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Creation

A Philosophical Poem. Demonstrating the Existence and Providence of a God. In Seven Books. By Sir Richard Blackmore. The Second Edition

Blackmore, Richard

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CREATION. A PHILOSOPHICAL POEM.

BOOK I.

II.

BOOK II.

III.

IV.

VI.

VII.

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BOOK II.

The ARGUMENT.

The Introduction. The numerous and important Blessings of Religion. The Existence of a God Demonstrated from the Wisdom and Design which appear in the Motions of the Heavenly Orbs; but more particularly in the Solar System. I. In the Situation of the Sun, and its due Distance from the Earth. The fatal Consequences of its having been plac'd otherwise than it is. II. In its Diurnal Motion, whence the Change of Day and Night proceeds: Then in its Annual Motion, whence arise the different Degrees of Heat and Cold. The Confinement of the Sun between the Tropicks, not to be accounted

for, by any Philosophical Hypothesis. The Difficulties of the same, if the Earth Moves and the Sun Rests. The Spring of the Sun's Motion, not to be explain'd by any irreligious Philosophy. The Contemplation of the Solar Light, and the Uses made of it for the End propos'd. The Appearances in the Solar System not to be solv'd, but by asserting a God. The Systems of Ptolomy, Copernicus, Tycho Brahe and Kepler consider'd. The Solar System describ'd and compar'd with the fix'd Stars, which are suppos'd Centers of the like Systems. Reflections on that Comparison. The Hypothesis of Epicurus, in relation to the Motion of the Sun. Wisdom and Design discover'd in the Air in its useful Structure, its Elasticity, its various Meteors; the Wind, the Rain, Thunder and Lightning. A short Contemplation of the Vegetable Kind.

Carus , by hardy Epicurus taught,
From Greece to Rome his impious System brought;
Then War with Heav'n he did insulting wage,
And breath'd against the Gods immortal Rage:
See, he exclaims, the Source of all our Woe!
Our Fears and Suff'rings from Religion flow.

We grant, a Train of Mischiefs oft proceeds
From Superstitious Rites and Penal Creeds;
But view Religion in her Native Charms,
Dispersing Blessings with indulgent Arms,
From her fair Eyes what heav'nly Rays are spread?
What blooming Joys smile round her blissful Head?

Offspring Divine! by thee we bless the Cause,
Who form'd the World, and rules it by his Laws;
His Independent Being we adore,
Extoll his Goodness, and revere his Pow'r.
Our wondring Eyes his high Perfections view,
The lofty Contemplation we pursue,
'Till ravish'd we the great Idea find,
Shining in bright Impressions on our Mind.

Inspir'd by thee, Guest of celestial Race,
With generous Love, we Human-kind embrace;
We Provocations unprovok'd receive,
Patient of Wrong, and easie to forgive;
Protect the Orphan, plead the Widow's Cause,
Nor deviate from the Line unerring Justice draws.

Thy Lustre, blest Effulgence, can dispell
The Clouds of Error, and the Gloom of Hell:

Can to the Soul impart Etherial Light,
Give Life Divine and Intellectual Sight:
Before our ravish'd Eyes thy Beams display,
The opening Scenes of Bliss, and endless Day;
By which incited we with Ardour rise,
Scorn this inferior Ball, and claim the Skies.

Tyrants to Thee a Change of Nature owe,
Break all their Tortures, and indulgent grow.
Ambitious Conquerors in their mad Career,
Check'd by Thy Voice, lay down the Sword and Spear.
The boldest Champions of Impiety,
Scornful of Heav'n, subdu'd or won by Thee,
Before thy hallow'd Altars bend the Knee.
Loose Wits, made Wise, a publick Good become,
The Sons of Pride an humble Mien assume,

The Profligate, in Morals grow severe,
Defrauders just, and Sycophants sincere.

With amorous Language, and bewitching Smiles,
Attractive Airs, and all the Lover's Wiles,
The fair Egyptian Jacob's Son carest,
Hung on his Neck, and languish'd on his Breast
Courted with Freedom now the beauteous Slave,
Now flatt'ring sued, and threatning now did rave;
But not the various Eloquence of Love,
Nor Power enrag'd could his fix'd Virtue move
See, aw'd by Heav'n, the blooming Hebrew flies
Her artful Tongue, and more persuasive Eyes:
And springing from her disappointed Arms,
Prefers a Dungeon to forbidden Charms.

Stedfast in Virtue's and his Country's Cause,
Th' illustrious Founder of the Jewish Laws,

Who, taught by Heav'n, at genuine Greatness aim'd,
With worthy Pride Imperial Blood disclaim'd.
Th' alluring Hopes of Pharo's Throne resign'd,
And the vain Pleasures of a Court declin'd,
Pleas'd with obscure Recess, to ease the Pains
Of Jacob's Race, and break their Servile Chains.
Such generous Minds are form'd, where blest Religion reigns.

