figning Minifters; and laftly, because the King will never be deny'd an Army as great as he pleaseth, when it is neceffary.

Q. Thou rightly judgeft of thy Happiness in being a Member of a Political Society, govern'd by Laws, to which the People give their Confent: Thou haft been likewife well instructed in the fundamental Laws of the Government, and art well aware of the wicked and abominable Practices that undermine, and are likely to overturn the Conftitution: Be thou likewife verily perfuaded that the equitable and fundamental Laws of a Nation are, in a found Senfe, ftampt with a Divine Authority; and that the good Order, Peace, and Happiness of the Society is firmly connected with a ftrict Obfervance of them. That the Profperity of Nations depend upon their Virtue, not only as an effect upon its Natural Caufe, but by the immutable Appointment of Divine Justice, by which Political Societies must receive their Rewards and Punishments in this World, fince they have no Being in the next; confequently the Threatnings and Promifes which occur in the Old Testament are, in a proper Senfe, as applicable to other Nations as the Ifraelites, therefore thou and all the People of this Land may fuppofe that God Almighty fpeaketh to them as he spoke by Mofes unto the Ifraelites, Deut. xxviii. 1. And it fhall come to pass, if thou fhalt hearken diligently unto the Voice of the Lord thy God, to obferve and do all his Commandments, (that is the Laws of their Conftitution) which I command thee this Day; that the Lord thy God will fet thee on high above all Nations of the Earth, c. Verse 15. But it fhall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the Voice of the Lord thy God, to obferve to do all his Commandments and his Statutes which I command thee this Day; that all these Curses shall come upon

thee and overtake thee. Curfed fhalt thou be in the . City, and Curfed fhalt thou be in the Field. Curfed fhall be thy Basket and thy Store. Curfed fhail be the Fruit of thy Body, and the Fruit of thy Land, the Increase of thy Kine, and the Flocks of thy Sheep. Curfed fhalt thou be when thou comeft in, and Curfed fhalt thou be when thou goeft out, &c. &c.

ΓΝΩΘΙ ΣΕΑΥΤΟΝ. Know Yourfelf.

WHAT am I? how produc'd? and for

what end?

Whence drew I being? to what period tend?
Am I th'abandon'd orphan of blind chance;
Dropt by wild atoms in diforder'd dance?
Or from an endless chain of causes wrought?
And of unthinking fubftance, born with thought?
By motion which began without a cause,
Supreamly wife, without design or laws.
Am I but what I feem, meer flesh and blood;
A branching channel, with a mazy flood?
The purple stream that through my vessels glides,
Dull and unconscious flows like common tides:
The pipes through which the circling juices ftray,
Are not that thinking I, no more than they:
This frame, compacted with tranfcendent fkill,
Of moving joints obedient to my will;
Nurs'd from the fruitful glebe, like yonder tree,
Waxes and waftes; I call it mine, not me :
New matter ftill the mould'ring mafs fuftains,
The manfion chang'd, the tenant ftill remains:

And

And from the fleeting ftream repair'd by food,
Diftinct, as is the fwimmer from the flood.
What am I then? fure, of a nobler birth,
Thy parents right, I own a mother, earth;
But claim fuperior lineage by my SIRE,

Who warm'd th'unthinking clod with heavenly fire?
Effence divine, with lifelefs clay allay'd,
By double nature, double instinct fway'd;
With look erect, I dart my longing eye,
Seem wing'd to part, and gain my native fky;
1 ftrive to mount, but ftrive, alas! in vain,
Ty'd to this maffy globe with magick chain.
Now with swift thought I range from pole to pole,
View worlds around their flaming centers roll:
What steady powers their endless motions guide,
Thro' the fame trackless paths of boundless void
I trace the blazing comet's fiery trail,
And weigh the whirling planets in a scale:
Those godlike thoughts, while eager I purfue,
Some glitt'ring trifle offer'd to my view,
A gnat, an infect, of the meaneft kind,
Erafe the new born image from my mind;
Some beaftly want, craving, importunate,
Vile as the grinning maftiffs at my gate,
Calls off from heav'nly truth this reas'ning me,
And tells me I'm a brute as much as he.
If on fublimer wings of love and praise,
My foul above the ftarry vault I raise,
Lur'd by fome vain conceit, or fhameful luft,
I flag, I drop, and flutter in the dust.
The tow'ring lark thus from her lofty ftrain,
Stoops to an emmet, or a barley grain.
By adverse gufts of jarring inftincts toft,
I rove to one, now to the other coaft;
To blifs unknown my lofty foul aspires,
My lot unequal to my vaft defires.

