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

Peter, you know, Sir, by his own Account
Was with our Saviour in the holy Mount;
Where he and two Apostles more beheld
The Shechinah, or Glory that excell'd;
Saw that Divine Appearance of our Lord
Which Three of the Evangelists record,
His Face a Sun, and Light His Whole Array,—
Prophetic Glimpse of that Eternal Day
Wherein, the Glance of Sun and Moon supprest,
God shall Himself enlighten all the blest;
Shall from His Temple, from the Sacred Shrine
Shine forth of human Majesty Divine.
To this Grand Vision, which the chosen Three
Were call'd before they tasted Death to see,
Was added Proof to the astonish'd Ear,
That made Presential Deity appear;
And by a Voice from God the Father's Throne
His Well-beloved Son was then made known.

Now, search of Mysteries the whole Abyss,
What more entire Conviction, Sir, than this?
Of human Reason search the wide Pretence,
What more miraculous and plain to Sense?

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But Reason oft interprets past Event
Just as the human Heart and Will is bent.
The Doctor, whom his own Productions call
No hearty Friend to Miracles at all,
Disguises this, to bring his Point about,
As if both Sight and Hearing left a Doubt,—
Left some Perplexity on Peter's Mind,
Quite against all that he himself defin'd:
“This wond'rous Apparition, Sir, might leave
“Something too hard precisely to conceive,
“And Circumstances raise within his Soul
“Suspense about the Nature of the whole.”

What Kind of saunt'ring Spirit could suggest
Such groundless Cavil to a Christian Breast?

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What Christian Priest, at least, would choose to paint
His Saviour's Glory in a Light so faint?—
But, let this suit the Priesthood, if you will;—
Pray, what Foundation for his critic Skill,
For Peter's doubting what he saw and heard,
For Scruples first imagin'd, then inferr'd?

The Reason here assign'd is “Fear and Dread,
“So great that Peter knew not what he said;
“He, and his Partners in the Vision too,
“Fell on their Faces at Its Awful View,
“Nor durst look up, till Jesus at the last
“Came to and rais'd them, when 'twas overpast.”

O vain Suggestion! Could they see and hear
Without an Adoration, without Fear?
If they were struck with more than mortal Awe,
Their very Fear was Proof of what they saw;
For Strength to see and Weakness to sustain
Made both alike the Heav'nly Vision plain;
Nor has he once attempted to devise
What else should strike them with so great Surprise.

If, overcome with reverential Dread,
Th' amaz'd Apostle wist not what he said,
Unbiass'd Reason would itself confess
A Greater Light, diminishing its less.
Thus, in the Sacred Books if we recall
The first recorded Presence since the Fall,
Themselves from God when our first Parents hid,

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It might be said they wist not what they did.
Yet were they taught their comfortable Creed,
The Promise of the Woman's Conqu'ring Seed;
As here th' Apostles were empower'd to see
That Jesus, God's Belovèd Son, was He.

If, when God spake, each fell upon his Face,
How oft, in ancient Times, was this the Case!
What Prophet, Sir, to whom He spake of Yore,
His Voice or Vision unsupported bore?
Moses himself, when unawares he trod
On holy Ground and heard the Voice of God,
Tho' turn'd aside on purpose to enquire
What kept the Bush unburnt amidst the Fire,
Stopp'd in his Search by the Divine Rebuke,
Straight “hid his Face,” and was “afraid to look.”

Abram, the covenanted Sire of all
Who in his Faith upon the Lord should call,
When he receiv'd the Seal of it, the Sign
Of Circumcision, from the Voice Divine,
Fell on his Face;—and must we then conceit
His Proofs, that God talk'd with him, incomplete?

Read how Isaiah thought himself undone,
When he had seen God's Glory in his Son,

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Until the Seraph with a living Coal
From off the Altar purg'd the Prophet's Soul.
Read how Ezechiel too with like Surprise,
When Heav'n was open'd to his wond'ring Eyes,
Fell on his Face at the same Glorious Sight,
Till by God's Spirit made to stand upright.
Thus, Daniel prostrate; thus, the great Divine
Who saw th' Apocalyptic Scenes;—in fine,
Thus human Strength alone could never stand,
When God appear'd, unaided by His Hand.
To urge a Reason then from Fear, to doubt
The glorious Fact that could not be without,
Only befits a feeble, faithless Mind,
To heav'nly Voice and Vision deaf and blind.

The learnèd Prelate, against whose Discourse
This Gentleman has aim'd his present Force,
Thought it absurd in any one to make
St. Peter for his own Conviction's Sake
Say that old Prophecies should be preferr'd
To God's Immediate Voice which he had heard.
Such a Comparison, he thought, became
No sober Man, much less the Saint, to frame;

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Concluding it impossible, from hence,
That this could ever be St. Peter's Sense.

Tho' “'tis not only possible,” it seems,
“But weak, moreover,” as the Doctor deems,
“To doubt it,—a Comparison so just
“Peter not only might have made, but must.”—
And then he cites rabbinical Remarks,
To prove the Parodox from learned Clerks.
Not that he minds what any of them writes,
But most despises whom he chiefly cites.
Lightfoot's Authority,—to instance one,—
Is first, and last, and most insisted on;

“The Soundness of whose Faith,” he interjects,
“And Erudition Nobody suspects.”
Or, if the Reader wants a full Display
Of these Endowments:“Lightfoot shows the Way

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“How, by assuming Liberty to take
“For granted straight what Premises we make,
“Whatever Notions or Opinions tend
“To favour that which we would recommend
“We may demonstrate by such Arts as these
“A Doctrine true, Divine, or what we please.”

