Horror receives us, and the dismal wish,
An honest love, and not afraid to frown.
Though choice of follies fasten on the great,90 | Creation had been smother'd in her birth----
None clings more obstinate than fancy fond,
That sacred friendship is their easy prey;
Caught by the wafture of a golden lure,
Or fascination of a high-born smile;
Darkness his curtain, and his bed the dust; 20 When stars and sun are dust beneath his throne !
In heav'n itself can such indulgence dwell?
Their smiles, the great and the coquet, throw O what a groan was there! A groan not his. 95 He seized our dreadful right; the load sus
What if (since daring on so nice a theme)
I shew thee friendship delicate, as dear,
Of tender violations apt to die?
Reserve will wound it; and distrust, destroy.
Deliberate on all things with thy friend.
But since friends grow not thick on ev'ry
bough,
Nor ev'ry friend unrotten at the core ;
First on thy friend, delib'rate with thyself,110
Pause, ponder, sift; not eager in the choice,
Nor jealous of the chosen; fixing, fix;
Judge before friendship; then confide till
death.
Well for thy friend; but nobler far for thee;
How gallant danger for earth's highest prize!
A friend is worth all hazard we can run. 116
Poor is the friendless master of a world :
A world, in purchase for a friend is gain.
NO. 173. REDEMPTION.
THO
HOUGH Nature's terrors, thus may be
represt;
Still frowns grim Death; guilt points the ty
And heav'd the mountain from a guilty world. A thousand worlds, so bought, were bought too dear.
Sensations new in angels' bosoms rise;
Suspend their song, and make a pause in bliss.
O for their song to reach my lofty theme!
Inspire me Night! with all thy tuneful
spheres
[inspire
Much rather thou! who dost these spheres
Whilst I with seraphs share seraphic themes,
And shew to men, the dignity of man ;
Lest I blaspheme my subject with my song.
Shall Pagan pages glow celestial flame,
And Christian languish? On our hearts, not
heads,
Thou most indulgent, most tremendous Pow'r [love! 45 Still more tremendous, for thy wondrous That arms, with awe more awful, thy commands;
And foul transgression dips in sev'nfold night ; How our hearts tremble at thy love immense ! In love immense, inviolably just,
Thou, rather than thy justice should be stain'd
O think how deep, Lorenzo! here it stings.
Who can appease its anguish? How it burns!
What hand the barb'd, invenom'd, thought Didst stain the cross; and, work of wonders
What healing hand can pour the balm of The greatest! that thy dearest far might bleed. Bold thought! Shall I dare speak it, or repress?
And turn my sight undaunted on the tomb? With joy-with grief, that healing hand
Should man more execrate, or boast, the guilt Which rous'd such vengeance? which such love inflam'd?
Ah! too conspicuous! It is fix'd on high.
On high? What means my frenzy? I blas-O'er
pheme;
10 Alas how low! how far beneath the skies! The skies it form'd ; and now it bleeds for meBut bleeds the balm I want-yet still it bleeds. Draw the dire steel?--Ah no!-the dreadful blessing
What heart or can sustain, or dares forego? 15 There hangs all human hope; that nail supports
The falling universe. That gone, we drop!
guilt (how mountainous!) with outstretch'd arms,
66 Of immortality.--And did he rise?
A wonder in Omnipotence itself! A mystery, no less to gods than men ! Not thus, our infidels th' Eternal draw, A God all o'er, consummate, absolute, Full orb'd, in his whole round of rays complete. 70
They set at odds Heav'n's jarring attributes; And with one excellence, another wound; Maim Heav'n's perfection, break its equal
(What can exalt the bounty more?) for you. The sun beheld it-No, the shocking scene Drove back his chariot; Midnight veil'd his face;
Not such as this; not such as Nature makes ;
A midnight, Nature shudder'd to behold; 91
A midnight new! a dread eclipse (without
Opposing spheres) from her Creator's frown!
Sun! didst thou fly thy Maker's pain? or start
At that enormous load of human guilt,
Which bow'd his blessed head; o'erwhelm'd
his cross;
Hear, O ye nations! hear it, O ye dead !
He rose! He rose ! He burst the bars of Death.
