Sorrows remembered sweeten present joy.
Nor yet shall all be sad; for God gave peace,
Much peace, on earth, to all who feared his name.
But first it needs to say, that other style,
And other language than thy ear is wont,
Thou must expect to hear-the dialect
Of man: for each in heaven a relish holds
Of former speech, that points to whence he came.
But whether I of person speak, or place,
Event or action, moral or divine;
Or things unknown compare to things unknown;
Allude, imply, suggest, apostrophize;
Or touch, when wandering through the past, on
Of mind thou never felt'st; the meaning still,
With easy apprehension, thou shalt take;
So perfect here is knowledge, and the strings
Of sympathy so tuned, that every word
That each to other speaks, though never heard
Before, at once is fully understood,
And every feeling uttered, fully felt.
So shalt thou find, as from my various song,
That backward rolls o'er many a tide of years,
Directly or inferred, thy asking, thou,
And wondering doubt, shalt learn to answer, while
I sketch in brief the history of Man.
A description of the earth when first created; and the formation of man; a reasonable free agent, apright and immortal. The command given was a test of filial love, loyalty, obedience and faith. The temptation, sin and fall of man, and redemption from death by the death of Christ. Many would not accept the free offer of life and salvation, and in consquence, incurred the punishment of the second death and hell.-That they acted thus, and thus perversely chose, well assured of the consequence, by the information contained and given them in the Bible; whica was a code of laws, containing the will of hea ven, and defined the bounds of vice and virtue, and of life and death. Mankind were required to read, believe, and obey; and although many did so believe, and were saved, yet many turned the truth of God into a lie, transforming the meaning of the text,to suit their own vile and wicked purposes, "deceiving and deceived." That the voice of God, against which nothing could "bribe to sleep" the truths of "Judg. ment, and a Judge," caused the wicked to be "ill at ease" on which acount many ran into impious idolatry, and worshipped ten thousand deities, "imagined worse than he who craved their peace."
The magistrate often turned religion into a trick of state, despising the truth, and forcing the consciences of men: while the enslaved "mimickng the follies of the great, despised her too."
The other influences which led to error, arc mentioned; short sighted reason, vanity, indo lence, and finally "Pride, self-adoring pride, was primal cause of all sin past, all pain, all woe to come."
THIS said, he waked the golden harp, and thus, While on him inspiration breathed, began.
As from yon everlasting hills, that gird
Heaven northward, I thy course espied, I judge
Thou from the arctic regions came? Perhaps
Thou noticed on thy way a little orb,
Attended by one moon-her lamp by night;
With her fair sisterhood of planets seven,
Revolving round their central sun-she third
In place, in magnitude the fourth-that orb,
New made, new named, inhabited anew,
(Though whiles we sons of Adam visit still,
Our native place; not changed so far but we
Can trace our ancient walks-the scenery
Of childhood, youth, and prime, and hoary age-
But scenery most of suffering and woe,)
That little orb, in days remote of old,
When angels yet were young, was made for man,
And titled Earth-her primal virgin name :
Created first so lovely, so adorned
With hill, and dale, and lawn, and winding vale:
Woodland and stream, and lake, and rolling seas;
Green mead, and fruitful tree, and fertile grain,
And herb and flower: so lovely, so adorned
With numerous beasts of every kind, with fowl
Of every wing and every tuneful note;
And with all fish that in the multitude
Of waters swam: so lovely, so adorned,
So fit a dwelling place for man, that, as
She rose, complete, at the creating word,
The morning stars-the sons of God, aloud
Shouted for joy; and God beholding, saw
The fair design, that from eternity
His mind conceived, accomplished; and, well
pleased,
His six days finish'd work most good pronounced.
And man declared the sovereign prince of all.
