Of endless arguments above, below,
Without us, and within, the fhort refult-
"If man's immortal, there's a God in heaven."
But wherefore fuch redundancy? such waste
Of argument? One fets my foul at rest !
One obvious, and at hand, and, oh!-at heart.
So just the fkies, Philander's life so pain’d,
His heart fo pure; that, or fucceeding scenes
Have palms to give, or ne'er had he been born.
"What an old tale is this !" Lorenzo cries.-
I grant this argument is old; but truth
No years impair; and had not this been true,
Thou never hadft defpis'd it for its age.
Truth is immortal as thy foul; and fable
As fleeting as thy joys: be wife, nor make
Heaven's higheft bleffing, vengeance; O be wife! 990 Nor make a curse of immortality.
Say, know'st thou what it is, or what thou art?. Know'st thou th' importance of a soul immortal ? Behold this midnight glory: worlds on worlds! Amazing pomp! redouble this amaze ;
Ten thousand add; add twice ten thousand more;
Then weigh the whole; one foul outweighs them all; And calls th' aftonishing magnificence
Of unintelligent creation poor.
For this, believe not me; no man believe;
Truft not in words, but deeds; and deeds no less
Than thofe of the Supreme; nor His, a few;
Confult them all; confulted, all proclaim
Thy foul's importance: tremble at thyself;
For whom Omnipotence has wak'd fo long: 1005
Has wak'd, and work'd, for ages; from the birth
Of nature to this unbelieving hour.
In this fmall' province of His vast domain
(All nature bow, while I pronounce His Name !)
What has God done, and not for this fole end,
To refcue fouls from death? The foul's high price
Is writ in all the conduct of the fkies,
The foul's high price is the Creation's Key.
Unlocks its myfteries, and naked lays
The genuine caufe of every deed divine:
That is the chain of ages, which maintains
Their obvious correfpondence, and unites
Moft diftant periods in one bleft defign:
That is the mighty hinge, on which have turn'd
All revolutions, whether we regard
The natural, civil, or religious, world;
The former two but fervants to the third:
To that there duty done, they both expire,
Their mass new-caft, forgot their decds renown'd;
And angels afk, "Where once they fhone fo fair?" 1025
To lift us from this abject, to fublime;
This flux, to permanent; this dark, to day;
This foul, to pure; this turbid, to ferene;
This mean, to mighty!—for this glorious end
Th' Almighty, rifing, his long fabbath broke!
The world was made; was ruin'd; was reftor'd;.
Laws from the skies were publish'd; were repeal'd;
On earth kings, kingdoms, rofe; kings, kingdoms, fell;
Fam'd fages lighted up the pagan world;
0 3
Prophets from Sion darted a keen glance
Through diftant age; faints travel'd; martyrs bled;
By wonders facred nature stood control'd;
The living were translated; dead were rais'd;
Angels, and more than angels, came from heaven;
And, oh! for this, defcended lower still;
Guilt was hell's gloom; aftonifh'd at his guest,
For one fhort moment Lucifer ador'd:
Lorenzo! and wilt thou do lefs?-For this,
That ballow'd page, fools fcoff at, was infpir'd,
Of all these truths thrice venerable code!
Deifts! perform your quarantine; and then
Fall proftrate, ere you touch it, lest you die.
Nor lefs intenfely bent infernal powers
To mar, than thofe of light, this end to gain.
O what a fcene is here!-Lorenzo! wake!
Rife to the thought; exert, expand thy foul
To take the vaft idea: it denies
All elfe the name of great. Two warring worlds!
Not Europe against Afric; warring worlds!
Of more than mortal! mounted on the wing!
On ardent wings of energy and zeal,
High-hovering o'er this little brand of strife!
This fublunary ball-But ftrife, for what?
In their own caufe conflicting? No; in thine,
In man's. His single interest blows the flame;
His the fole ftake; his fate the trumpet founds,
Which kindles war immortal. How it burns!
Tumultuous fwarms of deities in arms!
Force, force oppofing, till the waves run high,
And tempest nature's univerfal sphere.
Such oppofites eternal, ftedfaft, ftern,
Such foes implacable, are good, and ill;
Yet man, vain man, would mediate peace between them.
Think not this fiction, "There was war in heaven."
From heaven's high crystal mountain, where it hung, 1070
Th' Almighty's out-fretch'd arm took down his bow,
And fhot his indignation at the deep :
Re-thunder'd bell, and darted all her fires.
And feems the ftake of little moment ftill?
And flumbers man, who fingly caus'd the ftorm? 1075
He fleeps. And art thou shock'd at myfteries?
The greatest, Thou. How dreadful to reflect,
What ardour, care, and counfel mortals caufe
In breafts divine! how little in their own!
Where-e'er I turn, how new proofs pour upon me! 1080
How happily this wondrous view supports
My former argument! How strongly strikes
Immortal life's full demonftration, here!
Why this exertion? Why this ftrange regard
From heaven's Omnipotent indulg'd to man?---
Because, in man, the glorious dreadful power,
Extremely to be pain'd, or bleft, for ever.
Duration gives importance; fwells the price.
An angel, if a creature of a day,
What would he be? A trifle of no weight;
Or ftand, or fall; no matter which; he 's gone.
Because Immortal, therefore is indulg'd
This ftrange regard of deities to duft.
Hence heaven looks down on earth with all her eyes:
Hence, the foul's mighty moment in her fight:
Hence, every foul has partisans above,
And every thought a critic in the skies :
Hence, clay, vile clay! has angels for its guard,
And every guard a paffion for his charge:
Hence, from all age, the cabinet divine
Has held high counsel o'er the fate of man.
Nor have the clouds thofe gracious counfels hid;
Angels undrew the curtain of the throne,
And Providence came forth to meet mankind:
In various modes of emphasis and awe,
He spoke his will, and trembling nature heard;
He spoke it loud, in thunder and in storm.
Witnefs, thou Sinai! whofe cloud-cover'd height,
And fhaken bafis, own'd the prefent God;
Witnefs, ye billows! whofe returning tide,
Breaking the chain that fasten'd it in air,
Swept Egypt, and her menaces, to hell:
Witness, ye flames! th' Affyrian tyrant blew
To fevenfold rage, as impotent, as strong:
And thou, earth! witness, whofe expanding jaws 1115
Clos'd o'er * presumption's facrilegious fons :
Has not each element, in turn, fubfcrib'd
The foul's high price, and sworn it to the wife?
Has not flame, ocean, æther, earthquake, ftrove
To strike this truth through adamantine man ?
If not all adamant, Lorenzo! hear;
All is delufion; nature is wrapt up,
In tenfold night, from reafon's keenest eye;
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