But when the ftern conditions were declar'd,

A mournful whifper thro the hoft 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 ftrength 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 leaft 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 unfpotted 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 thefe to bind, or fet 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 fhatter'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, fo one in fanctity.

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

Still when the giant-brood invades her throne, She ftoops 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 fweep away the swarms 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 west triumphantly the rides,
All shores are water'd by her wealthy tides.

The gofpel-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 fatire 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 lost,
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 said,
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 set 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
fhame.

Thus, of three marks, which in the creed we

view,

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

Much less the fourth; in vain, alas! you feek
The ambitious title of apoftolic:

God-like defcent! 'tis well your blood can be
Proy'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 blast.

}

'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 obfcene disease be purg'd, When controverted texts are vainly urg'd?

Το

tradition prove

Requir'd, than faying, 'twas not us'd before.

Those monumental arms are never ftirr'd,

Till schism or herefy call down Goliah's fword. 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 thofe 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 eclipfe endur'd,
Who interpos'd, what digits were obscur'd :
Of all which are already pafs'd away,
We know the rife, the progrefs, and decay.
Despair at our foundations then to strike,
you can prove your faith apoftolic;

Till

A limpid ftream drawn from the native source;
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 feamless coat, from schism so free,
In no communion join'd with heresy.