SOLILOQUY III.

Absolve the penance of mortality,
And let me now commence the life divine,
I sicken for inlargement — Where's the bar?
Thy spirit is not straitned, thou canst raise
Thy creature to what eminence thou wilt.
Unmerited the brightest ranks above
Receiv'd their flame and purity from thee.

I dare not article with the Most-High,
Nor boast, but of my wants and indigence.
Let me be poor, necessitous and low,
Or any thing, that thou mayst be advanc'd!
If I must glory, let me glory here,
That I can make no claim, nor ask reward.
O be thy goodness free! give like thyself,
And be thy own magnificence the rule!
Still undiminish'd, from thy endless store
Eternal bounty cannot lessen thee.

Why shouldst thou bound thyself, and check the course
Of thy own glorious nature: which is all
O'erflowing love, and pure beneficence?
'Tis thy delight and glory to dispense
Treasures of wisdom, life, and heav'nly love
To souls that pine and languish after thee.

O thou can'st never lavish out thy store!
The sun, that from his radiant exaltation
Looks down, and blesses universal nature,
Nor from the meanest worm keeps back his rays,
That sun is but a feeble type of thee.

Millions of happy spirits draw in life
And pleasure from thy smiles; yet still the springs,
The fresh, the ever-rising springs of joy
Unwasted flow — Thou to thy glorious self
Art all-sufficient, the sum, the plenitude
Of thy own bliss; and canst thou not supply
The utmost wishes of created minds?