Nathless conspicuous in the linnet's throat
Is his unbounded goodness-Thee her Maker,
Thee her Preserver chants she in her song;
While all the emulative vocal tribe
[spect
The grateful lesson learn-no other voice Is heard, no other sound-for, in attention Buried, ev'n babbling Echo holds her peace. Now from the plains, wherethe unboundedproGives liberty her utmost scope to range, Turn we to yon inclosures, where appears Chequer'd variety in all her forms, Which the vague mind attract, and still suspend With sweet perplexity. What are yon towers, The work of laboring men and clumsy art, Seen with the ringdove's nest? On that tall beech Her pensile house the feather'd artist buildsThe rocking winds molest her not; for see With such due poise the wond'rous fabric's hung. That, like the compass in the bark, it keeps True to itself and stedfast ev'n in storms. Thou idiot, that asserts there is no God, View, and be dumb for ever— Go bid Vitruvius or Palladio build The bee his mansion, or the ant her caveGo call Correggio, or let Titian come [cherry To paint the hawthorn's bloom, or teach the To blush with just vermillion-Hence away. Hence, ye profane! for God himself is here. Vain were th' attempt, and impious, to trace Thro' all his works th' Artificer DivineAnd tho' nor shining sun, nor twinkling star, Bedeck'd the crimson curtains of the sky; Tho' neither vegetable, beast, nor bird Were extant on the surface of this ball, Nor lurking gem beneath; tho' the great sea Slept in profound stagnation, and the air Had left no thunder to pronounce its Maker; Yet man at home, within himself, might find The Deity immense, and in that frame, So fearfully, so wonderfully made, See and adore his providence and powerI see, and I adore - O God inost bounteous! O infinite of goodness and of glory, [Thee; The knee that thou hast shap'd shall bend to The tongue which thon hast tun'd shall chant thy praise;
And thine own image, the immortal soul, Shall consecrate herself to Thee for ever.
§43. On the Omniscience of the Supreme Being. Smart.
ARISE, divine Urania, with new strains To hymn thy God! and thou, immortal Fame, Arise and blow thy everlasting trump? All glory to the Omniscient, and praise, And power and domination in the height! And thou, cherubic Gratitude, whose voice To pious cars sounds silverly so sweet, Come with thy precious incense, bring thy gifts, And with thy choicest stores the altar crown Thou too, my heart, whom He, and He alone Who all things knows, can know, with love reRegenerate, and pure, pour all thyself [plete,
A living sacrifice before his throne!
And may th' eternal, high, mysterious tree,
That in the centre of the arched heavens [branch
Bears the rich fruit of knowledge, with some
Stoop to my humble reach, and bless my toil!
When in my mother's womb conceal'd I lay,
A senseless embryo, then my soul thou knew'st;
Knew'st all her future workings, every thought,
And every faint idea yet unform'd.
When up
the imperceptible ascent
Of growing years, led by thy hand, I rose,
Perception's gradual light, that ever dawns
Insensibly to-day, thou didst vouchsafe,
And taught me by that reason thou inspir'dst,
That what of knowledge in my mind was low,
Imperfect, incorrect, in Thee is wondrous,
Uncircumscrib'd, finsearchably profound,
And estimable solely by itself. [brutes,
What is that secret pow'r that guides the
Which Ignorance calls nct! "Tisfrom Thee;
It is the operation of thine hands,
Immediate, instantaneous; 'tis thy wisdom
That glorious shines transparent thro' thy works.
Who taught the pye, or who forewarn'd the jay,
To shun the deadly nightshade? Tho' the cherry
Boasts not a glossier hue, nor does the plum
Lure with more seeming sweets the amorous eye,
Yet will not the sagacious birds, decoyed
By fair appearance, touch the noxious fruit.
They know to taste is fatal; whence, alarm'd,
Swift on the winnowing winds they work their
way,
Go to, proud reasoner, philosophic man,
Hast thou such prudence, thou such knowledge?
Full many a race has fall'n into the snare [-No.
