1240

Who not in fragments writes to human race:
Read his whole volume, sceptic! then reply.
This, this is thinking free, a thought that grasps
Beyond a grain, and looks beyond an hour.
Turn up thine eye, survey this midnight scene;
What are earth's kingdoms to yon boundless orbs, 1245
Of human souls, one day, the destined range?
And what yon boundless orbs to godlike man?
Those numerous worlds that throng the firmament,
And ask more space in Heaven, can roll at large
In man's capacious thought, and still leave room 1250
For ampler orbs, for new creations there.
Can such a soul contract itself, to gripe
A point of no dimension, of no weight?

It can; it does: the world is such a point;

And of that point how small a part enslaves!

1255

How small a part--of nothing, shall I say? Why not?-Friends, our chief treasure, how they drop! Lucia, Narcissa fair, Philander, gone!

The grave, like fabled Cerberus, has oped

A triple mouth, and in an awful voice
Loud calls my soul, and utters all I sing.
How the world falls to pieces round about us,
And leaves us in a ruin of our joy!

What says this transportation of my friends?

1260

It bids me love the place where now they dwell, 1265
And scorn this wretched spot they leave so poor.
Eternity's vast ocean lies before thee;

There, there, Lorenzo! thy Clarissa sails.
Give thy mind sea-room; keep it wide of earth,
That rock of souls immortal; cut thy cord;
Weigh anchor; spread thy sails; call every wind
Eye thy great Pole-star; make the land of Life'
Two kinds of life has double-natured man,
And two of death; the last far more severe.
Life animal is nurtured by the Sun,

1270

1275

Thrives on his bounties, triumphs in his beams:
Life rational subsists on higher food,

Triumphant in His beams who made the day:
When we leave that Sun, and are left by this
(The fate of all who die in stubborn guilt,)
'Tis utter darkness; strictly double death.
We sink by no judicial stroke of Heaven,
But nature's course; as sure as plummets fall.
Since God or man must alter ere they meet,

1280

(Since light and darkness blend not in our sphere) 1285

'Tis manifest, Lorenzo, who must change.

If, then, that double death should prove thy lot, Blame not the bowels of the Deity;

Man shall be bless'd, as far as man permits
Not man alone, all rationals Heaven arms
With an illustrious, but tremendous power,
To counteract its own most gracious ends,
And this of strict necessity, not choice;

1290

That power denied, men, angels, were no more
But passive engines, void of praise or blame.

1295

A nature rational implies the power

Of being bless'd or wretched, as we please;

Else idle Reason would have nought to do,

And he that would be barr'd capacity

Of pain, courts incapacity of bliss.

1300

Heaven wills our happiness, allows our doom,
Invites us ardently, but not compels;

Heaven but persuades, almighty man decrees.

Man is the maker of immortal fates.

Man falls by man, if finally he falls;

1305

And fall he must, who learns from death alone

The dreadful secret,-that he lives for ever.

Why this to thee-thee yet, perhaps, in doubt
Of second life? but wherefore doubtful still?
Eternal life is Nature's ardent wish;
What ardently we wish we soon believe.
Thy tardy faith declares that wish destroy'd:
What has destroy'd it ?--shall I tell thee what?
When fear'd the future, 'tis no longer wish'd;
And when unwish'd, we strive to disbelieve.

1810

1315

Thus Infidelity cur guilt betrays.'

Nor that the sole detection! Blush, Lorenzo !

Blush for hypocrisy, if not for guilt.

The future fear'd?-An infidel, and fear?

Fear what? a dream? a fable?-How thy dread, 132f
Unwilling evidence, and therefore strong,
Affords my cause an undesign'd support!
How Disbelief affirms what it denies !
'It, unawares, asserts immortal life.'-
Surprising Infidelity turns out

A creed and a confession of our sins:
Apostates, thus, are orthodox divines.

1325

Lorenzo! with Lorenzo clash no more, Nor longer a transparent vizor wear. Think'st thou Religion only has her mask? Our infidels are Satan's hypocrites,

1330

Pretend the worst, and, at the bottom, fail.

