Original - Duke Divinity School

The Leaves that tremble in the Shady Grove,
The Lamps that gild the spangled Vaults above.
Those overwhelming Armies, whose Command
Said to one Empire, Fall; t’ another, Stand;
Whose Rear lay wrapt in Night, while breaking Dawn
Rous’d the broad Front, and called the Battle on:
Great Xerxes’ World in arms, Proud Cannæ’s Host, 250 […]
They all are here, and here they all are Lost:
Their Millions swell to be discern’d in vain,
Lost as a Drop 251 in the Unbounded Main. …
A sudden Blush inflames the Waving Sky,
And now the Crimson Curtains open fly;
Lo! far within, and far above all Height,
Where Heaven’s dread 252 Sovereign reigns enrobed in light; 253
Whence Nature He informs, and, with one Ray
Shot from his Eye, does all her Works survey,
Creates, supports, confounds! Where Time and Place,
Matter and Form, and Fortune, Life, and Grace,
Wait humbly at the Footstool of their God,
And move obedient at His awefull Nod;
Whence He beholds us vagrant Emmets crawl
At random on this air-suspended Ball:
(Speck of Creation!) If He pour one Breath,
The Bubble breaks, and ’tis Eternal Death.
Thence issues on an Empyrean Throne
Midst Seas of Light, Heaven’s everlasting Son; […]
Virtue, Dominion, Praise, Omnipotence,
Support the Train of their Triumphant Prince. […]
Night shades the solemn arches of his Brows,
While in his Cheek the purple Morning glows.
Where’er serene he turns propitious Eyes,
Is felt a more than earthly Paradise: 254
But if Resentment reddens their mild Beams,
The Eden kindles, and the World’s in Flames.
250Ori.: “Field.”
251Ori.: “Billow” (and “th’unbounded”).
252Ori.: “great.”
253Ori.: “reigns in worlds of light.”
254Ori.: “Or we expect, or find, a Paradise.”
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