sway And Consistories charge her to obey Strange Nonsense to confine the sacred Dove And narrow Rules prescribe how she shall love And how upon the barren Waters move But she rejects and scorns their proud Pretence And whilst those groveling things depend on Sense She mounts on certain wings and flys on high And looks upon a dazling Mystery With fixt and steddy and an Eagle's Eye Great King of Verse that dost instruct and please As Orpheus soften'd the rude Savages And gently freest us from a double Care The bold Socinian and the Papal Chair Thy Iudgment is correct thy Fancy young Thy Numbers as thy generous faith are strong Whilst through dark Prejudice they force their way Our Souls shake off the Night and view the Day We live secure from mad Enthusiasts Rage And fond Tradition now grown blind with Age. Let factious and ambitious Souls repine Thy Reason's strong and generous thy Design And allways to doe well is onely thine Tho. Creech Religio Laici DIM as the borrow'd beams of Moon and Stars To lonely weary wandring Travellers Is Reason to the Soul And as on high Those rowling Fires discover but the Sky Not light us here So Reason's glimmering Ray Was lent not to assure our doubtfull way But guide us upward to a better Day And as those nightly Tapers disappear When Day 's bright Lord ascends our Hemisphere So pale grows Reason at Religions sight So dyes and so dissolves in Supernatural Light Some few whose Lamp shone brighter have been led From Cause to Cause to Natures secret head And found that one first principle must be But what or who that VNIVERSAL HE Whether some Soul incompassing this Ball Vnmade unmov'd yet making moving All Or various Atom's interfering Dance Leapt into Form the Noble work of Chance Or this great All was from Eternity Not ev'n the Stagirite himself could see And Epicurus Guess'd as well as He As blindly grop'd they for a future State As rashly Iudg'd of Providence and Fate But least of all could their Endeavours find What most concern'd the good of Humane kind For Happiness was never to be found But vanish'd from 'em like Enchanted ground One thought Content the Good to be enjoy'd This every little Accident destroy'd The wiser Madmen did for Vertue toyl A Thorny or at best a barren Soil In Pleasure some their glutton Souls would steep But found their Line too short the Well too deep And leaky Vessels which no Bliss cou'd keep Thus anxious Thoughts in endless Circles roul Without a Centre where to fix the Soul In this wilde Maze their vain Endeavours end How can the less the Greater comprehend Or finite Reason reach Infinity For what cou'd Fathom GOD were more than He. The Deist thinks he stands on firmer ground Cries 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the mighty Secret's found God is that Spring of Good Supreme and Best We made to serve and in that Service blest If so some Rules of Worship must be given Distributed alike to all by Heaven Else God were partial and to some deny'd The Means his Justice shou'd for all provide This general Worship is to PRAISE and PRAY One part to borrow Blessings one to pay And when frail Nature slides into Offence The Sacrifice for Crimes is Penitence Yet since th' Effects of Providence we find Are variously dispens'd to Humane kind That Vice Triumphs and Vertue suffers here A Brand that Sovereign Justice cannot bear Our Reason prompts us to a future State The last Appeal from Fortune and from Fate Where God's all-righteous ways will be declar'd The Bad meet Punishment the Good Reward Thus Man by his own strength to Heaven wou'd soar And wou'd not be Oblig'd to God for more Vain wretched Creature how art thou misled To think thy Wit these God-like Notions bred These Truths are not the product of thy Mind But dropt from Heaven and of a Nobler kind Reveal'd Religion first inform'd thy Sight And Reason saw not till Faith sprung the Light Hence all thy Natural Worship takes the Source 'T is Revelation what thou thinkst Discourse Else how com'st Thou to see these truths so clear Which so obscure to Heathens did appear Not Plato these nor Aristotle found Nor He whose Wisedom Oracles renown'd Hast thou a Wit so deep or so sublime Or canst thou lower dive or higher climb Canst Thou by Reason more of God-head know Than Plutarch Seneca or Cicero Those Gyant Wits in happyer Ages born When Arms and Arts did Greece and Rome adorn Knew no such Systeme no such Piles cou'd raise Of Natural Worship built on Pray'r and Praise To One sole GOD. Nor did Remorse to Expiate Sin prescribe But slew their fellow Creatures for a Bribe The guiltless Victim groan'd for their Offence And Cruelty and Blood was Penitence If Sheep and Oxen cou'd Attone for Men Ah! at how cheap a rate the Rich might Sin And great Oppressours might Heavens Wrath beguile By offering his own Creatures for a Spoil Dar'st thou poor Worm offend Infinity And must the Terms of Peace be given by Thee Then Thou art Iustice in the last Appeal Thy easie God instructs Thee to rebell And like a King remote and weak must take