105

110

And adds his rapture to the general praise.
In that blest moment, Nature, throwing wide
Her veil opaque, discloses with a smile,
The author of her beauties, who, retir'd
Behind his own creation, works unseen
By the impure, and hears his pow'r deni'd.
Thou art the source and centre of all minds,
Their only point of rest, eternal Word!
From thee departing, they are lost, and rove
At random without honor, hope, or peace.
From thee, is all, that sooths the life of man,
His high endeavor, and his glad success,
His strength to suffer, and his will to serve.
But oh thou bounteous Giver of all good, 116
Thou art of all thy gifts, thyself the crown!
Give what thou canst, without thee we are

poor;

And with thee rich, take what thou wilt away.

M

NO. 112. PARADISE.

AN scarce had risen, obedient to His call, Who form'd him from the dust, his future When he was crown'd, as never king was since. God set the diadem upon his head,

grave,

And angel-choirs attended. Wond'ring stood The new-made monarch, while before him, pass'd,

6

All happy, and all perfect in their kind,
The creatures, summon'd from their various
haunts,

To see their sovereign, and confess his sway.
Vast was his empire, absolute his pow'r,
Or bounded only by a law, whose force
'Twas his sublimest privilege to feel
And own, the law of universal love.

10

15

He rul'd with meekness; they obey'd with joy;
No cruel purpose lurk'd within his heart,
And no distrust of his intent in their's.
So Eden was a scene of harmless sport,

15

25

30

Were driven from Paradise; and in that hour,
The seeds of cruelty, that since have swell'd
To such gigantic and enormous growth,
Were sown in human nature's fruitful soil.
Hence date the persecution and the pain,
That man inflicts on all inferior kinds,
Regardless of their plaints. To make him sport,
To gratify the frenzy of his wrath,
20
Or his base gluttony, are causes good
And just in his account, why bird and beast
Should suffer torture, and the streams be dy'd'
With blood of their inhabitants impal'd.
Earth groans beneath the burden of a war,
Wag'd with defenceless innocence, while he,
Not satisfied to prey on all around,
Adds tenfold bitterness to death, by pangs,
Needless, and first torments, ere he devours.
Now happiest they, that occupy the scenes
The most remote from his abhorr'd resort,
Whom once, as delegate of God on earth,
The wilderness is their's, with all its caves,
They fear'd, and as his perfect image, lov'd.
Its hollow glens, its thickets and its plains, 35
Unvisited by man. There they are free,
And howl and roar, as likes them, uncontroll'd;
Nor ask his leave to slumber or to play.
Within the confines of their wild domain; 40
Wo to the tyrant, if he dare intrude
The lion tells him I am monarch here-
Of royal mercy, and through generous scorn
And if he spare him, spares him on the terms
To rend a victim trembling at his foot.
In measure, as by force of instinct drawn, 45
Or by necessity constrain'd, they live
Dependent upon man; those in his fields;
These at his crib, and some beneath his roof.
He sells protection.-Witness at his foot, 50
They prove too often, at how dear a rate,
The spaniel dying for some venial fault,
Under dissection of the knotted scourge;
Witness the patient ox, with stripes and yells

Where kindness on his part, who rul'd the Driven to the slaughter, goaded, as he runs,

whole,

Begat a tranquil confidence in all;

To madness; while the savage at his heels 55
Laughs at the frantic sufferer's fury, spent

And fear as yet was not, nor cause for fear. 20 Upon the guiltless passenger o'erthrown.

NO. 113. PARADISE LOST.
UT sin marr'd all; and the revolt of man,

He too is witness, noblest of the train
That wait on man, the flight-performing horse;
With unsuspecting readiness, he takes

60

B That source of evils, not exhausted yet,' pushed all day

Was punish'd with revolt of his from him.
Garden of God, how terrible the change,
Thy groves and lawns then witness'd! Ev'ry
heart,

Each animal of ev'ry name, conceiv'd
A jealousy and an instinctive fear,
And, conscious of some danger, either fled
Precipitate, the loath'd abode of man,
Or growl'd defiance in such angry sort,
As taught him too to tremble in his turn.
Thus harmony and family accord

5 Can wear it e'en as gracefully, as she.
She judges of refinement by the eye,
He, by the test of conscience, and a heart,
Not soon deceiv'd; aware, that what is base,
No polish can make sterling; and that vice,
Though well perfum'd and elegantly dress'd,
Like an unburi'd carcase trick'd with flow'rs,
10 Is but a garnish'd nuisance, fitter far

For cleanly riddance, than for fair attire.

