If forming matter o'er it he presides,
And having shaped the mass, directs and guides;
Whether the soul, that bright ethereal spark
Of heavenly fire, too oft obscure and dark,
Makes of our senses one or acts alone;
We all are subject to the Almighty's throne.
But at His throne round which deep thunders roar
What homage shall we pay, how God adore?
Can jealousy affect the eternal mind?
Will adulation there acceptance find?
Is it that warlike race of haughty brow,
Who to their power made famed Byzantium bow,
The phlegmatic Chinese, the Tartar rude,
Whose arms so many regions have subdued,
That rightly knows to praise the Power divine,
And offer grateful homage at His shrine?
Various in language and religious lore
A different deity they all implore;
Then all have erred, let's therefore turn our eyes
From vile impostors who delight in lies: [1]
Nor let us vainly make attempt to sound
Awful religion's mysteries profound,
To reason let researches vain give place,
Let's strive to know if God instructs our race.
Nature to man has given with bounteous hand
Whate'er his nature's cravings can demand;
Sense's sure instinct, spirit's varied springs,
To him each element its tribute brings.
In the brain's foldings memory is placed,
And on it nature's lively image traced.
- ↑ Confucius should not be confounded with these: he confined himself to natural religion, and discovered everything that could be discovered without the light of revelation.
