Then, Autumn, with her yellow harvests crown'd,
And trembling Winter close the annual round.
The vegetable tribes observant trace,
From the tall cedar to the creeping grass:
The chain of animated beings scale,
From the small reptile to th' enormous whale;
From the strong eagle stooping through the skies,
To the low insect that escapes thy eyes!
And see, if see thou canst, in ev'ry frame,
Eternal Wisdom shine confess'd the same:
As proper organs to the least assign'd,
As proper means to propagate the kind,
As just the structure, and as wise the plan,
As in this lord of all-debating man!
Hence, reas'ning creature, thy distinction find,
Nor longer to the ways of Heav'n be blind.
Wisdom in outward beauty strikes the mind,
But outward beauty points a charm behind.
What gives the Earth, the ambient air, or seas,
The plain, the river, or the wood to please?
Oh say, in whom does beauty's self reside,
The beautifier, or the beautified?
There dwells the Godhead in the bright disguise,
Beyond the ken of all created eyes;
His works our love and our attention steal;
His works (surprising thought) the Maker veil;
Too weak our sight to pierce the radiant cloud,
Where Wisdom shines, in all her charms avow'd.
O gracious God, omnipotent and wise,
Unerring Lord, and Ruler of the skies!
All-condescending, to my feeble heart
One beam of thy celestial light impart;
I seek not sordid wealth, or glitt'ring pow'r;
O grant me wisdom-and I ask no more!
As from some level country's shelter'd ground,
With towns replete, with green enclosures bound,
Where the eye kept within the verdant maze,
But gets a transient vista as it strays;
The pilgrim to some rising summit tends,
Whence opens all the scene as he ascends;
So Providence the friendly heights supplies,
Where all the charms of Deity surprise;
Here Goodness, Power, and Wisdom, all unite,
And dazzling glories whelm the ravish'd sight!
Almighty Cause! 'tis thy preserving care,
That keeps thy works for ever fresh and fair;
The Sun, from thy superior radiance bright,
Eternal sheds his delegated light;
Lends to his sister orb inferior day,
And paints the silver Moon's alternate ray:
Thy hand the waste of eating Time renews:
Thou shedd'st the tepid morning's balmy dews:
When raging winds the blacken'd deep deform,
Thy spirit rides commission'd in the storm;
Bids at thy will the slack'ning tempest cease,
While the calm ocean smooths its ruffled face;
When lightnings through the air tremendous fly,
Or the blue plague is loosen'd to destroy,
Thy hand directs, or turns aside the stroke;
Thy word the fiend's commission can revoke;
When subterraneous fires the surface heave,
And towns are buried in the yawning grave;
Thou suffer'st not the mischief to prevail;
Thy sov'reign touch the recent wound can heal.
To Zembla's rock thou send'st the cheerful gleam;
O'er Libya's sands thou pour'st the cooling stream;
Thy watchful providence o'er all intends;
Tby works obey their great Creator's ends.
When man too long the paths of vice pursued, Thy band prepar'd the universal flood; Gracious, to Noah gave the timely sign, To save a remnant from the wrath divine! One shining waste the globe terrestrial lay, And the ark heav'd along the troubled sea; Thou bad'st the deep his ancient bed explore, The clouds their wat❜ry deluge pour'd no more! The skies were clear'd-the mountain tops were
The dove pacific brought the olive green.
On Arrarat the happy patriarch tost,
Found the recover'd world his hopes had lost;
There his fond eyes review'd the pleasing scene,
The Earth all verdant, and the air serene!
Its precious freight the guardian ark display'd,
While Noah grateful adoration paid!
Beholding in the many-tinctur'd bow
The promise of a safer world below.
When wild ambition rear'd its impious head,
And rising Babel Heav'n with pride survey'd;
Thy word the mighty labour could confound,
And leave the mass to moulder with the ground.
From thee all human actions take their springs,
The rise of empires, and the fall of kings!
See the vast theatre of time display'd,
While o'er the scene succeeding heroes tread!
With pomp the shining images succeed,
What leaders triumph! and what monarchs bleed!
Perform the parts thy providence assign'd,
Their pride, their passions, to thy ends inclin'd:
A while they glitter in the face of day,
Then at thy nod the phantoms pass away;
No traces left of all the busy scene,
But that remembrance says-The things have been! "But" (questions Doubt) "whence sickly Nature feels
The ague-fits her face so oft reveals? [breast?
Whence earthquakes heave the Earth's astonish'd
Whence tempests rage? or yellow plagues infest?
Whence draws rank Afric her empoison'd store?
Or liquid fires explosive Ætna pour?"
