BOOK V. THE WINTER MORNING WALK.

And by an emphasis of intʼrest his,

Whose eye they fill with tears of holy joy,

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Whose heart with praise, and whose exalted mind
With worthy thoughts of that unwearied love,
That plann'd, and built, and still upholds, a world
So cloth'd with beauty for rebellious man?
Yes-ye may fill your garments, ye that reap
The loaded soil, and ye may waste much good
In senseless riot; but ye will not find
In feast, or in the chase, in song or dance,
A liberty like his, who, unimpeach'd
Of usurpation, and to no man's wrong,
Appropriates nature as his Father's work,
And has a richer use of yours than you.
He is indeed a freeman. Free by birth
Of no mean city; plann'd or ere the hills
Were built, the fountains open'd, or the sea
With all his roaring multitude of waves.
His freedom is the same in ev'ry state;
And no condition of this changeful life,
So manifold in cares, whose ev'ry day
Brings it's own evil with it, makes it less : "
For he has wings, that neither sickness, pain, i
Nor penury, can cripple or confine.

No nook so narrow but he spreads them there With ease, and is at large. Th' oppressor holds His body bound, but knows not what a range His spirit takes unconscious of a chain;

And that to bind him is a vain attempt, m. 2 Whom God delights in, and in whom he dwells, T ost wel

Acquaint thyself with God, if thou would'st taste His works. Admitted once to his embrace,(I Thou shalt perceive that thou wast blind before 0 Thine eye shall be instructed; and thine heart: A 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

1w baÅ It yields them; or, recumbent on it's brow, dərM Ruminate heedless of the scene outspread wir dav Beneath, beyond, and stretching far away a odT From inland regions to the distant main.

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Man views it, and admires; but rests content!
With what he views. The landscape has his praise,
But not it's author. Unconcern'd who form'd
The Paradise he sees, he finds it such,

And, such well-pleas'd to find it, asks no more.
Not so the mind, that has been touch'd from Heav'n,
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 it's own sake merely, but for his AH Much more, who fashion'd it, he gives it praise; Praise that from Earth resulting, as it ought, A To Earth's acknowledg'd sov'reign, finds at once

It's only just proprietor in Him.

The soul that sees him or receives sublim'd
New faculties, or learns at least t' employ
More worthily the pow'rs she own'd before,
Discerns in all things what, with stupid gaze
Of ignorance, till then she overlook'd,
A ray of heav'nly light, gilding all forms
Terrestrial in the vast and the minute;
The unambiguous footsteps of the God,
Who gives it's lustre to an insect's wing,
And wheels his throne upon the rolling worlds.
Much conversant with Heav'n, she often holds
With those fair ministers of light to man,
That fill the skies nightly with silent pomp,
Sweet conference. Inquires what strains were they
With which Heav'n rang, when ev'ry star, in haste
To gratulate the new-created Earth,

Sent forth a voice, and all the sons of God
Shouted for joy." Tell me, ye shining hosts,
66 That navigate a sea that knows no storms,
" Beneath a vault unsullied with a cloud,

cr

If from your elevation, whence ye view

66 Distinctly scenes invisible to man,

A

"And systems, of whose birth no tidings yet Ec Have reach'd this nether world, ye spy a race "Favour'd as ours; transgressors from the womb, And hasting to a grave, yet doom'd to rise, Y

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‘And to possess a brighter Heav'n than yours ? T

T

"As one, who, long detain'd on foreign shores,' A "Pants to return, and when he sees afar "His country's weather-bleach'd and batter'd rocks, From the green wave emerging, darts an eye T "Radiant with joy towards the happy land;

66 So I with animated hopes behold,

And many an aching wish, your beamy fires, "That show like beacons in the blue abyss,

T

Ordain'd to guide th' embodied spirit home T 66 From toilsome life to never-ending rest.

Love kindles as I gaze. I feel desires,

That give assurance of their own success, T 66 And that, infus'd from Heav'n, must thither

So reads he nature, whom the lamp of truth
Illuminates. Thy lamp, mysterious Word!"
Which whoso sees no longer wanders lost,
With intellects bemaz'd in endless doubt,
But runs the road of wisdom. Thou hast built
With means, that were not till by thee employ'd,
Worlds, that had never been hadst thou in strength
Been less, or less benevolent than strong.

They are thy witnesses, who speak thy pow'r
And goodness infinite, but speak in ears,
That hear not, or receive not their report.
In vain thy creatures testify of thee,
Till thou proclaim thyself. Theirs is indeed

A teaching voice; but 'tis the praise of thine,
That whom it teaches it makes prompt to learn,
And with the boon gives talents for it's use.
Till thou art heard, imaginations vain
Possess the heart, and fables false as Hell;
Yet deem'd oracular, lure down to death
The uninform'd and heedless souls of men.
We give to chance, blind chance, ourselves as blind,
The glory of thy work; which yet appears
Perfect and unimpeachable of blame,
Challenging human scrutiny, and prov'd

Then skilful most when most severely judg'd.
But chance is not; or is not where thou reign'st:
Thy providence forbids that fickle pow'r
(If pow'r she be, that works but to confound)
To mix her wild vagaries with thy laws.
Yet thus we dote, refusing while we can
Instruction, and inventing to ourselves
Gods such as guilt makes welcome; gods that sleep,
Or disregard our follies, or that sit

Amus'd spectators of this bustling stage.

Thee we reject, unable to abide

Thy purity, till pure as thou art pure,

Made such by thee, we love thee for that cause, For which we shunn'd and hated thee before. Then we are free. Then liberty, like day, Breaks on the soul, and by a flash from Heav'n Fires all the faculties with glorious joy.