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"And must I go," th' illustrious mourner cry'd, "I who have serv'd thee still in faith and truth, Whose snow-white conscience no foul crime has died

From youth to manhood, infancy to youth, Like David, who have still rever'd thy word The sovereign of myself and servant of the Lord!" The judge Almighty heard his suppliant's moan, Repeal'd his sentence, and his health restor'd; The beams of mercy on his temples shone,

Shot from that Heaven to which his sighs had The Sun retreated at his maker's nod [soar'd; And miracles confirm the genuine work of God. But, O immortals! What had Ito plead [lance, When Death stood o'er me with his threat'ning When reason left me in the time of need,

And sense was lost in terrour or in trance, My sinking soul was with my blood inflam'd, And the celestial image sunk,defac'd and maim'd.

I sent back memory, in heedful guise,

To search the records of preceding years;
Home, like the raven to the ark3, she flies,
Croaking bad tidings to my trembling ears:
O Sun, again that thy retreat was made,
And threw my follies back into the friendly
shade!

But who are they, that bid affliction cease!-
Redemption and forgiveness, heavenly sounds!
Behold the dove that brings the branch of peace,
Behold the balm that heals the gaping wounds-
Vengeance divine's by penitence supprest→→→
She struggles with the angel, conquers, and is
blest4.

Yet hold, presumption, nor too fondly climb,
And thou too hold, O horrible despair!
In man humility's alone sublime,

Who diffidently hopes he's Christ's own careO all-sufficient Lamb! in death's dread hour Thy merits who shall slight, or who can doubt thy power?

But soul-rejoicing health again returns,

The blood meanders gentle in each vein, The lamp of life renew'd with vigour burns, And exil'd reason takes her seat againBrisk leaps the heart, the mind's at large once

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He rais'd the lame, the lepers he made whole,
He fix'd the palsied nerves of weak decay,
He drove out Satan from the tortur'd soul,

And to the blind gave or restor❜d the day,Nay more, far more unequal'd pangs sustain'd, Till his lost fallen flock his taintless blood regain'd. My feeble feet refus'd my body's weight,

Nor wou'd my eyes admit the glorious light, My nerves convuls'd shook fearful of their fate, My mind lay open to the powers of night. He pitying did a second birth bestow A birth of joy-not like the first of tears and woe. Ye strengthen'd feet, forth to his altar move; Quicken, ye new-strung nerves, th' enraptur'd lyre;

Ye Heav'n-directed eyes, o'erflow with love; Glow, glow, my soul, with pure seraphic fire; Deeds, thoughts, and words no more his mandates break,

But to his endless glory work, conceive, and speak.

O! penitence, to virtue near allied,

Thou can'st new joys e'en to the blest impart ; The list'ning angels lay their harps aside

To hear the music of thy contrite heart; And Heav'n itself wears a more radiant face, When charity presents thee to the throne of grace.

Chief of metallic forms is regal gold";

Of elements, the limpid fount that flows; Give me 'mongst gems the brilliant to behold; O'er Flora's flock imperial is the rose: Above all birds the sov'reign eagle soars ; And monarch of the field the lordly lion roars,

What can with great Leviathan compare,

Who takes his pastime in the mighty main? What, like the Sun, shines thro' the realms of air, And gilds and glorifies th' ethereal plain ?— Yet what are these to man, who bears the sway'; For all was made for him-to serve and to

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Deep-rooted in my heart then let her grow, That for the past the future may atone; That I may act what thou hast giv'n to know, That I may live for thee and thee alone, And justify those sweetest words from Heav'n, "That he shall love thee most to whom thou'st most forgiven."">

ON THE

ETERNITY OF THE SUPREME BEING,

A POETICAL ESSAY.

A CLAUSE OF

MR. SEATON's WILL, Dated Oct. 8, 1738.

