No fancied God; a God, indeed, descends, Amidst applauding worlds, 360 365 Which jars in the grand chorus, and complains? 370 And turn it on myself; how greatly due! And who, but God, resumed the friends He gave ? 375 To make for peace; and death to save from death; And second death to guard immortal life; 381 To rouse the careless, the presumptuous awe, And turn the tide of souls another way; By the same tenderness divine ordain'd That planted Eden, and high-bloom'd for man 385 A fairer Eden, endless, in the skies. Heaven gives us friends to bless the present scene; Resumes them, to prepare us for the next. 390 395 Let impious grief be Danish'd, joy indulged; But chiefly then, when Grief puts in her claim. Joy from the joyous frequently betrays, Oft lives in vanity, and dies in woe. 400 Joy amidst ills, corroborates, exalts; 'Tis joy and conquest; joy and virtue too. A noble fortitude in ills delights Heaven, earth, ourselves; 'tis duty, glory, peace! Affliction is the good man's shining scene, 405 Prosperity conceals his brightest ray. As night to stars, woe lustre gives to man. "Tis a prime part of happiness, to know How much unhappiness must prove our lot; A part which few possess! I'll pay life's tax, Without one rebel murmur, from this hour, Nor think it misery to be a man; Who thinks it is, shall never be a god. Some ills we wish for, when we wish to live. 415 What spoke proud Passion? Wish my being lost?"* Presumptuous! blasphemous! absurd! and false ! 421 The triumph of my soul is,—that I am; And therefore that I may be-what? Lorenzo ! L.cok inward, and look deep; and deeper still; 425 New ages, where this phantom of an hour, Which courts, each night, dull slumber for repair, Shall wake, and wonder, and exult, and praise, 430 And fly through infinite, and all unlock; And (if deserved) by Heaven's redundant love, * Referring to the First Night And find, in adoration, endless joy! Where thou, not master of a moment here, 435 Frail as the flower, and fleeting as the gale, Mayat boast a whole eternity, enrich'd With all a kind Omnipotence can pour. Since Adam fell, no mortal uninspired Has ever yet conceived, or ever shall, How kind is God, how great (if good) is man. 440 No man too largely from Heaven's love can hope, [Thee, Ills there are none: All gracious! none from From man full many! Numerous is the race Of blackest ills, and those immortal too, 445 Heaven's daughter, hell-debauch'd! her hand alone Unlocks destruction to the sons of men, Fast barr'd by thine; high-wall'd with adamant, 450 Guarded with terrors reaching to this world, And cover'd with the thunders of thy law, Whose threats are mercies, whose injunctions guides, 455 If unreveal'd, more dangerous, nor less sure. 460 A conduct needful to their own repose. Great God of wonders! (if, thy love survey'd, Aught else the name of wonderful retains) What rocks are these on which to build our trust! Thy ways admit no blemish; none I find; 465 Not one, to soften Censure's hardy crime; Not one, to palliate peevish Grief's complaint, Who, like a demon, murmuring from the dust, Dares into judgment call her judge.-Supreme! 470 For all I bless Thee; most for the severe; Her death*-my own at hand-the fiery gulf, It strengthens what it strikes; its wholesome dread 476 480 Of vapours breeds a pestilential air. 485 And, in their use, eclipses learr to shine. These we call wretched are a chosen band, 495 Stand this the foremost, 'That my heart has bled.' 'Tis Heaven's last effort of good will to man. When pain can't bless, Heaven quits us in despair! 500 Reason absolves the grief which reason ends. May Heaven ne'er trust my friend with happiness, Till it has taught him how to bear it well 505 By previous pain, and made it safe to smile! Such smiles are mine, and such may they remain, * Lucia. My change of heart a change of style demands; 510 As when o'erlabour'd, and inclined to breathe, A panting traveller some rising ground, Thus I, though small, indeed, is that ascent 515 525 'The Muse has gain'd, review the paths she trod, 520 530 Though not in form, nor with a Raphael stroke, 535 For peace on earth, or prospect of the skies. 541 What then remains? much! much! a mighty debt To be discharged. These thoughts, O Night! are thine; From thee they came, like lovers' secret sighs, While others siept. So Cynthia (poets feign,) In shadows veil'd, soft-sliding from her sphere, Her shepherd cheer'd; of her enamour'd less Than I of thee.-And art thou still unsung, Beneath whose brow. and by whose aid, I sing 548 |