This, Sir, is his Description of sound Faith;
Let us now see what Argument it hath.
This trusty Evidence, amongst the rest,
Is call'd to prove a Voice from Heav'n a Jest,
The Jews' Bath-Kol a cunning acted Part,
A Fable, Phantasy or Magic Art,
Voice of the Devil or of Dev'lish Elves,
To cheat the People and promote themselves.
And hence th' Apostle, is the Inf'rence drawn,
“That claims the special Notice of the Lawn,”
That comes to clear this famous Prelate's Sight,
With Reason good preferr'd prophetic Light.

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So, introduce an Hebrew, foreign Term,
Take all for true that quoted Lines affirm,
And then assume that the Apostle too
Just thought and argued as these Critics do,—
And we may prove, from Peter's own Design,
That God the Father's Voice was not Divine!

But should the Prelate think it mere Grimace
To talk of Fable in St. Peter's Case,
Whose Words exclude it and expressly speak
Of Heav'nly Truth,—how frivolous and weak
In his more sober and sedate Esteem
Must all this Patchwork Erudition seem!
How will a Christian Bishop, too, conceive
Of what the Doctor's Margins interweave
Touching that Scripture, where our Saviour pray'd,
And Heav'n the glorifying Answer made?
While from his Note, Sir, nothing can be learn'd
But casual Thunder or Bath-Kol concern'd.

Will he not ask:“Is it this Author's Aim
Under his Bath-Kol Figments to disclaim
All Faith in Voices of an heav'nly Kind?
Is that the Purpose of his doubting Mind?

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You see, th' Apostle is extremely clear
That such a Voice himself did really hear;
He also had such wondrous Proofs beside,
That Voice concurrent cannot be denied.
And, when our Lord had been baptis'd, there came
A Voice from Heav'n in Words the very same.
Here, in his answer'd Prayer,—tho' by Mistake
Some said “it thunder'd,” some “an Angel spake,”—
We have His own Authority Divine:
“This Voice,” said He, “came for your Sakes, not Mine.”

Would not the Bishop rightly thus oppose
Plain Scripture Facts to Learning's empty Shows?
What signifies it then upon the whole
How poor blind Jews have talk'd about Bath-Kol;
What jarring Critics of a later Day
Or Lightfoot, here thrice ridicul'd, may say,
Or Middleton himself, whose pious Care
For giftless Churches prompts him to compare
Voices from Heav'n in his assuming Page
To Miracles beyond th' Apostles Age,
Taking for granted without more ado
His wild Hypothesis about them too.

Prodigious Effort! See obstructed quite
The Gospel Promise and the Christian Right;

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Cut off at once miraculous Supply;
All Healing ceases, when Apostles die;
No Tongue inspir'd, no Demon dispossest,—
With them the working Spirit went to rest;
Forgot the Prophecies that Christ had made,
And left Believers without signal Aid.
Altho' no Limit in what Scripture saith
Be put to Miracles but want of Faith;
Altho', without one, foolish to pretend
To know their Nature or to fix their End:
Yet, if a daring Genius advertise
That all but Scripture Miracles are Lies,
What Crowds embrace the new Belief and Hope!
It suits their Taste,—and saves them from the Pope.
Others contend that wond'rous Gifts survive
The first three Centuries, or four, or five.

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Then, Sir, they close their jealous, partial View
And grudge Diviner Influence Its Due;
Take diff'rent Stations in the Doctor's Track,
Blaming and backing his more close Attack:
All Miracles beyond his earlier Fence
Are Want of Honesty or Want of Sense;
All Faith in Bishops, Confessors and Saints
Who witness Facts, a Christian Priest recants:
They must,—he says they must,—be Fables all
That pass the Bounds of his gigantic Wall.

Such strange Delusion if a Man embrace,
Without some Voice, some Miracle of Grace,
It is in vain to Reas'ners of the Cast
To urge the Evidence of Ages past.
With Minds resolv'd to disbelieve or doubt
Small is the Force of History throughout.
Freedom of Thought exerted and of Will,
To claim the Privilege of judging ill,
Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs cannot move,
Nor Holy Church throughout the World disprove.

But, to return.—How does his first Assault
On Miracles defend a second Fault;
Or Rabbis, or rabbinical Divines,
Help Lightfoot's Comment or his own Designs?
Lightfoot, without detracting from his Skill,
Wrote in this Instance with a careless Quill;
Such Inf'rence else had never been annext.

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He must have seen that the Apostle's Text
Could not with Reason either good or great
Compare the Prophets with a dev'lish Cheat.
This learnèd Writer, Sir, did not attend
To Peter's Meaning, or not apprehend;
Or, if Excuse may for his Haste atone,
He did not well, perhaps, express his own.

