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!
His praise around, ye flow'ry tribes, exhale, Far as your sweets embalm the spicy gale! His praise, ye dimpled streams, to earth reveal,Her never-ending line; tell, if thou know Why every nation, every clime, though al In laws, in rites, in manners disagree, With one consent expect another world, Where wickedness shall weep? Why Pay Fabled Elysian plains, Tartarian lakes, [ba Styx and Cocytus? Tell, why Hali's sons Have feign'd a paradise of mirth and love, Banquets, and blooming nymphs? or rather t Why, on the brink of Orellana's stream, Where never Science rear'd her sacred torch, Th' untutor'd Indian dreams of happier world Behind the cloud-topt hill? Why in each bre Is plac'd a friendly monitor, that prompts, Inforins, directs, encourages, forbids? Tell, why on unknown evil grief attends, Or joy on secret good? Why conscience acts With tenfold force, when sickness, age, or pain Stands tott'ring on the precipice of death? Or why such horror gnaws the guilty soul Of dying sinners, while the good man sleeps Peaceful and calm, and with a smile expires? Look round the world! with what a partial hand The scale of bliss and mis'ry is sustain'd! Beneath the shade of cold obscurity Pale Virtue lies; no arm supports her head, No friendly voice speaks comfort to her soul, Nor soft-eyed Pity drops a melting tear; But, in their stead, Contempt and rude Disdain Insult the banish'd wanderer: on she goes, Neglected and forlorn: Disease and Cold, And Famine, worst of ills, her steps attend! Yet patient, and to Heaven's just will resign'd, She ne'er is seen to weep, or heard to sigh.
Great lord of life! from whom this humble Derives the pow'r to sing thy holy name, [frame Forgive the lowly Muse, whose artless lay Has dar'd thy sacred Attributes survey! Delighted oft thro' 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, blest 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.
Now turn your eyestoyonsweet-smellingbow'r, Where, flush'd with all the insolence of wealth, Sits pamper'd Vice! For him th' Arabian gale Breathes forth delicious odours; Gallia's hills For him pour nectar from the purple vine. Nor think for these he pays the tribute due To Heav'n: of Heav'n he never names the name, Save when with imprecations dark and dire He points his jest obscene. Yet buxom Health Sits on his rosy cheek; yet Honor gilds His high exploits; and downy-pinion'd Sleep Sheds a soft opiateo'er his peaceful couch. [this,
Seest thou this, righteous Father! seest thou And wilt thou ne'er repay? Shall good and ill Be carried undistinguish'd to the land Where all things are forgot? Ah, no! the day Will come when Virtue from the cloud shall burst, That long obscur'd her beams, when Sin shall fly Back to her native Hell; there sink eclips'd In penal darkness; where no star shall rise, Nor ever sunshine pierce th' impervious gloom.
On that great daythe solemn trumpshall sound, (That trump which once in heav'non man'srevolt Convok'd th' astonish'd seraphs) at whose voice The unpeopledgravesshall pourforthalltheir dead. Then shall th' assembled Nations of the Earth From ev'ry quarter at the judgement-seat Unite; Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks,
Parthians;
$51. The Day of Judgement: a Seatonian Prize Poem. By Dr. Glynn.
Inspir'd into the mortal mass, shall rest Annihilate, till Duration has unroll'd
THY Justice, heav'nly king! and that great day, When Virtue, long abandon'd and forlorn, Shall raise her pensive head; and Vice, that erst Rang'd unreprov'd and free, shall sink appall'd; I sing advent rous — But what eye can pierce The vast imineasurable realins of space, O'er which Messiah drives his flaming car To that bright region, where enthron'd he sits, First-born of Heav'n, to judge assembled worlds, Cloth'd in celestial radiance? Can the Muse, Her feeble wing all damp with earthly dew, Soar to that bright empyreal, where around Myriads of angels, God's perpetual choir, Hymn hallelujahs, and in concert loud Chant songs of triumph to their Maker's praise?— Yet will I strive to sing, albeit unus'd' To tread poetic soil. What though the wiles Of Fancy me enchanted, ne'er could lure To rove o'er fairy lands; to swim the streams That through her valleys wave their mazy way; Or climb her mountain tops; yet will I raise My feeble voice to tell what harmony (Sweet as the music of the rolling spheres) Attunes the moral world: that Virtue still May hope her promis'd crown; that Vicemaydread Vengeance, though late; that reas'ning Pride may
own
Just, though unsearchable, the ways of Heav'n. Sceptic! who'ever thou art, who say'st the soul, That divine particle which God's own breath
In agonies of grief they curse the hour When first they left Religion's onward way.
