Death!

But know that thou must render up the dead,
And with high interest too! they are not thine;
But only in thy keeping for a season,
Till the great promis'd day of restitution;
When loud diffusive sound from brazen trump
Of strong-lung'd cherub shall alarm thy cap-
tives,

And rouse the long, long sleepers into life,
Day-light, and liberty.-

Then must thy gates fly open, and reveal
The mines that lay long forming under ground,
In their dark cells immur'd; but now full ripe,
And pure as silver from the crucible,
That twice has stood the torture of the fire,
And inquisition of the forge. We know,
Th' Illustrious Deliv'rer of mankind,
The Son of God, thee foil'd. Him in thy pow'r
Thou couldst not hold; self-vigorous he rose,
And, shaking off thy fetters, soon retook
Those spoils his voluntary yielding lent,
(Sure pledge of our releasement from thy
thrall!)

Twice twenty days he sojourn'd here on earth,
And show'd himself alive to chosen witnesses
By proofs so strong, that the most slow assent-
ing

Had not a scruple left. This having done, He mounted up to heav'n. Methinks I see Climb the aerial heights, and glide along [him Athwart the severing clouds: but the faint eye, Flung backward in the chase, soon drops its hold,

Disabled quite, and jaded with pursuing.
Heaven's portals wide expand to let him in ;
Nor are his friends shut out; as some great
prince

Not for himself alone procures admission,
But for his train; it was his royal will,
That where he is, there should his followers be.
Death only lies between! a gloomy path!
Made yet more gloomy by our coward fears!
But not untrod, nor tedious; the fatigue
Will soon go off. Besides, there's no by-road
To bliss. Then why, like ill-conditioned chil-
dren,

Start we at transient hardships in the way
That leads to purer air and softer skies,
And a ne'er-setting sun? Fools that we are '
We wish to be where sweets unwith'ring
bloom;

But straight our wish revoke, and will not go.
So have I seen, upon a summer's even,
Fast by a riv'let's brink a youngster play!
How wishfully he looks to stem the tide!
This moment resolute, next unresolv'd,
At last he dips his foot; but as he dips
His fears redouble, and he runs away
From th' inoffensive stream, unmindful now
f all the flow'rs that paint the further bank,

That, after many a painful bleeding step, Conducts us to our home, and lands us safe On the long-wish'd-for shore. Prodigious change!

Our bane turn'd to a blessing! Death disarm'd
Loses his fellness quite! all thanks to Him
Who scourg'd the venom out! Sure the last
end

Of the good man is peace. How calm his exit '
Night-dews fall not more gently to the ground,
Nor weary worn-out winds expire so soft.
Behold him in the ev'ning tide of life,
A life well-spent, whose early care it was,
His riper years should not upbraid his green.
By unperceiv'd degrees he wears away;
Yet like the sun seems larger at his setting!
High in his faith and hopes, look! how h
reaches

After the prize in view! and, like a bird
That's hamper'd, struggles hard to get away!
Whilst the glad gates of sight are wide ex-
panded

To let new glories in, the first fair fruits
Of the fast-coming harvest! Then! O then!
Each earth-born joy grows vile, or disappears,
Shrunk to a thing of nought. O how he longs
To have his passport sign'd, and be dismiss'd'
'Tis done, and now he's happy! The glad soul
Has not a wish uncrown'd. Ev'n the lag flesh
Rests too in hope of meeting once again
Its better half, never to sunder more.
Nor shall it hope in vain; the time draws on
When not a single spot of burial earth,
Whether on land, or in the spacious sea,
But must give back its long committed dust
Inviolate and faithfully shall these
Make up the full account; not the least atom
Embezzled, or mislaid, of the whole tale.
Each soul shall have a body ready furnished;
And each shall have his own. Hence, ye pro
fane!
[pow'r
Ask not, how this can be? Sure the same
That rear'd the piece at first, and took it down,
Can re-assemble the loose scatter'd parts,
And put them as they were. Almighty God
Has done much more; nor is his arm impair'd
Thro' length of days; and what he can he

:

will;

His faithfulness stands bound to see it done.
When the dread trumpet sounds, the slumb'ring
Not unattentive to the call, shall wake; [dust,
And ev'ry joint possess its proper place,
With a new elegance of form, unknown
To its first state. Nor shall the conscious soul
Mistake its partner; but amidst the crowd,
Singling its other half, into its arms
Shall rush with all the impatience of a man
That's new come home, who, having long been
absent,

With haste runs over ev'ry different room,
In pain to see the whole. Thrice happy meet-
ing!

Nor time, nor death, shall ever part them more.

