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 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 />
 
 ECCLESIA ANGLICANA: 
 
 • A P O E M ; 
 
 CONTAINING, 
 AN HISTORIC PORTRAITURE OF THE 
 
 BRITISH CHURCH; 
 
 WITH A MOKE PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO 
 
 YORK MINSTER: 
 
 AN 
 
 APOLOGY FOR THE 
 
 NATIONAL REFORMED CHURCH: 
 
 REFLECTIONS ON THE OPINIONS AND ASPECT OF THE 
 PRESENT TIMES. 
 
 BY CHARLES OVERTON, 
 
 Curate of Romaldkirk. 
 
 Upon all tue glory shall be a Defence. 
 
 Isa. iv. 5. 
 — to t' iivra, to t* icra6fj.iva, irp6 r I6vra. 
 
 OMH : IA : A. 70. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 PUBLISHED BY RIVINGTONS, ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD; W HIT- 
 TAKER ASK CO., AVE MARIA LANE ; SEELEY AND SONS, 
 FLELI iIKLLI , AM) BLLLLIUJY, YORK. 
 
 1833.
 
 ENTEKED AT STATIONERS' HALL.
 
 p/? 
 
 e 
 
 TO THE RIGHT REVEREND 
 
 THE LORD BISHOP OF CHESTER. 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 Among the signs of the present times, 
 the multiplicity of publications on ecclesiastical 
 matters is not, perhaps, the least portentous of 
 approaching danger. Instead of labouring in- 
 dividually in their own line, and fighting in their 
 courses against the common enemy, too many 
 among us seem intent only to propound their 
 own imagined antidotes against existing evils; 
 and now, upon the most intricate and momentous 
 questions, almost " every one hath a doctrine," 
 — " hath an interpretation." In availing myself 
 of the kind permission which has been given 
 me, and presenting the following pages to your 
 Lordship's notice, I may be thought to have 
 exposed myself to the same charge which I have 
 brought against others. To meet this imputation, 
 I beg leave to state here, the circumstance in 
 which the following Poem originated, and the 
 design proposed in its publication. 
 
 It was commenced as a short Poem only to 
 celebrate the Restoration of York Minster ; some 
 distinguished Individuals having favorably re- 
 garded the Author's humble attempt to describe 
 
 '2 A 

 
 IV 
 
 in Verse, the Burning of the Choir of that mag- 
 nificent Building. The history of this Cathedral 
 seemed connected with many interesting Par- 
 ticulars relative to the English Church ; and thus, 
 like the Fahric itself, humble in its beginnings 
 and gradually enlarged, the Verse which began 
 to celebrate it, grew into the size, and acquired 
 the name, in which it is now presented to your 
 
 Lordship. The design of the Work is, rather 
 
 to draw instruction from the past, than either 
 to lament over the present, or to speculate con- 
 cerning the future. 
 
 At this eventful period, when so many af- 
 fecting circumstances have combined to agitate 
 our Nation, and so many clouds, as if ready 
 to burst in thunder, are lowering over our 
 Church, a Publication like the present may be 
 thought unseasonable. Instead of " melody in 
 our heaviness," some may deem it more proper to 
 " weep when we remember Zion"; and that now, 
 certainly, our silent harps should be hanged up 
 upon willows. Such, I would venture to remind, 
 that God, our " Maker, giveth songs in the night" ; 
 and that, even when his tremendous judgments 
 are abroad in the earth, and he is emptying the 
 vials of his wrath upon the nations, it is promised 
 to his own people — " They shall have a Song as 
 in the night when a holy solemnity is kept." 
 
 Your Lordship has kindly expressed your 
 persuasion, that " my Muse will always be a 
 Muse of sacred song, and that it will be tuned 
 as David's was." This has reminded me, that
 
 the sweet Singer of Israel, and Asaph, and 
 Heman, seem to have composed their historical 
 Psalms either when the Church was in imminent 
 danger, or actually brought very low. Then they 
 " remembered the works of the Lord," and " ut- 
 tered upon the harp the sayings of old." At this, 
 a somewhat similar time, he whose trembling 
 hand has ventured to touch the Lyre, would 
 humbly imitate these inspired Masters of sacred 
 song. And while he attempts with joyful note 
 to record what God hath wrought for our Church 
 and Nation ; how he caused his Gospel to be 
 planted in our Island, and Temples and Churches 
 to lift up their spires among our cities and 
 villages ; — while, in more plaintive strain, he 
 depicts the successive Heresiarchs that have 
 laboured to shroud the light of the glorious 
 Gospel ; — or, while he celebrates with the warmth 
 of a British Christian, the noble Witnesses that 
 have been raised up in our Nation, " earnestly 
 to contend for the faith once delivered to the 
 Saints" ; — he prays, that his harp may indeed be 
 tuned as David's was, and that the Son of David 
 may accept graciously, and in some way make 
 subservient to his glory, its feeble tribute. 
 
 I hope, my Lord, that this pleasant employ- 
 ment, instead of being an inducement to neglect 
 more important duties, has proved a stimulant to 
 " labours more abundant"; and I am sure it 
 has left me more than ever devotedly and con- 
 scientiously attached to my Mother the Church 
 of England.
 
 VI 
 
 For, not only my growing acquaintance 
 with the burning- and shining* Lights that have 
 brightened her hemisphere, but the experience 
 of every day, and the observation of every thing 
 that is acting around me, have united to endear 
 to my heart that venerable Church at whose 
 altar I have been called so unworthily to serve, 
 and whose history I have ventured so imperfectly 
 to sing. My Lord, it was within her Pale that 
 the little spark of love to my Saviour was first 
 kindled, which, I trust, now burns within me. 
 And being " born in her," she neither cast away 
 nor suffered to hunger the child she had brought 
 forth. " The breasts of her consolations" could 
 satisfy him at all times; while with maternal 
 love he was " dangled upon her knees," and 
 with tenderest affection " brought up by her 
 side." And now, though the meanest " of all 
 the sons whom she has nurtured," instead of 
 being in any thing terrified by the strong tide 
 that has set against her, the loud voices that 
 shout for her demolition, or the multiplied forces 
 that are confederate around her, these, things only 
 tend to deepen my conviction, that she is indeed 
 " the beloved City," and, in this country, " the 
 Pillar and Ground of the truth" : 
 
 " And thus, I love her better still, 
 E'en in extremity of ill." 
 
 This, my Lord, to my own mind is very ap- 
 parent, that, if it should please our justly offended 
 God " to pluck up and to destroy" our national 
 Church, to " set up the right hand of her ad-
 
 Vll 
 
 versaries, and make all her enemies to rejoice, — 
 txvmake all her glory to cease, and to cast her 
 throne down to the ground," — the causes of her 
 destruction will not be found in the clamours 
 of Infidels, or the rage of those, who " despise 
 dominion and speak evil of dignities" ; but amid 
 the throes of her expiring greatness, and the 
 lament of her departing glory, it will be her's — 
 
 " Though keen her pangs, yet keener far to feel, 
 She nursed the pinion that impell'd the steel !" 
 
 In other words, the apathy or unfaithfulness of 
 too many of her ungrateful Children to their own 
 j>rofessed principles, will most assuredly be the 
 cause of her fall, whoever may be employed as 
 the instruments of her ruin. 
 
 While she dreads the raging fever of Fana- 
 ticism on the one hand, as much as the killing 
 frost of Formality on the other, let our Church, 
 my Lord, " awake," completely " awake" from 
 her long slumber of Indifference ; — let her " put 
 on her beautiful garments" of simplicity and 
 godly sincerity, " shake herself from the dust," 
 and never forget the high ends of her institution ; 
 — let the whole Body of her nominal Adherents 
 ever keep in mind, the solemn Pledges given by 
 them on their Admission into her Fold, and only 
 consider themselves her living Members in pro- 
 portion as they act consistently with these Vows, 
 and are practically Christians ; — let all her Watch- 
 men lift up their voice with strength, " and never 
 cease their labour, their care, and their diligence," 
 in preaching " the unsearchable riches of Christ"
 
 Vlll 
 
 in their Parishes, and exemplifying the power of 
 vital godliness in their Persons, and their Families ; 
 — and then, of whom shall she be afraid ? — Amid 
 all the floods and tempests that beat upon her 
 bosom, she will lift up her venerable head, un- 
 moved as the rocky cliff by the roaring multitude 
 of waves, that only break themselves in pieces by 
 dashing against it ; — she will rise and shine, un- 
 shaken as the everlasting Rock on which she is 
 founded: — Nor will she ever fail the spiritual 
 Worshippers that cleave unto her, until, having 
 been found a cheering Sanctuary throughout 
 the present unquiet scene, she, at length, admit 
 them to " the goodly fellowship" of those blessed 
 Prophets and Apostles, upon whose doctrine she 
 is built; — rank them in the company of that 
 " noble army of Martyrs," with whose blood she 
 is cemented ; — and, to crown the whole, conduct 
 them into the beatific Presence of that redeeming 
 God, who, " himself being her chief corner-stone" 
 on earth, lives and reigns for ever, her Head 
 triumphant in Heaven. 
 
 I have the honor to be, My Lord, 
 
 Your Lordship's humble and obliged Servant, 
 
 CHARLES OVERTON. 
 
 Romaldkirk, March 4 th, 1833.
 
 ECCLESIA ANGLICANA.
 
 THE ARGUMENT. 
 
 Introduction. — Design and Invocation. — Glance at Heathen 
 Britain. — Blessings of Christianity and Civilization. — Idolatry 
 of the Britons. — The Druids. — Inquiry respecting the first 
 Publishers of Christianity here. — This fact doubtful : but 
 certainly published early. — Lucius, first Christian King — Sends 
 for Christian Teachers from Rome — Their success. — They 
 spare the Heathen Temples. — The Gospel early corrupted: 
 — But never totally extinguished from this time. — Persecution 
 by Pagan Emperors. — Their punishment described from the 
 opening of the Seven Seals. — Limited duration of Pagan 
 persecutions. — Martyrs who suffered under them. — Alban, the 
 British proto-martyr. — Constantine gives rest to the Church. — 
 York celebrated as his birth-place. — Proofs that it was so. — 
 The spread of Christianity under Constantine. — The Church 
 now tried by prosperity. — The rapid growth of heresies. — 
 Arianism described and refuted. — Keby, a faithful British 
 Pastor. — Britain chastised and distressed by Northern Incur- 
 sions. — Pelagianism now first introduced: Compared with 
 Arianism. — Pelagius, a Briton by birth. — His errors described 
 and refuted. — Germaine and Lupus oppose them in Britain. — 
 The British in vain seek help from Rome. — Vortiger calls in the 
 Saxons. — Their cruelty. — Their idols mentioned. — The British 
 are driven into Wales. — Church still exists there.
 
 PART I. 
 
 FROM THE FIRST PREACHING OF CHRISTIANITY IN BRITAIN, TO 
 THE CONVERSION OF THE SAXONS BY AUGUSTINE. 
 
 " What dost thou fear ?" victorious Caesar cried, 
 
 Warn'd by his Pilot of the rising tide : 
 
 " O'er seas unplow'd, thro' scenes replete with fear, 
 
 Extends the voyage perilous and drear ! 
 
 Nor deem that distant Britain's stubborn field, 
 
 To foreign foes shall bloodless harvests yield ; 
 
 But meet her warlike tribes invasion's shock, 
 
 As meets the scattered surge her native rock. 
 
 Look, from the east the red horizon gleams ! 
 
 Hark, shoreward urg'd, the boding sea-mew screams 
 
 Impetuous gusts the sluggish deeps have stirr'd ; 
 
 On every wave is premonition heard : 
 
 Then pause — observant of the coming storm ; 
 
 Nor rush on danger in its wildest form." 
 
 " Sail on, sail on," the dauntless chief replied, 
 
 " What dost thou fear with Caesar for thy guide ?" W 
 
 2 B
 
 4 
 
 Victor Divine ! upon thy snow-white horse, 
 Riding in meekness on thy conquering course I 
 With noise confus'd and garments roll'd in blood, 
 On battle-field have other warriors stood ; 
 And history, pointing to th' ensanguin'd plain, 
 Has summ'd their trophies by their thousands slain. 
 'Twas thine, thyself, thou Prince of Peace, to give, 
 Content to die, that e'en thy foes might live ; 
 Thy stronger love that triumph'd o'er the grave, 
 But wounds to heal, but subjugates to save. 
 Thy meanest soldier, venturing to explore 
 Thy Gospel's progress on his native shore, 
 His emprise weighs, and trembles ere the breeze 
 The frail bark waft o'er unfrequented seas. 
 For gild the sunbeams, " few and far between," 
 The voyage dark thro' ages that have been : 
 And o'er thy Church establish'd on the floods 
 The lurid cloud, e'en now, portentous broods. 
 Rude schism yawns, and error's baleful breath 
 Spreads wide and far the sickness unto death. 
 Hate foams without, the traitor sculks within, 
 And thousands stumble at abounding sin ; 
 While every watchman from his towery stand, 
 Proclaims the signals of the storm at hand. 
 Then let thy voice my course decide and cheer, 
 " My truth shall hold thee ; wherefo/e dost thou fear ?"
 
