Behold I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my
AN is man's A. B. C. There's none that can
Read God aright, unless he first spell man:
Man is the stairs, whereby his knowledge climbs
To his Creator, though it oftentimes
tumbles for want of light, and sometimes trips
or want of careful heed; and sometimes slips
Through unadvised haste; and when at length
lis weary steps have reach'd the top, his strength
Oft fails to stand; his giddy brains turn round,
nd Phaton-like, falls headlong to the ground:
These stairs are often dark, and full of danger
To him, whom want of practice makes a stranger
o this blind way the lamp of nature lends
But a false light, and lights to her own ends.
These be the ways to heav'n, these paths require
light that springs from that diviner fire,
Whose human-soul-enlight'ning sun-beams dart
Chro' the bright cranies of th' immortal part.
And here thou great original of light,
Whose error-chasing beams do unbenightt
The very soul of darkness, and untwist
The clouds of ignorance; do thou assist
My feeble quill: reflect thy sacred rays
Upon these lines, that they may light the ways
That lead to thee; so guide my heart, my hand,
That I may do what others understand.
my heart practise what my hand shall write ; Till then, I am as a taper wanting light.
This golden precept, "Know thyself," came down
From heav'n's high court: it was an art unknown
To flesh and blood. The men of nature took
Great journies in it: their dim eyes did look
But thro' the mist; like pilgrims, they did spend
Their idle steps, but knew no journey's end.
The way to know thyself, is first to cast
Thy frail beginning, progress, and thy last :
This is the sum of man; but now return,
And view this taper standing in this urn.
Behold her substance sordid and impure,
Useless and vain, (wanting light) obsure :
'Tis but a span at longest, nor can last
Beyond that span; ordain'd and made to waste;
Ev'n such was man (before his soul gave light
To this vile substance) a mere child of night;
Ere he had life, estated † in his urn,
And mark'd for death; by nature born to burn:
Thus lifeless, lightless, worthless, first began
That glorious, that presumptuous thing, call'd man.
• Cast; i. e. contemplate the uri or candlestick, the body.
+ Estased; i. e. fixed or placed in
Consider, O man, what thou wert before thy birth, aud what thou art from thy birth to thy death, and what thou shalt be after death: thou wert made of an impure substance, cloathed and nourished in thy mother's blood.
Forbear, fond taper: what thou seek'st, is fire:
Thy own destruction's lodg'd in thy desire,
Thy wants are far more safe than their supply:
He that begins to live, begins to die.
And God said, Let there be light; and there was lights
HIS flame-expecting taper hath at length
Received fire, and now begins to burn :
It hath no vigour yet, it hath no strength;
Apt to be puff'd ånd quench'd at ev'ry turn :
It was a gracious hand that thus endow'd [shroud This snuff with flame: but mark, this hand doth Itself from mortal eyes, and folds it in a cloud.
Thus man begins to live. An unknown flame
Quickens his finish'd organs, now possest
With motion; and which motion doth proclaim
An active soul, though in a feeble breast;
But how, and when infus'd, ask not my pen;
Here flies a cloud before the eyes of men :
I cannot tell thee how, nor canst thou tell me when.
Was it a parcel of celestial fire,
Infus'd by heav'n into this fleshly mould? Or was it (think you) made a soul intire ? Then, was it new created or of old?
Or is't a propagated spark, rak'd out
From nature's embers? While we go about By reason to resolve, the more we raise a doubt,
If it be part of that celestial Яame,
It must be ev'n as pure, as free from spot, As that eternal fountain whence it came :
If pure and spotless, then whente came the blot ??
Itself being pure, could not itself defile;
Nor hath unactive matter pow'r to soil
Her pure and active form, as jars corrupt their oil.
Or if it were created tell me when :
If in the first six days, where kept till now ?
Or if thy soul were new-created, then
Heav'n did not all, at first, he had to do:
Six days expired, all creation ceas'd;
All kinds, ev'n from the greatest to the least,
Were finish'd and complete before the day of rest.
But why should man, the lord of creatures, want
That privilege which plants and beasts obtain ?
Beasts bring forth beasts, the plant a perfect plant,
And ev'ry like brings forth her like again;
Sball fowls and fishes, beasts and plants convey
Life to their issue, and man less than they?
Shall these get living souls, and man dead lumps of clay ?
Must human souls be generated, then?
My water ebbs; behold a rock is nigh:
If nature's work produce the souls of men,
Man's soul is mortal: all that's born must die.
What shall we then conclude? what sunshine will Disperse this gloomy cloud? till then be still, My vainly-striving thoughts; lie down, my puzzled
* Blot? i. e. original depravity.
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