But he who rolls in luxury soon mourns, By nature some are forcibly inclin'd And this propensity should be esteem'd A signal priv❜lege, a great blessing deem'd, For he who can for others mis'ry grieve, 200 205 In such a soil the virtues rudely grow, And all luxuriant love's sweet blossoms blow. But when compassion is by reason sway'd, From approbation and from choice display'd, Line 204. It is certain that the compassion of a Christian should extend to brutes as well as to men. Our Saviour says "that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of Judgment." If this be the consequence of every idle word, how much more shall it be of every cruel blow which we give the animals that are put in subjection to us! When as a branch of moral rectitude, As a great law of God it is pursu'd: 'Twill be a virtue of the highest kind, Devoid of weakness, a most tender soul, 210 215 220 This spangled firmament, this smiling earth; 225 When he its boundaries extensive spann'd, Meting the waters in his hollow hand; Thou satt'st with him upon his sapphire throne, Thou art his essence, thou art all his own; And when he made he knew that he should spare, But love succeeds, with ev'ry grace to please, 235 O check not, Christian, thou, this tender sense, 240 Of heart-dissolving soft benevolence. Though mild, the dang'rous passions 'twill controul, And for celestial joys refine thy soul. The orphan's hope, the refuge of the poor. For the sublimest purpose it was giv'n, To make thee proxy to indulgent heav'n. END OF THE THIRD BOOK. 245 |