Yet keeps the ftages of her monthly race,
Various her beams, and changeable her face;
Each planet fhining in his proper fphere
Does with juft fpeed his radiant voyage steer;
Each fees his lamp with diff'rent luftre crown'd;
Each knows his courfe with diff'rent periods bound,
And in his paffage thro' the liquid fpace,
Nor haftens nor retards his neighbour's race,
Now fhine these planets with fubftantial rays?
Does innate luftre gild their meafur'd days?
Or do they (as your fchemes I think have shown)
Dart furtive beams and glory not their own,
All fervants to that fource of light, the fun?
Again; I fee ten thousand thousand stars,
Nor caft in lines, in circles, nor in fquares,
(Poor rules with which our bounded mind is fill'd
When we would plant, or cultivate, or build)
But fhining with fuch vaft, fuch various light,
As fpeaks the hand that form'd them infinite.
How mean the order and perfection fought
In the best product of the human thought,
Compar'd to the great harmony that reigns
In what the Spirit of the world ordains!
Now if the fun to earth tranfmits his ray,
Yet does not scorch us with too fierce a day,
How finall a portion of his pow'r is giv'n
To orbs more diftant and remoter heav'n?
And of those stars which our imperfect eye
Has doom'd and fix'd to one eternal sky,
Each by a native ftock of honour great,
May dart ftrong influence, and diffuse kind heat,
ltfelf a fun, and with tranfmiffive light
Enlivens worlds deny'd to human fight;
Around the circles of their ambient kies
New moons may grow or wane, may fet or rife,
And other stars may to thofe funs be earths,
Give their own elements their proper births,
Divide their climes, or elevate their pole,
See their lands flourish, and their oceans roll;
Yet thefe great orbs, thus radically bright,
Primitive founts, and origins of light,
May each to other (as their diff'rent sphere
Makes or their distance or their height appear
Be feen a nobler or inferior star,
And in that space which we call air and sky,
Myriads of earths, and moons, and funs may lie
Unmeafur'd, and unknown by human eye.
In vain we measure this amazing sphere, And find and fix its centre here or there, Whilft its circumf'rence, fcorning to be brought E'en into fancy'd fpace, illudes our vanquish'd thought.
Where then are all the radiant monsters driv'n 540 With which your gueffes fill'd the frighten'd heav'n ? Where will their fictious images remain?
In paper fchemes, and the Chaldean's brain?
This problem yet, this offspring of a guess, Let us for once a child of Truth confefs; That these fair ftars, these objects of delight And terror to our fearching dazzled fight, Are worlds immenfe, unnumber'd, infinite; But do these worlds difplay their beams, or guide Their orbs, to ferve thy ufe, to please thy pride? 550 Thyself but duft, thy ftature but a span, A moment thy duration, foolish man? As well may the minuteft emmet fay That Caucafus was rais'd to pave his way; The fnail, that Lebanon's extended wood Was deftin'd only for his walk and food; The vileft cockle, gaping on the coast,
That rounds the ample feas, as well may boast
The craggy rock projects above the sky,
That he in fafety at its foot may lie;
And the whole ocean's confluent waters swell,
Only to quench his thirst, or move and blanch
A higher flight the vent'rous goddess tries, Leaving material worlds and local skies;
Inquires what are the beings, where the space, 565
That form'd and held the angels' ancient race?
For rebel Lucifer with Michael fought,
(I offer only what Tradition taught)
Embattl'd cherub against cherub rose,
Did fhield to fhield and pow'r to pow'r oppofe; 570
Heav'n rung with triumph, hell was fill'd with woes.
What were thefe forms, of which your volumes tell
How fome fought great, and others recreant fell?
These bound to bear an everlasting load,
Durance of chain, and banishment of God;
By fatal turns their wretched ftrength to tire,
To fwim in fulph'rous lakes, or land on folid fire;
While thofe, exalted to primeval light,
Excefs of bleffing, and fupreme delight,
Only perceive fome little paufe of joys,
In those great moments when their God employs
Their miniftry to pour his threaten'd hate
On the proud king or the rebellious state;
Or to reverse Jehovah's high command,
And speak the thunder falling from his hand,
When to his duty the proud king returns,
And the rebellious ftate in afhes mourns?
