Alexander Pope (1688–1744). Complete Poetical Works. 1903.
Moral EssaysUniversal Prayer
F
In ev’ry clime ador’d,
By saint, by savage, and by sage,
Jehovah, Jove, or Lord!
Who all my sense confin’d
To know but this, that thou art good,
And that myself am blind:
To see the good from ill;
And binding Nature fast in Fate,
Left free the human Will.
Or warns me not to do;
This teach me more than Hell to shun,
That more than Heav’n pursue.
Let me not cast away;
For God is paid when man receives;
T’ enjoy is to obey.
Thy goodness let me bound,
Or think thee Lord alone of man,
When thousand worlds are round.
Presume thy bolts to throw,
And deal damnation round the land
On each I judge thy foe.
Still in the right to stay;
If I am wrong, O teach my heart
To find that better way.
Or impious Discontent,
At aught thy wisdom has denied,
Or aught thy goodness lent.
To hide the fault I see:
That mercy I to others show,
That mercy show to me.
Since quicken’d by thy breath;
O lead me, whereso’er I go,
Thro’ this day’s life or death!
All else beneath the sun
Thou know’st if best bestow’d or not,
And let thy will be done.
Whose altar earth, sea, skies,
One chorus let all Being raise,
All Nature’s incense rise!