<Curs'd with returns of vigour, ftill the fame,
Powerful to bear, and fatisfy the flame.
Still to be caught and ftill to be purfu'd!
To perifh ftill, and still to be renew'd!
And this, my help! my God! -at thy decree?
Nature is chang'd, and hell fhould fuccour me.
And can't thou then look down from perfect bliss,
And fee me plunging in the dark abyss,
Calling thee father in a sea of fire,
Or pouring blafphemies at thy defire ?
With mortals anguish wilt thou raife thy name,
And by my pangs omnipotence proclam?
'Thou, who can'ft tofs the planets to and fro,
Contract not thy great vengeance to my woe;
Crufh worlds; in hotter flames fall'n angels lay;
On me almighty wrath is caft away.
Call back thy thunders, Lord, hold in thy rage,
Nor with a fpeck of wretchedness engage:
Forget me quite, nor ftoop a worm to blame,
But lose me in the greatnefs of thy name.
Thou art all love, all mercy, all divine,
And shall I make these glories cease to shine?
• Shall finfull man grow great by his offence,
And from its course turn back omnipotence?
Forbid it! and oh! grant, great God, at least
This one this flender, almost no request ;
When I have wept a thousand lives away,
When torment is grown weary
of its prey,
• When I have wav'd ten thousand years in fire,
Ten thousand thousands, let me then expire.'
Deep anguish ! but too late; the hopeless foul,
Bound to the bottom of the burning pool,
Though loth, and every loud blafpheming owns
He's juftly doom'd to pour eternal groans;
Enclos'd with horrors, and tranfix'd with pain,
Rolling in vengeance, struggling with his chain :
To talk to fiery tempefts, to implore
The raging flame to give its burnings o'er,
To tofs, to writhe, to pant beneath his load,
And bear the weight of an offended God.
The favour'd of their judge in triumph move
To take poffeffion of their thrones above;
Satan's accurs'd defertion to fupply,
And fill the vacant stations of the fky;
Again to kindle long extinguish'd rays,
And with new lights dilate the heav'nly blaze;;
the roles of immortal youth,
And drink the fountain-head of sacred truth ;
To fwim in feas of bliss, to strike the string,
And lift the voice to their almighty king;
To lose eternity in grateful lays,
And fill heav'n's wide circumference with praise.
But I attempt the wond'rous height in vain,
And leave unfinish'd the too lofty strain;
"What boldly I begin, let others end;
My ftrength exhausted, fainting I descend,
And chufe a lefs, but no ignoble theme,
Diffolving elements, and worlds in flame.
The fatal period, the great
hour is come,
And nature fhrinks at her approaching doom;
Loud peals of thunder give the fign, and all
Heav'n's terrors in array furround the ball;
Sharp lightnings with the meteors blaze confpire,
And darted downward fet the world on fire ;
Black rifing clouds the thicken'd æther choke,
And fpiry flames shoot thro' the rolling smoke,
With keen vibrations cut the fullen night,
And strike the darken'd sky with dreadfull light;
From heav'n's four regions, with immortal force,
Angels drive on the wind's impetuous course,
T'enrage the flame; it fpreads, it foars on high,
Swells in the ftorm, and billows thro' the sky.
Here winding pyramids of fire afcend,
Cities and defarts in one ruin blend;
Here blazing volumes wafted overwhelm
The fpacious face of a far diftant realm:
There, undermin'd, down rufh eternal hills,
The neighbouring vales the vaft deftruction fills.
Hear'ft thou that dreadful crack, that sound which broke Like peals of thunder, and the centre shook? What wonders muft that groan of nature tell? Olympus there, and mightier Atlas fell, Which feem'd above the reach of fate to stand, A tow'ring monument of God's right-hand
Now duft and finoak, whofe brow fo lately spread
O'er fhelter'd countries its diffufive fhade.
