Unsatisfied with all that Nature gives

To charm the wandering heart and roving eye,

He would portray Omnipotence.—Rash man!

Reason revolting shudders at the act.—

God is a Spirit without form or parts;

And canst thou, from a human model, trace

The awful grandeur of Creation's King?

Nature supplies thee with no perfect draught

Of human beauty in its sinless state.

Man bears upon his brow the curse of guilt,

The shadow of mortality, that marks,

E'en in the sunny season of his youth,

The melancholy sentence of decay.—

Is it from such the painter would depict

The vision of Jehovah?—and from eyes,

Dimmed with the tears of passion, woe, and pain,

[Pg 9]

Seek to portray the dread all-seeing eye,

Which at a momentary glance can read

The inmost secrets of all hearts, and pierce

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