A veil, which sense may never rend,
Thyself,—of all which sense reveals
The viewless source and cause-conceals:
Thee saints alone may comprehend.
Thou dwellest every heart within,
Yet fillest all the points of space;
Without affection, full of grace,
Primeval, changeless, pure from sin;
Though knowing all, Thyself unknown,
Self-sprung, and yet of all the source,
Unmastered, lord of boundless force,
Though one, in each thing diverse shown.
With minds by long restraint subdued,
Saints, fixing all their thoughts on Thee,
Thy lustrous form within them see,
And ransomed, gain the highest good.
Who, Lord, Thy real nature knows?
Unborn art Thou, and yet on earth
Hast shown Thyself in many a birth,
And, free from passion, slain Thy foes.
Thy glory in creation shown,
Though seen, our reason's grasp transcends: Who, then, Thine essence comprehends, Which thought and scripture teach alone?
Ungained, by Thee was nought to gain,
No object more to seek: Thy birth,
And all Thy wondrous deeds on earth,
Have only sprung from love to men.
With this poor hymn though ill-content,
We cease-what stays our faltering tongue?
We have not half Thy glories sung,
But all our power to sing is spent.
V. Empeachment, and Vindication, of the Divine Government.
Mahabharata iii. 1124 ff.
Beholding noble men distrest,
Ignoble men enjoying good,
Thy righteous self by woe pursued,
Thy wicked foe by fortune blest,
I charge the Lord of all—the strong,
The partial Lord-with doing wrong.
His dark, mysterious, sovereign will
To men their several lots decrees;
He favours some with wealth and ease,
Some dooms to every form of ill.
As puppets' limbs the touch obey
Of him whose fingers hold the strings,
So God directs the secret springs
Which all the deeds of creatures sway.
In vain those birds which springes hold
Would seek to fly: so man, a thrall,
Fast fettered ever lives, in all
He does or thinks by God controlled.
As trees from river-banks are riven
And swept away, when rains have swelled
The streams, so men by Time impelled
To action, helpless, on are driven.
God does not show for all mankind
A parent's love, and wise concern;
But acts like one unfeeling, stern,
Whose eyes caprice and passion blind.
I've listened, loving spouse, to thee,
I've marked thy charming, kind discourse,
Thy phrases turned with grace and force,
But know, thou utterest blasphemy.
I never act to earn reward;
I do what I am bound to do,
Indifferent whether fruit accrue;
My duty I alone regard.
Of all the men who care profess
For virtue love of that to speak-
The unworthiest far are those who seek
To make a gain of righteousness.
Who thus to every lofty sense
Of duty dead-from each good act
Its full return would fain extract ;-
He forfeits every recompense.
Love duty, thus, for duty's sake,
Not careful what return it brings:
Yet doubt not, bliss from virtue springs,
While woe shall sinners overtake.
By ships the perilous sea is crossed;
So men on virtue's stable bark
Pass o'er this mundane ocean dark,
And reach the blessed heavenly coast.
If holy actions bore no fruits;
If self-command, beneficence,
Received no fitting recompense;
Then men would lead the life of brutes.
Who then would knowledge toil to gain? Or after noble aims aspire?
O'er all the earth delusion dire
And darkness deep and black would reign.
But 'tis not so; for saints of old
Well knew that every righteous deed
From God obtains its ample meed:
They, therefore, strove pure lives to lead,
As ancient sacred books have told.
The gods-for such their sovereign will—
Have veiled from our too curious ken
The laws by which the deeds of men
Are recompensed with good and ill.
No common mortal comprehends
The wondrous power, mysterious skill,
With which these lords of all fulfil
Their high designs, their hidden ends.
These secret things those saints descry
Alone, whose sinless life austere
For them has earned an insight clear,
To which all mysteries open lie.
So let thy doubts like vapours flee,
Abandon impious unbelief;
And let not discontent and grief
Disturb thy soul's serenity.
But study God aright to know,
That highest Lord of all revere,
Whose grace on those who love him here
Will endless future bliss bestow.
How could I God, the Lord of all,
Contemn, or dare His acts arraign,
Although I weakly thus complain?
Nor would I virtue bootless call.
I idly talk; my better mind
Is overcome by deep distress,
Which long shall yet my heart oppress : So judge me rightly; thou art kind.
VI. The Divine Sovereignty.
The Lord all creatures' fortunes rules; None, weak or strong, His might defies; He makes the young and simple wise; The wise and learn'd he turns to fools.
VII. All sins known to the gods.
Mahabharata xii. 7058; iii. 13754.
Poor uninstructed mortals try
Their wilful sins from view to screen :
But though by human eyes unseen,
The gods their guilty deeds descry.
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