The whole creation leaves in human hearts!
Thou, who didst touch the lip of Jeffe's son,
Rapt in sweet contemplation of these fires,
And fet his harp in concert with the spheres ;
While of thy works material the Supreme
I dare attempt, affift my daring fong,
Loofe me from earth's inclosure, from the fun's
Contracted circle fet my heart at large;
Eliminate my fpirit, give it range
Through provinces of thought yet unexplor'd;
Teach me, by this ftupendous fcaffolding,
Creation's golden steps, to climb to Thee.
Teach me with art great nature to control,
And spread a luftre o'er the fhades of night.
Feel I thy kind affent? and fhall the fun
Be feen at midnight, rifing in my fong?
Lorenzo! come, and warm thee: thou, whofe heart, Whofe little heart, is moor'd within a nook Of this obfcure terreftrial, anchor weigh. Another ocean calls, a nobler port; I am thy pilot, I thy profperous gale. Gainful thy voyage through yon azure main ; Main, without tempeft, pirate, rock, or shore; And whence thou may'st import eternal wealth; And leave to beggar'd minds the pearl and gold. Thy travels doft thou boat o'er foreign realms ? Thou franger to the world! thy tour begin; Thy tour through nature's universal orb.
Nature delineates her whole chart at large,
On foaring fouls, that fail among the spheres ;
And man how purblind, if unknown the whole!
Who circles fpacious earth, then travels here,
Shall own, he never was from home before!
Come, my * Prometheus, from thy pointed rock 615
Of false ambition if unchain'd, we 'll mount;
We 'll, innocently, steal celeftial fire,
And kindle our devotion at the ftars;
A theft, that shall not chain, but fet thee free.
Above our atmosphere's inteftine wars,
Rain's fountain-head, the magazine of hail;
Above the northern nefts of feather'd fnows,
The brew of thunders, and the flaming forge
That forms the crooked lightning; above the caves
Where infant tempefts wait their growing wings, 625
And tune their tender voices to that roar,
Which foon, perhaps, fhall shake a guilty world;
Above mifconftrued omens of the sky,
Far-travel'd comets' calculated blaze;
Elance thy thought, and think of more than man. 630
Thy foul, till now, contracted, wither'd, shrunk,
Blighted by blafts of earth's unwholfome air,
Will bloffom here; spread all her faculties
To these bright ardours; every power unfold,
And rife into fublimities of thought.
Stars teach, as well as fhine. At nature's birth,
Thus their commiffion ran-" Be kind to man."
Where art thou, poor benighted traveller!
The Stars will light thee; though the Moon fhould fail. Where art thou, more benighted! more aftray!
In ways immoral? The Stars call thee back;
And, if obey'd their counfel, fet thee right.
This profpect vast, what is it?-Weigh'd aright 'Tis nature's system of divinity,
And every ftudent of the Night infpires.
'Tis elder Scripture, writ by God's own hand : Scripture authentic! uncorrupt by man. Lorenzo! with my Radius (the rich gift
Of thought nocturnal!) I 'll point out to thee
Its various leffons; fome that may surprize
An un-adept in myfteries of Night;
Little, perhaps, expected in ber school,
Nor thought to grow on planet, or on star.
Bulls, lions, fcorpions, monsters here we feign;
Ourselves more monftrous, not to fee what here
Exifts indeed;-a lecture to mankind.
What read we here ?-Th' exiftence of a God?
Yes; and of other beings, man above;
Natives of Æther! Sons of higher climes !
And, what may move Lorenzo's wonder more,
Eternity is written in the skies.
And whofe eternity?-Lorenzo ! Thine;
Mankind's eternity. Nor Faith alone,
here fprings the fovereign cure
Of almost every vice; but chiefly Thine;
Wrath, Pride, Ambition, and impure Defire.
Lorenzo! Thou canft wake at midnight too,
Though not on Morals bent: Ambition, Pleasure!
Thofe tyrants I for Thee fo * lately fought,
Afford their harafs'd flaves but slender rest.
Thou, to whom midnight is immoral noon,
And the fun's noon-tide blaze, prime dawn of day;
Not by thy climate, but capricious crime,
Commencing one of our Antipodes !
In thy nocturnal rove, one moment halt,
'Twixt stage and stage, of riot, and cabal;
And lift thine eye, (if bold an eye to lift,
If bold to meet the face of injur'd heaven)
To yonder ftars: For other ends they shine,
Than to light revellers from shame to shame,
And, thus, be made accomplices in guilt.
Why from yon arch, that infinite of space,
With infinite of lucid orbs replete,
Which fet the living firmament on fire,
At the first glance, in fuch an overwhelm
Of wonderful, on man's astonish'd fight,
Rufhes omnipotence? To curb our pride;
Our reason rouse, and lead it to that power,
Whofe love lets down these filver chains of light;
To draw up man's ambition to himself,
And bind our chafte affections to his throne..
Thus the three virtues, least alive on earth,
And welcom'd on heaven's coaft with most applaufe,
An humble, pure, and heavenly-minded heart,
Are here infpir'd:-And canft thou gaze too long? 695
Nor ftands thy wrath depriv'd of its repooof,
Or un-upbraided by this radiant choir..
The planets of each system represent
Kind neighbours; mutual amity prevails;
Sweet interchange of rays, receiv'd, return'd;
Enlightening, and enlighten'd! All, at once,
Attracting, and attracted! Patriot-like,
None fins against the welfare of the whole;
But their reciprocal, unselfish aid,
Affords an emblem of millennial love.
Nothing in nature, much less conscious being,
Was e'er created folely for itself:
Thus man his fovereign duty learns in this
Material picture of benevolence.
And know, of all our fupercilious race,
Thou most inflammable! Thou wasp of men!"
Man's angry heart, infpected, would be found
As rightly fet, as are the starry spheres;
'Tis nature's structure, broke by stubborn will,
Breeds all that un-celeftial discord there.
Wilt thou not feel the bias nature gave ?
Canft thou defcend from converfe with the skies,
And feize thy brother's throat?-For what-a clod,
An inch of earth? The planets cry, " Forbear,"
They chace our double darkness; nature's gloom, 720>
And (kinder ftill !) our intellectual night.
And fee, day's amiable fifter fends
Her invitation, in the softest rays
Of mitigated luftre; courts thy fight,
Which fuffers from her tyrant-brother's blaze.
Night grants thee the full freedom of the skies,
Nor rudely reprimands thy lifted eye;
With gain, and joy, she bribes thee to be wife.
Night opes the nobleft scenes, and sheds an awe,
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