And canft thou, ftupid man, thofe forrows fee, Nor fhare the anguifh which He bears for thee? Thy fin, for which his facred flesh is torn, Points ev'ry nail, and sharpens ev'ry thorn; Canft thou?-while nature finarts in ev'ry wound And each pang cleaves the fympathetic ground! Lo! the black fun, his chariot backward driv'n, Blots out the day, and perishes from Heav'n: Earth, trembling from her entrails, bears a part, And the rent rock upbraids man's stubborn heart. The yawning grave reveals his gloomy reign, And the cold clay-clad dead start into life again. And thou, O tomb, once more fhall wide difplay Thy fatiate jaws, and give up all thy prey. Thou,groaning earth,fhalt heave,abforpt in flame, As the laft pangs convulfe thy lab'ring frame; When the fame God unshrouded thou shalt fee, Wrapt in full blaze of pow'r and majesty, Ride on the clouds; whilft, as his chariot flies, The bright effufion ftreams thro' all the skies. Then fhall the proud diffolving mountains glow, And yielding rocks in fiery rivers flow: The molten deluge round the globe shall roar, And all man's arts and labour be no more. Then hall the fplendors of th'enliven❜d glass Sink undiftinguish'd in the burning mass. And O! till earth, and feas, and heav'n decay, Ne'er may that fair creation fade away! [fpare! May winds and ftorms those beauteous colours Still may they bloom, as permanent as fair! All the vain rage of wafting time repel, And his tribunal fee, whofe Crofs they paint fo well!
$269. Death. EMILY.
feftive roar of laughter, the warm glow Of brifk-ey'd joy, and friendship's genial bowl, Wit's feafon'd converfe, and the liberal flow Of unfufpicious youth, profufe of foul, Delight not ever; from the boisterous scene Of riot far, and Comus' wild uproar, From folly's crowd, whofe vacant brow ferene Was never knit to wifdom's frowning lore, Permit me, ye time-hallow'd domes, ye piles
Of rude magnificence, your folemn reft, Amid your fretted vaults and length'ning ifles, Lonely to wander; no unholy guest That means to break, with facrilegious tread, The marble flumbers of your monumented dead. Permit me, with fad mufings, that infpire
Unlabour'd numbers apt, your filence drear Blameless to wake, and with the Orphean lyre, Fitly attemper'd, footh the mercilefs ear Of Hades, and ftern death, whofe iron fway Great nature owns thro' all her wide domain; All that with oary fin cleave their smooth way Thro' the green bofom of the spawny main, And thofe that to the ftreaming ether fpread,
In many a wheeling glide, their feathery fail; And thofe that creep; and thofe that ftatelier tread, That roam o'er foreft, hill, or browfy dale; The victims cach of ruthless fate muft fall; [all. 'en God's own image, man, high paramount of!
And ye, the young, the giddy, and the gay,
That startle from the fleepful lid of light The curtain'd reft, and with the diffonant bray Of Bacchus, and loud jollity, affright Yon radiant goddefs, that now fhoots among Thefe many-window'difles her glimmering beam; Know, that or ere its starr'd career along
Thrice fhall have roll'd her filver wheeled team, Some parent breaft may heave the anfwering figh, To the flow paufes of the funeral knoll; E'en now black Atropos, with fcowling eye, E'en now in rofy-crown'd pleafure's wreath Roars in the laugh, and revels o'er the bowl; Entwines in adder folds all unfufpected Death. Know, on the stealing wing of time shall flee Some few, fome fhort-liv'd years, and all is past; A future bard thefe awful domes may fee,
Mufe o'er the prefent age, as I the last; Who mouldering in the grave, yet once like you The various maze of life were seen to tread; Each bent their own peculiar to pursue,
As cuftom urg'd or wilful nature led; Mix'd with the various crowds inglorious clay, The nobler virtues undiftinguifh'd lie; No more to melt with beauty's heav'n-born ray, No more to wet compaffion's tearful eye, Catch from the poet raptures not their own, And feel the thrilling melody of fweet renown. Where is the mafter-hand, whofe femblant art Chiffel'd the marble into life, or taught From the well-pencil'd portraiture to start
The nerve that beat with foul, the brow that thought!