I GIVE my Kislingbury estate to the university of Cambridge for ever: the rents of which shall be disposed of yearly by the vice-chancellor for the time being, as he the vice-chancellor, the master of Clare-Hall, and the Greek professor for the time being, or any two of them, shall agree. Which three persons aforesaid shall give out a subject, which subject shall for the first year be one or other of the perfections or attributes of the Supreme Being, and so the succeeding years, till the subject is exhausted; and afterwards the subject shall be either Death, Judgment, Heaven, Hell, Purity of Heart, &c. or whatever else may be judged by the vicechancellor, master of Clare-Hall, and Greek professor to be most conducive to the honour of the Supreme Being and recommendation of virtue. And they shall yearly dispose of the rent of the above estate to that master of arts, whose poem on the subject given shall be best approved by them. Which poem I ordain to be always in English, and to be printed, the expense of which shall be deducted out of the product of the estate, and the residue given as a reward for the composer of the poem, or ode, or copy of

verses.

WE the underwritten, do assign Mr. Sea

ton's reward to C. Smart, M. A. for this

poem on The Eternity of the Supreme Being and direct the said poem to be printed, according to the tenor of the will.

EDM. KEENE, vice-chancellor.
J. WILCOX, master of Clare-Hall.

March 25, 1750.

HALL, wond'rous Being, who in pow'r supreme
Exists from everlasting, whose great name
Deep in the human heart, and every atom,
The air, the earth or azure main contains,
In undecypher'd characters is wrote-
Incomprehensible!-O what can words,
The weak interpreters of mortal thoughts,

Luke vii. 41, 42, 43.

Or what can thoughts (tho' wild of wing they rove
Thro' the vast concave of th' etherial round)
If to the Heav'n of Heavens they'd wing their way
Advent'rous, like the birds of night they're lost,
And delug'd in the flood of dazzling day.-

May then the youthful, uninspired bard Presume to hymn th' Eternal; may he soar Where seraph, and where cherubin on high Resound th' unceasing plaudits, and with them In the grand chorus mix his feeble voice?

He may-if thou, who from the witless babe Ordainest honour, glory, strength and praise, Uplift th' unpinion'd Muse, and deign t' assist, Great Poet of the Universe, his song.

Before this earthly planet wound her course Round Light's perennial fountain, before Light Herself 'gan shine, and at th' inspiring word Shot to existence in a blazc of day,

Before "the morning-stars together sang"
And hail'd thee Architect of countless worlds→→→
Thou art all glorious, all-beneficent,
All wisdom and omnipotence thou art.

But is the era of creation fix'd

As when these worlds began? Cou'd aught retard
Goodness, that knows no bounds, from blessing
Or keep th' immense Artificer in sloth?
[ever,
Avaunt the dust-directed crawling thought,
That puissance immeasurably vast,
And bounty inconceivable cou'd rest
Content, exhausted with one week of action—
No-in th' exertion of thy righteous pow'r,
Ten thousand times more active than the Sun,
Thou reign'd, and with a mighty hand compos'd
Systems innumerable, matchiess all,
All stampt with thine uncounterfeited seal.

But yet (if still to more stupendous heights
The Muse unblam'd her aching sense may strain)
Perhaps wrapt up in contemplation deep,
The best of beings on the noblest theme
Might ruminate at leisure, scope immense
Th' eternal Pow'r and Godhead to explore,
And with itself th' omniscient mind replete.
This were enough to fill the boundless All,
This were a sabbath worthy the Supreme!
Perhaps enthron'd amidst a choicer few,
Ofsp'rits inferior, he might greatly plan
The two prime pillars of the universe,
Creation and Redemption—and a while
Pause-with the grand presentiments of glory.
All ignorance, and self-plum'd vanity-
Perhaps but all's conjecture here below,
O thou, whose ways to wonder at's distrust,

Whom to describe's presumption (all we can,→→→
And all we may-) be glorified, be prais'd.

