To the Rev Dr Thomas Amory
To cultivate in ev'ry noble
Habitual grace, and sentiments refin'd,
Thus while you strive to mend the human heart,
Thus while the heav'nly precepts you impart,
O may each bosom catch the sacred fire,
And youthful minds to Virtue's throne aspire! When God's eternal ways you set in sight,
And Virtue shines in all her native light,
In vain would Vice her works in night conceal,
For Wisdom's eye pervades the sable veil. Artists may paint the sun's effulgent rays,
But Amory's pen the brighter God displays:
While his great works in Amory's pages shine,
And while he proves his essence all divine,
The Atheist sure no more can boast
Of chance, or nature, and exclude the God;
As if the clay without the potter's
Should rise in various forms, and shapes self-made,
Or worlds above with orb o'er orb
Self-mov'd could run the everlasting round.
It cannot be—unerring Wisdom
With eye propitious, and o'er all presides. Still prosper,
Amory! still may'st thou
The warmest blessings which a muse can give,
And when this transitory state is o'er,
When kingdoms fall, and fleeting Fame's no more,
May Amory triumph in immortal fame,
A nobler title, and superior name!
Phillis Wheatley
Other author posts
To a Gentleman on His Voyage to Great-Britain
While others chant of gay Elysian scenes, Of balmy zephyrs, and of flow'ry plains, My song more happy speaks a greater name, Feels higher motives and a nobler flame
On the Death of a Young Gentleman
Who taught thee conflict with the pow'rs of night, To vanquish satan in the fields of light Who strung thy feeble arms with might unknown, How great thy conquest, and how bright thy crown
Thoughts on the Works of Providence
Arise, my soul, on wings enraptur'd, To praise the monarch of the earth and skies, Whose goodness and benificence As round its centre moves the rolling year,
To a Lady on the Death of Her Husband
Grim monarch see, depriv'd of vital breath, A young physician in the dust of death: Dost thou go on incessant to destroy,