Go, sceptic mole! demand th' eternal cause,
The secret of his all-preserving laws;
The depths of wisdom infinite explore,
And ask thy Maker-why he knows no more?
Thy errour still in moral things as great,
As vain to cavil at the ways of Fate,
To ask why prosp'rous vice so oft succeeds,
Why suffers innocence, or virtue bleeds?
Why monsters, Nature must with blushes own,
By crimes grow pow'rful, and disgrace a throne?
Why saints and sages, mark'd in every age,
Perish the victims of tyrannic rage;
Why Socrates for truth and freedom fell,
Or Nero reign'd the delegate of Hell?
In vain by reason is the maze pursued,
Of ill triumphant, and afflicted good,
Fix'd to the hold, so might the sailor aim
To judge the pilot, and the steerage blame,
As we direct to God what should belong,
Or say, that sov'reign wisdom governs wrong.
Nor always vice does uncorrected go,
Nor virtue unrewarded pass below!
Oft sacred Justice lifts her awful head,
And dooms the tyrant and th' usurper dead;
Oft Providence, more friendly than severe,
Arrests the hero in his wild career;
Directs the fever, poniard, or the ball,
By which an Ammon, Charles, or Cæsar fall;
Or, when the cursed Borgias brew the cup
For merit, bids the monsters drink it up;
On violence oft retorts the cruel spear,
Or fetters cunning in its crafty snare;
Relieves the innocent, exalts the just,
And lays the proud oppressor in the dust!
But, fast as Time's swift pinions can convey,
Hastens the pomp of that tremendous day,
When to the view of all created eyes
God's high tribunal shall majestic rise,
When the loud trumpet hall assemble round
The dead, reviving at the piercing sound!
Where men and angels shall to audit comne,
And millions yet unbora receive their doom!
Then shall fair Providence, to all display'd,
Appear divinely bright without a shade;
In light triumphant all her acts be shown,
And blushing Doubt eternal Wisdom own!
Meanwhile, thou great Intelligence supreme,
Sov'reign Director of this mighty frame,
Whose watchful hand, and all-observing ken,
Fashions the hearts, and views the ways of men!
Whether thy hand the peous table spread,
Or measure sparingly the day bread;
Whether or wealth or her ours gild the scene,
Or wants deform, and wasting anguish stain;
On thee let Truth and Virtue firm rely,
Bless'd in the care of thy approving eye!
Know that thy providence, their constant friend,
Through life shall guard them, and in death attend;
With everlasting arins their cause embrace,
And crown the paths of piety with peace.
Ye seraphs, who God's throne encircling still,
With holy zeal your golden censers fill;
Ye flaming ministers, to distant lands
Who bear, obsequious, his divine commands;
Ye cherubs, who compose the sacred choir,
Attuning to the voice th' angelic lyre!
Or ye, fair natives of the heav'nly plain,
Who once were mortal-now a happier train!
Who spend in peaceful love your joyful hours,
In blissful meads, and amaranthine bow'rs,
Oh lend one spark of your celestial fire,
Oh deign my glowing bosora to inspire,
And aid the Muse's unexpericnc'd wing,
While Goodness, theme divine, she soars to sing!
Though all thy attributes, diyinely fair,
Thy full perfection, glorious God! declare;
Yet if one beams superior to the rest,
Oh let thy Goodness fairest be confess'd:
As shines the Moon amidst her starry train,
As breathes the rose amongst the flow'ry scene,
As the mild dove her silver plumes displays,
So sheds thy mercy its distinguish'd rays.
This led, Creator mild, thy gracious hand, When formless Chaos heard thy high command; When, pleas'd, the eye thy matchless works review'd,
And Goodness, placid, spoke that all was good!
Nor only does in Heav'n thy Goodness shine;
Delighted Nature feels its warmth divine;
The vital Sun's illuminating beam,
The silver crescent, and the starry gleam,
As day and night alternate they command,
Proclaim that truth to ev'ry distant land.
See smiling Nature, with thy treasures fair,
Confess thy bounty and parental care;
Renew'd by thee, the faithful seasons rise,
And Earth with plenty all her sons supplies.
The generous lion, and the brinded boar,
As nightly through the forest walks they roar,
From thee, Almighty Maker, seek their prey,
Nor from thy hand unsated go away:
To thee for meat the callow ravens cry,
Supported by thy all-preserving eye:
From thee the feather'd natives of the plain,
Or those who range the field, or plough the main,
Receive with constant course th' appointed food,
And taste the cup of universal good;
Thy hand thou open'st, million'd myriads live;
Thou frown'st, they faint, thou smil'st, and they re-
On Virtue's acre, as on Rapine's stores, [vive!
