on hallelujahs live?
O may I breathe no longer, than I breathe
My soul in praise to Him, who gave my soul,
And all her infinite of prospect fair, 380
Cut through the shades of hell great Love! by thee
O most adorable! most unadored!
Where shall that praise begin, which ne'er should end?
Where'er I turn, what claim on all applause!
How is night's sable mantle labour'd o'er,
How richly wrought with attributes divine!
What wisdom shines! what love! This midnight pomp,
This gorgeous arch, with golden worlds inlaid!
Built with divine ambition! nought to thee;
For others this profusion: Thou, apart, 390
Above! beyond! O tell me, mighty Mind!
Where art thou? Shall I dive into the deep,
Call to the sun, or ask the roaring winds, 393
For their Creator? Shall I question loud
The thunder, if in that th' Almighty dwells?
Or holds He furious storms in straiten'd reins,
And bids fierce whirlwinds wheel his rapid car?
What mean these questions?--Trembling I retract;
My prostrate soul adores the present God:
Praise I a distant deity? He tunes 400
My voice (if tuned); the nerve, that writes, sustains:
Wrapp'd in his being, I resound his praise:
But though past all diffused, without a shore,
His essence; local is his throne (as meet),
To gather the dispersed (as standards call
The listed from afar): to fix a point,
A central point, collective of his sons,
Since finite every nature but his own.
The nameless He, whose nod is nature's birth;
And nature's shield, the shadow of his hand; 410
Her dissolution, his suspended smile!
The great First-Last! pavilion'd high he sits,
In darkness from excessive splendour borne,
By gods unseen, unless through lustre lost.
His glory, to created glory, bright,
As that to central horrors; he looks down
On all that soars; and spans immensity.
Though night unnumber'd worlds unfolds to view,
Boundless creation! what art thou? A beam,
A mere effluvium of his majesty: 420
And shall an atom of this atom-world
Mutter, in dust and sin, the theme of heaven?
Down to the centre should I send my thought
Through beds of glittering ore, and glowing gems,
Their beggar'd blaze wants lustre for my lay;
Goes out in darkness: if, on towering wi