 | A Votive Table |  |
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A VOTIVE TABLE,
Consecrated to the Present KING and QUEEN.
I.
As when the welcom Dove brought to the Ark,Wherein the World's Abridgement did embarque,
The grateful Token of the Deluge ceas'd,
The Water's and Heaven's Wrath appeas'd;
A mighty Joy the favour'd Eight possess'd,
Great as the Danger lately past,
And as the Bliss they had in View at last:
So when, Great Sir, Your Blest Arrival here
Dispell'd our almost Ship-wrack'd Church's Fear,
With equal Signs of Preservation near,
She did the kind Indulgence celebrate,
With Just Applauses vast as That,
And suited to the Alteration of her State.
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II.
But now she sees the Happy Hour,That places You on Albion's Throne,
With the Fair Partner of Your Heart and Power,
Whose brighter Virtue far out-vyes the Crown.
Secure she casts her Wandring Eye
Back on the Frightful Rocks, and Boisterous Waves,
On ev'ry hand presenting Death and Graves;
And thick black Tempests gather'd in the Sky,
Threat'ning sad Ruin nigh:
When she revolves, in her scarce settled Mind,
The Fate to which she saw her Sons expos'd,
Th'assaulting Rage with which they were inclos'd,
And does Deliv'rance unexpected find;
Now past her Dangers and her Fears,
Plac'd on a lofty Ararat,
Above the Reach of Fate,
To You, her mighty Rescuers,
She does this Votive Table humbly consecrate.
III.
The first Design a Mytr'd Hero shewsThe third Supporter of her Hopes and Cares,
Whose Virtue, equal to his High Descent,
Makes him her Noble Ornament;
But Virtue still to Envy does expose,
Whoever in its Lofty Paths dares tread,
And this Reward he amply shares,
This brings down Tempests on his Sacred Head;
On him the Rising Storm first vents its Rage,
Which he, Undaunted, does engage;
In vain are Threat'nings added to Commands,
Ev'n chose he slights, as well as these withstands;
Assur'd it wou'd the easier less'ning be
To Suffer, than Pronounce a Wrong Decree.
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IV.
A whole Community next Scene presents,Made a lamented Sacrifice
To Spleen and Avarice,
Insatiate Furies whom no Victim e're contents!
The Stations, theirs by Merit, and Just Choice,
They are compell'd to quit,
Because they wou'd not to their Helm admit
One as unworthy of their Voice,
As by their Rules unfit:
And, least they in another Soil shou'd thrive,
Since in their own they are deny'd to live;
To them all Succor is forbid,
No Hospitable place must open be,
Scarce ev'n the Arms of Charity;
And those who caus'd their wretched Fate,
Maligning the Compassion due to that,
Th'unhappy Plea of Poverty deny'd.
Their Time and Labour they had spent in vain,
In vain to Heav'n devoted all their days,
Excluded from Subsistence other ways,
It's vow'd Attendants in their Woes,
(Such was the Malice of their Foes)
The Altar might not shelter, or maintain.
V.
Sev'n Rev'rend Prelates make the next sad Shew,Wise as that Number famous heretofore,
Whose Sacred Names we must, like Theirs, adore;
Of such Integrity, that each alone
Might for the sinful World's black Crimes attone,
And save it from a Second Overthrow:
Yet not their Merit, nor their Piety
Cou'd be their own Defence;
Nor Guard, alas, that there was need! Their Innocence.
A new, extravagant Decree,
Fram'd by the Enemies of True Religion,
By Tolerating all, to Settle none,
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A Slight, t'inslave with Shews of Liberty,
Must by these Angels be declar'd:
This Trick the Loyolites prepar'd,
That from their Mouths the Flocks might learn to stray,
Whose business 'tis to keep them in the Way.
But these good Shepherds, Brave and Just,
Scorn'd to Desert, or to Betray their Trust;
Nor wou'd that amiable Truth expose,
Or suffer others to forsake,
Which, amidst Flames, their Predecessors chose,
And vouch'd Her Beauty's Triumph at a Stake.