How can good angels be in heav'n confin'd,
Or view that Presence which no space can bind?
Is God above, beneath, or yon', or here?
He who made all, is he not ev'ry where?
Oh! how can wicked angels find a night
So dark to hide 'em from that piercing light
Which form'd the eye, and gave the pow'r of fight?
What mean I now of angel, when I hear
Firm body, fpirit pure, or fluid air?
Spirits, to action fpiritual confin'd
Friends to our thought, and kindred to our mind,
Should only act and prompt us from within,
Nor by external eye be ever seen.
Was it not therefore to our fathers known
That thefe had appetite, and limb, and bone?
VOL. II.
Elfe how could Abram wash their weary'd feet,
Or Sarah please their tafte with fav'ry meat?
Whence fhould they fear? or why did Lot engage
To fave their bodies from abusive rage?
And how could Jacob, in a real fight,
Feel or refift the wrestling angel's might?
How could a form its ftrength with matter try?
Or how a spirit touch a mortal's thigh?
Now are they air condens'd, or gather'd rays?
How guide they then our pray'r or keep our ways,
By ftronger blafts ftill fubject to be toft,
By tempefts scatter'd, and in whirlwinds loft?
Have they again (as facred fong proclaims)
Subftances real, and existing frames?
How comes it, fince with them we jointly share
The great effect of one Creator's care,
That whilft our bodies ficken and decay,
Theirs are for ever healthy, young, and gay?
Why, whilft we ftruggle in this vale beneath
With want and forrow, with disease and death,
Do they more blefs'd perpetual life employ
On fongs of pleasure and in fcenes of joy?
Now, when my mind has all this world furvey'd, And found that nothing by itself was made; When thought has rais'd itself by just degrees, From vallies crown'd with flow'rs, and hills with trees,
From fmoking min'rals, and from rising streams,
From fatt'ning Nilus, or victorious Thames;
From all the living that four-footed move
Along the fhore, the meadow, or the grove;
From all that can with fins or feathers fly
Thro' the aerial or the wat'ry sky;
From the poor reptile with a reas'ning foul,
That miferable matter of the whole;
From this great object of the body's eye,
This fair half-round, this ample azure sky,
Terribly large, and wonderfully bright,
With ftars unnumber'd, and unineafur'd light: 640 From effences unfeen, coleftial names,
Enlight'ning fpirits, and ministerial flames,
Angels, Dominions, Potentates, and Thrones,
All that in each degree the name of creature owns :
Lift we our reafon to that fov'reign caufe
645 Who bleft the whole with life, and bounded it with laws; Who forth from nothing call'd this comely frame, His will and act, his word and work the fame; To whom a thousand years are but a day; Who bade the Light her genial beams display, And fet the moon, and taught the fun his way; Who waking Time, his creature, from the fource Primeval, order'd his predeftin'd course, Himself, as in the hollow of his hand, Holding, obedient to his high command, The deep abyfs, the long continu'd store,
Where months, and days, and hours, and minutes,pour
Their floating parts, and thenceforth are no more:
This Alpha and Omega, First and Last,
Who, like the potter, in a mould has caft
The world's great frame, commanding it to be
Such as the eyes of Senfe and Reafon fee;
Yet if he wills may change or spoil the whole,
May take yon' beauteous, myftic, ftarry roll,
And burn it like an useless parchment fcroll;
May from its bafis in one moment pour
This melted earth-
Like liquid metal, and like burning ore;
Who, fole in pow'r, at the beginning faid,
Let fea, and air, and earth, and heav'n, be made, 670 And it was fo-And when he shall ordain
In other fort, has but to speak again,
And they shall be no more: of this great theme,
This glorious, hallow'd, everlafting Name,
This God, I would difcourfe-
The learned Elders fat appall'd, amaz'd,
And each with mutual look on other gaz'd;
Nor fpeech they meditate, nor answer frame;
Too plain, alas! their filence fpake their shame;
Till one in whom an outward mien appear'd
And turn fuperior to the vulgar herd,
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