All else was prone, irrational, and mute, And unaccountable, by instinct led: But man He made of angel form erect, To hold communion with the heavens above, And on his soul impressed His image fair, His own similitude of holiness, Of virtue, truth, and love; with reason high To balance right and wrong, and conscience quick To choose or to reject; with knowledge great, Prudence and wisdom, vigilance and strength, To guard all force or guile; and last of all, The highest gift of God's abundant grace, With perfect, free, unbiassed will. Thus man Was made upright, immortal made, and crowned The king of all; to eat, to drink, to do Freely and sovereignly his will entire: By one command alone restrained, to prove, As was most just, his filial love sincere, His loyalty, obedience due, and faith. And thus the prohibition ran, expressed, As God is wont, in terms of plainest truth
Of every tree that in the garden grows
Thou mayest freely eat; but of the tree
That knowledge hath of good and ill, eat not,
Nor touch; for in the day thou eatest, thou
Shalt die. Go, and this one command obey;
Adam, live and be happy, and, with thy Eve,
Fit consort, multiply and fill the earth.
Thus they, the representatives of man,
Were placed in Eden-choicest spot on earth;
With royal honour, and with glory crowned,
Adam, the lord of all, majestic walked,
With godlike countenance sublime, and form
Of lofty towering strength; and by his side
Eve, fair as morning star, with modesty
Arrayed, with virtue, grace, and perfect love:
In holy marriage wed, and eloquent
Of thought and comely words, to worship God
And sing his praise-the giver of all good.
Glad, in each other glad, and glad in hope;
Rejoicing in their future happy race.
O lovely, happy, blest, immortal pair!
Pleased with the present, full of glorious hope.
But short, alas, the song that sings their bliss:
Henceforth the history of man grows dark:
Shade after shade of deepening gloom descends:
And Innocence laments her robes defiled.
Who farther sings, must change the pleasant lyre
To heavy notes of woe. Why ?-dost thou ask,
Surprised? The answer will surprise thee more.
Man sinned: tempted, he ate the guarded tree;
Tempted of whom thou afterwards shalt hear:
Audacious, unbelieving, proud, ungrateful,
He ate the interdicted fruit, and fell;
And in his fall, his universal race;
For they in him by delegation were,
In him to stand or fall-to live or die.
Man most ingrate! so full of grace! to sinHere interposed the new arrived-so full Of bliss-to sin against the Gracious One! The holy, just, and good! the Eternal Love! Unseen, unheard, unthought of wickedness! Why slumbered vengeance? No, it slumbered
The ever just and righteous God would let
His fury loose, and satisfy his threat.
That had been just, replied the reverend bard: But done, fair youth, thou ne'er hadst met me here:
I ne'er had seen yon glorious throne in peace.
Thy powers are great, originally great, And purified even at the fount of light. Exert them now; call all their vigour out; Take room, think vastly; meditate intensely; Reason profoundly; send conjecture forth; Let fancy fly; stoop down; ascend; all length, All breadth explore; all moral, all divine; Ask prudence, justice, mercy ask, and might; Weigh good with evil, balance right with wrong; With virtue vice compare-hatred with love; God's holiness, God's justice, and God's truth, Deliberately and cautiously compare With sinful, wicked, vile, rebellious man, And see if thou can'st punish sin, and let Mankind go free. Thou fail'st-be not surprised:
I bade thee search in vain. Eternal love-
Harp, lift thy voice on high-Eternal love,
Eternal, sovereign love, and sovereign grace,
Wisdom, and power, and mercy infinite,
The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, God,
Devised the wondrous plan-devised, achievod;
And in achieving made the marvel more.
Attend, ye heavens! ye heaven of heavens, af
tend!
Attend, and wonder! wonder evermore !
When man had fallen, rebelled, insulted God;
Was most polluted, yet most madly proud;
Indebted infinitely, yet most poor
Captive to sin, yet willing to be bound;
To God's incensed justice, and hot wrath
Exposed; due victim of eternal death
And utter woe-Harp, lift thy voice on high!
Ye everlasting hills!-ye angels, bow!
Bow, ye redeemed of men! God was made flesh
And dwelt with man on earth! the Son of God,
Only begotten, and well beloved, between
Men and his Father's justice interposed;
Put human nature on; His wrath sustained;
And in their name suffered, obeyed, and died.
Making his soul an offering for sin;
Just for unjust, and innocence for guilt.
