Of the Rainbow

O How Stupendious are thy Wonders, Lord Which thou effectest by thy Living Word How Gloriously presented every where, Do they to the discerning Eye appear! Which, as it views the Outside, may discover The inward Wonder, by the Shell vail'd over Hath not each Visible a Mystery? Doth not each Herb proclaim a Deity? Which, with so sine an Essence, gave it Birth, Out of the gross dark Bowels of the Earth. If these familiar little Creatures be Such cause of Admiration, what may we Observe in this vast Concave of the Sky, So full of Wonders to a searching Eye? Do not the Heav'nly Orbs declare thy Glory, Great King, as in an Universal Story? Sun, Moon and Stars do, by their Light, proclaim A Power divine, and magnify thy Name: Can then this curious Semi-circle, deck'd With such pure undy'd Colours, but affect Our Hearts with Dread and Wonder? can a Sign Of such Concern and Glory (by Divine Authority plac'd in the Firmament, To signify that Gracious Covenant, Which, for thy Goodness, for thy Mercy's sake, Thou, in thy tender Pity, pleas'd to make With poor Ungrateful Mortals, that thereby They might believe, Floods should no more destroy, All Animals) pass unobserv'd? Tho' Man, Thro' his ambitious Ignorance, began Soon to insult, altho' in vain; his Power And Policy, both fail'd at Babel's Tower: Yet hast thou not remov'd this signal Token Of thy endearing Love; nor rashly broken Thy lasting Cov'nant; but thereby dost shew, That thou alone art Faithful, Just and True. O can this great Memorial to the Nation, The Rainbow, but excite our Admiration, When it appears! Were not the Signs in Heaven, And Wonders in the Earth, ordain'd and given For more sublime Designs, that only be Look'd at, and gaz'd on, by Mortality? Did not the great Apostle once attest, That things invisible are manifest By those that do appear? Did not hereby Some of the Gentiles learn Divinity? Why may they not as well excite and raise Our Hearts, to celebrate the Author's Praise