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Supply'd fuch relics, as devotion holds
Still Sacred, and preferves with pious care.
So 'twas an hallow'd time. Decorum reign'd,
And mirth, without offence. No few return'd,

Doubtless, much edify'd, and all refresh'd.
The rabble all alive,

-Man praises man.

Swarm in the streets.

From tipling-benches, cellars, ftalls, and flyes,

The ftatesman of the day,

A pompous and flow-moving pageant comes.
Some fhout him, and fome hang upon

his car,

Το gaze in's eyes, and blefs him. Maidens wave Their 'kerchiefs, and old women weep for joy. While others, not fo fatisfy'd, unhorfe

The gilded equipage, and turning loofe

His feeds, ulurp a place they well deferve.

Why? what has charm'd them? Hath he fav'd the fate?
No. Doth he purpose its falvation? No.
Inchanting novelty, that moon at full,
That finds out ev'ry crevice of the head
That is not found and perfect, hath in theirs
Wrought this difturbance. But the wane is near,
And his own cattle muft fuffice him foon.
Thus idly do we wafte the breath of praife,
And dedicate a tribute, in its ufe,
And just direction, facred, to a thing
Doom'd to the duft, or lodg'd already there.
Encomium in old time was poets' work.
But poets having lavishly long fince,
Exhaufted all materials of the art,
The task now falls into the public hand.

And

And I, contented with an humble theme,
Have pour'd my ttream of panegyric down
The vale of nature, where it creeps, and winds
Among her lovely works, with a fecure,
And unambitious courfe, reflecting clear,
If not the virtues, yet the worth of brutes.
And I am recompens'd, and deem the toils
Of poetry not left, if verfe of mine
May ftand between an animal and woe,
And teach one tyrant pity for his drudge.

The groans of nature in this nether world,
Which heav'n has heard for ages, have an end.
Foretold by prophets, and by poets fung,
Whofe fire was kindl'd at the prophet's lamp,
The time of reft, the promis'd Sabbath comes.
Six thousand years of forrow have well nigh
Fulfill'd their tardy and difaftrous courfe,
Over a finful world. And what remains
Of this tempestuous ftate of human things,
Is merely as the working of a sea

Before a calm, that rocks itself to rest.

For he whofe car the winds are, and the clouds,
The duft that waits upon his fultry march,
When fin hath mov'd him, and his wrath is hot,
Shall vifit earth in mercy; fhall defcend
Propitious, in his chariot pav'd with love,
And what his ftorms have blafted and defac'd
For man's revolt, fhall with a smile repair.

Sweet

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Sweet is the harp of prophecy. Too fweet, Not to be wrong'd by a mere mortal touch; Nor can the wonders it records, be fung

To meaner mufic, and not fuffer lofs.

But when a poet, or when one like me,
Happy to rove among poetic flow'rs,

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Though poor in kill to rear them, lights, at last,
On fome fair theme, fome theme, divinely fair,
Such is the impulfe, and the fpur he feels,
To give it praife, proportion'd to its worth,
That not t'attempt it, arduous as he deems
The labor, were a task more arduous still.

Oh fcenes, furpaffing fable, and yet true,
Scenes of accomplish'd bliss! which, who can see,
Though but in diftant prospect, and not feel
His foul refresh'd with foretaste of the joy?
Rivers of gladnefs water all the earth,

And clothe all climes with beauty; the reproach
Of barrennefs is past. The fruitful field
Laughs with abundance, and the land once lean,
Or fertile only in its own difgrace,
Exults, to fee its thiftly curfe repeal'd.
The various feafons woven into one,
And that one feafon an eternal spring,

The garden fears no blight, and needs no fence,
For there is none to covet, all are full.

The lion, and the libbard, and the bear,
Graze with the fearlefs flocks. All bask at noon

Together, or all gambol in the fhade

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Of the fame grove, and drink one common ftream.

Antipathies are none.

No foe to man

Lurks in the ferpent now.

The mother fees,

And fmiles, to fee her infant's playful hand
Stretch'd forth, to dally with the crefted worm,
To stroke his auzure neck, or to receive
The lambent homage of his arrowy tongue.
All creatures worship man, and all mankind,
One Lord, one Father. Error has no place;
That creeping peftilence is driv'n away,

The breath of heav'n has chas'd it. In the heart
No paffion touches a discordant fring,

Disease

But all is harmony and love.
Is not. The pure and uncontaminate blood
Holds its due course, nor fears the frost of age.
One fong employs all nations, and all cry,
"Worthy the Lamb, for he was flain for us."
The dwellers in the vales, and on the rocks,
Shout to each other, and the mountain tops,
From diftant mountains catch the flying joy,
'Till nation, after nation, taught the train,
Each rolls the rapturous Hofanna round.
Behold the meafure of the promise fill'd,
See Salem built, the labour of a God!
Bright, as a fun, the facred city fhines;
All kingdoms, and all princes of the earth,
Flock to that light; the glory of all lands
Flows into her, unbounded is her joy,
And endless her increase. Thy rams are there
* Nebaioth,

*Nebaioth, and' the flocks of Kedar there;
The looms of Ormus, and the mines of Ind,
And Saba's spicy groves pay tribute there.
Praise is in all her gates. Upon her walls,
And in her streets, and in her fpacious courts,..
Is heard falvation. Eaftern Java there,
Kneels, with the native of the fartheft Weft.
And Ethiopia fpreads abroad the hand

And worships. Her report has travell❜d forth
Into all lands. From ev'ry clime they come,
To fee thy beauty, and to share thy joy,
O Sion! an affembly, fuch as earth

Saw never, fuch as heav'n ftoops down to fee.

Thus heav'n-ward all things tend.. For all were once Perfect, and all must be at length restor❜d. So God has greatly purpos'd; who would elfe, In his dishonor'd works himself endure Difhonor, and be wrong'd without redrefs. Hafte then, and wheel away a fhatter'd world, Ye flow revolving feasons! We would fee (A fight to which our eyes are strangers yet) A world that does not dread and hate his laws, And fuffer for its crime; would learn how fair The creature is that God pronounces good,

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** Nebaioth and Kedar, the fons of Ishmael, and progenitors of the Arabs, in the prophetic scripture here alluded to, may be reasonably confidered as repren fentatives of the Gentiles at large.

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