Lift up your heads, ye everlasting gates! 116
And give the King of glory to come in.
Who is the King of glory? He who left
His throne of glory, for the pang of death.
Lift up your heads, ye everlasting gates! 120
And give the King of glory to come in.
Who is the King of glory? He who slew
The rav'nous foe, that gorg'd all human race!
The King of glory, He, whose glory fill'd
Heav'n with amazement at his love to man;125
And with divine complacency, beheld
Pow'rs most illumin'd, wilder'd in the theme.
The theme, the joy, how then shall man
[throne,
Oh the burst gates, crush'd sting, demolish'd
Last gasp, of vanquish'd Death! Shout, earth
and heav'n!
This sum of good to man; whose nature, then, Took wing, and mounted with him from the tomb!
Then, then I rose; then first humanity Triumphant past the crystal ports of light,134 (Stupendous guest!) and seiz'd eternal youth, Seiz'd in our name. E'er since, 'tis blasphe
To call man mortal. Man's mortality
Was, then, transferr'd to Death; and heav'n's
duration
Unalienably seal'd to this frail frame,
This child of dust.--Man, all-immortal! hail;
Hail, Heav'n! all-lavish of strange gifts to
Thine all the glory, man's the boundless bliss. Where am I rapt by this triumphant theme, On Christian joy's exulting wing? Above Made groan the centre; burst earth's marble Th' Aonian mount!--Alas, small cause for With pangs, strange pangs! deliver'd
dead? Hell howl'd; and Heav'n that hour let Heav'n wept, that men might smile! bled, that man
Might never die !—
[tear; What if to pain immortal? if extent
fall a Of being, to preclude a close of woe?
Where, then, my boast of immortality?
I boast, it still, though cover'd o'er with guilt;
For guilt, not innocence, his life he pour'd!
'Tis guilt alone can justify his death;
Nor that, unless his death can justify
Relenting guilt in Heav'n's indulgent sight.
If, sick of folly, I relent; he writes
My name in Heav'n with that inverted spear
(A spear deep-dipt in blood!) which pierc'd
his side,
156
And is devotion virtue ? 'Tis compell'd. What heart of stone, but glows at thoughts [mount Such contemplations mount us; and should The mind still higher; nor ever glance on [thoughts 10 Unraptur'd, uninflam'd.-Where roll my To rest from wonders? Other wonders rise; And strike where'er they roll. My soul is caught. [the cross, Heav'n's sov'reign blessings, clust'ring from Rush on her, in a throng, and close her round, The pris'ner of amaze !--In his blest life, 110 I see the path, and in his death, the price, And in his great ascent, the proof supreme
Through means, that speak its value infinite! Angels that grandeur, men e'erlook, admire A pardon bought with blood! with blood di-How long shall human nature be their book, 164 Degen'rate mortal! and unread by thee? The beam dim reason sheds, shews wonders there,
With blood divine of him, I made my foe!
Persisted to provoke ! though woo'd and aw'd,
Blest and chastis'd, a flagrant rebel still!
A rebel, 'midst the thunders of his throne !
Nor I alone! a rebel universe!
My species up in arms! not one exempt! 170
Yet for the foulest of the foul, he dies;
Most joy'd, for the redeem'd from deepest
guilt!
As if our race were held of highest rank;
And Godhead dearer, as more kind to man!
Bound, ev'ry heart! and, ev'ry bosom, burn!
O what a scale of miracles is here!
176
Its lowest round, high planted on the skies;
Its tow'ring summit lost beyond the thought
Of man or angel! Oh that I could climb
The wonderful ascent, with equal praise! 180|
Praise flow for ever, (if astonishment
Will give thee leave,) my praise! for ever
flow;
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They sung creation, (for in that they shar'd ;) How rose in melody, the child of love! Creation's great superior. man! is thine; Thine is Redemption. They just gave the key; 200 'Tis thine to raise, and eternize the song ; Though human, yet divine; for should not this Raise man o'er man, and kindle seraphs here? Redemption! 'twas creation more sublime; Redemption! twas the labor of the skies; 205 Far more than labor-it was death in heav'n. A truth so strange ! 'twere bold to think it true;
If not far bolder still, to disbelieve.
