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THE UNIVERSAL PRAYER.

DEO OPT. MAX.
[ed.] (trans.) To the Greatest and Best God. (AH)
I.
1 FATHER of All! in every Age,
2 In every Clime ador'd,
3 By Saint, by Savage, and by Sage,
4 Jehovah, Jove, or Lord!
II.
5 Thou Great First Cause, least understood!
6 Who all my Sense confin'd
7 To know but this, — that Thou art Good,
8 And I my self am blind:
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III.
9 Yet gave me, in this dark Estate,
10 To see the Good from Ill;
11 And binding Nature fast in Fate,
12 Left Conscience free, and Will.
IV.
13 What Conscience dictates to be done,
14 Or warns me not to doe,
15 This, teach me more than Hell to shun,
16 That, more than Heav'n pursue.
V.
17 What Blessings thy free Bounty gives,
18 Let me not cast away;
19 For God is pay'd when Man receives,
20 T'enjoy, is to obey.
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VI.
21 Yet not to Earth's contracted Span,
22 Thy Goodness let me bound;
23 Or think thee Lord alone of Man,
24 When thousand Worlds are round.
VII.
25 Let not this weak, unknowing hand
26 Presume Thy Bolts to throw,
27 And deal Damnation round the land,
28 On each I judge thy Foe.
VIII.
29 If I am right, thy Grace impart
30 Still in the right to stay;
31 If I am wrong, oh teach my heart
32 To find that better Way.
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IX.
33 Save me alike from foolish Pride,
34 Or impious Discontent,
35 At ought thy Wisdom has deny'd,
36 Or ought thy Goodness lent.
X.
37 Teach me to feel another's Woe;
38 To hide the Fault I see;
39 That Mercy I to others show,
40 That Mercy show to me.
XI.
41 Mean tho' I am, not wholly so
42 Since quicken'd by thy Breath,
43 Oh lead me wheresoe'er I go,
44 Thro' this day's Life, or Death:
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XII.
45 This day, be Bread and Peace my Lot;
46 All else beneath the Sun,
47 Thou know'st if best bestow'd, or not;
48 And let Thy Will be done.
XIII.
49 To Thee, whose Temple is all Space,
50 Whose Altar, Earth, Sea, Skies;
51 One Chorus let all Being raise!
52 All Nature's Incence rise!

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About this text

Title (in Source Edition): THE UNIVERSAL PRAYER.
Author: Alexander Pope
Themes: God
Genres: prayer

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Source edition

Pope, Alexander, 1688-1744. The universal prayer: By the author of the Essay on man. London: printed for R. Dodsley, 1738. 7,[1]p. ; 2⁰. (ESTC T5757; Foxon P982; OTA K023198.000)

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The text has been typographically modernized, but without any silent modernization of spelling, capitalization, or punctuation. The source of the text is given and all editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. Based on the electronic text originally produced by the TCP project, this ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.