The Deity, a Poem (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE DEITY. BOOK I. Great Power Supreme ! of life the Fountain-spring, Of life and all things; whose Almighty hand Has deck'd immensity with countless worlds, To tell of thine existence;?Increate, Ineffable, I AM ! assist my tongue To sing, and on me shed Thine influence down In rich profusion; while my daring muse, Though young, and unsupplied with classic lore From those full stores of learning where the youth Of Britain bask in its delightful beams, Uplifts itself to Thee. To Thee my song Aspires. Thy kindly hand, great God of love, That reach'd from the empyre'al realms of bliss To hell, and manhood in its grasp upbore, ? Snatch'd me, a rebel, from destruction's jaws, When I denied Thee. And shall I be dumb, And look with cold indifference on the scene, While thousands still run wildly in the paths Where late my footsteps moved; blaspheme Thy name, And seek for knowledge of, all else but Thee ? Ah no! the great, the' exalted task be mine, To shew from nature its primeval source; Through finite things to trace the Infmite; To testify His word's unfailing truth, Despite the" aspersions of its vaunting foes; And sing His praise who taught me first to sing. Awake my harp ! the tide of poesy Comes rushing oe'r my soul. Continual toil And penury may, through the day's long hours, Enchain the spirit of inspiring song: But when the busy world is hush'd in sleep, Scorning all shackles of an earthly kind, She sallies forth in freedom. Uncontroll'd Then spreads her wings, exulting, on the air; O'er land and flood impetuous sweeps along; And, as sole empress of the midnight hour, Claims all things for her own. Awake, my harp ! The noblest theme that ever mortals sang Demands thy tuneful strains. To God...