When visited by thought (thought will intrude,)

Like him they serve, they tremble and believe.
Is there hypocrisy so foul as this?

1335

So fatal to the welfare of the world?

What detestation, what contempt, their due!

And, if unpaid, be thank'd for their escape,

That Christian candour they strive hard to scorn.

If not for that asylum, they might find

1340

A hell on earth, nor scape a worse below

With insolence and impotence of thought, Instead of racking fancy to refute,

Reform thy manners, and the truth enjoy.-
But shall I dare confess the dire result?

1345

Can thy proud reason brook so black a brand?

From purer manners to sublimer faith,

Is Nature's unavoidable ascent.

A Christian dwells, like Uriel,* in the Sun;

Meridian evidence puts doubt to flight,

1355

And ardent hope anticipates the skies,

Of that bright Sun, Lorenzo! scale the sphere:

'Tis easy; it invites thee; it descends

From Heaven, to woo and waft thee whence it came

Read and revere the sacred page, a page

1360

Where triumphs immortality; a page

Which not the whole Creation could produce;

Which not the Conflagration shall destroy:

Tis printed in the mind of gods for ever,

In Nature's ruins not one letter lost.

1365

In proud disdain of what e'en gods adore,

Dost smile?-Poor wretch! thy guardian angel weeps. Angels and men assent to what I sing;

Wits smile, and thank me for my midnight dream.
How vicious hearts fume frenzy to the brain!
Parts push us on to pride, and pride to shame :

1370

Pert Infidelity is Wit's cockade,

To grace the brazen brow that braves the skies,
By loss of being dreadfully secure.

Lorenzo! if thy doctrine wins the day,

1375

And drives my dreams, defeated, from the field;
If this is all, if earth a final scene,

Take heed stand fast; be sure to be a knave;
A knave in grain! ne'er deviate to the right.
Shouldst thou be good-how infinite thy loss!
Guilt only makes annihilation gain.

1380

Bless'd scheme' which life deprives of comfort, death

Of hope, and which vice only recommends.

If so, where, Infidels! your bate thrown out

To catch weak converts? where your lofty boast 1385 Of zeal for virtue, and of love to man?

Annihilation! I confess in these.

What can reclaim you? dare I hope profound Philosophers the converts of a song?

*Milton's Paradise Lost,

Yet know its title* flatters you, not me;

Yours be the praise to make my title goo1;
Mine to bless Heaven, and triumph in your praise.
But since so pestilential your disease,

Though sovereign is the medicine I prescribe,
As yet I'll neither triumph nor despair,

1390

1395

But hope, ere long, my midnight dream will wake
Your hearts, and teach your wisdom-to be wise:
For why should souls immortal, made for bliss,
E'er wish (and wish in vain!) that souls could die?
What ne'er can die, oh! grant to live, and crown 1400
The wish, and aim, and labour of the skies;
Increase, and enter on the joys of Heaven:
Thus shall my title pass a sacred seal,
Receive an imprimatur from above,
While angels shout-an Infidel Reclaim'd!

To cluse, Lorenzo! spite of all my pains,

1405

Still seems it strange that thou shouldst live for ever?

Is it less strange that thou shouldst live at all?
This is a miracle, and that no more.

Who gave beginning can exclude an end.

1410

Deny thou art; then doubt if thou shalt be.

A miracle with miracles enclosed

Is man! and starts his faith at what is strange?
What less than wonders from the wonderful?
What less than miracles from God can flow?

1415

Admit a God-that mystery supreme!

That cause uncaused! all other won lors cease:

Nothing is marvellous for him to do:

Deny him-all is mystery besides ;

Millions of mysteries! each darker far

1420

That that thy wisdom would, unwisely shun.

If weak thy faith, why choose the harder side!

We nothing know but what is marvellous;
Yet what is marvellous we can't believe.
So weak our reason, and so great our God,
*The Lafidel Reclaimed.

1425