Poem by Philip Morin Freneau

On the Universality and Other Attributes of the God of Nature

ALL that we see, about, abroad,
What is it all, but nature's God?
In meaner works discovered here
No less than in the starry sphere.
In seas, on earth, this God is seen;
All that exist, upon Him lean;
He lives in all, and never strayed
A moment from the works He made:
His system fixed on general laws
Bespeaks a wise creating cause;
Impartially He rules mankind
And all that on this globe we find.
Unchanged in all that seems to change,
Unbounded space is His great range;
To one vast purpose always true,
No time, with Him, is old or new.
In all the attributes divine
Unlimited perfectings shine;
In these enwrapt, in these complete,
All virtues in that centre meet.
This power doth all powers transcend,
To all intelligence a friend,
Exists, the greatest and the best
Throughout all the worlds, to make them blest.
All that He did He first approved,
He all things into being loved;
O'er all He made He still presides,
For them in life, or death provides.

1. Eutaw Springs
2. On the Death of Dr. Benjamin Franklin
3. Death's Epitaph
4. To a Honey Bee
5. The Vernal Age

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