Parthians; and they who dwelton Tyber's banks, Names fam'd of old: or who of later age, Chinese and Russian, Mexican and Turk, Tenant the wild terrene; and they who pitch Their tents on Niger's banks; or, where the sun Pours on Golconda's spires his early light, Drink Ganges' sacred stream. At once shall rise, Whom distant ages to each others sight Had long denied: before the throne shall kneel Some great Progenitor, while at his side Stand his descendants through a thousand lines. Whate'er their nation, and whate'er their rank, Heroes and patriarchs, slaves and sceptred kings, With equal eye the God of all shall see, And judge with equal love. What though the With costly pomp and aromatic sweets [great Embalin'd his poor remains; or through the dome These on the left are rang'd but on the right A thousand tapers shed their gloomy light, A chosen band appears, who fought beneath While solemn organs to his parting soul The banner of Jehovah, and defied Chanted slow orisons? Say, by what mark Satan's united legions. Soine, unmov'd Dost thou discern hin from that lowly swain At the grin tyrant's frown, o'er barb'rous climes Whose mould'ring bones beneath thethorn bound Diffus'd the Gospel's light: some long immur'd Long lay neglected? All at once shall rise, [turf (Sad servitude!) in chains and dungeons pin'd; But not to equal glory; for, alas! Or, rack'd with all the agonies of pain, [they With howlings dire, and execrations loud, Breath'd out their faithful lives. Thrice happy Some wail their fatal birth.-First among these Whom Heav'n elected to that glorious strife! Behold the mighty murd'rers of mankind : Here are they plac'd, whose kind inanificence They who in sport whole kingdoms slew; or they Made heaven-born Science raise her drooping, Who to the tott ring pinnacle of power [curse And on the labors of a future race head; Waded through seas of blood! How will they Entail'd their just reward. Thou amongst these, The madness of ambition! how lament [wife Good Seaton! whose well-judg'd benevolence Their dear-bought laurels; when the widow'd Fost'ring fair Genius, bade the poet's hand And childless mother at the judgement seat[they Bring annual off'rings to his Maker's shrine, Plead trumpet-tongu'd against them!-Here are Shalt find the generous care was not in vain.- Who sunk an aged father to the grave; Here is that fav'rite band, whom mercy mild, Or with unkindness hard, and cold disdain, God's best-lov'd attribute, adorn'd; whose gate Slighted a brother's suff'rings. Here are theyStood ever open to the stranger's call; Whom fraud and skilful treachery long secur'd; Who fed the hungry; to the thirsty lip Who from the infant virgin tore her dow'r, Reach'd out the friendly cup; whose care benign And ate the orphan's bread; who spent their From the rude blast secur'd the pilgrim's side; In selfish luxury; or o'er their gold Who heard the widow's tender tale, and shook Prostrate and pale ador'd the useless heap. The galling shackle from the pris'ner's feet; Here too who stain'd the chaste connubial bed!-- Who each endearing tie, each office knew Who mix'd the pois'nous bowl ; — or broke the Of meek-eyed, heaven-descended Charity. Of hospitable friendship; and the wretch [tics O charity, thou nymph divinely fair! Whose listless soul, sick with the cares of life, Sweeter than those whom antient poets bound Unsuminon'd, to the presence of his God In amity's indissoluble chain, Rush'd in with insult rude. How would they joy The Graces! how shall I essay to paint Ouce more to visit earth, and, though oppress'd Thy charms, celestial maid! and in rude verse With all that pain and famine can inflict, Blazon those deeds thyself didst ne'er reveal? Pant up the hill of life? Vain wish! the judge For thee nor rankling Envy can infect, Pronounces doom eternal on their heads, Nor rage transport, nor high o'er weening Pride Perpetual punishment. Seek not to know Puff up with vain conceit: ne'er didst thou What punishment! for that th' Almighty will To see the sinner as a verdant tree [smile Has bid from mortal eyes and shall vain mau Spread his luxuriant branches o'er the stream; With eurious search refin'd presume to pry While, like some blasted trunk, the righteous-fall Into thy secrets, Father? No! let him Prostrate,fo:lorn. When prophecies shall fail, With humble patience all thy works adore, When tongues shall cease, when knowledge is And walk in all thy paths; so shall his meed Be great in Heav'n, so haply shall he 'scape Th' inmortal worm and never-ceasing fire.
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Set up the phantom Chance. For them in vain Alternate season's cheer'd the rolling year; In vain the sun o'er herb, tree, fruit and flow'r Shed genial influence mild; and the pale moon Repair'd her waning orb.-Next these is plac'd The vile blasphemer; he whose impious wit Profan'd the sacred mysteries of faith, And 'gainst th' impenetrable walls of Heav'n Planted his feeble battery. By these stands The Arch-Apostate: he with many a wile Exhorts them still to foul revolt. Alas! No hope have they from black despair, no ray Shines through the gloom to cheer their sinking souls.
