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From his wild lust, or his oppressive deed,
Rapes, battles, murders, sacrilege proceed;
His wild ambition thins the peopled earth,
Or from his av'rice famine takes her birth;
Had Nature giv'n the hero wings to fly,
His pride would lead him to attempt the sky;
To angels make the pigmy's folly known,
And draw ev'n pity from th' eternal throne.
Yet while on Earth triumphant vice prevails,
Celestial Justice balances her scales.
With eye unbiass'd all the scene surveys,
With hand impartial ev'ry crime she weighs;
Oft close pursuing at his trembling heels,
The man of blood her awful presence feels;
Oft from her arm, amidst the blaze of state,
The regal tyrant, with success elate,
Is forc'd to leap the precipice of fate.
Or if the villain pass unpunish'd here,
"Tis but to make the future stroke severe ;
For soon or late eternal Justice pays
Mankind the just desert of all their ways.
"Tis in that awful all-disclosing day,

When bigh Omniscience shall her books display,
When Justice shall present her strict account,
While Conscience shall attest the due amount;
That all who feel, condemn the dreadful rod,
Shall own that righteous are the ways of God.
Oh then, while penitence can Fate disarm,
While ling'ring Justice yet withholds its arm;
While heav'nly Patience grants the precious time,
Let the lost sinner think him of his crime;
Immediate to the seat of mercy fly,

Nor wait to-morrow-lest to-night he die!

But tremble, all ye sins of blackest birth,
Ye giants, that deform the face of earth;
Tremble, ye sons of aggravated guilt,
And, ere too late, let sorrow learn to melt :
Remorseless Murder! drop thy hand severe,
And bathe thy bloody weapon with a tear:
Go, Lust impure! converse with friendly light,
Forsake the mansions of defiling night:
Quit, dark Hypocrisy! thy thin disguise,
Nor think to cheat the notice of the skies :
Unsocial Avarice! thy grasp forego,

And bid the useful treasure learn to flow:
Restore, Injustice! the defrauded gain :
Oppression, bend to ease the captive's chain,
Ere awful Justice strike the fatal blow,
And drive you to the realms of night below!
But Doubt resumes- If Justice has decreed,
The punishment proportion'd to the deed;
Eternal misery seems too severe,

Too dread a weight for wretched man to bear :
Too harsh! that endless torments should repay
The crimes of life-the errors of a day!'

In vain our reason would presumptuous pry ; Heav'n's counsels are beyond conception high; In vain would thought his measur'd justice scan; His ways how different from the ways of man! Too deep for thee his secrets are to know, Inquire not, but more wisely shun the wo; Warn'd by his threat'nings, to his laws attend, And learn to make Omnipotence thy friend. Our weaker laws, to gain the purpos'd ends, Oft pass the bounds the lawgiver intends; Oft partial pow'r, to serve its own design, Warps from the text, exceeding reason's line,

Strikes biass'd at the person, not the deed,
And sees the guiltless unprotected bleed!
But God alone, with unimpassion'd sight,
Surveys the nice barrier of wrong and right;
And while subservient, as his will ordains,
Obedient Nature yields the present means;
While neither force nor passions guide his views,
Ev'n evil works the purpose he pursues!
That bitter spring, the source of human pain,
Heal'd by his touch, does mineral health contain ;
And dark affliction, at his potent rod,
Withdraws its cloud, and brightens into good.
Thus human justice (far as man can go)
For private safety strikes the dubious blow;
But Rectitude divine, with nobler soul,
Consults each individual in the whole;
Directs the issues of each moral strife,
And sees creation struggle into life.

And you, ye happier souls! who in his ways
Observant walk, and sing his daily praise;
Ye righteous few! whose calm unruffled breasts
No fears can darken, and no guilt infests,
To whom his gracious promises extend,
In whom they centre, and in whom shall end,
Which (bless'd on that foundation sure who build)
Shall with eternal justice be fulfill'd:

Ye sons of life, to whose glad hope is giv'n
The bright reversion of approaching Heav'n;
With grateful hearts his glorious praise recite,
Whose love from darkness call'd you into light;
So let your piety reflective shine,

As men may thence confess his truth divine.
And when this mortal veil, as soon it must,
Shall drop, returning to its native dust;
4

VOL. I.

The work of life with approbation done,
Receive from God your bright immortal crown.
His Glory.

BUT oh, advent'rous Muse, restrain thy flight,
Dare not the blaze of Uncreated Light,
Before whose glorious throne with dread surprise
Th' adoring seraph veils his dazzled eyes;
Whose pure effulgence, radiant to excess,
No colours can describe, or words express.
All the fair beauties, all the lucid stores,
Which o'er thy works thy hand resplendent pours,
Feeble, thy brighter glories to display,
Pale as the Moon before the solar ray.

See on his throne the gaudy Persian plac'd,
In all the pomp of the luxuriant East!
While mingling gems a borrow'd day unfold,
And the rich purple waves emboss'd with gold;
Yet mark this scene of painted grandeur yield
To the fair lily that adorns the field:
Obscur'd, behold that fainter lily lies,
By the rich bird's inimitable dyes;
Yet these survey confounded and outdone
By the superior lustre of the Sun;

That Sun himself withdraws his lessen'd beam
From thee, the glorious Author of his frame.

Transcendent Power! sole arbiter of fate!
How great thy glory! and thy bliss how great!
To view from thy exalted throne above,
(Eternal source of light, and life, and love)
Unnumber'd creatures draw their smiling birth;
To bless the Heav'ns, or beautify the Earth;
While systems roll, obedient to thy view,

And worlds rejoice-which Newton never knew,

Then raise the song, the gen'ral anthem raise, And swell the concert of eternal praise. Assist, ye orbs, that form this boundless whole, Which in the womb of space unnumber'd roll; Ye planets, who compose our lesser scheme, And bend, concertive, round the solar frame; Thou eye of Nature, whose extensive ray With endless charms adorns the face of day; Consenting raise th' harmonious joyful sound, And bear his praises through the vast profound. His praise, ye winds that fan the cheerful air, Swift as they pass along your pinions bear. His praise let ocean through her realms display, Far as her circling billows can convey. His praise, ye misty vapours, wide diffuse, In rains descending, or in milder dews. His praises whisper, ye majestic trees, As your tops rustle to the gentle breeze. His praise around, ye flow'ry tribes, exhale, Far as your sweets embalm the spicy gale. His praise, ye dimpled streams, to earth reveal, As pleas'd ye murmur through the flow'ry vale. His praise, ye feather'd choirs, distinguish'd sing, As to your notes the vocal forests ring.

His praise proclaim, ye monsters of the deep, Who in the vast abyss your revels keep.

Or

ye, fair natives of our earthly scene, Who range the wilds, or haunt the pasture green. Nor thou, vain lord of Earth, with careless ear The universal hymn of worship hear: But ardent in the sacred chorus join, Thy soul transported with the task divine; While by his works th' Almighty is confess'd, Supremely glorious, and supremely bless'd!

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