CANTO V.

THIS Iron Age (so fraudulent and bold!)
Touch'd with this love, would be an Age of Gold:
Not as they feign'd, that oaks should honey drop,
Or land neglected bear an unsown crop;

Love would make all things easy, safe, and cheap;
None for himself would either sow or reap:
Our ready help and mutual love would yield
A nobler harvest than the richest field.
Famine and death, confined to certain parts,
Extended are by barrenness of hearts.
Some pine for want where others surfeit now;
But then we should the use of plenty know.
Love would betwixt the rich and needy stand,
And spread Heaven's bounty with an equal hand:
At once the givers and receivers bless,

Increase their joy, and make their sufferings less.
Who for himself no miracle would make,
Dispensed with several for the people's sake:
He that long fasting, would no wonder show,
Made loaves and fishes, as they ate them, grow.
Of all his power, which boundless was above,
Here he used none but to express his love;
And such a love would make our joy exceed,
Not when our own, but other mouths we feed.

Laws would be useless which rude nature awe; Love, changing nature, would prevent the law : Tigers and lions into dens we thrust,

But milder creatures with their freedom trust. Devils are chain'd, and tremble! but the Spouse No force but love, nor bond but bounty, knows. Men (whom we now so fierce and dangerous see) Would guardian angels to each other be:

Such wonders can this mighty love perform,
Vultures to doves, wolves into lambs transform!
Love what Isaiah prophesied can do,

Exalt the valleys, lay the mountains low,
Humble the lofty, the dejected raise,

[ways.

Smooth and make straight our rough and crooked
Love, strong as death, and, like it, levels all ;
With that possess'd, the great in title fall :
Themselves esteem but equal to the least,
Whom Heaven with that high character has bless'd.
This love, the centre of our union, can
Alone bestow complete repose on man;
Tame his wild appetite, make inward peace,
And foreign strife among the nations cease.
No martial trumpet should disturb our rest,
Nor princes arm, though to subdue the East,
Where for the tomb so many heroes (taught
By those that guided their devotion) fought.
Thrice happy we, could we like ardour have
To gain his love, as they to win his grave !
Love as he loved! A love so unconfined,
With arms extended, would embrace mankind.
Self-love would cease, or be dilated, when
We should behold as many selfs as men;
All of one family, in blood allied,

His precious blood, that for our ransom died!

CANTO VI.

THOUGH the creation (so divinely taught!)
Prints such a lively image on our thought,
That the first spark of new-created light,
From Chaos struck, affects our present sight,

Yet the first Christians did esteem more bless'd
The day of rising than the day of rest,
That every week might new occasion give
To make his triumph in their memory live.
Then let our Muse compose a sacred charm
To keep his blood among us ever warm,
And singing as the blessed do above,

With our last breath dilate this flame of love.
But on so vast a subject who can find
Words that may reach the ideas of his mind?
Our language fails; or, if it could supply,
What mortal thought can raise itself so high?
Despairing here, we might abandon art,
And only hope to have it in our heart.

But though we find this sacred task too hard,
Yet the design, the' endeavour, brings reward.
The contemplation does suspend our woe,
And make a truce with all the ills we know.
As Saul's afflicted spirit from the sound
Of David's harp a present solace found;
So on this theme while we our Muse engage,
No wounds are felt of Fortune or of Age.
On Divine Love to meditate is peace,
And makes all care of meaner things to cease.
Amazed at once, and comforted, to find
A boundless Power so infinitely kind,
The soul contending to that light to fly
From her dark cell, we practise how to die;
Employing thus the poet's winged art,
To reach this love, and grave it in our heart.
Joy so complete, so solid, and severe,
Would leave no place for meaner pleasures there;
Pale they would look, as stars that must be gone
When from the East the rising sun comes on.

And makes all ills that vex us here to cease.
Though the word Fear some men may ill endure,
"Tis such a fear as only makes secure.
Ask of no angel to reveal thy fate;
Look in thy heart, the mirror of thy state.
He that invites will not the' invited mock,
Opening to all that do in earnest knock.
Our hopes are all well-grounded on this fear;
All our assurance rolls upon that sphere.
This fear, that drives all other fears away,
Shall be my song the morning of our day!
Where that fear is there's nothing to be fear'd:
It brings from Heaven an angel for a guard.
Tranquillity and peace this fear does give ;
Hell gapes for those that do without it live.
It is a beam which he on man lets fall

Of light, by which he made and governs all.
'Tis God alone should not offended be;
But we please others, as more great than he.
For a good cause the sufferings of man
May well be borne: 'tis more than angels can.
Man, since his fall, in no mean station rests,
Above the angels, or below the beasts.
He with true joy their hearts does only fill,
That thirst and hunger to perform his will.
Others, though rich, shall in this world be vex'd,
And sadly live, in terror of the next.

The world's great conqueror' would his point

pursue,

And wept because he could not find a new;
Which had he done, yet still he would have cried,
To make him work until a third he spied.
Ambition, avarice, will nothing owe

To Heaven itself, unless it make them grow.
Though richly fed, man's care does still exceed;
Has but one mouth, yet would a thousand feed.
In wealth and honour, by such men possess'd,
If it increase not, there is found no rest.
All their delight is while their wish comes in;
Sad when it stops, as there had nothing been.
'Tis strange men should neglect their present store,
And take no joy but in pursuing more;

No! though arrived at all the world can aim;
This is the mark and glory of our frame.
A soul capacious of the Deity,

Nothing but he that made can satisfy.
A thousand worlds, if we with him compare,
Less than so many drops of water are.
Men take no pleasure but in new designs;
And what they hope for, what they have outshines.
Our sheep and oxen seem no more to crave,
With full content feeding on what they have;
Vex not themselves for an increase of store,
But think to-morrow we shall give them more.
What we from day to day receive from Heaven,
They do from us expect it should be given.
We made them not, yet they on us rely,
More than vain men upon the Deity;

More beasts than they! that will not understand
That we are fed from his immediate hand.

1 Alexander.