By doing, suffering, dying unconstrained,
Save by omnipotence of boundless grace,
Complete atonement made to God appeased;
Made honourable his insulted law,
Turning the wrath aside from pardoned man. Thus Truth with Mercy met, and Righteousness. Stooping from highest heaven, embraced fair Peace,
That walked the earth in fellowship with Love.
O love divine! O mercy infinite!
The audience here in glowing rapture broke
O love, all height above, all depth below,
Surpassing far all knowledge, all desire,
All thought, the Holy One for sinners diec
The Lord of life.for guilty rebels bleeds-
Quenches eternal fire with blood divine.
Abundant mercy! overflowing grace!
There whence I came, I something heard of nea
Their name had reached us, and report did speak
Of some abominable horrid thing,
Of desperate offence they had committed;
And something too of wondrous grace we heard;
And oft of our celestial visitants
What man, what God had done, inquired: but they
Forbid, our asking never met directly,
Exhorting still to persevere upright,
And we should hear in heaven, tho' greatly blest
Ourselves, new wonders of God's wondrous love.
This hinting, keener appetite to know
Awaked; and as we talked, and much admired
What new we there should learn, we hasted each
To nourish virtue to perfection up,
That we might have our wondering resolved,
And leave of louder praise, to greater deeds
Of loving kindness due. Mysterious love!
God was made flesh, and dwelt with men on
earth!
Blood holy, blood divine for sinners shed!
My asking ends-but makes my wonder more.
Saviour of men! henceforth be thou my theme:
Thou err'st again-but innocently err'st; Not knowing sin's depravity, nor man's Sincere and persevering wickedness.
To merit wished: and choosing, thus unshipped
Uncompassed, unprovisioned, and bestormed,
To swim a sea of breadth immeasurable,
They scorned the goodly bark, whose wings the
breath
Of God's eternal Spirit filled for heaven,
All were redeemed? Not all-or thou hadst heard That stopped to take them in! and so were lost.
No human voice in hell. Many refused,
Although beseeched, refused to be redeemed;
Redeemed from death to life, from woe to bliss!
Canst thou believe my song when thus I sing?
What wonders dost thou tell? to merit, how?
Of crêature meriting in sight of God,
As right of service done, I never heard
Till now. We never fell; in virtue stood
Upright, and persevered in holiness
When man had fallen, was ruined, hopeless, lost-But stood by grace, by grace we persevered;
Ye choral harps! ye angels that excel
In strength and loudest, ye redeemed of men!
To God-to Him that sits upon the throne
On high, and to the Lamb, sing honour, sing
Dominion, glory; blessing sing, and praise-
When man had fallen, was ruined, hopeless, lost,
Messiah, Prince of Peace, Eternal King,
Died, that the dead might live, the lost be saved.
Wonder, O heavens! and be astonished, earth!
Thou ancient, thou forgotten earth! Ye worlds
admire!
Admire, and be confounded! and thou, Heil!
Deepen the eternal groan-men would not be
Redeemed-I speak of many, not of all-
Would not be saved for lost, have life for death!
Mysterious song! the new arrived exclaimed;
Mysterious mercy! most mysterious hate!
To disobey was mad; this madder far,
Incurable insanity of will.
What now but wrath could guilty men expect?
What more could love, what more could mercy
do?
Ourselves, our deeds, our holiest, highest deeds
Unworthy aught-grace worthy endless praise.
If we fly swift, obedient to his will,
He gives us wings to fly; if we resist
Temptation, and ne'er fall, it is his shield
Omnipotent that wards it off; if we,
With love unquenchable, before him burn,
'Tis he that lights and keeps alive the flame.
Men surely lost their reason in their fali,
And did not understand the offer made.
They might have understood, the bard replied.
They had the Bible. Hast thou ever heard
Of such a book? the author, God himself;
The subject, God and man; salvation, life
And death-eternal life, eternal death-
Dread words! whose meaning has no end, no
bounds-
Most wondrous book! bright candle of the Lord!