Of meretricious looks, of pleasing surface;
And oft in desart isles the famish'd pilgrim,
By forms of fruit, and luscious taste, beguil'd,
Like his forefather Adam, eats and dies.
For why? his wisdom on the leaden feet
Of slow Experience, dully tedious, creeps,
And comes, like vengeance, after long delay.
The venerable sage, that nightly trims
The learned lamp, t' investigate the
powers
Of plants medicinal, the earth, the air,
And the dark regions of the fossil world,
Grows old in following what he ne'er shall find;
Studious in vain! till haply at the last
He spies a mist, then shapes it into mountains,
And baseless fabrics from conjecture builds.
While the domestic animal, that guards
At midnight hours his threshold, if oppress'd
By sudden sickness, at his master's feet
Begs not that aid his services might claim,
But is his own physician, knows the case,
And from th' emetic herbage works his cure.
Hark! from afar the feather'd matron screams,
And all her brood alarins! The docile crew
Accept the signal one and all, expert,
In th' art of Nature and unlearn'd deceit :
Along the sod, in counterfeited death,
Mute, motionless they lie; full well appriz'd
That the rapacious adversary's near
The Hen Turkey.
D
But who inform'd her of th' approaching danger? | Nor rests she here her providence, but nip
Who taught the cautious mother, that the hawk With subtle tooth the grain, lest from her
Was hatch'd her foe, and liv'd by her destruction? | In mischievous fertility it steal,
Her own prophetic soul 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 shade
Takes her melodious leave, who then's her pilot?
Who points her passage thro' the pathless void
To realms from us reniote, to us unknown?
Her science is the science of her God.
Not the magnetic index to the North
E'er ascertains her course, nor buoy, nor beacon:
She, Heaven-taught voyager, that sails in air,
Courts nor coy West nor Fast, but instant knows
What Newton or not sought, or sought in vain*.
Illustrious name! irrefragable proof
Of man's vast genius, and the soaring soul!
Yet what wert thou to Him, who knew his
Before creation form'd them, long before
He measur'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 scales;
Who shone supreme, who was himself the light,
Fre yet Refraction learn'd her skill to paint,
And bend athwart the clouds her beauteous bow.
When Knowledge at her father's dread com-
mand
And back to day-light vegetate its way.
Go to the Ant, thou sluggard, learn to live,
And by her wary ways reform thine own.
But if thy deaden'd sense, and listless thoug!
More glaring evidence demand; behold,
Where yon pellucid populous hive presents
A yet uncopied model to the world!
There Machiavel in the reflecting glass
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 discordant flowers
A perfect harmony of sweets compounds.
Avaunt, Conceit! Ambition, take thy flight
Back to the Prince of vanity and air!
works! 'tis a thought of energy most piercing; [force
Form'd to make pride grow humble; form'd to
Its weight on the reluctant mind, and give her
A true but irksome image of herself.
Woeful vicissitude! when man, fallen man,
Who first from Heaven, from graciousGod himself
Learn'd knowledge of the brutes, must know, by
Resign'd to Israel's king her golden key,
Q! to have join'd the frequent auditors
In wonder and delight, that whilon heard
Great Solomon descanting on the brutes.
O how sublimely glorious to apply
To God's own honor, and good-will to man,
That wisdom he alone of men possess'd
In plenitude so rich, and scope so rare.
How did he rouse the pamper'd silken sons
Of bloated Ease, by placing to their view
The sage industrious Ant, the wisest insect,
And best œconomist of all the field!
Tho' she presumes not by the solar orb
To measure times and seasons, nor consults
Chaldean calculations, for a guide;
Yet, conscious 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 guest, prepar'd
Against the churlish Winter's fiercest blow.
For when as yet the favorable Sun
Gives to the genial earth th enlivening ray,"
Not the poor suffering slave, that hourly toils
To rive the groaning earth for ill-sought gold,
Endures such trouble, such fatigue, ai she;
While all her subterranéous avenues, [meet
And storm-proof cells, with management most
And unexampled housewifery she forms:
Then to the field she hies, and on her back,
Burden immense! she bears the cumbrous corn.
