And tempeft nature's univerfal sphere.
Such oppofites eternal, ftedfast, stern,
Such foes implacable, are good, and ill;

Yet man, vain man, would mediate peace between

them.

Think not this fiction, "There was war in beaven,"

From heaven's high crystal mountain, where it hung, 1070

Th' Almighty's out-stretch'd arm took down his

bow,

And fhot his indignation at the deep:
Re-thunder'd bell, and darted all her fires.
And feems the ftake of little moment ftill?
And flumbers man, who fingly caus'd the storm?
1075

*་

1123

1065 | To ftrike this truth through adamantine man? 1120
If not all adamant, Lorenzo! hear;
All is delufion; nature is wrapt up,
In tenfold night, from reafon's keeneft eye;
There's no confiftence, meaning, plan, or end,
In all beneath the fun, in all above,
(As far as man can penetrate), or heaven
Is an immenfe, ineftimable prize;
Or all is Nothing, or that prize is all.
And fhall each toy be still a match for heaven,
And full equivalent for groans below?
1130
Who would not give a trifle to prevent
What he would give a thousand worlds to cure?
Lorenzo! thou haft seen (if thine to fee)
All nature, and her God (by nature's courfe,
And nature's course control'd) declare for me: 1135
The skies above proclaim, “ immortal man!"
And, 66 man immortal!? all below refounds.
The world's a fyftem of theology,
Read by the greatest strangers to the schools;
If boneft, learn'd; and fages o'er a plough.
Is not, Lorenzo! then, impos'd on thee
This hard alternative; or, to renounce
Thy reafon, or thy fenfe; or, to believe?
What then is unbelief? "Tis an exploit;
A ftrenuous enterprize; to gain it, man
Muft barff through every bar of common fenfe,
Of common fhame, magnanimously wrong;
And what rewards the sturdy combatant?
His prize, repentance; infamy, his crown.
But wherefore, infamy?-For want of faith,

He fleeps.—And art thou shock'd at mysleries ?
The greateft, Thou. How dreadful to reflect,
What ardour, care, and counsel mortals caufe
In breafts divine! how little in their own!
Where-e'er I turn, how new proofs pour

me!

upon
1080

How happily this wondrous view fupports
My former argument! How ftrongly frikes
Immortal life's full demonflration, bere!
Why this exertion? Why this ftrange regard
• From heaven's Omnipotent indulg'd to man?

Because, in man, the glorious dreadful power,
Extremely to be pain'd, or bleft, for ever.
Duration gives importance; fwells the price.
An angel, if a creature of a day,

1085

What would he be? A trifle of no weight; 1090
Or ftand, or fall; no matter which; he's gone.
Becaufe Immortal, therefore is indulg'd
This firange regard of deities to duft.

Hence heaven looks down on earth with all her
eyes:

Hence, the foul's mighty moment in her fight; 1095
Hence, every foul has partifans above,
And every thought a critic in the fkies:
Hence, clay, vile clay! has angels for its guard,
And every guard a paffion for his charge:
Hence, from all age, the cabinet divine
flas held high counsel o'er the fate of man.
Nor have the clouds thofe gracious counfels hid;
Angels undrew the curtain of the throne,
And Providence came forth to meet mankind :
in various modes of emphasis and awe,"
He spoke his will, and trembling nature heard;
He fpoke it loud, in thunder and in form.
Wituefs, thou Sinai! whofe cloud-cover'd height,
And fhaken bafis, own'd the prefent God;
Witnefs, ye billorus! whofe returning tide, III
Breaking the chain that fasten'd it in air,
Sweet Egypt, and her menaces, to hell:
Witnefs, ye flames! th' Affyrian tyrant blew
To fevenfold rage, as impotent, as strong:
And thou, earth! witness, whofe expanding

*

jaws

1115

Clos'd o'er prefumption's facrilegious fons :
Has not each element, in turn, fubfcrib'd
The foul's bigh price, and sworn it to the wife?
Has not fame, ocean, æther, earthquake, ftrove

Korab, 1.

