perly parts of it, though they are alfo diftinct ftories of themselves. In both of these I have made ufe of the common-places of fatire, whether true or falfe, which are urged by the members of the one church against the other: at which I hope no reader of either party will be fcandalized, because they are not of my invention, but as old, to my knowledge, as the times of Boccace and Chaucer on the one fide, and as those of the Reformation on the other.
THE HIND AND THE PANTHER.
A Milk-white Hind, immortal and unchang'd,
Fed on the lawns, and in the forest rang'd;
Without unspotted, innocent within,
She fear'd no danger, for the knew no fin.
Yet had fhe oft been chas'd with horns and hounds,
And Scythian shafts; and many winged wounds
Aim'd at her heart; was often forc' to fly,
And doom'd to death though fated not to die.
Not fo her young; for their unequaNine
Was hero's make, half human, half divine.
Their earthly mold obnoxious was to fate,
Th' immortal part affum'd immortal state.
Of thefe a flaughter'd army lay in blood,
Extended o'er the Caledonian wood,
Their native walk; whofe vocal blood arofe,
And cry'd for pardon on their perjur'd foes.
Their fate was fruitful, and the fanguine feed,
Endued with fouls, increas'd the facred breed.
So captive Ifrael multiply'd in chains,
A numerous exile, and enjoy'd her pains.
With grief and gladness mix'd, the mother view'd
Her martyr'd offspring, and their race renew'd;
Their corps to perish, but their kind to last,
So much the deathlefs plant the dying fruit surpass'd.
Panting and penfive now the rang'd alone,
And wander'd in the kingdoms, once her own.
The common hunt, though from their rage restrain'd
By fovereign power her company difdain'd;
Grinn'd as they pass'd, and with a glaring eye
Gave gloomy signs of secret enmity.
'Tis true, the bounded by, and trip'd fo light,
They had not time to take a steady fight.
For truth has fuch a face and fuch a mien,
As to be lov'd needs only to be seen.
The bloody bear, an independent beast,
Unlick'd to form, in groans her hate expreft.
Among the timorous kind the quaking hare
Profefs'd neutrality, but would not fwear.
Next her the buffoon ape, as atheists use,
Mimick'd all fects, and had his own to chufe:
Still when the lion look'd, his knees he bent,
And paid at church a courtier's compliment.
The bristled baptift boar, impure as he,
But whiten'd with the foam of fanctity,
With fat pollutions fill'd the facred place,
And mountains level'd in his furious race:
So first rebellion founded was in grace.
But fince the mighty ravage, which he made
In German forefts, had his guilt betray'd,
With broken tusks, and with a borrow'd name,
He fhun'd the vengeance, and conceal'd the shame;
So lurk'd in fects unfeen. With greater guile
Falfe Reynard fed on confecrated spoil:
The graceless beast by Athanafius first
Was chas'd from Nice, then by Socinus nurs'd:
His impious race their blafphemy renew'd,
And nature's king through nature's optics view'd.
Revers'd they view'd him leffen'd to their eye,
Nor in an infant could a God descry.
New fwarming fects to this obliquely tend,
Hence they began, and here they all will end.
What weight of antient witness can prevail,
If private reafon hold the public fcale?
But, gracious God, how well doft thou provide
For erring judgments an unerring guide!
Thy throne is darkness in th' abyss of light,
A blaze of glory that forbids the fight.
O teach me to believe thee thus conceal'd,
And fearch no farther than thyself reveal'd ;
But her alone for my director take,
Whom thou haft promis'd never to forfake!
My thoughtlef's youth was wing'd with vain defires,
My manhood, long mified by wandering fires,
Follow'd falfe lights; and, when their glimpfe was gone,
My pride ftruck out new fparkles of her own.
Such was I, such by nature still I am;
Be thine the glory, and be mine the shame.
Good life be now my task: my doubts are done: What more could fright my faith, than three in one ? Can I believe eternal God could lie
Difguis'd in mortal mold and infancy?
That the great Maker of the world could die?
And after that truft my imperfect sense,
Which calls in queftion his omnipotence?
Can I my reason to my faith compel ?
And shall my fight, and touch, and taste, rebel?
Superior faculties are set aside ;
Shall their fubfervient organs be my guide?
Then let the moon ufurp the rule of day,
And winking tapers fhew the fun his way;
For what my fenfes can themselves perceive,
I need no revelation to believe.
Can they who fay the host should be defcry'd
By fenfe, define a body glorify'd?
Impaffable, and penetrating parts?
Let them declare by what myfterious arts
He fhot that body through th' oppofing might
Of bolts and bars impervious to the light,
And ftood before his train confefs'd in open fight.
For fince thus wondroufly he pafs'd, 'tis plain,
One fingle place two bodies did contain.
And sure the same omnipotence as well
Can make one body in more places dwell.
Let reafon then at her own quarry fly,
But how can finite grafp infinity?
'Tis urg'd again, that faith did first commence By miracles, which are appeals to fenfe,
And thence concluded, that our sense must be
The motive ftill of credibility.
For latter ages must on former wait,
And what began belief must propagate.
But winnow well this thought, and you shall find
'Tis light as chaff that flies before the wind.
Were all those wonders wrought by power divine,
As means or ends of fome more deep design ?
Moft fure as means, whofe end was this alone,
Το prove the Godhead of th' eternal Son.
God thus afferted, man is to believe
Beyond what fenfe and reason can conceive,
And for mysterious things of faith rely
On the proponent, heaven's authority.
If then our faith we for our guide admit,
Vain is the farther fearch of human wit,
As when the building gains a furer stay,
We take th' unufeful fcaffolding away.
Reafon by sense no more can understand;
The game is play'd into another hand.
Why chufe we then like bilanders to creep
Along the coast, and land in view to keep,
When fafely we may launch into the deep?
In the fame veffel which our Saviour bore,
Himfelf the pilot, let us leave the shore,
And with a better guide a better world explore.
Could he his Godhead veil with flesh and blood,
› And not veil thefe again to be our food?
His grace in both is equal in extent,
The first affords us life, the fecond nourishment.
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