Obfcurely fepulcher'd. By beating 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 shall rise
Higher than erft had stood the fummit hill;
For Time muft Nature's great behest fulfil.
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;
Thus later age fhall ask for Pifon's flood,
And travellers inquire where Babel stood.
Now, where we fee thefe changes often fall,
Sedate we pafs them by as natural;
Where to our eye more rarely they appear,
The pompous name of Prodigy they bear:
Let active thought these close meanders trace,
Let human wit their dubious bound'ries place.
Are all things miracle, or nothing such ?
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,
Is this more strange 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 op'ning heav'n
The food of angels fhould to man be giv'n?
Is this more ftrange than that with common bread
Our fainting bodies ev'ry day are fed?
Than that each grain and feed confum'd in earth,
Raifes its ftore, 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 405
Common and plain, or wond'rous and abstruse,
From Nature's conftant or eccentric laws
The thoughtful foul this gen'ral influence draws,
That an effect must pre-suppose a cause :
And while fhe does her upward flight fuftain,
Touching each link of the continu'd chain,
At length fhe is oblig'd and forc'd to fee
A firft, a fource, a life, a Deity;
What has for ever been, and must for ever be.
This great exiftence thus by reafon found,
Bleft by all pow'r, with all perfection crown'd,
How can we bind or limit his decree
By what our ear has heard, or eye may fee?
Say then is all in heaps of water lost,
Beyond the islands and the midland coaft?
Or has that God who gave our world its birth
Sever'd thofe waters by fome other earth,
Countries by future ploughfhares to be torn,
And cities rais'd by nations yet unborn I
Ere the progreffive courfe of reftlefs age
Performs three thousand times its annual stage,
May not our pow'r and learning be fuppreft,
And arts and empire learn to travel weft?
Where, by the ftrength of this idea charm'd, Lighten'd with glory, and with rapture warm'd, 430 Afcends my foul! what fees fhe white and great Amidft fubjected feas? An ifle, the seat Of pow'r and plenty, her imperial throne, For juftice and for mercy fought and known; Virtues fublime, great attributes of heav'n, From thence to this diftinguifh'd nation giv'n: Yet farther weft the western ifle extends Her happy fame; her armed fleets she fends To climates folded yet from human eye, And lands which we imagine wave and sky; From pole to pole she 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) 445 Be first in conqueft, and prefide in fame : Long fhall her favour'd monarchy engage The teeth of Envy and the force of Age;
Rever'd and happy, the shall long remain
Of human things least changeable, least vain;
Yet all muft with the gen'ral doom comply,
And this great glorious pow'r tho' laft muft 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 fpread,
Now streak'd and glowing with the morning red;
Anon at noon in flaming yellow bright,
And chufing fable for the peaceful night.
And whence this great variety of heav'n?
Afk Reafon now whence light and fhade were giv'n,
Reafon our guide, what can fhe more reply,
Than that the fun illuminates the sky?
Than that night rifes from his abfent 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 noontide yellow we in vain require,
'Tis black in ftorm, or red in lightning fire.
Pitchy and daik the night fometimes appears,
Friend to our woe, and parent of our fears;
Our joy and wonder fometimes the excites,
With ftars unnumber'd and eternal lights.
Send forth, ye wife, fend forth your lab`ring thought,
Let it return, with empty notions fraught
Of airy columns ev'ry moment broke,
Of circling whirlpools, and of spheres of smoke;
Yet this folution but once more affords
New change of terms and scaffolding of words;
In other garb my question I receive,
And take the doubt the very fame I gave.
Lo! as a giant strong, the lusty sun
Multiply'd rounds in one great round does run,
Two-fold his courfe, yet conftant his career,
Changing the day, and finishing the year:
Again, when his defcending orb retires,
And earth perceives the abfence of his fires,
The moon affords us her alternate ray,
And with kind beams diftributes fainter day,
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