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Monumental GRATITUDE
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A Monumental Gratitude ATTEMPTED, In a POETICAL RELATION OF THE Danger and Deliverance OF Several of the MEMBERS OF Yale-College, IN Passing the SOUND, FROM South-hold to New-Haven, Aug. 20th. 1726.
NEW-LONDON: Printed & sold by T. Green. 1727.
[Page 1]
A Monumental Gratitude Attempted, &c.
STorms, Whirlwinds, Hurricanes, Rain, Thunder, Fire
Sulphurious, Cataracts of Vapour dire,
Artill'ry of the North, hoarse, Western Roar;
And Myriades of nameless Dreadfuls more;
Terrifick Met'ors, rang'd in rude array,
Pregnant of Darkness, and the fate of Day.
Superiour Transports, Wonder, Horror, Care,
Ye fearful Simples, that compound Despair:
Urg'd, Hurri'd, furious with disorder'd strife,
This first or that hast into glaring Life.
Shew me my self amidst the social NINE,
Rolling and Tossed on the Foaming Brine;
[Page 2]Recall the Day our fatal Canvas spread,
Pale, Ghastly as the Windings of the Dead;
The well known hour that Launch'd our fragil Beak▪
Doubtful and wild into the Briny Deep.
The rising Sun first ply'd our bending Oars,
And early Day depriv'd us of the Shoars:
Swift as the Instants roll, with eager pain,
We plow the steepy Billows of the Main.
Urg'd on by Tempest, Storm and Tide,
Rapid across the haughty Surges ride;
Obedient to the pressing Clouds and Wind,
We leave the courted Charms of Land behind.
Too short our sense grows, and our tired Eyes,
Hither and thither turn'd, meet wild surprise;
In vain they wish the shoars, and every view
Is lost in Azure and the saline Blue:
Exhaling fogs obscure the Worlds of Light,
Incroach the Pleasures justly due to sight:
Ravish the native Beauties of the Morn,
With which the Spheres, the Eastern Hills adorn;
The shining Azure tinge with stygian dye,
And melancholly glooms spread o're the Skie.
Like what is over ravish'd Honours thrown,
Unutterable all, and half unknown,
[Page 3]Attending virgin Innocence, accurst
By some inhumane Monster's tyrant Lust:
Night loving shame, her horrors round entwine,
The Charming Features of the Fair divine:
With her grey Wings, Grief hovers o're her face,
And shades her Beauties with a dismal Grace:
Their wild attire, Care and Distraction spread,
Unmerited, around her guiltless Head.
Obtruding Night usurps a dusky sway,
And Tyrannizes o're Meridian Day.
Blue Vapours, Noise and Storms arrest the Air,
Brown Met'ors do their haughty standards rear:
Dreadful! the Tempests swell, our Horrors grow,
And stores above, and Magazines below
Of ready Fate attend us, fiercely hurl'd,
Thro' all the Terrors of the wat'ry World;
A Savage pleasure to the Raging Storms:
In strange variety of Ghastly forms;
And barbarous Shapes, the wat'ry Destinies,
On ev'ry side, in horrid range arise.
The Rising, Falling, Rising, Falling Flood,
Oh Horror! Nature Jarrs, Ferments the Blood,
[Page 4]Untunes the Lungs, begets Convulsive strife;
Whence pale Disease, Profuse of hateful Life,
With Bile, crude Juices, Indigestion stain
The Seas; and pours our Entrails on the Main.
Death is within, where not? without is Death,
Above, Below, each Side, at ev'ry Breath:
Each pressing Gust, Cold, Dismal o're our Heads;
Each heavy Gale a fluid Sable Spreads:
Each Wave o'rewhelms, that finds us in his course,
And half Immerg'd, we sink beneath it's Force.
Hither and Thither, Up and Down we reel,
And Pale and Ghastly view our heaving Keel.
Now, now we cry, we're plung'd in gaping Graves;
Our bending Mast half meets the Surging Waves.
Before the rushing Winds we upward Rise,
Soar to the Clouds, and Labour thro the Skies▪
Then roll impetuous down the mighty Steep,
And eager court the Center of the Deep.
Death gets between us and the vital Realm,
And sets Imperious on the Faithless Helm;
While we in his own Territories Roll,
And Melting in us Dies our very Soul,
[Page 5]To meet our Fate in close Embraces joyn'd,
Within what silence best describes —,
Breast unto Breast we clasp, and Mind to Mind,
In love the same, as in expected Death,
With Friendship pure, mingling our latest Breath;
Held in each others Arms up to the Poles,
We lift our Hands, our Eyes; pour out our Souls,
With Cries incessant, Humble and resign'd,
Filial before the tender, Parent MIND:
Compassion streight runs through the list'ning Skies,
Not why, but when our suppliant ardors rise,
For from themselves Goodness and Grace arise:
Forthwith Omnipotence and Grace combine,
And Love, to form, God-like the wish'd design;
Whose Pow'r is Love, and Love is Pow'r conspires
A full Completion of our large Desires.
He issues out the Mandates of his Will,
Peace Storms and Winds, ye Raging Seas be still,
Ye Clouds the Skies, Darkness the Land resign
The Clouds obey, Darkness the Pow'r Divine.