Since by his present Citer here you see
How quite forgetful learnèd Men may be;
For, after all the Scraps he had amass'd
And this triumphant Inference at last,
“The Text,” he says, “had in St. Peter's Views
“No Ref'rence to himself, but to the Jews;”—
Not, in his Haste, aware that what he said
Knock'd all the Bath-Kol Pedantry o' th' Head;
That what he thought his borrow'd Pages won,
His own gave up, as soon as he had done.
For, if St. Peter's Words do not imply

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What he himself was most persuaded by,
But only show what Arguments were fit
For their Attention, Sir, to whom he writ,—
The Bishop's Reas'ning, which he strives to cloud,
Is not unanswer'd only, but allow'd;
The very Thing pretended to be shown
Is by his own Confession overthrown.

Do but observe the Point in Question, Sir,
On which the Doctor makes this learned Stir:
How he, who talks of “its perpetual Change
“By others,” takes the Liberty to range.
When a Comparison was judg'd absurd,
“Peter could make no other,” was the Word;
Then, by a Contradiction plain and flat,
“Peter's Comparison could not be that;”
And then, again: “supposing that it could;”—
Thus he attempts to make the Matter good.

“Let Peter be himself assur'd,” says he,
“As fully as 'twas possible to be
“Of ev'ry Circumstance that pass'd, he might
“Have still preferr'd the old prophetic Light.
“This was a standing Evidence, and lay
“Open to cool, delib'rate Reason's Sway,—
“A firmer Argument that brought along

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“Conviction, Sir, more permanent and strong
“To Men of sober Senses and sedate,
“Than could the Vision which his Words relate.”
Set the perplext Equivocation by
That's here involv'd, how easy the Reply
To Reasons void, if we distinguish right
Betwixt a real and reported Sight!
For be the Proof that Prophecies procure
More, to the Jews, comparatively sure,
As oft the Text is commented upon
(Thro' a Mistake, as will appear anon),—
Yet his Conviction vácates the Pretence
Of Reason, Argument, and sober Sense;
Because the Prophets, here to be compar'd
As Evidences of what God declar'd,
Could but originally hear and see,
And be as fully satisfied as he.

The Use of Reason has, I apprehend,
When full Assurance is attain'd, an End.
When we are certain that we see and hear,
And ev'ry Circumstance is plain and clear,
What can Examination teach or learn?
By what Criterion, Sir, shall we discern,
When Reason comes to be so deadly cool,
The sage Deliberator from the Fool?

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Conceive St. Peter, if you can, entic'd—
Eye-Witness of the Majesty of Christ;
Of what the Father in the Mount had done
By showing forth the Glory of the Son,—
To disbelieve his Senses, and to pore
Some ancient standing Evidences o'er;
To see if that which, on the holy Spot,
He saw and heard, was seen and heard, or not:—
Would such a cool deliberating Plan
Have made him pass for a more sober Man?
If so, then Middleton has hit the White;
Sherlock, if not, is thus far in the right,
And well may say that no Man in his Wits
Could be attack'd by such cold reas'ning Fits.

But thus the frigid Argument is brought,
Why Peter might in full-persuaded Thought
Prefer Predictions in the ancient Law
To what himself most surely heard and saw:
“For, after all the full convincing Scene

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“Which he had witness'd, how did he demean?—
“With Faith infirm, he shamefully denied
“His Master, seen so Greatly Glorified.”

Yes, so he did; and gave an humbling Stroke
To human Confidence in Reason's Cloak,—
Enough to lay all Syllogising Trust
In bare Conclusions only in the Dust;
An ample Proof that in a trying Hour
Ev'n Demonstration loses all its Pow'r;
That without Grace and God's Assisting Hand
In Time of Need no Evidence can stand.

Suppose a Person of the clearest Head,
In Logic Arts well grounded and well read,—
If, with a selfish Love to Truth alone,
He arm himself with Weapons all his own,
When a Temptation comes, alas! how soon
The valiant Reas'ner turns a mere Poltroon!

Peter, tho' void of Learning and of Art,
Had a courageous, had an honest Heart;
Had natural Abilities beyond
All those of which the Critics are so fond;
Had hidden Qualities beyond their Ken:
They fish for Words; he was to fish for Men.
His Faith in outward Evidence was such
That Peter trusted to himself too much.
When his Denial plainly was foretold,
What should have humbled made him grow more bold:

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“Tho' all should be offended, yet not I!
“Not Death itself shall tempt me to deny!”

We see in him, Sir, what the utmost Height
Of boasted Reason, Evidence and Light,
Of Courage, Honesty and even Love
Could do without Assistance from Above.
It could to humbler Thoughts resist the Call;
It proudly could prefer itself to all;
It could, in short, upon Conclusions true
Do all that Numbers upon false ones do,—
Rest on itself, be confident and bounce;
And, when the Call to Suff'ring came,—renounce.

As human Resolution, Courage, Skill.
Conviction, Evidence, or what you will,
Can in their Nature only reach so far
As Things are subject to an human Bar,—
All these, tho' actuating Peter's Zeal,
To Christian Doctrine could not set the Seal.
God-like Humility, the Sacred Root
Whence ev'ry Virtue branches into Fruit,
Lays the Foundation of the Christian Life,
As Reason governs that of human Strife.
And I appeal, Sir, setting Grace aside,
How oft is human Reason human Pride,

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Human Desire of Victory or Fame
A Babel tow'ring to procure a Name,
A Self-assurance, an untutor'd Boast,
That can but form Intention, at the most;
Which, tho' directed right, must humbly ask
Divine Assistance to perform its Task!

