172 CLASSICAL MODERN POETRY. 



THE UNIVERSAL PRAYER. 



PRIMEVAL POWER; Almighty and Supreme, 

 Omniscient, Omnipresent, and Eterne, 

 The Uncreated God ! at whose command 

 Nature and time did hand in hand arise, 

 And round Thee wheel a universe of worlds, 

 Descend ! and magnify our thoughts for prayer > 

 Illume, expand, and purify the soul 

 With inward light, reflected from Thyself; 

 Unlock the springs of mind, and let them pour 

 The vital feelings forth in one full stream 

 Of adoration, duteous as divine. 



Thou Infinite ! since first creation roll'd, 

 Thy mercy hath reveal'd a ray of Thee 

 To every heart : in every age or clime, 

 Heard in the wind, or vision'd in the cloud, 

 Or in the parent sun presumed to shine, 

 Still has th' immortal soul been stamp' d with Thee ! 



Oh ! all that thought can span, or eye perceive, 

 Is but a part, a shadow of Thy power, 

 Creating, filling, and upholding all ! 

 The airy ocean, far above us spread, 

 Where balanced worlds perform their silent march, 

 And seasons dwell and roll, the chainless deep, 

 Belting the earth with majesty and might, 

 The mountains pinnacled with storms, the floods 

 And streams, the meadows beautified with flowers,- 

 Are fill'd with Thee ! and in the thunder-peals, 

 Rattling from cloud to cloud, terrific ire, 

 We hear the language of a God ! and in 

 The winds, careering till they whirl and roar 

 Like rebel spirits plunging from the sky, 

 We dread Thee, wing'd upon each awful blast ! 



Fountain of Light and Love ! while Nature hymns 

 Thy praise, in wave or wind, from shore to shore, 

 Thy miniature, immortal Man, the grace 

 And glory of the Earth, with brow erect, 



