Of universal nature, as a fpeck,
Like fair Britannia in our little ball;
Exceeding fair, and glorious, for its fize,
But, elsewhere, far out-meafur'd, far outshone?
In fancy (for the fact beyond us lies)
Canft thou not figure it, an Ile, almost
Too fmall for notice, in the vaft of being;
Sever'd by mighty seas of un-built space
From other realms; from ample continents
Of higher life, where nobler natives dwell;
Less northern, lefs remote from Deity,
Glowing beneath the line of the Supreme;
Where fouls in excellence make hafte, put forth
Luxuriant growths; nor the late autumn wait
Of human worth, but ripen foon to gods?
Yet why drown fancy in fuch depths as these?
Return, presumptuous rover! and confess
The bounds of man; nor blame them, as too fmall. 1615 Enjoy we not full scope in what is feen?
Full ample the dominions of the fun!
Full glorious to behold! how far, how wide,
The matchlefs monarch, from his flaming throne,
Lavish of luftre, throws his beams about him,
Farther, and fafter, than a thought can fly,
And feeds his planets with eternal fires!
This Heliopolis, by greater far,
Than the proud tyrant of the Nile, was built;
And He alone, who built it, can destroy.
Beyond this city, why ftrays human thought?
One wonderful, enough for man to know!
One infinite! enough for man to range!
One firmament, enough for man to read!
O what voluminous inftruction here!
What page of wisdom is deny'd him? None;
If learning his chief leffon makes him wife.
Nor is inftruction, here, our only gain;
There dwells a noble pathos in the skies,
Which warms our paffions, profelytes our hearts. 1635
How eloquently shines the glowing pole !
With what authority it gives its charge,
Remonftrating great truths in ftyle fublime,
Though filent, loud! heard earth around; above
The planets heard; and not unheard in hell;
Hell has her wonder, though too proud to praise.
Is earth, then, more infernal? has the thofe,
Who neither praise (Lorenzo) nor admire?
Lorenzo's admiration, pre-engag'd,
Ne'er afk'd the moon one queftion; never held
Leaft correfpondence with a fingle star;
Ne'er rear'd an altar to the queen of heaven
Walking in brightness; or her train ador'd,
Their fublunary rivals have long fince
Engrofs'd his whole devotion; stars malign,
Which made the fond aftronomer run mad;
Darken his intellect, corrupt his heart;
Caufe him to facrifice his fame and peace.
To momentary madness, call'd delight,
Idolater, more gross than ever kiss'd.
The lifted hand to Luna, or pour'd out
The blood to Jove !-O Thou, to whom belongs
All facrifice! O Thou Great Jove unfeign'd!
Divine Instructor! Thy first volume, this,
For man's perufal; all in Capitals !
and fars (heaven's golden alphabet !).
Emblaz'd to feize the fight; who runs, may read;
Who reads, can underfiand. 'Tis unconfin'd
To Chriftian land, or Jewry; fairly writ,
In language univerfal, to Mankind :.
A language, lofty to the learn'd: yet plain
To those that feed the flock, or guide the plough,
Or, from his hufk, ftrike out the bounding grain.
A language, worthy the Great Mind, that speaks!
Preface, and comment, to the facred page!
Which oft refers its reader to the skies,.
As pre-fuppofing his first lesson there,
And fcripture felf a fragment, that unread.
Stupendous book of wisdom, to the wife!
Stupendous book! and open'd, Night! by Thee.. 1675
By Thee much open'd, I confefs, O Night!
Yet more I wish; but how fhall I prevail?
Say, gentle Night! whofe modeft, maiden beams
Give us a new creation, and prefent
The world's great picture soften'd to the fight; 1680.
Nay, kinder far, far more indulgent still,
Say, thou, whofe mild dominion's filver key
Unlocks our hemifphere, and fets to view
Worlds beyond number; worlds conceal'd by day -
Behind the proud, and envious ftar of noon!
Canft thou not draw a deeper fcene ?-And shew
The Mighty Potentate, to whom belong
Thefe rich regalia pompously difplay'd
To kindle that high hope ? Like him of Uz,
I gaze around; I fearch on every fide-
O for a glimpse of Him my foul adores !
As the chac'd hart, amid the defart waste,
Pants for the living stream; for Him who made her, So pants the thirsty foul, amid the blank
Of fublunary joys. Say, goddess! where?
Where blazes His bright court? Where burns His throne?
Thou know'ft; for Thou art near Him; by Thee, round
His grand pavilion, facred fame reports
The fable curtain drawn. If not, can none
Of thy fair daughter-train, fo fwift of wing,
Who travel far, difcover where He dwells?
A far His dwelling pointed out below.
Ye Pleiades! Arcturus! Mazaroth!
And thou, Orion! of ftill keener eye!
Say ye, who guide the wilder'd in the waves,
And bring them out of tempeft into port!
On which hand must I bend my courfe to find Him?
Thefe courtiers keep the fecret of their King;
I wake whole nights, in vain, to steal it from them.
I wake; and, waking, climb night's radiant scale, 1710
From sphere to sphere; the steps by nature set
For man's afcent; at once to tempt and aid;
To tempt his eye, and aid his towering thought;
Till it arrives at the Great Goal of all.
In ardent contemplation's rapid car,
From earth, as from my barrier, I fet out.
How fwift I mount! diminifh'd earth recedes;
I pass the moon; and, from her farther fide,
Pierce heaven's blue curtain; ftrike into remote ;
Where, with his lifted tube, the fubtil fage
His artificial, airy journey takes,
And to celeftial lengthens human fight.
I pause at every planet on my road,
And ask for Him who gives their orbs to roll,
Their foreheads fair to fhine. From Saturn's ring, 1725
In which, of earths an army might be loft,
With the bold comet, take my bolder flight,
Amid those fovereign glories of the skies,
Of independent, native luftre, proud;
The fouls of systems! and the lords of life,
Through their wide empires!-What behold I now?
A wilderness of wonder burning round;
Where larger funs inhabit higher spheres ;
Perhaps the villas of defcending gods;
Nor halt I here; my toil is but begun;
'Tis but the threshold of the Deity;
Or, far beneath it, I am groveling still.
Nor is it strange; I built on a mistake;
The grandeur of his works, whence folly fought
For aid, to reafon fets his glory higher;
Who built thus high for worms (mere worms to Him)
O where, Lorenzo! must the Builder dwell?
Paufe, then; and, for a moment, here refpire-
If human thought can keep its station here.
Where am I? Where is earth?-Nay, where art Thou
O fun? Is the fun turn'd reclufe ?-And are
His boafted expeditions fhort to mine?—
|