Apart; or fuch their horrid Rage for Ruin,
In mutual Conflict would they rife, and wage
Eternal War, till One was quite devour'd.
But not for This, ordain'd their boundless Rage;
When Heav'n's inferior Inftruments of Wrath,
War, Famine, Peftilence, are found too weak
To fcourge a World for her enormous Crimes,
These are let loose, alternate: Down they rush,
Swift and Tempeftuous, from th' eternal Throne,
With irresistible Commiffion arm'd,

The World, in vain corrected, to destroy,
And ease Creation of the fhocking Scene.

Seeft thou, LORENZO! what depends on Man?
The Fate of Nature; as for Man, her Birth.
Earth's Actors change Earth's tranfitory Scenes,
And make Creation groan with human Guilt.
How muft it groan, in a new Deluge whelm'd,
But not of Waters! At the deftin'd Hour,
By the loud Trumpet fummon'd to the Charge,
See, all the formidable Sons of Fire,

Eruptions, Earthquakes, Comets, Lightnings, play
Their various Engines; All at once difgorge
Their blazing Magazines; and take, by Storm,
poor terreftrial Citadel of Man.

This

Amazing Period! when each Mountain-Height
Cut-burns Vefuvius; Rocks eternal pour
Their melted Mafs, as Rivers once they pour'd;

Stars

Stars rush; and final Ruin fiercely drives

Her Ploughfhare o'er Creation!-While aloft,
More than Aftonifhment! if more can be!
Far cther Firmament than e'er was feen,

Than e'er was thought by Man! Far other Stars!
Stars animate, that govern thefe of Fire;
Far other Sun!A Sun, O how unlike
The Babe at Beth'lem! How unlike the Man
That groan'd on Calvary!--Yet He it is;
That Man of Sorrows! O how chang'd! What Pomp!
In Grandeur terrible, All Heav'n descends!
And Gods, ambitious, triumph in His Train.
A swift Archangel, with his golden Wing,
As Blots and Clouds, that darken and difgrace
The Scene divine, fweeps Stars and Suns afide.
And now, all Drofs remov'd, Heav'n's own pure Day,
Full on the Confines of our Æther, flames.
While (dreadful Contraft!) far, how far beneath!
Hell bursting, belches forth her blazing Seas,
And Storms fulphureous; her voracious Jaws
Expanding wide, and roaring for her Prey.

LORENZO! Welcome to this Scene; the Last In Nature's Course; the First in Wisdom's Thought. This ftrikes, if aught can strike thee; This awakes The most Supine; This fnatches Man from Death. Roufe, roufe, LORENZO, then, and follow me, Where Truth, the most momentous Man can hear, Loud calls my Soul, and Ardor wings her Flight.

I find my Infpiration in my Theme;

The Grandeur of my Subject is my Mufe.

At Midnight, when Mankind is wrapt in Peace, And worldly Fancy feeds on golden Dreams; To give more Dread to Man's most dreadful Hour, At Midnight, 'tis prefum'd, this Pomp will burst From tenfold Darkness; fudden, as the Spark From fmitten Steel; from nitrous Grain, the Blaze. Man, ftarting from his Couch, fhall fleep no more! The Day is broke, which never more fhall clofe! Above, around, beneath, Amazement All! Terror and Glory join'd in their Extremes! Our GOD in Grandeur, and our World on Fire! All Nature struggling in the Pangs of Death! Doft thou not hear her? Doft thou not deplore Her ftrong Convulfions, and her final Groan ? Where are we now? Ah me! The Ground is gone, On which we stood, LORENZO! While thou may'ft, Provide more firm Support, or fink for Ever! Where? How? From whence? Vain Hope! It is too late! Where, where, for Shelter, fhall the Guilty fly, When Confternation turns the Good Man pale?

Great Day! for which all other Days were made; For which Earth rofe from Chaos; Man from Earth; And an Eternity, the Date of Gods,

Defcended on poor Earth-created Man!

Great

Great Day of Dread, Decifion, and Despair!
At Thought of Thee, each fublunary Wish
Lets go its eager Grafp, and drops the World;
And catches at each Reed of Hope in Heaven.
At Thought of Thee! And art thou absent then?
LORENZO! NO; 'tis Here;-it is begun ;-
Already is begun the Grand Affize,

In Thee, in All: Deputed Confcience scales
The dread Tribunal, and foreftalls our Doom;
Foreftalls; and, by foreftalling, proves it Sure.
Why on Himself fhould Man void Judgment pafs?
Is idle Nature laughing at her Sons?

Who Confcience fent, her Sentence will fupport,
And GOD Above affert That GoD in Man.

Thrice happy They! that enter now the Court Heav'n opens in their Bofoms: But, how rare, Ah me! That Magnanimity, how rare! What Hero, like the Man who stands Himself; Who dares to meet his naked Heart alone; Who hears, intrepid, the full Charge it brings, Refolv'd to filence future Murmurs There? The Coward flies; and, flying, is undone. (Art thou a Coward? No): The Coward flies; Thinks, but thinks flightly; afks, but fears to know ; Afks, "What is Truth?" with PILATE; and retires; Diffolves the Court, and mingles with the Throng; Asylum fad; from Reason, Hope, and Heav'n!

Shall

Shall All, but Man, look out with ardent Eye,
For that great Day, which was ordain'd for Man?
O Day of Confummation! Mark fupreme
(If Men are wife) of human Thought! nor least,
Or in the Sight of Angels, or their KING!
Angels, whofe radiant Circles, Height o'er Height,
Order o'er Order, rifing, Blaze o'er Blaze,
As in a Theatre, furround This Scene,
Intent on Man, and anxious for his Fate,

Angels look out for Thee, for Thee, their LORD,
To vindicate His Glory; and for Thee,
Creation univerfal calls aloud,

To dif-involve the moral World, and give
To Nature's Renovation brighter Charms.

Shall Man alone, whofe Fate, whofe final Fate, Hangs on that Hour, exclude it from his Thought? I think of nothing elfe; I fee! I feel it!

All Nature, like an Earthquake, trembling round!
All Deities, like Summer's Swarms, on Wing!
All basking in the full Meridian Blaze !

I fee the JUDGE inthron'd! The flaming Guard!
The Volume open'd! Open'd every Heart!
A Sun-beam pointing out each fecret Thought!
No Patron! Interceffor none! Now paft

The sweet, the clement, Mediatorial Hour!
For Guilt no Plea! To Pain, no Paufe! no Bound!
Inexorable, All! and All, Extreme !

Nor