A day shall come when all this Earth shall pe-
rish,

Nor leave behind ev'n Chaos; it shall come
When all the armies of the elements
Shall war against themselves, and mutual rage
To make perdition triumph; it shall come,
When the capacious atmosphere above
Shall in sulphureous thunders groan, and die,
And vanish into void; the Earth beneath
Shall sever in the centre, and devour

Th' enormous blaze of the destructive flames.-
Ye rocks, that mock the raving of the floods,
And proudly frown upon th' impatient deep,
Where is your grandeur now? Ye foaming waves
That all along th' immense Atlantic roar,

In vain ye swell; will a few drops suffice

To quench the inextinguishable fire?

View him with fearful love; let truth pronounce,
And adoration on her bended knee

Ye mountains, on whose cloud-crown'd tops the With Heav'n directed hands confess his reign,

cedars

Are lessen'd into shrubs, magnific piles,
That prop the painted chambers of the Heav'ns
And fix the Earth continual; Athos, where:
Where, Tenerif's thy stateliness to day?
What, Etna, are thy flames to these?-No more
Than the poor glow-worm to the golden Sun.

Nor shall the verdant vallies then remain
Safe in their meek submission; they the debt
Of nature and of justice too must pay.
Yet I must weep for you, ye rival fair,
Arno and Andalusia; but for thee

More largely and with filial tears must weep,
O Albion, O my country; thou must join,
In vain dissever'd from the rest, must join
The terrours of th' inevitable ruin.

Nor thou, illustrious monarch of the day;
Nor thou, fair queen of night; nor you, ye stars,
Tho' million leagues and million still remote,
Shall yet survive that day; ye must submit
Sharers, not bright spectators of the scene.

But tho' the Earth shall to the centre perish,
Nor leave behind ev'n Chaos; tho' the air
With all the elements must pass away,
Vain as an ideot's dream; tho' the huge rocks,
That brandish the tall cedars on their tops,
With humbler vales must to perdition yield;
Tho' the gilt Sun, and silver-tressed Moon
With all her bright retinue, must be lost;
Yet thou, Great Father of the world, surviv'st
Eternal, as thou wert: yet still survives
The soul of man immortal, perfect now,
And candidate for unexpiring joys.

He comes! He comes! the awful trump I hear;
The flaming sword's intolerable blaze
I see; He comes! th' archangel from above.
"Arise, ye tenants of the silent grave,
Awake incorruptible and arise;

From east to west, from the antarctic pole
To regions hyperborean, all ye sons,
Ye sons of Adam, and ye heirs of Heav'n-
Arise, ye tenants of the silent grave,
Awake incorruptible and arise."

'Tis then, nor sooner, that the restless mind
Shall find itself at home; and like the ark
Fix'd on the mountain-top, shall look aloft
O'er the vague passage of precarious life;
And, winds and waves and rocks and tempests
past,

Enjoy the everlasting calm of Heav'n:
'Tis then, nor sooner, that the deathless soul
Shall justly know its nature and its rise:
'Tis then the human tongue new-tun'd shall give
Praises more worthy the eternal ear,

Yet what we can, we ought;-and therefore,
thou,

Purge thou my heart, Omnipotent and good!
Purge thou my heart with hyssop, lest like Cain
I offer fruitless sacrifice, with gifts
Offend, and not propitiate the Ador'd.
Tho' gratitude were bless'd with all the pow'rs
Her bursting heart cou'd long for, tho' the swift,
The firy-wing'd imagination soar'd
Beyond ambition's wish-yet all were vain
To speak him as he is, who is Ineffable,
Yet still let reason thro' the eye of faith

And let th' angelic, archangelic band
With all the hosts of Heav'n, cherubic forms,
And forms seraphic, with their silver trumps
And golden lyres attend:-"For thou art holy,
For thou art one, th' Eternal, who alone
Exerts all goodness, and transcends all praise.”

ON THE

IMMENSITY OF THE SUPREME
BEING,

A POETICAL ESSAY.

A CLAUSE OF

MR. SEATON'S WILL,
Dated Oct. 8. 1738.

