Dr. _Thomas Burnet_, AUTHOR of _The Sacred Theory of the EARTH_. I. _No common Height the Muse must soar, That wou’d thy Fame in Numbers try; Nor dare in humble Verse adore, But rise with Thee above the Sky: You ask a bold and lofty Strain, And what we meanly sing, disdain._ II. _You Nature’s early Birth explore, Her disunited Frame disclose, From what mix’d Cause, and jarring Power, The Infant Earth to Being rose: How, in her circling Bosom sleep Th’ imprisoned Seas, and bounded Deep._ III. _Resolv’d great hidden Truths to trace, Each learned Fable you despise; And, pleas’d, enjoy the fam’d Disgrace, To think, and reason singly wise: Each Tale reject by Time allow’d, And nobly leave the erring Crowd._ IV. _Hark! from her weak Foundations tore, The bursting Earth asunder flies, And, prop’d by yielding Seas no more, The dreadful Crack alarms the Skies: Whose Arches rent, their Weight forego, And plunge in opening Gulphs below._ V. _Now rushing from their watry Bed, The driving Waves disdain a Shore; And with resistless Force o’erspread That Orb, which check’d their Rage before: While scatter’d o’re the foamy Tide, All Nature’s floating Ruins ride._ VI. _New Heavens disclos’d, the silver Train The SUN beneath their Waves admire; And gliding thro’ the enlight’ned Main, Gaze at each Star’s diminish’d Fire, Well pleas’d, the MOON’s bright Orb survey, Trembling along their azure Play._ VII. _How strong each Line, each Thought how great, With what an Energy you rise! How shines each Fancy? with what Heat Does every glowing Page surprize? While spouting Oceans upward flow, Or sink again to Caves below._ VIII. _As Nature’s Doom you thus impart, The moving Scene we scarce endure; But, shrinking, ask our anxious Heart, If on our Earth we tread secure? Whose Fate, unmov’d, as you persue, We start and tremble but to view_. IX.