The lot of man! how few of human race By their own mud unmurder'd! how we wage Of hardy conflict o'er? or are you still Raw candidates at school? and have you those 1800 Who disaffect reversions, as with us?— But what are we? you never heard of man, Or earth, the bedlam of the universe! Where Reason (undiseased with you) runs mad And nurses Folly's children as her own, 1805 Fond of the foulest. In the sacred mount E'en there, by saints the demons are outdone; What these think wrong, our saints refine to right; And kindly teach dull Hell her own black arts; 1811 Satan, instructed, o'er their morals smiles. But this how strange to you, who know not man! Has the least rumour of our race arrived? Call'd here Elijah in his flaming car? 1815 Pass'd by you the good Enoch, on his road To those fair fields whence Lucifer was hurl'd; Who brush'd, perhaps, your sphere in his descent, 1820 O that the fiend had lodged on some broad orb 1825 To groans, and chains, and darkness? where is He He whom, wnile man is man, he can't but seek, 1830 And if he finds, commences more than man? O for a telescope his throne to reach! Tell me, ye learn'd on earth' or bless'd above! Ye searching, ye Newtonian angels! tell Where your Great Master's orb! his planets where ? By veneration most profound, thrown off; Awed, and yet raptured; raptured, yet serene; Past thought illustrious, but with borrow'd beams; Full well it might! I quite mistook my road; Of Nature, or the more profound of God: 1840 1845 1850 1853 1860 1865 1870 'Not deeply to discern, not much to know, Mankind was born to wonder and adore!' And is there cause for higher wonder still Than that which struck us from our past surveys ?— Yes; and for deeper adoration too. 1876 From my late airy travel unconfined, Have I learn'd nothing?—Yes, Lorenzo! this: Each of these stars is a religious house; I saw their altars smoke, their incense rise, 1880 Beneath his genial ray; and, if escaped The pestilential blasts of stubborn will, When grown mature, are gather'd for the skies. 1890 When beings, so superior, homage boast, But wherefore more of planets or of stars? Ethereal journeys, and, discover'd there, 1895 All Nature sending incense to the throne, 1900 1905 what a root! O what a branch, is here! O what a Father! what a family! Worlds! systems! and creations!—and creations, 1910 Great Vine!* on thee; on thec the cluster hangs, In glowing globes, with various being fraught, And drinks (nectarcous draught !) immortal life. 1915 Or, shall I say (for who can say enough?) A constellation of ten thousand gems, (And, O! of what dimension! of what weight!) Set in one signet, flames on the right hand Of Majesty divine! The blazing seal, That deeply stamps, on all created mind, Omnipotence and Love! that passing bound, 1920 For want of power in God, but thought in man. 1925 E'en this acknowledged, leaves us still in debt; If greater aught, that greater all is thine, In which archangels might have fail'd, unblamed.' 1931 And such ideas of the' Almighty's plan, (Ideas not absurd) distend the thought Of feeble mortals! nor of them alone! The fulness of the Deity breaks forth 1935 Think, then, O think, nor ever drop the thought And have I fail'd? and did I flatter thee? An art all adamant? and dost confute, All urged, with one irrefragable smile ? 1945 Swear by the stars, by Him who made them, swear, * John xv. 1. Thy heart, henceforth, shall be as pure as they; By due gradation, Nature's sacred law. 1350 The stars from whence?-ask Chaos-he can tell. Those bright temptations to idolatry From darkness and confusion took their birth; 1955 From worse to better; but when minds ascend, O be a man! and thou shalt be a god! 1960 And half self-made !-ambition how divine! O thou, ambitious of disgrace alone! 1965 Still undevout? unkindled?--though high taught, School'd by the skies, and pupil of the stars, Were half so sad as one benighted mind, 1971 Which gropes for happiness, and meets despair. 1975 Amid her glimmering tapers, silent sits! A scene more sad Sin makes the darken'd soul, 1980 |