 5 
 
 Thy servants, Lord, have found beneath thy wing, 
 In darkness light, in heaviness can sing ; 
 Seem, wave on wave, the floods of sorrow roll'd, 
 To mind they call thy faithfulness of old ; 
 Till gushing radiance transient shades dispel, 
 And songs more sweet from midnight horrors swell. 
 So let this gloom my patient hope promote ; 
 So let me waken to the grateful note ; 
 So bid the clouds our Zion that o'ercast, 
 Melt at the record of thy mercies past ! 
 
 And if this heart one heav'nly ray has caught, 
 By prayer, by tears, and midnight musings sought ; 
 If crowding thoughts, that struggling utterance claim, 
 Bespeak bright poesy's incipient flame ; 
 Content each dream romantic to resign, 
 Lord, let my harp, and all my heart be thine ! 
 Thro' all their chords let both thy touch obey, 
 And seek but still thy glory to display ! 
 O, while I wander thro' the region wide, 
 Still let thy word and spirit be my guide ! 
 My Pole-star this, the steady beam impart, 
 And that, at once the compass and the chart 
 Let nought unhallow'd desecrate the strain ; 
 Nor let me sing, or feebly or in vain ! 
 Shed o'er my mental darkness light divine ; 
 Accept thy own, and pardon what is mine ! 
 
 !
 
 6 
 
 Albion I sing : the isle in days of yore, 
 And scenes presented on her barbarous shore ; 
 Ere mercy's messengers had published peace, 
 And bade each rite impure and cruel cease. 
 Ye keen discerners, gifted to admire, 
 Uncultnr'd nature in her own attire ; 
 Survey the Briton 'mid his woodlands wild, 
 Your darling's unsophisticated child ; 
 Then bless the scheme beneficent that gave, 
 With present comforts, hope beyond the grave. 
 
 How chang'd the scene ! where once the reedy grass 
 O'erspread the surface of the dank morass ; 
 The. graceful arch now spans the current wide, 
 That wafts the wealth of nations on its tide : 
 With savage beasts where scarce less savage men, 
 Disputed once the sheltering sylvan den ; 
 There curls the smoke from white-wash'd cottage sheen, 
 Or snowy flocks bestud the landscape green : 
 Where reddening thicket erst, or beechen wood 
 Stay'd hunger's pang with coarse precarious food ; 
 There healthful labour leads her jocund train, 
 And laughing valleys wave with golden grain. 
 Truth, mercy, love ; domestic, social bliss ; 
 Alas, they grow not on a soil like this, 
 Where lawless lust is privileg'd to range 
 In foul cencubinage from change to change ;
 
 7 
 
 Where daily feuds and predatory strife, 
 'Complete the annals of barbarian life. 
 
 But, best prerogative, the Gospel brings 
 Immortal blessings on her healing wings. 
 Thro' gloomy haunts where Satan rear'd his seat, 
 Strangers and aliens, with no promise sweet, 
 Our fathers roam'd ; from happiness how far, 
 With God and peace and holiness at war : 
 Or headlong rush'd, by random passions hurl'd, 
 Helpless and hopeless, — atheists in the world. 
 Yes, such were they, who nature homage paid 
 By sounding cataract, in sylvan glade. 
 Their heart was darken'd : when each work proclaim' d 
 The Godhead's power, the universe who fram'd ; 
 Of mind perverse, they chose them Gods like these, 
 Mountains and tempests, rivers, rocks, and trees ; 
 Or upwards gaz'd, creation's Lord to wrong, 
 Who pois'd the Heavens, and fix'd their pillars strong. 
 To such in worship hapless Britain fell 
 Or bow'd more open to the powers of Hell ; 
 When human victims on your altars bled, 
 Dian, Belinus, and Andraste dread ! < 2 ) 
 
 Appall'd the Muse the orgies dire surveys, 
 Where murder lights the sacrificial blaze. 
 Not her's the part the trembling strings to wake, 
 While frantic shouts the startled welkin shake. 
 
 ) I*
 
 8 
 
 With shame she flies the Druid grove retir'd, 
 Where frowns the oak for deed accurs'd desir'd. 
 What prayer devout, if view'd aright, each oak 
 From every heart in Britain might evoke ; 
 That from the stock antique heneath whose shade, 
 Our guilty sires such dread devotions paid, 
 " The acorn shed" a glorious barge may launch, 
 To bear the tidings of the righteous Branch ! W 
 
 What footsteps first, with heavenly message bless'd, 
 Thy chalky cliffs, benighted Albion, press'd ? 
 What voice, first rais'd against the tyrant's reign, 
 Was echoing heard thro' Satan's dark domain ? 
 What glowing zeal at winds and waves could smile, 
 To seek thy good, thou world-excluded isle ? 
 Thy borders first what missionary trod, 
 And bade thy children to behold their Cod ? 
 
 Did he, bless'd teacher of each future age, 
 The Christian scholar, apostolic sage, 
 Who with the large resources of his mind, 
 Yet more enlarged benevolence combin'd ; 
 Did he, what things were gain accounting loss, 
 Here plant at first the standard of the cross ? 
 Thou chosen vessel ! fitted to display 
 Thro' Gentile lands, the life, the truth, the way ; 
 No varied perils, famine, flood, or flame, 
 Could ever turn thee from thy single aim :
 
 9 
 
 Still didst thou haste to bear the news sublime, 
 To men of every colour, every clime : 
 Still seek the gracious kingdom to enlarge, 
 The world thy diocese, mankind thy charge. 
 
 Or thou, Barjona, when long years had tried 
 Thy constant faith, in Him, the thrice denied ; 
 'Mid wilds unknown and blackening forests drear, 
 Thy powerful voice did melting savage hear ? 
 And didst thou there, his lambs by feeding, prove 
 How shai J d the shepherd the chief-shepherd's love ? 
 
 Or, warm Zelotes, did thy fervor reach 
 The lone isle's bleak inhospitable beach ? 
 Nor frost, nor damp, nor vapors, winds, nor seas, 
 The flowing fountain at thy bosom freeze ? 
 
 Or cross'd he first the hoarse-resounding wave, 
 Who lent his Lord a momentary grave ? 
 Did he the first to British ears disclose 
 How Christ had died, and witness that He rose ? 
 And has my country in her rocky breast 
 Welcom'd the wanderer to his earthly rest, 
 Who gave the tomb where never man had lain, 
 To Him whom death was powerless to detain ? 
 
 Or, gentle Claudia, (« was thine heart subdued 
 Ere Rome's proud towers and palaces were view'd ? 
 Then from what faithful pastor hadst thou heard 
 The glorious mystery of the saving word ?
 
 10 
 
 Rash Muse, forbear, nor scan the dubious theme 
 By dim tradition's visionary dream ! 
 Enough to know, that on this sea-girt round 
 Of Christian Church (ti) is earliest vestige found. 
 For Albion's dells a refuge could afford, 
 Imperial city, from thy wasting sword. 
 From town to town th' instructed exiles fled ; 
 From land to land like sacred leaven spread ; 
 And wandering wide fulfill'd the bless'd decree, 
 " The isles shall wait," so God ordains, " for me" ! 
 
 Thus scatt'ring light, Evangelists had been, 
 Thus Gospel morn had eyes in Albion seen, 
 When regal Lucius < 7 ) British sceptre sway'd, 
 And, infant Church, his own thine interests made. 
 The muse that fondly dwells on Ebor's fame, < 8 ) 
 Well-pleas'd records her offspring's cherish'd name ; 
 Who first, illustrious 'mid the kingly crowd, 
 A Christian Prince the crown'd head meekly bow'd ! 
 O bright example ! early rais'd to show 
 What service Kings their Liege celestial owe, 
 Whose hand invests with empire and renown, 
 And makes their power an emblem of his own. 
 Then aid his cause, ye potentates be wise ! 
 Who madly dares Omnipotence despise, 
 fn kindling wrath shall perish from the land, 
 Dash'd like a vessel from the potter's hand !
 
 11 
 
 So Lucius fear'd ; and, Britain's sons to guide, 
 For needed help to seven-hill' d Rome applied. 
 For pure as yet, her Church in tearful days, 
 Shone thro' the world a glory and a praise. 
 They came obedient to the king's request, 
 The King of Heaven their faithful labours bless'd. 
 Then stretch'd the Church her tent, and in repose 
 Throughout the land the heaven-ward temples rose : 
 And thousand feet that pagan shrines had trod, 
 Were turn'd from idols to the living God. 
 
 But godly zeal asks mournful, was it well 
 Those pagan shrines ( <J ) not wholly to expel ? 
 Can fane defil'd a temple meet afford, 
 For faith's pure homage paid the Holy Lord ? 
 Shall gentle dove that peaceful emblem brings, 
 Etherial messenger on silver wings, 
 Her plume unsullied stoop, and deign to rest 
 Where screech-owls clamor'd o'er polluted nest ? 
 
 But ah, not these the monuments alone 
 Of heathen times, the wood-work and the stone ! 
 How marr'd the stream from pagan fount that ran. 
 Admixture strange ! the Gospel's simple plan ! 
 
 The wakeful foe had strewn, ere blush'd the morn, 
 His noxious tares among the new-sown corn ; 
 But tho' the fearful medley that he made, 
 Appear'd thus early with the shooting blade ;
 
 12 
 
 The seed was sown ; and from that sacred hour 
 A faithful remnant shall attest it's power. 
 Nor wintry winds by Satan's legions stirr'd, 
 Shall blast in infancy the springing word : 
 Not all the horrors of the flaming torch, 
 With heat malign the vital germ shall scorch ; 
 Nor envious thorns the tangling thicket rear 
 To choke from ripe maturity the ear. 
 The lamp was lighted, and its hallow'd blaze 
 Unquench'd yet struggled in the darkest days ; 
 By worldly glare unhidden was the light, 
 By pest unsmother'd of the papal night. 
 
 Fair Lamp, shine on ! tho' persecution fell, 
 Would fain in blood thy nascent radiance quell ; 
 Yet safely lodg'd within the western wild, 
 The mystic female rears her wond'rous child ; 
 And earth has help'd the offspring own'd of God 
 Who wide shall wield dominion's sceptral rod. 
 
 When shall the storm that rolls so high retire ? 
 Of Pagan emperors when the rage expire ? 
 Presumptuous powers ! < 10 ) desist from impious fight, 
 Nor longer brave yon heavenly archer's might : 
 A rainbow crown adorns his kingly brow ; 
 A hand immortal twangs the conquering bow ; 
 Bedimm'd the sun has stay'd his wheeling car, 
 As flashing sped the light'ning shafts of war !
 
 13 
 
 Dare madness more ? Behold yon war-horse red 
 With copious slaughter of the ranks that hied ! 
 Its rider holds, commission'd by the Lord, 
 Unsheath'd for vengeance the wide-wasting sword : 
 The seraph Peace, a world of strife, has fled, 
 And earth no more conceals her gory dead. 
 
 Unhumbled still ? the balance pois'd in air 
 Of meagre famine tells, and gaunt despair ; 
 But want nor minishes, nor blight may spoil 
 The bread from heaven, or hurt the holy oil. 
 
 Grim spectre next, since former judgments fail, 
 Lo, Death advances on his courser pale ! 
 With slaughters dire his simoon path he strews, 
 And Hell unsatisfied his track pursues. 
 Tyrants are left their fury to fulfil ; 
 And sword, and pest, and plague, their thousands kill. 
 
 Is this unheeded ? Still do martyrs bleed ? 
 Then hark ! their souls for righteous vengeance plead. 
 Now, 'tis your era, Martyrs, and your cries 
 Like smoke ascending from the altar rise. 
 But wait, till those, who now the conflict dare, 
 Their brethren join, the wreath triumphant wear; 
 And God shall rise, requiring back, ere long 
 Your blood in thunder, and avenge your wrong. 
 
 He comes, he comes/ 11 ) the pagan power to crush, 
 Tremble thou earth, ye Gentile glories blush !
 
