The only point where human blifs ftands still, And takes the good without the fall to ill; Where only Merit conftant pay receives, Is bleft in what it takes, and what it gives; The joy unequal'd if its end it gain, And, if it lofe, attended with no pain: Without fatiety, tho' e'er fo blefs'd, And but more relifh'd as the more diftrefs'd. The broadeft mirth unfeeling Folly wears, Lefs pleating far than Virtue's very tears: Good from each object, from each place ac- For ever exercis'd, yet never tir'd; Never elated while one man 's opprefs'd; Never dejected while another 's blefs'd; And where no wants, no wishes can remain, Since but to with more Virtue is to gain.
See! the fole blifs Heav'n could on all bestow, Which who but feels can tafte; but thinks, can know:
Yet poor with fortune, and with learning blind, The bad muft mifs; the good, untaught, will find; Slave to no fect, who takes no private road, But looks thro' Nature up to Nature's God; Purfues that chain which links th' immenfe defign,
Joins heav'n and earth, and mortal and divine; Sces, that no being any blifs can know, But touches fome above, and fome below; Learns from this union of the rifing whole, The firft, laft purpose of the human foul; And knows where Faith, Law, Morals, all began, All end in Love of God, and Love of Man. For him alone, Hope leads from goal to goal, And opens ftill, and opens on his foul; Till lengthen'd on to Faith, and unconfin'd, It pours the blits that fills up all the mind. Hie fees why Nature plants in Man alone Hope of known blifs, and faith in blifs.unknown (Nature, whofe dictates to no other kind Are giv'n in vain, but what they feek they find): Wife is her prefent; the connects in this His greatest Virtue with his greatest Blifs; At once his own bright profpect to be bleft, And strongest motive to afift the reft.
Self-love thus pufh'd to focial, to divine, Gives thee to make thy neighbour's bleffing Is this too little for the boundless heart? [thine. Extend it, let thy enemies have part: Grafp the whole worlds of Reafon, Life, and In one close fyftem of Benevolence: [Senfe, Happier as kinder, in whate'er degree, And height of Blifs but height of Charity. God loves from Whole to Parts: but human Mult rife from Individual to the Whole. [toul Self-love but ferves the virtuous mind to wake, As the finall pebble stirs the peaceful lake; The center mov'd, a circle straight fucceeds, Another still, and still another spreads; Friend parent, neighbour, firft it will embrace; His country next, and next all human race: Wide and more wide,th' o'erflowings of the mind Take ev'ry creature in, of ev'ry kind; Farth fmiles around, with boundlefsbountybleft, And Heav'n beholds its image in his breast.
48. On the Eternity of the Supreme Being Smart.
HAIL, wondrous Being, who in pow'r
Exifts from everlasting! whofe great name Deep in the human heart, and ev'ry atom The Air, the Earth, or azure Main contains, In undecypher'd characters is wrote- Incomprehenfible 1-0 what can words, The weak interpreters of mortal thoughts, Or what can thoughts (tho' wild ofwing they r Thro' the vaft concave of th' æthereal round) If to the Heav'n of Heav'ns they wing their w Advent'rous, like the birds of night they're l And delug'd in the flood of dazzling day.-
May then the youthful, uninspired Bard Prefume to hymn th' Eternal? may he foar Where Seraph and where Cherubim on high Refound th' unceafing plaudits, and with th In the grand chorus mix his feeble voice?
He may-if thou, who from the witlefs bal Ordaineft honour, glory, ftrength, and praile Uplift th' unpinion'd Mufe, and deign'ft to an Great Poet of the Univerfe! his fong.
Before this earthly Planet wound her cour Round Light's perennial fountain; before Li Herfelf 'gan fhine, and at th' infpiring word Shot to exiftence in a blaze of day; Before "the Morning-Stars together fang," And hail'd Thee architect of countless work Thou art-All-glorious, All-beneficent, All Wifdom and Omnipotence Thou art.