Star of eternity! the only star
By which the bark of man could navigate
The sea of life, and gain the coast of bliss
Securely; only star which rose on Time,
And, on its dark and troubled billows, still,
No more, resumed the bard, no more they As generation, drifting swiftly by,
Thou hast seen hell-the wicked there lament;
And why?-For love and mercy twice despised.
The husbandman, who sluggishly forgot
In spring to plough and sow, could censure none,
Tho' winter clamoured round his empty barns.
But he who having thus neglected, did
Succeeded generation, threw a ray
Of heaven's own light, and to the hills of God,
The everlasting hills, pointed the sinner's eye:
By prophets, seers, and priests, and sacred bards,
Evangelists, apostles, men inspired,
And by the Holy Ghost anointed, set
Apart and consecrated to declare
Refuse, when autumn came, and famine threat-To earth the counsels of the Eternal One,
To reap the golden field that charity
Bestowed-nay, more obdurate, proud, and blind,
And stupid still, refused, tho' much beseeched,
And long entreated, even with Mercy's tears,
To eat what to his very lips was held,
Cooked temptingly-he certainly, at least,
Deserved to die of hunger, unbemoaned.
So did the wicked spurn the grace of God;
And so were punished with the second death.
The first, no doubt, punition less severe
Intended, death belike of all entire ;
But this incurred, by God discharged, and life
Freely presented, and again despised-
Despised, though bought with Mercy's proper
blood-
Twas this dug hell, and kindled all its bounds
With wrath and inextinguishable firc.
Free was the offer, free to all, of life
And of salvation; but the proud of heart,
Because 'twas free, would not accept; and still
This book this holiest, this sublimest book,
Was sent.-Heaven's will, Heaven's code of laws
To man, this book contained; defined the bounds
Of vice and virtue, and of life and death;
And what was shadow, what was substance
taught.
Much it revealed; important all; the least
Worth more than what else seemed of highest
worth:
But this of plainest, most essential truth-
That God is one, eternal, holy, just,
Omnipotent, omniscient, infinite;
Most wise, most good, most merciful and true;
In all perfection most unchangeable:
That man-that every man of every clime
And hue, of every age, and every rank,
Was bad-by nature and by practice bad;
In understanding blind, in will perverse,
In heart corrupt; in every thought, and word
Imagination, passion, and desire,
Most utterly depraved throughout, and ill
In sight of Heaven, though less in sight of man;
At enmity with God his maker born,
And by his very life an heir of death:
That man that every man was, farther, most
Unable to redeem himself, or pay
One mite of his vast debt to God-nay, more,
Was most reluctant and averse to be
Redeemd, and sin's most voluntary slave:
That Jesus, Son of God, of Mary born
In Bethlehem, and by Pilate crucified
On Calvary for man thus fallen and lost,
Died; and, by death, life and salvation bought,
And perfect righteousness, for all who should
In his great name believe: that He, the third
In the eternal Essence, to the prayer
And signature of God Almighty stampt
From first to last-this ray of sacred light,
This lamp, from off the everlasting throne,
Mercy took down, and, in the night of time
Stood, casting on the dark her gracious bow;
And evermore beseeching men, with tears
And earnest sighs, to read, believe, and live:
And many to her voice gave ear, and read,
Believed, obeyed; and now, as the Amen,
True, Faithful Witness swore, with snowy rɔbes
And branchy palms surround the fount of life.
And drink the streams of immortality,
For ever happy, and for ever young.