See Heav'n impartial deal the fruitful show'rs!
"Life's common blessings all her children share,"
Tread the same earth, and breathe a genʼral air!
Without distinction boundless blessings fall,
And Goodness, like the Sun, enlightens all!
Oh man! degenerate man! offend no more!
Go, learn of brutes thy Maker to adore!
Shall these through ev'ry tribe his bounty own,
Of all his works ungrateful thou alone!
Deaf when the tuneful voice of Mercy cries,
And blind when sov'reign Goodness charms the eyes!
Mark how the wretch his awful name blasphemes,
His pity spares-his clemency reclaims!
serve his patience with the guilty strive, And the criminal repent and live; Recall the frgitive with gentle eye, Beseech the obstinate, he would not die! Amazing tenderness-amazing most, The soul on whom such mercy should be lost! But wouldst thou view the rays of goodness join In one strong point of radiance all divine, Behold, celestial Muse! yon eastern light, To Bethlem's plain, adoring, bend thy sight! Hear the glad message to the shepherds giv'n, Good will on Earth to man, and peace in Heav'n! Attend the swains, pursue the starry road, And nail to Earth the Saviour and the God!
Redemption! oh thou beauteous mystic plan, Thou salutary source of life to man! What tongue can speak thy comprehensive grace? What thought thy depths unfathomable trace? When lost in sin our ruin'd nature lay, When awful Justice claim'd her righteous pay! See the mild Saviour bend his pitying eye, And stop the lightning just prepar'd to fly! (O strange effect of unexampled love!) View him descend the heav'nly throne above; Patient the ills of mortal life endure, Calm, though revil'd, and innocent, though poor! Uncertain his abode, and coarse his food, His life one fair continued scene of good; For us sustain the wrath to man decreed, The victim of eternal justice bleed! Look! to the cross the Lord of life is tied, They pierce his hands, and wound his sacred side; See God expires! our forfeit to atone, While Nature trembles at his parting groan!
Advance, thou hopeless mortal, steel'd in guilt, Behold, and if thou canst, forbear to melt! Shall Jesus die thy freedom to regain, And wilt thou drag the voluntary chain! Wilt thou refuse thy kind assent to give, When dying he looks down to bid thee live! Perverse, wilt thou reject the proffer'd good, Bought with his life, and streaming in his blood?
Whose virtue can thy deepest crimes efface,
Re-heal thy nature, and confirm thy peace!
Can all the errours of thy life atone,
And raise thee from a rebel to a son!
O bless'd Redeemer, from thy sacred throne,
Where saints and angels sing thy triumphs won!
(Where from the grave thou rais'd thy glorious head,
Chain'd to thy car the pow'rs infernal led)
From that exalted height of bliss supreme,
Look down on those who bear thy sacred name;
Restore their ways, inspire them by thy grace,
Thy laws to follow, and thy steps to trace;
Thy bright example to thy doctrine join,
And by their morals prove their faith divine!
Nor only to thy church confine thy ray,
O'er the glad world thy healing light display;
Fair Son of Righteousness! in beauty rise,
And clear the mists that cloud the mental skies!
To Judah's remnant, now a scatter'd train,
Oh great Messiah! show thy promis'd reign;
O'er Earth as wide thy saving warmth diffuse,
As spreads the ambient air, or falling dews;
And haste the time when, vanquish'd by thy pow'r,
Death shall expire, and sin defile no more!
RECTITUDE.
Hence distant far, ye sons of Earth profane,
The loose, ambitious, covetous, or vain:
Ye worms of pow'r! ye minion'd slaves of state,
The wanton vulgar, and the sordid great!
But come, ye purer souls, from dross refin'd,
The blameless heart and uncorrupted mind!
Let your chaste hands the holy altars raise,
Fresh incense bring, and light the glowing blaze,
Your grateful voices aid the Muse to sing
The spotless justice of th' Almighty King!
As only Rectitude divine he knows,
As truth and sanctity his thoughts compose;
So these the dictates which th' Eternal Mind
To reasonable beings has assign'd;
These has his care on ev'ry mind impress'd,
The conscious seals the hand of Heav'n attest!
When man, perverse, for wrong forsakes the right,
He still attentive keeps the fault in sight;
Demands that strict atonement should be made,
And claims the forfeit on the offender's head!
But Doubt demands-“ Why man dispos'd this
way?
Why left the dang'rous choice to go astray?
If Heav'n that made him did the fault foresee,
Thence follows, Heav'n is more to blame than he."
No-had to good the heart alone inclin'd,
What toil, what prize had Virtue been assign'd?