But is the æra of Creation fix'd At when thefe worlds began? Could anght ret Goodness, that knows no bounds, from blefi Or keep th' immenfe Artificer in floth? [ev Avaunt the duft-directed crawling thought, That Puiffance immeasurably vaft, And Bounty inconceivable, could reft Content, exhaufted with one week of action No-in th' exertion of thy righteous pow'r, Ten thoufand times more active than the Sur Thou reign'd, and with a mighty hand compo Systems innumerable, matchlefs all, All ftampt with thine uncounterfeited feal.
But yet (if ftill to more ftupendous heigh TheMufe unblan'd her aching fente may ftra Perhaps wrapt up ia contemplation deep, The beft of Beings on the nobleft theme Might ruminate at leifure, fcope immenfe! Th' Eternal Pow'r and Godhead to explore And with itself th' Omnifcient Mind-replete This were enough to fill the boundiefs All. This were a Sabbath worthy the Supreme! Perhaps enthron'd amidst a choicer few Of fpirits inferior, he might greatly plan The two prime Pillars of the Univerfe, Creation and Redemption-and awhile Paufe-with the grand prefentiments of glo Perhaps-but all 's conjecture here below, All ignorance, and self-plum'd vanity— O Thou, whofe ways to wonder at 's diftru
When fcribe's prefumption (all we can, And as we may), be glorified, be prais'd. [rith, All come, when all this Earth fhall pe- Ne beind ev'n Chaos; it shall come, We all the armies of the elements Swainit themselves, and mutual rage, To make Perdition triumph; it shall come, When the capacious atmosphere above Shaistareous thunders groan, and die, And var into void; the earth beneath Shaver to the centre, and devour Temus blaze of the deftructive flames. Yes that mock the ravings of the floods, dat poudly frown upon th' impatient deep, Wurgrandeurnow? Ye foaming waves, Tha along the immenfe Atlantic roar, Ivan ve well; will a few drops fuffice Toqua the inextinguifhable fire? [cedars, Yeans, on whote cloud-crown'd tops the Ann'd into fhrubs, magnific piles, That pop the painted chamber of the heavens, At the earth continual; Athos, where? When Tenerif, 's thy ftateliness to-day? Ware thy flames to these? No more Tar glow-worm to the golden fun. Se verdant valleys then remain S their meck fubmiffion; they the debt of juftice too muit pay. Yerin weep for you, ye rival fair,
And lufia, but for thee Mv, and with filial tears must weep, O my country! Thou must join, I lever'd from the rest, must join ors of the inevitable ruin. 2. Ecfrious monarch of the day; queen of night; nor you, ye stars, es and million still remote, that day; ye must submit, not bright fpectators of the scene. But the the Earth thall to the centre perifh, and ev'n Chaos; tho' the air tale clements muft pafs away, at's dream; tho' the huge rocks, Tata the tall cedars on their tops, ter vales muft to perdition yield; git Sun, and filver-treffed Moon,
bright retinue, must be loft: Great Father of the world, furviv'ft hou wert. Yet still survives fman immortal, perfect now, are for unexpiring joys. te comes! the awful trump I hear;
word's intolerable blaze E' th' Archangel from above. rants of the filent grave, orruptible, and arile:
to welt, from the Antarctic pole Hyperborean, all ye fons, Adam, and ye heirs of heavenants of the filent grave, uptible, and arife." rooner, that the reftlefs mind $ at home; and like the ark, fountain top, shall look aloft
O'er the vague paffage of precarious life; And winds and waves, and rocks and tempefts, Enjoy the everlasting calm of Heav'n: (palt, 'Tis then, nor fooner, that the deathless foul Shall justly know its nature and its rise: 'Tis then the human tongue,new-tun'd,fhallgive Praites more worthy tbe Eternal ear. Yetwhat we can, we ought;-andtherefore Thou, Purge Thou my heart, Omnipotent and Good! Purge Thou my heart with hyffop, left, like Cain, I offer fruitlefs facrifice, and with gifts Ofend, and not propitiate the Ador'd. Tho' Gratitude were bleft with all the powers Her bursting heart could long for; tho' the swift, The fiery wing'd Imagination foar'd Beyond Ambition's wifh-yet all were vain To peak him as he is, who is ineffable. Yet itill let Reafon thro' the eye of Faith View him with fearful love; let Truth pronounce, And Adoration on her bended knee, With heav'n-directed hands, confefs his reign, And let the angelic, archangelic band, With all the hoits of Heaven, cherubic forms, And forms feraphic, with their filver trump And golden lyres attend:-" For thou art holy, "For thou art one, th' Eternal, who alone "Exerts all goodness, and tranfcends all praise !".
