University of Virginia Library

Ye Nations, hear: Ye Sons of Earth,
Of highest or obscurest birth,
Ye who from wealth's full board are fed,
And Ye who eat with toil your bread,
My words with just attention weigh,
And listen to the hallow'd Lay.
My lips shall Wisdom's lessons yield,
My heart, with noblest science fill'd,
Shall prompt me with obedient ear
The Heav'n-descending truths to hear,
While, touch'd with holy fire, my tongue
Forms to the harp the mystic song.

Why should my soul with anxious dread
Behold the foes around me spread,
Who build on wealth their trust, and store
In boasted heaps the glitt'ring ore?
Cease, Mortals, cease your pride; nor dream
That riches shall from death redeem,
Or from the all-disposing hand
A Brother's forfeit life demand;
But, taught the Soul's just price to know,
At once the frantic thought forgo:
In vain would Friendship's zeal essay
The full equivalent to pay,
In vain the flitting breath to save,
And plead exemption from the grave,
Though envied Ophir's wealthiest mine
Its treasures to the purchase join.
Thou seest the Man in Wisdom's school
Long tutor'd, like the untaught fool,
To death submit, and leave his heir
His heaps of gather'd wealth to share.
Though Art extends them all its aid,
Mortality's strong grasp t' evade,
And bids them build the Dome sublime,
Proof to the rage of eating Time,
While Lands subjected to their claim
Take from their haughty Lord a name,
Yet Man, with erring pride elate,
And high in pow'r, in honour great,
Shares with the Brute an equal doom,
And sleeps forgotten in the tomb.
Their hope thus fond thus faithless found
Their Sons assume; in endless round
Another and another race
Their Fathers' wayward steps shall trace.
Together now behold them laid,
As Sheep, when Night extends her shade,
While Death within the vaulted rock,
Stern Shepherd, guards the slumb'ring flock.
Corruption there its work shall ply,
And, wrapt in darkness as they lie,
Each feature fair, each boasted grace,
With unrelenting hand efface.
Ye Just, exulting lift your eyes;
Behold the promis'd Morn arise,
That bids You, o'er each haughty foe
Exalted, endless triumphs know.
My Soul, amidst your happy train,
The wish'd redemption shall obtain,
By God adopted, Death shall brave,
And mock the disappointed Grave.
Let not the Sight thy heart dismay,
If Man's proud Offspring thou survey
With growing wealth incircled round,
Or mark his house with honours crown'd;
Nor think his treasures, at his end,
Shall with him to the grave descend,
Or the vain pomp, that strikes thy view,
Through Death's dark shade its Lord pursue.
His life with each enjoyment fraught,
How bless'd his pamper'd Soul its lot!
And Thee, while pleasure crowns thy days,
Admiring Crouds perchance may praise;
Yet Thou, like Him, the way shalt tread,
Which, one by one, thy Sires have led,
And 'midst th' impenetrable gloom
Shalt find with Them thy lasting home.
For Man, with erring pride elate,
And high in pow'r, in honour great,
Shares with the Brute an equal doom,
And sleeps forgotten in the tomb.