Man! Know thyself. All wisdom centres there;
To none, man seems ignoble, but to man; 209
What high contents! illustrious faculties !
But the grand comment, which displays at
full.
Our human height, scarce sever'd from divine,
By Heav'n compos'd, was publish'd on the
Religion! the sole voucher man is man ;
Supporter sole of man above himself;
Ev'n in this night of frailty, change and death,
She gives the soul, a soul that acts a god.
Religion! Providence ! an after-state!
Here is firm footing; here is solid rock.
This can support us; all is sea besides;
Sinks under us, bestorms, and then devours.
His hand the good man fastens on the skies,
And bids earth roll, nor feels her idle whirl;
Breathes hopes immortal, and affects the skies.
Religion! thou the soul of happiness;
And groaning Calvary, of thee! There shine
The noblest truths; there strongest motives
sting;
There sacred violence assaults the soul;
There, nothing but compulsion is forborne.
Can love allure us? or can terror awe?
He weeps!-the falling drop puts out the sun;
He sighs!-the sigh earth's deep foundation
shakes.
If in his love so terrible, what then
His wrath inflam'd? his tenderness on fire,
Like soft, smooth oil, outblazing other fires ?25
Can pray'r, can praise avert it?-Thou, my
all!
My theme! my inspiration! and my crown!
My strength in age! my rise in low estate !
My soul's ambition, pleasure, wealth!-my
world!
My light in darkness! and my life in death! 30 My boast through time! bliss through eternity!
Eternity too short to speak thy praise!
Or fathom thy profound of love to man;
To man of men the meanest, ev'n to me!
My sacrifice! my God! what things
these!
NO. 175. RETIREMENT.
VIRTUE, forevet fre suffers in the crowd,
VIRTUE, forever frail, as fair, below,
Nor is it strange. Light, motion, concourse,
From nature's birth, hence, Wisdom has been smit [shade. With sweet recess, and languish'd for the NO. 176. SUICIDE.
WHAT groan was that, Lorenzo ?-Furies! rise;
And drown, in your less execrable yell, Britannia's shame. There took her gloomy flight,
On wing impetuous, a black sullen soul,
Blasted from hell, with horrid lust of death. 5
Thy friend, the brave, the gallant Altamont,
So call'd, so thought-and then he fled the
field;
Less base the fear of death, than fear of life.
O Britain, infamous for suicide !
An island in thy manners! far disjoin'd
From the whole world of rationals beside! 10
In ambient waves plunge thy polluted head,
Wash the dire stain, nor shock the continent.
The clotted hair! gor'd breast! blasphe-
ming eye!
Its impious fury still alive in death!-
Shut, shut the shocking scene.-But Heav`n
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A cover to such guilt; and so should man.
Look round, Lorenzo! see the reeking blade,
Th' invenom'd phial, and the fatal ball;
The strangling cord, and suffocating stream;
The loathsome rottenness and foul decays 20
From raging riot, (slower suicides !)
And pride in these, more execrable stiil !-
How horrid all to thought.-
NO. 177. COMPETENCE.
All scatter us abroad. Thought outward-bound, DOST court, Abundance for the sake of
Neglectful of our home-affairs, flies off
In fume and dissipation, quits her charge,
And leaves the breast unguarded to the foe.
Present example gets within our guard
And acts with double force, by few repell'd.
Ambition fires ambition. Love of gain
Strikes, like a pestilence, from breast to
breast;
Riot, Pride, Perfidy, blue vapors breathe ;
And inhumanity is caught from man,
From smiling man. A slight, a single glance,
And shot at random, often has brought home
A sudden fever to the throbbing heart,
Of envy, rancor or impure desire.
We see, we hear, with peril. Safety dwells 25
Remote from multitude. The world's a
school
Of wrong; and what proficients swarm around!
We must or imitate, or disapprove;
Must list as their accomplices, or foes;
That stains our innocence; this wounds our
peace.
Learn and lament thy self-defeated scheme.
Riches enable to be richer still;
And richer still, what mortal can resist?
Thus Wealth (a cruel task-master!?) injoins 5
New toils, succeeding toils, an endless train !
And murders Peace, which taught it first to
shine.