But who are they, who bound in tenfold chains Stand horribly aghast? This is that crew Who strove to pull Jehovah from his throne, And in the place of heaven's eternal King
no inore,
And this great day is come, thou by the throne Shalt sit triumphant. Thither, lovely maid! Bear me, O bear me on thy soaring wing, And through the adamantine gates ofHca'vn Conduct my steps, sare from the fiery gulph And dark abyss, where Sin and Satan reign! E
But
But can the Muse, her numbers all too weak, Tell how that restless element of fire Shall wage with seas and earth intestine war, And deluge all creation? Whether (so Some think) the comet, as through fields of air Lawless he wanders, shall rush headlong on Thwartingth'ecliptic, whereth'unconsciousearth Rolls in her wonted course; whether the sun With force centripetal into his orb
Attract her, long reluctant; or the caves, Those dead volcanos, where engend'ring lie Sulphurcous minerals, from the dark abyss Pour streams of liquid fire; while from above, As erst on Sodom, Heaven's avenging hand Rains fierce combustion. -- Where are now the Of art, the toil of ages?-Where are now [works Th' imperial cities, sepulchres and domes, Trophies aud pillars? Where is Egypt's boast, Those lofty paramids, which high in air Rear'd their aspiring heads, to distant times Of Memphian's pride a lasting monument ?— Tell me where Athens rais'd her tow'rs? where Thebes
Open'd her hundred portals? Tell me where Stood sea-girt Albion? where Imperial Rome, Propt, by seven hills, sat like a scepired queen, And aw'd the tributary world to peace?—— Show me the rampart which o'er many a hill, Through many a valley, stretch'd its wide extent, Rais'd by that mighty monarch to repel The roving Tartar, when with insult rude Gainst Perkin's tow'rs he bent th' unerring bow. But what is mimic art? E'en Nature's work, Seas, meadows, pastures, the meand'ring streams, And everlasting hills, shall be no more. No more shall Teneriff, cloud-piercing height ! O'er hang the Atlantic surge; nor that fam'd chiff, Thro, which the Persian steer'd with many a sail, Throw to the Leunian isle-its evening shade O'er half the wide Egean. - Where are now The Alps that contin'd with unnumber'd realms, And from the Black Sea to the ocean stream
Stretch'dtheir extended arms!--Where's Arrarat, That hill on which the faithful patriarch's ark, Which seven long monthshad voyag'd'o'er its top, First rested, when the earth with all her sons, As now by streaming cataracts of fire, Was whelur'd by mighty waters ?-All at once Are vanish'd and dissolv'd; no trace remains, No mark of vain distinction: heaven itself, That azure vault, with all those radiant orbs, Sinks in the universal ruin lost:
And rudely carol these incondite lays, [mouth Soon shall the hand be check'd, and dumb the That isps the falt'ring strain. -O may it ne'er Intrude unwelcome on an ill-spent hour; But find me wrapt in meditations high, Hymning my great Creator!-"Pow'r Supreme! "O o'erlasting King! to thee I kneel, "To thee I lift my voice. With fervent heat Melt, all ye elements! And thou high heav'n, "Shrinklikeashrivell'dscroll! Butthink, O Lord, "Think on the best, the noblest of thy works; Think on their own bright image! Think on "him
66
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HYMN I.
JEHOVAH reigns: let ev'ry nation hear, And at his footstool bow with holy fear; Let Heav'ns high arches echo with his name, And the wide peopled earth his praiseproclaim; Then send it down to hell's deep glooms resounding, [ing. Thiro' all her caves in dreadful murmurs soundHe rules with wide and absolute command O'er the broad ocean and the stedfast land · Jehovah reigns, unbounded and alone, And all creation hangs beneath his throne: He reigns alone; let no inferior nature Usurp or share the throne of the Creator.
He saw the struggling beams of infant light Shoot thro' the massy gloom of antient night; His spirit hush'd the elemental strife,
And brooded o'er the kindling seeds of life: Seasons and months began the long procession, And measur'd o'er the year in bright succession.
No more shall planets round their central sun Move in harmonious dance; no more the moon Hang out her silvet lamp; and those fix'd stars, Spangling the golden canopy of night, Which oft the Tuscan with his optic glass Call'd from their wondrous height, to read their And magnitude, some winged minister [names Shall quench; and (surest sign that all on earth Is lost shall rend from heaven the mystic bow. Such is that awful, that tremendous day, Whose coming who shall tell? For as a thief Unheard, unseen, it steal, with silent page [Iit,The Through night's dark gloom - Penaps az here
The joyful sun sprung up th' ethereal way, Strong as a giant, as a bridegroom gay; And the pale moon diffus'd her shadowy light Superior o'er the dusky brow of night; [ing, Ten thousand glitt'ring lamps the skies adornNumerous as dew-drops from the womb of morning.