'Tis but a night; along and moonless night; We make the grave our bed, and then are gone. Thus, at the shut of even, the weary bird Leaves the wide air, and in some lonely break Cow'rs down, and doses till the dawn of day; Then claps his well-fledg'd wings, and bears away.

§ 18. Happiness to be found in Virtue alone.
POPE.
Know then this truth (enough for man to
"Virtue alone is Happiness below." [know)
The only point where human bliss stands still,
And takes the good without the fall to ill;
Where only merit constant pay receives,
Is blest in what it takes, and what it gives;
The joy unequal'd if its end it gain,
And, if it lose, attended with no pain:
Without satiety, though e'er so blessed,
And but more relish'd as the more distress'd.
The broadest mirth unfeeling Folly wears,
Less pleasing far than Virtue's very tears:
Good from each object, from each place ac-
For ever exercis'd, yet never tir'd; [quir'd,
Never elated while one man's oppress'd;
Never dejected while another's bless'd;
And where no wants, no wishes can remain,
Since but to wish more virtue is to gain. [stow,
See! the sole bliss Heav'n could on all be-
Which who but feels can taste; but thinks, can
know:

Yet poor with fortune, and with learning blind, The bad must miss; the good, untaught, will find;

Slave to no sect, who takes no private road,
But looks through Nature up to Nature's God;
Pursues that chain which links th' immense
design,

Joins heav'n and earth, and mortal and divine;
Sees, that no being any bliss can know,
But touches some above and some below;
Learns from this union of the rising whole,
The first, last purpose, of the human soul;
And knows where Faith, Law, Morals, all be-

gan,

All end in Love of God, and Love of Man.

For him alone, Hope leads from goal to goal, And opens still, and opens on his soul: Till lengthen'd on to Faith, and unconfin'd, It pours the bliss that fills up all the mind. He sees why Nature plants in Man alone Hope of known bliss, and faith in bliss unknown

(Nature, whose dictates to no other kind Are givin in vain, but what they seek they find).

Wise is her present; she connects in this His greatest Virtue with his greatest Bliss; At once his own bright prospect to be blest, And strongest motive to assist the rest.

Self-love thus push'd to social, to divine, Gives thee to make thy neighbour's blessing thine.

Is this too little for the boundless heart?
Extend it, let thy enemies have part:

Grasp the whole worlds of Reason, Life, and
In one close system of benevolence; [Sense,
Happier as kinder, in whate'er degree,
And height of Bliss but height of Charity.
God loves from Whole to Parts: but human
Must rise from Individual to the Whole. [soul
Self-love but serves the virtuous mind to wake,
As the small pebble stirs the peaceful lake;
The centre mov'd, a circle straight succeeds,
Another still, and still another spreads;
Friend, parent, neighbour, first it will embrace;
His country next; and next all human race:
Wide, and more wide, th' o'erflowings of the
Take ev'ry creature in, of ev'ry kind; [mind
Earth smiles around, with boundless bounty
blest,

And Heav'n beholds its image in his breast. 19. Creation of the Earth, the Heavens, and Man. MILTON.

The Son
On his great expedition now appear'd,
Girt with Omnipotence, with radiance crown'd
Of Majesty Divine; sapience and love
Immense, and all his Father in him shone.
About his chariot numberless were pour'd
Cherub, and Seraph, Potentates, and Thrones,
And Virtues, winged Spirits, and chariots
wing'd

From th' armoury of God; where stand of old
Myriads, between two brazen mountains lodg'd
Against a solemn day, harness'd at hand,
Celestial equipage; and now came forth
Spontaneous, for within them spirit liv'd
Attendant on their Lord: Heaven open'd wide
Her ever-during gates, harmonious sound
On golden hinges moving, to let forth
The King of Glory, in his powerful Word
And Spirit, coming to create new worlds.
On heavenly ground they stood; and from the
shore

They view'd the vast immeasurable abyss
Outrageous as a sea, dark, wasteful, wild,
Up from the bottom turn'd by furious winds
And surging waves, as mountains, to assault
Heaven's height, and with the centre mix the
pole.
[peace,'

Silence, ye troubled Waves, and thou Deep, Said then th' Omnific Word; 'your discord end!'

Nor staid; but on the wings of Cherubim
Uplifted, in paternal glory rode

Far into Chaos, and the world unborn;
For Chaos heard his voice: Him all his train
Follow'd in bright procession, to behold
Creation, and the wonders of his might.
Then staid the fervid wheels, and in his hand
He took the golden compasses, prepar'd
In God's eternal store, to circumscribe
This universe, and all created things:
One foot he center'd, and the other turn'd
Round through the vast profundity obscure;
And said, Thus far extend, thus far thy

bounds,

This be thy just circumference, O World!'

