While the still busy world is treading o'er
The paths they trod five thousand years before,
Thoughtless as those who now life's mazes run,
Of earth dissolv'd, or an extinguish'd fun;
(Ye fublunary worlds, awake, awake!
Ye rulers of the nation, hear, and shake!)
Thick clouds of darkness shall arise on day;
In fudden night all earth's dominions lay;
Impetuous winds the scatter'd forests rend;
Eternal mountains, like their cedars, bend;
The valleys yawn, the troubled ocean roar,
And break the bondage of his wonted shore;
A fanguine ftain the filver moon o'erspread;
Darkness the circle of the fun invade;
From inmoft heaven inceffant thunders roll,
And the ftrong echo bound from pole to pole.
When, lo, a mighty trump, one half conceal'd
In clouds, one half to mortal eye reveal'd,
Shall pour a dreadful note; the piercing call
Shall rattle in the centre of the ball;
Th' extended circuit of creation shake,
The living die with fear, the dead awake.

Oh powerful blaft! to which no equal found ''Did e'er the frighted ear of nature wound,

t

Though rival clarions have been strain'd on high,
And kindled wars immortal through the sky,
Though God's whole enginery discharg`d, and all
The rebel angels bellow'd in their fall.

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Have angels finn'd? and shall not man beware? 10 How fhall a fon of earth decline the fnare?

4

Να

1

Not folded arms, and flackness of the mind,
Can promise for the fafety of mankind:

None are fupinely good: through care and pain,
And various arts, the steep ascent we gain.
This is the fcene of combat, not of reft,
Man's is laborious happiness at best;
On this fide death his dangers never cease,
His joys are joys of conqueft, not of peace.
If then, obfequious to the will of fate,
And bending to the terms of human state,
When guilty joys invite us to their arms,
When beauty fmiles, or grandeur spreads her charms,
The confcious foul would this great scene display,
Call down th' immortal hofts in dread array,
The trumpet found, the Christian banner spread,
And raife from filent graves the trembling dead;
Such deep impreffion would the picture make,
No power on earth her firm resolve could shake;
Engag'd with angels fhe would greatly stand,
And look regardless down on fea and land;
Not proffer'd worlds her ardour could restrain,
And death might shake his threatening lance in vain!
Her certain conqueft would endear the fight,
And danger ferve but to exalt delight.

Inftructed thus to shun the fatal spring,

Whence flows the terrors of that day I fing;
More boldly we our labours may pursue,

· And all the dreadful image set to view.

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The sparkling eye, the sleek and painted breast, 135 ́The burnish'd scale, curl'd train, and rising crest,

All

All that is lovely in the noxious fnake,
Provokes our fear, and bids us flee the brake:
The fting once drawn, his guiltless beauties rife
In pleasing luftre, and detain our eyes;

We view with joy, what once did horror move,
And strong averfion foftens into love.

Say then, my Muse, whom dismal scenes delight,
Frequent at tombs, and in the realms of night;
Say, melancholy maid, if bold to dare

The last extremes of terror and despair;

Oh fay, what change on earth, what heart in man,
This blackest moment fince the world began.

Ah mournful turn! the blissful earth, who late
At leifure on her axle roll'd in state;
While thousand golden planets knew no reft,
Still onward in their circling journey.preft;
A grateful change of feafons fome to bring,
And sweet viciffitude of fall and spring :

14)

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Some through vaft oceans to conduct the keel,

And fome thofe watery worlds to fink, or fwell:

Around her fome their splendors to display,

And gild her globe with tributary day :

This world fo great, of joy the bright abode,

Heaven's darling child, and favourite of her God, 160 Now looks an exile from her Father's care,

Deliver'd o'er to darkness and despair.

No fun in radiant glory fhines on high;

No light, but from the terrors of the sky:
Fall'n are her mountains, her fam'd rivers loft,
And all into a fecond chaos tost:

One univerfal ruin fpreads abroad;

Nothing is fafe beneath the throne of God.

Such, earth, thy fate: what then canst thou afford To comfort and fupport thy guilty lord?

Man, haughty lord of all beneath the moon,

How muft he bend his foul's ambition down?
Proftrate, the reptile own, and difavow

His boasted stature, and affuming brow?

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Claim kindred with the clay, and curfe his form, 175
That fpeaks diftinction from his fifter worm ?
What dreadful pangs the trembling heart invade!
Lord, why doft thou forfake, whom thou haft made?
Who can sustain thy anger? Who can stand
Beneath the terrors of thy lifted hand?

It flies the reach of thought; oh save me, Power
Of powers fupreme, in that tremendous hour!
Thou who beneath the frown of fate haft ftood,
And in thy dreadful agony sweat blood;

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Thou, who for me, through every throbbing vein, 185 Haft felt the keeneft edge of mortal pain;

Whom death led captive through the realms below,

And taught those horrid mysteries of woe;

Defend me, O my God! Oh fave me, Power
Of powers fupreme, in that tremendous hour!
From east to west they fly, from pole to line,
Imploring fhelter from the wrath divine;
Beg flames to wrap, or whelming feas to fweep,
Or rocks to yawn, compaffionately deep :
Seas caft the monster forth to meet his doom,
And rocks but prison up for wrath to come.

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So

)

So fares a traitor to an earthly crown;
While death fits threatening in his prince's frown,
His heart's difmay'd; and now his fears command,
To change his native for a distant land:
Swift orders fly, the king's fevere decree
Stands in the channel, and locks up the fea;
The port he feeks, obedient to her lord,
Hurls back the rebel to his lifted fword.

But why this idle toil to paint that day?
This time elaborately thrown away?
Words all in vain pant after the distress,
The height of eloquence would make it lefs
Heavens! how the good man trembles !—

And is there a Laft Day? and must there come
A fure, a fix'd, inexorable doom?

Ambition fwell, and, thy proud fails to show,
Take all the winds that Vanity can blow ;
Wealth on a golden mountain blazing stand,
And reach an India forth in either hand;
Spread all thy purple clusters, tempting vine,
And thou, more dreaded foe, bright beauty, fhine;
Shine all; in all your charms together rife ;

That all, in all your charms,
may despise,
While I mount upward on a strong defire,
Borne, like Elijah, in a car of fire.

In hopes of glory to be quite involv'd!
To smile at death! to long to be dissolv'd!
From our decays a pleasure to receive!
And kindle into transport at a grave!

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