As

As 'mongst the hinds a child of royal birth
Finds his high pedigree by conscious worth;
So man, amongft his fellow brutes expos'd,
Sees he's a king, but 'tis a king depos'd:
Pity him, beafts! you by no law confin'd,
Are barr'd from devious paths by being blind;
Whift man, through op'ning views of various ways
Confounded, by the aid of knowledge ftrays;
Too weak to choose, yet choofing ftill in hafte,
One moment gives the pleasure and distaste;
Bilk'd by past minutes, while the prefent cloy,
The flatt'ring future ftill must give the joy.
Not happy, but amus'd upon the road,
And (like you) thoughtless of his laft abode,
Whether next fun his being fhall restrain,
To endless nothing, happiness, or pain.
Around me, lo, the thinking thoughtless crew,
(Bewilder'd each) their different paths purfue;
Of them I afk the way; the firft replies,
Thou art a god; and fends me to the skies.
Down on this turf (the next) thou two-legg'd beaft,
There fix thy lot, thy blifs, and endless rest:
Between thofe wide extreams the length is fuch,
I find I know too little or too much.

1

"Almighty pow'r, by whose most wife command, "Helplefs, forlorn, uncertain here I ftand; "Take this faint glimmering of thy felf away, "Or break into my foul with perfect day! This faid, expanded lay the facred text,

The balm, the light, the guide of fouls perplext: Thus the benighted traveller that strays

Through doubtful paths, enjoys the morning rays; The nightly mift, and thick defcending dew, Parting, unfold the fields, and vaulted blue.

O truth divine! enlightened by thy ray, "I grope and guess no more, but fee my way;

"Thou

"Thou clearedft the fecret of my high defcent, And told me what thofe myftic tokens meant tz "Marks of my birth, which I had worn in vain, "Too hard for worldly fages to explain; "Zeno's were vain, vain Epicurus' schemes, "Their fyftems falfe, delufive were their dreams; "Unfkill'd my twofold nature to divide,

<}

may be,

"One nurs'd by pleasure, and one nurs❜d by pride:
"Thofe jarring truths which human art beguile,
"Thy facred page thus bid me reconcile.
Offpring of God, no lefs thy pedigree,
What thou once wer't, art now, and ftill
Thy God alone can tell, alone decree;
Faultless thou dropt from his unerring skill,
With the bare pow'r to fin, fince free of will: -
Yet charge not with thy guilt, his bounteous love,
For who has power to walk, has power to rove;
Who acts by force impell'd, can nought deserve;
And wisdom fhort of infinite, may fwerve.
Born on thy new-imp'd wings, thou took' ft thy flight,
Left thy creator, and the realms of light;
› Difdain'd his gentle precept to fulfil;
And thought to grow a god by doing ill :
Though by foul guilt thy heav'nly form defac❜d,
In nature chang'd from happy manfions chac'd,
Thou ftill retain'ft fome fparks of heav'nly fire,
Too faint to mount, yet reft lefs to afpire;
Angel enough to feek thy blifs again,

And brute enough to make thy fearch in vain.
The creatures now withdraw their kindly ufe,
Some fly thee, fome torment, and fome feduce;
Repaft ill fuited to fuch diff'rent guests,
For what thy fenfe defires, thy foul diftaftes;
Thy luft, thy curiofity, thy pride,
Curb'd, or deferr'd, or balk'd, or gratify'd,

Rage