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Or glitt'ring ftar-light.-without thee, is fweet.

But wherefore all night long thine thefe? for whom
This glorious fight, when fleep hath fhut all eyes?"
To whom our gen'ral ancestor reply'd:
"Daughter of God and man, accomplish'd Eve,
These have their course to finish round the earth,
By morrow-ev'ning; and from land to land
In order, though to nations yet unborn,
Minift'ring light prepar'd, they fet and rife;
Left total darknefs fhould by night regain
Her old poffeffion, and extinguifh life

In nature and all things; which these soft fires
Not only enlighten, but with kindly heat
Of various influence, foment and warm,
Temper or nourish; or in part shed down
Their ftellar virtue on all kinds that grow
On earth, made hereby apter to receive
Perfection from the fun's more potent ray.
Thefe then, though unbeheld in deep of night,
Shine not in vain; nor think, though men were none,
That heav'n would want fpectators, God want praise:
Millions of fpiritual creatures walk the earth

Unfeen, both when we wake and when we fleep.
All these with ceafelefs praise his works behold,
Both day and night. How often from the steep
Of echoing hill or thicket have we heard
Celeftial voices to the midnight air,

Sole, or refponfive each to others' note,
Singing their great Creator? Oft in bands,
While they keep watch, or nightly rounding walk
With heavenly touch of inftrumental founds,
In full harmonic number join'd, their fongs
Divide the night, and lift our thoughts to heav'n."
Thus talking, hand in hand alone they pafs'd
On to their blifsful bower.

-There arriv'd, both stood, Both turn'd; and under open sky ador'd

The God that made both sky, air, earth, and heav'n,
Which they beheld, the moon's refplendent globe,
And ftarry pole. "Thou alfo mad ft the night,
Maker Omnipotent, and thou the day,
Which we, in our appointed work employ'd,
Have finish'd, happy in our mutual help,
And mutual love, the crown of all our blifs
Ordain'd by thee; and this delicious place

For us too large, where thy abundance wants
Partakers, and uncropt falls to the ground.
But thou haft promif'd from us two a race,
To fill the earth, who fhall with us extol
Thy goodness infinite, both when we wake,
And when we feek, as now, thy gift of fleep."

SECTION VI.
Religion and Death.

Lo! a form divinely bright

Defcends, and burfts upon my fight;
A feraph of illuftrious birth!
(Religion was her name on earth ;)
Supremely fweet her radient face,
And blooming with celeftial grace!
Three fhining cherubs form'd her train,

MILTON.

Wav'd their light wings, and reach'd the plain ;
Faith, with fublime and piercing eye,

And pinions flutt'ring for the fky;
Here Hope, that smiling angel ftands,
And golden anchors grace her hands;
There Charity in robes of white,
Fairest and fav'rite maid of light.

The feraph spoke-" "Tis reafon's part
To govern and to guard the heart;
To lull the wayward foul to rest,
When hopes and fears distract the breast,
Reafon may calm this doubtful ftrife
And steer thy bark through various life:
But when the ftorms of death are nigh,
And midnight darkness veils the sky,
Shall Reafon then direct thy fail,
Difperfe the clouds, or fink the gale?
Stranger, this skill alone is mine,
Skill that tranfcends his fcanty line."
"Revere thyfelf-thou'rt near allied
To angels on thy better fide,

How various e'er their ranks or kinds,
Angels are but unbodied minds;
When the partition walls decay,

Men emerge angels from their clay.
Yes, when the frailer body dies,

The foul afferts her kindred fkies,

But minds, though fprung from heav'nly race,
Muft first be tutor'd for the place:

The joys above are understood,
And relifh'd only by the good.
Who fhall affume this guardian care?
Who fhall fecure their birthright there?
Souls are my charge-to me 'tis given
To train them for their native heaven.
"Know then, who bow the early knee,
And give the willing heart to me;
Who wifely, when Temptation waits,
Elude her frauds, and spurn her baits;
Who dare to own my injur'd cause,
Though fools deride my facred laws;
Or fcorn to deviate to the wrong,
Though perfecution lifts her thong;
Though all the fons of hell confpire
To raise the stake and light the fire;
Know, that for fuch fuperior fouls,
There lies a blifs beyond the poles;
Where spirits fhine with purer ray,
And brighten to meridian day;

Where love, where boundless friendship rules;
(No friends that change, no love that cools ;)
Where rifing floods of knowledge roll,
And pour, and pour upon the foul !