 14 
 Sages, whom stars, unhallow'd voices call, 
 Withdraw your shining, hide your heads and fall ! 
 Fall, as, when shaken by the mighty blast, 
 Her figs the fig-tree hath untimely cast. 
 See, from the centre to the distant pole 
 The heavens dissolving vanish like a scroll ! 
 See, Prince of night, thy heathen holds disgrac'd, 
 And kings and kingdoms by the shock displac'd ! 
 Each augur, bard, philosopher, and priest, 
 Aghast, has from his rite unfinish'd ceas'd. 
 And hark, to deadly frowning rocks they call 
 For transient covering from the Lord of all ! 
 
 But where the sign, and what the coming morn, 
 When God his foes thus answers scorn for scorn ? 
 Ten clays, l n ) a night, an hour, a moment, Lord, 
 Is this the answer of thy faithful word ? 
 Are these the limits of the waster's reign ; 
 Thy church's term of trial and of pain ? 
 Then revel tyrants, all your wrath expend. 
 Your slaughters soon, imperial butchers end ! 
 Why have ye call'd the vulture's ravening breed 
 And famish'd wolves on martyr'd saints to feed ? 
 Welcome ye storms ! thus far your sov'reign wills ; 
 Then breath of babes the mad avenger stills. 
 'Tis God permits th' infuriate Caesar's rage, 
 Till faith's good fight his noble army wage :
 
 15 
 
 Awhile forbears to curb the bellowing flood, 
 Till seal'cl his Gospel with his martyrs' blood. 
 Nor think in vain the bright confessors bleed, 
 That hallow'd torrent flows his church's seed. 
 Alban ( 13 ) the first upon my native ground, 
 Lov'd not his life, with martyrdom was crown'd. 
 Illustrious leader of the sacred van, 
 First to the fight so gloriously that ran ! 
 Thy bless'd confession, Proto-martyr, tells 
 The Christian's hope, death's darkest shade dispels. 
 Thou earliest victor on arena dread, 
 Victorious thousands in thy steps shall tread ; 
 Successive martyrs from thy country rise 
 To choose thy tortures, and receive thy prize. 
 Yes, ere the storm of tyrant vengeance past, 
 Unnumber'd victims triumph'd in the blast ! 
 By pain unstirr'd, the fiery trial stood ; 
 Smil'd at each ill, resisted unto blood. 
 Yet wherefore pause, to breathe beneath the sky 
 The sainted names ? — their record is on high. 
 But he who King above the flood presides, 
 The red bolt launches, the wingM whirlwind rides, 
 His ark uninjur'd thro' the night of woes 
 Upbears ; then wills, and scenes of sufPring close. 
 Then flagg'd the storm, the skies their dawn illum'd, 
 When Chlorus <- u ) empire's purple vest assum'd :
 
 16 
 
 And the lorn isle lhat shar'd the rudest gale, 
 Is destin'd first the peaceful breeze to hail : 
 While clouds disperse, and shadows all decline, 
 Chas'd by thy beams, bright rising Constantine ! 
 
 Hail lap maternal of the mighty ! hail, 
 Yore's ancient banks, and Ebor's ample vale ; 
 Ebor of Albion's cities not the least; 
 Hoary with age, and honofd as the East : 
 From whence begins the effulgent source of day, 
 His march of glory thro' the heaven's high-way ; 
 From thee went forth the ruler that display'd, 
 The healing sceptre for the slaught'ring blade ; 
 And grae'd with ensigns of imperial pride 
 The proud crest stoop'd, and own'd the Crucified. 
 
 Tho' various cities ( 15 ) of my country claim 
 The emperor's birth to signalize their fame ; 
 My native Ebor it were crime in me, 
 Thy rightful honors to withhold from thee. 
 Thine area still what once was Chlorus keeps ; ( lf> ) 
 For there inurn'd, the vanquish'd victor sleeps. 
 The sainted Helen lov'd to linger there, 
 Yet stand the trophies of her pious care. 
 There too, the British Legionaries press'd < 17 ) 
 Around her weeping son, the purple vest ; 
 And empire's token, gave the golden sphere, 
 O'er which ere long the conqu'ring cross shall peer.
 
 17 
 
 Speed, Lord, the day when realms Messiah's name 
 Shall bless, where Roman Eagle never came ! 
 This peopled convex to thy Son be given, 
 And all be Christ's beneath the vault of Heaven ! 
 Yes, every tongue, with forc'd or glad acclaim, 
 Must own that Name above each other name. 
 Constantine reigns, and pride and hatred bend 
 In earth's high places ; but not yet the end. 
 
 How sweet, by previous toils enhanc'd, is rest ! 
 And such, the Church, now edified, possess'd. 
 And as some vine by wintry tempest tried, 
 Expands in spring its leafy honors wide ; 
 The stem the heathen labor'd to uproot, 
 Now budded, bloom'd, and fili'd the earth with fruit. 
 
 But ah, unmark'd, while Satan is unbound, 
 No gracious shower that falls on mortal ground. 
 When did that shower the moral glebe revive, 
 And fiendish craft no withering blight contrive ? 
 When did the servants of the only Lord, 
 Scatter thro' earth the precious seed abroad ; 
 Nor view, while waiting for the sprouting blade, 
 The fearful prints that midnight foe betray'd ? 
 
 In vain had rancour in the strife engag'd, 
 And Rome exterminating warfare wag°d : 
 Her power and fury have combin'd in vain, 
 The church to crush by menaces and pain : 
 
 C
 
 18 
 
 Her glorious growth amid her ills, dechir'd 
 In snares his own, the fowler shrewd ensnar'd : 
 But still undaunted, and from yielding far, 
 He tries new weapons, not desists from war. 
 
 No longer now shall mangled martyrs bleed, 
 Till rous'd compassion stigmatize the deed. 
 A cheap profession, affluence, honor, ease, 
 With heart-enticing blandishments shall please : 
 The watchful eye shall pleasure lull to sleep, 
 While, slow advancing, subtle errors creep ; 
 And every evil that contentions bring, 
 With growth luxuriant in the temple spring. 
 
 Not long had slept the murderous blade ensheath'd ; 
 Not long the Church from persecution breath'd ; 
 When heard was Heresv's discordant shell, 
 And peace internal bade her courts farewell. 
 While trouble lasts, the wiles of Satan fail, 
 Nor rage can shake, nor error wide prevail. 
 The furnace glows : to gain is tum'd the loss, 
 Refin'd by fire, so gold forsakes its dross. 
 The tempest raves : the piercing North-wind flies 
 And clears of pestilential damp the skies. 
 But now, when ceas'd the purifying blast, 
 And suffering's crucible aside was cast, 
 Then errors grew; past current base alloy, 
 For peace, and purity, and holy joy.
 
 19 
 
 Then Arius first prepar'd his deadly draught, 
 And eager crowds the honied poison quaff'd. 
 Imbib'd, the mischief spreads from shore to shore, 
 Nor Britain leaves untainted with the sore. 
 
 Yet there are those who truth assail'd defend, 
 And for the faith can manfully contend. 
 Bless'd Athanasius, rais'd by Heaven to bear, 
 Emmanuel witness and his cross to share ! 
 What though the churches of the land I sing, 
 Boast not thy faith, matur'd beneath their wing : 
 Yet watchful Pastors ( 18 ) in the distant isle, 
 Mourn o'er the ills that Christendom defile ; 
 And tidings wafted from the northern seas, 
 Could glad thy bosom, and confirm thy knees. 
 Here pure and primitive was still profess'd, 
 The treasur'd faith of many a constant breast. 
 
 This doctrine blasphemous, of < 19 > shifting hue, 
 How dark to one who feels his Bible true ! 
 What but the blackness of the thunder-cloud, 
 That hangs o'er summer skies sepulchral shroud ! 
 The impious theft that of it's brightest gem 
 Would rob, swath'd Babe, thy princely diadem ! 
 What but the baneful aconite, applied 
 By carnal enmity, satanic pride, 
 The deathly tinge, and killing power to give 
 To streams erewhile that bade the dying live ! 
 
 2 C
 
 20 
 
 How can the tongue Redemption's anthem learn ; 
 How can the heart with adoration burn ; 
 How join the praises of the choirs above; 
 Untun'd, Divine Redeemer, by thy love ? 
 How had my soul eternal justice brav'd, 
 By thee unwash'd, unsanctified, unsav'd ? 
 Could harp of mine upon the holy mount, 
 Thy love unfelt, thy grace unshar'd recount ? 
 Recoils the heart confounded and dismay'd, 
 Unknown the ransom for thy people paid. 
 Jehovah, Saviour ! mighty to redeem ! 
 Eternal Spirit, own and aid the theme ! 
 Awake my glory, lute and harp awake, 
 And thou, my soul, a part the foremost take f 
 Wake, all my living energies, to raise, 
 To God, my Saviour, consentaneous praise ; 
 To every note let every thought accord, 
 That hails Jehovah in the dying Lord ! 
 
 Say then, what Son proclaimed the Prophet's lyre, 
 " The mighty God, the everlasting Sire" ? 
 Twice from the living Throne response has run, — 
 " Son of my bosom This, my much-lov'd Son" ! 
 His essence speak, whom faith adoring sees 
 Of powers possess'd, portray'd in terms like these: 
 Omniscient, changeless, omnipresent, still 
 To search a spirit, or a world to fill :
 
 21 
 
 Preserving, ruling, judging on his throne, 
 
 Raising the dead, and pardoning sins alone. 
 
 Define His might, the Last and yet the First, 
 
 For whom Creation out of Chaos burst; 
 
 Thro' all His works whose wonders are display'd, 
 
 Who every worm, and every angel made; 
 
 Who mark'd the limit of the utmost zone, 
 
 And calls the boundless universe his own. 
 
 His name declare, whose glorious throne before, 
 
 Seraphic hosts, subordinate adore : 
 
 To whom all creatures, heaven and earth and seas 
 
 Shall raise their voice, and bend adoring knees. 
 
 Declare His name to whom apostles pray'd, 
 
 Stephen for glory, Paul for present aid. 
 
 His Spirit's teaching seek, then humbly fall 
 
 And own believing, He is Lord of all ! 
 
 His side survey, — for thee the press he trode, — 
 
 speak thy transport; cry, " My Lord, my God"! 
 Thus sung each heart with garment undefil'd, 
 
 Not yet by Arian subtleties beguil'd : 
 And such was Keby, < 20 > stedfast to the end, 
 Rais'd for the faith assaulted to contend. 
 
 But see, the north the martial deluge pours, 
 The painted clans of Caledonian moors. 
 
 1 leav'n-summon'd scourge; commission'd to chastise 
 The scheme of wisdom those who spurn unwise. 
 
 3 C
 
 22 
 
 Urg'd by the rude barbarians to the main, 
 
 Dash'd by the ocean to their foes again ; 
 
 Where shall they turn ? Will Rome's imperial chief 
 
 Respect their groans, and haste to their relief? 
 
 Delusive hope ! but from their rock beguil'd, 
 
 They seek their refuge in a mortal child. 
 
 How drear the prospect from Plinlimmon hoar ! 
 But darker, deeper, horrors are in store; 
 Pelagius comes, his sophistries to spread, 
 And look what captives in his toils are led ! 
 Fatal his creed as Arian curse, and far 
 More sweet to nature with her God at war : 
 That worshipp'd reason in it's fair pretence ; 
 This flatters pride, and yields to carnal sense. 
 In quest of pleasure and convoy'd by pride, 
 Gay floats the barge adown the treach'rous tide ; 
 And bears its inmates lock'd in sinful sleep, 
 With merit buoyant headlong to the deep. 
 
 My Country's offspring ! < 21 ) o'er thy early grave, 
 Had ocean roll'd it's cold oblivious wave ; 
 Ere yet thro' fault of thine offences came, 
 No tear of grief had wak'd thy mention'd name. 
 But no ; — far higher, wiser, are His ways, 
 Who winds each labyrinth of this mortal maze ; 
 Pelagius breathes : — but sounds ere break the morn, 
 From Afric rais'd, proclaim Augustine born.
 
 23 
 
 Hark, how his voice from truth's fair page refutes, 
 The wretched reasoner that with God disputes. 
 
