The Works of the Reverend and Learned Isaac Watts, D. D. Containing, besides his Sermons, and Essays on miscellaneous subjects, several additional pieces, Selected from his Manuscripts by the Rev. Dr. Jennings, and the Rev. Dr. Doddridge, in 1753: to which are prefixed, memoirs of the life of the author, compiled by the Rev. George Burder. In six volumes |
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Earth and Heaven.
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 | The Works of the Reverend and Learned Isaac Watts, D. D. |  |
Earth and Heaven.
I.
Hast thou not seen, impatient boy?Hast thou not read the solemn truth,
That gray experience writes for giddy youth
On every mortal joy?
‘Pleasure must be dash'd with pain:’
And yet with heedless haste,
The thirsty boy repeats the taste,
Nor hearkens to despair, but tries the bowl again,
The rills of pleasure never run sincere;
(Earth has no unpolluted spring)
From the curs'd soil some dang'rous taint they bear;
So roses grow on thorns, and honey wears a sting.
II.
In vain we seek a heaven below the sky;The world has false, but flatt'ring charms;
Its distant joys shew big in our esteem,
But lessen still as they draw near the eye;
In our embrace the visions die,
And when we grasp the airy forms
We lose the pleasing dream.
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III.
Earth, with her scenes of gay delight,Is but a landscape rudely drawn,
With glaring colours and false light;
Distance commends it to the sight,
For fools to gaze upon;
But bring the nauseous daubing nigh,
Coarse and confus'd the hideous figures lie,
Dissolve the pleasure, and offend the eye.
IV.
Look up, my soul, pant tow'rd th'eternal hills;Those heav'ns are fairer than they seem;
There pleasures all sincere glide on in crystal rills,
There not a dreg of guilt defiles,
Nor grief disturbs the stream.
That Canaan knows no noxious thing,
No cursed soil, no tainted spring,
Nor roses grow on thorns, nor honey wears a sting.
| The Works of the Reverend and Learned Isaac Watts, D. D. | |