In life was gall and bitterness of foul :
Why the lone widow and her orphans pin'd
In ftarving folitude; while luxury,
In palaces, lay ftraining her low thought,
To form unreal wants; why heav'n-born truth,
And moderation fair, wore the red marks
Of fuperftition's fcourge: why licens'd pain,
That cruel spoiler, that embofom'd foe,
Imbitter'd all our blifs. Ye good distrest!
Ye noble few! who here unbending stand
Beneath life's preffure, yet bear up a while,
And what your bounded view, which only faw
A little part, deem'd Evil is no more:
The ftorms of WINTRY TIME will quickly pafs,
And one unbounded SPRING encircle all.
HESE, as they change, ALMIGHTY FATHER,
thefe,
Are but the varied God. The rolling year
Is full of Thee. Forth in the pleafing Spring
THY beauty walks, THY tenderness and love.
Wide flush the fields; the foft'ning air is balm;
Echo the mountains round; the foreft fmiles;
And ev'ry fenfe, and ev'ry heart is joy.
Then comes THY glory in the Summer-months,
With light and heat refulgent. Then THY fun
Shoots full perfection thro' the swelling year :
And oft THY Voice in dreadful thunder speaks;
And oft at dawn, deep noon, or falling eve,
By brooks and groves, in hollow-whisp'ring gales.
THY bounty fhines in Autumn unconfin'd,
And spreads a common feast for all that lives.
In Winter awful THOU! with clouds and storms
Around THEE thrown, tempeft o'er tempeft roll'd,
Majestic darkness! on the whirlwind's wing,
Riding fublime, THOU bidft the world adore,
And humbleft Nature with THY northern blast.
MYSTERIOUS round! what skill, what force divine,
Deep felt, in these appear! a fimple train,
Yet fo delightful mix'd, with fuch kind art,
Such beauty and beneficence combin'd;
Shade, unperceiv'd, so soft'ning into shade ;"
And all fo forming an harmonious whole;
That, as they ftill fucceed, they ravish still.
But wand'ring oft, with brute unconscious gaze,
Man marks not THEE, marks not the mighty hand,
That, ever-bufy, wheels the filent spheres;
Works in the fecret deep; fhoots, fteaming, thence
The fair profufion that o'erfpreads the Spring:
Flings from the fun direct the flaming day;
Feeds ev'ry creature; hurls the tempeft forth;
And, as on earth this grateful change revolves,
With tranfport touches all the springs of life.
NATURE, attend! join ev'ry living foul,
Beneath the spacious temple of the sky,
In adoration join; and, ardent, raise
One general fong! To HIM, ye vocal galęs,
Breathe foft, whofe SPIRIT in your freshness breathes:
Oh talk of him in folitary glooms!
Where, o'er the rock, the scarcely waving pine
Fills the brown fhade with a religious awe.
And ye, whofe bolder note is heard afar,
Who shake th' astonish'd world, lift high to heav'n
Th' impetuous fong, and fay from whom you rage.
His praife, ye brooks, attune, ye trembling rills;
And let me catch it as I muse along..
Ye headlong torrents, rapid, and profound;
Ye fofter floods, that lead the humid maze
Along the vale; and thou, majestic main,
A fecret world of wonders in thyself,
Sound His ftupendous praise; whofe greater voice
Or bids you roar, or bids your roarings fall,
Soft-roll your incenfe, herbs, and fruits, and flow'rs,
In mingled clouds to HIM; whofe fun exalts,
Whofe breath perfumes you, and whofe pencil paints.
Ye forefts bend, ye harvests wave, to Him;
Breathe your still song into the reaper's heart,
As home he goes beneath the joyous moon.
Ye that keep watch in heav'n, as earth asleep
Unconscious lies, effufe your mildest beams,
Ye conftellations, while your angels strike,
Amid the fpangled fky, the filver lyre.
Great fource of day! best image here below
Of thy Creator, ever pouring wide,
From world to world, the vital ocean round,
On Nature write with ev'ry beam His praise.
The thunder rolls: be hufh'd the proftrate world; 70
While cloud to cloud return the folemn hymn.
Bleat out afresh, ye hills: ye moffy rocks,
Retain the found: the broad refponfive lowe,
Ye vallies, raife; for the GREAT SHEPHERD reigns;
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