$42. On the Immenfity of the Supreme Being.
ONCE more I dare to roufe the founding string, The Poet of my God-Awake, my glory, Awake, my lute and harp-myself fhall wake, Soon as the ftately night-exploding bird In lively lay fings welcome to the dawn.
Lift ye! how Nature with ten thousand tongues Begins the grand thanksgiving, Hail, all hail, Ye tenants of the foreft and the field! My fellow fubjects of th' Eternal King, I gladly join your matins, and with you Confefs his prefence, and report his praife.
O Thou, who or the lambkin, or the dove, When offer'd by the lowly, meek and poor, Prefer'ft to pride's whole hecatomb, accept This mean Ellay, nor from thy treasure-house Of glory immenfe the Orphan's mite exclude. What tho' the Almighty's regal thronebe rais'd High o'er yon azure Heaven's exalted dome, By mortal eye unkenn'd-where Eatt nor Weft, Nor South nor bluftering North has breath to Albeit He there with angels and with faints[blow; Hold conference, and to his radiant hoit Ev'n face to face stands vifibly confeft; Yet know, that nor in prefence or in power Shines he lefs perfect here; 'tis man's dim eye That makes th' obfcurity. He is the fame; Alike in all his univerfe the fame.
Whether the mind along the spangled sky Measures her pathless walk, ftudious to view The works of vafter fabric, where the planets Weave their harmonious rounds, their march diStill faithful, ftill inconftant, to the fun; [recting Or where the comet, thro' fpace infinite (Tho' whirling worlds oppofe in globes of fire) (Tho Darts,
Darts, like a javelin, to his distant goal; [vens, Nathlefs confpicuous in the linnet's throat
Or where in Heaven above, the Heaven of Hea- Burn brighter funs, and goodlier planets ro!l With fatellites more glorious-Thou art there. Or whether on the ocean's boisterous back Thou ride triumphant,and with outstretch'd arm Curb the wild winds and difcipline the billows, The fuppliant failor finds Thee there, his chief, His only help-When Thou rebuk 'ft the ftorm, It ceafes and the veffel gently glides Along the gloffy level of the calm.
Is his unbounded goodness-Thee her Make Thee her Preferver chants the in her fong; While all the emulative vocal tribe The grateful leffon learn-no other voice Is heard, no other found-for, in attention Buried, ev'n babbling Echo holds her peace. Now from the plains,where theunbounded p Gives liberty her utmoft fcope to range, [4 Turn we to yon inclosures, where appears Chequer'd variety in all her forms, O! could I fearch the bofom of the fea, Which the vague mind attract, and still fufp Down the greatdepth defcending,there thy works With fweet perplexity. What are yon towe Would alfo fpeak thy refidence; and there The work of labouring men and clumfy ar Would I, thy fervant, like the ftill profound, Seen with the ringdove's neft? On that tall be Aftonifh'd into filence mufe thy praise! Her penfile houfe the feather'd artist builds- Behold! behold! th' unplanted garden round The rocking winds moleft her not; for fee Of vegetable coral, fea-flowers gay, [tom, With fuch due poife the wond'rous fabric's h And shrubs of amber from the pearl-pav'd bot-That, like the compafs in the bark, it keep Rife richly varied, where the finny race True to itself, and stedfast ev'n in storms. In blithe fecurity their gambols play: Thou idiot, that afferts there is no God, While high above their heads Leviathan, View, and be dumb for ever— The terror and the glory of the main, His paftime takes with transport, proud to The ocean's vaft dominion all his own.