 Acceptance find, ( 22 ) nor owe the debt to grace ! 
 Vain-glorious boast, excluded from our race ! 
 — Do infant strangers reach this vital strand, 
 Like Adam spotless from their Maker's hand ? 
 Are they, ere imitation's powers begin, 
 By nature faultless, nor conceiv'd in sin ? 
 Then why thus early down infantile cheek, 
 Do summon'd tears of pain and sorrow speak ? 
 And why thus soon in infant minds descried, 
 The first-fruits plentiful of pique and pride ? 
 If upright born, how passing strange that all 
 Transgress, transgressing short of glory fall ! 
 — In life's young mora were babes baptiz'd that they 
 Might gain adoption, not wash guilt away? 
 Then where the mystery of the cleansing flood ? 
 And wherefore serve the water and the blood ? 
 — Did Adam die in his appointed time, 
 Thro' nature's law not punishment of crime ? 
 Presumptuous Janglers ! have ye never read 
 Death came by sin ; and sinning, all are dead. 
 
 Germaine and Lupus t 23 ) with the Spirit's sword, 
 Assail'd these deadly doctrines when abroad ; 
 And He who view'd them from his seat above, 
 Look'd down and bless'd the labor of their love. 
 
 4 C
 
 2-1 
 
 Press'd yet more closely by their northern foes, 
 Rome hears again the tidings of their woes ; 
 But only hears ; what succor can she send, 
 Her widest wildest province to defend ? 
 When savage hordes insult her grandeur gone, 
 The Goth, the Vandal, and Tartarian Hun ? 
 Her empire t 24 ) struggles in it's dying gasp, 
 Her conquests vanish from her loosen' d grasp. 
 All else resign'd — her languid powers are nerv'd 
 For this, — th' eternal City's walls preserv'd. 
 So when thro' pining sickness, day by day 
 Man sinks apace, — man, boastful child of clay ; 
 And now beside the chilling flood he stands, 
 The frith that parts two widely different lands ; 
 How vain and trifling in an hour like this 
 Each fondly cherish'd hope of earthly bliss ! 
 The joys of sense, ambition's airy dreams, 
 The miser's thrift, the politician's schemes ; 
 They boot not now : no better succor near, 
 The part immortal well may waken fear. 
 
 Rome could not aid thee, Britain, in thy grief; 
 No more her legions haste to thy relief. 
 Thy foes increase ; — the northern barrier fails, 
 And must thy sons forsake their goodly vales ? 
 Yet whither turn ? My country hadst thou then 
 Thy sins forsook; not safety sought from men;
 
 25 
 
 His help implor'd, who, tho' his love delay, 
 Ne'er empty turns his supplicants away ; 
 That God had sent, who hears and answers prayer 
 To battle strength, or fortitude to bear. 
 
 Nor this, dread Vortiger, ( 25 > thou slave of lust, 
 In all thy woes, thy refuge and thy trust, 
 Of God disown'd, thy wisdom is thy all, 
 And heathen Saxons hasten to thy call. 
 O frail defence ! thy impious hands prepare 
 Woe for thy country, for thyself despair. 
 
 Tis time for vengeance ! and the Saxon sword, WJ 
 Receives it's dread credentials from the Lord. 
 That sword unsheath'd at Vortiger's request, 
 Once drawn, not soon shall in it's scabbard rest. 
 Too trusting Host ! the sword thy vaunted aid 
 Has reach'd thy heart - thy life-blood dews it's blade. 
 How should it tremble in the traitor's hand, 
 The God of battle sends it thro' the land. 
 Havoc and horror ! Rapine, murder, flame, 
 Relate the fearful tale of Albion's shame. 
 From rifled Fane ascends no sacrifice, 
 The Priest between the Porch and altar dies ! 
 Thy foes are cruel, and to plaintive moan 
 Deaf, hard, and senseless, as their Gods of stone ! 
 And idols now to Britons once unknown, 
 Along the vista dark and lengthening, frown :
 
 26 
 
 And still each name, memorial sad, remains, 
 To mind the children of their father's chains. 
 
 Then first the Sun, unconscious of his praise 
 View'd British votaries kneeling to his rays : 
 And sail'd, regardless of the votive throng, 
 The silent Moon her stated course along. 
 Then first were worshipp'd on the sounding shore, 
 Tuisco and Woden and revolving Thor :( 27 ) 
 Friga with rites too dire to he reveal'd, 
 And Seater best in midnight gloom conceal'd. 
 
 Fierce was the fray ; protracted long it's close, 
 Ere rear'd with blood the Heptarchy arose. 
 In vain was valour : Arthur ( 28 ) vainly brave, 
 Not thine the kingdom from her foes could save. 
 Leave, leave the Saxon to his impious seat, 
 Yon western Hills afford a last retreat. 
 There yet the sacred phalanx that is left, 
 May find meet temple in some mountain cleft. 
 Mid turmoil wild of billow-batter'd beach, 
 Faith's feeble cry the gates of Heaven shall reach : 
 Or moon-lit rock, in nature's holy calm, 
 Responsive echo to the plaintive psalm. 
 The sheep in day of darkness scatter'd, there 
 Shall gather'd prove their sleepless Guardian's care; 
 And pastors, rais'd the little flock to feed, 
 To living streams, perennial pastures lead.
 
 27 
 
 Such was Dubritius, W) who in seasons drear, 
 Could point to joys beyond this nether sphere. 
 Thou too, St. David, ( 30 ) while the foaming surge 
 To lash thy cliffs its headlong course shall urge, 
 Thy name shall bloom mid Britain's worthies, long 
 As Cambria holds one tuneful son of song ! 
 
 Tho' Albion's shores the crimson torrents drench, 
 Not all that tide the sacred flame can quench. 
 Nor Pict nor Scot, nor Saxon nor the Dane, 
 Can hurt the faithful remnant that remain. 
 And soen from Rome glad Heralds shall proclaim 
 Their high behest, and fan the latent flame. 
 For, not as yet apostacy matur'd, 
 Rome from the Gospel's doctrines was allur'd : 
 There not as yet had midnight darkness frown'd, 
 Among the faithless some were faithful found. 
 What British heart, as warms the vital flood, 
 Forbears to call her Gregory great and good ? 
 How had thy Church escap'd her loads of shame, 
 Hadst thou the first been last to bear the name.
 
 THE ARGUMENT. 
 
 Gregory's interview with the Saxon Merchant — Leads to his 
 sending Christian Missionaries to this Country — Their success 
 ■ — Great in Northumbria. — Edwin's conversion. — Minster de- 
 signed. — Paulinus prompts the King to its erection. — Its 
 history. — Paulinus first founder. — Completed by Oswald. — 
 Destroyed by Penda. — Rebuilt by Wilfrid ; and remains 400 
 years. — Burnt by the Northumbrians. — Rebuilt by Archbishop 
 Thomas. — Burnt again by casual fire. — Rebuilt by Archbishop 
 Rogers. — Grey, Romaine, Melton, benefactors. — Thoresby's 
 new Choir. — Skirlaw's Tower. — Whole completed. — Escaped 
 the plunders at the Reformation. — Popish rites banished. — 
 Purity of the doctrines taught by our Reformers. — The late 
 Festivals adverted to. — The last burning of the Minster. — 
 Conjectures respecting what next may befall it. — Marks to 
 point out the period of the late fire. — Catholic Relief Bill. — A 
 glance at the Continent ; Ireland ; &c. — Modern Liberalism 
 portrayed in a dream : — Is but another name for Infidelity. — 
 What sort of Intolerance is commendable. — Cautions against 
 Liberalism. — False and profuse profession of Religion, a char- 
 acteristic of the day. — Slander — Mischiefs and sin of. — The 
 Monuments. — How often they are fulsome. — Sheffield's epitaph. 
 — The vain inscription, " Orate pro anima". — Eymes. — Coltree. 
 ■ — Byng. — Bellassis. — Jenkins. — Concluding reflections among 
 the tombs.
 
 PART II. 
 
 the History of yoRk minster to the present era.-— 
 sketch of the present times. — some monuments in 
 the minster noticed, 
 
 He stood in Rome, and heaven-directed turn'd, 
 While, mix'd with pity, holier feelings yearn'd; 
 To view the Exiles from their Father's land, 
 By Rapine pass'd to proud Oppression's hand. 
 For them he weeps ! nor causeless flow his tears : 
 Around, a group, enslav'd in earlier years, 
 Attests, how crush'd beneath the load of wrong-. 
 Untimely droops the graceful, bows the strong. 
 — Not so the strangers that have caught his eye, 
 To touch a chord of deeper sympathy : 
 Those flaxen tresses, waving to the wind, 
 Tell of the in-born freedom of the mind ; 
 Those speaking eyes, so beautifully blue, 
 Might vie in softness with the sapphire's hue ;
 
 30 
 
 The snowy whiteness of the cheek so fair, 
 Beams like the wanderer's from some purer air, 
 On which man's toilsome doom had never pass'd, 
 Nor flaming Sirius heat solstitial cast. 
 
 " Whence are these youth ?" with faltering voice 
 
 he spoke, 
 " Where is their home ? What God do they invoke ? 
 " Say, are they subject to the Lord most high ?" 
 
 Angli, and Heathens ; — was the stern reply. 
 
 " Had Gospel light," meek Gregory resum'd, 
 
 " The darksome region of their birth illum'd ; 
 
 " Had mind accorded with external mien, 
 
 " Angels not Angli, had these children been. 
 
 " Unhappy Tsle ! yet, gentle Merchant, tell 
 
 " Which is the Province where their kindred dwell ?" 
 
 De'ira, northward, on the eastern side. 
 
 " Send, Lord," then fervent, from his heart, he 
 
 cried, 
 " Send forth thy message o'er th' Atlantic wave, 
 " And from thy wrath the hapless Island save ! 
 " Tell me what king those tribes remote obey." 
 — Now Alia reigns, possess'd of sov'reign sway. 
 " Alia ! 'tis well : those rocks in future days, 
 " Shall lend their echoes to Jehovah's praise." ( l ) 
 That prayer was granted, that prediction true, 
 He liv'd its blest accomplishment to view.
 
 31 
 
 Wake, prosperous gales, the fluttering canvas fill : 
 Peace, restless Ocean, roaring waves, be still ! 
 They come; they come; 'tis Heaven's benign com- 
 mand, 
 And Saxon Idols perish from the land. 
 Austin has landed, countless crowds have heard, 
 The glorious mystery of the living word : 
 And Kings and Conquerors, captain, freed-man, 
 
 slave, 
 Attest its power, its quickening power, to save. 
 
 See, in Northumbria, how the Converts flock, 
 Like wild doves, hastening to the sheltering rock. 
 River endear'd ! romantic Swale, ( 2 ) that first 
 The young Muse prompted, and her pinion nurs'd ; 
 Thy limpid, waves were hallow'd to convey, 
 And seal the grace, that washes guilt away : 
 And Edwin ( 3 ) now, shall all his care employ, 
 To shield the faith he labor'd to destroy. 
 With pious hands, on Ebor's honor'd ground, 
 He hastes a sacred Edifice to found : 
 Rear'd on the destin'd scite Paulinus chose, 
 Of wood-work first the Oratory rose ; 
 For Edwin there his Father's Gods resign'd, 
 And own'd the only Saviour of mankind. 
 
 But, is the meanness of that humble shrine, 
 A mansion meet for Majesty divine ?
 
 32 
 
 No : tho' " the High and lofty One" will look 
 Pleas'd on the contrite, and the proud rebuke, 
 Yet when the mighty, ( 4 ) — Kings and nobles fall 
 In prostrate Worship to the Lord of all ; 
 Then should their substance honor him who gave, 
 Monarchs their power, and courage to the brave : 
 And Mercy's hands, that all things first impart, 
 Accept that tribute from a grateful heart. 
 
 So thought Paulinus : ( 5 ) and with ardor fill'd, 
 Prompted the King a nobler dome to build. 
 Nor vainly prompted : Edwin's ready aid 
 Commands ; — and see its deep foundations laid. 
 And now the vales their hidden stores unlock, 
 The hills have parted with their solid rock ; 
 The towering trees before the axes groan, 
 The workman's chisel echoes from the stone ; 
 And power, and zeal, and art, and strength combine, 
 To crown the regal Founder's grand design. 
 
