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Whence then the old belief, that all began
In Eden's fhade, and one created man ?
Or, grant this progeny was wafted o'er

By coafting boats from next adjacent shore ;

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Would thofe, from whom we will fuppofe they fpring,
Slaughter to harmless lands and poifon bring?

Would they on board or Bears or Lynxes take,
Feed the She Adder, and the brooding Snake?
Or could they think the new-discover'd isle
Pleas'd to receive a pregnant Crocodile ?

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And, fince the Savage Lineage we must trace From Noah fav'd, and his distinguish'd race; How should their fathers happen to forget

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The arts which Noah taught, the rules he fet,
To fow the glebe, to plant the generous vine,
And load with grateful flames the holy fhrine ;

While the great Sire's unhappy fons are found,
Unpress'd their vintage, and untill'd their ground,
Straggling o'er dale and hill in quest of food,

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And rude of arts, of virtue, and of God ?

The varied forms of every thing we view;
That all is chang'd, though all is still the same,
Fluid the parts, yet durable the frame?
Of those materials, which have been confefs'd
The priftine springs and parents of the rest,
Each becomes other. Water ftopp'd gives birth

How fhall we next o'er earth and seas pursue

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To grafs and plants, and thickens into earth:
Diffus'd, it rifes in a higher fphere,

Dilates its drops, and foftens into air :
VOL. II.

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Thofe

Thofe finer parts of air again afpire,

Move into warmth, and brighten into fire:
That fire, once more by thicker air o'ercome,

And downward forc'd, in earth's capacious womb
Alters its particles; is fire no more,

But lies refplendent dust, and shining ore;

Or, running through the mighty mother's veins,
Changes its fhape, puts off its old remains;
With watery parts its leffen'd force divides,
Flows into waves, and rifes into tides.

Difparted freams fhall from their channels fly,
And deep furcharg'd by fandy mountains lie,
Obfcurely fepulcher'd. By eating rain,

And furious wind, down to the distant plain
The hill, that hides his head above the fkies,
Shall fall; the plain by flow degrees fhall rife
Higher than erft had stood the summit-hill;
For Time muft Nature's great behest fulfil.

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Thus, by a length of years and change of fate, All things are light or heavy, fmall or great :

Thus Jordan's waves fhall future clouds appear;
And Egypt's pyramids refine to air:

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Thus later age fhall afk for Pifon's flood ;

And travelers enquire, where Babel ftood.

Now where we see these changes often fall,

Sedate we pass them by as natural;
Where to our eye more rarely they appear,
The pompous name of prodigy they bear.
Let active thought thefe clofe mæanders trace;
Let human wit their dubious boundaries place:

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Are

Are all things miracle; or nothing fuch?
And prove we not too little, or too much?

For that, a branch cut off, a wither'd rod
Should at a word pronounc'd revive and bud;

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Is this more ftrange, than that the mountain's brow,
Stripp'd by December's froft, and white with fnow,
Should push in fpring ten thousand thousand buds, 395
And boast returning leaves, and blooming woods?
That each fucceffive night from opening Heaven
The food of angels fhould to man be given;

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Is this more ftrange, than that with common bread
Our fainting bodies every day are fed?
Than that each grain and feed, confum'd in earth,
Raises its store, and multiplies its birth,
And from the handful, which the tiller fows,
The labour'd fields rejoice, and future harvest flows?
Then, from whate'er we can to fenfe produce,
Common and plain, or wondrous and abstruse,
From Nature's conftant or eccentric laws,
The thoughtful foul this general influence draws,
That an effect must pre-suppose a cause:
And, while fhe does her upward flight fuftain,
Touching each link of the continued chain,
At length she is oblig'd and forc'd to fee
A First, a Source, a Life, a Deity;
What has for ever been, and muft for ever be.
This great Exiftence thus by Reason found,
Bleft by all power, with all perfection crown'd ;
How can we bind or limit his decree,

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By what our ear has heard, or eye may see?

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Say then is all in heaps of water loft,

Beyond the islands, and the mid-land coaft?

Or has that God, who gave our world its birth,
Sever'd those waters by fome other earth,
Countries by future plow-fhares to be torn,
And cities rais'd by nations yet unborn!
Ere the progreffive course of restless age
Performs three thousand times its annual stage,
May not our power and learning be fuppreft,
And arts and empire learn to travel west?

Where, by the strength of this idea charm'd,

Lighten'd with glory, and with rapture warm'd,

Afcends my foul? what fees fhe white and great
Amidft fubjected feas? An ifle, the feat
Of power and plenty; her imperial throne,
For justice and for mercy fought and known;
Virtues fublime, great attributes of Heaven,
From thence to this diftinguish'd nation given.
Yet farther weft the western isle extends
Her happy fame; her armed fleet she sends
To climates folded yet from human eye;

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And lands, which we imagine wave and sky.

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From pole to pole fhe hears her acts refound,
And rules an empire by no ocean bound;
Knows her fhips anchor'd, and her fails unfurl'd,
In other Indies, and a fecond world.

Long fhall Britannia (that must be her name)

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Be first in conqueft, and prefide in fame :

Long shall her favour'd monarchy engage
The teeth of Envy, and the force of Age:

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Rever'd

Rever'd and happy she shall long remain,

Of human things leaft changeable, least vain.
Yet all must with the general doom comply;

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And this great glorious power, though last, must die. Now let us leave this earth, and lift our eye

To the large convex of yon' azure sky:

Behold it like an ample curtain spread,

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Now streak'd and glowing with the morning-red;
Anon at noon in flaming yellow bright,

And chufing fable for the peaceful night.

Afk Reason now, whence light and shade were given,

And whence this great variety of Heaven.

Reason, our guide, what can she more reply,

Than that the fun illuminates the sky;

Than that night rises from his absent ray,
And his returning luftre kindles day?

But we expect the morning-red in vain: 'Tis hid in vapours, or obfcur'd by rain. The noon-tide yellow we in vain require: 'Tis black in ftorm, or red in lightning fire. Pitchy and dark the night fometimes appears, Friend to our woe, and parent of our fears:

Our joy and wonder fometimes she excites,

With ftars unnumber'd, and eternal lights.

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Send forth, ye wife, fend forth your labouring thought: Let it return with empty notions fraught,

Of airy columns every moment broke,

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New change of terms, and fcaffolding of words:

Of circling whirlpools, and of spheres of smoke:
Yet this folution but once more affords

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