In figure emblematical expressed. Unerringly, through all the tracts of thought, Adoration. ALL nature, hear the sacred song! Attend, O earth, the solemn strain! Ye whirlwinds wild that sweep along, Ye darkening storms of beating rain, Umbrageous glooms, and forests drear, And solitary deserts, hear! Be still, ye winds, whilst to the Maker's praise The creature of his power aspires his voice to raise! O, may the solemn-breathing sound. Like incense rise before the throne, Where he, whose glory knows no bound, Great Cause of all things, dwells alone! 'Tis he I sing, whose powerful hand Balanced the skies, outspread the land: Who spoke,-from ocean's stores sweet waters came, And burst resplendent forth the heaven-aspiring flame. One general song of praise arise To him whose goodness ceaseless flows; Great Source of intellect, his ear Benign receives our vows sincere : Rise, then, my active powers, your task fulfil, And give to him your praise, responsive to my will! Partaker of that living stream Of light, that pours an endless blaze, My understanding, speak his praise! To him, sole just, my sense of right incline: Let all of good this bosom fires, To him, sole good, give praises due : Let all the truth himself inspires Unite to sing him only true: To him my every thought ascend, To him my hopes, my wishes, bend: From earth's wide bounds let louder hymns arise, And his own word convey the pious sacrifice! In ardent adoration joined, Thy just desires, O God, fulfil! To thee, our noblest powers we bring: O, may thy hand direct our wandering way! O, bid thy light arise, and chase the clouds away! Eternal Spirit, whose command Light, life, and being gave to all, That soul to thee that owes its birth,- LORENZO DE MEDICI, Trans. by RoscoE. Acquaint thyself with God. ACQUAINT thyself with God, if thou wouldst taste His works. Admitted once to his embrace, Thou shalt perceive that thou wast blind before; Thine eye shall be instructed; and thine heart, Made pure, shall relish, with divine delight Till then unfelt, what hands divine have wrought. Brutes graze the mountain-top, with faces prone, And eyes intent upon the scanty herb And, such well-pleased to find it, asks no more. Not so the mind that has been touched from heaven, And in the school of sacred wisdom taught To read his wonders, in whose thought the world, Fair as it is, existed ere it was. Not for its own sake merely, but for his Much more, who fashioned it, he gives it praise; The soul that sees him or receives sublimed That fill the skies nightly with silent pomp, Sweet conference. Inquires what strains were they With which heaven rang, when every star in haste Sent forth a voice, and all the sons of God And systems of whose birth no tidings yet rocks From the green wave emerging, darts an eye And many an aching wish, your beamy fires, And that, infused from heaven, must thither tend." WILLIAM COWPER. |