Cold are the fingers that in stone-fix'd trance The mute attention rivetting, to the lyre Struck language: dimm'd the poet's quick-ey'd glance,
All in wild raptures flathing heav'n's own fire. Shrunk is the finew'd energy, that ftrung [breaft
The warrior arm: where fleeps the patriot Whilom that heav'd impaffion'd! Where the tongue
That lanc'd its lightning on the tow'ring creft Of fcepter'd infolence, and overthrew [crew! Giant Oppreffion, leagu'd with all her earth-born Thefe now are paft; long, long, ye fleeting years,
Purfue with glory wing'd, your fated way, Ere from the womb of time unwelcome peers
The dawn of that inevitable day, [friend When wrapt in fhrouded clay their warmest The widow'd virtues fhall again deplore, When o'er his urn in pious grief fhall bend
His Britain, and bewail one patriot more; For foon must thou, too foon who spread'ft Thy beaming emanations unconfin'd, [abroad, Doom'd, like fome better angel fent of God
To fcatter bleffings over humankind. Thou too muft fall, O Pitt! to fhine no more,❤ And tread thefe dreadful paths a Faulkland trod before.
Faft to the driving winds the marshall'd clouds Sweep difcontinuous o'er th'ethereal plain; Another ftill upon another crowds;
All haft ning downward to their native main. Thus
Thus paffes o'er thro' varied life's career, Man's fleeting age; the Scafons as they fly Snatch from us in their courfe, year after year, Some fwest connection, fome endearing tic. The parent, ever-honour'd, ever-dear, Claims from the filial breaft the pious figh; A brother's urn demands the kindred tear, And gentle forrows gufh from friendship's eye. To-day we frolic in the rofy bloom [tomb. Of jocund youth-the morrow knalls us to the Who knows how foon in this fepulchral spot Shall Heav'n to me the drear abode allign! How foon the past irrevocable lot
Of thefe, that reft beneath nie, fhall be mine. Haply, when Zephyr to thy native bourn [wave, Shall waft thee o'er the ftorm'd Hibernian Thy gentle breaft, my Tavistock, shall mourn To find me fleeping in the fenfelefs grave. No more the focial leifure to divide,
In the fweet intercourse of foul and foul, Blithe, or of graver brow; no more to chide The ling'ring years impatient as they roll, Till all thy cultur'd virtues fhall difplay, [day. Full bloffom'd, their bright honours to the gazing Ah, dearest youth! thefe vows perhaps unheard, The rude wind fcatters o'er the billowy main; Thefe prayers,at friendfhip's holy fhrine preferr'd, May rife to grafp their father's knees in vain. Soon, foon may nod the fad funereal plume With folemn horror o'er thy timeless hearfe, And I furvive to grave upon thy tomb
The mournful tribute of memorial verfe. That leave to Heav'n's decifion-Be it thine, Higher than yet a parent's wishes flew, To foar in bright pre-eminence, and fhine
With felf-earn'd honours, eager to purfue Where glory, with her clear unfully'd rays, The well-born fpirit lights to deeds of mightiest praife.
'Twas the thy godlike Ruffell's bofom steel'd
With confidence untam'd, in his last breath Stern-fmiling. She, with calm compofure, held The patriot axe of Sidney, edg'd with death. Smit with the warmth of her impulfive flame, Wolf's gallant virtue flies to worlds afar, Emulous to pluck freth wreathes of well-earn'd fame
From the grim frowning brow of laurel'd war. 'Twas the that, on the morn of direful birth, Bar'd thy young bofom to the fatal blow, Lamented Armytage !--the bleeding youth! O bathe him in the pearly caves below, Ye Nereids! and ye nymphs of Camus hoar, Weep, for ye oft have feen him on your haunted shore.
Better to die with glory, than recline
On the foft lap of ignominious peace; Than yawn out the dull droning life fupine In monkih apathy and gowned cafe.
Better employ'd in honour's bright career The leaft divifion on the dial's round, Than thrice to compafs Saturn's live-long year, Grown old in floth, the burthen of the ground; Than tug with fweating toil the lavith oar Of unredeem'd affliction, and fuftain The fev'rous rage of fierce difeafes fore.