For this the Chearful Suff'rers were convey'd
To a Confinement for the Guilty made,
And there (why is their Virtue made their Fault?)
Practis'd the Doctrin they had often Taught.
VI.
The Shepherds Smitten thus, the Sheep next stray,Expos'd to ev'ry Beast a helpless Prey;
Now rav'ning Wolves break, or o'releap the Fold,
And some, alas! the Past'ral Crosier hold;
Now with False Doctrins all the Paths abound,
Spread by Infected Sheep to Taint the Sound;
'Gainst which Eusebia's Pious Sons alone
Did Sov'reign Antidotes prepare,
While the once boasted Champions against Rome,
Secure in Silence lurk'd at home,
And of the Church took little care,
But Sacrific'd Her Safety to their own.
Well might our Sacred Mother now
The Royal Psalmist's Old Complaint renew,
For ev'n the Abjects at her rail;
And in the o'reflowings of his Wine and Zeal,
A loose Apostate Bard makes Songs upon her too,
And in strange Shapes by his False Libel drest,
Like her old Martyrs, baits her as a Beast.
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VII.
Amidst these Storms what Refuge cou'd she find,How stem the Tide? or how endure the Wind?
She saw no Isle, no shelt'ring Hurbor near
To shun her Danger, or allay her Fear;
When in this wide, tempestuous Ocean tost,
And ready now to be for ever lost,
You, Glorious Stars! Her Relief appear;
From whose kind Influence she does presage,
Long Halcyon Days, another Golden Age.
The noisy Winds now cease to roar,
And gentle Breezes waft her to the Shore;
She finds the Floods that threatned her abate,
And a still Calm compleats her Happy State.
VIII.
From what strange Cause did this Effect proceed?'Tis wond'rous strange indeed
That the great Work was almost done,
E're the Design was known.
The mighty Work, Great Lord of Lab'ring Thought,
Was in your Mind's Recesses closely wrought,
And finish'd there, e're to our Knowledge brought.
So when the wisest Prince on Judah's Throne,
The Second Wonder of that Nation rear'd,
No Ax, or Hammer's Sound, was by the People heard;
But all was privately prepar'd,
Till the vast Fabrick, on a sudden rais'd,
Surpriz'd the Wond'ring Crowd, the Great Designer Prais'd.
IX.
Now, like the Patriarch rescu'd from the Flood,Abounding in a grateful Sense
Of the inestimable Good,
And the Almighty Donor's great Beneficence,
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And from pure Hearts pay Hecatombs of Praise.
Now we may plant the Fruitful Vine,
And while we rest beneath its Shade,
Refresh our selves with the delicious Wine,
And dread no Wrong our Properties t'invade:
Nor let the Sullen blame our Mirth,
Nor th'Envious at our Joys repine,
Our Joys are Extasies Divine,
And from Above derive their Lofty Birth.
No airy Methods of applause,
No Exultations in so great a Cause,
Lessen the strict Regard due to its Gravity,
Since by Example Royal led,
We thus a King's and Prophet's Footsteps tread,
Who laid his awful Grandeur by,
And thought he well a Joy exprest
To see the Ark of God approach its place of Rest,
While he in nimble Measures danc'd before the Sacred Guest.
X.
Now safe from future as from present Fear,We need not a new Babel rear,
To brave a Second Floud's aspiring Rage;
Heav'n for our future Safety does engage,
By placing You, Great Queen, its Glorious Iris, here.
You, the fair Ensign of our lasting Peace,
Like that of Heaven's Eternal Truce with Man,
Make all our apprehensions cease:
Let breaking Cloud vent all the Rage they can,
We know, alas! they spend in vain
Their unsuccessful Rain;
And though the mounting Billows rise
To furnish them with new Supplies,
Till Waters from below meet those above,
What they wou'd ruine, they must still improve:
But n'ere shall Triumph o're our Land again,
While You, Bright Pledge of Heav'n, adorn our Happy Skies.
FINIS.
| A Votive Table | |