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The foaming surges rage along the shores,

For help, in vain! the mariner implores :
Seas, urg'd by seas, with boundless fury roll,
And oceans, oceans drive, from pole to pole.
But at his nod the roaring tempests cease,
And all the warring elements have peace:
The sea, submissive, smooths her furrow'd face,
And each subsiding wave finds its appointed place.
By him the seasons change, the vapours rise,
The dews descend, and thunders rend the skies:
He bids the lightning give the fatal stroke,
Burn up the fields, or rive the knotted oak.
With feather'd snow he whitens all the plains,

And sends the frost to bind the floods in chains.

By him the groves renew their fallen leaves:

By him the joyful hind binds up the golden sheaves.

'Tis he with juicy clusters loads the vine,

And gives the press to overflow with wine.

From him the flow'rs receive their beauteous dyes,

From him with various odours fill the skies:

He with vermillion blushes paints the rose;

He the carnation's elegance bestows;

Its glittering white to him the lilly owes.

'Twas he first ting'd the violet with blue;

And all its glories on the tulip drew.

Behold the Forest TREES, a beauteous scene! Diff'rent their structure, various is their green: The graceful pine, the princely cedar rise,

Proud sons of earth! and lift them to the skies.
In colder climes, their stately heads as high,
Fierce winter storms the stubborn oaks defy;

With loads of acorns overspread the ground,

And see their offspring rising wide around.
Behold their leafy tops, how fair they show!
Know'st thou the laws by which their juices flow
Upward 'gainst nature's course?-What pipes convey
Those gen'rous streams which make them fresh and

[gay?

Does this seem strange?-Much stranger yet

[remains.

Nothing brings forth but what itself contains:

'Tis nature's constant law that ev'ry thing

From parents like itself, in order spring :
She no spontaneous production knows,

But life, in regular progressions, flows.

Each seed includes a plant: that plant, again,

Has other seeds which other plants contain:

Those other plants have all their seeds, and those

More plants again, successively, inclose.

Thus, ev'ry single berry that we find,

Has, really, in itself, whole forests of its kind.
Empire and wealth one acorn may dispense,
By fleets to sail a thousand ages hence.

Each myrtle seed includes a thousand groves,
Where future bards may warble future loves.
Thus Adam's loins contain'd his large posterity,
All people that have been, and all that e'er shall be.
Amazing thought! what mortal can conceive

Such wond'rous smallness?-Yet, we must believe
What REASON tells for Reason's piercing eye
Discerns those truths our senses can't descry.

From things inanimate withdraw thine eyes,

For, wide around thee, living wonders rise:
The various kinds which cut the briny main,
The forest range, or graze upon the plain;

The feather'd tribes which fly from land to land,

And insects, num'rous as the grains of sand-
All these declare from whence their being came,
Their maker's goodness and his pow'r proclaim,
And call thee forth, with them, to praise his name.
For, every creature does his bounty share,
Though man pretends that He has all his care.

GOD gives the strength whereby the LION reigns,

And drives the torrent boiling through his veins.
When with his roar the desert echoes round,
And trembling beasts affrighted hear the sound,
He gives the voice :-his raging thirst supplies,
And with sufficient food his hunger satisfies.

As light'ning swift, and panting for the course, With iron sinews he has arm'd the HORSE:

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