This Peter fail'd in, and a Servant-maid
Made him, with all his bold Resolves, afraid;
With all his sure Convictions, he began
To curse and swear, and “did not know the Man.”
Till, for a Lesson wond'rously addrest
To sink full deep into his humble Breast,
The Cock pronounc'd by an awakening Crow
Peter the Man whom Peter “did not know.”

But how, Sir, did his coward Speech betray
Doubt of his Maker's Glorious Display?
By what Account in Hist'ry are we taught
That e'er it came into its frighted Thought?
Or, since 'tis certain that he did deny,
What Prophecy did he “prefer” thereby?
'Tis, then, a cold Absurdity to draw
From Peter's Weakness this pretended Flaw;
To hint Delusion in the God-like Sight,
Because the Man was put into a Fright.

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If from Distrust of Evidence his Fears,
From whence his bitter penitential Tears?
Whence was it that the Holy Pris'ner shook
The Soul of Peter, with One Gracious Look?
No Glory then to credit or distrust;
And yet th' Apostle's Penitence was just,
And he himself but Proof, upon the whole,
That Grace alone can fortify a Soul.

'Tis urg'd that “on the other Hand we find,
“With Faith confirm'd and with enlighten'd Mind
“After the Mission of the Holy Ghost,
“That Argument which he applied the most
“Was what he calls” (for so the Doctor too
Takes here a vulgar Error to be true),
“This “more sure Word of Prophecy,” the chief
“Of all his Motives to enforce Belief;
“From whence he prov'd that Jesus was of old
“Describ'd by all the Prophets, and foretold.”

Peter's Condition, Sir, is that of all
Who from the Heart obey the Christian Call.
They by Experience have the triple Sight
Of Weakness, Penitence, and heav'nly Light.
While others wrangle about outward Show,
Nature and Grace and Miracle, they know.

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Tho' not inspir'd like Peter and th' Eleven,
Or struck like walking Paul by Voice from Heav'n,
They meet, what others foolishly evade,
The real Mission of celestial Aid;
Of which, howe'er the Tokens are perceiv'd,
No faithful Soul can ever be bereav'd.

What does the Share of it that Peter had
To all the Doctor's forc'd Refinements add?
Might not the Bishop justly give him back
Some Compliments bestow'd in his Attack?
Such as the “nothing but an empty Strain
“Of Rhet'ric, insignificant, and vain;”—
The “choosing not to see, of any Theme,”
“More than may suit his pre-adopted Scheme;—
The “passing over what he should confute,
With Matters foreign to the main Dispute;”—
And such-like Flow'rs, upon his Pages thrown,
That full as well become the Doctor's own.

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For has the Bishop in his Book denied
That Prophecy was properly applied?
No; but that Peter did a Thing so odd
As to prefer it to the Voice of God.
This was the Point requir'd to be explain'd
In Contradiction to what he maintain'd;
That which the Doctor undertook to clear,
And make the Pref'rence of the Saint appear.
But while we look'd what Reasons he would bring
For so incomprehensible a Thing
As common Sense must reckon an Appeal
From what th' Almighty should Himself reveal,—
Shifting the Circumstances, Time and Place,
In short the Question, to another Case,
He tell us, not of Prophecy preferr'd
To Voice from Heav'n, which he had just averr'd,
But, how the Saint applied in his Discourse
Prophetic Words to give the Gospel Force;
How Peter argued from them, he relates,
And proves full well—what Nobody debates.

How gravely, Sir, from Fallacy so crude,
He prompts th' amusèd Reader to conclude

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“That any Man, especially a Jew,
(As Peter was) might think the Pref'rence due;
And what himself had heard th' Almighty speak
Might be esteemed comparatively weak!”

Under the Millstone oft the struggling Page
Bestirs itself, but cannot disengage.
“At all Events resolving to confute,”
(To use his Logic) “or at least dispute,
“Its Author shows great Spirit and great Art,
“And well performs the contradicting Part.”
But in his subsequent Remarks we find
How lamely Confutation limps behind.

Fully resolv'd, and singly, to maintain
A Paradox so quite against the Grain,
The learnèd Antithaumatist must choose
“Not to instruct his Reader, but amuse;”
Whene'er he touches a prophetic Clause,
“Not to illústrate, but perplex the Cause;”
To speak some Truth that shows the favour'd Side,
And that which gives the whole Connexion hide.

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Why else a total Silence on the Head
Of Miracles in what St. Peter said?
How could recited Prophecies alone
Prove to the Jews that Jesus was foreshown,
Had not there been that other previous Proof
To ev'ry thoughtful Jew in His Behoof;
Had not such wond'rous Facts struck up the Light,
That show'd their Application to be right?

Trace the Quotations, Sir, that Peter made,
“And see their Force impartially display'd;
“See what Solution stated Fact supplies
“Without contriv'd Evasion or Disguise!”