Earth's blooming face with rising flow'rs he
dress'd
And spread a verdant mantle o'er her breast;
Then from the hollow of his hand he pours The circling waters round her winding shores, The new-born world in their cool arms em
embracing,
And with soft murmurs still her banks caressing. At length she rose complete in finish'd pride, All fair and spotless, like a virgin bride: Fresh with untarnish'd lustre as she stood, Her Maker bless'd his work, and call'dit good, morning stars, with joyful acclamation, Exulting sung, and haild the new creation.
Yet this fair world, the creature of a day, Tho' built by God's right hand, must pass away;
And long oblivion creep o'er mortal things, The fate of empires, and the pride of kings: Eternal night shall veil their proudest story, And drop the curtain o'er all human glory. The sun himself, with weary clouds opprest, Shall in his silent, dark pavilion rest: His golden urn shall broke and useless lie, Amidst the common ruins of the sky! The stars rush headlong in the wild commotion, And bathe their glitt'ring foreheads in the ocean. But fix'd, O God! før ever stands thy throne; Jehovah reigns, a universe alone;
Th' eternal fire that feels cach vital flame, Collected or diffus'd is still the same. He dwells within his own unfathom'd essence, And fills all space with his unbounded presence, But oh! our highest notes the theme debase, And silence is our least injurious praise: [trol, Cease, cease your songs, the daring flight con- Revere him in the stillness of the soul; With silent duty meekly bend before him, And deep within your inmost hearts adore him.
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Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines, the labor of the olive hall fall, and the fields shall yield no meat, the flocks shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the, talls; yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
HABAKKUX, iii. 17. 18. HYMN IV.
Be
§ 53. An Address to the Deity. Mrs. Barbauld. Deus est quodcunque vides, quocunque moveris LUCAN.
See where rebellious passions rage, And fierce desires and lusts cugage; The meanest foe of all the train Has thousands and ten thousand slain. Thon tread'st upon enchanted ground, Perils and spares beset thee round; Beware of all, guard ev'ry part, But most the traitor in thy heart. Come then, my soul, now learn to wield The weight of the immortal shield; Pat on the armor from above Of heav'nly truth and heav'nly love. The terror and the charm repel, And pow'rs of earth, and pow'rs of hell The man of Calvary triumph'd here; Why should his faithful followers fear?
GoD of my life, and author of my days! Permit my feeble voice to lisp thy praise; And trembling take upon a mortal tongue That hallow'd name to harps of Seraphs sung, Yet here the brightest Seraphs could no more Than hide their faces, tremble, and adore. Worms, angels, men, in ev'ry diff'rent sphere, Are equal all, for all are nothing here. All Nature faints beneath the nighty name, Which Nature's works, thro' all her paris, pro- claim.
I feel that name my inmost thoughts control, And breathe an awful stillness thro' my soul; As by a charm the waves of grief subside; Impetuous passion stops her headlong tide: At thy felt presence all emotions cease, And my hush'd spirit finds a sudden peace, Till ev'ry worldly thought within me dies, And earth's gay pageants vanish from my eyes, Till all my sense is lost in infinite,
And one vast object fills my aching sight.
But soon, alas! this holy calm is broke; My soul submits to wear her wonted yoke; With shackled pinions strives to soar in vain, And mingles with the dross of earth again. But he, our gracious Master, kind as just, Knowing our fraine, remembers man is dust. His spirit, ever brooding o’er our mind, Sees the first wish to better hopes inclin'd; Marks the young dawn of ev'ry virtuous aim, And fans the sinoaking flax into a flame His ears are open to the softest ery, His grace descends to meet the lifted eye; He reads the language of a silent tear, And sighs are incense from a heart sincere. Such are the vows, the sacrifice I give : Accept the vow, and bid the suppliant live. From each terrestrial bondage set me free; Still ev'ry wish that centres not in thee; Bid my fond hopes, my vain disquiets cease, And point my path to everlasting peace.
If the soft hand of winning pleasure leads By living waters, and thro' flow'ry meads, When all is smiling, tranquil and serene, And vernal beauty paints the flatt'ring scene, Oh! teach me to elude cach latent snare, And whisper to my sliding heart-Beware! With caution let me hear the Syren's voice, And doubtful, with a trembling heart rejoice. If friendless in a vale of tears I stray, [way, Where briers wound, and thorns perplex iny Still let my steady soul thy goodness sce, And with strong confidence, lay hold on thee; With equal eye my various lot receive, Resign'd to die, or resolute to live; Prepar'd to kiss the sceptre or the rod, While God is seen in all, and all in God.
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