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POWER.

BOOK III.

Texts chiefly alluded to in this Book.

Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, Eccles. chap. xii. ver. 6.

The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth 10 his place where he arose, chap. i. ver. 5.

The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the

north; it whirleth about continually: and the wind returneth again according to his circuits, ver. 6.

All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full: unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again, ver. 7.

Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it, chap. xii. ver. 7. Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came

down from heaven and consumed the burnt-offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the house, 2 Chron. chap. vii. ver. 1.

By the rivers of Babylon there we sat down; yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion, &c. Psal. cxxxvii. ver. 1.

I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doth it? Eccles, chap. ii. ver. 2.

-No man can find out the work that God maketh from the be ginning to the end, chap. iii. ver. 11.

-Whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever; nothing can be pu

to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him, ver. 14.

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter; Fear God, and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man chap. xii. ver. 13.

POWER.

BOOK III.

The Argument.

Solomon confiders man through the feveral ftages and conditions of life, and concludes, in general, that we are all miferable. He reflects more particularly upon the trouble and uncertainty of greatnefs and power; gives fome inftances thereof trom Adam down to himself; and ftil concludes that ALL IS VANITY. He reafons again upon life, death, and a future being; finds human wifdem too imperfect to refolve his doubts; has recourfe to religion; is informed by an angel what shall happen to himfelf, his family, and his kingdom, till the redemption of Ifrael: and, upon the whole, refolves to fubmit his enquiries and anxieties to the will of his Creator.

OME then, my foul: I call thee by that name,
Tout buy thing, from whence I know I am;]

For, knowing that I am, I know thou art,
Since that mult needs exift which can impart :
But how thou cam'st to be, or whence thy spring, 5
For various of thee priests and poets fing.

Hear'st thou fubmiffive, but a lowly birth,
Some fecret particles of finer earth,

A plain effect which Nature must beget,
As motion orders, and as atoms meet,
Companion of the body's good or ill,

From force of instinct more than choice of will,
Confcious of fear or valour, joy or pain,
As the wild courfes of the blood ordain;
Who, as degrees of heat and cold prevail,
In youth doft flourish, and with age fhalt fail,
Till, mingled with thy partner's latest breath,
Thou fly'ft, defolv'd in air and left in death.
Or, if thy great exiftence would aspire
To caufes more fublime, of heavenly fire
Wert thou a spark ftruck off, a fep'rate ray,
Ordain'd to mingle with terreftrial clay,
With it condemn'd for certain years to dwell,
To grieve its frailties, and its pains to feel;
To teach it good and ill, difgrace or fame,
Pale it with rage, or redden it with fhame

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To guide its actions with informing care,
In peace to judge, to conquer in the war;
Render it agile, witty, valiant, fage,
As fits the various courfe of human age,
Till, as the earthly part decays and falls,
The captive breaks her prifon's mould'ring walls,
Hovers awhile upon the fad remains,
Which now the pile or fepulchre contains,
And thence, with liberty unbounded, flies,
Impatient to regain her native fkies?

Whate'er thou art, where'er ordain'd to go,
(Points which we rather may difpute than know)
Come on, thou little inmate of this breast,
Which for thy fake from paffions I divest;
For thefe, thou fay'ft, raise all the stormy strife,
Which hinder thy repofe, and trouble life;
Be the fair level of thy actions laid

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As temp'rance wills and prudence may perfuade:
Be thy affections undisturbed and clear,
Guided to what may great or good appear,
And try if life be worth the liver's care.
Amafs'd in man, there justly is beheld
What through the whole creation has excell'd,
The life and growth of plants, of beasts the sense, 50
The angel's forecaft and intelligence:

Say, from thefe glorious feeds what harvest flows?
Recount our bleffings, and compare our woes:
In its true light let cleareft reafon fee

The man dragg'd out to act, and forc'd to be;
Helpless and naked, on a woman's knees
To be expos'd or rear'd as the may please,
Feel her neglect, and pine from her disease:
His tender eye by too direct a ray
Wounded, and flying from unpractis'd day;
His heart affaulted by invading air,
And beating fervent to the vital war;
To his young fenfe how various forms appear,
That ftrike his wonder, and excite his fear;
By his diftortions he reveals his pains;
He by his tears and by his fighs complains,

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Till time and ufe affift the infant wretch,
By broken words, and rudiments of fpeech,
His wants in plainer characters to fhew,
And paint more perfect figures of his woe,
Condemned to facrifice his childish years
To babbling ign'rance, and to empty fears;
To pafs the riper period of his age,
Acting his part upon a crowded stage;
To laking toils expos'd, and endless cares,
To open dangers, and to fecret fnares;
To malice which the vengeful foe intends,
And the more dang'rous love of feeming friends:
His deeds examin'd by the people's will,
Prone to forget the good, and blame the ill;
Or, fadly cenfur'd in their curs'd debate,
Who, in the fcorner's or the judge's feat
Dare to condemn the virtue which they hate :
Or would he rather leave this frantic fcene,
And trees and beafts prefer to courts and men,`
In the remoteft wood and lonely grot
Certain to meet that worst of evils, thought,
Diff'rent ideas to his mem'ry brought,
Some intricate, as are the pathlefs woods,
Impetuous fome, as the defcending floods;
With anxious doubts, with raging paffions torn,
No sweet companion near, with whom to mourn,
He hears the echoing rock return his fighs,
And from himself the frighted hermit flies.
Thus, through what path foe'er of life we rove,
Rage companies our hate, and grief our love;
Vex'd with the prefent moment's heavy gloom,
Why seek we brightness from the years to come ?
Difturb'd and broken, like a fick man's fleep,
Our troubled thoughts to diftant profpects leap, 100
Defirous till what flies us to o'ertake;

For hope is but the dream of thofe that wake:
But looking back we fee the dreadful train
Of woes anew, which, were we to fuftain,
We should refuse to tread the path again:
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Still adding grief, ftill counting from the first,
Judging the latest evil ftill the worst,
And fadly finding each progreffive hour
Heighten their number and augment their power,
'Till by one countless fum of woes opprelt,
Hoary with cares, and ignorant of rest,
We find the vital fprings relax'd and worn,
Compell'd our common impotence to mourn :
Thus, through the round of age, to childhood we

return;

Reflecting find, that naked from the womb

We yesterday came forth; that in the tomb
Naked again we must to-morrow lie,

Born to lament, to labour, and to die.

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Pafs we the ills which each man feels or dreads, The weight or fall'n or hanging o'er our heads; 120 'The bear, the lion, terrors of the plain,

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The sheepfold fcatter'd, and the fhepherd flain;
The frequent errors of the pathless wood,
The giddy precipice, and the dang`rous flood;
The noifome peftilence, that in open war
Terrible, marches through the mid-day air,
And featters death; the arrow that by night
Cuts the dank mift, and fatal wings its flight;
The billowing fnow, and violence of the show'r,
That from the hills difperfe their dreadful store,
And o'er the vales collected ruin pour;
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The worm that gnaws the rip'ning fruit, fad guest,
Canker or locuft, hurtful to infeft

The blade; while huiks elude the tiller's care,
And eminence of want diftinguishes the year.

Pafs we the flow difeafe, and fubtile pain
Which our weak frame is deftin'd to sustain ;
The cruel ftone, with congregated war,
Tearing his bloody way; the cold catarrh,
With frequent impulfe, and continued ftrife
Weakning the waited feeds of irksome like;
The gout's fierce rack, the burning fever's rage,
The fad experience of decay and age,

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