Then many a weary step, and many a strain.
And many a grievous groan subdu'd, at length
Up the huge hill she hardly heaves it home,
• The Longitude.
brutes
Instructed and reproach'd, the scale of being;
| By slow degrees from lowly steps ascend,
And trace Omniscience upwards to its spring!
Yet murmur not, but praise-for tho' we stand
Of many a godlike privilege amerc'd
By Adam's dire transgression; tho' no more
Is Paradise our home, but o'er the portal
Hangs in terrific pomp the burning blade;
Still with ten thousand beauties bloom the earth,
With pleasures populous,andwith riches crown'd.
Still is there scope for wonder and for love
Ev'n to their last exertion-showers of blessings
Far more than human virtue can deserve,
Or hope expect, or gratitude return.
Then, O ye people, O ye sons of men,
Whatever be the color of your lives,
Whatever portion of itself his wisdom
Shall deign t' allow, still patiently abide,
And praise him more and more; nor cease to chant
"All glory to th' Omniscient, and praise,
"
And pow'r, and domination in the height! "And thou, cherubic Gratitude, whose voice "To pious cars sounds silverly so sweet,
66
Come with thy precious incense, bring thy gifts, "And with thy choicest stores the altar crown."
ΤΙ ΘΕΩ ΔΟΞΑ
$44. Onthe Power of the Supreme Being. Smart.
“TREMBLE, thou Earth!" th' anointed poet
said,
[mountains!
"At God's bright presence; tremble all ye
"And all
Then once again, ye glorious thunders, roll!
ye hillocks on the surface bound!"
The Mase with
transport hears ye; once again
Convulse the solid continent! and shake,
Grand music of Omnipotence, the isles!
"Tis thy terrific voice, thou God of power,
'Tis thy terrific voice; all nature hears it,
Awaken'd and alarm'd; she feels its force;
In every spring she feels it, every wheel,
And every movement of her vast machine.
Behold! quakes Apennine; behold! recoils
Athos; and all the hoary headed Alps
Leap from their bases at the god-like sound.
But what is this, celestial tho' the note,
And proclamation of the reign supreine,
Compar'd with such 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 rock
Fail headlong in one horrible cascade,
Twere but the echo of the parting breeze,
When zephyr faints upon the lily's breast;
Twere but the ceasing of some instrument,
When the last lingering undulation
Dies on the doubting ear, if nam'd with sounds
So mighty! so stupendous! so divine!
But not alone in the aërial vault
Ye thunders, earthquakes, and ye fire-fraught
Offell volcanos, whirlwinds, hurricanes, [wombs
And boiling billows, hail! in chorus join
To celebrate and magnify your Maker,
Who yet in works of a minuter mould
Is not less manifest, is not less mighty.
Survey the magnet's sympathetic love
That woos the yielding needle; contemplate
Th' attractive amber's power, invisible
Ev'n to the mental eye; or when the blow
Sent from th' electric sphere assaults thy frame,
Show me the hand that dealt it ! -- Baffled here
By his Omnipotence, Philosophy
Slowly her thoughts inadequate revolves,
And stands, with all his circling wonders round
Like heavy Saturn in th' ethereal space [her,
Begirt with an inexplicable ring.
If such the operations of his power,
Which at all seasons and in every place
(Rul'd by establish'd laws and current nature)
Arrest th' attention; who, oh who shall tell
His acts miraculous? when his own decrees
Repeals he, or suspends ; when by the hand
Of Moses of of Joshua, or the mouths
Of his prophetic seers, such deeds be wrought,
Before th' astonish'd sun's all-seeing eye,
That faith was scarce a virtue. Need I sing
The fate of Pharoah and his numerous band
Lost in the reflux of the wat'ry walls,
That melted to their fluid state again?
Need I recount how Samson's warlike arm,
With more than mortal nerves was strung, t'o'er-
Idolatrous Philistia? Shall I tell
[throw
How David triumph'd, and what Job sustain'd?