Down the steep precipice of wrong he flides;
There's nothing to fupport him in the right.
Faith in the future wanting is at least
In embryo, every weaknefs, every guilt;
And ftrong temptation ripens it to birth.
If this life's gain invites him to the deed,
Why not his country fold, his father flain?
'Tis virtue to purfue our good fupremie;
And his fupreme, his only good is bere.
Ambition, avarice, by the wife difdain'd,
Is perfect wisdom, while mankind are fools,
And think a turf, or tomb-stone, covers all ;
These find employment, and provide for fenfe
A richer pafture, and a larger range;
And fenfe by right divine afcends the throne, 1165
When virtue's prize and profpect are no more;
Virtue no more we think the will of heaven.
Would heaven quite beggar virtue, if belov'd?
"Has virtue charms?"-I grant her heavenly

That root deftroy'd, they wither and expire.
A deity believ'd, will nought avail;'
Rewards and punishments make God ador'd; 1175
And bopes and fears give conscience all her power.
As in the dying parent dies the child,
Virtue, with immortality, expires.

Who tells me he denies his foul immortal,
Whate'er his boast, has told me, He's a knave. 1189
His duty 'tis, to love himself alone;
Nor care though mankind perish, if he finiles.
Who thinks cre long the man shall wholly die;

Of hope; and which vice only recommends.

If fo, where, infidels! your bait thrown out

1325 To catch weak converts? where your lofty boaft

will in Mine, to blefs heaven, and triumph in your praife.
But fince fo peftilential your disease,
Though fovereign is the medicine I prescribe,
As yet, I'll neither triumph, nor defpair: 1395
But hope, ere long, my midnight dream will wake
Your hearts, and teach your wifdom-to be wife:
For why fhould fouls immortal, made for blifs,
E'er with, (and with in vain !) that fouls could
die?

Is it lefs ftrange, that thou fhould' live at all?
This is a miracle; and That no more.

Who gave beginning, can exclude an end. 1410
Deny thou art: Then, doubt if thou bult be.
A miracle with miracles inclos'd,

Is man: and ftarts his faith at what is range?
What lefs than wonders, from the wonderful;
What less than miracles, from God, can flow? 1415
Admit a God--that mystery fupreme!
That cause uncaus'd! all other wonders ceafe;
1360 Nothing is marvellous for Him to do:

1435

Reafon is man's peculiar: Senfe, the brute's.
The prefent is the fcanty realm of fenfe;
The future, reafon's empire unconfin'd:
On that expending all her godlike power,
She plans, provides, expatiates, triumphs, there;
There, builds her bleffing! There, expects her
praife;

And nothing afks of fortune, or of men.
And what is reafon? Be fhe, thus, defin'd;
Reafon is upright ftature in the foul,
Oh! be a man; and strive to be a god.

NIGHT THE EIGHTH.

VIRTUE's APOLOGY;

OR,

THE MAN OF THE WORLD ANSWERED.

IN WHICH ARE CONSIDERED,

The Love of this Life; the Ambition and Plea fure, with the Wit and Wisdom of the World.

A

ND has all nature, then, efpous'd my part?
Have I brib'd heaven and earth to plead again
thee?

1440 And is thy foul immortal?-What remains?
All, All, Lorenzo!-Make immortal, bleft.
Unbleft immortals !-What can fhock us more? 5

"For what? (thou fay'ft) To damp the joys of And yet Lorenzo ftill affects the world;

life?"

10

There, ftows his treasure; thence, his title draws,
Man of the world (for such wouldst thou be call'd)
1445 And art thou proud of that inglorious style?
Proud of reproach? for a reproach it was,
In antient days; and CHRISTIAN-in an age,
When men were men, and not afham'd of heaven-
Fir'd their ambition, as it crown'd their joy.
Sprinkled with dews from the Caftalian font,
Fain would I re-baptize thee, and confer
A purer fpirit, and á nobler name.