"But where's the paffage to the skies ?—
The road through death's black valley lies.
Nay, do not fhudder at my tale;
Though dark the fhades, yet fafe the vale.
This path the best of men have trod;
And who'd decline the road to God?
Oh! 'tis a glorious boon to die!
This favour can't be priz'd too high."
While thus fhe spoke, my looks expreft
The raptures kindling in my breast;
My foul a fix'd attention gave;
When the stern monarch of the grave
With haughty ftrides approach'd-amaz'd
I ftood, and trembled as I gaz'd.
The feraph calm'd each anxious fear,
And kindly wip'd the falling tear;
Then haften'd with expanded wing
To meet the pale terrific king.
But now what milder fcenes arise !
The tyrant drops his hoftile guife;

S

He feems a youth divinely fair,
In graceful ringlets waves his hair;
His wings their whit'ning plumes difplay,
His burnifh'd plumes reflect the day;
Light flows his fhining azure vest,
And all the angel ftands confeft.

I view'd the change with fweet furprise;
And Oh! I panted for the fkies;

Thank'd Heaven, that e'er I drew my breath:
And triumph'd in the thoughts of death.

CHAP. III.

DIDACTIC PIECES.

SECTION I.

The Vanity of Wealth.

NO more thus brooding o'er yon heap,
With av'rice painful vigils keep;
Still unenjoy'd the present store,

Still endless fighs are breath'd for more.
O! quit the fhadow, catch the prize,
Which not all India's treasure buys!
To purchase heav'n has gold the power?
2 Can gold remove the mortal hour?
In life can love be bought with gold?
Are friendship's pleasures to be fold?
No; all that's worth a wifh, a thought,
Fair virtue gives unbrib'd, unbought.
Ceafe then on trash thy hopes to bina;
Let nobler views engage thy mind.

SECTION II.

Nothing formed in vain.

COTTON.

DR. JOHNSON.

LET no prefaming impious railer tax
Creative wisdom; as if aught was form'd
In vain, or not for admirable ende

Shall little haughty ignorance pronounce
His works un wife, of which the smallest part
Exceeds the narrow vifion of her mind?
As if, upon a full proportion'd dome,
On fwelling columns Heav'd the pride of art!
A critic fly, whofe feeble ray fcarce spreads

An inch around, with blind prefumption bold,
Should dare to tax the ftructure of the whole.
And lives the man whofe univerfal eye

Has fwept at once th' unbounded fcheme of things;
Mark'd their dependence fo, and firm accord,.
As with unfalt'ring accent to conclude,,
That this availeth nought? Has any fee
The mighty chain of beings, lefs'ning down
From infinite perfection to the brink
Of dreary nothing, defolate abyfs!

From which aftonifh'd thought, recoiling, turns?
Till then alone let zealous praise ascend,
And hymns of holy wonder to that Powe
Whose wisdom thines as lovely in our minds,
As on our smiling eyes his dervantaun.

'SECTION III.

On Pride.

THOMSON.

Of all the caufes, which confpire to blind
Man's erring judgment, and misguide the mind,
What the weak head with ftrongest bias rules,
Is pride, the never failing vice of fools.
whatever nature has in worth deny'd,

She gives in large recruits of needful pride!
For, as in bodies, thus in fouls, we find

What wants in blood and spirits, fwell'd with wind.
Pride, where wit fails, fteps into our defence,
And fills up all the mighty void of sense.
If once right reafon drives that cloud away,
Truth breaks upon us with refiftless day.
Truft not yourfelf; but, your defects to know,
Make ufe of every friend, and every foe.
A little learning is a dangerous thing;
4 Drink deep, or tafte not the Pierian fpring:
There fhallow draughts intoxicate the brain;
And drinking largely fobers us again.

Fir'd at firft fight with what the mufe imparts,
In fearless youth we tempt the heights of arts,
White, from the bounded level of our mind
Short views we take, nor fee the lengths behind;
But, more advanc'd, behold, with ftrange furprise,
New diftan fcenes of endless science rife!
So, pleas'd at firft the tow'ring Alps we try,
Mount o'er the vales, and feem to tread the fky ;

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