Night Thoughts on Life, Death, and Immortality, Volume 1

Front Cover
John Stevenson, 1820 - 347 pages
 

Selected pages

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

Popular passages

Page 253 - Bewilder'd in the vale; in all unlike! His full reverse in all ! what higher praise ? What stronger demonstration of the right ? The present all their care, the future his. When public welfare calls, or private want, They give to Fame ; his bounty he conceals. Their virtues varnish Nature, his exalt.
Page 215 - Hope, of all passions, most befriends us here ; Passions of prouder name befriend us less. Joy has her tears ; and transport has her death : Hope, like a cordial, innocent, though strong, Man's heart, at once, inspirits and serenes...
Page 240 - Each branch of piety delight inspires ; Faith builds a bridge from this world to the next, O'er death's dark gulf, and all its horror hides ; Praise, the sweet exhalation of our joy, That joy exalts, and makes it sweeter still ; Prayer ardent opens heaven, lets down a stream Of glory on the consecrated hour Of man, in audience with the Deity.
Page 284 - Sun ! By mortals and immortals seen with awe ! A starry crown thy raven brow adorns, An azure zone thy waist ; clouds, in heaven's loom Wrought through varieties of shape and shade, In ample folds of drapery divine, Thy flowing mantle form, and, heaven throughout, Voluminously pour thy pompous train : Thy gloomy grandeurs (Nature's most august, Inspiring aspect !) claim a grateful verse ; And, like a sable curtain starr'd with gold, Drawn o'er my labours past, shall close the scene.
Page 331 - Curs'd fume of pride, exhal'd from deepest hell! Pride in religion is man's highest praise. Bent on destruction ! and in love with death ! Not all these luminaries, quench'd at once, Were half so sad as one benighted mind, Which gropes for happiness, and meets despair.
Page 277 - The goddess, with determin'd aspect, turns Her adamantine key's enormous size Through destiny's inextricable wards, Deep driving every bolt, on both their fates. Then, from the crystal battlements of Heaven, Down, down, she hurls it through the dark profound, Ten thousand thousand fathom ; there to rust. And ne'er unlock her resolution more. The deep resounds; and Hell, through all her glooms, Returns, in groans, the melancholy roar.
Page 271 - Out-burns Vesuvius ; rocks eternal pour ' , Their melted mass, as rivers once they pour'd ; Stars rush ; and final ruin fiercely drives Her ploughshare o'er creation ! — while aloft, More than astonishment ! if more can be ! Far other firmament than e'er was seen, Than e'er was thought by man ! far other stars...
Page 252 - Some angel guide my pencil, while I draw, What nothing less than angel can exceed, A man on earth devoted to the skies; Like ships in seas, while in, above the world. With aspect mild, and elevated eye, Behold him seated on a mount serene, Above the fogs of sense, and passion's storm ; All the black cares and tumults of this life, Like harmless thunders, breaking at his feet, Excite his pity, not impair his peace.
Page 207 - Through all the provinces of human thought: To dart her flight through the whole sphere of man; Of this vast universe to make the tour; In each recess of space and time, at home; Familiar with their wonders: diving deep; And like a prince of boundless...
Page 314 - What am I ? and from whence ? I nothing know, But that I am; and, since I am, conclude Something eternal. Had there e'er been nought, Nought still had been: eternal there must be.

Bibliographic information