Like the proud Eaftern, ftruck by Providence,
What tho' our paffions are run mad, and ftoop
With low, terreftrial appetite, to graze

On trash, on toys, dethron'd from high defire?
Yet ftill, thro' their disgrace, no feeble ray
Of greatness shines, and tells us whence they fell:
But thefe (like that fall'n monarch when reclaim'd)
When reafon moderates the rein aright,

Shall re-afcend, remount their former sphere,
Where once they foar'd illustrious; ere feduc'd
By wanton EvE's debauch, to stroll on earth,
And fet the fublunary world on fire.

But grant their phrenfy lafts; their phrenfy fails
To disappoint one providential end,

For which heav'n blew up ardor in our hearts:
Were reafon filent, boundless paffion fpeaks
A future scene of boundlefs objects too,
And brings glad tidings of eternal day.
Eternal day! 'Tis that enlightens All;
And All, by that enlighten'd, proves it fure.
Confider man as an immortal being,
Intelligible All; and All is great ;

A cryftalline transparency prevails,

And ftrikes full luftre thro' the human sphere:
Confider man as mortal, All is dark,

And wretched; reafon weeps at the survey.

The learned LORENZO cries, " And let her weep, "Weak, modern reason: Antient times were wife. "Authority, that venerable guide,

"Stands on my part; the fam'd Athenian porch

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(And who for wisdom fo renown'd as They ?) "Deny'd this immortality to man.”

I grant it; but affirm, they prov'd it too.
A riddle this!-Have patience; I'll explain.
What noble vanities, what moral flights,
Glitt'ring thro' their romantic wisdom's page,
Make us, at once, despise them, and admire ?
Fable is flat to thefe high-feafon'd Sires;
They leave th' extravagance of fong below.
"Flesh shall not feel; or, feeling, shall enjoy
"The dagger or the rack; to them, alike
"A bed of rofes, or the burning bull."
In men exploding all beyond the grave,
Strange doctrine, This! As dorine, it was strange;
But not, as prophecy; for fuch it prov'd,

And, to their own amazement, was fulfill'd:
They feign'd a firmness Chriftians need not feign. ̧
The Chriftian truly triumph'd in the flame:
The Stoic faw, in double wonder loft,
Wonder at Them, and wonder at Himself,
To find the bold adventures of his thought

Not bold, and that he ftrove to lye in vain.

Whence, then, thofe thoughts? Thofe tow'ring [thoughts, that flew

Such monftrous heights ?-From inftinct, and from pride.
The glorious inftinct of a deathless foul,
Confus'dly confcious of her dignity,
Suggested truths they could not understand.

In luft's dominion, and in paffion's ftorm,
Truth's fyftem broken, fcatter'd fragments lay,

As

As light in chaos, glimm'ring thro' the gloom:
Smit with the pomp of lofty sentiments,
Pleas'd pride proclaim'd, what reafon disbeliev'd.
Pride, like the Delphic priestess, with a swell,
Rav'd nonfenfe, deftin'd to be future fenfe,
When life immortal, in full day, should shine;
And death's dark shadows fly the gospel fun.
They spoke, what nothing but immortal fouls
Could fpeak; and thus the truth they queftion'd, prov'd.

Can then abfurdities, as well as crimes,

Speak man immortal? All things fpeak him fo.
Much has been urg'd; and dost thou call for more?
Call; and with endless queftions be diftreft,
All unrefolvable, if earth is All.

Why life, a moment; infinite, defire?

"Our wish, Eternity? Our home, the Grave? "Heav'n's promife dormant lies in human hope; "Who wishes life immortal, proves it too.

Why happiness purfu'd, tho' never found? "Man's thirst of happiness declares It is

(For nature never gravitates to nought); "That thirst unquencht declares It is not Here: "My LUCIA, Thy CLARISSA, call to thought; Why cordial friendship riveted so deep,

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"As hearts to pierce at first, at parting, rend,
“If friend, and friendship, vanish in an hour?
"Is not This torment in the mask of joy?
"Why by reflection marr'd the joys of fenfe?
"Why past, and future, preying on our hearts?
"And putting all our present joys to death ?
K 3

"Why

"Why labours reafon? inflina were as well;
"Inftinct far better; what can chufe, can err :
"O how infallible the thoughtless brute!
" "Twere well his Holiness were half as fure.
**Reason with inclination, why at war?

"Why fenfe of guilt? why confcience up in arms?"
Confcience of guilt, is prophecy of pain,

And bofom-counfel to decline the blow.
Reafon with inclination ne'er had jarr'd,
If nothing future paid forbearance Here.
Thus on-These, and a thousand pleas uncall'd,
All promife, fome enfure, a fecond scene;
Which, were it doubtful, would be dearer far
Than all things elfe moft certain; were it false,
What truth on earth fo precious as the lye?
This world it gives us, let what will enfue;
This world it gives, in that high cordial, hope :
The future of the prefent is the foul :

How this life groans, when fever'd from the next!
Poor, mutilated wretch, that disbelieves !

By dark diftruft his being cut in two,
In both parts perifhes; life void of joy,
Sad prelude of Eternity in pain!

Couldst thou perfuade me, the next life could fail
Our ardent wishes; how fhould I pour out
My bleeding heart in anguish, new, as deep!
Oh! with what thoughts, thy hope, and my despair,
Abhorr'd ANNIHILATION! blafts the foul,
And wide extends the bounds of human woe!
Could I believe LORENZO'S fyftem true,
In this black chanel would my ravings run.

"Grief

"Grief from the future borrow'd peace, ere while. "The future vanifht! and the prefent pain'd! "Strange import of unprecedented ill!

་་

"Fall, how profound! Like LUCIFER's, the fall!
Unequal fate! His fall, without his guilt!
"From where fond hope built her pavilion high,
"The gods among, hurl'd headlong, hurl'd at once
"To night! To nothing! Darker ftill than night,
"If 'twas a dream, why wake me, my worst Foe,
"LORENZO! boastful of the name of Friend!
"O for delufion! O for error ftill!

"Could vengeance ftrike much stronger than to plant
"A thinking being in a world like This,
"Not over-rich before, now beggar'd quite;
"More curft than at the fall?-The fun goes out!
"The thorns fhoot up! What thorns in ev'ry thought!
"Why sense of better? It imbitters worse.
"Why fenfe? why life? If but to figh, then fink
"To what I was! twice nothing! and much woe!
"Woe, from heav'n's bounties! woe, from what was
"To flatter moft, high intellectual powers.

[wont

"Thought, virtue, knowlege! blessings, by thy fcheme, "All poifon'd into pains. First, knowlege, once "My foul's ambition, now her greatest dread. "To know myself, true wifdom ?-No, to fhun "That shocking science, parent of despair! "Avert thy mirror: If I fee, I die.

"Know my Creator? Climb His bleft abode "By painful fpeculation, pierce the veil, "Dive in His nature, read His attributes,