University of Virginia Library

O dread Jehovah! thy all piercing eyes
Explore the motions of this mortal frame,
This tenement of dust: thy stretching sight
Surveys the harmonious principles, that move
In beauteous rank and order, to inform
This cask, and animated mass of clay.
Nor are the prospects of thy wond'rous sight
To this terrestial part of man confin'd;
But shoot into his soul, and there discern
The first materials of unfashion'd thought,
Yet dim and undigested, till the mind,
Big with the tender images, expands,
And, swelling, labours with th' ideal birth.

Wheree'er I move thy cares pursue my feet
Attendant. When I drink the dews of sleep,
Stretch'd on my downy bed, and there enjoy
A sweet forgetfulness of all my toils;
Unseen thy sovereign presence guards my sleep,
Drives all the terrors of my dreams away,
Sooths all my soul, and softens my repose.

Before conception can employ the tongue,
And mould the ductile images to sound;
Before imagination stands display'd,
Thine eye the future eloquence can read,
Yet unarray'd with speech. Thou, mighty Lord!
Hast moulded man from his congenial dust,
And spoke him into being; while the clay,
Beneath thy forming hand, leap'd forth, inspir'd,
And started into life: through ev'ry part,
At thy command, the wheels of motion play'd.

But such exalted knowledge leaves below,
And drops weak man from its superior sphere:
In vain, with reason's ballast, would he try
To stem th' unfathomable deep. His bark
O'ersets, and founders in the vast abyss.
Then whither shall the rapid fancy run,
Though in its full career, to speed my flight
From thy unbounded presence? which, alone,
Fills all the regions of extended space,
Beyond the bounds of Nature. Whither, Lord!
Shall my unrein'd imagination rove
To leave behind thy spirit, and outfly
Its influence, which, with brooding wings outspread,
Hatch'd unfledg'd nature from the dark profound?

If, mounted on my tow'ring thoughts, I climb
Into the heav'n of heav'ns; I there behold
The blaze of thy unclouded majesty.
In the pure empyrean thee I view
High-thron'd above all height—thy radiant shrine
Throng'd with the prostrate seraphs, who receive
Beatitude past utterance. If I plunge
Down to the gloomy mansions of the damn'd;
I find thee there, and read thee in the scenes
Of complicated wrath—I see thee clad
In all the majesty of darkness there.
If, on the ruddy morning's purple wings
Upborn, with indefatigable course,
I seek the glowing borders of the east,
Where the bright sun, emerging from the deeps,
With his first glories gilds the sparkling seas,
And trembles o'er the waves: e'en there thy hand
Shall thro' the wat'ry desart guide my course,
And o'er the broken surges pave my way;
While on the dreadful whirls I hang secure,
And mock the warring ocean. If, with hopes,
As fond as false, the darkness I expect
To hide and wrap me in its mantling shade
Vain were the thought; for thy unbounded ken
Darts thro' the thickning gloom, and pries thro' all
The palpable obscure. Before thine eyes
The vanquish'd night throws off her dusky shroud,
And kindles into day. The shade and light,
To man still various, but to thee the same.

On thee is all the structure of my frame
Dependent. Lock'd within the silent womb
Sleeping I lay, and rip'ning to my birth:
Yet, Lord! thy outstretch'd arm preserv'd me there,
Before I mov'd to entity, and trod
The verge of being. To thy hallowed name
I'll pay due honours: for thy mighty hand
Built this corporeal fabrick, when it laid
The groundwork of existence. Hence I read
The wonders of thy art. This frame I view
With terror and delight: and, wrapp'd in both,
I startle at myself. My bones, unform'd
As yet, nor hardning from the viscous parts,
But blended with th' unanimated mass,
Thine eye distinctly view'd: and, while I lay
Within the earth imperfect, nor perceiv'd
The first faint dawn of life, with ease survey'd
The vital glimmerings of the active seed
Just kindling to existence; and beheld
My substance scarce material. In thy book
Was the fair model of this structure drawn:
Where ev'ry part, in just connection join'd,
Compos'd and perfected th' harmonious piece,
E'er the dim speck of being learn'd to stretch
Its ductile form, or entity had known
To range and wanton in an ample space.

How dear, how rooted in my inmost soul
Are all thy counsels, and the various ways
Of thy eternal providence! the sum
So boundless and immense, it leaves behind
The low account of numbers, and outflies
All that imagination e'er conceiv'd:
Less num'rous are the sands that croud the shore!
The barriers of the ocean. When I rise
From my soft bed, and softer joys of sleep,
I rise to thee. Yet, lo! the impious slight
Thy mighty wonders. Shall the sons of vice
Elude the vengeance of thy wrathful hand,
And mock thy lingring thunder, which withholds
Its forked terrors from their guilty heads!
Thou great tremendous God!—Avaunt, and fly
All ye that thirst for blood—for, swoln with pride,
Each haughty wretch blasphemes thy sacred name,
And bellows his reproaches to affront
Thy glorious majesty. Explore my soul,
See if a flaw or stain of sin infects
My inmost thoughts. Then lead me in the way
That guides my feet to thine own heav'n and thee.