90
Odes.
Or body first in space abode,
Glories ineffable adorn'd his head.
Unnumber'd seraphs round the burning throne 75
Sung to th' incomprehensible Three-One:
Yet then his clemency did please
With lower forms t' augment his train,
And made thee, wretched creature, Man!
Probationer of happiness. 80
Glories ineffable adorn'd his head.
Unnumber'd seraphs round the burning throne 75
Sung to th' incomprehensible Three-One:
Yet then his clemency did please
With lower forms t' augment his train,
And made thee, wretched creature, Man!
Probationer of happiness. 80
VIII.
On the vast ocean of his wonders here,
We momentary bubbles ride,
Till, crush'd by the tempestuous tide,
Sunk in the parent flood we disappear:
We, who so gawdy on the waters shone, 85
Proud, like the show'ry bow, with beauties not our own.
On the vast ocean of his wonders here,
We momentary bubbles ride,
Till, crush'd by the tempestuous tide,
Sunk in the parent flood we disappear:
We, who so gawdy on the waters shone, 85
Proud, like the show'ry bow, with beauties not our own.
IX.
But, at the signal giv'n, this earth and sea
Shall set their sleeping vassals free,
And the belov'd of God,
The faithful and the just, 90
Like Aaron's chosen rod,
Tho' dry, shall blossom in the dust:
Then, gladly bounding from their dark restraints,
The skeletons shall brighten into saints,
And, from mortality refin'd, shall rise 95
To meet their Saviour coming in the skies.
Instructed then by intuition, we
Shall the vain efforts of our wisdom see;
But, at the signal giv'n, this earth and sea
Shall set their sleeping vassals free,
And the belov'd of God,
The faithful and the just, 90
Like Aaron's chosen rod,
Tho' dry, shall blossom in the dust:
Then, gladly bounding from their dark restraints,
The skeletons shall brighten into saints,
And, from mortality refin'd, shall rise 95
To meet their Saviour coming in the skies.
Instructed then by intuition, we
Shall the vain efforts of our wisdom see;
