Whilft its circumference, fcorning to be brought
Ev'n into fancy'd space, illudes our vanquish'd thought.
Where then are all the radiant monsters driven, 540
With which your gueffes fill'd the frighten'd heaven?
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 thefe fair ftars, thefe objects of delight
And terror to our fearching dazzled fight,
Are worlds immenfe, unnumber'd, infinite.
But do thefe worlds difplay their beams, or guide
Their orbs, to serve thy use, to please thy pride? 550
Thyself but duft, thy ftature but a span,
A moment thy duration, foolish man?
As well may the minutest emmet say,
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 coaft
That rounds the ample feas, as well may
The craggy rock projects above the sky,
That he in fafety at its foot may lie ;
And the whole ocean's confluent waters fwell,
Only to quench his thirft, or move and blanch his shell. A higher flight the venturous 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);
Embattled cherub against cherub rose,
Did fhield to fhield, and power to power oppose ; 570
Heaven rung
with triumph, hell was fill'd with woes.
What were thefe forms of which volumes tell,
How fome fought great, and others recreant fell?
These bound to bear an everlasting load,
Darance of chain, and banishment of God;
By fatal turns their wretched ftrength to tire,
To fwim in fulphurous lakes, or land on folid fire:
While thofe exalted to primæval light,
Excefs of bleffing, and fupreme delight,
Only perceive fome little pause 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 ashes mourns?
How can good angels be in heaven confin'd,
Or view that presence, which no fpace can bind?
Is God above, beneath, or yon', or here?
He who made all, is he not every where?
Oh, how can wicked angels find a night
So dark, to hide them from that piercing light,
Which form'd the eye, and gave the power 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 cur fathers known,
That these had appetite, and limb, and bone?
Elfe how could Abraham wash their weary'd feet?
Or Sarah please their taste with favoury meat?
Whence fhould they fear? or why did Lot engage 605 ·
To fave their bodies from abufive rage?
And how could Jacob, in a real fight,
Feel or refift the wreflling angel's might?
How could a form in 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 prayer, or keep our ways,
By ftronger blasts still subject to be tost,
By tempefts scatter'd, and in whirlwinds loft?
Have they again (as facred fong proclaims)
Subítances real, and exifting 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, whilst we ftruggle in this vale beneath
With want and forrow, with disease and death,
Do they, more bless'd, perpetual life employ
On fongs of pleasure, and in scenes of joy?
Now when my mind has all this world furvey'd, 625
And found, that nothing by itself was made;
When thought has rais'd itself, by juft degrees,
From vallies crown'd with flowers, and hills with trees;
From fmoaking mineral, and from rising streams;
From fattening 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
Through the aërial or the watery sky;
From the poor reptile with a reafoning foul,
That miferable master 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 unmeafur'd light;
From effences unseen, celestial names,
Enlightening fpirits, and minifterial flames,
Angels, dominions, potentates, and thrones,
All that in each degree the name of creature owns :
Lift we our Reason to that Sovereign Cause, 645
Who bleft the whole with life, and bounded it with
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 bad the light her genial beams difplay, 650
And fet the moon, and taught the fun its way:
Who, waking Time, his creature, from the fource
Primæval, 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-continued ftore,
Where months, and days, and hours, and minutes
Their floating parts, and thenceforth are no more.
This Alpha and Omega, first and lait,
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 Reason see ;
Yet if he wills may change or spoil the whole;
May take yon' beauteous, mystic, starry roll,
And burn it like an useless parchment scroll; 665
May from its bafis in one moment pour
Like liquid metal, and like burning ore :
Who, fole in power, at the beginning faid,
Let Sea, and Air, and Earth, and Heaven be made; 670
And it was fo: - and, when he shall ordain
In other fort, has but to fpeak again,
And they fhall 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 anfwer frame
(Too plain, alas! their filence fpake their fhame);
Till one, in whom an outward mien appear'd,
And turn fuperior to the vulgar herd,
Began That human learning's furtheft reach
Was but to note the doctrine I could teach;
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