 How shall the harp, with loud or plaintive swell, 
 Its future glories and disasters tell ? 
 Melodious Mason ! might the lay aspire, 
 To catch one ray of thy poetic fire ; 
 Oh, could I sing like thee, and hope to share 
 Thy tuneful spirit, as thine Ebor's air ; 
 Thro' centuries dark, then might I venturous trace, 
 The varied history of the holy place :
 
 33 
 
 What flames and storms the noble Fabric brav'd, 
 How Avarice plunder'd, and how Prudence sav'd ; 
 How kings and priests, with costly offerings grac'd, 
 How impious hands the work sublime effac'd. 
 The earliest structure, by Paulinus plann'd, 
 Rose to perfection, Oswald, ( 6 ) 'neath thy hand. 
 But see, dread Penda, Mercia's pagan King, 
 Broods o'er the fane, with desolating wing. 
 He, first Destroyer, in the impious deed, 
 Is left by Heaven a moment to succeed. 
 • But Wilfrid < 7 ) comes, his round of wanderings o'er, 
 The transient loss commission'd to restore : 
 The mighty wreck he views with tearful eyes, 
 And lovelier bids each fallen column rise. 
 Thus rear'd, the matchless house four centuries I 8 ) stood, 
 Unscath'd by hostile fury, flame, or flood ; 
 And, as the Dane is raging thro the isle, 
 Thy treasures, Egbert, have enrich'd the pile. 
 
 But ruin frowns : — Northumbria's sons again, 
 Will join their fortunes with the vanquish'd Dane ; 
 Their mutual wrongs shall mutual rage provoke, 
 Ere Dane and Saxon bend to Norman yoke. 
 Encircling Ebor's walls, in dread array, 
 Her Temple mourns th' exterminating fray ; 
 And arch, and pillar, dome, and tapering spire, 
 Promiscuous sink, amid devouring fire.W 
 
 D
 
 
 34 
 
 First of the Normans, Thomas, it was thine, 
 To rear again the desolated shrine. 
 That care perform'd, the grateful structure gave 
 Thy honor'd dust a consecrated grave. ( 10 > 
 The void to fill, but three successors rose, 
 But two had hasten'd to their long repose, 
 Ere lower'd the coming storm, and once again, 
 In ruthless flames was hurl'd the beauteous Fane: 
 And Thurstan mourn'd, as o'er its glory's grave, 
 The grandeurs past, he strove in vain to save. 
 
 Murdac and sainted William but deplor'd 
 The waste, nor gaz'd upon the shrine restor'd. 
 'Twas Rogers' task to raise the vaulted choir, 
 A Phcenix bursting from the vital fire ! 
 Time spares his memory, and his ancient tomb, ( 1J ) 
 Not all the storms of ages can consume. 
 
 Grey, ( 12 ) next the Patron of the growing Pile, 
 The grace completed of the southern aisle. 
 Anon, Romaine, < 13 ) with purest taste, supplied 
 The northern transept, and its towery pride. 
 And then his Son, < 14 ) in office holier, gave 
 The broad dimensions of the ample nave : 
 Twice twenty suns their annual course repeat, < 15 ) 
 And Melton ( 16 ) views the project vast complete. 
 
 Then Rogers' choir, with aspect dark that view'd, 
 Two darker centuries fast their course conclude,
 
 35 
 
 Like wrinkled age, in youth's gay trappings dress'd, 
 Accords no longer with the gorgeous west. 
 A happier union Thoresby's ( 17 ) skill design'd, 
 A nobler choir proclaims his master mind. 
 
 And now, Romaine, thy central tower appears, 
 Mean 'mid the splendor of succeeding years : 
 At Skirlaw's ( l8 ) word the mound august shall rise, 
 And lift its fair proportions to the skies. 
 
 'Tis done ! Proud o'er the cliffs of Albion's isle, 
 In finish'd splendor, peers the Gothic pile; 
 Nor dai^d ( 19 ) the genius of succeeding days, 
 Save, fill'd with wonder, on the work to gaze : 
 The awe-struck spirit trembled to engage, 
 And mar the glory of a ruder age. 
 
 It stood uninjur'd by the mighty shock, 
 That bade each temple to the centre rock ; 
 When licens'd sacrilege its course began, 
 And blinded zeal its race of havoc ran ; 
 When tasteless Phrenzy ^ 2 °) eyed with savage gaze, 
 Each lov'd memorial of departed days ; 
 Nor dome, nor book, nor carv'd inscription, spar'd, 
 But laugh'd as each the common ruin shar'd. 
 
 But see ! the baleful train of errors bred 
 In mists that long had Christendom o'erspread ; 
 Disperse and vanish, like the brood of night, 
 Before the sun careering in his might : 
 
 2 D
 
 36 
 
 The requiem hush'd, the echoing vault that fill'cl, 
 
 And high-mass pealing from the organ, still'd ; 
 
 Where mutter'd vows to rouse His ire but came, 
 
 Who shares his honor with none other name ; 
 
 Faith views her only Advocate, and there, 
 
 Prevails by fervent and effectual prayer. 
 
 There, by the tapers dim and dubious light, 
 
 No white-stol'd Priests perform unmeaning rite ; 
 
 No longer deem by penance, toils, or pain, 
 
 Thy smile, insulted Holiness, to gain ; 
 
 Nor idly hope, by forms themselves prescribe, 
 
 Thy grace to purchase, or thy justice bribe. 
 
 " Take these things hence" ! the stern Reformer cried, 
 
 " God's work is perfect' 21 ) — Sinner, Christ has died"! 
 
 Oh ! had the glorious Gospel that possess'd, 
 So deep an entrance in the Martyrs' breast ; 
 Bade noble hosts sing praises from the fire, 
 Shout," none but Christ" ! then smile, and then expire; 
 Oh ! had the truth, which in that hour sustain'd, 
 Their failing flesh, untainted but remain'd ; 
 Full many a mountain wave, then, haply, thou, 
 Had'st stemm'd, my Country, with victorious prow : 
 Then, haply, spreading like some goodly palm, 
 Thy Church had known blest days of halcyon calm ; 
 Nor view'd, as late, the flames' ill-omen'd glare, 
 Illume her noblest house of praise and prayer :
 
 37 
 
 Then, dash'd like dew-drops from the Lion's mane, 
 Each vile aspersion of the scribbling train ! 
 
 Perchance depicted by the tree that grew, 
 Fair, tall, and vast, Chaldean, in thy view, 
 The wonderous pile in strength and size allied, 
 Had serv'd to minister to human pride : 
 No change we fear, exclaim'd the thoughtless throng, 
 Thou, Lord, hast made our mountain stand so strong. 
 Perchance, when late the viol and the lute, 
 Sackbut and organ, dulcimer, and flute, 
 In sweet accord, these sacred courts among, 
 Roll'd the full chorus of celestial song ; 
 Of earthly dross might heavenly themes partake, 
 Be hymn'd Messiah but for Handel's sake ! 
 Did these things move, thou Holy One, thy frown, 
 And wing the dread commission — " Cut it down"?^) 
 
 That word gone forth, a Maniac's dreams fulfil, 
 The secret purpose of Jehovah's will. 
 Wrapt in the veil of midnight's deep disguise, 
 His reckless hand the flaming torch applies ; 
 Ere morning's sun his ardent course had wheel' d, 
 To heights meridian in the azure field ; 
 Thoresby, thy Choir, with all its bright array, 
 Has pass'd illusive, like a dream, away. 
 
 For seven long years the moistening dews of heaven, 
 Fell on the Monarch from his kingdom driven ; 
 
 3 D
 
 38 
 
 What time forlorn, from human haunts he stray'd, 
 
 And sought with prowling heasts the covert shade ; 
 
 Ere Heaven's dread King his yielding heart ador'd, 
 
 Then view'd his glory, and his realm restor'd. 
 
 Scarce half that period was the stated time, 
 
 For Ebor's fane to suffer for her crime. 
 
 From countless hearts emotion's torrent rush'd, 
 
 While deep submission rising murmurs hush'd ; 
 
 Hurt for her hurt, and for her sorrow griev'd, 
 
 Each hand, each heart, her piteous state reliev'd : 
 
 From Harcourt first the ready succor flow'd, 
 
 And all her lovers willingly bestow'd : 
 
 That tribute, offer'd to his Temple's need, 
 
 Is own'd of God ; he bids the work succeed : 
 
 And see, once more, the consecrated place, 
 
 Arise completed in primeval grace : 
 
 While Ebor's sons in gratulation say, 
 
 As sang her poet in an early day, 
 
 " Yes : as the rose is chief of all the flowers, 
 
 " So of each house, — this holy house of ours." ( 23 ) 
 
 Here, well the Muse, her wanderings might conclude, 
 Nor seek on scenes yet distant to obtrude. 
 Oh ! durst she now the struggling pinion loose, 
 To tell the prospect which she dimly views, 
 Indulge the burning impulse that she feels, 
 To burst the roll that time yet distant seals ;
 
 39 
 
 * Before his march, on thought's fleet wing advance, 
 And sing his " course" in visionary trance ! 
 Lamented Pollok ! cheer'd these eyes of mine, 
 One ray of light effulgent pourM on thine ; 
 Not then forbidden should the glowing verse, 
 Events now hid in " words that burn" rehearse; 
 And bolder then thro' dim conjecture roam, 
 To sing what next shall happen to the dome. 
 
 Which of the angry elements again, 
 Shall, sweeping, whelm the renovated fane ? 
 Shall flames, or billows, hastening to assail, 
 Or earth, wide-gaping, or the furious gale ? 
 Or, fiercer, louder, than the flame, or wave, 
 Ruder than whirlwind, greedier than the grave, 
 Shall lawless rapine, and ungovern'd lust, 
 Lay all its honors prostrate in the dust ? 
 Or, not as yet her mystery all reveal'd, 
 Her deadly wound but for a moment heal'd, 
 Shall Papal Rome once more ascendant reign, 
 And practise here her sorceries again ? 
 While crowds by pomp deceiv'd and specious sign, 
 Give wonder first, then worship at her shrine ? 
 Shall mind yet march, and intellect advance, 
 Till gain'd, " bad eminence" ! thy station, France ? 
 Britain, like her, unhumbled by the rod, 
 Exalt dim Reason to the throne of God ' 
 
 4 D
 
 40 
 
 For glow-worm speck, quit inspiration's word, 
 And safely walk where stumbling Newton err'd ? 
 On shall we urge, till liberal Cant matur'd, 
 Drop the fair mask her votaries that allur'd, 
 And prove, while grasping the destroying sword, 
 Truth cannot bind the haters of the Lord ? 
 Prove that Restraint, not Bigotry is dead, 
 Justice, not Tyranny, the land has fled ! 
 He that each creed, by flattering names can call, 
 Sleeps on alike indifferent to them all ; 
 And zeal for conscience, and her rights to save, 
 Would dance on Freedom's and Religion's grave ! 
 Shall foes like these, a clamorous, selfish crowd, 
 Blasphemers, traitors, slanderous, stubborn, proud, 
 Shall these now quit formality's disguise, 
 And foam their fierce defiance to the skies ? 
 Griev'd while reminded God was ever fear'd, 
 And tear down temples which their Fathers reared ? 
 
 Will God, entreated for his scattered sheep, 
 Look on their sorrows and afflictions deep ? 
 Amid these arches shall the anthem float, 
 And Heaven propitious listen to the note ? 
 Children from Parents catch the hallow'd strain, 
 And these their children yet instruct again ? 
 From age to age the kindling theme descend, 
 Till earth shall shake, departing seasons end ;
 
 41 
 
 faith's rapturous glance her coming Judge discern, 
 And dome, and steep, and earth, and heaven, shall burn ? 
 
 Cease, daring Muse, nor seek to scan the page, 
 Big with the wonders of approaching age ; 
 What Wisdom's source has purposed to conceal, 
 Nor Bard, nor Saint, nor Angel can reveal. 
 Should future years, intent, some mark require, 
 To fix the epoch of the recent fire, 
 Learn future years (if tuneless lay of mine, 
 Out-live the echo of the ended line,) 
 Oh ! learn the record of that season dark, 
 By many a painful, many a mournful mark ; 
 Learn what dire scenes of peril and of guilt, 
 Were acted, ere the ruin was rebuilt. 
 
 Just ere it fell, indelible the stain, 
 Fix'd on my faithless country to remain ; 
 The ancient fort, impregnable that prov'd 
 Thro' many a hard-fought conflict, was removed : 
 The blood-built bulwark of the Anglian state, 
 Dismiss'd its guard, and open'd wide its gate. 
 Now foes no more those battlements repel, 
 Departing fame, and trust resigned, farewell ! 
 In vain Experience all her honours pleads, 
 To hoary proof, Experiment succeeds. 
 Hark ! while abandon'd principle bewails, 
 O'er murder'd Truth, Expedience now prevails.
 
 42 
 
 England, no longer protestant thy realm, 
 Mourn o'er thy Pilot, parted from the helm ! 
 That faithless deed shall latest ages date, 
 The vvoful epoch of thy falling state ! 
 