From obstacles her noblest triumphs flow,
Her spirits languish when she finds no foe!
Man might perhaps have so been happy still,
Happy, without the privilege of will,
And just, because his hands were tied from ill!
O wondrous scheme, to mend th' almighty plan,
By sinking all the dignity of man!
Yet turn thy eyes, vain sceptic, own thy pride,
And view thy happiness and choice allied;
See Virtue from herself her bliss derive,
A bliss, beyond the pow'r of thrones to give;
See Vice, of empire and of wealth possess'd,
Pine at the heart, and feel herself unbless'd:
And, say, were yet no further marks assign'd,
Is man ungrateful? or is Heav'n unkind?
"Yes, all the woes from Heav'n permissive fall,
The wretch adopts-the wretch improves them all."
VOL XIV.
From his wild lust, or his oppressive deed,
Rapes, battles, murders, sacrilege proceed;
His wild ambition thins the peopled Earth,
Or from his av'rice famine takes her birth;
Had Nature giv'n the hero wings to fly,
His pride would lead him to attempt the sky!
To angels make the pigmy's folly known,
And drawn ev'n pity from th' eternal throne.
Yet while on Earth triumphant Vice prevails,
Celestial Justice balances her scales,
With eye unbiass'd all the scene surveys,
With hand impartial ev'ry crime she weighs;
Oft close pursuing at his trembling heels,
The man of blood her awful presence feels;
Oft from her arm, amidst the blaze of state,
The regal tyrant, with success elate,
Is forc'd to leap the precipice of fate!
Or if the villain pass unpunish'd here,
'Tis but to make the future stroke severe;
For soon or late eternal Justice pays
Mankind the just desert of all their ways.
'Tis in that awful all-disclosing day,
When high Omniscience shall her books display,
When Justice shall present her strict account,
While Conscience sball attest the due amount;
That all who feel, condemn the dreadful rod,
Shall own that righteous are the ways of God!
Oh then, while penitence can Fate disarm,
While ling'ring Justice yet withholds its arm;
While heav'nly Patience grants the precious time,
Let the lost sinner think him of his crime;
Immediate, to the seat of Mercy fly,
Nor wait to morrow-lest to night he die!
But tremble, all ye sins of blackest birth,
Ye giants, that deform the face of Earth;
Tremble, ye sons of aggravated guilt,
And, ere too late, let sorrow learn to melt:
Remorseless Murder! drop thy hand severe,
And bathe thy bloody weapon with a tear;
Go, Lust impure! converse with friendly light,
Forsake the mansions of defiling night;
Quit, dark Hypocrisy, thy thin disguise,
Nor think to cheat the notice of the skies !
Unsocial Avarice, thy grasp forego,
And bid the useful treasure learn to flow!
Restore, Injustice, the defrauded gain!
Oppression, bend to ease the captive's chain,
Ere awful Justice strike the fatal blow!
And drive you to the realms of night below!
But Doubt resumes-" If Justice has decreed
The punishment proportion'd to the deed;
Eternal misery seems too severe,
Too dread a weight for wretched man to bear!
Too harsh that endless torments should repay
The crimes of life-the errours of a day!”
In vain our reason would presumptuous pry;
Heav'n's counsels are beyond conception high;
In vain would thought his measur'd justice
scan!
His ways how different from the ways of man!
Too deep for thee his secrets are to know,
Inquire not, but more wisely shun the woe;
Warn'd by his threat'nings to his laws attend,
And learn to make Omnipotence thy friend!
Our weaker laws, to gain the purpos'd ends,
Oft pass the bounds the lawgiver intends;
Oft partial pow'r, to serve its own design,
Warps from the text, exceeding reason's line,
Strikes biass'd at the person, not the deed,
And sees the guiltless unprotected bleed!
But God alone with unimpassion'd sight,
Surveys the nice barrier of wrong and right;
And while subservient, as his will ordains,
Obedient Nature yields the present means;
While neither force nor passions guide his views,
Ev'n Evil works the purpose he pursues!
That bitter spring, the source of human pain!
Heal'd by his touch, does mineral health contain ;
And dark affliction, at his potent rod,
Withdraws its cloud, and brightens into good.
Thus human justice (far as man can go)
For private safety strikes the dubious blow;
But Rectitude divine, with nobler soul,
Consults each individual in the whole!
Directs the issues of each moral strife,
And sees creation struggle into life!
