Yet there thy majefty divine appear'd,
There fhone thy glory, and thy voice was heard;
Ev'n in the blaze of that tremendous day,
Idolatry its impious rites could pay !
Oh fhame to thought!-Thy facred throne invade,
And brave the bolt that linger'd round its head!
O Thou, who when th' almighty form'd this all, Upheld the scale, and weigh'd each ballanc'd ball; And as his hand completed each defign, Number'd the work, and fix'd the feal divine; O Wisdom infinite! creation's foul,
Whofe rays diffuse new luftre o'er the whole;
What tongue fhall make thy charms celeftial known!
What hand, fair Goddess! paint thee but thy own!
What tho' in nature's universal store,
Appear the wonders of almighty pow'r!
Pow'r unattended, terror would infpire,
Aw'd must we gaze, and comfortless admire.
But when fair Wisdom joins in the defign,
The beauty of the whole refult's divine!
See, how affociate round their central fun,
Their faithful rings the circling planets run;
Still equi-diftant, never yet
too near,
Exactly tracing their appointed sphere.
Mark how the moon our flying orb pursues,
While from the fun her monthly light renews;
Breathes her wide infl'ence on the world below,
And bids the tides alternate ebb and flow.
View how in course the constant seasons rise,
Deform the earth, or beautify the skies:
First Spring advancing, with her flow'ry train,
Next Summer's hand that spreads the fylvan scene,
Then Autumn with her yellow harvests crown'd,
And trembling Winter close the annual round.
The vegetable tribes obfervant trace,
From the tall cedar to the creeping grass:
The chain of animated beings scale,
From the small reptile to th' enormons whale ;
From the ftrong eagle stooping from the skies,
To the low infect that escapes thy eyes!
And fee, if fee thou can'ft, in ev'ry frame,
Eternal Wisdom fhine confefs'd the fame :
As proper organs to the leaft affign'd,
As proper means to propagate their kind;
As juft the ftructure, and as wife the plan,
As in this lord of all-debating man!
Hence, reas'ning creature, thy diftinction find,
Nor longer to the ways of heav'n be blind.
Wisdom in outward beauty ftrikes the mind,
But outward beauty points a charm behind.
What gives the earth, the ambient air or feas,
The plain, the river, or the wood to please?
Oh fay, in whom does beauty's felf refide,
The Beautifier, or the beautify'd?
There dwells the Godhead in the bright difguife,
Beyond the ken of all created eyes!
His works our love, and our attention steal,
His works (furprizing thought!) the maker veil;
Too weak our fight to pierce the radiant cloud,
Where Wisdom shines, in all her charms avow'd!
O gracious God! omnipotent and wise,
Unerring Lord, and ruler of the skies;
All condescending to my feeble heart,
One beam of thy celestial light impart ;
I feek not fordid wealth, or glitt'ring pow'r,
O grant me Wisdom-and l'ask no more!
As from fome level country's fhelter'd ground,
With towns replete, with green inclosures bound,
Where the eye, kept within the verdant maze,
But gets a tranfient vifta as it ftrays!
The pilgrim to fome rifing fummit tends,
Whence opens all the scene as he ascends :
So Providence the friendly point fupplies,
Where all the charms of Deity furprize;
Here Goodness, Power, and Wifdom all unite,
And dazzling Glories whelm the ravish'd fight !
Almighty Cause! 'tis thy preserving care,
That keeps thy works for ever fresh and fair!
The fun from thy fuperior radiance bright,
Eternal sheds his delegated light,
Lends to his fifter orb inferior day,
And paints the filver moon's alternate ray;
Thy hand the wafte of eating time renews,
Thou fhed'ft the tepid morning's balmy dews;
When raging winds the blacken'd deep deform,
Thy spirit rides commiffion'd in the ftorm;
Bids at thy will the flack'ning tempeft cease,
While the calm'd ocean fmooths its ruffled face;
When light'nings thro' the air tremendous fly,
Or the blue plague is loofen'd to destroy,
Thy hand directs, or turns afide the stroke,
Thy word the fatal edict can revoke ;
When fubterraneous fires the furface heave,
And towns are bury'd in one common grave
Thou fuffer'ft not the mischief to prevail,
Thy fov'reign touch the recent wound can heal.
'To Zembla's rocks thou fend'it the chearful gleam,
O'er Libya's fands thou pour'ft the cooling ftream;
Thy watchful Providence o'er all intends,
Thy works obey their great Creator's ends.
And all the ills we feel—or bliss we share,
Are tokens of a heav'nly Father's care.
When man too long the paths of vice pursu'd,
Thy hand prepar'd the universal flood;
Gracious, to Noah gave the timely fign,
To fave a remnant from the wrath divine!
One shining waste the globe terrestrial lay,
And the ark heav'd along the troubled fea;
Thou bad'st the deep his antient bed explore,
The clouds their watry deluge pour'd no more!
The skies were clear'd,—the mountain tops were seen, The dove pacific brought the olive-green.
On Ararat the happy Patriarch toft,
Found the recover'd world his hopes had loft;
There his fond eyes review'd the pleasing scene,
The earth all verdant, and the air ferend!
Its precious freight the guardian ark display'd,
While Noah grateful adoration paid!
Beholding in the many-tinctur'd bow,
The promise of a fafer world below.
When wild ambition rear'd its impious head,
And rifing Babel heav'n with pride furvey'd;
Thy word the mighty labour could confound,
And leave the mafs to moulder with the ground.
From the mad toil, while focial order sprung
A peopled world-distinct by many a tongue.
From Thee all human actions take their springs,
The rife of empires, and the fall of kings!
See the vast theatre of time difplay'd,
While o'er the scene fucceeding heroes tread!
With pomp the shining images fucceed,
What leaders triumph! and what monarchs bleed!
Perform the parts thy Providence affign'd,
Their pride, their paffions to thy ends inclin'd:
A while they glitter in the face of day,'
Then at thy nod the phantoms pafs away;
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