The poor are half as wretched as the rich;
Whose proud and painful privilege it is,
At once, to bear a double load of woe;
To feel the stings of envy and of want,
Outrageous want! both Indies cannot cure.
A competence is vital to content.
Much wealth is corpulence, if not disease;
Sick, or incumber'd, is our happiness.
A competence is all we can enjoy.
O be content, where Heav'n can give no more
NO. 178. IMMORTALITY,
MMMORTAL! ages past, yet nothing
gone!
30 Morn without eve! a race without a goal!
Unshorten'd by progression infinite!
Futurity forever future! life
Beginning, still, where computation ends! 5 'Tis the description of a Deity!
'Tis the description of the meanest slave;
NO. 179. WONDEROUS WORKS OF
MAN.
(OME, my Ambitious! let us mount together,
The meanest slave dares then Lorenzo scorn? And from the clouds, where Pride delights to (To mount Lorenzo never can refuse ;) The meanest slave thy sov'reign glory shares.
Proud youth fastidious of the lower world! Look down on earth-What seest thou?
Man's lawful pride includes humility;
Stoops to the lowest ; is too great to find
Inferiors; all immortal! brothers all!
Proprietors eternal of thy love.
Iminortal! what can strike the sense so
strong,
As this the soul? It thunders to the thought;
Reason amazes; gratitude o'erwhelms.
No more we slumber on the brink of fate.
Rous'd at the sound, th' exulting soul ascends,
And breathes her native air; an air that feeds
Ambitions high, and fans ethereal fires;
21
Quick-kindles all that is divine within us ;
Nor leaves one loit'ring thought beneath the
Has not Lorenzo's bosom caught the flame? Immortal! Were but one immortal, how Would others envy; how would thrones
Terrestrial wonders, that eclipse the skies. 5
What lengths of labor'd land! what loaded
seas!
Loaded by man, for pleasure, wealth or war!
is art acknowledge, and promote his ends.
Seas, winds and planets, into service brought,
Nor can th' eternal rocks his will withstand.10
What level'd mountains, and what lifted vales!
O'er vales and mountains sumptuous cities
swell,
[spires.
And gild our landscape with their glitt'ring
Some'mid the wond'ring wave majestic rise;
And Neptume holds a mirror to their charms.15
Far greater still !(what cannot mortal might?)
See, wide dominions ravish'd from the deep!
25 The narrow'd deep with indignation foams.
Or southward turn to delicate and grand;
The finer arts there ripen in the sun.
How the tall temples, as to meet their gods,
of Ascend the skies. The proud triumphal arch
Shews us half heav'n beneath its ample bend.
High through mid air, here, streams are taught
to flow;
O vain, vain, vain, all else ;-Eternity!
A glorious, and a needful refuge, that,
From vile imprisonment in abject views.
'Tis Immortality, 'tis that alone,
Amid life's pains, abasements, emptiness,
The soul can comfort, elevate, and fill.
That only, and that amply, this performs;
Lifts us above life's pains, her joys above;
Their terror those, and these their lustre
lose.
Eternity depending, covers all.
Eternity depending, all achieves ;
Sets earth at distance; casts her into shades; How yon enormous mole projecting, breaks
Blends her distinctions; abrogates her pow-The mid-sea furious waves! their roar amidst,
Out speaks the Deity, and says, "O main; 35
Thus far, nor farther; new restraints obey."
Earth's disembowel'd! measur'd are
skies!
The low, the lofty, joyous, and severe,
Fortune's dread frowns, and fascinating smiles,
Make one promiscuous and neglected heap,
The man beneath; if I may call him man, 45
Whom Immortality's full force inspires.
Nothing terrestrial touches his high thought;
Suns shine unseen, and thunders roll unheard,
By minds quite conscious of their high de-
scent,
Their present province, and their future prize;
Divinely darting upward ev'ry wish,
Warm on the wing, in glorious absence lost.
Stars are detected in their deep recess !
Creation widens! vanquish'd Nature yields;
Her secrets are extorted; Art prevails! 40
What monuments of genius, spirit, pow'r !
NO. 180. HAPPINESS,
ROM vice, sense, fancy, no man can be bless'd,
'Bliss is too great, to lodge within an hour.
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