Many believed; but more the truth of God
Sincere should come, should come as soon as Turned to a lie, deceiving and deceived;
Proceeding from the Father and the Son,
To give faith and repentance, such as God
Accepts to open the intellectual eyes,
Blinded by sin; to bend the stubborn will,
Perversely to the side of wrong inclined,
To God and his commandments, just and good;
The wild rebellious passions to subdue,
And bring them back to harmony with heaven;
To purify the conscience, and to lead
The mind into all truth, and to adorn
With every holy ornament of grace,
And sanctify the whole renewed soul,
Which henchforth might no more fall totally,
But persevere, though erring oft, amidst
The mists of time, in piety to God,
And sacred works of charity to men:
That he, who thus believed, and practised thus,
Should have his sins forgiven, however vile;
Should be sustained at mid-day, morn, and even,
By God's omnipotent, eternal grace;
And in the evil hour of sore disease,
Temptation, persecution, war, and death—
For temporal death, although unstinged,
mained-
Beneath the shadow of the Almighty's wings
Should sit unhurt, and at the judgment day,
Should share the resurrection of the just,
And reign with Christ in bliss for evermore :
That all, however named, however great,
Who would not thus believe, nor practise thus,
But in their sins impenitent remained,
Should in perpetual fear and terror live;
Should die unpardoned, unredeemed, unsaved;
And at the hour of doom, should be cast out
To utter darkness in the night of hell,
By mercy and by God abandoned, there
To reap the harvests of eternal woe.
Each, with the accursed sorcery of sin,
To his own wish and vile propensity
Transforming still the meaning of the text.
Hear, while I briefly tell what mortals proved,
By effort vast of ingenuity,
Most wondrous, though perverse and damnable;
Proved from the Bible, which, as thou hast heard
So plainly spoke that all could understand.
First, and not least in number, argued some,
From out this book itself, it was a lie,
A fable framed by crafty men to cheat
The simple herd, and make them bow the knee
To kings and priests. These in their wisdom left
The light revealed, and turned to fancies wild;
Maintaining loud, that ruined, helpless man,
Needed no saviour. Others proved that men
Might live and die in sin, and yet be saved,
For so it was decreed; binding the will,
By God left free, to unconditional,
Unreasonable fate. Others believed
That he who was most criminal, debased.
Condemned, and dead, unaided might ascend
re- The heights of Virtue; to a perfect law
This did that book declare in obvious phrase,
In most sincere and honest words, by God
Himself selected and arranged; so clear,
So plain, so perfectly distinct, that none
Who read with humble wish to understand,
And asked the Spirit, given to all who asked,
Could miss their meaning, blazed in heavenly
light.
The book-this holy book, on every line
Marked with the seal of high divinity,
On every leaf bedewed with drops of love
Divine, and with the eternal heraldry
Giving a lame, half-way obedience, which
By useless effort only served to show
The impotence of him who vainly strove
With finite arm to measure infinite;
Most useless effort! when to justify
In sight of God it meant, as proof of faith
Most acceptable, and worthy of all praise.
Another held, and from the Bible held,
He was infallible,-most fallen by such
Pretence that none the Scriptures, open to all,
And most to humble-hearted, ought to read,
But priests; that all who ventured to disclaim
His forged authority, incurred the wrath
Of heaven; and he who, in the blood of such,
Though father, mother, daughter, wife, or son,
Imbrued his hands, did most religious work,
Well pleasing to the heart of the Most High.
Others, in outward rite, devotion placed;
In meats, in drinks; in robe of certain shape-
In bodily abasements, bended knees;
Days, numbers, places, vestments, words, and
Absurdly in their hearts imagining,
That God, like men, was pleased with outward
show.
Another, stranger and more wicked still,
With dark and dolorous labour, ill applied,
With many a gripe of conscience, and with mos
Unhealthy and abortive reasoning,
That brought his sanity to serious doubt,
'Mong wise and honest men, mantained that He,
First Wisdom, Great Messiah, Prince of Peace,
The second of the uncreated Three,
Was nought but man-of earthly origin.
Thus making void the sacrifice Divine,
And leaving guilty men, God's holy law'
Still unatoned, to work them endless death.
These are a part; but to relate them all
The monstrous, unbaptized phantasies,
Imaginations fearfully absurd,
Hobgoblin rites, and moon-struck reveries,
Distracted creeds, and visionary dreams,
More bodiless and hideously misshapen
Than ever fancy, at the noon of night,
Playing at will, framed in the madman's brain,
That from this book of simple truth were proved,
Were proved, as foolish men were wont to prove,
Would bring my word in doubt, and thy belief
Stagger, though here I sit and sing, within
The pale of truth, where falsehood never came.
The rest, who lost the heavenly light revealed,
Not wishing to retain God in their minds,
In darkness wandered on; yet could they not,
Though moral night around them drew her pall
Of blackness, rest in utter unbelief.
