Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/272

246 From the pure Soul, the Soul sublime and pure;

With her two faculties of Eye and Ear,

The one by which a Creature, whom his sins

Have rendered prone, can upward look to heaven;

The other that empowers him to perceive

The voice of Deity, on height and plain

Whispering those truths in stillness, which the Word,

To the four quarters of the winds, proclaims.

Not without such assistance could the use

Of these benign observances prevail.

Thus are they born, thus fostered, and maintained;

And by the care prospective of our wise

Forefathers, who, to guard against the shocks,

The fluctuation and decay of things,

Embodied and established these high Truths

In solemn Institutions:—Men convinced

That Life is Love and Immortality,

The Being one, and one the Element.

There lies the channel, and original bed,

From the beginning, hollowed out and scooped

For Man's Affections—else betrayed and lost,

And swallowed up mid desarts infinite!

—This is the genuine course, the aim, and end,