From thee, Almighty Maker, feek their prey,
Nor from thy hand unfed depart away:
To thee, for meat the callow ravens cry,
Supported by thy all-preferving eye:
From thee, the feather'd natives of the plain,
Or those who range the field, or plough the main,
Receive, with conftant course, th' appointed food,
And taste the cup of univerfal good;
Thy hand thou open'st, million'd myriads live;
Thou frown'ft, they faint;-thou fmil'ft, and they
On virtue's acre, as on rapine's ftores,
See heav'n impartial deal the fruitful show'rs!
"Life's common bleffings all her children share,"
Tread the fame earth, and breathe a gen❜ral air!
Without diftinction, boundless bleffings fall,
And Goodness, like the fun, enlightens all!
Oh man, degenerate man! offend no more!
Go, learn of brutes, thy Maker to adore!
Shall these, thro' ev'ry tribe, his bounty own,
Of all his works, ungrateful thou alone!
Deaf when the tuneful voice of mercy cries,
And blind when fov'reign Goodness charms the eyes!
Mark, even the wretch his awful name blasphemes,
His pity fpares, his clemency reclaims !
Obferve his patience with the guilty strive,
And bid the criminal repent and live;
Recal the fugitive with gracious eye,
Befeech the obftinate, he would not die!
Amazing tenderness-amazing most,
The foul on whom fuch mercy fhould be loft!
But would'st thou view the rays of Goodness join,
In one strong point of radiance all divine!
Behold, celeftial Mufe! yon eaftern light;
To Beth'lem's plain, adoring, bend thy fight!
Hear the glad meffage to the fhepherds giv'n,
"Good-will on earth to man, and peace in heav'n."
Attend the fwains, pursue the starry road,
And hail to earth the Saviour and the God!
Redemption! oh thou beauteous mystic plan!
Thou falutary fource of life to man!
What tongue can speak thy comprehenfive grace!
What thought thy depths unfathomable trace!
When loft in fin our ruin'd nature lay,
When awful juftice claim'd her righteous pay!
See the mild Saviour bend his pitying eye,
And stop th' light'ning just prepar'd to fly!
(O ftrange effect of unexampled love!)
View him defcend the heavenly throne above;
Patient, the ills of mortal life endure,
Calm, tho' revil'd, and innocent, tho' poor!
Uncertain his abode, and coarse his food,
His life one fair continued scene of good:
For us fuftain the wrath to man decreed,
The victim of eternal justice bleed!
Look, to the crofs the Lord of life is ty'd,
They pierce his hands, and wound his facred fide!
See, God expires! our forfeit to atone,
While nature trembles at his parting groan!
Advance, thou hopeless mortal, fteel'd in guilt,
Behold, and if thou can'st, forbear to melt!
Shall Jefus die thy freedom to regain,
And wilt thou drag the voluntary chain?
Wilt thou refuse thy kind affent to give,
- When breathlefs he looks down to bid thee live!
Perverse, wilt thou reject the proffer'd good,
Bought with his life, and ftreaming in his blood?
Whose virtue can thy deepest crimes efface,
Reheal thy nature, and confirm thy peace!
Can all the errors of thy life atone,
And raise thee from a rebel- -to a fon!
O bleft Redeemer, from thy facred throne,
Where faints and angels fing thy triumphs won!
When, from the grave thou rais'd thy glorious head,
(Chain'd to thy car the pow'rs infernal led)
From that exalted height of blifs fupreme,
Look down on those who bear thy facred name;
Restore their ways, inspire them by thy grace,
Thy laws to follow, and thy steps to trace;
Thy bright example to thy doctrine join,
And by their morals prove their faith divine!
Nor only to thy church confine thy ray,
O'er the glad world thy healing light difplay;
Fair fun of righteousness! in beauty rife,
And clear the mists that cloud the heathen skies!
To Judah's remnant, now a fcatter'd train,
Thou great Meffiah! fhow thy promis'd reign;
O'er earth as wide, thy faving warmth diffuse,
As spreads the ambient air, or falling dews,
And hafte the time when, vanquish'd by thy pow'r,
Death shall expire, and fin defile no more!
But, oh advent'rous Mufe, reftrain thy flight,
Dare not the blaze of uncreated light!
Before whose glorious throne with dread furprize,
Th' adoring seraph veils his dazzled eyes;
Whofe pure effulgence, radiant to excess,
No colours can describe, or words express!
All the fair beauties, all the lucid stores,
Which o'er thy works thy hand refplendent pours;
Feeble, thy brighter glories to display,
Pale as the moon before the folar ray!
See on his throne the Hebrew monarch plac'd,
In all the pomp of the luxuriant East!
While mingling gems a borrow'd day unfold,
And the rich purple waves, emboss'd with gold;
Yet mark this scene of painted grandeur yield
To the fair lilly that adorns the field!
Obfcur'd, behold that fainter lilly lies,
By the rich bird's * inimitable dyes;
Yet these survey, confounded and outdone
By the fuperior luftre of the fun;
That fun himself withdraws his leffen'd beam
From Thee, the glorious author of his frame!
Tranfcendent pow'r! fole arbiter of fate!
How great thy glory! and thy blifs how great!
To view from thy exalted throne above,
(Eternal source of light, and life, and love!)
Unnumber'd creatures draw their smiling birth,
To bless the heav'ns, or beautify the earth ;
While fyftems roll, obedient to thy view,
And worlds rejoice-which Newton never knew!
Then raise the fong, the gen'ral anthem raise,
And fwell the concert of eternal praise!
Affift ye orbs that form this boundless whole,
Which in the womb of space unnumber'd roll;
Ye planets, who compofe our leffer scheme,
And bend, concertive, round the folar frame;
Thou eye of nature; whofe extenfive ray,
With endless charms adorns the face of day;
Confenting raife th' harmonious joyful found,
And bear his praifes thro' the vast profound:
His praife, ye winds, that fan the chearful air,
Swift as ye pafs along your pinions bear!
The Manucodota, or Bird of Paradife, feen in the Spice-Islands.
|