I GIVE my Kislingbury estate to the university
of Cambridge for ever: the rents of which shall
be disposed of yearly by the vice-chancellor
for the time being, as he the vice-chancellor,
the master of Clare-Hall, and the Greek profes-
sor for the time being, or any two of them shall
agree. Which three persons aforesaid shall give
out a subject, which subject shall for the first
year be one or other of the perfections or attri-
butes of the Supreme Being, and so the succeed-
ing years, till the subject is exhausted; and
afterwards the subject shall be either Death,
Judgment, Heaven, Hell, Purity of Heart, &c.
or whatever else may be judged by the vice-
chancellor, master of Clare-Hall, and Greek
professor to be most conducive to the honour of
the Supreme Being and recommendation of vir-
tue.
And they shall yearly dispose of the rent
of the above estate to that master of arts, whose
poem on the subject given shall be best approved
by them. Which poem I ordain to be always in
English, and to be printed; the expense of
which shall be deducted out of the product of
the estate, and the residue given as a reward for
the composer of the poem, or ode, or copy of

verses.

WE the underwritten do assign Mr. Seafor his ton's reward to C. Smart, M. A. poem on The Immensity of the Supreme Being, and direct the said poem to be printed, according to the tenor of the will.

April 20, 1751.

EDM. KEENE, vice-chancellor.
J. WILCOX, master of Clare-Hall.

ONCE more I dare to rouse the sounding string,
The poet of my God-Awake my glory,
Awake my lute and harp-myself shall wake,
Soon as the stately night-exploring bird
In lively lay sings welcome to the dawn.

List ye! how Nature with ten thousand tongues
Begins the grand thanksgiving. Hail, all hail,

Ye tenants of the forest and the field!
My fellow subjects of th' eternal King,
I gladly join your matins, and with you
Confess his presence, and report his praise.

O thou, who or the lambkin, or the dove,
When offer'd by the lowly, meek, and poor,
Prefer'st to pride's whole hecatomb, accept
This mean essay, nor from thy treasure-house
Of Glory' immense, the orphan's might exclude.
What tho' th' Almighty's regal throne be rais'd
High o'er yon azure Heav'n's exalted dome
By mortal eye unken'd-where East nor West
Nor South, nor blust ring North has breath to
blow;

Albeit he there with angels, and with saints
Hold conference, and to his radiant host
Ev'n face to face stand visibly confest:
Yet know that nor in presence or in pow'r
Shines he less perfect here; 'tis man's dim eye
That makes th' obscurity. He is the sane,
Alike in all his universe the same.

Whether the mind along the spangled sky
Measure her pathless walk, studious to view
Thy works of vaster fabric, where the planets
Weave their harmonious rounds, their march di-
recting

Still faithful, still inconstant to the Sun;
Or where the comet thro' space infinite
(Tho' whirling worlds oppose, and globes of fire)
Darts, like a javelin, to his destin'd goal.
Or where in Heav'n above the Heav'n of Heav'ns
Burn brighter suns, and goodlier planets roll
With satellites more glorious-Thou art there.
Or whether on the Ocean's boist'rous back
Thou ride triumphant, and with out-stretch'd

arm

Curb the wild winds and discipline the billows,
The suppliant sailor finds thee there, his chief,
His only help-when thou rebuk'st the storm-
It ceases-and the vessel gently glides
Along the glassy level of the calm.

Oh! cou'd I search the bosom of the sea, Down the great depth desceuding; there thy works

Wou'd also speak thy residence; and there
Wou'd I thy servant, like thy still profound,
Astonish'd into silence muse thy praise!
Behold! behold! th' unplanted garden round
Of vegetable coral, sea-flow'rs gay,

And shrubs, with amber, from the pearl-pav'd bottom

Rise richly varied, where the finny race
In blithe security their gambols play :
While high above their heads Leviathan
The terrour and the glory of the main
His pastime takes with transport, proud to see
The ocean's vast dominion all his own.

