three in one?)

Can I believe eternal God could lie 80
Disguis'd in mortal mold and infancy?
That the great Maker of the world could
die?

And after that trust my imperfect sense,
Which calls in question his omnipotence?
Can I my reason to my faith compel,
And shall my sight, and touch, and taste
rebel?

Superior faculties are set aside;

Shall their subservient organs be my guide? Then let the moon usurp the rule of day, And winking tapers shew the sun his

way;

90

For what my senses can themselves perceive,

eed no revelation to believe.

they who say the host should be de-
scried

sense, define a body glorified?
passible, and penetrating parts?
them declare by what mysterious arts
shot that body thro' th' opposing might
bolts and bars impervious to the light,
d stood before his train confess'd in
open sight.

or since thus wondrously he pass'd, 't is
plain,

single place two bodies did contain. sure the same Omnipotence as well make one body in more places dwell.

And meager Calvin bles'd the nuptial bed. In Israel some believe him whelp'd long since,

When the proud Sanhedrop a pref. to press'd the prince,

Or, since he will be Jew, drive fest him high'r,

When Corah with his brethen did conspire From Moses' hand the soyreign sway to wrest,

And Aaron of his ephod to detests

Till opening earth made way for all to pass, And could not bear the burden of a class. The Fox and he came shuffled in the dark,

If ever they were stow'd in Noah's ark: Perhaps not made; for all their barking train

The Dog (a common species) will contain. And some wild curs, who from their mast ters ran,

Abhorring the supremacy of man,f
In woods and caves the rebel-race began.
O happy pair, how well have you en-
creas'd!

What ills in Church and State have you redress'd!

With teeth untried, and rudiments of claws, Your first essay was on your native laws: 200 Those having torn with ease, and trampled down,

Your fangs you fasten'd on the miter'd

crown,

And freed from God and monarchy your town.

What tho' your native kennel still be small,
Bounded betwixt a puddle and a wall;
Yet your victorious colonies are sent
Where the north ocean girds the continent.
Quicken'd with fire below, your monsters
breed

In fenny Holland, and in fruitful Tweed:
And, like the first, the last effects to be 210
Drawn to the dregs of a democracy.

As, where in fields the fairy rounds are seen,
A rank sour herbage rises on the green;
So, springing where these midnight elves
advance,

Rebellion prints the footsteps of the dance. Such are their doctrines, such contempt they show

To Heav'n above, and to their prince below,

As none but traitors and blasphemers

know.

So fulsome is their food that flocks refuse

To bite, and only dogs for physic use. As, where the lightning runs along the ground,

No husbandry can heal the blasting wound; Nor bladed grass, nor bearded corn succeeds,

But scales of scurf and putrefaction breeds: Such wars, such waste, such fiery tracks of dearth

Their zeal has left, and such a teemless earth.

But, as the poisons of the deadliest kind
Are to their own unhappy coasts confin'd; 230
As only Indian shades of sight deprive,
And magic plants will but in Colchos thrive;
So Presbyt'ry and pestilential zeal
Can only flourish in a commonweal.

From Celtic woods is chas'd the wolfish

And like his mind his outward form арpear'd,

When, issuing naked to the wond'ring herd,

He charm'd their eyes; and, for they lov'd, they fear'd:

Not arm'd with horns of arbitrary might, Or claws to seize their furry spoils in fight,

Or with increase of feet t'o'ertake 'em in their flight;

Of easy shape, and pliant ev'ry way;
Confessing still the softness of his clay, 270
And kind as kings upon their coronation
day;

With open hands, and with extended space
Of arms, to satisfy a large embrace.
Thus kneaded up with milk, the new-made

man

His kingdom o'er his kindred world began; Till knowledge misapplied, misunderstood, And pride of empire sour'd his balmy blood. Then, first rebelling, his own stamp he

coins;

The murth'rer Cain was latent in his loins: And blood began its first and loudest cry 280 For diff'ring worship of the Deity.

Thus persecution rose, and farther space Produc'd the mighty hunter of his race. Not so the blessed Pan his flock encreas'd, Content to fold em from the famish'd beast:

Mild were his laws; the Sheep and harmless Hind

Were never of the persecuting kind. Such pity now the pious Pastor shows, Such mercy from the British Lion flows, That both provide protection for their foes.

290

O happy regions, Italy and Spain,
Which never did those monsters entertain!
The Wolf, the Bear, the Boar, can there
advance

No native claim of just inheritance.
And self-preserving laws, severe in show,
May guard their fences from th' invading
foe.

Where birth has plac'd 'em, let 'em safely share

The common benefit of vital air. Themselves unharmful, let them live unharm'd;

Their jaws disabled, and their claws disarm'd: Here, only in nocturnal howlings bold,

300

341

Tho' unpolluted yet with actual ill,
She half commits, who sins but in her will.
If, as our dreaming Platonists report,
There could be spirits of a middle sort,
Too black for heav'n, and yet too white for
hell,

Who just dropp'd halfway down, nor lower fell;

So pois'd, so gently she descends from high,

It seems a soft dismission from the sky.
Her house not ancient, whatsoe'er pretense
Her clergy heralds make in her defense;
A second century not halfway run,
Since the new honors of her blood begun.
A Lion, old, obscene, and furious made 351
By lust, compress'd her mother in a shade;
Then, by a left-hand marriage, weds the
dame,