Hence thro' the genial bowels of the earth Eafy may fancy país; till at thy mines, Gani or Raclconda, the arrive,
And from the adamant's imperial blaze Form weak ideas of her Maker's glory. Next to Pegu or Ceylon let me rove, Where the rich ruby (deem'd by fages old
Go bid Vitruvius or Palladio build feeThe bee his manfion, or the ant her caveGo call Correggio, or let Titian come [ch To paint the hawthorn's bloom, or teach To blush with juft vermillion-Hence awa Hence, ye profane! for God himself is her Vain were th' attempt, and impious, to tr Thro' all his works th' Artificer DivineAnd tho' nor thining fun, nor twinkling f Bedeck'd the crimson curtains of the sky;
Of fov'reign virtue) fparkles ev'n like Sirius,Tho' neither vegetable, beast, nor bird
And blushes into flames. Thence will I go To undermine the treasure-fertile womb Of the huge Pyrenean, to detect The agate and the deep-intrenched gem Of kindred jafper-Nature in them both Delights to play the mimic on herself; And in their veins the oft pourtrays the forms Of leaning hills, of trees erect, and streams Now stealing foftly pn, now thundering down In defperate cafcade, with flowers and beasts, And all the living landskip of the vale: In vain thy pencil, Claudio or Pouffin, Or thine, immortal Guido, would effay Such skill to initate-it is the hand
Of God himfelf-for God himself is there. [vance Hence with th' afcending fprings let me ad- Thro' beds of magnets, minerals, and fpar, Up to the mountains fummit, there t' indulge Th' ambition of the comprehenfive eye, That dares to call th' horizon all her own. Behold the foreft, and th' expanfive verdure Of yonder level lawn, whofe fmooth-fhorn fod No object interrupts, unless the oak His lordly head uprears, and branching arms Extends-Behold in regal folitude, And paftoral magnificence, he ftands So fimple, and fo great, the under-wood . Of meaner rank an awful distance keep. Yet Thou art there, y' God himself is there, Ev'n on the bush (tho' not as when to Mofes He fhone in burning majefty reveal'd).
Were extant on the furface of this ball, Nor lurking gem beneath; tho' the great Slept in profound stagnation, and the air Had left no thunder to pronounce its Mak Yet man at home, within himfelf, might fi The Deity immenfe, and in that frame, So fearfully, fo wonderfully made, See and adore his providence and power- I fee, and I adore-O God molt bounteou O infinite of goodness and of glory, The knee that thou haft fhap'd fhall be The tongue which thou haft tun'd shall
And thine own image, the immortal foul Shall confecrate herfelf to Thee for ever.
$43. On the Omniscience of the Supreme E
ARISE, divine Urania, with new strain To hymn thy God! and thou, immortal F Arife and blow thy everlafting trump? All glory to the Omnifcient, and praife, And power and domination in the heigh And thou, cherubic Gratitude, whofe vo To pious ears founds filverly fo (weet, Come with thy precious incenfe, bring thy And with thy choicet ftores the altar cro Thou too, my heart, whom He, and He a Who all things knows, can know, with l Regenerate, and pure, pour all thyself
Alving crifice before his throne! Aeternal, high, mysterious tree, The centre of the arched heavens [branch kste rich fruit of knowledge, with fome Sep toy tamble reach, and blefs my toil! Why mother's womb conceal'd I lay, Ambryo, then my foul thou knew'ft; Karlher future workings, every thought, And every fint idea yet unform'd. With up the imperceptible afcent Org ears, led by thy hand, I rose, Pengadual light, that ever dawns
oday, thou didst vouchsafe, At me by that reason thou infpir'dft, Tax of knowledge in my mind was low, med, correct,-in Thee is wond'rous, Tar'd, unfearchably profound, Adele folely by itself.
[brutes, We is that fecret pow'r that guides the Welgace calls instinct! 'Tis from Thee;
son of thine hands, laser, intantaneous; 'tis thy wisdom Tapices transparent thro' thy works. eve, or who forewarn'd the jay, Today nightfhade? Tho' the cherry gauer hue, nor does the plum Leeming fweets the amorous eye, It at the fagacious birds, decoyed Bance, touch the noxious fruit. The cow to tate is fatal; whence, alarm'd, Se winnowing winds they work their
dafoner, philofophic man, prudence, thou fuch knowledge? at has fall'n into the fnare [-No. alooks, of pleafing furface; tiles the famith'd pilgrim, and luscious taste, beguil'd, Adam, eats and dies. dom on the leaden feet Erence, dully tedious, creeps, de vengeance, after long delay. Le Lage, that nightly trims , t'inveftigate the powers cal, the earth, the air, sgions of the foffil world, flowing what he ne'er fhall find; Still haply at the laft
tten fhapes it into mountains, bics from conjecture builds: etic animal, that guards curs his threshold, if opprefs'd krefs, at his master's feet
ad his fervices might claim, phytician, knows the cafe, enetic herbage works his cure. ar the feather'd matron fcreams, od alarms! The docile crew mal one and all, expert Sarure and unlearn'd deccit: in counterfeited death, s they lie; full well appriz'd Tous adverfary's near.
