University of Virginia Library

Hail, Christian Prelates, for your Master's Name
Expos'd by Fool-born Jest to grinning Shame!
Hail, Fathers! to be envy'd, not deplor'd,
Who share the Treatment distin'd to your Lord,
What time his mortal Race on Earth began,
When first the Son of God was Son of Man!

Behold from Night the Great Accuser rise,
Retouching old, and coining modern Lies;
No Slander unessay'd, no Path untrod,
To blast the Glories of incarnate God!
“An open Enemy to Moses' Laws;
“A secret Patron of Samaria's Cause;
“Who dar'd at Levi's Race his Curses send,
“The Sot's Companion and the Sinner's Friend;
“Who purpos'd Sion's Temple to o'erthrow,
“Traitor to Cæsar, and to God a Foe;
“Who Wonders wrought by Force of Magick Spell,
“Possest with Dæmons, and in League with Hell.”
Remains there aught, ye Pow'rs of Darkness, yet?
Yes; make your antient Blasphemies compleat.
“The Sacred Leaves no Prophecies contain,
“No Miracles, to prove Messiah's Reign,”
To this each sacred Leaf aloud replies,
Nor need we trust our Reason, but our Eyes.
'Tis urg'd, his mightiest Wonders never show'd
“Our Saviour Nature's Lord, and real God.”
Whose Word commanded Earth, and Sea, and Air,
Bid gloomy Dæmons to their Hell repair,
Spoke all Diseases into Health and Bloom,
And call'd the mould'ring Carcase from the Tomb,
O'er Tyrant Death exerted Godlike Sway,
And op'd the Portals of Eternal Day.

Here nobler Mysteries a Sage descries,
“The Letter false or trivial in his Eyes.
Suppose in ev'ry Act were understood
Some future, mystick, and sublimer Good;
Yet who the Letter into Air refines,
Destroys at once the Substance and the Signs,
Will find the Truth is with the Figure flown,
Because by Nothing, Nothing is foreshown;
Else Lunaticks might deep Divines commence,
And downright Nonsense be the Type of Sense.
What wilder Dream did ever Madman seize,
Than—“Symbols all are mere Non-Entities”?
This Sion Hill fast by the Roots will tear,
And scatter Sinai's Mountain into Air:
No David ever reign'd on Judah's Throne,
For David shadow'd his diviner Son.
So fair, so glorious Light's material Ray,
That Heaven is liken'd to a cloudless Day:
Embodied Souls require some outward Sign,
To represent and image Things Divine.
All Objects must we therefore subtilize?
And raze the Face of Nature from our Eyes?
Dispute is over, the Creation gone,
In Noon-day Splendour we behold no Sun.
Thus, fast as Pow'r Almighty can create,
May Frenzy with a Nod annihilate.
No Marks of foul Imposture then were known,
The Cures were publick, to a Nation shown:
And who, the Facts expos'd to ev'ry Eye,
If false could credit, or if true deny?
While Thousands liv'd, by Miracle restor'd,
Heal'd by a Touch, a Shadow, or a Word!
Denial then had shocking prov'd and vain;
But now the Serpent tries another Train,
To Turns and Doubts and Circumstances flies,
And groundless, endless May-be's multiplies.
Now ev'ry idle Question dark appears,
Obscure by Shade of Seventeen-hundred Years,
Which then each Ignorant and Child must know,
And ev'ry Friend resolve, and ev'ry Foe.
No Trace of possible Deceit was there:
Would those, who spilt his Blood, his Honour spare?
When Prejudice and Int'rest urg'd his Fate,
And Superstition edg'd their keenest Hate,
When ev'ry Footstep was beset with Spies,
And restless Envy watch'd with all her Eyes;
When Jewish Priests with Herod's Courtiers join'd,
And Pow'r, and Craft, and Earth, and Hell combin'd.
Speak, Caiphas, thy Prophecy be shown,
He dy'd for Israel's Sake, and not his own!
Pilate arise! his Righteous Cause maintain,
And clear the injur'd Innocent again.
Truth fixt, Eternal stands, and can defy
Time's rolling Course to turn it to a Lie.
Must ev'ry Age the once-heard Cause recall,
Replacing Jesus in the Judgment-Hall,
Cite living Witnesses anew to plead,
And raise from Dust the long-sepulchred Dead?
That Fools undue Conviction may receive,
And those, who Reason slight, may Sense believe,
Those, who the Test of former Ages scorn,
(For Men were Ideots all 'till they were born)
Whose Strength of Argument in This we view,
'Tis so long since, perhaps it is not True.

Ye Worthies, in the Book of Life enroll'd,
Who nobly fill'd the Bishops Thrones of old!
Ye Priests, on second Thrones, who, true to God,
By Tortures and by Death your Priestcraft show'd;
Ye Flocks, disdaining from the Fold to stray,
Still following where your Pastors led the Way,
Whose Works thro' length of Years transmitted come
Escap'd from Gothick Waste, and Papal Rome,
Justly renown'd! behold, how Malice tries
To blast your Fame, and vex your Paradise!
Let Hereticks each human Slip declare,
And ridicule the Test they cannot bear:
To these what modish Ignorants succeed!
And Fops, your Writings blame, who cannot read.
These open Enmities to Glory tend;
The Wound strikes deeper from a seeming Friend.
Let Deist Refugees your Fame oppose,
And Dutch Professors list themselves your Foes:
But ah! let none asperse with vile Applause,
And quote with Praises in the Devil's Cause;
In gleaning Scraps bad Diligence employ,
The Tenour of your Doctrines to destroy;
Make you your much-lov'd Lord and God deride,
For whom your Saints have liv'd, and Martyrs dy'd.
Yet so pursued by Love-dissembling Hate,
You fill the Measure of your Master's Fate.
Glory to Jesu! the Blasphemer cries;
But glaring Malice mocks the thin Disguise.
Iscariot thus false Adoration paid,
Hail'd when he seiz'd, saluted and betray'd.
May Jesus' Blood discharge ev'n this Offence,
When wash'd with Tears of timely Penitence!
E'er yet Experience sad Assent create,
Convince in Earnest, but convince too late!
E'er yet, descended from dissolving Skies,
To plead his Cause Himself shall God arise.
Then Scorn must cease, and Laughter must be o'er,
And witty Fools reluctantly adore.

So, as authentick old Records declare,
(If past with future Judgment we compare)
Possest with frantick and dæmoniac Spleen,
Apostate Julian scoff'd the Nazarene;
His keenest Wit th' Imperial Jester tries,
Sure to his Breast the 'vengeful Arrow flies;
He, while his Wound with vital Crimson streams,
Proud in Despair, Confesses and Blasphemes;
Impious, but Unbelieving now no more,
He owns the Galilean Conqueror.