Effectest by thy Living Word!
How Gloriously Presented every where,
Do they to the discerning Eye appear!
Which, as it views the Outside, may discover
The Inward Wonder, by the Shell vail'd over.
Hath not each Visible a Mystery?
Doth not each Herb proclaim a Deity?
Which, with so fine an Essence, gave it Birth,
Out of the gross dark Bowels of the Earth.
If these familiar little Creatures be
Such cause of Admiration, what may we
Observe in this vast Concave of the Sky,
So full of Wonders to a Searching Eye?
Do not the Heav'nly Orbs declare thy Glory,
Great King, as in an Universal Story?
Sun, Moon and Stars do, by their Light, proclaim
A Power divine, and magnify thy Name:
Can then this curious Semi-circle, deck'd
With such pure undy'd Colours, but affect
Our Hearts with Dread and Wonder? Can a Sign
Of such Concern and Glory (by Divine
Authority plac'd in the Firmament,
To signify that Gracious Covenant,
Which, for thy Goodness, for thy Mercy's sake,
Thou, in thy tender Pity, pleas'd to make
With poor Ungrateful Mortals, that thereby
They might believe, Floods should no more destroy
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Through his ambitious Ignorance, began
Soon to insult, altho' in vain; his Power
And Policy, both fail'd at Babel's Tower:
Yet hast thou not remov'd this signal Token
Of thy endearing Love; nor rashly broken
Thy lasting Cov'nant; but thereby dost shew,
That thou alone art Faithful, Just and True.
O can this great Memorial to the Nation,
The Rainbow, but excite our Admiration,
When it appears! Were not the Signs of Heaven,
And Wonders in the Earth, ordain'd and given
For more sublime Designs, than only be
Look'd at, and gaz'd on, by Mortality?
Did not the great Apostle once attest,
That things invisible are manifest
By those that do appear? Did not hereby
Some of the Gentiles learn Divinity?
Why may they not as well excite and raise
Our Hearts, to celebrate the Author's Praise?
1680.
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