VI.

Did not th' Almighty, with immediate care,
Direct and govern this capacious all,

How soon would things into confusion fall!
Earthquakes the trembling ground would tear, 165
And blazing comets rule the troubled air;
Wide inundations, with resistless force,
The lower provinces o'erflow,

In spite of all that human strength could do,
To stop the raging sea's impetuous course:
Murder and rapine ev'ry place would fill,
And sinking Virtue stoop to prosp'rous ill;
Devouring pestilence rave,

And all that part of nature which has breath
Deliver to the tyranny of death,

And hurry to the dungeons of the grave,

170

175

If watchful Providence were not concern'd to save,
Let the brave soldier speak, who oft' has been
In dreadful sieges, and fierce battles seen,
How he's preserv'd, when bombs and bullets fly 180
So thick, that scarce one inch of air is free:
And tho' he does ten thousand see

Fall at his feet, and in a moment die,

Unhurt retreats, or gains unhurt the victory.

Let the poor shipwreck'd sailor show
To what invisible protecting pow'r

He did his life and safety owe

When the loud storm his well-built vessel tore,

185

And half a shatter'd plank convey'd him to the shore.

Nay, let th' ungrateful sceptic tell us how
His tender infancy protection found,

190

And helpless childhood was with safety crown'd, If he'll no Providence allow;

When he had nothing but his nurse's arms

To guard him from innumerable fatal harms; 195 From childhood how to youth he ran

Securely, and from thence to man;

How, in the strength and vigour of his years,
The feeble bark of life he saves,

Amidst the fury of tempestuous waves,

From all the dangers he foresees or fears,

200

Yet ev'ry hour 'twixt Scylla and Charybdis steers, If Providence, which can the seas command,

Held not the rudder with a steady hand?

VII. OMNIPRESENCE.

'Tis happy for the sons of men that He
Who all existence out of nothing made
Supports his creatures by immediate aid;
But then this all-intending Deity

Must omnipresent be:

For how shall we, by demonstration, show
The Godhead is this moment here,
If he's not present ev'ry where,

And always so?

What's not perceptible by sense may be
Ten thousand miles remote from me,
Unless his nature is from limitation free.

205

218

215

In vain we for protection pray,
For benefits receiv'd high altars raise,
And offer up our hymns and praise,
In vain his anger, dread, or laws obey;
An absent God from ruin can defend
No more than can an absent friend;
No more is capable to know

How gratefully we make returns,

220

When the loud music sounds or victim burns, 225 Than a poor Indian slave of Mexico.

If so, 'tis equally in vain

The prosp'rous sings and wretched mourns ;

He cannot hear the praise or mitigate the pain.
But by what being is confin'd

The Godhead we adore?

230

He must have equal or superior pow'r:

If equal only, they each other bind;

So neither's God, if we define him right,

For neither's infinite:

23.5

But if the other have superior might,

Then he we worship can't pretend to be
Omnipotent, and free

From all restraint, and so no deity.

If God is limited in space, his view,

240

His knowledge, pow'r, and wisdom, is so too;
Unless we'll own that these perfections are

At all times present ev'ry where,

Yet he himself not actually there;

Which to suppose, that strange conclusion brings, 245 His essence and his attributes are diff'rent things. VIII. IMMUTABILITY.

As the supreme omniscient Mind

Is by no boundaries confin'd,

So reason must acknowledge him to be
From possible mutation free;

For what he is he was from all eternity.

Change, whether the effect of force or will,
Must argue imperfection still;

But imperfection in a deity,

That's absolutely perfect, cannot be.

Who can compel, without his own consent,
A God to change, that is omnipotent?
And ev'ry alteration, without force,
Is for the better or the worse.

He that is infinitely wise

To alter for the worse will never chuse;
That a depravity of nature shews:

250

255

260

And he, in whom all true perfection lies,
Cannot, by change, to greater excellencies rise.
If God be mutable, which way, or how, 265
Shall we demonstrate that will please him now
Which did a thousand years ago?
And 'tis impossible to know

What he forbids, or what he will allow.
Murder, enchantment, lust, and perjury,
Did in the foremost rank of vices stand,
Prohibited by an express command;
But whether such they still remain to be

270

No argument will positively prove,
Without immediate notice from above,

If the almighty Legislator can

Be chang'd, like his inconstant subject man.
Uncertain thus what to perform or shun,

We all intolerable hazards run,

When an eternal stake is to be lost or won.
IX. JUSTICE.

Rejoice, ye sons of Piety! and sing
Loud hallelujahs to his glorious name,
Who was, and will for ever be, the same:
Your grateful incense to his temples bring,
That from the smoking altars may arise
Clouds of perfumes to the imperial skies.
His promises stand firm to you,
And endless joy will be bestow'd,

As sure as that there is a God,

275

280

285

Whose mercy is his darling attribute,
To punish crimes that temporary be,
And those but trivial offences too,

295

Mere slips of human nature, small and few,
With everlasting misery?

299

This shocks the mind, with deep reflections fraught, And reason bends beneath the pond'rous thought.