--But, O supreme, unutterable mercy!
O love unequall'd, mystery immense,
[tion
Which angels long t' unfold! 'tis man's redem-
That crowns thy glory, and thy power confirms
Confirms the great, th' uncontroverted claim.
When from the Virgin's unpolluted womb
Shone forth the Son of Righteousness reveal'd,
And on benighted reason pour'd the day;
Does He the dread theocracy maintain;
For oft, enrag'd with his intestine thunders,
He harrows up the bowels of the earth,
And shocks the central magnet-Cities then
Totter on their foundations, stately columns,
Magnific walls, and heaven-assaulting spires.
What tho' in haughty eminence erect
Stands the strong citadel, and frowns defiance
On adverse hosts; tho' many a bastion jut
Forth from the rampart's elevated mound;
Vain the poor providence of human art,
And mortal strength how vain I while underneath
Triumphe his mining vengeance in th' uproar
Of shatter'd towers, riven rocks, and mountains,
With clamor inconceivable uptorn,
And hurl'd adown th' abyss. Sulphureous pyrites
Bursting abrupt from darkness into day,
With din outrageous and destructive ire,
Augment the hideous tumult, while it wounds
Th' afflictive ear, and terrifies the eye, [felt,
And rends the heart in twain. Twice have we" Let there be peace!" he said, and all was calm
Within Augusta's walls, twice have we felt Amongst the warring world-calm as the sea
Thy threaten'd indignation: but even Thou, When, "O be still, ye boisterous winds!" he
Incens'd Omnipotent, art gracious ever;
Thy oodness infinite but mildly warn'd us,
With mercy-blended wrath; O spare us still,
Not send more dire conviction! We confess
That thou art He th' Almighty: we believe.
For at thy righteous power whole systems quake;
For at thy nod tremble ten thousand worlds.
Hark! on the wing'd whirlwinds rapid rage,
Which is and is not in a moment-hark!
On th' hurricane's tempestuous sweep he rides
Invincible, and oaks, and pines, and cedars,
And forests are no more. For, conflict dreadful!
The West encounters East, and Notus meets
In his career the Hyperborean blast.
The lordly lions shuddering seek their dens,
And fly like timorous deer; the king of birds,
Who dar'd the solar ray, is weak of wing,
And faints,and falls, anddies; while He supreme
Stands stedfast in the centre of the storm.
Wherefore ye objects terrible and great,
cried,
And not a breath was blown, nor murmur heard.
His was a life of miracles and might,
And charity and love, ere yet he taste
The bitter draught of death, ere yet he rise
Victorious o'er the universal foe,
And death, and sin, and hell in triumph lead.
His by the right of conquest is mankind,
And in sweet servitude and golden bonds
Were tied to him for ever. O how easy
Is his ungalling yoke, and all his burdens
'Tis ecstasy to bear. Him, blessed Shepherd!
His flocks shall follow thro' the maze of life,
And shades that tend to day-spring from on high;
And as the radiant roses, after fading,
In fuller foliage, and more fragrant breath
Revive in smiling spring, so shall it fare
With those that love him-for sweet is their sa
And all Eternity shall be their spring.
Then shall the gates and everlasting doors,.
[vor,
Their voices tun'd to transport, wing flight,
[sure
At which the King of Glory enters in,
Be to the saints unbarr'd : and there, where plea-
Boasts an undying bloom, where dubious hope
Is certainty, and grief-attended love
Is freed from passion - there we'll celebrate,
With worthier numbers, Him who is, and was,
And, in immortal prowess King of kings,
Shall be the monarch of all worlds for ever.
§ 45. On the Goodness of the Supreme Being.
