The Poems of John Byrom :: :: University of Virginia Library

By “Reformation from the Church of Rome”
We mean, “from Faults and Errors,” I presume.
Against her Truths to prosecute a War
Is protestant Aversion push'd too far;
In them, should “Ease” and “Honour” not attend
The fair Profession, one should be her Friend.

She thinks that Christ has given to His Bride,
His Holy Church, an Ever-present Guide;
By Whose Divine Assistance she has thought
That Miracles sometimes were really wrought;
That by the Virtue which His Gifts inspire
Great Saints and Martyrs have adorn'd her Quire.
Now, say the worst that ever can be said
Of that Corruption which might overspread
This Church in gen'ral; cast at her the Stone
They who possess Perfection in their own;—
Yet, were instructive Volumes to enlarge
On bright Exceptions to the gen'ral Charge.

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They that love Truth, wherever it is found,
Would joy to see it ev'n in romish Ground;
Where, if Corruption grew to such a Size,
The more illustrious must Examples rise
Of Life and Manners;—these, you will agree,
Are true Reformers, wheresoe'er they be.

Of all the Churches, justly loth to claim
Exclusive Title to a Sacred Name,
What one, I ask, has ever yet denied
The Inspiration of the Promis'd Guide?
Our own—to which the Def'rence that is due
Forbids no just Respect for others too—
Believes, asserts, that what Reform she made
Was not without the Holy Spirit's Aid.
If to expect His Gifs, however great,
Be popish and fanatical Deceit,
She in her Offices of ev'ry Kind
Has also been fanatically blind.
What Form of her composing can we trace
Without a Pray'r for His Unstinted Grace?
Taught by the Sacred Volumes to infer
A Saviour's Promise reaching down to her,
Greatly she values the recording Books;
But for fulfilling in herself she looks.

That she may always think aright and act
By God's Good Spirit, is her pray'd-for Fact,—

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Without His Grace confessing, as she ought,
Her Inability of Act or Thought.
Nor does she fear fanatical Pretence,
When asking Aid in a sublimer Sense.
Where she records amongst the martyr'd Host
A “Stephen, fillèd with the Holy Ghost,”
She prays for that same Plenitude of Aid
By which the Martyr for his Murd'rers pray'd;
That she like him, in what she undergoes,
May love and bless her persecuting Foes.

Did but one Spark of so Supreme a Grace
Burn in the Breast, when Preaching is the Case,
How would a Priest, unpersecuted, dare
To treat, when mounted on a sacred Chair,
A Church of Christ, or any single Soul
By Will enlisted on the Christian Roll,
With such a prompt and contumelious Ire
As Love nor Blessing ever could inspire?

Altho' untouch'd with a Celestial Flame,
How could an English Priest mistake his Aim,—
So far forget the Maxims that appear
Throughout his Church's Liturgy so clear;
Wherein the Spirit's ever Constant Aid
Without a feign'd Distinction is display'd,—
Without a rash attempting to explain
By Limitations foolish and profane
When, and to whom, to what Degree and End,

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God's Graces, Gifts and Pow'rs were to extend,—
So far withdrawn that Christians must allow
Of nothing “extra-ordinary” now,—
The vain Distinction which the World has found,
To fix an unintelligible Bound
To Gospel Promise,—equally Sublime,
Nor limited by any other Time
Than that, when Want of Faith, when earthly Will,
Shall hinder Heav'ns Intentions to fulfil?

If, not confining any promis'd Pow'rs,
The Romish Church be faulty, what is ours?
Does our own Church in her ordaining Day,
Does any consecrating Bishop say,
When on the future Priest his Hand is laid:
“Receive the Spirit's ordinary Aid?”
Do awful Words, “Receive the Holy Ghost!”
Imply that He abides in Books the most,—
Books, which the Spirit Who first rul'd the Hand,
They say themselves, must teach to understand?

His Inspiration, without Limits too,
All Churches own, whatever Preachers do;
Not even Miracles, tho' set aside
In private Books, has any Church denied.—
How weak the Proofs which this Discourse has brought
To justify the fashionable Thought,
That Gospel Promises of any Kind
By Spirit or by Scripture are confin'd
To apostolic or to later Times,
May be the Subject of succeeding Rimes.