 Oh, mystery vast! the chieftain by whose hand, 
 Heaven pour'd its vengeance on the Papal land ; 
 Whose name, once honour'd, and regretted still, 
 Or Minstrel's harp, or Patriot's heart could thrill ; 
 The Warrior, crown'd with victory's choicest wreaths, 
 Whose splendid triumphs wondering envy breathes : 
 Blush, human greatness ! ah his glory ! see, 
 His Country's Saviour ! Wellington ! 'tis He, 
 Yields her palladium, and "at one fell swoop," 
 Her safe-guards crash ; — his thousand laurels droop ! 
 
 What next may follow ? what but judgments dire, 
 Thy temple, Ebor, is consum'd by fire. 
 Kingdoms are troubled with volcanic shock, 
 On totterring thrones astonish'd Monarchs rock. 
 The Othman, trembling at the Russian blade, 
 Views Cossack hordes his Capital invade. 
 The Bourbon, banish'd from the Gallic throne, 
 For refuge flies to kingdoms not his own ; 
 And Philip reigns, their measure to fulfil, 
 Precarious tenure ! by his people's will. 
 The fourth loved Monarch of the Brunswick line, 
 His mournful subjects "dust to dust" consign;
 
 43 
 
 While, Belgia rous'd, like troubled Ocean heaves, 
 And deeper sunk, ill-fated Poland grieves. 
 In guilt's dark annals deeds of blood unknown, 
 Evoke from Heaven, the wrath not lingering, down : 
 Destructive fires, by madness kindled, glare, 
 And fierce tornadoes Indian cane-isles tear. 
 Hark ! the wild cry, tumultuous as the storm, 
 From crowded streets, and echoing glen, "Reform !" 
 
 And turn to Erin, restless as the surge, 
 That laves the crags upon her rocky verge : 
 Say, is she bless'd ? and do her troubles cease ? 
 Came on thy wings, Emancipation, peace? 
 What peace? what rest? while Babel's whoredoms still, 
 With rites unblest her sea-green borders fill ! 
 Repose, farewell ! when factious Brawlers vile, 
 Supremely lord it o'er the spell-bound isle : 
 While wretched compromise, her wounds to heal, 
 Led by the mania of reforming zeal, 
 Brings God-denying error to unite 
 Her killing plague, to Neologian night ! 
 Bids each with blazon'd blasphemy combine, 
 Blest Truth to poison, at her source divine ; 
 And leave the hapless island to deplore 
 Heaven's glorious lamp, receding from her shore ! ( 24 ) 
 
 The Great forget their Maker to obey, 
 And Councils Secular profane his day; (25)
 
 44 
 
 While fuels so Godless, Grades more humble read, 
 And venture fearless, where superiors lead : 
 Then, quick, by Wisdom's prime restraint unsway'd, 
 Spurn all subjection, dignities upbraid. 
 Ah, sinful Nation ! that has left her God, 
 Laden with guilt, now passing 'neath the rod ; 
 Confess ere seal'd for ever is thy doom, — 
 Thy curses multiform not causeless come ! 
 List not to reasonings, and conjectures vague ; 
 Thy God is angry ; — God has sent his plague : 
 Tho' long delay'd, on righteous Heaven's employ, 
 Th' insidious Pest steals onward to destroy ! 
 
 Are these sad marks too dubious to display, 
 To distant years the features of our day ? 
 Then shall my hand with deeper tinge define, 
 Its blushing portrait by one other sign. 
 Would ! sober sense too dark the shades may deem, 
 Nor fear lest realiz'd should prove the dream ! 
 
 As late I stray'd, to catch the cooling gale, 
 Where babbling Balder cleaves his name-sake dale ; 
 Brief slumber clos'd my eye-lids, but there teem'd 
 Thro' every sense perception, and I dream'd. 
 Commenc'd, I view'd the bright Utopian age, 
 For which incessant toil'd each modern sage. 
 Rul'd by one fair and equalizing plan, 
 No longer man controll'd his brother man.
 
 45 
 
 Distinction's grades were wisely thrown aside 
 
 As worthless gew-gaws, only gendering pride ; 
 
 And plodding Industry was seen to share, 
 
 His hard-earn'd pittance with the spendthrift's heir. 
 
 Debt's long arrear had shar'd, by general vote, 
 
 The fate of Jonah, sunk to save the boat ; 
 
 And freely shower'd their golden gains, on all, 
 
 The leaden Scriveners of Leaden-hall. 
 
 No more was heard the fierce Polemic's jar, 
 
 For creeds grown obsolete, in wordy war ; 
 
 Unbending Bigots, "graceless Zealots" fled, 
 
 Like noisome fogs before Aurora's tread ; 
 
 And doctrines once deem'd heterodox and strange, 
 
 Now harmless found, were sent at large to range. 
 
 Youth " for their faith accountable no more," 
 
 Rush'd fearless forth to reach the nearest shore : 
 
 Then science first expanded into day, 
 
 And new-born Freedom wanton'd in her ray. 
 
 I speechless gaz'd ; and lo ! it came to pass, 
 High on a pedestal of shining glass, 
 A form, that seem'd a female's, was reveal'd, 
 But mists obscure the head and neck conceaPd. 
 Like nearing bark, dilating to the view, 
 The shape stupendous, large, and larger grew ; 
 From clime to clime her out-stretch'd arms extend, 
 From pole to pole the wondering nations bend.
 
 46 
 
 The Atheist's breast her sovereign influence feels; — 
 His doubts recede, — he owns his Goddess ; — kneels. 
 The Papal throng her lofty praises sing, 
 And ready offerings to the Idol bring : 
 The sensual heart, with adulations low, 
 Comes fuming incense on her shrine to throw : 
 The Godless sleeper, and the child of pride, 
 Have each their arts, to gain her favor, tried ; 
 And feverish thirst of popular applause, 
 Ten thousand votaries to her temple draws. 
 
 Again I look'd : an Herald loud proclaim^!, 
 (Sedition once, now Agitation nam'd), — 
 " Where are the vile Enthusiasts that refuse, 
 " To bend obsequious to the people's views ? 
 " What wretched remnants of a darker age, 
 " Would stem the torrent of the people's rage ? 
 " Should one remain, let no compunctions spare 
 " The Monster, track'd like wild-beast to his lair ! 
 " Let fire and sword pursue, let fetters load, 
 " The base traducer of the people's God ! 
 " Let none enquire, let none lament his doom, 
 " But Scorn engrave ' Illiberal' on his tomb !" 
 
 Oh ! when will pride her maddening cup forsake, 
 Truth ope her eyes, and slumbering judgment wake ; 
 And own the ravings of the liberal scheme, 
 Shade of a shadow, strong Delusion's dream !
 
 47 
 
 If lav of mine might warning lesson tench, 
 With what affection would these lips beseech, 
 Cry with what fervor to each heart, Beware ! 
 Nor hood-wink'd rush, upon the liberal snare. 
 The world yet lies in wickedness, and still, 
 " Doctrines of Devils" have the power to kill ! 
 How can the sores, with glance unmov'd, be view'd, 
 Call'd " damning heresies" by holy Jude ? 
 How speak of peace, when God's dread laws declare, 
 Blackness, and darkness, anguish, and despair ? 
 Shall man, o'er-lept " th' unconquerable bar," 
 Speak "peace mid regions of eternal war ? 
 Can, Heaven-bom Charity, thy injur'd name, 
 Good to the haters of thy God proclaim ? 
 For inward love will specious terms avail, 
 When tongues shall cease, and prophecies shall fail ? 
 
 Thy terrors, Lord, oft as thy servant speaks, 
 And copious tears fall streaming from his cheeks, 
 Let prayers for all in errror and deceiv'd, 
 Rise from the knowledge of the truth believ'd. 
 Thy word is truth ! then fearless let me preach, 
 Un-aw'd by fashion, what thy records teach. 
 The last day's scoffers, at that word avow'd, 
 " Intolerance !" " Bigotry !" may shout aloud : 
 But gracious Lord, to me, devoid of dread, 
 Repeat what once to Ephesus was said,
 
 48 
 
 Say, what thou callest, days of mourning near, 
 
 On every witness, every Church to hear: 
 
 " I know thy works, and how thou can'st not bear 
 
 "The sons of evil, but with zealous care, 
 
 " By truth's bright test, Pretenders vain hast tried, 
 
 " And found them Satan's synagogue that lied. 
 
 " I know thy patience, which reproach has borne, 
 
 "By toil unwearied, and unmov'd by scorn : 
 
 " The faithful victor in the painful strife, 
 
 " Shall feed in Eden from the tree of life." 
 
 Oh, learn, my Country, in this sinful time, 
 Thy highest boasting is thy deepest crime : 
 The scheme profane that labors to unite, 
 Fair truth with error, devious wrong with right ; 
 For every party's every different name, 
 That equal praises dares with Evans ( 2 °) claim : 
 He who schismatics can together call, 
 Then smooth his brow, and say "God speed them all" ! 
 
 Woe for our modern Sceptics that deride 
 Jehovah's threatenings, as they smoothly glide, 
 Accurst Indifference ! from thy slippery brink, 
 Mid darkling waves, with infidels to sink ; 
 Then head-long hurried by the foaming surge, 
 Plunge in the whirlpool, never to emerge ! 
 Vain is the labor, impious the design, 
 That strives what God has parted to combine;
 
 49 
 
 . 'Mid all their toil, th' impervious gulph is fix'd, 
 And light still scorns with darkness to be mix'd. 
 How can the deed the reign of love increase, 
 When truth is stabb'd, then sacrific'd for peace ? 
 Why boast the glorious calm that is enjoy 'd, 
 When faith is ship-wreck'd, principle destroy'd ! 
 
 These are the tearful trophies to recall, 
 Thou beauteous fane, the period of thy fall ; 
 And these the ills which thousands have deplor'd, 
 That serve the mournful era to record. 
 Not all was mournful : far and wide was heard, 
 The glorious witness of the living word. 
 But false profession's fashionable hue, 
 To mar its growth in rank luxuriance grew : 
 Zeal's spurious children loudly might profess, 
 Yet cleave to earth, and love themselves no less ; 
 Some faithful Guide might hear from day to day, 
 Exhort, expound, expostulate, and pray ; 
 Appear the truth thus publish'd to receive, 
 Its laws to own, its doctrines to believe ; 
 Then prove that Satan still within them reign'd, 
 The heart unaltered and the tongue unchain'd : 
 Neglect, but hearers in the Christian school, 
 Truth, justice, equity, love's golden rule : 
 Forget, neglected these, all else is found, 
 
 Like empty brass, or cymbal's tinkling sound. ( 27 ) 
 
 E
 
 50 
 
 And oh ! what ills, nought else to name, have sprang, 
 From such Professors' smooth yet asp-like tongue. 
 Assail'd by this the spotless Being stood,^ 8 ) 
 Once scattering blessings on life's thorny road ; 
 What time the wanderer in the world his own, 
 What virtue was, in human shape made known. 
 And still how few the calumnies evade, 
 The licens'd Pharisee's licentious trade, f 29 ) 
 How oft has swollen pride, or envy pale, 
 Devis'd at morn, a well-concocted tale ; 
 Slander, ere eve, the monster wings supplied, 
 And sterling worth, quash'd by a rumor, died : 
 How oft has rous'd just indignation's tears, 
 The fame thus sullied, of some Veteran's years. 
 So yon bright sun, upon the horizon's verge, 
 His glories hiding in the western surge, 
 Views, ere his splendors in the Ocean fall, 
 Some night-birds blinking from the ruin'd wall ; 
 Then leave their gloom, and venture to display, 
 The dark wing waving in his setting ray. 
 
 Censorious Boaster, of thy " holier" state K 30 ) 
 Deluded Scorner, how I mourn thy fate ! 
 Know, case like thine anathema could draw, 
 From lips where kindness had transcrib'd her law.( 31 >
 
 M 
 
 THE MONUMENTS. 
 
 How sadly soothing 'mid these aisles to stray, 
 And talk with people of another day ! 
 To read the lay inscriptive, and the verse 
 Plac'd but the slumberer's titles to rehearse ; 
 That tells, each lip with ready praises blest 
 Him, that each human excellence possess'd : 
 As if perfection blossom'd 'neath the sun* 
 Or highest worth could fell detraction shun. 
 How turns the glance, the soft emotion fled, 
 Griev'd at the living, doubtful of the dead ! 
 Well spoke great Usher, when his suit he press'd, 
 And God in mercy granted his request : 
 " In all my errors, Lord, thy servant spare, 
 " And be the Publican's my latest prayer !" 
 