The first Occasion which th' Apostle took
To cite a Passage from a Prophet's Book,
Was at that public, wonderful Event,
Upon the Blessèd Spirit's first Descent.
The faithful Flock that met with one Accord
To wait the Gifts of their Ascended Lord,
Soon as the Tokens of His Presence came,
The Sound Celestial and the Sacred Flame,
Began to speak, with holy Ardour fir'd,
In various Hymns by Heav'n Itself inspir'd.
This joyful Voice of a Diviner Laud
Was spread thro' all Jerusalem abroad;
And pious Jews from ev'ry distant Clime,
Residing there that providential Time,

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Devout Epitome of all Mankind,
Were drawn to witness that which God design'd.
His Wondrous Works as Galileans sung,
All understood the Spirit-utter'd Tongue;
Of Language, then, was no Confusion known:
Each heard this one, and heard it as his own.
God gave the Word Himself, and all the good
Shar'd in the promis'd Gift, and understood;
Tho' then astonish'd at the wond'rous Theme,
Prepar'd to spread it to the World's Extreme.

Others, insensible of Grace Divine,
Mock'd at its Influence, and talk'd of Wine:
Themselves intoxicated with that Pride
By which the deaf in Spirit still deride.
'Twas then that Peter, standing up to show
Th' absurd Reproach, gave all of them to know
That what these Mockers call'd a drunken Fit
Was God's Performance of what Joel writ
Of Days then dawning, when He would impart
His Gospel Gifts to ev'ry faithful Heart;
Pour out His Heav'nly Spirit, and refresh
Not single Nations only, but “all Flesh;”
All should partake that would of richer Grace,
Now fully purchas'd for the human Race.

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For this was what St. Peter then, inspir'd,
Went on to show, and Argument requir'd.
The Jews all knew, Messiah was to come;
That this of all Prediction gave the Sum;—
The Question was, if it had been fulfill'd
In Jesus, Whom their wicked Hands had kill'd?

Now, to prove this, th' Apostle first applies
The Miracles perform'd before their Eyes;
God's Approbation of Him, he defines,
Was manifest by Wonders and by Signs
Done in the midst of them.—See here the Ground
Prepar'd, before he offer'd to expound
By Arguments of such immediate Force,
So plain, so striking, that they must, of Course,
Make secondly to such as should take Heed,
The Word of Prophecy more sure indeed.

And then he shews how the prophetic Word
With its exact Accomplishment concurr'd:
“What David had prophetically said
Jesus fulfill'd in rising from the Dead;
Whereof we all are Witnesses.”—Here lay
The strength of all that any Words could say;
When Numbers present could the Fact attest,
Thousands of Souls th' Accomplish'd Word confess'd,
That This was He, the Lord, the Holy One,
Whom David fix'd his Heart and Hopes upon,
And so describ'd as only could agree
To Him Whose “Flesh should no Corruption see.”
His Resurrection, you perceive, it was
That show'd the Prophet's Word now come to pass;

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That made th' Apostle's Intimation clear:
“He shed forth this which we now see and hear.”

Again; when Peter had restor'd the lame
To perfect Soundness in our Saviour's Name,
He told the wond'ring Throng that they had slain
The Prince of Life Whom God had rais'd again.
“Whereof we are the Witnesses,” says he;
Then shows how all the Prophecies agree:
“All have successively foretold these Days,
And mark'd the Prophet whom the Lord should raise.”

So, when the Priests and Sadducees, aggriev'd
That such increasing Multitudes believ'd,
Ask'd by what Pow'r he acted, Peter said:
“By that of Jesus, risen from the Dead;
By Him this healing Miracle is wrought;”
Then quotes:“The Stone which ye have set at naught,
On this, rejected by the Builders' Hands,
As a sure Basis all Salvation stands.”
No Priest was then so impotently skill'd
As to suggest the Passage unfulfill'd;
All by the wond'rous Cure were overcome;
The living Proof was there, and struck them dumb.

In vain a Council then, as well as now,
To silence Miracles or disavow:

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Peter and John could neither be deterr'd;
They needs must speak what they had seen and heard.
Nor Charge, nor Chains, nor meditated Death
Could stop to God's Commands th' obedient Breath;
His final Argument still Peter brings:
“We are His Witnesses of all these Things.”

This, you may read, Sir, was the real Path
That Peter trod in his confirmèd Faith;
That all the Preachers of the Gospel trod,
When they explain'd the Oracles of God;
Preach'd what themselves, without a learnèd Strife,
Saw, heard, and handled of the Word of Life,
When in their Days so mightily it grew,
And wrought such Proofs that Prophecy was true:
Which, tho' it pointed to the future Scene
And oft prefigur'd the Messiah's Reign,
Yet gave a Light comparatively dim,
That ow'd its Shining Certainty to Him.

Thus, Sir,—to come directly to the Text
With which the Critics are so much perplex'd;
Whereof the real Meaning, fairly trac'd,
Lay heaps of Paper printed on it waste,—
Had they adverted that St. Peter still
From what he saw upon the Holy Hill
Argues Apostles not to have surmis'd,
Or follow'd Fables cunningly devis'd,
But to have witness'd only what they knew
From their own Sight and Hearing to be true,

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And to have justly gatherèd from thence
A sure Completion of prophetic Sense;
To which the Jews did rightly to attend,
Till they themselves should see it in the End;—
Had they consider'd this, they would have found
Of all their wide Perplexities the Ground;
Have soon perceiv'd that in the various Brawl
A wrong Translation was the Cause of all.

