Reject it; where that chosen, all the rest Dispersed, leave reason's whole horizon clear? What vast preponderance is here! can reason With louder voice exclaim, Believe a God? What things impossible must man think true, On any other system? and how strange To disbelieve through mere credulity.
YET why drown fancy in such depths as these? Return, presumptuous rover! and confess The bounds of man, nor blame them as too small. Enjoy we not full scope in what is seen?
Full ample the dominions of the sun!
Full glorious to behold! how far, how wide, The matchless monarch, from his flaming throne, Lavish of lustre, throws his beams about him, Farther and faster than a thought can fly, And feeds his planets with eternal fires ! Beyond this city why strays human thought? One wonderful enough for man to know! One firmament enough for man to read! Nor is instruction here our only gain: There dwells a noble pathos in the skies, Which warms our passions, proselytes our hearts. How eloquently shines the glowing pole! With what authority it gives its charge, Remonstrating great truths in style sublime, Though silent, loud! heard earth around, above The planets heard; and not unheard in hell; Hell has its wonder, though too proud to praise. Divine Instructor! thy first volume this,
For man's perusal; all in capitals!
In moon and stars (heaven's golden alphabet !) Emblazed to seize the sight; who runs may read, Who reads can understand: 'tis unconfined
To Christian land, or Jewry; fairly writ In language universal, to mankind :
A language lofty to the learned, yet plain To those that feed the flock, or guide the plough, Or, from its husk, strike out the bounding grain. A language worthy the great Mind that speaks! Preface, and comment, to the sacred page! Stupendous book of wisdom to the wise!
Stupendous book, and opened, Night! by thee. By thee much opened, I confess, O Night! Yet more I wish; say, gentle Night, whose beams Give us a new creation, and present
The world's great picture, softened to the sight; Say thou, whose mild dominion's silver key Unlocks our hemisphere, and sets to view
Worlds beyond number; worlds concealed by day Behind the proud and envious star of noon! Canst thou not draw a deeper scene?—and show The mighty Potentate, to whom belong These rich regalia, pompously displayed? Oh! for a glimpse of Him my soul adores!
As the chased hart, amid the desert waste,
Pants for the living stream; for Him who made her
So pants the thirsty soul, amid the blank
Of sublunary joys; say, goddess, where?
Where blazes his bright court? where burns his throne? Thou know'st, for thou art near Him; by thee, round
His grand pavilion, sacred fame reports, The sable curtains drawn: if not, can none Of thy fair daughter-train, so swift of wing, Who travel far, discover where He dwells? A star his dwelling pointed out below: Say ye, who guide the wildered in the waves,
On which hand must I bend my course to find Him?
These courtiers keep the secret of their King;
I wake whole nights, in vain, to steal it from them.
In ardent contemplation's rapid car,
From earth, as from my barrier, I set out;
How swift I mount! diminished earth recedes ;
pass the moon; and, from her further side, Pierce heaven's blue curtain; pause at every planet,
And ask for Him who gives their orbs to roll. From Saturn's ring I take my bolder flight, Amid those sovereign glories of the skies, Of independent, native lustre, proud ; The souls of systems!-What behold I now? A wilderness of wonders burning round, Where larger suns inhabit higher spheres. Nor halt I here; my toil is but begun; 'Tis but the threshold of the Deity, Or far beneath it I am grovelling still.
LIFE, DEATH, AND IMMORTALITY.
TIRED nature's sweet restorer, balmy sleep! He, like the world, his ready visit pays
Where fortune smiles; the wretched he forsakes; Swift on his downy pinions flies from wo, And lights on lids unsullied with a tear. From short (as usual) and disturbed repose I wake: how happy they who wake no more! Yet that were vain, if dreams infest the grave. I wake emerging from a sea of dreams Tumultuous; where my wrecked, desponding thoughts From wave to wave of fancied misery
At random drove, her helm of reason lost.
Though now restored, 'tis only change of pain, (A bitter change!) severer for severe :
The day too short for my distress; and night, E'en in the zenith of her dark domain,
Is sunshine to the color of my fate.
Night, sable goddess! from her ebon throne
In rayless majesty, now stretches forth. Her leaden sceptre o'er a slumbering world. Silence how dead! and darkness how profound!
Nor eye nor listening ear an object finds : Creation sleeps. "Tis as the general pulse Of life stood still, and nature made a pause, An awful pause! prophetic of her end. And let her prophecy be soon fulfilled : Fate! drop the curtain; I can lose no more.
Silence and Darkness: solemn sisters! twins
From ancient Night, who nurse the tender thought To reason, and on reason build resolve,
That column of true majesty in man,
Assist me: I will thank you in the grave;
The grave your kingdom: there this frame shall fall A victim sacred to your dreary shrine.
Thou who didst put to flight Primeval silence, when the morning stars
Exulting, shouted o'er the rising vale.
O Thou! whose word from solid darkness struck That spark, the sun, strike wisdom from my soul; My soul which flies to Thee, her trust, her treasure, As misers to their gold, while others rest.
Through this opaque of nature and of soul, This double night, transmit one pitying ray, To lighten and to cheer. Oh! lead my mind, (A mind that fain would wander from its wo,) Lead it through various scenes of life and death, And from each scene the noblest truths inspire. Nor less inspire my conduct than my song; Teach my best reason, reason; my best will, Teach rectitude; and fix my firm resolve Wisdom to wed, and pay her long arrear: Nor let the vial of thy vengeance, poured On this devoted head, be poured in vain.
The bell strikes one. We take no note of time But from its loss: to give it then a tongue Is wise in man. As if an angel spoke, I feel the solemn sound. If heard aright, It is the knell of my departed hours.
Where are they? With the years beyond the flood. It is the signal that demands dispatch:
How much is to be done! My hopes and fears Start up alarmed, and o'er life's narrow verge
Look down on what? A fathomless abyss: A dread eternity! how surely mine! And can eternity belong to me,
Poor pensioner on the bounties of an hour? How poor, how rich, how abject, how august, How complicate, how wonderful is man! How passing wonder He who made him such! Who centred in our make such strange extremes ! From different natures, marvellously mixed, Connection exquisite of distant worlds! Distinguished link in being's endless chain! Midway from nothing to the Deity! A beam ethereal, sullied and absorbed ! Though sullied and dishonored, still divine! Dim miniature of greatness absolute! An heir of glory! a frail child of dust! Helpless immortal! insect infinite! A worm! a god!-I tremble at myself, And in myself am lost. At home a stranger, Thought wanders up and down, surprised, aghast, And wondering at her own. How reason reels! Oh! what a miracle to man is man!
Triumphantly distressed! what joy! what dread! Alternately transported and alarmed!
What can preserve my life? or what destroy? An angel's arm can't snatch me from the grave! Legions of angels can't confine me there.
PLEASURES are fled, and fewer we enjoy ; Pleasure, like quicksilver, is bright and coy: We strive to grasp it with our utmost skill; Still it eludes us, and it glitters still;
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