I said unto the Earth, "Speake, art thou HE? "I am not." I inquired of creatures all, In generall, Contain'd therein;-they with one voice proclaim, I ask't the seas, and all the deeps below, I ask't the reptiles, and whatever is Even from the shrimpe to the leviathan, Inquiry ran; But in those deserts which no line can sound, I ask't the aire, if that were He? but, lo! I from the towering eagle to the wren, Demanded then, If any feather'd fowle 'mongst them were such? Offended with my question, in full quire, Answer'd," to finde thy God thou must look higher." I ask't the heavens, sun, moon, and stars, but they Said, "We obey The God thou seek'st."-I ask't, what eye or eare Could see or heare; What in the world I might descry or know Above, below: With an unanimous voice, all these things said, "We are not God, but we by him were made." I ask't the world's great universal masse, If that God was? Which with a mighty and strong voice reply'd, As stupify'd, "I am not He, O man! for know, that I By him on high, Was fashion'd first of nothing, thus instated, And sway'd by Him, by whom I was created." A scrutiny within myself I, then, Even thus began: "O man, what art thou ?"-What more could I say, Than dust and clay ? Fraile, mortal, fading, a meere puffe, a blast, That cannot last; Enthroned to-day, to-morrow in an urne; Form'd from that earth to which I must returne. Thou from primeval nothingness didst call First chaos, then existence ;-Lord! on Thee Eternity had its foundation:-all Nought! But the effluence of Thy ligh divine, Pervading worlds, hath reach'd my boson too; Sprung forth from Thee':-of light, joy, Yes! in my spirit doth Thy spirit shine, But Thou to these art as the noon to night. Thy light, Thy love, in their bright plenitud Yes! as a drop of water in the sea, And what am I then? Heaven's unnumber'd host, Though multiplied by myriads, and arrayed Filled me with an immortal soul, to sprin O thoughts ineffable! O visions blest! Though worthless our conceptions all Thee, Yet shall thy shadowed image fill our breas And waft its homage to thy Deity. |