10

Foretold by prophets, and by poets, sung,
Whose fire was kindled at the prophets' lamp,
The time of rest, the promis'd Sabbath, comes.
Six thousand years of sorrow have well nigh
Fulfill'd their tardy and disastrous course
Over a sinful world; and what remains
Of this tempestuous state of human things,
Is merely as the working of a sea
Before a calm, that rocks itself to rest;
For IIe, whose car the winds are, and the clouds
The dust,that waits upon his sultry march,
When sin hath mov'd him, and his wrath is hot,
15
Shall visit earth in mercy; shall descend
Propitious in his chariot, pav'd with love,
And what his storms have blasted and defac'd
For man's revolt, shall with a smile, repair.

All creatures worship man; and all mankind,

One Lord, one Father. Error has no place;
That creeping pestilence is driven away;
The breath of Heaven has chas'd it. In the
heart,

60

No passion touches a discordant string;
But all is harmony and love. Disease
Is not; the pure and uncontaminate blood
Holds its due course, nor fears the frost of age.
One song employs all nations; and all cry,
"Worthy the Lamb; for he was slain for us!"
The dwellers in the vales and on the rocks, 65
Shout to each other; and the mountain tops
From distant mountains, catch the flying joy;
Till nation after nation, taught the strain,
Earth rolls the rapturous hosanna round.
Behold the measure of the promise fill'd;
See Salem built, the labor of a God!
Bright as a sun, the sacred city shines;
All kingdoms and all princes of the earth
Flock to that light; the glory of all lands
Flows into her; unbounded is her joy,
And endless her increase. Thy rams are there,
Nebaioth, and the flocks of Kedar, there;
The looms of Ormus, and the mines of Ind,
And Saba's spicy groves, pay tribute there. EO
last,Praise is in all her gates; upon her walls,

Sweet is the harp of prophecy; too sweet,
Not to be wrong'd by a mere mortal touch; 20
Nor can the wonders, it records, be sung
To meaner music, and not suffer loss."
But when a poet, or when one, like me,
Happy to rove among poetic flowers,
Tho' poor in skill to rear them, lights at
On some fair theme, some theme divinely fair,
Such is the impulse and the spur, he feels,
To give it praise proportion'd to its worth,
That not to attempt it, arduous as he deems
The labor, were a task, more arduous still. 30
Oh scenes surpassing fable, and yet true,
Scenes of accomplish'd bliss; which who can

see,

35

Though but in distant prospect, and not feel
His soul refresh'd with foretaste of the joy?
Rivers of gladness water all the earth,
And clothe all climes with beauty; the re-
proach

Of barrenness is past. The fruitful field
Laughs with abundance; and the land, once
lean,

Or fertile only in its own disgrace,
Exults to see its thistly curse repeal'd.
The various seasons, woven into one,
And that one season an eternal spring,
The garden fears no blight, and needs no fence,
For there is none to covet; all are full.
The lion and the libbard and the bear
Graze with the fearless flocks; all bask at noon
Together, or all gambol in the shade
Of the same grove, and drink one common

stream.

No foe to man

70

75

And in her streets, and in her spacious courts,
Is heard salvation. Eastern Java there,
Kneels with the native of the farthest west;
And Ethiopia spreads abroad the hand,
And worships. Her report has travell'd forth
Into all lands. From every clime they come,
To see thy beauty, and to share thy joy,
O Sion! an assembly, such as earth
Saw never, such as Heaven stoops down to see.
Thus heaven-ward, all things tend. For all

were once

90

Perfect, and all must be at length restor❜d.
So God has greatly purpos'd; who would else
In his dishonor'd works himself endure
Dishonor, and be wrong'd without redress.
Haste then, and wheel away a shatter'd world,
Ye slow revolving seasons! We would see 96
40 (A sight, to which our eyes are strangers yet)
A world, that does not dread and hate his laws,
And suffer for its crime; would learn, how fair
The creature is, that God pronounces good,
How pleasant in itself, what pleases him.
Here every drop of honey hides a sting; [ers;
Worms wind themselves into our sweetestflow-
And even the joy, that haply some poor heart
Derives from heav'n, pure as the fountain is,
Is sulli'd in the stream, taking a taint
From touch of human lips, at best impure.
Oh for a world, in principle, as chaste,
As this is gross and selfish! over which,
Custom and prejudice shall bear no sway, 110
That govern all things here, should'ring aside
The meek and modest truth, and foreing her

45

Antipathies are none.
Lurks in the serpent now; the mother sees, 50
And smiles to see, her infant's playful hand
Stretch'd forth, to dally with the crested worm,
To stroke his azure neck, or to receive
The lambent homage of his arrowy tongue.

