Spread all your wings, ye winds, and waft around,
Even to the starry cope's pale waning bound,
Earth's universal homage to the Lord;
Lift up thine head, imperial Capitol,
Proud on thy height to see the banner'd cross unroll.
Sing to the Lord! when time itself shall cease,
And final ruin's desolating peace
Enwrap this wide, and restless world of man ;
When the Judge rides upon the enthroning wind,
And o'er all generations of mankind
Eternal vengeance waves its winnowing fan; To vast infinity's remotest space,
While ages run their everlasting race,
Shall all the beatific hosts prolong,
Wide as the glory of the Lamb, the Lamb's triumphant song!
YET a few years, or days perhaps,
Or moments, pass in silent lapse,
And time to me shall be no more;
No more the sun these eyes shall view;
Earth o'er these limbs her dust shall strew;
And life's fantastic dream be o'er.
Alas, I touch the dreadful brink!
From nature's verge impell'd I sink!
And gloomy darkness wraps me round!
Yes!-death is ever at my hand,
Fast by my bed he takes his stand,
And constant at my board is found!
But then, this spark that warms,
That lives, that thinks-what fate betides?
Can this be dust?-a kneaded clod!
This yield to death! the soul, the mind,
That measures heaven, and mounts the wind,
That knows at once itself and God!
Great cause of all, above, below,-
Who knows Thee, must for ever know
Thou art immortal and divine!
Thine image on my soul imprest,
Of endless being is the test,
And bids eternity be mine!
Transporting thought! but am I sure
That endless life will joy secure?—
Joys only to the just decreed!-
The guilty wretch, expiring goes
Where vengeance endless life bestows,
That endless misery may succeed!
TO MELANCHOLY.
[MRS. CARTER.]
COME, Melancholy, silent pow'r,
Companion of my lonely hour,
To sober thought confin'd!
Thou sweetly sad ideal guest,
Indulge my pensive mind.
No longer wildly hurried through
The tides of life, that ebb and flow
In folly's noisy stream;
I from the busy crowd retire,
To court the objects that inspire
Thy philosophic dream.
Thro' yon dark grove of mournful
With solitary steps I muse,
By thy direction led:
Here, cold to pleasure's tempting forms,
Consociate with my sister worms,
And mingle with the dead.
Ye midnight horrors, awful gloom!
Ye silent regions of the tomb,
My future peaceful bed;
Here shall my weary eyes be clos'd,
And every sorrow be repos'd
In death's refreshing shade.
Ye pale inhabitants of night,
Before my intellectual sight,
In solemn pomp ascend:
O tell how trifling now appears
The train of idle hopes and fears
That varying life attend!
Ye faithless idols of our sense,
Here own how vain your fond pretence,
Ye empty names of joy,
Your transient forms like shadows pass;
Frail offspring of the magic glass
Before the mental eye.
The dazzling colours falsely bright,
Attract the gazing vulgar sight,
With superficial state:
Thro' Reason's clearer optic view'd,
Now stripp'd of all its pomp,. how rude
Appears the painted cheat!
Can wild Ambition's tyrant pow'r,
Or ill-got Wealth's superfluous store,
The dread of death control?
Can Pleasure's more bewitching charms
Avert or scothe the dire alarms
That shake the parting soul?
Religion! ere the hand of fate
Shall make reflection plead too late,
My erring senses teach,
Amidst the flatt'ring hopes of youth,
To meditate the solemn truth
These awful relics preach.
Thy penetrating beams disperse
The mist of error, whence our fears
Derive their fatal spring:
"Tis thine the trembling heart to warm, And soften to an angel form
The pale terrific king.
When sunk by guilt in sad despair,
Repentance breathes her humble pray'r
And owns thy threat'nings just;
Thy voice the shudd'ring suppliant cheers
With mercy calms her tortur'd fears,
And lifts her from the dust.
Sublim'd by thee, the soul aspires,
Beyond the rage of low desires,
To nobler views elate:
Unmov'd her destin'd change surveys,
And arm'd by faith, intrepid pays
The universal debt.
In death's soft slumber lull'd to rest,
She sleeps, by smiling visions biest,
That gently whisper peace:
Till the last morn's fair op'ning ray
Unfolds the bright eternal day
Of active life and liss.
GREATEST of Beings! source of life!
Sovereign of air and earth and sea!
All nature feels thy power, and all
A silent homage pay to thee.
Wak'd at thy call, the morning sun
Pours forth to thee, its earliest rays;
And spreads thy glories as it climbs;
While raptur'd worlds look up and praise.
The moon to the deep shades of night,
Speaks the mild lustre of thy name;
While all the stars that cheer the scene,
Thee the great Lord of light proclaim.
And groves and vales, and rocks and hills,
And ev'ry flow'r, and ev'ry tree,
Ten thousand creatures, warm with life,
Have each a grateful song for thee.
But man was form'd to rise to heav'n,
And blest with reason's clear light,
He views his Maker through his works,
And glows with rapture at the sight.
Subject to wants, to thee he looks,
And from thy goodness seeks supplies;
And, when oppress'd with guilt he mourns,
Thy mercy lifts him to the skies.
Children whose little minds unform'd,
Ne'er rais'd a tender thought to Heav'n; And men, whom reason lifts to God, Though oft by passion downward driven;
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