Thus God the Heaven created, thus the Earth,
Matter unform'd and void: darkness profound
Cover'd the abyss; but on the watery calm
His brooding wings the Spirit of God outspread,
And vital virtue infus'd, and vital warmth
Throughout the fluid mass; but downward
purg'd

The black tartareous cold infernal dregs,
Adverse to life: then founded, then conglob'd
Like things to like: the rest to several place
Disparted. and between spun out the air;
And Earth self-balanc'd on her centre hung.
And God made two great lights, great for
their use

To man, the greater to have rule by day,
The less by night, altern; and made the stars,
And set them in the firmament of Heaven,
T'illuminate the Earth, and rule the day
In their vicissitude, and rule the night,
And light from darkness to divide.
First in his east the glorious lamp was seen,
Regent of day, and all the horizon round
Invested with bright rays, jocund to run
His longitude through Heaven's high road;
the gray

Dawn, and the Pleiades before him danc'd
Shedding sweet influence; less bright the
But opposite in levell'd west was set, [Moon,
His mirror, with full face borrowing her light
From him; for other light she needed none
In that aspect, and still that distance keeps
Till night; then in the east her turn she shines
Revolv'd on Heaven's great axle, and her reign
With thousand lesser lights dividual holds,
With thousand thousand stars, that then ap-
Spangling the hemisphere.—
[pear'd

Now Heaven in all her glory shone, and roll'd Her motions, as the great first Mover's hand First wheel'd their course: Earth in her rich attire

Consummate lovely smil'd; air, water, earth, By fowl, fish, beast, was flown, was swum, was walk'd

Frequent; and of the sixth day yet remain'd:
There wanted yet the master-work, the end
Of all yet done; a creature, who, not prone
And brute as other creatures, but endued
With sanctity of reason, might erect
His stature, and upright with front serene
Govern the rest, self-knowing; and from thence
Magnanimous to correspond with Heaven,
But grateful to acknowledge whence his good
Descends, thither with heart, and voice, and

eyes

Directed in devotion, to adore
[chief
And worship God Supreme, who made him
Of all his works: therefore th' Omnipotent
Eternal Father (for where is not he
Present?) thus to his Son audibly spake :
'Let us make now Man in our image, Man
In our similitude, and let them rule
Over the fish and fowl of sea and air,
Beast of the field, and over all the Earth,
And every creeping thing that creeps the
ground.'

This said, he form'd thee, Adam; thee, O Man,

Dust of the ground, and in thy nostrils breath'd
The breath of life; in his own image he
Created thee, in the image of God
Express; and thou becam'st a living soul.
20. Order and Subordination through all
the Works of God. POPE.

FAR as creation's ample range extends
The scale of sensual, mental, powers ascends :
Mark how it mounts to man's imperial race
From the green myriads in the peopled grass:
What modes of sight betwixt each wide ex-

treme,

The mole's dim curtain and the lynx's beam!
Of smell, the headlong lioness between
And hound sagacious on the tainted green!
Of hearing, from the life that fills the flood
To that which warbles through the vernal
wood!

The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine!
Feels at each thread, and lives along the line:
In the nice bee what sense so subtly true,
From poisonous herbs extracts the healing
dew!

How instinct varies in the grovelling swine, Compar'd, half reasoning elephant, with thine "Twixt that and reason what a nice barrier! For ever separate, yet for ever near! Remembrance and reflection how allied! What thin partitions sense from thought di vide!

And middle natures how they long to join,
Yet never pass th' insuperable line!
Without this just gradation could they be
Subjected these to those, or all to thee?
The powers of all subdued by thee alone,
Is not thy reason all these powers in one?
See through this air, this ocean, and this

earth,

All matter quick and bursting into birth!
Above, how high progressive life may go :
Around, how wide! how deep, extend below!
Vast chain of being! which from God began;
Natures ethereal, human, angel, man,
Beast, bird, fish, insect, what no eye can see,
No glass can reach; from infinite to thee;
From thee to nothing-On superior powers
Were we to press, inferior might on ours;
Or in the full creation leave a void,
Where one step broken, the great scale's de
stroy'd :

From Nature's chain whatever link you strike,
Tenth, or ten thousandth, breaks the chain

And if each system in gradation roll, [alike. Alike essential to th' amazing whole, The least confusion but in one, not all That system only, but the whole must fall. Let Earth unbalanc'd from her orbit fly, Planets and suns run lawless through the sky; Let ruling angels from their spheres be hurl'd, Being on being wreck'd, and world on world; Heaven's whole foundations to their centre nod, And nature tremble to the throne of God.