106

To seek a refuge from the tongue of strife,
In nooks obscure, far from the ways of men;
Where violence shall never lift the sword, 115
Nor cunning justify the proud man's wrong,
Leaving the poor no remedy but tears;
Where he that fills an office, shall esteem
The occasion, it presents of doing good
More than the perquisite; where law shail
speak
120

Seldom, and never, but as wisdom prompts,
And equity, not jealous more to guard
A worthless form, than to decide aright;
Where fashion shall not sanctify abuse,
Nor sooth good-breeding (supplemental grace)
With lean performance, ape the work of love
Gome then, and added to thy many crowns,
Receive yet one, the crown of all the earth,
Thou, who alone art worthy! It was thine
By ancient covenant, ere nature's birth;
And thou hast made it thine, by purchase since,
And overpaid its value with thy blood.
Thy saints proclaim thee king; and in their
hearts,

Let Autumn spread his treasures to the sun,
130 Luxuriant and unbounded. As the sea,
Far thro' his azure, turbulent domain,
Your empire owns, and from a thousand shores,
Wafts all the pomp of life into your ports;
So with superior boon, may your rich soil,
Exuberant, Nature's better blessings pour
O'er every land, the naked nations clothe,
And be th' exhaustless granary of a world!

135

Thy title is engraven with a pen,
Dipt in the fountain of eternal love.
Thy saints proclaim thee king; and thy delay
Gives courage to their foes, who, could they see,
The dawn of thy last advent, long-desir'd,
Would creep into the bowels of the hills,
And flee for safety to the falling rocks.
The very spirit of the world, is tir'd
Of its own taunting question, asked so long,
"Where is the promise of your Lord's ap-
proach ?"

140

145

The infidel has shot his bolts away,
Till his exhausted quiver, yielding none,
He gleans the blunted shafts, that have recoil'd,
And aims them at the shield of truth again.
The veil is rent, rent too by priestly hands,
That hides divinity from mortal eyes;
And all the mysteries to faith propos'd,
Insulted and traduc'd, are cast aside,
As useless, to the moles and to the bats.
They now are deem'd the faithful, and are
prais'd,

150

Who, constant only in rejecting thee,
Deny thy Godhead with a martyr's zeal, 155
And quit their office for their error's sake.
Blind, and in love with darkness! yet e'en
these

NO. 119. BEAUTIES OF NATURE.

10

BEHOLD, yon breathing prospect bids the

Throw all her beauty forth. But who can paint
Like Nature? Can imagination boast,
Amid its gay creation, hues like her's?
Or can it mix them with that matchless skill, 5
And lose them in each other, as appears
In every bud that blows? if fancy then
Unequal fails beneath the pleasing task;
Ah, what shall language do? Ah, where find
words,

Ting'd with so many colors; and whose pow'r,
To life approaching, may perfume my lays
With that fine oil, those aromatic gales,
That inexhaustive flow continual round?

NO. 120. SPRING.

TILL let my song a nobler note assume,
And sing th' infusive force of Spring on

man;

When heav'n and earth, as if contending, vie
To raise his being, and serene his soul.
Can he forbear to join the general smile

5

Worthy, compared with sycophants, who knee
Thy name adoring, and then preach thee man! Of Nature? Can fierce passions vex his breast,
So fares thy church. But how thy church may, While every gale is peace, and every grove
fare,
[preach, Is melody? Hence, from the bounteous walks
The world takes little thought. Who will, may Of flowing Spring, ye sordid sons of earth,
And what they will. All pastors are alike Hard, and unfeeling of another's woe,
To wandering sheep, resolv'd to follow none. Or only lavish to yourselves, away.
Two gods divide them all-Pleasure and Gain. But come, ye generous minds, in whose wide
For these they live, they sacrifice to these, 165
thought,
And in their service wage perpetual war

Of all his works, creative bounty burns

10