What Satisfaction Thou art pleas'd to make But if there be a Pow'r too Iust and strong To wink at Crimes and bear unpunish'd Wrong Look humbly upward see his Will disclose The Forfeit first and then the Fine impose A Mulct thy Poverty cou'd never pay Had not Eternal Wisedom found the way And with Coelestial Wealth supply'd thy Store His Iustice makes the Fine his Mercy quits the Score See God descending in thy Humane Frame Th' offended suff'ring in th' Offenders Name All thy Misdeeds to him imputed see And all his Righteousness devolv'd on thee For granting we have Sin'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 Deist lost Remorse for Vice Not paid or paid inadequate in price What farther means can Reason now direct Or what Relief from humane Wit expect That shews us sick and sadly are we sure Still to be Sick till Heav'n reveal the Cure Itfhen Heaven's Will must needs be understood Which must if we want Cure and Heaven be Good Let all Records of Will reveal'd be shown With Scripture all in equal ballance thrown And our one Sacred Book will be That one Proof needs not here for whether we compare That Impious Idle Superstitious Ware Of Rites Lustrations Offerings which before In various Ages various Countries bore With Christian Faith and Vertues we shall find None answ'ring the great ends of humane kind But This one Rule of Life That shews us best How God may be appeas'd and Mortals blest Whether from length of Time its worth we draw The World is scarce more Ancient than the Law Heav'ns early Care prescrib'd for every Age First in the Soul and after
in the Page Or whether more abstractedly we look Or on the Writers or the written Book Whence but from Heav'n cou'd men unskill'd in Arts In several Ages born in several parts Weave such agreeing Truths or how or why Shou'd all conspire to cheat us with a Lye Vnask'd their Pains ungratefull their Advice Starving their Gain and Martyrdom their Price If on the Book it self we cast our view Concurrent Heathens prove the Story True The Doctrine Miracles which must convince For Heav'n in Them appeals to humane Sense And though they prove not they Confirm the Cause When what is Taught agrees with Natures Laws Then for the Style Majestick and Divine It speaks no less than God in every Line Commanding words whose Force is still the same As the first Fiat that produc'd our Frame All Faiths beside or did by Arms ascend Or Sense indulg'd has made Mankind their Friend This onely Doctrine does our Lusts oppose Unfed by Natures Soil in which it grows Cross to our Interests curbing Sense and Sin Oppress'd without and undermin'd within It thrives through pain it s own Tormentours tires And with a stubborn patience still aspires To what can Reason such Effects assign Transcending Nature but to Laws Divine Which in that Sacred Volume are contain'd Sufficient clear and for that use ordain'd But stay the Deist here will urge anew No Supernatural Worship can be True Because a general Law is that alone Which must to all and every where be known A Style so large as not this Book can claim Nor ought that bears reveal'd Religions Name 'T is said the sound of a Messiah's Birth Is gone through all the habitable Earth But still that Text must be confin'd alone To what was Then inhabited and known And what Provision cou'd from thence accrue To Indian Souls and Worlds discover'd New In other parts it helps that Ages past The Scriptures there were known and were imbrac'd Till Sin spread once again the Shades of Night What 's that to these who never saw the Light Of all Objections this indeed is chief To startle Reason stagger frail Belief We grant 't is true that Heav'n from humane Sense Has hid the secret paths of Providence But boundless Wisedom boundless Mercy may Find ev'n for those be-wildred Souls a way If from his Nature Foes may Pity claim Much more may Strangers who ne'er heard his Name And though no Name be for Salvation known But that of his Eternal Sons alone Who knows how far transcending Goodness can Extend the Merits of that Son to Man Who knows what Reasons may his Mercy lead Or Ignorance invincible may plead Not onely Charity bids hope the best But more the great Apostle has exprest 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 Natures plain indictment they shall plead And by their Conscience be condemn'd or freed Most righteous Doom because a Rule reveal'd Is none to Those from whom it was conceal'd Then those who follow'd Reasons Dictates right Liv'd up and lifted high their Natural Light With Socrates may see their Maker's Face While Thousand Rubrick-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 'T is hard for Man to doom to endless pains All who believ'd not all his Zeal requir'd Unless he first cou'd prove he was inspir'd Then let us either think he meant to say This Faith where publish'd was the onely way Or else conclude that Arius to confute The good old Man too eager in dispute Flew high and as his Christian Fury rose Damn'd all for Hereticks who durst oppose Thus far my