Ye Friends of Epicurus, look around,
All Nature view with marks of Prudence crown'd.
Mind the wise Ends, which proper Means promote;
See how the diff'rent Parts for diff'rent Use are wrought;
Contemplate all this Conduct and Design,
Then own, and praise th' Artificer Divine.

Regard the Orbs sublime in Æther born,
Which the blue Regions of the Skies adorn;
Compar'd with whose Extent, this low hung Ball
Shrunk to a point, is despicably small:
Their Number, counting those th' unaided Eye
Can see, or by invented Tubes descry,
With those which in the adverse Hemisphere,
Or near each Pole to Lands remote appear,
The widest stretch of Human Thought exceeds,
And in th'attentive Mind Amazement breeds:
While these so numerous, and so vast of size,
In various ways roll thro' the trackless Skies;
Thro' crossing Roads perplext and intricate,
Perform their Stages, and their Rounds repeat;
None by Collision from their Course are driv'n,
No Shocks, no Conflicts break the Peace of Heav'n.
No shatter'd Globes, no glowing Fragments fall,
No Worlds o'erturn'd, crush this terrestrial Ball.

In beauteous Order all the Orbs advance,
And in their mazy complicated Dance,
Not in one part of all the Pathless Sky
Did any ever halt, or step awry.

When twice ten thousand Men depriv'd of Sight,
To some wide Vale direct their Footsteps right;
Shall there a various figur'd Dance essay,
Move by just Steps, and measur'd Time obey;
Shall cross each other with unerring Feet,
Never mistake their Place, and never meet:
Nor shall in many Years the least decline
From the same Ground, and the same winding Line:
Then may in various Roads the Orbs above,
Without a Guide, in perfect Concord move;

Then Beauty, Order, and Harmonious Laws
May not require a Wise Directing Cause.

See, how th' Indulgent Father of the Day
At such due Distance does his Beams display,
That he his Heat may give to Sea and Land,
In just degrees, as all their Wants demand.
But had he in th' unmeasurable Space
Of Æther, chosen a remoter Place;
For Instance, pleas'd with that Superior Seat
Where Saturn, or where Jove their Course repeat:
Or had he happen'd farther yet to lye,
In the more distant Quarters of the Sky,
How sad, how wild, how exquisite a Scene
Of Desolation, had his Planet been?
A wastful, cold, untrodden Wilderness,
The gloomy Haunts of Horror and Distress.

Instead of Woods, which crown the Mountain's Head,
And the gay Honours of the verdant Mead;
Instead of Golden Fruits, the Garden's Pride,
By genial Show'rs, and solar Heat supply'd,
Islandian Cold, and Hyperborean Snows,
Eternal Frost, with Ice that never flows,
Unsufferable Winter, had defac'd
Earth's blooming Charms, and made a Barren Waste.
No mild Indulgent Gales would gently bear,
On their soft Wings, sweet Vapours thro' the Air,
The Balmy Spoils of Plants, and fragrant Flow'rs,
Of Aromatick Groves, and Mirtle Bow'rs,
Whose odoriferous Exhalations fan
The Flame of Life, and recreate Beast and Man.
But Storms, ev'n worse than vex Norwegian Waves,
Than breed in Scythia's Hills, or Lapland Caves,

Would thro' this bleak Terrestrial Desart blow,
Glaze it with Ice, or whelm it o'er with Snow.

Or had the Sun, by like unhappy Fate,
Elected to the Earth a nearer Seat,
His Beams had cleft the Hill, the Vally dry'd,
Exhal'd the Lake, and drain'd the briny Tide.
A Heat, superior far to that which broils
Bornéo, or Sumatra, Indian Isles;
Than that which ripens Guinea's Golden Oar,
Or burns the Lybian Hind, or tanns the Moor,
Had laid all Nature waste, and turn'd the Land
To Hills of Cinders, and to Vales of Sand.
No Beasts could then have rang'd the Leafless Wood,
Nor Finny Nations cut the Boyling Flood.
Birds had not beat the Airy Road, the Swains
No Flocks had tended on the russet Plains.

Thus, had the Sun's bright Orb been more remote
The Cold had kill'd; and if more near, the Drought.

Next see, Lucretian Sages, see the Sun
His Course Diurnal and his Annual run.
How in his Glorious Race he moves along,
Gay as a Bridegroom, as a Gyant strong.
How his unvary'd Labour he repeats,
Returns at Morning, and at Eve retreats;
And by the Distribution of his Light,
Now gives to Man the Day, and now the Night:
Night, when the drowsie Swain and Traveller cease
Their daily Toil, and sooth their Limbs with Ease;
When all the weary Sons of Woe restrain
Their yielding Cares with Slumber's Silken Chain,
Solace sad Grief, and lull reluctant Pain.

