But when the ftern conditions were declar'd,
A mournful whisper thro the host was heard,
And the whole hierarchy, with heads hung down,
Submiffively declin'd the pond'rous proffer'd

crown.

Then, not till then, th' eternal Son from high
Rofe in the strength of all the Deity;
Stood forth to accept the terms, and underwent
A weight which all the frame of heaven had bent,
Nor he himself could bear, but as Omnipotent,
Now, to remove the least remaining doubt,
That e'en the blear-ey'd fects may find her out,
Behold what heavenly rays adorn her brows,
What from his wardrobe her belov'd allows
To deck the wedding-day of his unspotted spouse.
Behold what marks of majesty she brings;
Richer than ancient heirs of eastern kings;
Her right hand holds the fceptre and the keys,
To fhew whom the commands, and who obeys;
With these to bind, or set the finner free,
With that to affert fpiritual royalty.

One in herself, not rent by fchifm, but found, Entire, one folid fhining diamond;

Not sparkles shatter'd into fects like you:
One is the church, and must be to be true:

One central principle of unity.

As undivided, fo from errors free,

As one in faith, so one in fanctity.

Thus she, and none but she, the infulting rage Of heretics oppos'd from age to age:

Still when the giant-brood invades her throne, She stoops from heaven, and meets them half way down,

And with paternal thunder vindicates her crown. But like Egyptian forcerers you ftand,

And vainly lift aloft your magic wand,

To sweep away the fwarms of vermin from the land:

You could like them, with like infernal force, Produce the plague, but not arreft the course. But when the boils and blotches, with difgrace And public fcandal fat upon the face, Themselves attack'd, the Magi ftrove no more, They faw God's finger, and their fate deplore; Themselves they could not cure of the dishonest

fore.

Thus one, thus pure, behold her largely spread,

Like the fair ocean from her mother-bed ;
From east to weft triumphantly the rides,
All shores are water'd by her wealthy tides.

The gospel-found, diffus'd from pole to pole, Where winds can carry, and where waves can roll, The felf-fame doctrine of the facred page Convey'd to every clime, in every age.

Here let my forrow give my satire place,
To raise new blushes on my British race;
Our failing fhips like common-fewers we use,
And thro our distant colonies diffuse

The draught of dungeons, and the stench of stews.
Whom, when their home-bred honesty is loft,
We difembogue on fome far Indian coast:
Thieves, pandars, paillards, fins of every fort
Those are the manufactures we export;
And these the miffioners our zeal has made :
For, with my country's pardon be it faid,
Religion is the leaft of all our trade.

Yet fome improve their traffic more than we;
For they on gain, their only god, rely,
And fet a public price on piety.

Induftrious of the needle and the chart,
They run full fail to their Japonian mart ;
Prevention fear, and, prodigal of fame,
Sell all of Chriftian to the

very name;

Nor leave enough of that, to hide their naked

;

shame.

Thus, of three marks, which in the creed we

view,

Not one of all can be apply'd to you:

you feek

Much less the fourth; in vain, alas!
The ambitious title of apoftolic:
God-like defcent! 'tis well your blood can be
Prov'd noble in the third or fourth degree;
For all of ancient that you had before,

(I mean what is not borrow'd from our store)
Was error fulminated o'er and o'er;
Old herefies condemn'd in ages past,

By care and time recover'd from the blaft.

}

"Tis faid with ease, but never can be prov'd, The church her old foundations has remov'd, And built new doctrines on unstable fands: Judge that, ye winds and rains: you prov'd her, yet she stands.

Those ancient doctrines charg'd on her for new, Shew, when, and how, and from what hands they

grew.

We claim no power, when herefies grow bold, To coin new faith, but still declare the old.

How elfe could that obscene disease be purg'd, When controverted texts are vainly urg'd?

To

there's fomewhat more

tradition new, prove Requir'd, than faying, 'twas not us'd before.

Those monumental arms are never stirr'd,

Till schism or heresy call down Goliah's sword. Thus, what you call corruptions, are, in

truth,

The first plantations of the gofpel's youth;
Old standard faith: but caft your eyes again,
And view those errors which new sects maintain,
Or which of old difturb'd the church's peaceful
reign;

And we can point each period of the time,
When they began, and who begot the crime;
Can calculate how long the eclipse endur'd,
Who interpos'd, what digits were obscur'd:
Of all which are already pass'd away,
We know the rife, the progrefs, and decay.
Defpair at our foundations then to strike,
Till you can prove your faith apoftolic;
A limpid stream drawn from the native fource;
Succeffion lawful in a lineal course.

Prove any church, oppos'd to this our head,
So one, fo pure, fo unconfin'dly spread,
Under one chief of the spiritual state,

The members all combin'd, and all fubordi

nate.

Shew fuch a seamless coat, from schism so free,
In no communion join'd with heresy.