Peter makes no Comparison between
Prophetic Word and what himself had seen,
As if he thought the Vision in the Mount
Less sure to him upon his own Account.
This is a Stretch by which the Doctor meant
“Of public Patience, sure, to try th' Extent;”
Or (still to copy so polite a Clown)
“To try how far his Nonsense would go down.
“To say the Truth, his Pages indevout
“Have furnish'd Matter of Offence throughout;
“But here, from knowing what the World would bear,
“Grown without Ceremony quite severe,”
He would oblige his Readers to admit
A thing that shocks or plain or critic Wit,—

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That dark old Prophecy, in Peter's Choice,
Was held more sure than God's Immediate Voice.
They must admit, or else they must be weak,
Something more sure than Truth Itself could speak!

Nor does St. Peter, as the learnèd gloze,
Speaking to Jewish Converts here suppose
That they would think comparative Distrust
Of an Apostle's own Experience just.
No true Construction of the Text can guide
To such Suspicion, Sir, on either Side.

His Words import directly, if you seek
Their genuine meaning of the vulgate Greek
And mind the previously related Scene,—
His Words, I say, most evidently mean:
“We saw the Glory, heard the Voice, and thus
Have the prophetic Word made sure to us;
Which ye do well to follow as a Spark
That spreads a Ray through Places that are dark;
Till ye with us enjoy the perfect Light
And want no Prophecies to set you right.”

An English Reader may be led, indeed,
To think that, as th' Apostle's Words proceed
With “we have also,” it was something more,
Some surer Proof than what had gone before.
But “also,” tho' without Italics read,
Is an Addition to what Peter said.

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It only shows how our Translation fail'd
And made the Blunder that has since prevail'd;
Which, tho' sufficiently provok'd to mend,
The learned still choose rather to defend.

A Writer,—whose freethinking Schemes incite
The Bishop and the Doctor both to write;
Who had, it seems in Prophecies a Rule
First to extol, and then to ridicule,—
Took, Sir, his Stand on this corrupted Place,
From whence he both might heighten and disgrace.
One Point the vulgar Error gain'd alone;
While for the other he employ'd his own.
Ingenious Authors answer'd him apace,
But got no Triumph in this knotty Place.
Good Sense oblig'd them wholly to reject
St. Peter's Pref'rence in his own Respect;
Collins himself th' Absurdity forbore;
That Height was left for Middleton to soar.
But still some other they suppos'd there was,—
Something that Prophecy must needs surpass.
What it was not, they easily could see;
But what it was, scarce two of them agree.
Intent some kind of Pref'rence to provide,
Which “also” plainly and “more sure” implied,
All by an Error, which the simple Thought
Of const'ring right had rectified, were caught.

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In this Mistake the Bishop too has shar'd,
Asserting Prophecy indeed compar'd
And by St. Peter to the Voice preferr'd
Which he himself upon the Mount had heard.
“Yet not,” says he, “as that Freethinker meant;
The Words relate but to that One Event
That stands upon prophetical Record,
To wit, the Glorious Coming of our Lord.”

But, one or all, to make a surer Word
Than Heav'nly Demonstration is absurd
And glaring in the Instance that he chose,
Because that Coming, as the Context shows,
Was of “such Majesty” as Peter knew
That Christ was really cloth'd with in his View,
And therefore could not possibly say “We
Have also something surer than to see:
We were Eye-Witnesses of what we preach,
Yet think more certain what the Prophets teach.”

He contradicts, in splitting on the Shelf
Of our Translation, Peter and himself:

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The Saint,—by such Restriction of his own
As was by him unthought of and unknown;
Himself,—who says that Peter in this Place,
Admitting Gospel Truth to be the Case,
Far from preferring the Prophetic Test,
Has manifestly said 'twas not the best.

And of all Gospel Truths that you can name
This “Glorious Coming” is the one great Aim,
The Sum and Substance with Respect to Man
Of Heav'nly Purpose since the World began.
Divine Intention could no more have been
For Christ to suffer, than for Man to sin;
Tho', since that fatal Accident befell,
Incarnate Love would save him from a Hell;
Whereas His “Glorious Reign” amongst Mankind
Might from their first Existence be design'd,
And, since his Suff'ring, Saving Advent past,
What Sense of Justice can deny the last?
“His Reigning Glory,” were the Prophets dumb,
All Things in Nature cry aloud, “will come.”

Besides, what better does the Text afford,
To any tolerable Sense restor'd,—

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Compare, prefer, or construe how you will,—
Than that Divine Appearance on the Hill;
That ascertaining in a Heav'nly Light
Our Saviour's Glory by a present Sight;
That Record which the Father thereupon
Gave of His Son to Peter, James and John,
So full of Proofs that, let what will be chief,
Doubt is too near akin to Disbelief?

The Doctor says, “'tis surely no Offence
“To true Religion or to common Sense,
“To think that, tracing Circumstances out,
“Perplext Apostles might be left in Doubt.”
Yet may a serious Reader think it is
From one plain Circumstance, and that is this:—
When they descended from the Sacred Place
After partaking of this Heav'nly Grace,
Our Saviour charg'd them that they should not tell
To any Man the Vision that befell,
Till He Himself was risen from the Dead.
The Vision, then,—if He knew what He said,—
Was true and real; while, if you complete
The Doctor's Hints of possible Deceit,
To give his rash Reflexions any Force,
Our Lord Himself must be deceiv'd, or worse.
Such Things would follow;—but the horrid Train
Is too offensive even to explain.