And while the Sun, ne'er covetous of Rest,
Flies with such rapid Speed from East to West,
In Tracks Oblique he thro' the Zodiac rolls,
Between the Northern and the Southern Poles:
From which revolving Progress thro' the Skies,
The needful Seasons of the Year arise.
And as he now advances, now retreats,
Whence Winter Colds proceed, and Summer Heats,
He qualifies and cheers the Air by turns,
Which Winter freezes, and which Summer burns
Thus his kind Rays the two Extreams reduce,
And keep a Temper fit for Nature's Use.
The Frost and Drought, by this alternate Pow'r
The Earth's prolific Energy restore.
The Lives of Man and Beast demand the Change
Hence Fowls the Air and Fish the Ocean range
Of Heat and Cold this just successive Reign,
Which does the Balance of the Year maintain,

The Gard'ner's hope, and Farmer's Patience props,
Gives Vernal Verdure, and Autumnal Crops.

Should but the Sun his Duty once forget,
Nor from the North, nor from the South retreat;
Should not the Beams revive, and sooth the Soil,
Mellow the Furrow for the Ploughman's Toil:
A teeming Vigour should they not diffuse,
Ferment the Glebe, and genial Spirits loose,
Which lay imprison'd in the stiffen'd Ground,
Congeal'd with Cold, in frosty Fetters bound,
Unfruitful Earth her wretched Fate would mourn,
No Grass would cloath the Plains, no Fruit the Trees adorn.

But did the ling'ring Orb much longer stay,
Unmindful of his Course, and crooked Way;
The Earth, of Dews defrauded, would detest
The fatal Favour of th' Effulgent Guest:

To distant Worlds implore him to repair,
And free from noxious Beams the Sultry Air.
His Rays, Productive now of Wealth and Joy,
Would then the Pasture and the Hills annoy,
And with too great Indulgence would destroy,
In vain the lab'ring Hind would Till the Land,
Turn up the Glebe, and sow his Seed in Sand.
The Meads would crack, in want of binding Dews,
The Channels would th' exhaling River lose:
While in their Haunts wild Beasts expiring lye,
The panting Herds would on the Pasture dye:
But now the Sun at neither Tropick stays
A longer Time, than his alternate Rays
In such proportion Heat and Lustre give,
As do not ruin Nature, but revive.

When the bright Orb, to solace Southern Seats
Inverts his Course, and from the North retreats

As he advances, his indulgent Beam
Makes the glad Earth with fresh Conceptions team:
Restores their leafy Honours to the Woods,
Flowr's to the Banks, and Freedom to the Floods;
Unbinds the Turf, exhilarates the Plain,
Brings back his Labour, and recruits the Swain;
Thro' all the Soil a genial Ferment spreads,
Regenerates the Plants, and new adorns the Meads.
The Birds on Branches perch'd, or on the Wing,
At Nature's verdant Restauration sing,
And with melodious Lays salute the Spring.

The Heats of Summer Benefits produce
Of equal Number, and of equal Use.
The sprouting Births, and beauteous vernal Bloom,
By warmer Rays to ripe Perfection come.

Th' austere and pondrous Juices they sublime,
Make them ascend the porous Soil, and climb
The Orange-Tree, the Citron, and the Lime:
Which drunk in Plenty by the thirsty Root,
Break forth in painted Flow'rs, and golden Fruit.
They explicate the Leaves, and ripen Food
For the Silk-Labourers of the Mulberry Wood:
And the sweet Liquor on the Cane bestow,
From which prepar'd the luscious Sugars flow;
With generous Juice enrich the spreading Vine,
And in the Grape digest the sprightly Wine.
The fragrant Trees, which grow by Indian Floods,
And in Arabia's Aromatic Woods,
Owe all their Spices to the Summer's Heat,
Their gummy Tears, and odoriferous Sweat.
Now the bright Sun compacts the precious Stone
Imparting radiant Lustre, like his own:

He tinctures Rubies with their Rosie Hue,
And on the Saphire spreads a heav'nly Blue;
For the proud Monarch's dazling Crown prepares
Rich orient Pearl, and Adamantine Stars.

Next Autumn, when the Sun's withdrawing Ray
The Night enlarges, and contracts the Day,
To crown his Labour to the Farmer yields
The yellow Treasures of his fruitful Fields;
Ripens the Harvest for the crooked Steel,
(While bending Stalks the Rural Weapon feel.)
The fragrant Fruit for the nice Palate fits,
And to the Press the swelling Grape submits.

At length forsaken by the solar Rays,
See, drooping Nature sickens and decays,
While Winter all his Snowy Stores displays:

In hoary Triumph unmolested Reigns
O'er barren Hills, and bleak untrodden Plains;
Hardens the Glebe, the shady Grove deforms,
Fetters the Floods, and shakes the Air with Storms.
Now active Spirits are restrain'd with Cold,
And Prisons crampt with Ice the Genial Captives hold.
The Meads their flowry Pride no longer wear,
And Trees extend their naked Arms in Air;
The frozen Furrow, and the fallow Field,
Nor to the Spade, nor to the Harrow yield.