But who inform'd her of th' approaching danger? Who taught the cautious mother, that the hawk Was hatch'd her foe,and liv'd by her deftruction? Her own prophetic foul is active in her, And more than human providence her guard. When Philomela, ere the cold domain Of crippled Winter 'gins t' advance, prepares Her annual flight, and in some poplar fhade Takes her melodious leave, who then 's her pilot? Who points her passage thro' the fathless void To realms from us remote, to us unknown? Her fcience is the fcience of her God. Not the magnetic index to the North E'erafcertains her course, nor buoy, nor beacon: She, Heaven-taught voyager, that fails in air, Courts nor coy Weft nor Eaft, but inftant knows What Newton or not fought, or fought in vain †. Illuftrious name! irrefragable proof
Of man's vaft genius, and the foaring foul! Yet what wert thou to Him, who knew his works Before creation form'd them, long before He meafur'd in the hollow of his hand Th' exulting ocean, and the highest heavens He comprehended with a span, and weigh'd The mighty mountains in his golden fcales; Who fhone fupreme, who was himself the light, Ere yet Refraction learn'd her skill to paint, And bendathwart the clouds her beauteous bow. When Knowledge at her father's dread com- mand
Refign'd to Ifrael's king her golden key, O! to have join'd the frequent auditor's In wonder and delight, that whilom heard Great Solomon defcanting on the brutes. O! how fublimely glorious to apply To God's own honour, and good-will to man, That wifdom he alone of men poffefs'd In plenitude fo rich, and scope fo rare. How did he roufe the pamper'd filken fons Of bloated Eafe, by placing to their view The fage induftrious Ant, the wifeft infect, And beft economist of all the field! Tho' fhe prefumes not by the folar orb To meafure times and feafons, nor confults Chaldean calculations, for a guide;
Yet, confcious that December's on the march, Pointing with icy hand to Want and Woe, She waits his dire approach, and undismay'd Receives him as a welcome gueft, prepar'd Against the churlish Winter's fiercest blow. For when as yet the favourable Sun
Gives to the genial earth th' enlivening ray, Not the poor fuffering flave, that hourly toils To rive the groaning earth for ill-fought gold, Endures fuch trouble, fuch fatigue, as the; While all her fubterraneous avenues, [meet And ftorm-proof cells, with management most And unexampled housewifery the forms: Then to the field fhe hies, and on her back, Burden immenfe! fhe bears the cumbrous corn. Then many a weary step, and many a strain, And many a grievous groan fubdu'd, at length Up the huge hill the hardly heaves it home,
Nor refts the here her providence, but nips With fubtle tooth the grain, left from her garner In mifchievous fertility it steal,
And back to day-light vegetate its way. Go to the Ant, thou fluggard, learn to live, And by her wary ways reform thine own. But if thy deaden'd fenfe, and liftlefs thought, More glaring evidence demand; behold, Where yon pellucid populous hive presents A yet uncopied model to the world! There Machiavel in the reflecting glafs May read himself a fool. The chemist there May with astonishment invidious view His toils outdone by each plebeian bee, Who, at the royal mandate, on the wing, From various herbs, and from difcordant flowers, A perfect harmony of fweets compounds. Avaunt, Conceit! Ambition, take thy flight Back to the Prince of vanity and air! O! 'tis a thought of energy moft piercing; [force Form'd to make pride grow humble; form'd to Its weight on the reluctant mind, and give her A true but irkfome image of herself. Woeful viciffitude! when man, fallen man, Whofirst from Heaven, from gracious God himself Learn'd knowledge of the brutes, must know, by brutes
Inftructed and reproach'd, the fcale of being; By flow degrees from lowly steps afcend, And trace Omniscience upwards to its fpring! Yet murmur not, but praife-for tho' we ftand Of many a godlike privilege amerc'd
By Adam's dire tranfgreffion; tho' no more Is Paradife our home, but o'er the portal Hangs in terrific pomp the burning blade; Still with ten thousand beauties bloom the earth, Withpleafures populous,andwith richescrown'd. Still is there fcope for wonder and for love Ev'n to their latt exertion-thowers of bleffings Far more than human virtue can deserve, Or hope expect, or gratitude return. Then, O ye people, O ye fons of men, Whatever be the colour of your lives, Whatever portion of itself his wifdom Shall deign t' allow, ftill patiently abide, And praife him more and more; nor ceafe to chant "All glory to th' Omnifcient, and praife, "And pow'r, and domination in the height! "And thou, cherubic Gratitude, whofe voice "To pious ears founds filverly fo fweet, "Come with thy precious incenfe,bring thygifts, "And with thy choiceft ftores the altar crown."