Unnumber'd, that in fympathetic chain Hang ever thio' the thickcircumfluous air,[fphere. All from the drizzly verge of yonder ftar-girt Thick in the many beaten road of life
A thousand maladies are pofted round,. With wretched man to wage eternal strife
Unfeen, like ambuth'd Indians, till they wound There the fwoln hydrop ftands,the wat'ry rheum, The northern fcurvy, blotch with lep'rous And moping ever in the cloifter'd gloom [icale; Of learned floth, and bookish afthma pale: And the fhunn'd hag unfightly, that ordain'd On Europe's fons to wreak the faithlefs fe ord Of Cortez, with the blood of millions ftain'd, O'er dog-ey'd luft the tort'ring fcourge ab- ther flight Shakes threat'ning; fince the while the wing'd From Amazon's broad wave, and Andes' fnow- clad height.
Where the wan daughter of the yellow year,
The chatt'ring ague chill, the writhing ftone, And he of ghattly feature, on whofe ear [moa, Unheeded croaks the death-bird's warning Marafinus; knotty gout; and the dead life
Of nervelefs palfy; there on purpose feil Dark brooding, whets his interdicted knife Grim fuicide, the damned fiend of hell. There too is the ftunn'd apoplexy pight **, The bloated child of gorg'd intemp'rance foul; Self-wafting melancholy, black as night,
Lowering, and foaming fierce with hideous The dog hydrophoby, and near ally'd [howl; Scar'd madnefs, with her moon-firuck eye; balls ftaring wide.
There, ftretch'd one huge, beneath the rocky mine, t [ing fres: With boiling fulphur fraught, and moulder- He the dread delegate of wrath divine,
Ere while that itood o'er Taio's hundred fpires Vindictive; thrice he way'd th' earth-thaking Powerful as that the fon of Amrain bore, [wand, And thrice he rais'd, and thrice he check'd his hand. {d'rous roar, He ftruck the rocking ground, with thun- Yawn'd! Here from street to ftreet hurries, and there [amain,
Now runs, then ftops, then fhricks and fcours Staring distraction: many a palace fair [fane, With millions finks ungulph'd, and pillar'd Old Ocean's fartheft waves contefs the fhock; Even Albion trembi'd, confcious, on his ftedfaft rock.
The meagre famine there, and drunk with blood Stern war, and the loath'd monfter whom of The flimy Naiad of the Memphian flood [yore Engend'ring, to the bright-hair'd Phoebus bore, Foul peftilence, that on the wide-ftretch'd wings Of commerce, fpecds from Cairo's fwarthy bay His weftering flight, and thro' the fick air flings Spotted contagion; at his heels difinay And defolation urge their fire-wheel'd yoke Terrible; as long of old, when from the height Of Paran came unwreath'd the mightieft, fhook Earth's firm fixt bafe tottering; thro' the black night [abroad Glanc'd the flash'd lightnings: heaven's rent roof Thunder'd, and univerfal nature felt its God. Who on that scene of terror, on that hour
Of roufed indignation, fhall withstand Th'Almighty, when he meditates to shower The bursting vengeance o'er a guilty land! Canft thou, fecure in reafon's vaunted pride, Tongue-doughty mifcrcant, who but now didft gore
With more than Hebrew rage the innocent fide Of agonizing mercy, bleeding sore, Canft thou confront, with stedfast eye unaw'd, The fworded judgment stalking far and near? Well may't thou tremble, when an injur'd God Difclaims thee-guilt is ever quick of fear- Loud whirlwinds howl in zephyr's fofteft breath,
And every glancing meteor glares imagin'd death. The good alone are fearlefs; they alone,
Firm and collected in their virtue, brave Thewreck of worlds, and look unfhrinkingdown On the dread yawnings of the rav'nous grave: Thrice happy! who the blameless road along
Of honeft praife hath reach'd the vale of death; Around him, like miniftrant cherubs, throng
His better actions to the parting breath, Singing their bleffed requiems; he the while Gently repofing on fome friendly breast, Breathes out his benizons; then with a fmile
Of foft complaifance, lays him down to rest, Calm as the flumbering infant: from the goal Free and unbounded flies the difembodied foul.
