The harmonious structure of this vast machine,
And not confess its Architect divine?

Then go, vain wretch! though deathless be thy soul,
Go, swell the riot, and exhaust the bowl;
Plunge into vice, humility resign,

Go, fill the sty, and bristle into swine :

None but a power omnipotent and wise

Could frame this earth, or spread the boundless skies:
He made the whole: at his omnific call
From formless chaos rose this spacious ball,
And one Almighty God is seen in all.

}

By him our cup is crown'd, our table spread
With luscious wine, and life sustaining bread,
What countless wonders doth the earth contain:
What countless wonders the unfathom'd main ?
Bedropp'd with gold, there scaly nations shine,
Haunt coral groves, or lash the foaming brine,
JEHOVAH's glories blaze all nature round,
In heaven, on earth, and in the deeps profound;
Ambitious of his name, the warblers sing,
And praise their Maker while they hail the spring :
The zephyrs breathe it, and the thunders roar,
While surge to surge, and shore resounds to shore,
But man, endow'd with an immortal mind,
His maker's image, and for heaven design'd!
To loftier notes his raptur'd voice shouldraise,
And chant sublimer hymns to his Creator's praise.
When rising Phoebus ushers in the morn,
And golden beams the impurpled skies adorn ;
Wak'd by the gentle murmur of the floods,
Or the soft music cf the waving woods;
Rising from sleep with the melodious choir,
To solemn sounds I'd tune the hallow'd lyre.
Thy name, O GOD! should tremble on my tongue,
Till ev'ry grove prov'd vocal to my song:
(Delightful task! with dawning light to sing,
Triumphant hymns to heaven's eternal King.)
Some courteous angel should my breast inspire;
Attune my lips, and guide the warbled wire,
While sportive echoes catch the sacred sound,
Swell every note, and bear the music round:
While mazy streams meand'ring to the main
Hang in suspense to hear the heavenly strain,
And hush'd to silence, all the feather'd throng,
Attentive listen to the tuneful song.

Father of Light, exhaustless source of good:
Supreme, eternal, self-existent God!

Before the beamy Sun dispens'd a ray:
Flam'd in the azure vault, and gave the day;
Before the glimmering Moon, with borrow'd light ;
Shone queen amid the silver host of night;
High in the heaven's thou reign'dst superior Lord,
By suppliant angels worshipp'd and ador'd,
With the celestial choir then let me join
In cheerful praises to the Power Divine.
To sing thy praise, do thou, O GOD! inspire
A mortal breast with more than mortal fire;
In dreadful majesty thou sit'st enthron'd,
With light encircled, and with glory crown'd;
Through all infinitude extends thy reign,
For thee, nor heaven of heavens contain ;
But though thy throne is fix'd above the sky,
Thy omnipresence fills immensity.

Saints rob'd in white, to thee their anthems bring,
And radiant Martyrs hallelujahs sing:

Heaven's universal host their voices raise
In one eternal chorus, to thy praise;
And round thy awful throne, with one accord,
Sing, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord,
At thy creative voice, from ancient night,
Sprang smiling beauty, and yon worlds of light.
Thou spakest-the planetary chorus roll'd,
And all the expanse, was starr'd with beamy gold;
Let there be light, said GOD-Light instant shone,
And from the orient, burst the golden sun;
Heaven's gazing hierarchies, with glad surprise,
Saw the first morn invest the recent skies,

And strait the exulting troops thy throne surround
With thousand thousand harps of heavenly sound :
Thrones, powers, dominions (ever shining trains!)
Shouted thy praises in triumphant strains :
Great are thy works, they sing, and all around,
Great are thy works, the echoing heaven's resound.
The effulgent Sun, insufferably bright,

Is but a beam of thy o'erflowing light;

The tempest is thy breath: the thunder hurl'd,
Tremendous roars thy vengeance o'er the world;

Thou bowest the heavens, the smoaking mountains nod,
Rocks fall to dust, and nature owns her God;
Pale tyrants shrink; the atheist stands aghast,
And impious kings in horror breathe their last.
To this great God alternately I'd pay
The evening anthem, and the morning lay,

For sov'reign gold I never would repine,
Nor wish the glittering dust of monarchs mine.
What though high columns heave into the skies,
Gay ceilings shine, and vaulted arches rise;
Though fretted gold the sculptur'd roof adorn,
The rubies redden, and the jaspers burn!
Or what, alas! avails the gay attire.

To wretched man, who breathes but to expire!
Oft on the vilest, riches are bestow'd,
To shew their meanness in the sight of God.
High from a dunghill, see a Dives rise,
And Titan like, insult the avenging skies :
The crowd, in adulation calls him lord,
By thousands courted, flattered and ador'd:
In riot plung'd and drunk with earthly joys,
No higher thought his grov'ling soul employs :
The poor he scourges with an iron rod,
And from his bosom banishes his God.
But oft in height of wealth and beauty's bloom,
Deluded man, is fated to the tomb!

