Classic Poem

In vain did Heav'n its miracles produce
When man would put them to no pious use;
In vain the Deity our good designed
When self-willed man was otherwise inclined.
Bliss from above but to no purpose flows
When men will stubbornly that bliss oppose.
In vain the Heav'ns do man with good caress
When man resisteth his own happiness.
Unconstant man that for uncertain noise
Would hazard all the good he now enjoys,
And but to satisfy unbridled will
Would change a present good for future ill;
Who when a godlike monarch does command
In the hard rule of this unworthy land —
A godlike monarch who, beyond what we
Have merited from such great dignity,
His virtue in abundant measure showed
By winking at our black ingratitude,
Whilst with a bounty scarce heard of before
He offers to increase our blessings's store —
The brutish land so strangely does reject
The good we might from such a king expect.
In meager stubbornness they'd rather live
Than on the Canaan of his bounty thrive.
We, like the Jews when the Supreme Power
Did down from Heav'n his pleasant manna shower,
With envy murmur and shall murmur on
Till Heav'n its pestilential wrath send down
And by affliction teach us how to prize
The manna of our first felicities;
And if its goodness should at last restore
The bliss we might have well enjoyed before,
Rememb'ring th'ill we did ourselves create,
Should prudently avoid our former fate:
So an old mariner by tempest split
Upon a rock again remembers it
And with a dear-bought skill will turn aside
From the vast danger he before had tried.
But senseless England to itself unkind
Will thwart the happiness the Heav'ns designed,
Would dally with the fire and tempt the flame
That once had like to have consumed its frame;
With matchless boldness would that sea repass
In which the beauteous island shipwrecked was;
Would once more handle these injurious arms
By which she had received so many harms.
Self-vexing nation, when all things agree
To make thy sum up of felicity!
Thou, only thou, with a malicious hand
Against thy own advantages wilt stand!
Ill-natured people who, when they may taste
Of every fruit within that compass placed,
Condemn the proffer and with lustful eyes
To th'top of the forbidden tree will rise,
Or possess all or none of Paradise.
Remember, England, how thy giddy zeal
For the supporting of the commonweal
Did willfully your own enthraldom seal.
And is't so long you wore the chains you would
Again go under such a servitude?
Oh, rather change your purpose and consent
To the completion of thy own content;
Sincerely weigh your int'rest, and you'll find
Each honest subject of another mind
Will alter thoughts and not with stubborn pride
But humble loyalty be beautified.
Ah, happy island! if thou couldst it know
Or wouldst be satisfied in being so;
Oh, happy isle! in thy luxuriant land
And in great James, who does o'er that command —
Like the meridian sun he does dispense
O'er all the soil his fruitful influence —
Unclouded let him shine with glorious rays,
Dispel those fogs that would eclipse his face,
While strengthened with the vigor of his heat
We learn of him to be sincerely great
And better humors from his influence get.
So shall the land be truly blessed: he reign
For our protection; we his rights maintain.