Obferve how regular the PLANETS run, In ftated Times, their Courfes round the SUN. Diff'rent their Bulk, their Distance, their Career, And diff'rent much the Compafs of their Year: Yet, All, the fame eternal Laws obey, While God's unerring Finger points their Way. First MERCURY, amidst full Tides of Light, Rolls next the SUN, through his fmall Circle bright. All that dwell here, must be refin'd and Bodies like ours fuch Ardor can't endure: pure: Our EARTH would blaze beneath so fierce a Ray, And all its Marble Mountains melt away. Fair VENUS, next, fulfils her larger Round, With fofter Beams, and milder Glory crown'd. Friend to Mankind, fhe glitters from afar, Now the bright Ev'ning, now the Morning Star. More More distant ftill, our EARTH comes rolling on, And forms a wider Circle round the Sun : With her the MOON, Companion ever dear! Her Course attending through the shining Year. See, MARS, alone, runs his appointed Race, And measures out, exact, the deftin'd Space : Nor nearer does he wind, nor farther stray, But finds the Point whence first he roll'd away. More yet remote from Day's all-cheering Source, Vaft JUPITER performs his conftant Course : Four friendly Moons, with borrow'd Luftre, rife, Bestow their Beams, benign, and light his Skies. Farthest and last, scarce warm'd by Phœbus' Ray, Through his large Orbit SATURN wheels away. How great the Change, could we be wafted there! How flow the Seafons! and how long the Year! One Moon, on Us, reflects its cheerful Light : There, five Attendants, brighten up the Night, Here, the blue Firmament bedeck'd with Star's, There, over-head, a lucid Arch appears. From hence, how large, how ftrong the Sun's bright Ball! But feen from thence,how languid and how small!When the keen North with all its Fury blows, Congeals the Floods, and forms the fleecy Snows, 'Tis Heat intense to what can there be known: Warmer our Poles than is its burning Zone. Who, there inhabit, must have other Pow'rs, Juices, and Veins, and Senfe, and Life than Ours. One Moment's Cold, like their's, would pierce the Bone, Freeze the Heart-Blood, and turn Us all to Stone. Strange and amazing must the Diff'rence be, 'Twixt this dull Planet and bright Mercury : Yet Yet Reason fays, nor can we doubt at all : With Constitutions fitted for that Spot, Where Providence, all-wife, has fix'd their Lot Wond'rous art Thou, Q God, in all thy Ways!" Their Eyes to Thee let all thy Creatures raise ; Adore thy Grandeur, and thy Goodness praise. Ye Sons of Men! with Satisfaction know, God's own Right-Hand dispenses all below: Nor Good nor Evil does by chance befall; He reigns fupreme, and he directs it all. At his Command, affrighting Human-kind, COMETS drag on their blazing Lengths behind: Nor, as We think, do they at random rove, But, in determin'd Times, thro' long Ellipfes move. And tho' fometimes they near approach the Sun, Sometimes beyond our Syftem's Orbit run, Throughout their Race they act their Maker's Will, His Pow'r declare, his Purposes fulfil. 'Tis He alone fuftains this ORB in Air: Its Creatures breathe by his paternal Care : His Goodness does their daily Food supply, And if he but with-holds his Hand, they die. "Tis he within due Bounds the Floods reftrains: He fwells the Brooks which murmur o'er the Plains, And from the Mountains pours the seasonable Rains. He gives the Word: the bluft'ring Winds arise: On Billows Billows mounted storm the Skies. 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 : Ocean, |