Whether fome delegated charge below, [claim; Some much lov'd friend its hovering care may Whether it heavenward foars, again to know That long-forgotten country whence it came; Conjecture ever, the misfeatur'd child
Of letter'd arrogance, delights to run Thro' fpeculation's puzzling mazes wild, And all to end at latt where it begun. Fin would we trace, with reafon's erring clue, The darkrome paths of deftiny aright; In vain, the talk were cafier to purfue
The trackles wheelings of the wallow's flight. From mortal ken himfelf the Almighty fhrouds, Pavilion' in thick night and circumambient
§ 27o. A Birth-Day Thought. AN I, all gracious Providence I
Cineforve thy care > Aho, I've not the leatt pretence To bounties which I fhare,
$271. A Moral Reflection. Written on the fir Day of the Year 1782. SEVENTEEN Hundred Eighty-one
Is now for ever past; Seventeen Hundred Eighty-two
Will fly away as fast. But whether life's uncertain scene
Or whether death fhall come between, Shall hold an equal pace; And end my mortal race; Or whether sickness, pain, or health, My future lot fhall be; Or whether poverty or wealth,
Is all unknown to me. One thing I know, that needful 'tis To watch with careful eye; Since ev'ry feafon spent amifs
Is regifter'd on high. Too well I know what precious hours My wayward paffions wafte; And oh I find my mortal pow'rs
To duft and darkness hafte.
Earth rolls her rapid seasons round, To meet her final fire;
But virtue is with glory crown'd, Tho' funs and stars expire. What awful thoughts! what truth sublime i What ufeful leffon this! O! let me well improve my time! Oh! let me die in peace!
How we could e'en contend to lay
Our limbs upon that bed! We ask thine envoy to convey Our fpirits in his stead.
Our fouls arising on the wing, To venture in his place;
For when grim death has loft his fting. He has an angel's facc.
Jefus, then purge my crimes away, 'Tis guilt creates my fears; 'Tis guilt gives death its fierce array, And all the arms it bears.
Oh! if my threat'ning fins were gone, And death had loft his fting, 1 could invite the angel on,
And chide his lazy wing. Away thefe interpofing days, And let the lovers meet; The angel has a cold embrace,
But kind, and foft, and sweet, I'd leap at once my feventy years, I'd Tuth into his arms,
And lote my breath and all my cares, Amidit thole heav'nly charins.
Joyful I'd lay this body down,
And leave the lifelcis clay, Without a high without a groan, And stretch and foar away.
EARTH has detain'd mc pris'ner long,
And I'm grown weary now: My heart, my hand, my car, my tongue, There's nothing here for you.
Tir'd in my thoughts, I stretch me down, And upwards glance my eyes; Upward, my Father, to thy throne, And to my native skies.
There the dear Man, my Saviour, fits, The God how bright he fhines! And scatters infinite delights
On all the happy minds.
Seraphs with elevated ftrains,
Circle the throne around, And move and charm the starry plains With an immortal found.
Jefus, the Lord, their harps employs; Jefus, my love, they fing: Jefus, the name of both our joys, Sounds fweet from ev'ry ftring. Hark, how, beyond the narrow bounds Of time and space they run, And fpeak, in moft majestic founds, The Godhead of the Son ! How on the Father's breast he lay, The darling of his foul, Infinite years before the day Or heavens began to roll.
And now they fink the lofty tone, And gentler notes they play, And bring th'eternal Codhead down To dwell in humble clay.
O facred beauties of the Man! (The God refides within) His flesh all pure without a stain; His foul without a fin,
Then how he look'd and how he fmil'd! What wond'rous things he faid! Sweet cherubs, ftay, dwell here a while, And tell what Jefus did!
At his command the blind awake, And feel the glad fome rays: He bids the dumb attempt to fpeak; They try their tongues in praise. He shed a thousand bleffings round Where'er he turn'd his eye:
He fpoke, and, at the fov'reign found, The hellish leigons fly.
Thus, while, with unambitious strife, Th'ethereal minstrels rove Through all the labours of his life, And wonders of his love,
In the full choir a broken string Groans with a strange surprize; The reft in filence mourn their King That bleeds, and loves, and dies. Seraph and faint with drooping wings Cease their harmonious breath: No blooming trees nor bubbling fprings While Jefus fleeps in death.
Then all at once to living strains
They fummon ev'ry chord; Break up the tomb, and burft his chains, And thew their rifing Lord. Around the flaming army throngs, To guard him to the skies, With loud hofannas on their tongues, And triumph in their eyes.
In awful state the conqu❜ring God Afcends his fhining throne, While tuneful angels found abroad The vict'ries he has won.