In fine, these Comments which the Learnèd make
On Peter's Words, are owing to Mistake;

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Those which the Doctor has been pleas'd to frame
Upon his whole Behaviour, are the same.
Nor is more Learning needful in the Case
Than to consult the untranslated Place.
The Phrase, you'll see, asserts what I assert,
And leaves no Critic Room to controvert.
Grotius, whose Paraphrase the Doctor quotes,
Gives it this Meaning in his learnèd Notes:
“The Word of Prophecy we all allow
To be of great Authority, but now
With us much greater, who have seen th' Event
So aptly correspond with its Intent.”
This paves the Way to a becoming Sense
And overthrows our Author's vain Pretence:
“Vain Art and Pains employ'd upon the Theme,
“To dress up an imaginary Scheme:
“Of which, the whole New Testament around,
“Nor Foot nor Footstep, Sir, is to be found.”

Tradition—tho' of Apostolic Kind,
Such as was Enoch's Prophecy—you find
Contemptuously call'd “I know not what,”
Tho' by St. Jude so plainly pointed at.

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Because, if Jude's Authority be good,
Prophets existed long before the Flood;
That glorious Advent, set so oft in View,
Both in the ancient Scriptures and the new,
Of Him Who first was promis'd at the Fall,
Hope of all Ages, was foretold in all.
If Enoch and if Noah preach'd away,
Was Adam, think ye, silent in his Day?
Had he no Loss to tell his Children then,
No Saving Righteousness to preach to Men?
Did God ordain two Saviours, in the Case
Of ante- and of post-diluvian Race?
Let oral mention or let written fail:
If good,—that is, if christian—Sense prevail,
It never can permit us to reject
Consistency of Truth for their Defect.
One God, One Saviour and One Spirit still
Recurs, let Bookworms reason as they will.
Whatever saves a Man from being curst,
What Man can say, God hid it from the first?
Or, if he does, and talks as if he knew,
Will want of Writings prove that he says true?
With or without them Fancy can take aim;
If wanting, triumph, or, if not, disclaim;—

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Let them abound, no Miracles make out;
Let them be silent, make Apostles doubt.

The two main Pillars of his whole Discourse
Whereon the Doctor seems to rest its Force,
And begs the Reader, Sir, to recollect
In his Conclusion, are to this Effect:
“That Gospel Proofs on Prophecies relied,
“Singly and independently applied;
“And that the first, from whom its Preachers draw
“Their Proof of Christ, is Moses in the Law.”
Both which St. Peter's Evidence, again,
Shows to be Slips of his too hasty Pen.
For when th' Apostle at the Temple Gate
Restor'd the Cripple to a perfect State,
And took Occasion from the healèd Lame
To preach the Gospel in our Saviour's Name,
Thus he bespake the People that stood by:
“God by the Mouth”—(observe the Sacred Tie!)—
“Of all His Prophets hath foreshown His Son,
Jesus, by Whom this Miracle is done.”

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Which of them singly then did Peter cite,
What Independency, where all unite;
Where all predicted, as one Spirit bid,
That “Christ should suffer,” as He really did;—

“And enter into Glory;”—for that next
The Preacher speaks to in the following Text:
Where, in his Exhortation to repent,
“Jesus,” he tells them, “shall again be sent;
Heav'ns must receive Mankind's Appointed Head,
Till Time hath done whatever God hath said
By all His Prophets since the World began;—”
For so the Sense, without curtailing, ran?
Of which the Doctor quoting but a Part,
Has yet dissolv'd the Charm of all his Art;
Since all the Prophets—let the World begin
With Moses, if he will,—are taken in
And, join'd together, must, whate'er he thinks,
Produce a Chain, however few the Links.

'Tis true, he afterwards begins to quote;
And, first, “the Prophet of whom Moses wrote;”
Adding, that “all who in Succession came
Had likewise spoken of the very same.”
“The same;”—see how prophetic Words conspire,—
God's Own, predicted to the Jewish Sire;

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“And in thy Seed,” so Peter's Words attest,
“Shall all the Kindreds of the Earth be blest.”
Proofs of our Saviour Christ you see him draw
From in, from after, from before the Law.

What can be said in Answer, Sir, to this?
The Fact is plain, tho' Peter judg'd amiss;
For, “such defect,” he scruples not to own,
“Collins against th' Evangelist has shown:
“The very Gospels have some Proofs assign'd
Of loose, precarious, and uncertain Kind.”
This Unbeliever,—in the shocking Terms,
In which his Cause a Clergyman confirms,—
“Has Arguments unanswerably strong
“To prove their Manner of applying wrong;
“Altho', whatever Difficulties lie
“Against the Way wherein they shall apply,
“It is the best which, of all other Ways,
“The Case affords;”—so runs his rev'rend Phrase!
So Deist and Divine, but both in vain,
Seek to unfasten the prophetic Chain!

Should the New Testament be treated so
By one whose Character we did not know,
Might not the Language miss its aim'd Effect,
And rather tempt the Reader to suspect

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That some presumptuous Mocker and self-will'd
Had Enoch's, Jude's, and Peter's Words fulfill'd?