High 'midft the clouds the boiling ocean rores,
And looks far down on his decreasing shores;
Leviathans in plantive thunder cry,
In distant, disinal pants the long-liv'd echoes die.
Shew me that celebrated fpot, where all
The various rulers of the fever'd ball
Have humbly fought wealth, honour and redress,
That land which heav'n feem'd diligent to bless,
Once call'd Britannia: Can her glories end!
And can't furrounding feas her realms defend!
Alas! in flames behold surrounding feas!
And all their waters but augment the blaze.
Some angel fay, where ran proud Afia's bound,
Or where with fruits was fair Europa crown'd?
Where stretch'd waste Lybia? where did India's store
Sparkle in diamonds, and her golden ore?
Each loft in each, their mingling kingdoms glow,
And all diffolv'd, one fiery deluge flow:
Thus earth's contending inonarchies are join'd,
And a full period of ambition find.
And now whate'er or fwims, or walks, or flies,
Inhabitants of sea, of earth, or skies;
All on whom Adam's wisdom fix'd a name, All plunge and perish in the conquering flame. This globe alone would but defraud the fire, Starve its devouring rage: the flakes afpire, And catch the clouds, and make the heavens their prey; The fun, the moon, the stars all melt away, And leave a mighty blank: Involv'd in flame, The whole creation finks! the glorious frame, In which ten thousand worlds, in radiant dance, Orb above orb, their wondrous course advance, By that o'er-ruling hand, which kindled all The stars, and rounded in its palm the ball, Is crush'd and loft; no monument, no fign, Where once fo proudly blaz'd the gay machine. So bubbles on the foaming stream expire, So fparks that scatter from the kindling fire; The devaftations of one dreadful hour, The great Creator's fix days work devour.
How rich that God who can fuch charge defray,
And bear to fling ten thousand worlds away?
Great wealth! and yet (ye nations hear!) one foul
Has more to boast and far outweighs the whole;
Exalted in fuperior excellence,
Cafts down to nothing fuch a vaft expense.
Have ye not feen th' eternal mountains nod,
An earth diffolving, a defcending God?
What strange surprises thro' all nature ran?
For whom these revolutions, but for man?
For him Omnipotence new measures takes,
For him through all eternity awakes;
Pours on him gifts fufficient to supply
Heav'n's lofs, and with fresh glories fill the sky.
Think deeply then, O man, how great thou art,
Pay thyself homage with a trembling heart;
What angels guard, no longer dare neglect,
Slighting thyfelf, affront not God's refpect.
Enter the facred temple of thy breast,
And gaze, and wander there a ravish'd guest;
Gaze on those hidden treasures thou fhalt find,
Wander thro' all the glories of thy mind.
Of perfect knowledge, fee the dawning light
Fortells a noon moft exquifitely bright!
Here fprings of endless joy are breaking forth!
There buds the promise of celestial worth!
Worth which muft ripen in a happier clime,
And brighter fun, beyond the bounds of time.
Thou minor, canft not guess thy vast estate,
What ftores, on foreign coafts, thy landing wait.
Lose not thy claim, let virtue's paths be trod;
Thus glad all heav'n, and please that bounteous God,
Who, to light thee to pleasures, hung on high
Yon radiant orb, proud regent of the sky:
That service done, its beams fhall fade away,
And God fhine forth in one eternal day.
What horror will invade the mind,
When the strict Judge who would be kind,
Shall have few venial faults to find?
The last loud trumpet's wond'rous found
Shall through the rending tombs rebound,
And wake the nations under ground.
IV.
Nature and death fhall, with surprise,
Behold the pale offender rife,
And view the Judge with conscious eyes.
Then shall with univerfal dread,
The facred mystic book be read,
To try the living and the dead.
The Judge afcends his awful throne,
He makes each fecret fin be known,
And all with fhame confefs their own.
VII.
Oh! then what int'reft fhall I make,
To fave my last important stake,
When the most just have caufe to quake..
|