Smart. call'd thy
ORPHEUS, for so the Gentiles
name,
Israel's sweet Psalinist, who alone couldst wake
Th' inanimate to motion; who alone
The joyful hillocks, the applauding rocks,
And floods with musical persuasion drew;
Thou, whoto hail and snow gav'st voice and sound,
And mad'st the mute melodious! - greater yet
Was thy divinest skill, and rul'd o'er more
Than art and nature; for thy tuneful touch
Drove trembling Satan from the heart of Saul,
And quell'd the evil Angel-in this breast
Some portion of thy genuine spirit breathe,
And lift me from myself; each thought impure
Banish; each low idea raise, refine,
Enlarge, and sanctify;-so shall the Muse
Above the stars aspire, and aim to praise
Her god on earth as he is prais'd in heaven.
Immense Creator! whose all-powerful hand
Fram'd universal being, and whose eye
Saw like thyself, that all things form'd were good,
Where shall the timorous Bard thy praise begin,
Where end the purest sacrifice of song, [light,
And just thanksgiving?—The thought-kindling
Thy prime production, darts upon my mind
Its vivifying beams, my heart illumines,
And fills my soul with gratitude and Thee,
Hail to the cheerful rays of ruddy morn,
That paint the streaky East and blightsome rouse
The birds, the cattle, and mankind from rest!
Hail to the freshness of the early breeze,
And Iris dancing on the new-fall'n dew,
Without the aid of yonder golden globe.
Lost were the garnet's lustre, lost the lily,
The tulip and auricula's spotted pride;
Lost were the peacock's plumage, to the sight
So pleasing in its pomp and glossy glow.
O thrice-illustrious! were it not for Thee,
Those pansies, that reclining from the bank
View thro' th' immaculate pellucid stream
Their portraiture in the inverted heaven,
Might as well change their triple boast, the white,
The purple, and the gold, that far outvie
The Eastern monarch's garb, ev'n with the dock,
Ev'n with the baleful hemlock's irksome green.
Without thy aid, without thy gladsome beams,
The tribes of woodland warblers would remain
Mute on the bending branches, nor recite
The praise of Him, who, ere he form'd their lord,
And bade then call for nurture, and re
And lo! they call the black bird and the
The woodlark and the redbreast, jointly
He hears, and feeds their feather'd fami
He feeds his sweet musicians—nor negl
Th' invoking ravens in the greenwood
And tho' their throats coarse rattling hurt
They mean it all for music, thanks and
They mean, and leave ingratiinde to ma
But not to all-for, hark! the organs !
Their swelling notes round the cathedral's
And grace the harmonious choir, celestia
To pious cars, and medicine of the mind
The thrilling trebles and the manly base
Join in accordance meet, and with one v
All to the sacred subject suit their song.
While in each breast sweet melancholy re
Angelically pensive, till the joy
Improves and purifies; the solemn scene
The sun thro' storied panes surveys with a
And bashfully witholds each bolder beam
Here, as her home, from morn to eve freq
The cherub Gratitude; behold her eves!
With love and gladness weepingly they sh
Ecstatic smiles; the incense, that her han-
Uprear, is sweeter than the breath of May
Caught from the nectarine's blossom, and her
Is inore than voice can tell to Him she sin
To Him who feeds, who clothes, and whoade
Who made, and who preserves, whatever dv
In air, in stedfast earth, or fickle sea.
O He is good, He is immensely good! [m
Who all things form'd, and form'd them all
Who mark'd the climates, varied every zone
Dispensing all his blessings for the best,
In order and in beauty:-rise, attend,
Arrest, and praise, ye quarters of the world!
Bow down, ye elephants, submissive bow
To Him who made the mite! Tho', Asia's prid
Ye carry armies on your tower-crown'd backs
And grace the turban'd tyrants, bow to Him
Who is as great, as perfect, and as good
In his less striking wonders, till at length
The eye's at fault, and seeks th' assisting glass.
Approach, and bring from Araby the Blest
The fragrant cassia, frankincense, and myrrh,
And, meekly kneeling at the altar's foot,
Lay all the tributary incense down.
Stoop, feeble Africa, with reverence stoop,
And from thy brow take off the painted plume;
With golden ingots all thy camels load
To' adorn his temples, hasten with thy spear
Reverted, and thy trusty bow unstrung,
While unpursued thy lions roam and roar,
And ruin'd towers, rude rocks, and caverns wide
Re-murmur to the glorious, surly sound.