Charity this path has try'd A much unskilfull but well meaning guide Yet what they are ev'n these crude thoughts were bred By reading that which better thou hast read Thy Matchless Author's work which thou my Friend By well translating better dost commend Those youthfull hours which of thy Equals most In Toys have squander'd or in Vice have lost Those hours hast thou to Nobler use employ'd And the severe Delights of Truth enjoy'd Witness this weighty Book in which appears The crabbed Toil of many thoughtfull years Spent by thy Authour in the Sifting Care Of Rabbins old Sophisticated Ware From Gold Divine which he who well can sort 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 so full with various Learning fraught So nicely pondred yet so strongly wrought As Natures height and Arts last hand requir'd As much as Man cou'd compass uninspir'd Where we may see what Errours have been made Both in the Copiers and Translaters Trade How Iewish Popish Interests have prevail'd And where Infallibility has fail'd For some who have his secret meaning ghes'd Have found our Authour not too much a Priest For Fashion-sake he seems to have recourse To Pope and Councils and Traditions force But he that old Traditions cou'd subdue Cou'd not but find the weakness of the New If Scripture though deriv'd from heav'nly birth Has been but carelesly preserv'd on Earth If God's own People who of God before Knew what we know and had been promis'd more In fuller Terms of Heaven's assisting Care And who did neither Time nor Study spare To keep this Book untainted unperplext Let in gross Errours to corrupt the Text Omitted paragraphs embroyl'd the Sense With vain Traditions stopt the gaping Fence Which every common hand pull'd up with ease What Safety from such brushwood-helps as these If written words from time are not secur'd How can we think have oral Sounds endur'd Which thus transmitted if one Mouth has fail'd Immortal Lyes on Ages are intail'd And that some such have been is prov'd too plain If we consider Interest Church and Gain Oh but says one Tradition set aside Where can we hope for an unerring Guid For since th' original Scripture has been lost All Copies disagreeing maim'd the most Or Christian Faith can have no certain ground Or Truth in Church Tradition must be found Such an Omniscient Church we wish indeed 'T were worth Both Testaments and cast in the Creed But if this Mother be a Guid so sure As can all doubts resolve all truth secure Then her Infallibility as well Where Copies are corrupt or lame can tell Restore lost Canon with as little pains As truly explicate what still remains Which yet no Council dare pretend to doe Unless like Esdras they cou'd write it new Strange Confidence still to interpret true Yet not be sure that all they have explain'd Is in the blest Original contain'd More Safe and much more modest 't is to say God wou'd not leave Mankind without a way And that the Scriptures though
not every where Free from Corruption or intire or clear Are uncorrupt sufficient clear intire In all things which our needfull Faith require If others in the same Glass better see 'T is for Themselves they look but not for me For MY Salvation must its Doom receive Not from what OTHERS but what I believe Must all Tradition then be set aside This to affirm were Ignorance or Pride Are there not many points some needfull sure To saving Faith that Scripture leaves obscure Which every Sect will wrest a several way For what one Sect Interprets all Sects may We hold and say we prove from Scripture plain That Christ is GOD the bold Socinian From the same Scripture urges he 's but MAN Now what Appeal can end th' important Suit Both parts talk loudly but the Rule is mute Shall I speak plain and in a Nation free Assume an honest Layman's Liberty I think according to my little Skill To my own Mother-Church submitting still That many have been sav'd and many may Who never heard this Question brought in play Th' unletter'd Christian who believes in gross Plods on to Heaven and ne'er is at a loss For the Streight-gate wou'd be made streighter yet Were none admitted there but men of Wit The few by Nature form'd with Learning fraught Born to instruct as others to be taught Must Study well the Sacred Page and see Which Doctrine this or that does best agree With the whole Tenour of the Work Divine And plainlyest points to Heaven 's reveal'd Design Which Exposition flows from genuine Sense And which is forc'd by Wit and Eloquence Not that Traditions parts are useless here When general old disinteress'd and clear That Ancient Fathers thus expound the Page Gives Truth the reverend Majesty of Age Confirms its force by biding every Test For best Authority's next Rules are best And still the nearer to the Spring we go More limpid more unsoyl'd the Waters flow Thus first Traditions were a proof alone Cou'd we be certain such they were so known But since some Flaws in long descent may be They make not Truth but Probability Even Arius and Pelagius durst provoke To what the Centuries