§44. On the Power of the Supreme Being. Smart. "TREMRLE, thou Earth!" th' anointed poet faid, [mountains! "At God's bright prefence; tremble all ye "And all ye hillocks on the furface bound!" Then once again, ye glorious thunders, roll! The Mule with transport hears ye; once again Convulfe the folid continent! and shake, Grand mufic of Omnipotence, the ifles!
I is thy terrific voice, thou God of power,
'Tis thy terrific voice; all nature hears it, Awaken'd and alarm'd; the feels its force; In every fpring the feels it, every wheel, And every movement of her vaft machine. Behold! quakes Apennine; behold! recoil Athos; and all the hoary headed Alps Leap from their bafes at the god-like found. But what is this, celeftial tho' the note, And proclamation of the reign fupreme, Compar'd with fuch as, for a mortal ear Too great, amaze the incorporeal worlds? Should Ocean to his congregated waves Call in each river, cataract, and lake, And with the wat'ry world down a huge rod Fall headlong in one horrible cafcade, Twere but the echo of the parting breeze, When zephyr faints upon the lily's breaft, Twere but the ceafing of fome inftrument, When the laft lingering undulation Dies on the doubting ear, if nam'd with four So mighty! fo ftupendous! fo divine!
But not alone in the aërial vault Does He the dread theocracy maintain; For oft, enrag'd with his inteftine thunders, He harrows up the bowels of the earth, And fhocks the central magnet-Cities the Totter on their foundations, ftately column Magnific walls, and heaven-affaulting fpires What tho' in haughty eminence erect Stands the ftrong citadel, and frowns defian On adverfe hofts; tho' many a bastion jut Forth from the rampart's elevated mound; Vain the poor providence of human art, And mortal ftrength how vain! while underne Triumphs his mining vengeance in th' upro Of thatter'd towers, riven rocks, and mountai With clamour inconceivable uptorn, And hurl'dadownth' abyfs. Sulphureous pyri Burtting abrupt from darkness into day, With din outrageous and destructive ire, Augment the hideous tumult, while it wour The afflictive ear, and terrifies the eye, [ And rends the heart in twain. Twice have Within Augufta's walls, twice have we felt Thy threaten'd indignation: but even Tho Incens'd Omnipotent, art gracious ever; Thy goodnefs infinite but mildly warn'd us With mercy-blended wrath; O fpare us ftill Nor fend more dire conviction! We confeis That thou art He, th' Almighty: we believ For at thy righteous power whoie fyftems qual For at thy nod tremble ten thousand worlds
Hark! on the wing'd whirlwinds rapid ra Which is and is not in a moment-hark! Invincible, and oaks, and pines, and cedars On th' hurricane's tempeftuous fweep he ride And forefts are no more. For, conflict dreadh The Weft encounters Eaft, and Notus meets In his career the Hyperborean blast. The lordly lions fhuddering feek their dens, And fly like timorous deer; the king of bir Who dar'd the folar ray, is weak of wing, And faints,and falls,and dies;-while He fupre Stands ftedfaft in the centre of the storm.
Wherefore ye objects terrible and great,
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