And thou, fair Indian, whose immense domain
To counterpoise the hemisphere extends, [ers,
Haste from the West, and with thy fruits and flow-
Thy mines and med'cines, wealthy maid, attend.
More than the plenteousness so fam'd to flow
By fabling bards from Amalthea's horn
|
* See this conjecture strongly supported by Delany, in his Life of David.
Is thine; thine therefore be a portion due [crown | Not Fortune's gem, Ambition's plume,
Of thanks and praise: come with thy brilliant Nor Cytherea's fading bloom,
And vest of fur; and from thy fragrant lap
Pomegranates and the rich ananas pour.
But chiefly thou, Europa, seat of Grace
And Christian excellence, his Goodness own.
Forth from ten thousand temples pour his praise.
Clad in the armor of the living God,
Approach, unsheath the Spirit's flaming sword;
Faith's shield, salvation's glory-compass'd helm
With fortitude assume, and o'er your heart
Fair Truth's invulnerable breast-plate spread;
Then join the general chorus of all worlds,
And let the song of Charity begin
In strains seraphic, and melodious prayer :
"O all-sufficient, all-beneficent,
"Thou God of Goodness and of Glory, hear!
Thou, who to lowest minds dost condescend,
Assuming passions to enforce thy laws,
Adopting jealousy to prove thy love:
Thou, who resign'd humility uphold'st,
Ev'n as the florist props the drooping rose, Butquell'st tyrannie pride with peerless power. Ev'n as the tempest rives the stubborn oak : "O all-sufficient, all-beneficent,
"
Thou God of Goodness and of Glory, hear!
Bless all mankind; and bring them in the end
To heav'n, to immortality, and Thee!"
44
Miss Carter.
§ 46. Ode to Wisdom.
THE solitary bird of night
Thro' the pale shades now wings his flight,
And quits the time-shook tow'r,
Where, shelter'd from the blaze of day,
la philosophic glooms he lay,
Beneath his ivy bow'r.
With joy. I hear the solemn sound,
Which midnight echoes waft around,
And sighing gales repeat:
Fav'rite of Pallas! I attend,
And faithful to thy summons, bend
At Wisdom's awful seat.
She loves the cool, the silent eve,
Where no false shows of life deceivę,
Beneath the lunar ray:
Here Folly drops each vain disguise,
Nor sports her gaily-color'd dyes,
As in the glare of day.
O Pallas! queen of ev'ry art
14
That glads the sense or mends the heart,"
Blest source of purer joys;
In ev'ry form of beauty bright,
That captivates the mental sight
With pleasure and surprise;
To thy unspotted shrine I bow,
Assist thy modest suppliant's vow,
That breathes no wild desires :
But, taught by thy unerring rules
To shun the fruitless wish of fools,
To nobler views aspires.
Be objects of my pray'r
Let av rice, vanity, and pride,
These glitt'ring envied toys divide,
The dull rewards of care.
To me thy better gifts impart,
Each moral beauty of the heart,
By studious thought refin'd:
For wealth, the smiles of glad content;
For pow'r, its amplest, best extent,
An empire o'er my mind.
When Fortune drops her gay parade,
When Pleasure's transient roses fade,
And wither in the tomb,
Unchang'd is thy immortal prize,
Thy ever-verdant laurels rise
In undecaying bloom.
By the protected, I defy
The coxcob's sneer, the stupid lye
Of ignorance and spite ;
Alike contemn the leaden fool,
And all the pointed ridicule
Of undiscerning wit.
From envy, hurry, noise, and strife,
The dull impertinence of life,
In thy retreat I rest;
Pursue thee to thy peaceful groves,
Where Plato's sacred spirit roves,
In all thy graces drest.
He bid Ilyssus' tuneful stream
Convey the philosophic theme
Of perfect, fair, and good:
Attentive Athens caught the sound,
And all her list'ning sons around
In awful silence stood.
|