For, lo? he sickens, swift his colour flies,
And rising mists obscure his swimming eyes:
Around his bed his weeping friends bemoan,
Extort the unwilling tear, and wish him gone;
His sorrowing heir augments the tender shower,
Deplores his death-yet hails the dying hour,
Ah bitter comfort! Sad relief, to die!

Though sunk in down, beneath the canopy!
His eyes no more shall see the cheerful light
Weigh'd down by death in everlasting night:
And now the great, the rich, the proud, the gay
Lie, breathless, cold-unanimated clay!
He that just now was flatter'd by the crowd
With high applause, and acclamations loud;
That steel'd his bosom to the orphan's cries
And drew down torrents from the widow's eyes,
Whom like a god the rabble did adore-
Regard him now-and, lo! he is no more.

My eyes no dazzling vestments should behold
With gems instarr'd, and stiff with woven gold;
But the tall ram his downy fleece afford
To clothe, in modest garb, his frugal lord;
Thus the great father of mankind was drest,
When shaggy hides compos'd his flowing vest;
Doom'd to the cumb'rous load for his offence,
When clothes supplied the want of innocence;

But now his sons (forgetful whence they came)
Glitter in gems, and glory in their shame.

Oft would I wander through the dewy field,
Where clustering roses balmy fragrance yield;
Or in lone grots, for contemplation made,
Converse with angels and the mighty dead,-
For all around unnumber'd spirits fly,
Waft on the breeze, or walk the liquid sky,
Inspire the poet with repeated dreams,

Who gives his hallowed muse to sacred themes:
Protect the just, serene their gloomy hours,
Becalm their slumbers, and refresh their powers.
Methinks I see the immortal beings fly,

And swiftly shoot athwart the streaming sky:
Hark! a melodious voice I seem to hear,
And heav'nly sounds invade my list'ning ear!
"Be not afraid of us, innoxious band,
Thy cell surrounding by divine command;
E're while, like thee, we led our lives below,
(Sad lives of pain of misery and woe!)
Long by affliction's boisterous tempest tost,
We reach'd at length the ever blissful coast:
Now in the embow'ring groves and lawns above,
We taste the raptures of immortal love.
Attune the golden harp in roseate bowers
Or bind our temples with unfading flowers.
Oft on kind errands bent, we cut the air,
To guard the righteous heaven's peculiar care;
Avert impending harms, their minds compose,
Inspire gay dreams and prompt their soft reposo.
When from thy tongue divine hosannas roll,
And sacred raptures swell thy rising soul,
To heaven we bear thy prayers like rich perfumes,
Where, by the throne, the golden censer fumes;
And when with age thy head is silver'd o'er,
And cold in death thy bosom beats no more,
Thy soul exulting shall desert its clay,
And mount, triumphant to eternal day.
But to improve the intellectual mind,
Reading should be to contemplation join'd.
First I'd collect from the Parnassian spring,
What muses dictate, and what poets sing.
Virgil, as Prince, should wear the laurel'd crown,
And other bards pay homage to his throne;
The blood of heroes now effus'd so long,
Will run forever purple through his song.

See! how he mounts toward the blest abodes,
On planets rides, and talks with demi-gods!
How do our ravish'd spirits melt away.
When in his song Sicillian shepherds play!
But what a splendour strikes the dazzled eye,
When Dido shines in awful majesty!
Embroider'd purple clad the Tyron queen,
Her motion graceful, and august her mein;
A golden zone her royal limbs embrac❜d,
A golden quiver rattled by her waist.
Sce her proud steed majestically prance,
Contemn the trumpet, and deride the lance!
In crimson trappings, glorious to behold,
Confusedly gay with interwoven gold?

He champs the bit, and throws the foam around,
Impatient paws, and tears the solid ground.
How stern Æneans thunders through the field!
With tow'ring helmet, and refulgent shield!
Coursers o'erturn'd, and mighty warriors slain,
Deform'd with gore, lie welt'ring on the plain.
Struck through with wounds, ill-fated chieftains lie,
Frown e'en in death, and threaten as they die.
Through the thick squadrons see the Hero bound,
(His helmet flashes, and his arms resound!)
All grim with rage, he frowns o'er Turnus' head,
(Re-kindled ire! for blooming Pallas dead)
Then, in his bosom plung'd the shining blade-
The soul indignant sought the Stygian shade!

The far-fam❜d bards that grac'd Britannic's isle,
Should next compose the venerable pile
Great-Milton first, for towering thought renown'd,
Parent of songs, and fam'd the world around!
His glowing breast divine Urania fired.

Or God himself the immortal Bard inspir'd.
Borne on triumphant wings he takes his flight,
Explores all heaven, and treads the realms of light;
In martial pomp he clothes th' angelic train,
While warring myriads shake th' etherial plain.
First Michael stalks high towering o'er the rest,
With heavenly plumage nodding on his crest:
Impenetrable arms his limbs unfold,
Eternal adamant and burning gold!
Sparkling in fiery mail, with dire delight,
Rebellious Satan animates the fight:
Omnipotent they sink in rolling smoke,
All heaven resounding, to its centre shook.