In the grand chorus mix his feeble voice?

In vain ye swell; will a few drops suffice
To quench the inextinguishable fire?
Ye mountains, on whose cloud-crown'd tops
the cedars

course

[Light
Round Light's perennial fountain; before
Herself 'gan shine, and at th' inspiring word
Shot to existence in a blaze of day;
Before "the Morning Stars together sang,"
And hail'd Thee architect of countless worlds,
Thou art-All-glorious, All-beneficent,
All Wisdom and Omnipotence Thou art.
But is the era of Creation fix'd

At when these worlds began? Could aught
retard
[ing ever,
Goodness, that knows no bounds, from bless-
Or keep th' immense Artificer in sloth?
Avaunt the dust-directed crawling thought,
That Puissance immeasurably vast,
And Bounty inconceivable, could rest
Content, exhausted with one week of action!
No-in th' exertion of thy righteous pow'r,
Ten thousand times more active than the
Sun,
[pos'd
Thou reign'd, and with a mighty hand com-
Systems innumerable, matchless all,
All stampt with thine uncounterfeited seal.
But yet (if still to more stupendous heights
The Muse unblam'd her aching sense may
strain)

Perhaps wrapt up in contemplation deep,
The best of Beings on the noblest theme
Might ruminate at leisure, scope immense !
Th' Eternal Pow'r and Godhead to explore,
And with itself th' Omniscient Mind replete.
This were enough to fill the boundless All,
This were a Sabbath worthy the Supreme !
Perhaps enthron'd amidst a choicer few
Of spirits inferior, he might greatly plan
The two prime Pillars of the universe,
Creation and Redemption-and a while
Pause-with the grand presentiments of glory,
Perhaps but all's conjecture here below,
All ignorance, and self-plum'd vanity-
O Thou, whose ways to wonder at 's distrust,
Whom to describe 's presumption (all we can,
And all we may), be glorified, be prais'd.

A day shall come when all this earth shall perish,

Nor leave behind ev'n Chaos; it shall come,
When all the armies of the elements
Shall war against themselves, and mutual rage,
To make Perdition triumph; it shall come,
When the capacious atmosphere above
Shall in sulphureous thunders groan, and die,
And vanish into void; the earth beneath
Shall sever to the centre, and devour
Th' enormous blaze of the destructive flames.
Ye rocks that mock the ravings of the floods,
And proudly frown upon th' impatient deep,
Where is your grandeur now? Ye foaming
waves,

more

Than the poor glow-worm to the golden sun.
Nor shall the verdant valleys then remain
Safe in their meek submission; they the debt
Of nature and of justice too must pay.
Yet I must weep for you, ye rival fair,
Arno and Andalusia; but for thee
More largely and with filial tears must weep,
O Albion: O my country! Thou must join,
In vain dissever'd from the rest, must join
The terrors of th' inevitable ruin.

Nor thou, illustrious monarch of the day; Nor thou, fair queen of night; nor you, ye stars; Tho' million leagues and million still remote, Shall yet survive that day; ye must submit Sharers, not bright spectators of the scene.

But tho' the earth shall to the centre perish, Nor leave behind cv'n Chaos; tho' the air With all the elements must pass away, Vain as an idiot's dream; tho' the huge rocks, That brandish the tall cedars on their tops, With humbler vales must to perdition yield; Tho' the gilt sun, and silver-tressed moon, With all her bright retinue, must be lost: Yet thou, Great Father of the world, surviv'st Eternal, as thou wert. Yet still survives The soul of man immortal, perfect now, And candidate for unexpiring joys.

He comes! he comes! the awful trump I hear;

The flaming sword's intolerable blaze

I see He comes! th' Archangel from above.
"Arise, ye tenants of the silent grave,
Awake incorruptible, and arise:
From east to west, from the Antarctic pole,
To regions Hyperborean, all ye sons,
Ye sons of Adam, and ye heirs of heaven-
Arise, ye tenants of the silent grave,
Awake incorruptible, and arise."

'Tis then, nor sooner, that the restless mind Shall find itself at home; and like the ark, Fix'd on the mountain top, shall look aloft O'er the vague passage of precarious life; And winds and waves, and rocks and tempests, past,

Enjoy the everlasting calm of Heaven: 'Tis then, nor sooner, that the deathless soul, Shall justly know its nature and its rise: 'Tis then the human tongue, new-tun'd, shall Praises more worthy the Eternal Ear. [give Yet what we can, we ought;-and therefore Thou,

Purge Thou my heart, Omnipotent and good! Purge Thou my heart with hyssop, lest, like Cain,