Were Reason filent, boundless Paffion speaks
A future Scene of boundless Objects too,

And brings glad Tidings of eternal Day.
Eternal Day! 'Tis that enlightens All;
And All, by that enlighten'd, proves it sure.
Confider Man as an immortal Being,
Intelligible All; and All is Great;
A cryftalline Transparency prevails,

And strikes full Luftre thro' the Human Sphere; * Confider Man as mortal, all is dark,

And wretched; Reafon weeps at the Survey.

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The learn'd LORENZO cries, " And let her weep,

Weak, modern Reafon : Antient Times were wise.
Authority, that venerable Guide,

"Stands on my Part; the fam'd Athenian Porch
"(And who for Wisdom fo renown'd as They?)
"Deny'd this Immortality to Man."

I grant it; but affirm, they prov'd it too.
A Riddle This!-Have Patience, I'll explain.

What noble Vanities, what moral Flights, Glitt❜ring thro' their romantic Wisdom's Page, Make us, at once, defpife them, and admire? Fable is flat to These high-feafon'd Sires; They leave th' Extravagance of Song below. "Flesh shall not feel; or, feeling, fhall enjoy "The Dagger, or the Rack; to them, alike "A Bed of Rofes, or the burning Bull,"

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In Men exploding all beyond the Grave,

Strange Doctrine, This! As Doctrine, it was strange;
But not, as Prophecy; for fuch it prov'd,

And, to their own Amazement, was fulfill'd:

They feign'd a Firmness Christians need nor feign.
The Christian truly triumph'd in the Flame:
The Stoic faw, in double Wonder lost,
Wonder at them, and Wonder at Himself,
To find the bold Adventures of his Thought
Not bold, and that he ftrove to lye in vain.

Whence, then, thofe Thoughts? Those tow'ring
Thoughts, that flew

Such monftrous Heights?-From Instinct, and from Pride.
The glorious Instinct of a deathlefs Soul,
Confus'dly conscious of her Dignity,
Suggested Truths they could not understand.
In Lust's Dominion, and in Paffion's Storm,
Truth's System broken, scatter'd Fragments lay,
As Light in Chaos, glimm'ring thro' the Gloom :
Smit with the Pomp of lofty Sentiments,
Pleas'd Pride proclaim'd, what Reafon difbeliev'd.
Pride, like the Delphic Prieftefs, with a Swell,
Rav'd Nonfenfe, deftin'd to be Future Sense,
When Life Immortal, in full Day, should shine;
And Death's dark Shadows fly the Gospel Sun.
They fpoke, what nothing but Immortal Souls
Could speak; and thus the Truth they question'd, prov'd.

Can

Can then Abfurdities, as well as Crimes,

Speak Man Immortal? All things speak him so.
Much has been urg'd; and doft thou call for more?
Call; and with endless Questions be distrest,
All unrefolveable, if Earth is All.

Why Life, a Moment; Infinite, Defire? "Our Wish, Eternity? our Home, the Grave? "Heav'n's Promife dormant lies in human Hope. "Wno wishes Life Immortal, proves it too. "Why Happiness purfu'd, tho' never found? "Man's Thirst of Happiness declares It is,

(For Nature never gravitates to nought);

"That Thirst unquencht declares It is not Here. My LUCIA, Thy CLARISSA, call to Thought; Why cordial Friendship riveted fo deep,

"As Hearts to pierce at firft, at parting, rend,
"If Friend, and Friendship, vanish in an Hour?
"Is not This Torment in the Mask of Joy?

Why by Reflection marr'd the Joys of Sense? "Why Past, and Future, preying on our Hearts, "And putting all our prefent Joys to Death? "Why labours Reason? Instinct were as well; "Inftinct, far better; what can chufe, can err: "O how infallible the thoughtless Brute! ""Twere well his Holinefs were half as fure.

t Reafon with Inclination, why at War?

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Why Senfe of Guilt? Why Confcience up in Arms?"

Confcience

Confcience of Guilt, is Prophecy of Pain,
And Bofom-council to decline the Blow.
Reason with Inclination ne'er had jarr'd,
If nothing Future paid Forbearance Here.
Thus on-These, and a thousand Pleas uncall'd,
All promife, fome enfure, a fecond Scene;
Which, were it doubtful, would be dearer far
Than all Things elfe moft certain; were it falfe,
What Truth on Earth fo precious as the Lye?
This World it gives us, let what will enfue;
This World it gives, in that high Cordial, Hope:
The Future of the prefent is the Soul:

How this Life groans, when fever'd from the next?
Poor, mutilated Wretch, that Disbelieves!
By dark Diftrust his Being cut in two,

In both Parts perifhes; Life void of Joy,
Sad Prelude of Eternity in Pain!

Couldft Thou perfuade me, the next Life could fail Our ardent Wishes; how fhould I pour out My bleeding Heart in Anguish, new, as deep! Oh! with what Thoughts, thy Hope, and my Defpair, Abhorr'd ANNIHILATION! blasts the Soul, And wide-extends the Bounds of human Woe! Could I believe LORENZO's Syftem true,

In this black Channel would my Ravings run.

"Grief from the Future borrow'd Peace, ere-while. "The Future vanifht! and the Prefent pain'd!

"Strange

Strange Import of unprecedented Ill!

"Fall, how profound! like LUCIFER'S, the Fall! Unequal Fate! His Fall, without his Guilt!

"From where fond Hope built her Pavilion high

"The Gods among, hurl'd headlong, hurl'd at once "To Night! To Nothing! Darker ftill than Night. "If 'twas a Dream, why wake me, my worst Foe, "LORENZO! boaftful of the Name of Friend! "O for Delufion! O for Error still!

"Could Vengeance strike much stronger than to plant "A Thinking Being in a World like This, "Not over rich before, now beggar'd quite; "More curft than at the Fall?-The Sun goes out! "The Thorns fhoot up! What Thorns in ev'ry Thought? Why Sense of better? It imbitters Worse.

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"Why Senfe? Why Life? If but to figh, then fink "To what I was? Twice Nothing! and much Woe! " Woe,from Heav'n's Bounties! Woe,from what was wont To flatter moft, high Intellectual Powers.

"Thought, Virtue, Knowlege! Bleffings, by thy Scheme, "All poifon'd into Pains. First, Knowlege, once

My Soul's Ambition, now her greatest Dread. "To know myself, true Wifdom?—No, to fhun "That fhocking Science. Parent of Despair! "Avert thy Mirror: If I fee, I die.

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"Know my Creator! Climb His bleft Abode By painful Speculation, pierce the Veil,

❝ Dive