Let reason then at her own quarry fly,
But how can finite grafp infinity?

'Tis urg'd again, that faith did first commence By miracles, which are appeals to fenfe,

And thence concluded, that our fenfe muft be The motive ftill of credibility.

For latter ages muft on former wait,

And what began belief must propagate.

But winnow well this thought, and you shall find
'Tis light as chaff that flies before the wind.
Were all thofe wonders wrought by power divine,
As means or ends of fome more deep defign?
Moft fure as means, whofe end was this alone,
To prove the Godhead of the eternal fon.
God thus afferted, man is to believe

Beyond what fenfe and reason can conceive,
And for myfterious things of faith rely
On the proponent, heaven's authority.
If then our faith we for our guide admit,
Vain is the farther fearch of human wit,
As when the building gains a furer stay,
We take the unufeful fcaffolding away.
Reafon by fenfe no more can understand ;
The game is play'd into another hand.

7

Why

Why chufe we then like bilanders to creep
Along the coast, and land in view to keep,
When fafely we may launch into the deep?
In the fame veffel, which our Saviour bore,
Himself the pilot, let us leave the shore,
And with a better guide a better world explore.
Could he his Godhead veil with flesh and blood,
And not veil these again to be our food?
His grace in both is equal in extent,

}

The first affords us life, the fecond nourishment.
And if he can, why all this frantic pain
To conftrue what his cleareft words contain,
And make a riddle what he made so plain?
To take up half on trust, and half to try,
Name it not faith, but bungling bigotry.
Both knave and fool the merchant we may call,
To pay great fums and to compound the small:
For who would break with heaven, and would
not break for all?

Reft then, my foul, from endless anguish freed:
Nor fciences thy guide, nor fenfe thy creed.

Faith is the best enfuer of thy bliss;

The bank above muft fail before the venture

But heaven and heaven-born faith are far from

thee,

Thou first apostate to divinity.

Unkennell'd range in thy Polonian plains;
A fiercer foe th'infatiate wolf remains.
Too boaftful Britain, please thyfelf no more.
That beafts of prey are banish'd from thy fhore
The bear, the boar, and every favage name,
Wild in effect, tho in appearance tame,

Lay wafte thy woods, destroy thy blissful bower,
And, muzzled though they feem, the mutes

devour.

More haughty than the reft, the wolfish race
Appear with belly gaunt, and famifh'd face:

Never was fo deform'd a beast of

grace.

His ragged tail betwixt his legs he wears,

Close clap'd for fhame; but his rough creft he

Fears,

And pricks up his predeftinating ears.

His wild diforder'd walk, his haggard eyes,
Did all the bestial citizens furprize.

Though fear'd and hated, yet he rul'd a-while,
As captain or companion of the fpoil.

Full many a year

his hateful head had been

For tribute paid, nor fince in Cambria seen :

6

The last of all the litter fcap'd by chance,
And from Geneva firft infefted France.
Some authors thus his pedigree will trace,
But others write him of an upftart race;
Because of Wickliff's brood no mark he brings,
But his innate antipathy to kings.

These last deduce him from th' Helvetian kind,
Who near the Leman-lake his confort lin'd:
That fiery Zuinglius first th'affection bred,
And meagre Calvin bleft the nuptial bed.
In Ifrael fome believe him whelp'd long fince,
When the proud fanhedrim opprefs'd the prince,
Or, fince he will be Jew, derive him higher,
When Corah with his brethren did conspire
From Mofes' hand the fovereign fway to wreft,
And Aaron of his ephod to divest:

"Till opening earth made way for all to pass,
And could not bear the burden of a clafs.
The fox and he came fhuffled in the dark,
If ever they were ftow'd in Noah's ark :

Perhaps not made; for all their barking train
The dog (a common fpecies) will contain.
And fome wild curs, who from their mafters ran,
Abhorring the fupremacy of man,

In woods and caves the rebel-race began.

O happy pair, how well have you increas'd! What ills in church and state have you redrefs'd? With teeth untry'd, and rudiments of claws, Your firft effay was on your native laws: Those having torn with ease, and trampled down, Your fangs you faften'd on the mitred crown, And freed from God and monarchy your town. What tho your native kennel still be small,' Bounded betwixt a puddle and a wall Yet your victorious colonies are fent Where the north ocean girds the continent. Quicken'd with fire below, your monsters breed

In fenny Holland, and in fruitful Tweed:
And like the first the last affects to be
Drawn to the dregs of a democracy.

As, where in fields the fairy rounds are feen,
A rank four herbage rifes on the green;

So, fpringing where thofe midnight elves advance,
Rebellion prints the footsteps of the dance.
Such are their doctrines, fuch contempt they show
To heaven above, and to their prince below,
As none but traitors and blafphemers know.
God, like the tyrant of the skies, is plac'd,
And kings, like flaves, beneath the crowd debas'd.
So fulfom is their food, that flocks refufe

To bite, and only dogs for phyfic use.