Hence thro' the genial bowels of the Earth
Easy may fancy pass; till at thy mines,
Gani, or Raolconda, she arrive,
And from the adamant's imperial blaze
Form weak ideas of her maker's glory.
Next to Pegu or Ceylon let me rove,
Where the rich ruby (deem'd by sages ǝld
Of sovereign virtue) sparkles ev'n like Sirius
And blushes into flames. Thence will I go
To undermine the treasure-fertile womb
Of the huge Pyrenean, to detect
The agate and the deep-intrench'd gem

Of kindred jasper-Nature in them both
Delights to play the mimic on herself;
And in their veins she oft pourtrays the forms
Of leaning hills, of trees erect, and streams
Now stealing softly on, now thund'ring down
In desperate cascade, with flow'rs and beasts
And all the living landscape of the vale.
In vain thy pencil, Claudio, or Poussin,
Or thine, immortal Guido, wou'd essay
Such skill to imitate-it is the hand
Of God himself-for God himself is there.
Hence with th' ascending springs let me ad-
vance,

'Thro' beds of magnets, minerals and spar,
Up to the mountain's summit, there t' indulge
Th' ambition of the comprehensive eye,
That dares to call th' horizon ali her own.
Behold the forest, and th' expansive verdure
Of yonder level lawn, whose smooth-shorn sod
No object interrupts, unless the oak

His lordly head uprears, and branching arms
Extends-behold in regal solitude,

And pastoral magnificence he stands
So simple! and so great! the under-wood
Of meaner rank an awful distance keep.
Yet thou art there, yet God himself is there
Ev'n on the bush (tho' not as when to Moses
He shone in burning majesty reveal'd)
Nathless conspicuous in the linnet's throat
Is his unbounded goodness-Thee her Maker,
Thee her Preserver chants she in her song;
While the all emulative vocal tribe
The grateful lesson learn-no other voice
Is heard, no other sound-for in attention
Buried, ev'n babbling Echo holds her peace.
Now from the plains, where th' unbounded
prospect

Gives liberty her utmost scope to range,
Turn we to yon enclosures, where appears
Chequer'd variety in all her forms,

Which the vague mind attract and still suspend
With sweet perplexity. What are yon tow'rs
The work of labʼring man and clumsy art
Seen with the ring-dove's nest-on that tall beech
Her pensile house the feather'd artist builds-
The rocking winds molest her not; for see,
With such due poise the wond'rous fabric's hung,
That, like the compass in the bark, it keeps
True to itself and stedfast ev'n in storms.
Thou ideot, that assertst there is no God,
View and be dumb forever-

[cherry

Go bid Vitruvious or Palladio build
The bee his mansion, or the ant her cave-
Go call Correggio, or let Titian come
To paint the hawthorn's bloom, or teach the
To blush with just vermilion-hence away-
Hence ye prophane! for God himself is here.
Vain were th' attempt, and impious to trace
Thro' all his works th' Artificer divine-
And tho' nor shining sun, nor twinkling star
Bedeck'd the crimson curtains of the sky;
Tho' neither vegetable, beast, nor bird
Were extant on the surface of this ball,
Nor lurking gem beneath; tho' the great sea
Slept in profound stagnation, and the air
Had left no thunder to pronounce its maker;
Yet man at home, within himself, might find
The Deity immense, and in that frame

So fearfully, so wonderfully made,

See and adore, his providence and pow'r-
I see, and I adore-O God most bounteous!
O infinite of Goodness and of Glory!
The knee, that thou hast made,shall bend to thee,
The tongue, which thou hast tun'd, shall chant
thy praise,

And thy own image, the immortal soul,
Shall consecrate herself to thee for ever.

ON THE

ARISE, divine Urania, with new strains
To hymn thy God, and thou, immortal Fame,
Arise, and blow thy everlasting trump.
All glory to th' Omniscient, and praise,
And pow'r, and domination in the height!
And thou, cherubic Gratitude, whose voice
To pious ears sounds silverly so sweet,
Come with thy precious incense, bring thy gifts,
And with thy choicest stores the altar crown.
Thou too, my Heart, whom he, and he alone,
Who all things knows, can know, with love re-
plete,

Regenerate, and pure, pour all thyself

OMNISCIENCE OF THE SUPREME A living sacrifice before his throne:

BEING,

A POETICAL ESSAY.

