Classic Poem

HAPPY the Man whose peaceful Breast
A smiling Conscience charms to rest;
Whose pious Heart and Life express
The living Characters of Grace!

He humbly claims the Promises,
And calls their richest Blessings his:
In Peace he lives, and dies in Peace,
And peaceful soars to heav'nly Bliss.

Thrice happy he! But ah! I feel
The Twinges of Suspicions still;
Dark boding Fears and wild Surmise,
And Jealousies perpetual rise.

Perplext with various Characters,
My Mind is tost 'twixt Hopes and Fears:
Here some kind Tokens rise, but there
The dismal Counter-Tokens glare.

I humbly hope, in some bright Hour,
My State is safe, my Heav'n secure:
But soon the shining Moment flies,
And soon tremendous Glooms arise.

Thus in a dubious Twilight lost,
With various Waves, alternate, tost,
O'er Life's tempestuous Sea I roam,
Uncertain where shall be my Home:

Uncertain where my Soul must go,
To Fields of Joy, or Lakes of Woe:
Before me the vast Prospect lies,
But cover'd with Uncertainties.

I view the Ocean vast and wide,
Where Time unites its ebbing Tide;
Now, hoping, would th' Adventure make,
Now trembling, shudd'ring startle back.

Confounded, now back shrinks my Soul,
To see the fiery Billows roll:
Now Rivers of immense Delight
Glide copious by, and tempt her Flight.

O! if these Doubts were chas'd away,
How calmly then, without Dismay,
I'd launch into the boundless Deep,
And fearless take the final Leap!

But what if in some dark Abode,
Banish'd forever from my God ,
My Soul should pine in endless Pain! — —
Ah me! This Fear returns again.

Say, my dear God , and ease my Heart,
O wilt Thou frown, and say Depart!
Depart! — ah! where, L ORD ! shall I flee?
I have no other Bliss but Thee.

Thou seest my Passions to Thy Name
Kindle, tho' with a feeble Flame
And shall a Spark of heav'nly Love
From its won native Regions move?

O! shall the meanest of Thy Friends,
Forever dwell with hateful Fiends?
No! let me claim the humblest Place
In the bright Mansions of Thy Grace.