Firft Cause of caufes! Sire fupreme of birth!
Sole light of heav'n! acknowledg'd life of earth!
Whofe Word from nothing call'd this beauteous whole,
This wide expanded All from pole to pole!

Who fhall prefcribe the boundary to Thee,
Or fix the æra of eternity?

Should we, deceiv'd by error's fceptic glass,
Admit the thought abfurd ---- that Nothing was!
Thence would this wild, this falfe conclufion flow,
That Nothing rais'd this beauteous All below!
When from difclosing darkness fplendor breaks,
Affociate atoms move, and matter speaks,
When non-existence burfts its clofe difguife,
How blind are mortals

not to own the skies!

If one vaft void eternal held its place,

Whence started time? or whence expanded space?
What gave the flumb'ring mass to feel a change?
Or bid confenting world harmonious range?
Could nothing link the univerfal chain?
No, 'tis impoffible, abfurd, and vain!
Here reafon its eternal Author finds,
The whole who regulates, unites, and binds,
Enlivens matter, and produces minds!
Inactive Chaos fleeps in dull repofe,

Nor knowledge thence, nor free volition, flows!
A nobler fource thofe pow'rs ethereal show,
By which we think, defign, reflect, and know;
Thefe from a caufe fuperior date their rife,
"Abstract in effence from material ties."
An origin immortal, as fupreme,

From whose pure day, celeftial rays! they came
In whom all poffible perfections shine,
Eternal, felf-exiftent, and divine!

From this great fpring of uncreated might!
This all-refplendent orb of vital light;
Whence all created beings take their rife,

Which beautify the earth, or paint the skies!
Profufely wide the boundless bleffings flow,

Which heav'n enrich, and gladden worlds below!
Which are no less, when properly defin'd,
Than emanations of th' Eternal Mind!
Hence triumphs truth beyond objection clear
(Let unbelief attend and fhrink with fear!)
That what for ever was muft furely be
Beyond commencement, and from period free;
Drawn from himself his native excellence,
His date eternal, and his space immenfe!
And all of whom that man can comprehend,
Is, that he ne'er begun, nor ne'er fhall end.

}

In him from whom exiftence boundless flows,
Let humble faith its facred truft repose:
Affur'd, on his eternity depend,

"Eternal Father! and eternal Friend!
Within that myftic circle fafety feek,

No time can leffen, and no force can break;
And, loft in adoration, breathe his praife,
High Rock of ages, ancient Site of days!

Thus recogniz'd, the fpring of life and thought!
Eternal, felf-deriv'd, and unbegot!

Approach, celestial Muse, th' empyreal throne,
And awfully adore th' exalted One!

In nature pure, in place fupremely free,
And happy in effential unity!

Blefs'd in himself, had from his forming hand
No creatures fprung to hail his wide command;
Blefs'd, had the facred fountain ne'er run o'er,
A boundless fea of blifs that knows no fhore!
Exalted Pow'r invifible, fupreme,

Thou fov'reign, fole unutterable Name!
As round thy throne thy flaming feraphs ftand,
And touch the golden lyre with trembling hand;
Too weak thy pure effulgence to behold,

With their rich plumes their dazzled eyes infold;
Transported with the ardors of thy praife,
The holy! holy! holy! anthem raise!
To them refponfive, let creation fing,
Thee, indivisible eternal King!

[BOYSE.]

Love of SOLITUDE, and VANITY of WORLDLY PLEASURE.

W Blaff the glad feafon of their ficcting youth,

HILE others, loft in pleasure's guilty round,

Let me in folitary joys abound,

Fond of the paths of Piety and Truth:
Give me in Wispoм's volume to descry
The myfteries of Love and Grace divine,
By Scripture taught, with penetrating eye
To fcan the world aright, and -- to refign.
Deluded world! infatuated throng!

To fpurn the treasure that no force destroys,
Nor fee the baneful weed that lurks among
The fairest bloom of your embitter'd joys.
Amid the clamours of the loudest mirth,
Thoughts in unwelcome guife will oft have part,
Will promp the wifh, the involuntary figh,
And roule reflection in the gayeft heart.

Bear me, ye guardians of the mind fincere,
To fcenes fequefter'd from the haunts of men;
The penfive foul with ev'ry grace prepare,
Sacred to Virtue and her blifsful train :
With these converfing, and by these renew'd,
Ne'er fhall I feel ambition's lawless sway,
But in the paths my earliest steps purfu'd,
In fearch of WISDOM's Pleafures fafely ftray.
Come, holy WISDOM, favourite gift of God!
With thine attendant grace, Humility;
Defcend, bright Vifitant! and make abode.
Where mufeful Melancholy waits for thee.
Ah, what avails fair India's fhining ftore,

The purple treasures of the gorgeous East ?
What joy, to quit the charms of regal power,
To dwell with thee, thou foul-enlightening guest!
Not the attractive voice of worldly fame,
Nor fyren found of dulleft flattery,

Could tempt my heart thy labours to difclaim,
Or flight the bleffings that belong to thee.
How has my foul in fecret with preferr'd
The lonely walk and folitary fhade,
The painted vanities of life abhorr'd,
And all the pageantry that pomp display'd!
Joylefs the gilded equipage I view'd,
The dull variety of fenfelefs fhow;
The world's gay path without delight purfu'd,
Nor felt the tranfports that from grandeur flow.
Slave to the wretched world's impofing forms,
See Sachariffa deck'd in gold brocade;
She owns that grandeur has no real charms,
And fighs for virtue in the fylvan fhade.

A

VERSES TO LADY

[Mrs. CowPER.]

H hapless maid! whofe virtues, once thy own,
The luftre of thy brilliants far outfhone;
Couldst thou awhile thy waken'd felf attend,
And fee where all thefe fhort-liv'd glories end;
Couldst thou for once the circling crowd exclude,
And taste the joys of guiltlefs folitude,

Where WISDOM roams her filent haunts among,
And Contemplation mocks the giddy throng;
Where peaceful fcenes each ruder fenfe controul,
And the "ftill voice" awaits the humble foul;
There, **, would thy confcious mind enjoy
Thofe heart felt pleasures that can never cloy;
There, peaceful once again, thy foul fhould feel
Joys that the world can neither give nor steal,

[IBID.]