University of Virginia Library

Providences Fate.

WHy muse we thus, to see the Wheels run cross,
Since Providence it self, sustains a loss:
Should Providence, but one day miss its watch,
I fear the Enemy would all dispatch.
Resplendent Phoebus would forget to shine,
The wandring Planets, to forget their Line.
The Stars run all out of their proper spheres,
And quickly fall together by the eares;
The Ocean would forget to ebbe and flow,
The Mother cease the tender babe to know.
Kingdoms would jostle out their Kings and set,
The Vile Mechanick up who next they met:
Or rather Kings, and Kingdoms, with the World,
Would into Chaos its first rise be turn'd:
This sacred Providence of the Most High,
None can outlive and write its Elegy.
But of a solitary Town I write,
A place of darkness, yet receiving light
From Pagans hands; a miscellaneous nest
Of Errours, Hectors, where they sought a rest
Out of the reach of Laws, but not of God;
Since they have smarted by the common Rod.
'Twas much I thought it did escape so long,
Which sacred truth did manifestly wrong;
For one Lots sake perhaps, or else I think,
Justice did long at great offenders wink.
'Tis happy for them, if their filth and dross,
Be cleansed off, though by a common loss.