Yet in their turn the Snows and Frosts produce
Various Effects, of necessary Use.
Th'intemperate Heats of Summer are controul'd
By Winter's Rigour, and inclement Cold,
Which checks contagious Spawn, and noxious Steams,
The fatal Offspring of immod'rate Beams:

Th'exhausted Air with vital Nitre fills,
Infection stops, and Deaths in Embryo kills:
Constrains the Glebe, keeps back the hurtful Weed,
And fits the Furrow for the Vernal Seed.
The Spirits now, as said, imprison'd stay,
Which else by warmer Sun-beams drawn away,
Would roam in Air, and dissipated stray.
Thus are the Winter Frosts to Nature kind,
Frosts, which reduce excessive Heats, and bind
Prolific Ferments in resistless Chains,
Whence Parent Earth her Fruitfulness maintains.
To compass all these happy Ends, the Sun
In winding Tracks do's thro' the Zodiack run.

You, who so much are verst in Causes, tell,
What from the Tropicks can the Sun repell?
What vig'rous Arm, what repercussive Blow
Bandies the mighty Globe still too and fro,

Yet with such Conduct, such unerring Art,
He never did the trackless Road desert?
Why does he never in his Spiral Race
The Tropicks, or the Polar Circles pass?
What Gulphs, what Mounds, what Terrours can controul
The rushing Orb, and make him backward roll?
Why should he halt at either Station, why
Not forward run in unobstructive Sky?
Can he not pass an Astronomic Line?
Or do's he dread th'Imaginary Sign?
That he should ne'er advance to either Pole,
Nor farther yet in liquid Ether roll,
Till he has gain'd some unfrequented Place,
Lost to the World in vast unmeasur'd Space?

If to the Old you the New Schools prefer,
And to the fam'd Copernicus adhere;

If you esteem that Supposition best,
Which moves the Earth, and leaves the Sun at Rest:
With a new Veil your Ignorance you hide,
Still is the Knot as hard to be unty'd.
You change your Scheme, but the old Doubts remain,
And still you leave th'enquiring Mind in Pain.

This Problem, as Philosophers, resolve:
What makes the Globe from West to East revolve?
What is the strong impulsive Cause declare,
Which rolls the pond'rous Orb so swift in Air?
To your vain Answer will you have recourse,
And tell us 'tis Ingenite, Active Force,
Mobility, or Native Pow'r to move,
Words which mean Nothing, and can Nothing prove?

That moving Pow'r, that Force Innate explain,
Or your grave Answers are absurd and vain:
We no Solution of our Question find;
Your Words bewilder, not direct the Mind.

If you this rapid Motion to procure,
For the hard Task employ Magnetic Pow'r,
Whether that Pow'r you at the Center place,
Or in the middle Regions of the Mass,
Or else, as some Philosophers assert,
You give an equal Share to ev'ry Part,
Have you by this the Cause of Motion shown?
After explaining is it not unknown?
Since you pretend, by Reason's strictest Laws,
Of an Effect to manifest the Cause,
Nature, of Wonders so immense a Field,
Can none more strange, none more mysterious yield,

None that eludes Sagacious Reason more
Than this obscure, inexplicable Pow'r.
Since you the Spring of Motion cannot show,
Be just, and faultless Ignorance allow;
Say 'tis Obedience to th' Almighty Nod,
That 'tis the Will, the Pow'r, the Hand of God.

Philosophers of spreading Fame are found,
Who by th' Attraction of the Orbs around
Would move the Earth, and make its Course obey
The Sun's and Moon's inevitable Sway.
Some from the Pressure and impelling Force
Of Heav'nly Bodies would derive its Course:
Whilst in the dark and difficult Dispute
All are by turns confuted, and confute.
Each can subvert th' Opponent's Scheme, but none
Has Strength of Reason to support his own.

The Mind employ'd in search of secret Things,
To find out Motion's Cause and hidden Springs,
Thro' all th' Etherial Regions mounts on high,
Views all the Spheres, and ranges all the Sky:
Searches the Orbs, and penetrates the Air
With unsuccessful Toil, and fruitless Care:
Till stop'd by awful Heights, and Gulphs immense
Of Wisdom, and of vast Omnipotence,
She trembling stands, and does in Wonder gaze,
Lost in the wide Inextricable Maze.

See, how the Sun does on the middle shine,
And round the Globe describe th' Æquator Line,
By which wise Means he can the whole survey
With a direct, or with a slanting Ray,
In the Succession of a Night and Day.
Had the North Pole been fixt beneath the Sun,
To Southern Realms the Day had been unknown:

If the South Pole had gain'd that nearer Seat,
The Northern Climes had met as hard a Fate.
And since the Space, that lies on either side
The Solar Orb, is without Limits wide;
Grant that the Sun had happen'd to prefer
A Seat askaunt, but one Diameter:
Lost to the Light by that unhappy Place
This Globe had lain a frozen, lonesome Mass.

Behold the Light emitted from the Sun,
What more familiar, and what more unknown:
While by its spreading Radiance it reveals
All Nature's Face, it still it self conceals.
See how each Morn it do's its Beams display,
And on its Golden Wings bring back the Day!
How soon th' Effulgent Emanations fly
Thro' the blue Gulph of interposing Sky!

