Графични страници
PDF файл
ePub

V.

So when the spacious globe was delug'd o'er,
And lower holds could fave no more,

On th' utmost boughs th' astonish'd finners stood,
And view'd th' advances of th' incroaching flood;
O'er-top'd at length by th' elements increase,
With horror they refign'd to the untry'd abyfs.

A DIALOGUE between the fallen Angels and a hu man Spirit just entered into the other World. By Mrs.

Rowe.

Human Spirit.

ONG ftruggling in the agonies of death,
With horror I refign'd my mortal breath.
With horror long the fatal gulph I view'd,
And fhiv'ring on its utmoft edges stood,
Till forc'd to take th' inevitable leap,
I hurry'd headlong down the gloomy steep:
And here of every hope bereft, I find
My felf a naked, an unbody'd mind.
My lov'd, my fond, officious friends in vain
My fleeting foul endeavour'd to retain

;

In vain its blooming manfion did invite,
Grandeur, and wealth, and love, and foft delight,
With tempting calls in vain its flight would stay,
When forc'd by the fevere decree away.

'Tis paft
and all like a thin vifion gone,
For which I have my wretched foul undone,
And wand'ring on this dark detefted shore,
My eyes shall view the upper light no more.
Fallen Angels.

Then welcome to the regions of defpair,
Thy ruin cost us much defign and care,
And thou hadft 'fcap'd but for one happy fare.
And in the blissful skies supply'd the place
Of fome fall'n fpirit of our nobler race;

Thou cou'dst the thirft of wine or wealth controul,
And no malicious fin has ftain'd thy foul,
But for the joys of one forbidden love
Haft loft the boundless ecftafies above.

}

Hu

Human Spirit.

And all was freely, freely all was lost;
How dear has one short dream of pleasure cost !
But yet this fatal, this enchanting dream,
I should perhaps to heaven it self esteem,
Were it as permanent: but ah! 'tis gone,
And I a wretch abandon'd and undone ;
Of God, of every smiling hope am left,
And all my dear delights on earth bereft,
While here for gilded roofs, and painted bowers,
For pleasant walks, and beds of fragrant flowers,
I find polluted dens, and pitchy streams,
And burning paths with beds of raging flames;
Inftead of mufic's fweet infpiring found,
Repeated yells, and endless groans go round;
And for the lovely faces of my friends,
I meet the ghaftly vifages of fiends.
A thoufand nameless terrors are behind,
Defpair confufion, fury, feize my mind:
But will my griefs no happy period find?
Fallen Angels.

Count all the twinkling glories of the sky,
Count all the drops that in the ocean lye,
Of all the earthy globe the atoms count,
Eternal years thy numbers ftill furmount.
Millions of tedious ling'ring ages gone,
Thy mifery, thy hell is but begun.

As fix'd, as permanent thy blifs had been,
But for one daring, one beloved fin;
Cold to the baits of any other vice,
Beauty alone could thy fond thoughts entice.
By this, or all our ftratagems had fail'd,
By this we o'er thy temp'rate youth prevail'd.
Poor fottifh foul! below our envy now,
For what a toy didft thou a heaven forego?
Human Spirit.

O tell me not from what fair hopes I fell,
Juft miffing heaven but aggravates my hell.

Fallen Angels.

Thou know'ft not what thou'ft loft, but we too well
The glories of that happy place can tell.

There

There endless heights of ecftafy they prove,
There's lafting beauty and îmmortal love;
There flowing pleasures in full torrents roll,
For pleasures scorn'd, this lofs muft rack thy foul.
Human Spirit.

With how much cruel art you aggravate
My miferies intolerable weight.

Fallen Angels.

Our envy once, thou'rt now become our scorn,
In vain for thee the son of God was born;
That mighty favour, that peculiar grace,
Too glorious for the fall'n angelic race,
Serves only to exafperate thy doom,
And give th' infernal shades a darker gloom..
Human Spirit.

Oh! that's the wounding circumftance of all,
To lower depths of woe I cannot fall:
Ye curft tormenters, now your rage is spent,
Your fury can no further hell invent;

A Saviour's title, a Redeemer's blood,
Their worth till now I little understood.

DIALOGUE between a good Spirit newly parted from the Body, and the Angels that came to conduct him to Glory. By Mr. Bowden.