preceding spoke Such difference is there in an oft-told Tale But Truth by its own Sinews will prevail Tradition written therefore more commends Authority than what from Voice descends And this as perfect as its kind can be Rouls down to us the Sacred History Which from the Vniversal Church receiv'd Is try'd and after for its self believ'd The partial Papists wou'd infer from hence Their Church in last resort shou'd Judge the Sense But first they wou'd assume with wondrous Art Themselves to be the whole who are but part Of that vast Frame the Church yet grant they were The handers down can they from thence infer A right t' interpret or wou'd they alone Who brought the Present claim it for their own The Book 's a Common Largess to Mankind Not more for them than every Man design'd The welcome News is in the Letter found The Carrier's not Commission'd to expound It speaks it Self and what it does contain In all things needfull to be known is plain In times o'ergrown with Rust and Ignorance A gainfull Trade their Clergy did advance When want of Learning kept the Laymen low And none but Priests were Authoriz'd to know When what small Knowledge was in them did dwell And he a God who cou'd but Reade or Spell Then Mother Church did mightily prevail She parcel'd out the Bible by retail But still expounded what She sold or gave To keep it in her Power to Damn and Save Scripture was scarce and as the Market went Poor Laymen took Salvation on Content As needy men take Money good or bad God's Word they had not but the Priests they had Yet whate'er false Conveyances they made The Lawyer still was certain to be paid In those dark times they learn'd their knack so well That by long use they grew Infallible At last a knowing Age began t' enquire If they the Book or That did them inspire And making narrower search they found thô late That what they thought the Priest's was Their Estate Taught by the Will produc'd the written Word How long they had been cheated on Record Then every man who saw the Title fair Claim'd a Child's part and put in for a Share Consulted Soberly his private good And sav'd himself as cheap as e'er he cou'd 'T is true my Friend and far be Flattery hence This good had full as bad a Consequence The Book thus put in every vulgar hand Which each presum'd he best cou'd understand The Common Rule was made the common Prey And at the mercy of the Rabble lay The tender Page with horney Fists was gaul'd And he was gifted most that loudest baul'd The Spirit gave the Doctoral Degree And every member of a Company Was of his Trade and of the Bible free Plain Truths enough for needfull use they found But men wou'd still be itching to expound Each was ambitious of th' obscurest place No measure ta'n from Knowledge all from GRACE Study and Pains were now no more their Care Texts were explain'd by Fasting and by Prayer This was the Fruit the private Spirit brought Occasion'd by great Zeal and little Thought While Crouds unlearn'd with rude Devotion warm About the Sacred Viands buz and swarm The Fly-blown Text creates a crawling Brood And turns to Maggots what was meant for Food A Thousand daily Sects rise up and dye A Thousand more the perish'd Race supply So all we make of Heavens discover'd Will Is not to have it or to use it ill The Danger 's much the same on several Shelves If others wreck us or we wreck our selves What then remains but waving each Extreme The Tides of Ignorance and Pride to stem Neither so rich a Treasure to forgo Nor proudly seek beyond our pow'r to know Faith is not built on disquisitions vain The things we must believe are few and plain But since men will believe more than they need And every man will make himself a Creed In doubtfull questions 't is the safest way To learn what unsuspected Ancients say For 't is not likely we shou'd higher Soar In search of Heav'n than all the Church before Nor can we be deceiv'd unless we see The Scripture and the Fathers disagree If after all they stand suspected still For no man's Faith depends upon his Will 'T is some Relief that points not clearly known Without much hazard may be let alone And after hearing what our Church can say If still our Reason runs another way That private Reason 't is more Just to curb Than by Disputes the publick Peace disturb For points obscure are of small use to learn But Common quiet is Mankind's concern Thus have I made my own Opinions clear Yet neither Praise expect nor Censure fear And this unpolish'd rugged Verse I chose As fittest for Discourse and nearest Prose For while from Sacred Truth I do not swerve Tom Sternhold 's or Tom Sha ll 's Rhimes will serve FINIS Opinions of the several Sects of Philosophers concerning the Summum Bonum Systeme of Deisme Of Reveal'd Religion Socrates Objection of the Deist The Objection answer'd Digression to the Translatour of Father Simon 's Critical History of the Old Testament Of the Infallibility of Tradition in General Objection in behalf of Tradition urg'd by Father Simon The Second Objection Answer to the Objection