And lift thine Eye (if bold an Eye to lift,
If bold to meet the Face of injur'd Heaven)
To yonder Stars: For other Ends they shine,
Than to light Revellers from Shame to Shame,
And, thus, be made Accomplices in Guilt.
Why from
yon Arch, that Infinite of Space,
With Infinite of lucid Orbs replete,
Which fet the living Firmament on Fire,
At the firfl Glance, in fuch an Overwhelm
Of Wonderful, on Man's astonish'd Sight,
Rufhes OMNIPOTENCE?-To curb our Pride;
Our Reason rouse, and lead it to that Power,
Whofe Love lets down thefe Silver Chains of Light;
To draw up Man's Ambition to Himself,
And bind our chafte Affections to His Throne.
Thus the Three Virtues, leaft alive on Earth,
And welcom❜d on Heav'n's Coast with most Applause,
An Humble, Pure, and Heav'nly-minded Heart,
Are bere infpir'd:-And canft thou gaze too long?
Nor ftands thy Wrath depriv'd of its Reproof,
Or un-upbraided by this radiant Choir.
The Planets of each Syftem reprefent
Kind Neighbours; mutual Amity prevails;
Sweet Interchange of Rays, receiv'd, return'd;
Enlight'ning, and enlighten'd! All, at once,
Attracting, and attracted! Patriot-like,
None fins against the Welfare of the Whole;
But their reciprocal, unselfish Aid,
Affords an Emblem of Millennial Love.
Nothing in Nature, much lefs confcious Being,
Was e'er created folely for Itfelf:
Thus Man his fov'reign Duty learns in this
Material Picture of Benevolence.
And know, of all our fupercilious Race, Thou moft inflammable! Thou Wafp of Men! Man's angry Heart, infpected, would be found As rightly fet, as are the starry Spheres ; 'Tis Nature's Structure, broke by ftubborn Will, Breeds all that un-celeftial Difcord there. Wilt thou not feel the Bias Nature gave? Canft thou defcend from Converse with the Skies, And seize thy Brother's Throat?-For what-a Clod, An Inch of Earth? The Planets cry, "Forbear." They chase our double Darkness; Nature's Gloom, And (kinder still!) our intellectual Night.
And fee, Day's amiable Sifter fends
Her Invitation, in the softest Rays
Of mitigated Luftre; courts thy Sight,
Which suffers from her Tyrant-Brother's Blaze.
Night grants thee the full Freedom of the Skies,
Nor rudely reprimands thy lifted Eye;
With Gain, and Joy, fhe bribes thee to be wife.
Night opes the nobleft Scenes, and fheds an Awe,
Which gives those venerable Scenes full Weight,
And deep Reception, in th' intender'd Heart;
While Light peeps thro' the Darkness, like a Spy;
And Darkness fhews its Grandeur by the Light.
Nor is the Profit greater than the Joy,
If human Hearts at glorious Objects glow,
And Admiration can infpire Delight.
What speak I more, than I, this Moment, feel?
With pleafing Stupor firft the Soul is struck
(Stupor ordain'd to make her truly Wife!):
Then into Transport starting from her Trance,
With Love, and Admiration, how the glows!
This gorgeous Apparatus! This Difplay!
This Oftentation of creative Power!
This Theatre !-what Eye can take it in?
By what divine Inchantment was it rais'd,
For Minds of the firft Magnitude to launch
In endless Speculation, and adore?
One Sun by Day, by Night Ten thousand shine;
And light us deep into the DEITY,
How boundless in Magnificence and Might?
O what a Confluence of ethereal Fires,
From Urns unnumber'd, down the Steep of Heaven,
Streams to a Point, and centres in my Sight!
Nor tarries there; I feel it at my Heart.
My Heart, at once, it humbles, and exalts
Lays it in Duft, and calls it to the Skies.
Who fees it, unexalted, and unaw'd?
Who fees it, and can stop at what is feen?
Material Offspring of OMNIPOTENCE!
Inanimate, All-animating Birth!
Work worthy Him who made it! Worthy Praise!
All Praife! Praife more than human! nor deny'd
Thy Praise Divine!-But tho' Man, drown'd in Sleep,
With-holds his Homage, not alone I wake;
Bright Legions fwarm unfeen, and fing, unheard
By mortal Ear, the glorious Architect,
In This His univerfal Temple, hung
With Luftres, with innumerable Lights,
That shed Religion on the Soul; at once,
The Temple, and the Preacher! O how loud
It calls Devotion! genuine Growth of Night!
Devotion! Daughter of Aftronomy!
An undevout Aftronomer is mad.
True; All Things fpeak a GOD; but in the Small,
Men trace out Him; in Great, He feizes Man.
Seizes, and elevates, and raps, and fills
With new Inquiries, 'mid Affociates new.
Tell me, ye Stars! ye Planets! tell me, all
Ye Starr'd, and Planeted, Inhabitants! What is it?
What are thefe Sons of Wonder? Say, proud Arch!
(Within whofe azure Palaces they dwell)
Built with Divine Ambition! in Difdain
Of Limit built! built in the Taste of Heaven!
Vaft Concave! Ample Dome! Waft thou defign'd A meet Apartment for the DEITY?
Not fo; That Thought alone thy State impairs,
Thy Lofty finks, and fhallows thy Profound,
And ftreightens thy Diffufive; dwarfs the Whole,
And makes an Univerfe an Orrery.
But when I drop mine Eye, and look on Man, Thy Right regain'd, thy Grandeur is reftor'd, O Nature! wide flies off th' expanding Round As when whole Magazines, at once, are fir'd The fmitten Air is hollow'd by the Blow; The vaft Difplotion diffipates the Clouds; Shock'd Æther's Billows dafh the diftant Skies; Thus (but far more) th' expanding Round flies off, And leaves a mighty Void, a fpacious Womb, Might teem with new Creation; re-inflam'd Thy Luminaries triumph, and affume Divinity themselves. Nor was it ftrange, Matter high-wrought to fuch furprising Pomp, Such godlike Glory, ftole the Style of Gods, From Ages dark, obtufe, and fteep'd in Sense; For, fure, to Senfe, they truly are divine, And half-abfolv'd Idolatry from Guilt; Nay, turn'd it into Virtue. Such it was In those, who put forth all they had of Man Unloft, to lift their Thought, nor mounted higher; But, weak of Wing, on Planets perch'd; and thought What was their Highest, must be their Ador'd.
But They how weak, who could no higher mount? And are there, then, LORENZO! Thofe, to whom
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