How soon their Lustre all the Region fills,
Smiles on the Vallies, and adorns the Hills!
Millions of Miles, so rapid is their Race,
To cheer the Earth, they in few Moments pass.
Amazing Progress! At its utmost stretch,
What Human Mind can this swift Motion reach?
But if, to save so quick a Flight, you say
The ever-rolling Orb's impulsive Ray
On the next Threads and Filaments does bear
Which form the springy Texture of the Air,
That those still strike the next, till to the Sight
The quick Vibration propagates the Light:
'Tis still as hard, if we this Scheme believe,
The Cause of Light's swift Progress to conceive.

With Thought from Prepossession free, reflect
On solar Rays, as they the Sight respect.

The Beams of Light had been in vain display'd,
Had not the Eye been fit for Vision made:
In vain the Author had the Eye prepar'd
With so much Skill, had not the Light appear'd.

The old and new Astronomers in vain
Attempt the Heav'nly Motions to explain.
First Ptolomy his Scheme Celestial wrought,
And of Machines a wild Provision brought.
Orbs Centric and Eccentric he prepares,
Cycles and Epicycles, solid Spheres
In order plac'd, and with bright Globes inlaid,
To solve the Tours by Heav'nly Bodies made.
But so perplext, so intricate a Frame,
The latter Ages with derision name.
The Comets, which at Seasons downward tend,
Then with their flaming Equipage ascend;

Venus, which in the Purlieus of the Sun
Does now above him, now beneath him run;
The ancient Structure of the Heav'ns subvert,
Reer'd with vast Labour, but with little Art.

Copernicus, who rightly did condemn
This eldest System, form'd a wiser Scheme;
In which he leaves the Sun at Rest, and rolls
The Orb Terrestrial on its proper Poles;
Which makes the Night and Day by this Career,
And by its slow and crooked Course the Year.
The famous Dane, who oft the Modern guides,
To Earth and Sun their Provinces divides:
The Earth's Rotation makes the Night and Day,
The Sun revolving thro' th' Ecclyptic Way
Effects the various Seasons of the Year,
Which in their Turn for happy Ends appear.

This Scheme or that, which pleases best, embrace,
Still we the Fountain of their Motion trace.

Kepler asserts these Wonders may be done
By the Magnetic Virtue of the Sun,
Which he, to gain his End, thinks fit to place
Full in the Center of that mighty Space,
Which does the Spheres, where Planets roll, include,
And leaves him with Attractive Force endu'd.
The Sun, thus seated, by Mechanic Laws,
The Earth, and every distant Planet draws;
By which Attraction all the Planets found
Within his reach, are turn'd in Ether round.

If all these rolling Orbs the Sun obey,
Who holds his Empire by Magnetic Sway;

Since all are guided with an equal Force,
Why are they so unequal in their Course?
Saturn in thirty Years his Ring compleats,
Which swifter Jupiter in Twelve repeats.
Mars three and twenty Months revolving spends;
The Earth in twelve her Annual Journey ends.
Venus, thy Race in twice four Months is run;
For his Mercurius three demands; the Moon
Her Revolution finishes in one.
If all at once are mov'd, and by one Spring,
Why so unequal is their Annual Ring?

If some, you say, prest with a pondrous load
Of Gravity, move slower in their Road,
Because, with Weight encumber'd and opprest,
These sluggish Orbs th' Attractive Sun resist;
Till you can Weight and Gravity explain,
Those Words are insignificant and vain.

If Planetary Orbs the Sun obey,
Why should the Moon disown his Sov'raign Sway?
Why in a whirling Eddy of her own
Around the Globe Terrestrial should she run?
This Disobedience of the Moon will prove
The Sun's bright Orb does not the Planets move.

Philosophers may spare their Toil, in vain
They form new Schemes, and rack their thoughtful Brain
The Cause of Heav'nly Motions to explain,
After their various unsuccessful Ways,
Their fruitless Labour, and inept Essays,
No Cause of those Appearances they'll find,
But Pow'r exerted by th' Eternal Mind;
Which thro' their Roads the Orbs Celestial drives,
And This or That determin'd Motion gives.

The Mind Supream does all his Worlds controul,
Which by his Order This and That Way rowl.
From him they take a Delegated Force,
And by his high Command maintain their Course.
By Laws decreed e'er fleeting Time begun,
In their fixt Limits they their Stages run.

But if the Earth, and each Erratic World,
Around the Sun their proper Center whirl'd,
Compose but one extended vast Machine,
And from one Spring their Motions all begin;
Does not so Wide, so Intricate a Frame,
Yet so Harmonious, Sov'raign Art proclaim?
Is it a Proof of Judgment to invent
A Work of Spheres involv'd, which represent
The Situation of the Orbs above,
Their Size and Number show, and how they move;

And does not in the Orbs themselves appear
As great Contrivance, and Design as clear?