To the most reverend his grace the lord archbishop of Canterbury; this poetical essay on the Omniscience of the Supreme Being, is with all humility inscribed, by his grace's most dutiful, most obliged, and most obedient humble servant, C. SMART.

A CLAUSE OF

MR. SETAON'S WILL,
Dated Oct. 8, 1738.

I GIVE my Kislingbury estate to the university of Cambridge for ever: the rents of which shall be disposed of yearly by the vice-chancellor for the time being, as the vice-chancellor, master of Clare-hall, and the Greek professor for the time being, or any two of them, shall agree. Which three persons aforesaid shall give out a subject, which subject shall for the first year be one or other of the perfections or attributes of the Supreme Being, and so the succeeding years, till the subject is exhausted; and afterwards the subject shall be either Death, Judgment, Heaven, Hell, Purity of Heart, &c. or whatever else may be judged by the vice-chancellor, master of Clare-hall, and Greek professor to be most conducive to the honour of the Supreme Being and recommendation of virtue. And they shall yearly dispose of the rent of the above estate to that master of arts, whose poem on the subject given shall be best approved by them. Which poem I ordain to be always in English, and to be printed; the expense of which shall be deducted out of the product of the estate, and the residue given as a reward for the composer of the poem, or ode, or copy of

verses.

WE the underwritten, do assign Mr. Seaton's reward to C. Smart, M A. for his poem on The Omniscience of the Supreme Being, and direct the said poem to be printed, according to the tenor of the will.

J. WILCOX, vice-chancellor.
T. FRANKLIN, Greek-professor,

November 2, 1752.

And may th' eternal, high mysterious tree,
That in the centre of the arched Heav'ns
Bears the rich fruit of knowledge, with some
Stoop to my humble reach, and bless my toil!
branch

When in my mother's womb conceal'd I lay
A senseless embryo, then my soul thou knewst,
Knewst all her future workings, every thought,
And every faint idea yet unform'd.
When up the imperceptible ascent
Of growing years, led by thy hand, I rose,
Perception's gradual light, that ever dawns
Insensibly to day, thou didst vouchsafe,
And teach me by that reason thou inspir'dst,
That what of knowledge in my mind was low,
Imperfect, incorrect-in thee is wonderous,
Uncircumscrib'd, unsearchably profound,
And estimable solely by itself.

What is that secret pow'r, that guides the brutes, Which ignorance calls instinct? 'Tis from thee, It is the operation of thine hands, Immediate, instantaneous; 'tis thy wisdom, That glorious shines transparent thro' thy works. Who taught the pye, or who forewarn'd the jay To shun the deadly nightshade? tho' the cherry Boasts not a glossier hue, nor does the plumb Lure with more seeming sweets the amorous eye, Yet will not the sagacious birds, decoy'd By fair appearance, touch the noxious fruit, They know to taste is fatal, whence alarm'd Swift on the winnowing winds they work their

way.

Go to, proud reas'ner, philosophic man, [-No.
Hast thou such prudence, thou such knowledge?
Full many a race has fall'n into the snare
Of meretricious looks, of pleasing surface,
And oft in desert isles the famish'd pilgrim
By forms of fruit, and luscious taste beguil'd,
Like his forefather Adam, eats and dies.
For why? his wisdom on the leaden feet
Of slow experience, dully tedious, creeps,
And comes, like vengeance, after long delay.

The venerable sage, that nightly trims
The learned lamp, t'investigate the pow'rs
Of plants medicinal, the earth, the air,
And the dark regions of the fossil world,
Grows old in following, what he ne'er shall find;
Studious in vain! till haply, at the last
He spies a mist, then shapes it into mountains,
And baseless fabric from conjecture builds.
While the domestic animal, that guards
At midnight hours his threshold, if oppress'd

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