To clear a tortur'd Passage from abuse
This good Effect may possibly produce:
That when a Writer of the modern Mode
Shall cast Reflexions on the Sacred Code,
Men will not merely upon sudden Trust
In bold Assertions take them to be just;
Since it may be that he has only made
Of great Mistakes a critical Parade;
Has only spoken Evil of those Things
Of which he does not really know the Springs;
Has met with Matters high above his reach,
And, scorning to be taught, presum'd to teach,
Raising about them an affected Cry,
That ends in nothing but a “Who but I?”

“Bare Prophecy,” the Doctor has profess'd,
“Admits Completion only for its Test;
“Th' Event foretold by it must also be
“What human Prudence never could foresee,
“Nor human Power produce; or else no Sign
“Could thence appear of Agency Divine.”

Prophecy, then, as his Descriptions own,
Can be made sure by Miracles alone:

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It is what he himself is pleas'd to call,
While unfulfill'd, no Evidence at all.
How is it, then, in his repeated Term
Of “standing Evidence” more sure and Firm?
How is this consonant to “standing” still
As none at all, till Miracles fulfil?
If it has none till they are overpast,
Is not the Evidence from them at last?
From them prophetic Word, before obscure,
Becomes an Evidence confirm'd and sure;
Its Truth is first demónstrated, and then
Reflects its Light on Miracles again.

A hungry Question, therefore, to enquire,
Of two great Proofs that actually conspire
Which is the best; when, with united Light,
They both produce an Evidence so bright.
But the Freethinker, “with a crafty View,”
(If what his learn'd Assistant says be true)
“Had rais'd prophetic Credit to Excess,
“In order more securely to depress;
“And for this Cause his Lordship undertook
“To write, it seems, at all Events, a Book.”

This being, then, the Motive which he had,
A Reader asks “What is there in it bad?”

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With what Decorum does a Priest accuse
A Bishop writing against “crafty” Views,—
Views of an Enemy to Gospel Truth?
Is the defending of him less uncouth?
Does such Defence, with such a Rudeness writ,
The Priest, the Bishop or the Cause befit,—
So interlarded with that loose Reproach
Which want of Argument is wont to broach;
So deeply ting'd the Ciceronian Style
With, what the Critics commonly call Bile,
That they, who thought it worth their while to seek
The Author's Motive, judg'd it to be Pique.

Soon as you enter on the Work, you see
An instant Sample what the whole will be.
First, “being jealous of the Bishop's Views,
“His Book for Years he dar'd not to peruse,
“Afraid to trust so eminent a Guide,
“For fear his Judgment should be warp'd aside;”
Tho' quite secure;—“for he had ever found
“Authority to be a treach'rous Ground;
“And even this—this capital Affair,”
That was to lead his Judgment to a Snare,
“He found—and just as he expected too,

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Who fear'd before a Bias from his View,”—
When graciously inclin'd to see it since,—
“Quite of a Kind that never can convince;”
Which, to be sure, afforded Reason good
To write a Book against it, lest it should.

Had any other Author, less polite,
With vulgar Phrase attempted thus to write,
And thus begun so fine a Scheme to spin,
“The Reas'ners of this World had broken in,
“Rudely unravell'd all his fine-spun Scheme,”
And sent him forth to seek another Theme.

How suited this to any good Design
That should engage a Christian, a Divine!
But what are Names, if “not a single one
Be worth Regard, for sixteen Ages gone;”
If “to enquire what any of them say
Be,” as he thinks, “but wasting Time away;”—
Himself excepted in the modest Creed,
Unless he writes for Nobody to read?

Sure, of all treach'rous Guides, the greatest Cheat
Is that of wild, unchristian Self-conceit!
Possess'd by this domestic, inbred Pride,
The wise Freethinkers scorn the Name of Guide.

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Their own Sufficiency with Eyes their own
Clearly beheld, they trust to that alone,
Resolv'd no other Maxims to imbibe
Than what their Reason and their Sense prescribe,—
That is, Themselves; for what a Man calls his
In such a Case is really what he is;
Choose how refin'd an Egotist may be,
His Reason, Judgment, Mind, and Sense is he.
In such Confinement if he sits enthrall'd,—
No Matter by what Title he is call'd,—
Blind as a Sadducee to Heav'nly Light,
He will believe his own Conceptions right;
No Prophecy to him can seem more sure,
Nor Miracle attested work his Cure.
That of Conversion from his own dark Mind
Must first convince him that he once was blind;
Then may he see with salutary Grief
The dire Effects of wretched Unbelief.
Looser and looser from all sacred Ties,
To what strange Heights a self-taught Sophist flies!

Friendship to Doctor Middleton sincere
Must, if exerted, wish him to forbear
A Kind of writing on the Christian Cause,
That gains him no desirable Applause;
That, whether meant or not, may unawares
Involve a Reader in freethinking Snares,—
Involve himself. If frequent the Relapse,
A Teacher of Divinity, perhaps,

245

May run the Risk of being quite bereft,
Of having nothing but the Habit left.

May that which teaches rightly to divide
The Word of Truth, be his petition'd Guide;
Or, if resolv'd at present to pursue
At future Leisure a mistaken Clue,
May future Leisure—an uncertain Date,—
If granted, find him in a better State!