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Say why was Man so eminently raised
Amid the vast creation—why ordain'd
Thro' life and death to dart his piercing eye,
With thoughts beyond the limits of his frame,
But that the Omnipotent might send him forth
In sight of mortal and immortal powers,
As on a boundless theatre, to run
The great career of Justice—to exalt
His generous aim to all diviner deeds,
To chase each partial purpose from his breast
And thro' the tossing tide of chance and pain
To hold his course unfaltering? else why burns
In mortal bosoms this unquenched hope
That breathes from day to day sublimer things
And mocks possession?
would the forms
Of servile custom cramp the patriots power,
Would sordid policies, the barbarous growth
Of ignorance and rapine bow him down
To tame pursuits, to Indolence and Fear?
Lo he appeals to Nature, to the winds
And rolling waves, the suns unwearied course,
The elements and seasons—all declare
For what the Eternal Maker has ordain'd
The powers of Man; we feel within ourselves
His energy divine: he tells the heart
He meant, he made us to behold and love
What he beholds and loves, the general orb
Of Life and Being—to be great like him,
Beneficent and active.
Akenside
Amid the vast creation—why ordain'd
Thro' life and death to dart his piercing eye,
With thoughts beyond the limits of his frame,
But that the Omnipotent might send him forth
In sight of mortal and immortal powers,
As on a boundless theatre, to run
The great career of Justice—to exalt
His generous aim to all diviner deeds,
To chase each partial purpose from his breast
And thro' the tossing tide of chance and pain
To hold his course unfaltering? else why burns
In mortal bosoms this unquenched hope
That breathes from day to day sublimer things
And mocks possession?
would the forms
Of servile custom cramp the patriots power,
Would sordid policies, the barbarous growth
Of ignorance and rapine bow him down
To tame pursuits, to Indolence and Fear?
Lo he appeals to Nature, to the winds
And rolling waves, the suns unwearied course,
The elements and seasons—all declare
For what the Eternal Maker has ordain'd
The powers of Man; we feel within ourselves
His energy divine: he tells the heart
He meant, he made us to behold and love
What he beholds and loves, the general orb
Of Life and Being—to be great like him,
Beneficent and active.
Akenside
On
