In the fourth, is laid down the hypothesis of the Atomists or Epicureans, and other irreligious philosophers, and confuted.

In the fifth, the doctrine of the Fatalists, or Aristotelians, who make the world to be eternal, is considered and subverted.

In the sixth, the argument of the two first books is resumed, and the existence of God demonstrated from the prudence and art discovered in the several parts of the body of man.

In the seventh, the same demonstration is carried on from the contemplation of the instincts in brute animals, and the faculties and operations of the soul of man.

The book concludes with a recapitulation of what has been treated of, and a hymn to the Creator of the World.

CREATION ;

A

PHILOSOPHICAL POEM.

IN SEVEN BOOKS.

Principio cœlum, ac terras camposque liquentes,
Lucentemque globum Lunæ, Titaniaque astra
Spiritus intus alit, totamque infusa per artus
Mens agitat molem, et magno se corpore miscet.
Inde hominum, pecudumque genus, viteque volantum,
Et quæ marmoreo fert monstra sub æquore pontus.'

Virg.

BOOK I.

THE ARGUMENT.

The proposition. The invocation. The existence of a GOD de monstrated, from the marks of wisdom, choice, and art, which appear in the visible world, and infer an intelligent and free cause. This evinced from the contemplation, I. of the earth. 1. Its situation. 2. The cohesion of its parts, not to be solved by any hypothesis yet produced. 3. Its stability. 4. Its structure, or the order of its parts. 5. Its motion, diurnal and annual, or else the motion of the sun in both those respects. The cause of these motions not yet accounted for by any philosopher. 6. Its outside or face; the beauties and conveniences of it; its moun

tains, lakes, and rivers. II. The existence of a GOD proved from the marks and impressions of prudence, and design, which appear in the sea. 1. In its formation. 2. The proportion of its parts in respect of the earthy. 3. Its situation. 4. The contexture of its parts. 5. Its brackish or briny quality. 6. Its flux and reflux.

No more of courts, of triumphs, or of arms,
No more of valour's force, or beauty's charms;
The themes of vulgar lays with just disdain
I leave unsung, the flocks, the amorous swain,
The pleasures of the land, and terrors of the main..
How abject, how inglorious 'tis to lie

Grovelling in dust and darkness, when on high
Empires immense, and rolling worlds of light,
To range their heavenly scenes, the muse invite !
I meditate to soar above the skies,

To heights unknown, through ways untried to rise :
I would the' Eternal from his works assert,

And sing the wonders of creating art.

While I this unexampled task essay, Pass awful gulfs, and beat my painful way, Celestial Dove! divine assistance bring, Sustain me on thy strong-extended wing, That I may reach the' Almighty's sacred throne, And make his causeless power, the cause of all things, known.

Thou dost the full extent of nature see,
And the wide realms of vast immensity:
Eternal Wisdom thou dost comprehend,

Rise to her heights, and to her depths descend:
The Father's sacred counsels thou canst tell,
Who in his bosom didst for ever dwell.

Thou on the deep's dark face, immortal Dove!
Thou with Almighty energy didst move
On the wild waves; incumbent didst display
Thy genial wings, and hatch primeval day.
Order from thee, from thee distinction came,
And all the beauties of the wondrous frame.
Hence stamp'd on nature we perfection find,
Fair as the' idea in the Eternal Mind.

See, through this vast extended theatre
Of skill divine what shining marks appear!
Creating power is all around express'd,
The God discover'd, and his care confess'd.
Nature's high birth her heavenly beauties show;
By every feature we the parent know.

The' expanded spheres, amazing to the sight!
Magnificent with stars and globes of light,

The glorious orbs, which heaven's bright host com

pose;

The' imprison'd sea, that restless ebbs and flows:
The fluctuating fields of liquid air,

With all the curious meteors hovering there,
And the wide regions of the land, proclaim
The Power Divine, that rais'd the mighty frame.
What things soe'er are to an end refer'd,
And in their motions still that end regard,
Always the fitness of the means respect,
These as conducive choose, and those reject,
Must by a judgment foreign and unknown
Be guided to their end, or by their own;
For to design an end, and to pursue

That end by means, and have it still in view,
Demands a conscious, wise, reflecting cause,
Which freely moves, and acts by reason's laws;

That can deliberate, means elect, and find

Their due connection with the end design'd.

And since the world's wide frame does not include A cause with such capacities endued;

Some other cause o'er nature must preside,

Which gave her birth, and does her motions guide. ·
And here behold the cause, which God we name,
The source of beings, and the mind supreme;
Whose perfect wisdom, and whose prudent care,
With one confederate voice, unnumber'd worlds
declare.

See, how the earth has gain'd that very place,
Which, of all others in the boundless space,
Is most convenient, and will best conduce
To the wise ends requir❜d for nature's use.
You, who the Mind and Cause Supreme deny,
Nor on his aid to form the world rely,
Must grant, had perfect wisdom been employ'd
To find, through all the' interminable void,
A seat most proper, and which best became
The earth and sea, it must have been the same.
Now who can this surprising fact conceive,
Who this event fortuitous believe,

That the brute earth, unguided, should embrace
The only useful, only proper place,

Of all the millions in the empty space?

Could stupid atoms, with impetuous speed,
By different roads and adverse ways proceed;
From regions opposite begin their flight,
That here they might rencounter, here unite?
What charms could these terrestrial vagrants see
In this one point of all immensity,

That all the' enamour'd troops should thither flow?
Did they its useful situation know?