The voice within, the voice of God, that nought
Could bribe to sleep, though steeped in sorceries
Of Hell, and much abused by whisperings
Of evil spirits in the dark, announced
A day of juagment, and a judge-a day
Of misery, or blis:;—and, being ill
At ease, for gods they chose them stocks and
Reptiles, and weeds and beasts and creeping
things,
And spirits accursed-ten thousand deities!
(Imagined worse than he who craved their peace,)
And, bowing, worshipped these as best beseemed,
With midnight revelry, obscene and loud,
With dark, infernal, devilish ceremonies,
And horrid sacrifice of human flesh,
Where now, with those who took their part with
thee,
Thou sitt'st in Hell, gnawed oy the eternal
Worm-
To hurt no more on all the holy hills?
That those, deserting once the lamp of truth,
Should wander ever on, from worse to worse
Erroneously, thy wonder needs not ask:
But that enlightened, reasonable men,
Knowing themselves accountable, to whom
God spoke from heaven, and by his servants
warned,
Both day and night, with earnest, pleading voice,
Of retribution equal to their works,
Should persevere in evil, and be lost-
This strangeness, this unpardonable guilt,
Demands an answer, which my song unfolds,
In part, directly; but hereafter more,
To satisfy thy wonder, thou shalt learn,
Inferring much from what is yet to sing.
Know then, of men who sat in highest place
Exalted, and for sin by others done
Were chargeable, the king and priest were chief.
Many were faithful, holy, just, upright,
Faithful to God and man-reigning renowned
In righteousness, and, to the people, loud
And fearless, speaking all the words of life.
These at the judgment day, as thou shalt hear
Abundant harvest reaped; but many, too,
Alas, how many! famous now in Hell,
Were wicked, cruel, tyrannous, and vile;
Ambitious of themselves, abandoned, mad;
And still from servants hasting to be gods,
Such gods as now they serve in Erebus.
I pass their lewd example by, that led
So many wrong, for courtly fashion lost,
And prove them guilty of one crime alone.
Of every wicked ruler, prince supreme,
Or magistrate below, the one intent,
Purpose, desire, and struggle day and night,
Was evermore to wrest the crown from off
Messiah's head, and put it on his own;
And in His place give spiritual laws to men;
That made the fair heavens blush. So bad was To bind religion-free by birth, by God,
So lost, so ruined, so depraved was man!
Created first in God's own image fair!
Oh, cursed, cursed Sin! traitor to God,
And ruiner of man! mother of Woe,
And Death, and Hell,-wretched, yet seeking
Polluted most, yet wallowing in the mire;
Most mad, yet drinking Frenzy's giddy cup;
Depth ever deepening, darkness darkening still;
Folly for wisdom, guilt for innocence;
Anguish for rapture, and for hope despair;
Destroyed, destroying; in tormenting pained;
Unawed by wrath; by mercy unreclaimed;
Thing most unsightly, most forlorn, most sad-
Thy time on earth is past, thy war with God
And holiness: but who, oh who shall tell,
Thy unrepentable and ruinous thoughts?
Thy sighs, thy groans? Who reckon thy burn-
ing tears,
And damned looks of everlasting grief,
And nature free, and made accountable
To none but God-behind the wheels of state
To make the holy altar, where the Prince
Of life, incarnate, bled to ransom man,
A footstool to the throne. For this they met
Assembled, counselled, meditated, planned,
Devised in open and secret; and for this
Enacted creeds of wondrous texture, creeds
The Bible never owned, unsanctioned too,
And reprobate in heaven; but by the power
That made, (exerted now in gentler form,
Monopolizing rights and privileges,
Equal to all, and waving now the sword
Of persecution fierce, tempered in hell,)
Forced on the conscience of inferior men:
The conscience, that sole monarchy in man,
Owing allegiance to no earthly prince;
Made by the edict of creation free;
Made sacred, made above all human laws;
Holding of heaven alone; of most divine
And indefeasible authority;
An individual sovereignty, that none
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