13. Through all Eternity to Thee
A joyful Song I'll raise;
For O! Eternity's too short
To utter all thy Praise.
"F all! in every Age,
In every Clime ador'd,
By Saint, by Savage, and by Sage,
JEHOVAH! JOVE! Or LORD!
2. Thou great first Cause, least understood,
Who all my Sense confin'd,
To know but this, that thou art good,
And that myself am blind!
3. Yet gave me in this dark Estate,
To fee the Good from Ill!
And binding Nature fast in Fate,
Left free the human Will.
4. What Confcience dictates to be done,
Or warns me not to do;
This teach me more than Hell to shun,
That more than Heav'n pursue.
5. What Blessings thy free Bounty gives,
Let me not cast away;
For God is paid when Man receives
To enjoy is to obey.
6. Yet not to Earth's contracted Span,
Thy Goodness let me bound,
Or think Thee LORD alone of Man,
When thousand Worlds are round.
7. Let not this weak unknowing Hand
Presume thy Bolts to throw,
And deal Damnation round the Land
On each I judge thy Foe.
8. If I am right, oh teach my Heart,
Still in the Right to stay:
If I am wrong, thy Grace impart
To find that better Way!
9. Save me a like from foolish Pride,
Or impious Difcontent,
At ought thy Wisdom has deny'd,
Or ought thy Goodness lent.
10. Teach me to feel another's Woe;
To hide the Fault I fee;
That Mercy I to others show,
That Mercy show to me.
11. Mean tho' I am, not wholly so,
Since quicken'd by thy Breath;
Oh lead me wherefoe'er I go,
Thro' this Day's Life or Death.
12. This Day, be Bread and Peace my Lot;
All else beneath the Sun,
Thou know'st if best bestow'd, or not;
And let thy Will be done.
13. To thee, whose Temple is all Space, Whose Altar, Earth, Sea, Skies,
One Chorus let all Beings raise!
All Nature's Incense rife.
A facred Eclogue, compos'd of several Passages of Ifaiah the Prophet.
Written in Imitation of Virgil's POLLIO.
E Nymphs of Solyma! begin the Song:
To heav'nly Themes fublimer Strains belong.
The Mossy Fountains and the Sylvan Shades,
The Dreams of Pindus and th' Aonian Maids,
Delight no more thou my Voice inspire,
Who touch'd Ifaiah's hallow'd Lips with Fire!
Rapt into future Times, the Bard begun, A Virgin shall conceive, a Virgin bear a Son! From Jeffe's Root behold a Branch arife, Whose facred Flow'r with Fragrance fills the Skies. Th' ætherial Spirit o'er its Leaves shall move, And on its Top descends the Mystic Dove. Ye Heav'ns! from high the dewy Nectar pour, And in foft Silence shed the kindly show'r ! The Sick and Weak the healing Plant shall aid, From Storms a Shelter, and from Heat a Shade. All Crimes shall ceafe, and ancient Fraud shall fail; Returning Justice lift aloft her Scale; Peace o'er the World her Olive Wand extend, And white-rob'd Innocence from Heav'n defcend, Swift fy the Years, and rise th' expected Morn! Oh fpring to Light, auspicious Babe be born!
See Nature hastes her earliest Wreathes to bring,
With all the Incense of the breathing Spring:
See lofty Lebanon his Head advance,
See nodding Forefts on the Mountains dance,
See spicy Clouds from lowly Saron rise,
And Carmel's flow'ry Top perfumes the Skies!
Hark! a glad Voice the lonely Desart chears;
Prepare the Way! a GOD, a God appears!
A GOD, a GOD! the vocal Hills reply,
The Rocks proclaim th' approaching Deity.
Lo Earth receives him from the bending Skies!
Sink down ye Mountains, and ye Vallies rise :
With Heads declin'd, ye Cedars, Homage pay;
Be smooth ye Rocks, ye rapid Floods give Way!
The Saviour comes! by ancient Bards foretold;
Hear him ye Deaf, and all ye Blind behold!
He from thick Films shall purge the visual Ray,
And on the fightless Eye-ball pour the Day.
'Tis he th' obstructed Paths of Sound shall clear,
And bid new Musick charm th' unfolding Ear.
The Dumb shall sing, the Lame his Crutch
And leap exulting like the bounding Roe.
No Sigh, no Murmur the wide World shall hear,
From every Face he wipes off ev'ry Tear.
In adamantine Chains shall Death be bound,
And Hell's grim Tyrant feel th' eternal Wound.
As the good Shepherd tends his fleecy Care,
Seeks freshest Pastures and the purest Air,
Explores the lost, the wand'ring Sheep directs,
By Day o'er fees them, ana by Night protects;
The tender Lambs he raises in his Arms,
Feeds from his Hand, and in his Bosom warms:
Mankind shall thus his Guardian Care engage,
The promis'd Father of the future Age.
No more shall Nation against Nation rise,
Nor ardent Warriors meet with hateful Eyes,
Nor Fields with gleaming Steel be cover'd o'er,
The brazen Trumpets kindle Rage no more;
But useless Lances into Scythes shall bend,
And the broad Faulchion in a Plow-share end.
Then Palaces shall rise; the joyful Son
Shall finish what his short-liv'd Sire begun;
Their Vines a Shadow to their Race shall yield,
And the same Hand that sow'd shall reap the Field.
The Swain in barren Desarts with Surprize
Sees Lillies spring, and fudden Verdure rife,
And starts amidst the thirsty Wilds to hear
New Falls of Water murm'ring in his Ear:
On rifted Rocks, the Dragon's late abodes,
The green Reed trembles, and the Bulrush nods.
Waste sandy Vallies, once perplex'd with Thorn,
The spiry Fir and shapely Box adorn;
The leafless Shrubs the flow'ring Palms succeed,
And od'rous Myrtle to the noisome Weed. [Mead,
The Lambs with Wolves shall graze the verdant
And Boys in flow'ry Bands the Tyger lead;
The Steer and Lion at one Crib shall meet,
And harmless Serpents lick the Pilgrim's Feet.
The smiling Infant in his Hand shall take
The crefted Bafilisk and speckled Snake;
Pleas'd, the green Luftre of the Scales furvey,
And with their forky Tongue and pointless Sting
Rise, crown'd with Light, imperial Salem rife!
Exalt thy tow'ry Head, and lift thy Eyes!
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