Nature's high birth her heavenly beauties fhow;
By every feature we the parent know.
Th' expanded spheres amazing to the fight,
Magnificent with stars and globes of light,
The glorious orbs, which Heaven's bright hoft compofe,
Th' imprifon'd fea, that reftlefs ebbs and flows,
The fluctuating fields of liquid air,
With all the curious meteors hovering there,
And the wide regions of the land, proclaim
The Power Divine, that rais'd the mighty frame.
What things foe'er are to an end referr'd,
And in their motions ftill that end regard,
Always the fitnefs of the means refpect,
Thefe as conducive chufe, and thofe reject,
Muft by a judgement foreign and unknown
Be guided to their end, or by their own;
For to defign an end, and to purfue
That end by means, and have it still in view,
Demands a confcious, wife, reflecting caufe,
Which freely moves, and acts by reafon's laws,
That can deliberate, means elect, and find
Their due connexion with the end defign'd.
And fince the world's wide frame does not include 60 A caufe with fuch capacities endued ;
Some other caufe o'er nature must prefide,
Which gave her birth, and does her motions guide.
And here behold the caufe, which God we name,
The fource of beings, and the mind fupreme;
Whofe perfect wisdom, and whofe prudent care,
With one confederate voice unnumber'd worlds declare.
See, how the earth has gain'd that very place,
Which of all others in the boundless space.
Is most convenient, and will best conduce
To the wife ends requir'd for nature's use.
You, who the mind and caufe fupreme deny, -
Nor on his aid to form the world rely,
Muft grant, had perfect wisdom been employ'd
To find, through all th' interminable void,
A feat most proper, and which best became
The earth and fea, it must have been the fame.
Now, who can this furprizing fact conceive,
Who this event fortuitous believe, -
That the brute earth unguided should embrace
The only useful, only proper place
Of all the millions in the empty space?
Could stupid atoms with impetuous fpeed
By different roads and adverfe ways proceed;
From regions oppofite begin their flight,
That here they might rencounter, here unite;
What charms could thefe terreftrial vagrants fee
In this one point of all immensity,
That all th' enamour'd troops should thither flow?
Did they its useful fituation know?
And, when the squadrons with a swift career
Had reach'd that point, why did they fettle there,
When nothing check'd their flight, but gulphs of air;
Since Epicurus and his fcholars fay
That unobstructed matter flies away,
Ranges the void, and knows not where to stay?
If you, fagacious fons of art, pretend
That by their native force they did descend,
And ceas'd to move, when they had gain'd their end;
That native force till you inlighten'd know,
Can its mysterious fpring disclose, and show
How 'tis exerted, how it does impel,
Your uninstructive words no doubts difpel.
We ask you, whence does motive vigour flow?
You fay, the nature of the thing is fo.
But how does this relieve th' enquirer's pain?
Or how the dark impulfive power explain ?
The Atomifts, who fkill mechanic teach, Who boast their clearer fight, and deeper reach, Affert their atoms took that happy seat, Determin'd thither by their inbred weight;
That downward through the spacious void they strove
To that one point, from all the parts above.
Grant this position true, though up and down
Are to a space not limited unknown;
But fince they fay our earth from morn to morn
On its own axis is oblig'd to turn;
That swift rotation muft difperfe in air
All things, which on the rapid orb appear:
And if no power that motion fhould control,
It must disjoint and diffipate the whole.
'Tis by experience uncontefted found,
Bodies orbicular, when whirling round,
Still thake off all things on their furface plac'd,
And to a diftance from the centre caft.
If ponderous atoms are so much in love
With this one point, that all will thither move,
Give them the fituation they defire;
But let us then, ye fages, next enquire,
What caufe of their cohefion can you find?
What props fupport, what chains the fabrick bind ?
Why do not beasts that move, or stones that lie
Loose on the field, through diftant regions fly?
Or why do fragments, from a mountain rent,
Tend to the earth with fuch a swift defcent ?
Those who afcribe this one determin'd courfe
Of ponderous things to gravitating force,
Refer us to a quality occult,
To fenfelefs words, for which while they infult
With just contempt the famous Stagyrite,
Their fchools fhould blefs the world with clearer light.
Some, the round earth's cohefion to fecure,
For that hard task employ magnetic power.
Remark, fay they, the globe; with wonder own
Its nature, like the fam'd attractive stone.
This has its axis, fo th' obferver tells,
Meridians, poles, æquator, parallels.
To the terrestrial poles by conftant fate
Th' obfequious poles themselves accommodate,
And, when of this pofition difpoffeft,
They move, and ftrive, nor ever will they reft,
Till their lov'd fituation they regain,
Where pleas'd they fettle, and unmov'd remain.
And fhould you, fo experience does decide,
Into fmall parts the wondrous ftone divide,
Ten thousand of minutest fize express
The fame propenfion, which the large poffefs.
Hence all the globe ('tis faid) we may conclude
With this prevailing energy endued :
That this attractive, this furprizing stone
Has no peculiar virtue of its own;
Nothing but what is common to the whole,
To fides, to axis, and to either pole.
The mighty magnet from the centre darts
This ftrong, though fubtle force, through all the parts; Its active rays, ejaculated thence,
Irradiate all the wide circumference.
While every part is in proportion bleft,
And of its due attractive power poffeft;
While adverfe ways the adverse atoms draw
With the fame strength, by nature's conftant law
Balanc'd and fixt; they can no longer move;
Through gulphs immenfe no more unguided rove.
If cords are pull'd two adverse ways, we find
The more we draw them, they the faster bind.
So when with equal vigour Nature strains
This way and that these fine mechanic chains,
They fix the earth, they part to part unite,
Preferve their structure, and prevent their flight.
Preffure, they fay, and weight, we must disown,
As things occult, by no ideas known,
And on the earth's magnetic power depend
To fix its feat, its union to defend.
Let us this fam'd hypothefis furvey,
And with attentive thought remark the way,
How earth's attractive parts their force display.
The mafs, 'tis faid, from its wide bofom pours
Torrents of atoms, and eternal showers
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