Now let me rife and join their fong, And be an angel too:
My heart, my hand, my ear, my tongue, Here's joyful work for you !
I would begin the mufic here, And fo my foul should rife. Oh for fome heav'nly notes, to bear My fpirit to the skies!
There, ye that love my Saviour, fit There I would fain have place Among your thrones, or at your feet, So I might fee his face.
I am confin'd to earth no more, But mount in haste above, To blefs the God that I adore, And fing the Man I love. Ma
$274. Happy Frailty. WATTS.
Hoone vile thefe bodies are! Why was a clod of earth defign'd "T'enclose a heav'nly star?
meanly dwells th'unmortal mind!
"Weak cottage where our fouls refide! "This flefly a tott'ring wall;
With frightful breaches gaping wide, "The building bends to fall.
All round it ftorms of trouble blow, "And waves of forrow roll;
"Cold waves and winter-ftorms beat thro', "And pain the tenant-foul.
"Alas! how frail our ftate !" faid I
And thus went mourning on, Till fudden, from the cleaving fky, A gleam of glory fhone
My foul all felt the glory come, And breath'd her native air;
Then the remember'd heav'n her home, And the a pris'ner here.
Straight fhe began to change her key, And, joyful in her pains,
She fang the frailty of her clay In pleafurable ftrains.
"How weak the pris'n is where I dwell! "Flesh but a tott'ring wall!
"The breaches cheerfully fortel
"The house must shortly fall.
"No more, my friends, fhall I complain,
Though all my heart-ftrings ache: "Welcome difeafe, and ev'ry pain That makes the cottage thake.
Now let the tempeft blow all round; "Now fwell the furges high, "And beat this houfe of bondage down, "To let the ftranger fly.
"I have a manfion built above,
"By the Eternal Hand;
"And fhould the earth's old basis move,
My heav'nly houfe muft ftand.
"Yes, for 'tis there my Saviour reigns
(I long to fee the God); And his immortal strength sustains "The courts that coft him blood!" Hark, from on high my Saviour calls: "I come, my Lord, my Love :" Devotion breaks the prifon walls, And speeds my last remove.
$275. The God of Thunder. WATTS.
O THE immenfe, the amazing height,
The boundlefs grandeur of our God! Who treads the worlds beneath his feet, And sways the nations with his nod!
He fpeaks; and lo; all nature shakes: Heav'n's everlafting pillars bow; He rends the clouds with hideous cracks, And thoots his fiery arrows through. Well, let the nations start and fly At the blue lightning's horrid glare! Atheists and emperors fhrink and die, When flame and noife torment the air. Let noife and fame confound the skies, And drown the fpecious realms below, Yet will we fing the Thund'rer's praise, And fend our loud Hofannas through. Celestial King, thy blazing pow'r Kindles our hearts to flaming joys; We fhout to hear thy thunders roar, And echo to our Father's voice. Thus fhall the God cur Saviour come, And lightnings round his chariot play! Ye lightnings fly to make him room; Ye glorious ftorins prepare his way.
$276. On Eternity. GIBBONS. WHAT is eternity? Can aught Paint its duration to the thought? Tell ev'ry beam the fun emits, When in fublimeft noon he fits; Tell ev'ry light wing'd mote that frays Within its ample round of rays; Tell all the leaves and all the buds That crown the garden, fields, and woods Tell all the fpires of grafs the meads Produce, when fpring propitious leads The new-born year; tell all the drops That night, upon their bended tops, Sheds in foft filence, to difplay Their beauties with the rifing day; Tell all the fand the ocean laves, Tell all its changes, all its waves-; Or tell with more laborious pains, The drops its mighty mass contains Be this aftonishing account
Augmented with the full amount Of all the drops the clouds have fhed, Where'er their wat'ry fleeces fpread Thro' all time's long protracted tour From Adam to the prefent hour; Still thort the fum, nor can it vie With the more num'rous years that lie Embofom'd in Eternity.
Was there a belt that could contain In its vaft orb the earth and main; With figures was it cluster'd o'er, Without one cypher in the score And would your lab'ring thought affign The total of the crowded line,
How fcant th'amount th'attempt how vain! To reach duration's endlefs chain ! For when as many years are run, Unbounded age is but begun! Attend, O man, with awe divine For this eternity is thine!
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