A

Spirit.

T length the difinal ftrife is past,

The cruel bond diffolv'd that held me back fe faft.
I felt, when first the curdling blood grew cold,
And rapid wheels of life no longer roll'd,
With joy I felt all this, with joy refign'd
My vital breath, and left the flesh behind.
Long, long I ftruggled with my mortal chain,
Long bore the double load of fin and pain,
Long figh'd and wish'd for this aufpicious day,
And wonder'd at the moments dull delay.
Wide was the gulph, and deep, but now I'm o'er,
Am landed fafe on the eternal shore.

Welcome for ever then this happy change,
Welcome the charming paths I now fhall range;

Wel

Welcome first dawnings of immortal light,
Welcome ye glorious beings to my fight.

Angels.

And welcome, welcome to our peaceful arms,
We come to guard thee from all future harms;
From heav'n's high court we come
-th' eternal King,
Whose will we all obey and praifes fing,
Sent us thus far, (fo great his bounty is!)
To waft thee to the feats of endless bliss :
This morn we left his throne-the conquer'd light
Lagg'd dully after, wond'ring at our flight.

Spirit.

O facred ministers of heav'n's decree!
O you that stream with radiant majefty!

Why on this meffage fent? why this regard to me?
Return, return to heav'n from whence you came,
There warble hymns to the Creator's name,
Make fhining circles there around his throne,
'Tis he deferves fuch guards, and he alone;
Unworthy I in fuch a grace to share,
Unworthy of your leaft regard or care.
Angels.

Not thy deferts, but free, unbounded love,
Was all the spring that cou'd thy Maker move;
That love which did at firft thy being raise,
Preferve thy health, and number out thy days,
And all those num'rous ample gifts bestow:
While yet a tenant of the world below?
That love which sent his dear and only son
To ransom thee, and all mankind, undone;
Sent him to feel th' extreams of misery,
To want, to mourn, be tortur'd, bleed and die ;
Which shelter'd thee from the avenging stroke,
And hell's eternal chain asunder broke:
Which heaven's immortal doors fet open wide,
And did in fhining paths of virtue guide;
Ev'n that now fends us forth to lead the way
To the bright regions of celestial day.
Nor come we only for folemnity,
To make a pompous progress thro' the sky:

Thou

Thou need'st these rays, thou need'ft thefe potent arms,
To guide and guard thee from furrounding harms;
For long's the way, and vaft, thou art to steer,
No land-marks there, nor beaten roads appear,
Ten thoufand, thousand, thousand leagues and more,
Thou must thro' fields of trackless æther soar;
And here thou'lt pass th' inhofpitable plains,
Where night in everlafting filence reigns,
Where no glad rays do e'er the gloom adorn,
Save what by us are in our paffage worn:
There mighty orbs will roll across the skies,
And comets of prodigious form and size,
Myriads of ftarry worlds furprise thy fight
With blazes of unfufferable light.

Thus then by turns thou❜lt need our pow'rful aid,
Our rays to light, and spreading wings to shade,
Befides- -apoftate angles in thy way,

More thick than falling leaves of autumn, ftray;
These, were we abfent, tho' they can't destroy,
In fpight would all their hellish arts employ:
Some dreft in hideous shapes wou'd stalk before,
Some dog it after with infernal roar ;

Some icy hills along thy paffage ftrow,

Some make thro' pitchy clouds red light'ning glow,
Some thunder from above, fome from below.
And when these freightful methods don't avail,
Nor fhock thy peace, nor make thy courage fail.
They'll next with tender flatt'ring charms amuse,
And all their soft enticing arts will use ;
Will feem like us, celeftial' angels fair,
Such their proportion, fuch their mien and air,
In all the bloom of heav'nly youth appear,
And with melodious founds invite thy ear.
Here warbling birds will foftly hover round,
While filver fountains murmur to their found:
There flow'ry fields their fragrancy difpenfe,
And with ten thousand beauties court thy fenfe.
These arts and more, if found alone, they'll try
To curb thy foaring flight, and stain thy piety.
But at our fight they feel a trembling awe,
Run howling o'er the wafte, and to their dens withdraw.

Nor

« ПредишнаНапред »