 Who has not oft, that inward look'd, deplor'd 
 That praise the good if living had abhorr'd ? 
 When he who writes, his narrow mansion vile 
 Shall leave, to triumph in his Saviour's smile ; 
 Oh let not one, thro' cruel zeal, presume, 
 With loathsome praise to desecrate my tomb ! 
 But if some sympathizing friend, that knew, 
 What joys and sorrows in my bosom grew ; 
 If such fond witness of my darkest days, 
 Some simple tablet on my grave would raise ; 
 
 2 E
 
 52 
 
 Be this the only record of the place : 
 
 " Reader, adore and seek a Saviour's grace" ! 
 
 Among inscriptions that are blazon'd round, 
 Some holy texts, like golden gems are found : 
 These were his heart affected by his eye, 
 Saint-like might teach the Gazer how to die. 
 Sheffield, I hail thy monument, that tells, 
 Truth yet may breathe where superstition dwells ; 
 Thy tomb I hail, a column to record, 
 Babel can hold the people of the Lord. 
 How fair the lustre of the sacred page, 
 Shines thro' the horrors of a gloomy age : 
 Did'st thou indeed no other plea provide, 
 But sue for mercy from the Lamb that died : 
 Taught by his Spirit in his name to pray, 
 Ask God on thee that mercy to display : 
 Then sleep with those that from their labors rest, 
 Thine is a portion with the ransom'd blest ! 
 Amaz'd I turn from monuments that call 
 For prayers, but bid the gushing tear-drops fall. 
 Oh, had their hearts the glorious truth believ'd, 
 And the sure witness of the word receiv'd ; 
 Learn'd how the blood for chiefest sinners spilt, 
 Purges the conscience of its every guilt; 
 When known its virtue, mighty to atone, 
 How vain the wish recorded on the stone !
 
 53 
 
 But see, unclouded by such monkish dreams, 
 How fair that simple monument of Eymes ! 
 " Thy truth my Spirit has its portion made, 
 " And all thy judgments were before me laid ; 
 " While 'mid the sorrows of this pilgrim scene, 
 " Thy statutes, Lord, my cheering song have been." 
 
 Coltree, I pause to hear before I pass, 
 Thy voice yet speaking from the plated brass. 
 Oh, let me seek while at thy tomb I stand, 
 To praise thy Maker in a holier land ; 
 Let me too tread, till life's last oil be spent, 
 This earth, with heart on heavenly things intent. 
 
 Nor let me fail thy walk devout to sing, 
 And peaceful end, indeed a Widow Byng. 
 " With kindred ashes ne'er the mortal mix'd, 
 " Th' immortal found an anchorage sure and fix'd. 
 " Her soul for God to glorify she gave, 
 " In heaven her land, her home beyond the grave ; 
 " And then no more to wander or to weep, 
 " She fell, fell sweetly in the Lord asleep." 
 
 But say who these, that here dis-rob'd of state, 
 The glorious advent of their Lord await ? 
 Heirs of one hope, partakers of one doom, 
 Blest Pair ! while living you prepaid a tomb ; 
 And here reclin'd the silence deep you break, 
 And e'en tho' dead, with voice instructive speak: 
 
 3 E '
 
 54 
 
 " Death surely conies, liow soon 'tis all unknown, 
 
 " The fleeting present only call thine own ; 
 
 *' He who prepares his monument is wise, 
 
 " Since none can waft his brother to the skies. 
 
 " On Death reflect, and Judgment's grand account, 
 
 " 'Twill help thee sin's allurements to surmount" 
 
 Jenkins, thy tomb the aching heart relieves, 
 O'er flattering epitaphs that inly grieves. 
 " Take ye your world, the wretched choice that make, 
 " Take, grave, thy portion, Lord, thy purchase take I 
 " Thy grace has perfected what plann'd thy love, 
 " The praise accept in courts prepaid above." 
 
 Yet wherefore, lingering, should the pensive Muse, 
 Thus love each sad memorial to peruse ! 
 Why search the vaults where ancient Kings recline, 
 For war-like Princes of the Saxon line ? 
 Or wherefore penetrate recesses deep, 
 Where seal'd for ages, eyes once wakeful sleep ? 
 Why stretch the lengthen'd catalogue to gaze, 
 From hoar Paulinus down to modern days ? 
 Why pause, to kindle but the mournful smile, 
 O'er all your titles, Wentworth and Carlisle ? 
 Not Howard's honors, Strafford's worth, could save, 
 Their transient wearers from the common grave. 
 Why tell the records that the gazer sees, 
 Of every state, and order of degrees j
 
 55 
 
 Or send swift thought, unbridled, to inspect, 
 Tombs with no lay or art of sculptor deck'd ; 
 And 'mid the tomes of wide conjecture find 
 Their life, who left no lingering wreck behind ? 
 
 Presumptuous thought ! tho' hid from human eye, 
 They all are known, their record is on high. 
 Talents, and trials, and each secret thought, 
 Ere long to light in judgment shall be brought : 
 A slumbering world the thrilling trump shall shake, 
 And every grave's respective tenant wake ; 
 Then all shall rise, not one exemption claim, 
 To glory some, and some to endless shame. 
 
 ♦ E
 
 THE ARGUMENT. 
 
 The awe excited on entering a Cathedral. — Reflections there. 
 
 The place favorable to retrospective meditation. — Reference 
 
 to the Temple of Solomon: — and the due claims of these 
 structures vindicated : — Their proper use, to raise the mind to 
 Heaven. — History aud laud of Psalmody. — Vast superiority of 
 Hebrew Song to Heathen productions. — Invocation. — The 
 Songs of Moses and Miriam, at the Red Sea, noticed: — Also, 
 the Song taught by Moses to Israel ; — the Song of Deborah and 
 Barak ; — and the Song of Hannah. — All the Prophets Poets. — 
 David the sweet Singer of Israel. — Beauty, excellence, and 
 utility of the Psalms: — Example of Christ for the frequent use 
 of them. — Benefit of singing with the understanding. — Won- 
 derful effect of singing praise to God in the engagement of 
 Jehoshaphat with the Ammonites. — Preaching in Cathedrals — 
 Its especial good effects just after the Reformation. — How the 
 Rulers of the Church were honored at that period. — Tide now 
 
 turned. Notice of Prelates who were Ornaments of the British 
 
 Church. — The abundance of these faithful Witnesses proof of 
 a true Church. — Discordant opinions of Opponents. — The three 
 Orders of the Church vindicated. — Learning should be the 
 handmaid of Religion. — Eulogium on the authorized Version 
 of the Bible. — Objections to the honors and titles of our 
 Church Governors, answered. — Angels in heaven, and Kings 
 on earth, and the arrangements of Nature, afford, by analogy, 
 an argument for the superiority of one Minister to another. — 
 Happiness of Angels. — Hooker's dying Reflections. — Address 
 to the Angels of the Church of England.— The Old Testament 
 Priesthood. — Institution of Apostles (afterwards Bishops), 
 Presbyters, and Deacons, in the New. — Poverty not essential 
 to honesty in the Clergy.— Origin, growth, sin, and punishment 
 of Sacrilege. — Examples of its retributive effects: Achan— 
 Zeba, Oreb, and Salmuna— Assyria— Sidon — Tyre — Heliodorus 
 
 Antiochus— Crassus— the Templars— Henry 8th— and Wol- 
 
 se y. — Transition. — Acceptable worship may be offered in the 
 Cottage ; — but strength and beauty are in the Sanctuary.
 
 PART III. 
 
 THE HISTORY AND PRAISE OF SACRED SONO. THE DIFFERENT 
 ORDERS IN TUE CHURCH. — THE SIN OF SACRILEGE. 
 
 He laid him down : the cold earth was his bed, 
 And Haran's stones the pillow for his head ; 
 He slept, — he dreamt, — and fill'd with solemn awe, 
 Descending Angels in his vision saw. 
 The twilight stillness words majestic broke, 
 And Heaven with earth, with man Jehovah spoke ! 
 From sleep he rose : — amazement lit his face : 
 He spoke, — " The Lord is surely in this place." — 
 Hail holy place ! by forms angelic trod, 
 '' This is none other, than the house of' 1 ) God" ! 
 
 And finds not he, who walks the cloisters dim 
 Of some vast fane, such feelings steal o'er him ? 
 The lofty vault, and arch superb, that spread 
 Their mournful shadows o'er the mighty dead ; 
 The massive columns, rang'd in order grand, 
 That 'mid the scene like Giant Guardians stand ;
 
 58 
 
 The solemn silence, and the echoing tomb, 
 
 The sadly soothing melancholy gloom ; 
 
 The reverend aspect of the ancient pile, 
 
 The pictured window, and the long-drawn aisle ; 
 
 What power have these the coldest heart to stir, 
 
 What feast luxuriant on the soul confer ? 
 
 The holy calm each jarring passion stills, 
 
 Emotion strange the gazer's bosom fills ; 
 
 As countless thoughts in quick succession rise, 
 
 In terms like these, he utters his surprize : 
 
 What mighty mind conceiv'd the vast design, 
 And bade each art in unison combine ? 
 Where now is he, whose heaven-taught genius plann'd. 
 So fair a structure on so frail a land ? 
 Liv'd, ere this grandeur could existence find, 
 The work thus perfect in a single mind ? 
 Or, here concentring from remotest age, 
 Did happiest art successively engage ? 
 What thousands once were in the work employ'd, 
 Whose very record ages have destroyed ! 
 Creative genius, and the hand that rais'd, 
 The crowd that wonder'd, and the heart that prais'd ; 
 The distant wanderer whom pervading awe 
 Fill'd, when it's vast magnificence he saw, 
 Have all departed from the scroll of fame, 
 Nor left, or only left, a shadowy name.
 
 59 
 
 Yet here, the soul as on some cliff sublime, 
 Can pore on lessons taught by elder time; 
 From age to age the backward glance pursue, 
 Talk with the dead, the scenic past review ; 
 Till thought absorb'd, remotest traces cross'd, 
 In thy deep maze, Antiquity, is lost. 
 
 What splendid Fabrics has Religion rear'd, 
 Bright as the Shrine on Zion that appear'd ! 
 That building beauteous with the polish'd stone, 
 The King of Kings selected for his throne : 
 He view'd well-pleas'd the Warrior-Monarch's care, 
 Content the rich materials to prepare ; ( 2 ) 
 And caus'd his Princes gladly to impart 
 Their costly offerings, with a willing heart. < 3 ' 
 'Twas his, crown'd Sage, with heavenly wisdom fill'd, 
 In peace the glorious Edifice to build ; 
 And all his suit was granted, when his face, 
 The mourner lifted to that holy place. W 
 (Thou holier Temple, once destroy'd for me, 
 In all my sorrows let me look to Thee !) 
 
 How was indifference to that House reprov'd, 
 When wrath subsiding was to mercy mov'd. 
 " Is it for you, ye ransom'd Captives, tell, 
 " At ease in sculpturM palaces to dwell ; 
 " While the lov'd Building which my presence grac'd, 
 " Lies lorn memorial of Assyrian ( 5 > waste" ?
 
 60 
 
 Nor think these time-spar'd monuments that stand, 
 The first fair records of each Christian land, 
 No hallow'd glow of transport can afford ; 
 Nor strike Devotion on her tenderest chord. 
 Think not such Domes, array'd in glittering pride 
 Swell, but the void of Piety to hide : 
 Think not, assembled in the sacred pile 
 The Artist's skill the Sculptor's purest style, 
 Screen, column, triglyph, capital, and frame, 
 A sinful homage from the gazer claim : 
 Where Gothic arches bright relievos fill, 
 And Anglo-Saxon joins with Norman skill ; 
 O deem not these in impious league combin'd, 
 To wed to earth, not raise to Heaven the mind. 
 Think not these charms, (unhallow'd thought !) appear. 
 To hide the absence of a heart sincere : 
 Call not the anthem from Cathedral quire, 
 Cold, or unkindled by Devotion's fire : 
 Name not the chaunt fair Piety's pretence, 
 The soul to wilder, while it strikes the sense : 
 Nor deem the Bard from thought censorious freed, 
 Whose cheek would blush for Psalmody to plead. 
 
 Hail to the Harp ! Arabia's happy plain, 
 Caught first the echoes of the glorious strain : 
 Then song grew sacred when the chosen seed, 
 Woke warblings wildly from the tuneful reed :
 
 61 
 
 Strains such as these ne'er echoed from the grove, 
 Where bright Urania magic numbers wove; 
 Or fell so softly from the sylvan scene, 
 Where tuneful Pan (so Pagans sing) had been. 
 To Israel's — blackness is Promethean fire, 
 And heard with Judah's — jars the Orphean lyre. 
 
