Page:The Poems of John Dyer (1903).djvu/90

 Gives to the curious works of Nature rare ; And when the priest displays, in just discourse, Him, the all-wise Creator, and declares His presence, pow'r, and goodness, unconfin'd, 'Tis Trade, attentive voyager, who fills His lips with argument. To censure Trade, Or hold her busy people in contempt, Let none presume. The dignity, and grace, And weal, of human life, their fountains owe To seeming imperfections, to vain wants Or real exigencies ; passions swift Forerunning reason ; strong contrarious bents, The steps of men dispersing wide abroad O'er realms and seas. There, in the solemn scene, Infinite wonders glare before their eyes, Humiliating the mind enlarg'd ; for they The clearest sense of Deity receive Who view the widest prospect of his works, Ranging the globe with trade thro' various climes; Who see the signatures of boundless love, Nor less the judgments of Almighty Pow'r, That warn the wicked, and the wretch who 'scapes From human justice ; who, astonish'd, view Etna's loud thunders and tempestuous fires ; The dust of Carthage ; desert shores of Nile ; Or Tyre's abandon'd summit, crown'd of old With stately towers ; whose merchants, from their isles And radiant thrones, assembled in her marts ; Whither Arabia, whither Kedar, brought Their shaggy goats, their flocks, and bleating lambs ; Where rich Damascus pil'd his Fleeces white, Prepar'd, and thirsty for the double tint And flow'ring shuttle. While th' admiring world Crowded her streets, ah ! then the hand of Pride Sow'd imperceptible his pois'nous weed,