No; to give heart and fubflance to thy joys,
That tyrant, hope; mark how the domineers;
She bids us quit realities, for dreams;
Safety and peace for hazard, and alarm;
That tyrant o'er the tyrants of the foul,
She bids ambition quit its taken prize.
Spurn the luxuriant branch on which it fits, 1450
Though bearing crowns, to fpring at diftant game;
And plunge in toils and dangers-for repofe.
If bope precarious, and of things, when gain'd,
Of little moment, and as little stay,
Can fweeten toils, and dangers into joys;
What then, that hope, which nothing can defeat,
Our leave unafk'd? Rich hope of boundless blifs!
Blifs, paft man's power to paint it; time's to close!
This hope is earth's most eftimable prize :
This is man's portion, while no more than man:
1460

1455

1465

Hope, of all paffions, moft befriends us here ;
Paflions of prouder name befriend us less.
Joy has her tears; and tranfport has her death;
Hope, like a cordial, innocent, though strong,
Man's heart, at once, infpirits, and ferenes;
Nor makes him pay his wifdom for his joys;
"Tis all our prefent ftate can fafely bear,
Health to the frame! and vigour to the mind!
A joy attemper'd! a chaflis'd delight!

Like the fair fummer evening, mild, and fweet!
'Tis man's full cup; his paradife below!

1471

15

20

Thy fond attachments fatal, and inflam'd,
Point out my path, and dictate to my fong:
To Thee, the world how fair! How strongly strikes
Ambition! and gay pleasure stronger still!
Thy triple bane! the triple bolt that lays
Thy virtue dead! Be thefe my triple theme;
Nor fhall thy wit, or wifdam, be forgot.

Common the theme; not fo the fong; if the
My fong invokes, Urania, deigns to fmile.
25
The charm that chains us to the world, her foe,
If the diffolves, the man of earth, at once,
Starts from his trance, and fighs for other scenes;
Scenes, where thefe fparks of night, these fiars,

fhall fhine

35

Unnumber'd funs (for all things, as they are, 30
The bleft behold;) and, in one glory, pour
Their blended blaze on man's aftonish'd fight;
A blaze-the least illuftrious objeЯ there.
Lorenzo! fince eternal is at hand.
To fwallow time's ambitions; as the vast
Leviathan, the bubbles vain, that ride
High on the foaming billow; what avail
High titles, high defcent, attainments high,
If unattain'd our bigbeft? O Lorenzo!
What lofty thoughts, thefe elements above,
What towering hopes, what fallies from the fun,
What grand furveys of destiny divine,
And pompous prefage of unfathom'd fate,
Should roll in bofoms, where a spirit burns,
1480 Bound for eternity! In bofoms read

[1475

A bleft hereafter, then, or hop'd, or gain'd,
Is All; our whole of happiness: full proof,
I chofe no trivial or inglorious theme.
And know, ye foes to fong! (well-meaning men,
Though quite forgotten half your Bible's praife!)
Important truths, in fpite of verfe, may please:
Grave minds you praife; nor can you praise too
much :

If there is weight in an Eternity,
Let the grave liften ;-and be graver Nill.
*The poetical parts of it.

The days, his daughters, as they fpin our hours
On fortune's wheel, where accident unthought
Oft, in a moment, fnaps life's strongest thread, 115
Each, in her turn, fome tragic story tells,
With, now-and-then, a wretched farce between,
And fills his chronicle with human woes.

Time's daughters, true as thofe of men, de-
ceive us;

Not one, but puts fome cheat on all mankind: 120
60 While in their father's bosom, not yet ours,
They flatter our fond hopes; and promise much
Of amiable; but hold bim not o'erwife,

65 At ftill-confiding, ftill-confounded, man,
Confiding, though confounded; hoping on,
Untaught by trial, unconvinc'd by proof,
And ever-looking for the never-feen.
Life to the laft, like harden'd felons, lyes;
Nor owns itself a cheat, till it expires.
Its little joy goes out by One and One,
And leave poor man, at length, in perfect night;
Night darker, than what, now, involves the pole.
O Thou, who doft permit these ills to fall,
For gracious ends, and would'ft that man should
135

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