This wide Machine the Universe regard,
With how much Skill is each Apartment rear'd?
The Sun, a Globe of Fire, a glowing Mass,
Hotter than melting Flint, or fluid Glass,
Of this our System holds the middle Place.
Mercurius nearest to the Central Sun,
Does in an Oval Orbit circling run:
But rarely is the Object of our Sight,
In Solar Glory sunk and more prevailing Light.
Venus the next, whose lovely Beams adorn
As well the Dewy Eve, as opening Morn,
Does her fair Orb in beauteous Order turn.
The Globe Terrestial next, with slanting Poles,
And all its pond'rous Load unwearied rowls.

Then we behold bright Planetary Jove
Sublime in Air thro' his wide Province move;
Four Second Planets his Dominion own,
And round him turn, as round the Earth the Moon.
Saturn revolving in the highest Sphere,
With lingring Labour finishes his Year.

Yet is this mighty System, which contains
So many Worlds, such vast Etherial Plains,
But one of Thousands, which compose the Whole,
Perhaps as Glorious, and of Worlds as full.
The Stars, which grace the high Expansion, bright
By their own Beams, and unprecarious Light,
Tho' some near Neighbours seem, and some display
United Lustre in the Milky Way,
At a vast Distance from each other lye,
Sever'd by spacious Voids of liquid Sky.

All these Illustrious Worlds, and many more,
Which by the Tube Astronomers explore;
And Millions which the Glass can ne'er descry,
Lost in the Wilds of vast Immensity,
Are Suns, are Centers, whose Superior Sway
Planets of various Magnitude obey.

If we with one clear, comprehensive Sight
Saw all these Systems, all these Orbs of Light;
If we their Order and Dependence knew,
Had all their Motions and their Ends in view,
With all the Comets, which in Ether stray,
Yet constant to their Time, and to their Way;
Which Planets seem, tho' rarely they appear,
Rarely approach the radiant Sun so near,
That his fair Beams their Atmosphere pervade,
Whence their bright Hair and flaming Trains are made,

Would not this View convincing Marks impart
Of perfect Prudence, and stupendous Art?

The Masters form'd in Newton's famous School,
Who do's the Chief in modern Science rule,
Erect their Schemes by Mathematick Laws,
And solve Appearances with just Applause:
These, who have Nature's Steps with Care pursu'd,
That Matter is with active Force endu'd,
That all its Parts Magnetic Pow'r exert,
And to each other gravitate, assert.
While by this Pow'r they on each other act,
They are at once attracted, and attract.
Less bulky Matter therefore must obey
More bulky Matter's more engaging Sway;
By this the Fabrick they together hold,
By this the Course of Heav'nly Orbs unfold.

Yet these Sagacious Sons of Science own
Attractive Vertue is a Thing unknown.
This wondrous Pow'r they piously assert,
Th' Almighty Author did at first Impart
To Matter in Degrees, that might produce
The Motions he design'd for Nature's Use.

But least we should not here due Rev'rence pay
To learned Epicurus, see the Way
By which this Reas'ner, of such high Renown,
Moves thro' th' Ecclyptic Road the rolling Sun.
Opprest with Thirst and Heat, to adverse Seats
By Turns, says he, the panting Sun retreats
To slake his Drought, his Vigour to repair
In Snowy Climes, and frozen Fields of Air;
Where the bright Glutton revels without rest
On his Cool Banquet, and Aerial Feast:

Still to and fro he does his Light convey,
Thro' the same Track, the same unalter'd Way,
On Luxury intent, and eager of his Prey.

But if the Sun is back and forward roll'd,
To treat his thirsty Orb with Polar Cold,
Say, is it not, good Epicurus, strange
He should not once beyond the Tropic range,
Where he, to quench his Drought so much inclin'd,
May snowy Fields, and nitrous Pastures find,
Meet stores of Cold so greedily pursu'd,
And be refresh'd with never-wasting Food?

Sometimes this wondrous Man is pleas'd to say
This Way and That strong Blasts the Sun convey:
A Northern Wind his Orb with Vigour drives,
Till at the Southern Tropic it arrives;

Then wanting Breath, and with his Toil opprest,
He drops his Wings, and leaves the Air at rest:
Fresh Gusts now springing from the Southern Pole,
Assault him there, and make him backward roll.
Thus Gales alternate thro' the Zodiack blow
The sailing Orb, and waft him to and fro;
While Epicurus, blest with Thought refin'd,
Makes the vast Globe the Pastime of the Wind.

Were it not idle Labour to confute
Notions so wild, unworthy of Dispute;
I'd of the Learned Epicurus ask,
If this were for the Winds a proper Task?
Illustrious Sage, inform th' Enquirer why
Still from one stated Point of all the Sky
The fickle Meteor should the Sun convey,
Thro' the same Stages of his Spiral Way?

Why in one Path, why with such equal Pace,
That he should never miss in all his Race,
Of Time one Minute, or one Inch of Space?

Remark the Air's transparent Element,
Its curious Structure, and its vast Extent:
Its wondrous Web proclaims the Loom Divine,
Its Threads, the Hand that drew them out so fine.
This thin Contexture makes its Bosom fit,
Celestial Heat and Lustre to transmit;
By which of Foreign Orbs the Riches flow,
On this dependent, needy Ball below.

