"All-perfect Wisdom, on each living soul, / Engrav'd this mandate, 'to preserve their frame, And hold entire the gen'ral orb of being.'"
— Blacklock, Thomas (1721-1791)
Work Title
Place of Publication
Edinburgh
Date
1754, 1793
Metaphor
"All-perfect Wisdom, on each living soul, / Engrav'd this mandate, 'to preserve their frame, And hold entire the gen'ral orb of being.'"
Metaphor in Context
Hush! then, my heart, with pious cares suppress
This timid pride and impotence of soul:
Learn now, why all those multitudes, which crowd
This spacious theatre, and gaze on heav'n,
Invincibly averse to meet their fate,
Avoid each danger: know this sacred truth;
All-perfect Wisdom, on each living soul,
Engrav'd this mandate, "to preserve their frame,
And hold entire the gen'ral orb of being."
Then, with becoming rev'rence let each pow'r,
In deep attention, hear the voice of God;
That awful voice, which, speaking to the soul,
Commands its resignation to his law!
(Cf. p. 152 in 1754 ed.)
This timid pride and impotence of soul:
Learn now, why all those multitudes, which crowd
This spacious theatre, and gaze on heav'n,
Invincibly averse to meet their fate,
Avoid each danger: know this sacred truth;
All-perfect Wisdom, on each living soul,
Engrav'd this mandate, "to preserve their frame,
And hold entire the gen'ral orb of being."
Then, with becoming rev'rence let each pow'r,
In deep attention, hear the voice of God;
That awful voice, which, speaking to the soul,
Commands its resignation to his law!
(Cf. p. 152 in 1754 ed.)
Categories
Provenance
Searching "soul" and "engrav" in HDIS (Poetry); confirmed in ECCO.
Citation
At least 5 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1754, 1756, 1793).
See Poems on Several Occasions. By Thomas Blacklock, Student of Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh. (Edinburgh: Printed by Hamilton, Balfour and Neill, 1754). <Link to ECCO>
Text from Poems by the Late Reverend Dr. Thomas Blacklock; Together With an Essay on the Education of the Blind. To Which Is Prefixed a New Account of the Life and Writings of the Author. (Edinburgh: Printed by Alexander Chapman and Company; sold by W. Creech, Edinburgh, and T. Cadell, London, 1793). <Link to ESTC>
See Poems on Several Occasions. By Thomas Blacklock, Student of Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh. (Edinburgh: Printed by Hamilton, Balfour and Neill, 1754). <Link to ECCO>
Text from Poems by the Late Reverend Dr. Thomas Blacklock; Together With an Essay on the Education of the Blind. To Which Is Prefixed a New Account of the Life and Writings of the Author. (Edinburgh: Printed by Alexander Chapman and Company; sold by W. Creech, Edinburgh, and T. Cadell, London, 1793). <Link to ESTC>
Date of Entry
03/09/2005
