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Down on the turf, the next, two two legg'd beaft, NO
There fix thy lot, thy blifs and endlefs reft :

Between these wide extremes the length is fuch,
I find I know too little or two much.

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Almighty Pow'r, by whofe moft wife command,
Helplefs, forlorn, uncertain here I ftand;

Take this faint glimm'ring of thy felf away,
• Or break into my foul with perfect day !'
This faid, expanded lay the facred text,
The balm, the light, the guide of fouls perplex'd.
Thus the benighted traveller that ftrays
Through doubtful paths, enjoys the morning rays
The nightly mist, and thick descending dew,
Parting, unfold the fields and vaulted blue.

O Truth divine! enlightend by thy ray,
• I grope and guess no more, but fee my way';
• Thou clear'dft the fecret of my high defcent,

And told'ff me what thofe myftic tokens meant ; • Marks of my birth, which I had worn in vain, Too hard for worldly fages to explain. • Zeno's were vain, vain Epicurus' schemes, Their fyflems falfe, delufive were their dreams.

• Unfkill'd my twofold nature to divide,

• One nurs❜d my pleasure, and one nurs'd my pride ;~ • Those jarring truths which human art beguile,

Thy facred page thus bids me reconcile,'

Offspring

Offspring of God, nolefs thy pedigree, patarina mwe
What thou once wert, art now, and fill may be,
Thy God alone can tell, alone decree;

Faultlefs thou dropp'dft from his unerring fkill,...)
With the bare pow'r to fin, fince free of will:
Yet charge not with thy guilt his bounteous love, 1
For who has pow'r to walk has pow'r to roven
Who acts by force impell'd can nought: deferve; 1
And wisdom fhort of infinite may fwerve.

Borne on thy new-imp'd wings, thou took'ft thy flight,
Left thy Creator, and the realms of light;
Difdain'd his gentle precept to fulfil,
And thought to grow a god by doing ill:
Though by foul guilt thy heav'nly form defac'd,
In nature chang'd, from happy manfions chas'd,
Thou ftill retain 'ft fome sparks of heavenly fire,
Too faint to mount, yet reflefs to aspire;

Angel enough to feek thy blifs again,

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And brute enough to make thy fearch in vain. 144
The creatures now withdraw their kindly ufe,
Some fly thee, fome torment, and fome feduce;)-\
Repaft ill-fuited to fuch diff'rent guests, motive
For what thy fenfe defires, thy soul distastes idio
Thy luft, thy curiofity, thy pride, 'q

Curb'd, or defervid, or baulk'd, or gratified,
Rage on, and make thee equally unblefsdom

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In what thou want'ft, and what thou haft poffefs depe
In vain thou hop'st for blifs on this poor
Return and feek thy Father and thy God;
Yet think not to regain thy native fky,"
Borne on the wings of vain philofophy!
Myfterious paffage! hid from human eyes;
Soaring you'll fink, and finking you will rife:
Let humble thoughts thy wary footfteps guide;
Repair by meekness what you loft by pride.

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Within the chancel; and he wrote

Thereon, Hic Deus eft.

A merry grig, whofe greedy mind

Long wish'd for such a prey,

Refpefting not the facred words
That on the cafket lay,

Took out the gold, and blotting out
The pricft's infcript thereon,

Wrote, Refurrexit, non eft hic,

"Your God is rose and gone,”

THE

THE

TRIALS OF VIRTUE,

By Mr. MERRICK.

LAC'd on the verge of youth, my mind

PLAC

Life's op'ning fcene furvey'd:

I view'd its ills of various kind,

Afflicted and afraid.

But chief my fear the dangers mov'd
That virtue's path inclose:

My heart the wife purfuit approv'd;
But, oh, what toils oppofe!

For fee! ah fee while yet her
With doubtful flep I tread,
A hoftile world its terrors raife,
Its fnares delufive fpread.

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Oh how fhall I, with heart prepar'd,
Those terrors learn to meet ?,

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How from the thousand fnares to guard

My unexperienced feet ?

1

As

As thus I mus'd, opprefive fleep
Soft o'er my temples drewȚ a
Oblivion's veil.the wat'sy deep,... ·
An object range and new,

Before me rofe: on the wide fhore

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The gathering forms around me roar,
And heave the boiling flood,

Near and more near the billows rife

E'en now my fteps they lave; And death to my affrighted eyes Approach'd in ev'ry wave.

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What hope, or whither to retreat !
Each nerve at once unftrung,
Chill fear had fetter'd faft my feet, bb
And chain'd my fpeechlefs tongue.

I feel my heart within me die ;l

When fudden to mine ear

A voice, defcending from on high,

Reprov'd my erring fear:‹.

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What tho' the fwelling furge thou fee in

Impatient to devour;

Reft, mortal, reft on God's deeree,

• And thankful own his pow'r.

Know,

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