Observe its Parts link'd in such artful sort,
All are at once Supported, and Support.
The Column pois'd sits hov'ring on our Heads,
And a soft Burden on our Shoulders spreads.

So the Side-Arches all the Weight sustain,
We find no Pressure, and we feel no Pain.
Still are the subtle Strings in Tension found,
Like those of Lutes to just Proportion wound,
Which of the Air's Vibration is the Source,
When it receives the Strokes of Foreign Force.

Let curious Minds, who would the Air inspect,
On its Elastic Energy reflect;
The secret Force thro' all the Frame diffus'd,
By which its Strings are from Compression loos'd.
The spungy Parts, now to a straiter Seat
Are forc'd by Cold, and widen'd now by Heat.
By Turns they all extend, by Turns retire,
As Nature's various Services require.
They now expand to fill an empty Space,
Now shrink to let a pondrous Body pass.

If raging Winds invade the Atmosphere,
Their Force its curious Texture cannot tear,
Make no Disruption in the Threads of Air;
Or if it do's, those Parts themselves restore,
Heal their own Wounds, and their own Breaches cure.

Hence the Melodious Tenants of the Sky,
Which haunt Inferior Seats, or soar on high,
With Ease thro' all the Fluid Region stray,
And thro' the wide Expansion wing their Way
Whose open Meshes let Terrestrial Steams
Pass thro', entic'd away by solar Beams:
And thus a Road reciprocal display
To rising Vapours, and descending Day.

Of Heat and Light, what ever-during Store
Brought from the Sun's exhaustless golden Shore

Thro' Gulphs immense of intervening Air,
Enrich the Earth, and every Loss repair!
The Land, its gainful Traffick to maintain,
Sends out crude Vapours, in exchange for Rain.
The flowry Garden and the verdant Mead
Warm'd by the Rays, their Exhalations spread
In Show'rs and balmy Dews to be repaid,
The Streams, their Banks forsaken, upward move,
And flow again in wandring Clouds above.
These Regions Nature's Magazines on high
With all the Stores demanded there supply,
Their different Steams the Air's wide Bosom fill,
Moist from the Flood, dry from the barren Hill;
Materials into Meteors to be wrought,
Which back to these Terrestrial Seats are brought,
By Nature shap'd to various Figures, those
The fruitful Rain, and these the Hail compose
The Snowy Fleece and curious Frostwork; these
Produce the Dew, and those the gentle Breeze.

Some form fierce Winds, which o'er the Mountain pass,
And beat with vig'rous Wings the Valley's Face;
O'er the wide Lake, and barren Desart blow,
O'er Lybia's burning Sand, and Scythia's Snow;
Shake the high Cedar, thro' the Forest sweep,
And with their furious Breath ferment the Deep.

This thin, this soft Contexture of the Air
Shows the wise Author's Providential Care,
Who did the wond'rous Structure so contrive,
That it might Life to Breathing Creatures give;
Might reinspire, and make the circling Mass
Thro' all its winding Channels fit to pass.
Had not the Maker wrought the springy Frame
Such as it is, to fan the Vital Flame,
The Blood, defrauded of its Nitrous Food,
Had cool'd, and languish'd in th' Arterial Road:

While the tir'd Heart had strove with fruitless Pain
To push the lazy Tide along the Vein.

Of what Important Use to humane Kind,
To what great Ends subservient is the Wind?
Behold, where-e'er this active Vapour flies,
It drives the Clouds, and agitates the Skies:
This from Stagnation, and Corruption saves
Th' Aerial Ocean's ever-rolling Waves.
This Animals, to succour Life, demand:
For should the Air unventilated stand,
The Idle Deep corrupted would contain
Blue Deaths, and secret stores of raging Pain.
The scorching Sun would with a fatal Beam
Make all the Void with Births malignant team,
Engender Jaundice, spotted Torments breed,
And purple Plagues, from Pestilential Seed.

Exhaling Vapours would be turn'd to Swarms
Of noxious Insects, and destructive Worms,
More than were rais'd to scourge Tyrannic Lust,
By Moses' Rod, from animated Dust.

Another Blessing, which the breathing Wind
Benevolent conveys to humane Kind,
Is, that it cools and qualifies the Air,
And with soft Breezes does the Regions cheer,
On which the Sun o'er friendly does display
Heat too prevailing, and redundant Day.
Ye swarthy Nations of the Torrid Zone,
How well to you is this great Bounty known?
As frequent Gales from the wide Ocean rise
To fan your Air, and moderate your Skies,
So constant Winds, as well as Rivers, flow
From your high Hills enrich'd with stores of Snow.

For this great End these Hills rise more sublime
Than those erected in a temp'rate Clime.
Had not the Author this Provision made,
By which your Air is cool'd, your Sun allay'd,
Destroy'd by too intense a Flame, the Land
Had lain a parch'd inhospitable Sand.
These Districts, which between the Tropicks lie,
Which scorching Beams directly darted fry,
Were thought an uninhabitable Seat,
Burnt by the Neighb'ring Orb's Immod'rate Heat:
But the fresh Breeze, that from the Ocean blows,
From the wide Lake, or from the Mountain Snows,
So sooths the Air, and mitigates the Sun,
So cures the Regions of the Sultry Zone,
That oft with Nature's Blessings they abound,
Frequent in People, and with Plenty crown'd.

