Then upward turn'd to mark the stars of even
Peep singly forth upon the front of heaven.

To some high theme his musing thoughts are strung;
And breathe in solemn accents from his tongue.

"It must be so!-through Nature's wide domain

66

Can chance-born Order hold unconscious reign? "Can yon bright orbs, that shine so sweetly fair

"As though they smil❜d to cheer this world of care,

66

Self-taught have learnt unerring to obey

“The silent law that severs night from day, "And mete to Time its periods, as they fly "A moving image of Eternity?

"Could life and beauty from the teeming earth "Burst in the freshness of perpetual birth;

"And yet no soul within the mass reside,

"Its life to kindle, and its movements guide?

"No! as man's soul through all his body lives,

340

345

350

"And to each limb its warmth, and feeling gives;

So, Omnipresent, breathes some Godlike Soul

355

Through the whole mass, and fills, and forms the whole.

66

-But-if it be-if God indeed be there,

"In pow'r Almighty, and in mind All-fair;

"Oh! whence those ills that Nature's good restrain,

"Disturb its order, and its beauty stain;

C

360

66

And seem at times to force one piercing cry "From the rack'd world,- one note of agony

?

"Whence is disease? and meagre famine whence ?

66

Wide-wasting war? and blighting pestilence?

"Where lights its flame the fiery bolt of heaven?

66

66

Or by whose breath is death's dark whirlwind driv'n?

And whence-oh! whence this mind that cannot see, But gropes in darkness when 'twould gaze on Thee? "Is there some Fiend, that stalking wide abroad

365

"Blows pois'ning mildew on the works of God?

370

"Or sits blind Matter on eternal throne,

"Its life dependent on itself alone;

66

Forc'd to assume indeed by thy high will

"Its modell'd form, but blind and stubborn still?

"Oh! Thou unknown, but only source of light,

"View, pitying view this intellectual night!

"Oh! pour a brighter than Creation's ray!

Reveal Thyself!—and all will then be day!"

375

380

* For authorities in support of the sentiments here attributed to Plato, the reader is referred to the Notes in the Appendix. The doctrines respecting a divine pervading Soul as the cause of the order of the Universe, and the stubborn resistance of matter as the

cause

He was reveal'd! on ev'ry rolling year
The dawn was hasting nearer and more near!
And Plato! oh! had thy prophetic eyes

Seen its full beams on Nature's darkness rise,
How hadst thou blest the Day-spring from afar,
And hail'd in hope the world's bright Morning-star!
But yet e'en then- when, like the restless waves
For ever heaving in their darksome caves,
Vainly thy thoughts in Nature sought to find
Rest for the restless tossings of the mind;-
E'en then a voice had breath'd in mortal ear,
That bade Creation's myst'ries disappear;
And while the reign of evil seem'd to throw
Doubt on the presence of a God below,

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390

Show'd that on worlds like this God cannot be

395

But with those signs of injur'd Majesty.

Heard'st thou ne'er speak on Nile's eventful strand

Of a strange race that sojourn'd in the land?

Had Egypt's priests forgot the prophet's rod,
That dreaded symbol of an angry God?

400

cause of its disorder, the description of Time as "the moving image of immoveable eternity," (l. 348.) and the desire of a revelation expressed in the conclusion of the soliloquy are all taken from his writings.

Had they forgot the vermin from the flood?
Dust turn'd to lice, and rivers that ran blood?
Th' unnat❜ral night that brooded o'er the land;
And the blood-drops that track'd th' avenging hand?
Who 'gainst the land bade those dread portents play,
And set heav'n's angry battle in array ?

Could God be present?—through the trembling air
Breath'd His own voice; it answer'd, "He was there!"

405

There, in His own bright attributes array'd;

There, as on Sinai to the Seer display'd;

410

When boundless goodness pass'd before his view,

But Justice met him in the vision too!*

Oh! could that God in whose essential light
Each high perfection mingling must unite,

Rob His own essence, quench the awful rays

415

A holy justice to the world displays;
Of one high attribute Himself divest,
And shine in sullied lustre with the rest?

* Exodus xxxiii. 19. "And the Lord said, I will make all my goodness to pass before thee." (xxxiv. 7.) "And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, but that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the childrens' children, unto the third and to the fourth generation."

'Twas Justice then o'er Egypt's rebel land

Bar'd the red arm, and shook the avenging brand:
Nor e'er hath ceas'd, since Sin's portentous birth,
To frown in judgment on a rebel earth.

Still Mercy triumph'd! o'er an angry heav'n
She mark'd the heavy storm of vengeance driv❜n,
And Nature, once all-beauteous to the eye,
Now torn and bleeding 'neath its fury lie.
She saw, and wept!—and then in pity came,
To heal the wounds of Earth's disorder'd frame,
Himself, Her God, in finite form confin'd;
And veil'd in flesh the Omnipresent Mind.
He came, and “ purg'd from film the visual ray,"

And on the reason pour'd a purer day :

Dispers'd the cloud, and bade on Nature's face

New beauty brighten, and a lovelier grace:

And, through the vistas of futurity,

Op'd brighter worlds to Faith's adoring eye;

Worlds where no judgment arms His angry hand;
No dark'ning clouds around His presence stand;
But all unveil'd the God of light and love
Beams joy unmingled through the hosts above.

420

425

430

435

440

'Tis past! and ages since have sped their way, Restless to usher in eternal day.