And you, ye happier souls! who in his ways
Observant walk, and sing his daily praise;
Ye righteous few! whose calm unruffled breasts
No fears can darken, and no guilt infests,
To whom his gracious promises extend,
In whom they centre, and in whom shall end,
Which (bless'd on that foundation sure who build)
Shall with eternal justice be fulfill'd :
Ye sons of life, to whose glad hope is giv'n
The bright reversion of approaching Heav'n,
With greatful hearts his glorious praise recite,
Whose love from darkness call'd you out to light;
So let your piety reflective shine,
As men may thence confess his truth divine!
And when this mortal veil, as soon it must,
Shall drop, returning to its native dust;
The work of life with approbation done,
Receive from God your bright immortal crown.
But oh, advent'rous Muse, restrain thy flight,
Dare not the blaze of uncreated light!
Before whose glorious throne with dread surprise
Th' adoring seraph veils his dazzled eyes;
Whose pure effulgence, radiant to excess,
No colours can describe, or words express!
All the fair beauties, all the lucid stores,
That Sun himself withdraws his lessen'd beam
From thee, the glorious Author of his frame !
Transcendent Power! sole arbiter of fate!
How great thy glory! and thy bliss how great!
To view from thy exalted throne above,
(Eternal source of light, and life, and love)
Unnumber'd creatures draw their smiling birth,
To bless the Heav'ns, or beautify the Earth;
While systems roll, obedient to thy view,
And worlds rejoice-which Newton never knew.
Then raise the song, the gen'ral anthem raise,
And swell the concert of eternal praise!
Assist, ye orbs, that form this boundless whole,
Which in the womb of space unnumber'd roll;
Ye planets who compose our lesser scheme,
And bend, concertive, round the solar frame;
Thou eye of Nature! whose extensive ray
With endless charms adorns the face of day;
Consenting raise th' harmonious joyful sound,
And bear his praises through the vast profound!
His praise, ye winds that fan the cheerful air,
Swift as they pass along your pinions bear!
His praise let ocean through her realms display,
Far as her circling billows can convey!
His praise, ye misty vapours, wide diffuse,
In rains descending, or in milder dews!
His praises whisper, ye majestic trees,
As your tops rustle to the gentle breeze!
His praise around, ye flow'ry tribes, exhale,
Far as your sweets embalm the spicy gale!
His praise, ye dimpled streams, to earth reveal,
As pleas'd ye murmur through the flow'ry vale!
His praise, ye feather'd choirs, distinguish'd sing,
As to your notes the vocal forests ring!
His praise proclaim, ye monsters of the deep,
Who in the vast abyss your revels keep!
Or ye, fair natives of our earthly scene,
Who range the wilds, or haunt the pasture green !
Nor thou, vain lord of Earth, with careless ear
The universal hymn of worship hear!
But ardent in the sacred chorus join,
Thy soul transported with the task divine!
While by his works th' Almighty is confess'd,
Supremely glorious, and supremely bless'd!
Great Lord of life! from whom this humble frame
Which o'er thy works thy hand resplendent pours, Derives the pow'r to sing thy holy name,
Feeble, thy brighter glories to display,
Pale as the Moon before the solar ray!
See on his throne the gaudy Persian plac'd,
In all the pomp of the luxuriant East!
While mingling gems the borrow'd day unfold,
And the rich purple waves emboss'd with gold;
Yet mark this scene of painted grandeur yield
To the fair lily that adorns the field!
Obscur'd, behold that fainter lily lies,
By the rich bird's inimitable dyes;
Yet these survey confounded and outdone
By the superior lustre of the Sun ;
Forgive the lowly Muse, whose artless lay
Has dar'd thy sacred attributes survey!
Delighted oft through Nature's beauteous field
Has she ador'd thy wisdom bright reveal'd;
Oft have her wishes aim'd the secret song,
But awful rev'rence still withheld her tongue.
Yet as thy bounty lent the reas'ning beam,
As feels my conscious breast thy vital flame,
So, bless'd Creator, let thy servant pay
His mite of gratitude this feeble way;
Thy goodness own, thy providence adore,
And yield thee only-what was thine before.
[Since the preceding sheets were printed, the Editor has procured from Mr. Reed's library, the scarce volume of Boyse's Poems, mentioned in p. 517. They are now added to his works, except a few written by other persons whose assistance he appears to have obtained to make up the volume, and two or three already printed.]
Standing on Earth, not rapt above the skies,
More safe I sing with mortal voice, unchang'd
To hoarse or mute; tho' fallen on evil days,
On evil days tho' fallen, and evil tongues!
In darkness, and with dangers compass'd round,
And solitude ;-yet not alone, whilst thou
Visit'st my slumbers nightly, or when morn
Purples the east, still govern thou my song,
Urania! and fit audience find, tho' few!
MILTON, BOOK vii.
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