As Active Winds relieve the Air and Land,
The Seas no less their useful Blasts demand.
Without this Aid the Ship would ne'er advance
Along the Deep, and o'er the Billow dance,
But lye a lazy and a useless Load,
The Forest's wasted Spoils, the Lumber of the Flood.
Let but the Wind with an auspicious Gale
To shove the Vessel fill the spreading Sail,
And see, with swelling Canvass wing'd, she flies,
And with her waving Streamers sweeps the Skies!
Th' advent'rous Merchant thus pursues his Way
Or to the Rise, or to the Fall of Day:
Thus mutual Traffick sever'd Realms maintain,
And Manufactures change to mutual Gain;
Each others Growth and Arts they sell and buy
Ease their Redundance, and their Wants supply

Ye Britons, who the Fruit of Commerce find,
How is your Isle a Debtor to the Wind,
Which thither wafts Arabia's fragrant Spoils,
Gemms, Pearls and Spices from the Indian Isles,
From Persia Silks, Wines from Iberia's Shore,
Peruvian Drugs, and Guinea's Golden Oar?
Delights and Wealth to fair Augusta flow
From ev'ry Region whence the Winds can blow.

See, how the Vapours Congregated reer
Their gloomy Columns, and obscure the Air!
Forgetful of their Gravity they rise,
Renounce the Center, and usurp the Skies,
Where, form'd to Clouds they their back Lines display,
And take their Airy March, as Winds convey.
Sublime in Air while they their Course pursue,
They from their sable Fleeces shake the Dew

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On the parcht Mountain, and with Genial Rain
Renew the Forest, and refresh the Plain.
They shed their healing Juices on the Ground,
Cement the Crack, and close the gaping Wound.
Did not the Vapours, by the Solar Heat
Thinn'd and exhal'd, rise to their airy Seat,
Or not in watry Clouds collected fly,
Then form'd to pond'rous Drops desert the Sky,
The Fields would no Recruits of Moisture find,
But by the Sun-beams dry'd, and by the Wind,
Would never Plant, or Flower, or Fruit produce,
Or for the Beast, or for his Master's Use.

But in the spacious Climates, which the Rain
Does never bless, such is th' Egyptian Plain,
With how much Art is that Defect supply'd?
See, how some noble River's swelling Tide

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Augmented by the Mountain's melting Snows,
Breaks from its Banks, and o'er the Region flows!
Hence fruitful Crops, and flow'ry Wealth ensue,
And to the Swain such mighty Gains accrue,
He ne'er reproaches Heav'n for want of Dew.

See, and revere th' Artillery of Heav'n,
Drawn by the Gale, or by the Tempest driv'n!
A dreadful Fire the floating Batt'ries make,
O'erturn the Mountain, and the Forest shake.
This Way and That they drive the Atmosphere,
And its wide Bosom from Corruption clear,
While their bright Flame consumes the Sulphur Trains,
And noxious Vapours, which infect our Veins.
Thus they refine the vital Element,
Secure our Health, and growing Plagues prevent.

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Your Contemplation farther yet pursue;
The wondrous World of Vegetables view!
Observe the Forest Oak, the Mountain Pine,
The tow'ring Cedar, and the humble Vine,
The bending Willow, that o'ershades the Flood,
And each spontaneous Offspring of the Wood!
The Oak and Pine, which high from Earth arise,
And wave their lofty Heads amidst the Skies,
Their Parent Earth in like proportion wound,
And thro' crude Metals penetrate the Ground;
Their strong and ample Roots descend so deep,
That fixt and firm they may their Station keep,
And the fierce shocks of furious Winds defie,
With all the Outrage of inclement Sky.
But the base Brier and the noble Vine
Their Arms around their stronger Neighbour twine.
The creeping Ivy, to prevent its Fall,
Clings with its fib'rous Grapples to the Wall.

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Thus are the Trees of ev'ry Kind secure,
Or by their own, or by a borrow'd Pow'r.
But ev'ry Tree from all its branching Roots
Amidst the Glebe small hollow Fibres shoots;
Which drink with thirsty Mouths the vital Juice,
And to the Limbs and Leaves their Food diffuse:
Peculiar Pores peculiar Juice receive,
To This deny, to That Admittance give.

Hence various Trees their various Fruits produce,
Some for delightful Taste, and some for Use.
Hence sprouting Plants enrich the Plain and Wood,
For Physick some, and some design'd for Food.
Hence fragrant Flow'rs with diff'rent Colours dy'd
On smiling Meads unfold their gaudy Pride.

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Review these num'rous Scenes, at once survey
Nature's extended Face, then, Scepticks, say,
In this wide Field of Wonders can you find
No Art discover'd, and no End design'd?