Look humbly upward, fee his will disclose
The forfeit first, and then the fine impofe :
A mulet thy poverty could never pay,
Had not eternal wisdom found the way:
And with celeftial wealth fupply'd thy ftore:
His juftice makes the fine, his mercy quits the score.
See God defcending in thy human frame;
Th' offended suffering in th' offender's name:
All thy misdeeds to him imputed see,
And all his righteousness devolv'd on thee.
For, granting we have finn'd, and that th' offence
Of man is made against Omnipotence,
Some price that bears proportion must be paid;
And infinite with infinite be weigh'd.
See then the Deift loft: remorse for vice,
Not paid; or, paid, inadequate in price :
What farther means can reafon now direct,
Or what relief from human wit expect?
That fhews us fick; and fadly are we fure
Still to be fick, till heaven reveal the cure:
If then heaven's will must needs be understood,
Which muft, if we want cure, and heaven be good,
Let all records of will reveal'd be shown ;
With scripture all in equal balance thrown,
And our one facred book will be that one.
Proof needs not here; for whether we compare
That impious, idle, fuperftitious ware
Of rites, luftrations, offerings, which before,
In various ages, various countries bore,
With chriftian faith and virtues, we fhall find
None anfwering the great ends of human kind
But this one rule of life, that fhews us beft
How God may be appeas'd, and mortals bleft.
Whether from length of time its worth we draw,
The word is fcarce more ancient than the law:
Heaven's early care prescrib'd for every age;
Firft, in the foul, and after, in the page.
Or, whether more abstractedly we look,
Or on the writers, or the written book,
Whence, but from heaven, could men unskill'd in arts,
In feveral ages born, in feveral parts,
Weave fuch agreeing truths? or how, or why,
Should all confpire to cheat us with a lye?
Unask'd their pains, ungrateful their advice,
Starving their gain, and martyrdom their price.
If on the book itself we caft our view,
Concurrent heathens prove the story true:
The doctrine, miracles; which must convince,
For heaven in them appeals to human sense:
And though they prove not, they confirm the cause,
When what is taught agrees with nature's laws.
Then for the ftile, majestic and divine,
It speaks no less than God in every line :
Commanding words; whofe force is ftill the fame
As the first fiat that produc'd our frame.
All faiths befide, or did by arms afcend;
Or fenfe indulg'd has made mankind their friend :
This only doctrine does our lufts oppofe:
Unfed by nature's foil, in which it grows;
Crofs to our interefts, curbing sense and sin;
Opprefs'd without, and undermin'd within,
It thrives through pain; it's own tormentors tires;
And with a stubborn patience still aspires.
To what can reafon fuch effects affign
Tranfcending nature, but to laws divine;
Which in that facred volume are contain'd;
Sufficient, clear, and for that use ordain'd?
But ftay: the deift here will urge anew,
No fupernatural worship can be true :
Because a general law is that alone
Which must to all, and every where, be known:
A ftile fo large as not this book can claim,
Nor ought that bears reveal'd religion's name.
'Tis faid the found of a Meffiah's birth
Is gone through all the habitable earth :
But ftill that text must be confin'd alone
To what was then inhabited and known :
And what provifion could from thence accrue
To Indian fouls, and worlds difcover'd new?
In other parts it helps, that ages past,
The fcriptures there were known, and were embrac'd,
Till fin fpread once again the shades of night :
What's that to thefe, who never faw the light?
Of all objections this indeed is chief
To ftartle reason, stagger frail belief:
We grant, 'tis true, that heaven from human fenfe
Has hid the fecret paths of providence :
But boundless wifdom, boundless mercy, may
Find ev'n for thofe bewilder'd fouls, a way:
If from his nature foes may pity claim,
Much more may ftrangers who ne'er heard his name.
And though no name be for falvation known,
But that of his eternal Son's alone;
Who knows how far tranfcending goodness can
Extend the merits of that Son to man?
may his
mercy lead;
Or ignorance invincible may plead ?
Not only charity bids hope the beft,
But more the great apoftle has expreft:
"That if the Gentiles, whom no law inspir'd;
By nature did what was by law requir'd;
They, who the written rule had never known,
Were to themselves both rule and law alone:
To nature's plain indictment they fhall plead;
And by their confcience be condemn'd or freed.”
Most righteous doom! because a rule reveal'd
Is none to thofe from whom it was conceal'd.
Then those who follow'd reafon's dictates right;
Liv'd up, and lifted high their natural light;
With Socrates may fee their Maker's face,
While thousand rubric-martyrs want a place.
Nor does it baulk my charity, to find
Th' Egyptian bishop of another mind:
For though his creed eternal truth contains,
'Tis hard for man to doom to endless pains
All who believ'd not all his zeal requir'd;
Unless he firft could prove he was infpir'd.
Then let us either think he meant to fay
This faith, where publifh'd, was the only way;
Or elfe conclude that, Arius to confute,
The good old man, too eager in dispute,
Flew high; and as his chriftian fury rose
Damn'd all for heretics who durft oppofe.
Thus far my charity this path has try'd;
A much unfkilful, but well-meaning guide:
Yet what they are, ev'n these crude thoughts were bred By reading that which better thou haft read.
Thy matchlefs author's work: which thou, my friend,
By well tranflating better doft commend:
Thofe youthful hours which, of thy equals moft
In toys have fquander'd, or in vice have loft,
Those hours haft thou to nobler ufe employ'd;
And the severe delights of truth enjoy'd.
Witnefs this weighty book, in which appears
The crabbed toil of many thoughtful years,
Spent by thy author, in the fifting care
Of rabbins old fophifticated ware
From gold divine; which he who well can fort
May afterwards make algebra a sport.
A treasure, which if country-curates buy,
They Junius and Tremellius may defy :
Save pains in various readings, and translations;
And without Hebrew make most learn'd quotations.
A work fo full with various learning fraught,
So nicely ponder'd, yet so strongly wrought,
As nature's height and art's laft hand requir'd :
As much as man could compafs, uninfpir'd.
Where we may fee what errors have been made
Both in the copyers and tranflators trade :
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