Page:Resignation - Edward Young (1762).pdf/71

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Hence, in the bosom cold of age,
 it kindled a strange aim
To shine in song; and bid me boast
 the ^[1]grandeur of my theme:

But oh! how far presumption falls
 its lofty theme below?
Our thoughts in life's December freeze,
 and numbers cease to flow.

First! greatest! best! grant what I wrote
 for others, ne'er may rise
To brand the writer; thou alone
 canst make our wisdom wise;

And how unwise! how deep in guilt,
 how infamous the fault?
"A teacher thron'd in pomp of words,
 "in deed, beneath the taught?"

Means most infallible to make
 the world an infidel;
And, with instructions most divine,
 to pave a path to hell;

O! for a clean and ardent heart,
 O! for a soul on fire,
Thy praise, begun on earth, to sound
 where angels string the lyre;

How

1. Page 7.