II. But would you meanly thus rely On power, you know, I muft obey? And do an ill, becaufe you may? Still muft I thee, as atheists heaven, adore; Not fee thy mercy, and yet dread thy power? Take heed, my dear: youth flies apace; The thousand Loves, that arm thy potent eye, Then wilt thou figh, when in each frown A hateful wrinkle more appears; And putting peevish humours on, V. Forc'd compliments, and formal bows, A talking dull platonic I shall turn : VI. Then II. Let wit her fails, her oars let wisdom lend; Yet cease to hope thy fhort-liv'd bark shall ride Still 'tis farther from its end; And, in the bofom of that boundless sea, With daring pride and infolent delight, Your doubts refolv'd you boaft, your labours crown'd; And, "EYPHKA! your God, forfooth, is found. Incomprehenfible and infinite. But is he therefore found? Vain fearcher! no: Let your imperfect definition show, That nothing you, the weak definer, know. IV. Say, why fhould the collected main Itfelf within itself contain ? Why to its caverns should it fometimes creep, On the lov'd bofom of its parent deep? Why fhould its numerous waters stay In comely difcipline, and fair array, Till winds and tides exert their high command! Why do the rifing furges fpread Their opening ranks o'er earth's fubmiffive head, Marching through different paths to different lands? V. Why does the constant fun With measur'd steps his radiant journies run? Love the juft limits of its proper fphere ? With prudent harmony combine VI. Man does with dangerous curiofity Matter and motion he reftrains; And ftudied lines and fictious circles draws: Lord of his new hypothefis he reigns. He reigns: how long? till fome ufurper rife; That all his predeceffor's rules Were empty cant, all jargon of the schools; * C 3 That That he on t'other's ruin rears his throne; And fhows his friend's mistake, and thence confirms his own. VII. On earth, in air, amidft the feas and fkies, (That feeble engine of his reasoning war, Which guides his doubts, and combats his despair), Laws to his Maker the learn'd wretch can give : Can bound that nature, and prescribe that will, Whofe pregnant word did either ocean fill: Can tell us whence all beings are, and how they move and live. Through either ocean, foolish man! That pregnant word fent forth again, Might to a world extend each atom there; For every drop call forth a fea, a heaven for every star. VIII. Let cunning earth her fruitful wonders hide; And only lift thy staggering reafon up To trembling Calvary's astonish'd top; Then mock thy knowledge, and confound thy pride, Then Then down with all thy boasted volumes, down; Low, reverently low, Make thy ftubborn knowledge bow; Weep out thy Reason's and thy body's eyes; To look to Heaven, be blind to all below. IX. Then Faith, for Reason's glimmering light, fhall give. Her immortal perfpective; And Grace's prefence Nature's lofs retrieve : Then thy enliven'd soul shall fee, That all the volumes of Philofophy, With all their comments, never could invent, So politic an inftrument, To reach the Heaven of Heavens, the High Abode,. As was the ladder which old Jacob rear'd, H Confiderations on Part of the 88th PSALM. I. EAVY, O Lord, on me thy judgements lie, |