At the Rebuke a Calm Commands the Main,
The Blushing Hills are humbled to a Plain,
The Waves Subside, the Tempests cease to Roar,
Nor more unfriendly Winds deny the Shoar.
[Page 6]Big as our hopes, Impatient as desire,
That Joys already half possess'd, inspire;
With pleasing views of Just delight elate,
Upon the Quarter-Deck we claim our fate:
One foot we Shore, one to the Gun-wale place,
To force th' Air Intersperss'd and Envious space,
When first the growing Banks allow the Bliss,
On which the Keel Imprints a gentle Kiss,
Nor sooner doth it brush the lighter Sand,
Than Lightning like we force the yielding Strand,
Fierce Rushing to possess the Joys of Land:
A Bridegroom thus pursues his Captive Charms,
Justly Impatient, Rushing to the Arms
Of his best Lov'd, with Rapture and Surprise,
And Scorn of Opposition in his Eyes,
Obstructions all removing, Eager flies
To Seise what Heav'n has made his Lawful Prize;
And as on his new self, the am'rous Boy
Doth nobly lavish an excess of Joy,
Profuse of Softness, and Embraces Kind▪
And nameless Signals of an happy Mind:
With pleasing Transports, and delight intense,
Each Pow'r employ'd and busi'd ev'ry sense,
We to the Land our dear Regards dispense,
[Page 7]We Kiss the Shoars, a Thousand times Caress'd,
And happy seem, with new Existence Bless'd.
We Print our Pleasures in the heaving Strand,
And Characters of Joy upon the Land:
More free than now the Muses do Rehearse,
We tread our Safety in Pindaric Verse.
Yet, yet before we to our Transports yield,
And brisk and active Traverse o're the field,
Confessing Providence in bending Ranks,
Our Thankful Knees salute the rising Banks.
From heaving Breasts, from lifted Hands and Eyes,
Ten Thousand soft Ineffables arise:
The consort Pulses of each tuneful Heart
Beat Harmony and Praise thro' ev'ry Part:
Joy justly takes Possession of our Reins,
And fervent Transport warms our boyling Veins,
Adds to each Joint, new Symmetry and Grace
To all the glowing Features of the Face:
From ev'ry Limb a thankful Ardor springs,
And numberless Abortive Grateful things,
By Avenues unknown and secret ways,
Steal into being and exist in Praise;
Nor Lisps and sighs and broken Accents spare,
A rude Concussion of the vocal Air.
[Page 8]Beside th' Inimitables of the Soul,
Too Spir't'al for Vehicular controul.
Essays ideal Off'rings too Divine
For airy Dress and ev'ry oral Sign;
Complex Emotions of the Active Mind,
To present tho't Unequal, Undefin'd,
By Recollection and Retentive Force,
Nor are renew'd from Fancy's boundless Source.
Nor otherwise reduc'd within our Pow'r,
But by the Prese [...]e of the absent Hour;
A Gratitude above the reach of Sounds,
Beyond all Utt'rance in our Breasts abounds.
Nor undisturb'd by unknown methods Soars,
And praise too big for words, the Pow'r Divine Adores.
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Nomina quaerenti Iuvenum indigenum quasi Carmen indicare non recusat.
D. H Orrendum fragili, nullo RECTORE Carina,
E. S Ospite per Liquidos Campos tetendimus Iter;
G. B Ruma pressum atque Hyeme, nubiferaque Procella;
Fulmine nubigeno, flammis Coelestibus ictum;
G. Vu Ltu terrifico, Superatum et Murmure Coeli.
Carbasa conslantu [...], p [...]o [...]a surgente per Astra,
Ocius et gelido, Boreaque ruente, sub Arcto.
Nunc, nunc tacturi tangendaque sidera Malo;
Nunc et Abyssi Extrema, prosunda secante Carina,
E. L Argitur gravidum venti Systemata Coelum
Surgenti Pelago rapide atque volumine diro.
J. L A [...]uente & Phebo, nigrescunt Coela Procellis:
J. H Aud levibus Aether, Ventisque, Vaporibus horret.
Convolvens Fretum sundis ebullit ab imis.
J. P Erdendis miserum [...]rruit auris Mare Supernum!
N [...]b [...]geno fluctu, t [...]emit Orbis! pugnat Abyssus;
[Page 10] J. C Vmque Euro Zephirus; Boreas pluvialibus Austris;
E. K. Haud secus (O Quicunque Es, O miserere legendo,)
Passio se versat convolvens Cordibus imis;
Fides jam Superet, jam cura timore valeret;
Totis hic tenditque animis affectus in illum.
Quid facias, quo vertas, Quis as [...]erre Salutem
Aut voluit ve volens miseris afferre valeret?
Astra petens animus supplex ad sidera scandit.
Annuit Omnipotens commotus viscera tota:
Conticuit Murmurque iterum nec Fulmina torta;
Mens voti concessa est compos, & certa salutis.
Divinus CHRISTO inspiretur SPIRITUS ipso
Nostris Pectoribus, cordati quaerimus Omnes,
Nos animo justas valeamus solvere Laudes,
Recepta quadam dignas ratione Salute.
Paucula Lectori haec tantum mandare Licebit:
Haec Quicunque Legis videto NUMEN adores;
Versiculi tollat quem seci CHRISTUS [...].
FINIS.