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!