 Fountain of light ! where Prophets fill'd in turn, 
 "With pure effulgence each his golden urn : 
 Spirit, whose influence swept o'er Jubal's wires, 
 Harmonious ran thro' Asaph's hymning Choirs : 
 
 let seme ray, with inspiration bless'd, 
 Dawn on the darkness brooding in my breast ; 
 Fill thou my soul, and let some gracious beam, 
 Pure from my heart, pass sweedy to my theme ! 
 
 The harp was tun'd, when rampires clear as glass, 
 Made thro' the sea mysterious way to pass; 
 The watery walls from lowest channels leap, 
 And Israel journeys thro' the parted deep ; 
 While unbless'd feet the swift pursuit that urge, 
 Descend like lead beneath the refluent surge. 
 
 1 hen first the Church, her warring ranks among, 
 Heard the lond echo of triumphant song ; 
 Their Saviour's praises awe-struck Israel sang, 
 
 And Shur's wild plains with Miriam's timbrel ( 6 ) rang I 
 
 And Shepherd-Prophet, how thy dulcet tongue 
 Pour'd soft persuasion, and divinely sung ;
 
 62 
 
 While Israel listen'd to that deathless speech. 
 Which unborn fathers shall their children teach. 
 Then dropp'd thy doctrine like the gracious rain, 
 That cheers the herbage on the thirsty plain : 
 Thy voice, with wisdom more than mortal fill'd, 
 Like Hermon's dew, on Hermon's rose W distill'd. 
 
 Hail to the harp ! which from the palm-tree shade, 
 The fearful strong, — the brave more valiant made ; 
 When Israel rush'd, as wild its notes arose, 
 And dealt destruction on their haughty foes. 
 They fought from Heaven ; each rolling orb of light. 
 Confusion shed on Jabin's car-borne might : 
 Whelm'd horse and horseman Kishon's ancient flood 
 And blush'd Megiddo's wave with kingly blood : 
 While Deborah mingled in the choral throng, 
 And Barak led captivity along. ( 8 ) 
 
 And where it's beams the bright Shechinah shed, 
 In favor'd Shiloh ere the glory fled ; 
 When she who wept, had all her suit preferr'd 
 To Israel's God, and Israel's God had heard ; 
 What grateful breathings in her bosom bura'd 
 When with her wish to Eli she return' d ; 
 And gave the boon, with tearful prayers implor'd, 
 With song triumphant, — holy to the Lord. ( 9 ) 
 
 But why proceed ? Not these alone the lyre 
 To strains of rapture woke, and words of fire ;
 
 63 
 
 From age to age the kindling influence ran, 
 Thro' holy Prophets, since the world began. ( 10 ) 
 
 Yet chief for Thee, these humble hands of mine, 
 A wreath unfading, Jesse's son, would twine ; 
 Whose words each morn, at noontide, and by night. 
 Team with instruction, solace, or delight ! 
 Sweetly thy notes the vaulted roof prolongs, 
 As Christian worship blends with Zion's songs. 
 O might that harp the holy influence bring, 
 Which sooth'd the troubled spirit of the King, 
 To rest- each ruffling gust of passion charm, 
 Thrill thro' each pulse, each better feeling warm ; 
 Then, own'd again the Minstrel's potent skill, 
 The evil spirit would be banish'd still ! ( u ) 
 
 Ye verdant pastures, and unfading groves, 
 Where Joy with Peace, and Hope with Transport, roves ! 
 Ye bounteous tables laden with delight, 
 Ye crystal rills, fresh sparkling to invite ! 
 Perennial wreaths Devotion loves to cull, 
 Springs ever flowing, and for ever full ! 
 But oh ! created beauties fail to trace, 
 The radiant shinings of unbounded grace. 
 Fields made luxuriant for the ransom'd flock, 
 Where Israel's Shepherd is the sheltering rock ; 
 And wanderers once, — now hearkening to his voice, 
 Lie down at noon, by " waters still" rejoice !
 
 64 
 
 Gardens of bliss ! where every plant is plac'd, 
 Fair to the sight, and pleasant to the taste ; 
 Without one Tree, the interdict repeal'd, 
 On tempting bough forbidden fruit to yield. 
 No ! but the Tree whose never-fading leaf, 
 Heals every nation of it's every grief; 
 The tree of life, with glorious promise fair, 
 Grows in the centre of the blessings there ! 
 Fountains of life, whose waters as they burst, 
 Give youth immortal, quench for ever thirst ; 
 Whose springs of comfort, as they sweetly glide, 
 Roll thro' the wilderness their gladd'ning tide ; 
 Till streams of grace in floods of glory sink, 
 Where saints fresh joy from seas exhaustless drink. 
 Delusion strange ! that leaves the plenteous board, 
 To starve on husks which Heathens can afford ; 
 Quits noonday sun for Schoolman's peevish page, 
 Or visual speck of mole-eyed grov'lling Sage. 
 
 Ye lays immortal, when Devotion's hand, 
 Awakes your sweetness in this distant land ; 
 How pants the soul upon the morning's wings, 
 To soar away from sublunary things ! 
 She feels her chains : and trembling, mounting, longs 
 To sing unfetter'd, heavenly Zion's songs. 
 
 The holy Church while militant, from hence 
 Draws her bright arms and weapons of defence ;
 
 65 
 
 Learns, 'mid the fury of the battle's roar, 
 To look on Conquerors that have warr'd before ; 
 To shout their triumphs, — sigh their sad complaints; 
 And find their refuge when the spirit faints. 
 In these sweet songs, while in the vale of tears, 
 They tell their hopes, their sorrows, and their fears ; 
 And infants mingling in the prayer-ful ranks, 
 Lift up their voice to worship and give thanks. 
 
 Pilgrim, to regions of unclouded day ! 
 "With God thy Guide, and Holiness thy way ; 
 Here thou shalt join, e'en in the desert's maze, 
 The blissful concert, they who weep not, raise : 
 Here shalt thou learn, dispell'd thy nature's night, 
 Jehovah's praise accepted to recite. 
 Creation's wonders, an unbounded store, 
 His power shall tell, and call thee to adore : 
 And clearer seen, these wonders shalt thou trace, 
 Thro' love redeeming, and renewing grace ; 
 Then utter forth, emerg'd from reasonings dim, 
 To Alehim's throne ; the Triune God, thy hymn ! 
 
 Who would not praise thee, prais'd in ages gone, 
 Mysterious Majesty, for ever One ? 
 Thy day — eternity ; thy glorious name, 
 Thro' changing years, unchangeably the same ! 
 Thou fillest all things ; earth, and sea, and sky ; 
 And searchest all tilings, with omniscient eye. 
 
 F
 
 66 
 
 Almighty Maker ; Independent Lord ! 
 
 All worlds upholding, fashion'd by thy word ; 
 
 Wise, holy, gracious, merciful, and just ; 
 
 Who would not fear Thee, and thy goodness trust ? 
 
 Who would not praise Thee, glorious, faithful, true, 
 
 Immortal God ! to whom all praise is due ? 
 
 Mourner in Zion, with thy guilt oppress'd, 
 Weigh'd down in spirit, in thy heart distress'd ; 
 Silent and sad, and cast from Mercy's sight, 
 In darkness walking, and depriv'd of light : 
 Say, have thy sins thy Saviour's presence hid, 
 And art thou drooping, by thy wanderings chid ? 
 Come with thy sins, thy sorrow, and thy pain ; 
 These sacred songs shall teach thee to complain : 
 Pour out thy heart ; thy wretchedness confess, 
 Thy God will hear thee ; — tell him thy distress. 
 For, list ! the harp that calls thee to arise, 
 Sounds soft, responsive to thy plaintive sighs : 
 That contrite soul the Spirit's work reveals, 
 The broken heart, his quickening mercy heals : 
 Soon shall his hand, whose ear thy grief has heard, 
 Put off thy sackcloth, and with gladness gird! 
 
 Suppliant in Zion ! trembling at the gate, 
 To tell thy wants, thy wishes to relate : 
 What are thy wishes ? what thy wide request ? 
 Unbosom both ; relieve thy bursting breast :
 
 67 
 
 Whate'er thy suit, these strains divine supply, 
 A prayer to waft thy meaning' to the sky. 
 Perverse and blind, we know not if untaught, 
 Or how, or what, to pray for as we ought : 
 Come here and learn, and Mercy will fulfil 
 Each prayer, if ask'd accordant to his will. 
 Mercy, repentance, holiness, and peace, 
 Grace to restore thee, pardon to release : 
 Is this thy wish ? and this thy every want ? 
 All this his promise has engaged to grant. 
 Come, boldly come, each sinful fear resign; 
 Thy heart's desire, thy full request is thine ! 
 Children of Zion ! glorying in your King, 
 Divinely taught with melody to sing; 
 Does kindling gratitude your bosom warm ? 
 O take the psaltery, bring the cheerful psalm ! 
 The tuneful lay will fan the sacred fire, 
 Ere in thy heart's cold climate it expire : 
 These holy Odes, the grateful note to swell, 
 On theme, " the Lord is good," delighted dwell : 
 How wise the purpose of his hidden ways ! 
 How every work his tenderness displays ! 
 How deep the mystery of redeeming love ! 
 How high his thoughts, the highest heavens above ! 
 Tell how that love thy captive misery view'd, 
 Sent peace on mercy's errand, and renew'd 
 
 2 F
 
 68 
 
 Thy soul from death, and, out of depths profound, 
 With pastoral kindness led, with goodness crown'd, 
 And canst thou ransom'd from the yawning grave, 
 Forget the succoring arm so strong to save ? 
 No ! while one spark in life's last socket plays, 
 Still breathe thy thanks ; still utter forth thy praise ; 
 And shout, while sinking in the shades of death, 
 " O praise the Lord, all creatures that have breath" ! 
 
 Majestic anthems ! which while seasons march, 
 Your sweetness lift above the echoing arch : 
 How shall I call you ? Heavenly songs of praise, 
 Messiah's manual in his mortal days ! 
 How more than bless'd the spirit that maintains, 
 With God communion in your tuneful strains. 
 Oh ! that the sounds so grateful to the ear, 
 Were always tokens of a heart sincere : 
 Music would then, with Poesy combin'd, 
 Lift up to heaven the dust-adhering mind ; 
 And seem these rites, sublime, expressive, chaste, 
 Like golden fruit in silver pictures plac'd ! 
 Then from our Temple's Courts might daily rise, 
 Well-pleasing incense wafted to the skies ; 
 As from the Choirs adjusted by their king, 
 Rang'd round the ark alternately to sing ; 
 And all who listen'd to the sacred strain, 
 Or soothing sweet, or glow seraphic, gain.
 
 69 
 
 , Who has not felt, by Israel's singer taught, 
 Fresh to his heart, thy gush, emotion, brought ? 
 Nor thought of Him to wondering death a prey, 
 Who sang on Olivet the Hallel's lay; < 12 ) 
 His followers taught to utter with delight, 
 Mirth in their sorrow, melody by night ; 
 Show'd where to turn for comfort in their woes, — 
 How meet the fury of their bitterest foes. 
 
 What praise was Music's when the countless band 
 Rush'd, breathing slaughter o'er the holy land ; 
 What time the Monarch with the Korhites stood, 
 And chaunted praises, that the Lord is good : 
 When seiz'd with phrenzy at the sacred note, 
 Their foes self-slaughtering each his fellow smote : 
 And Israel triumph'd, shielded by the. Lord, 
 And God's high praises, for their two-edg'd ( 13 ) sword. 
 
 Nor waft from hence strains jubilant alone, 
 Glad tribute daily to the Godhead's throne. 
 In walls cathedral gather'd crowds have heard, 
 The joyful tidings of the living word. 
 While yet that word was precious, nor its sound 
 As now, had traversed Albion's coasts around ; 
 It kindled transport in the listener's breast, 
 Brought light, and life, and sanctity, and rest ; 
 When there he heard, the morn of promise young, 
 Redemption's glories in his native tongue : ( l4 ) 
 
 3 F
 
 70 
 
 For where that word an entrance bless'd has won, 
 There has the dawn of endless day begun. 
 
 Yes, ere the Powers of Papal darkness fled, 
 And sunbright Truth its beams benignant shed ; 
 The "man of sin" had foretaste of his death, 
 Lord, at the chiding of thy blasting breath ! 
 From mouth to mouth the bless'd confession ran, 
 And heaven-taught Prelates led the glorious van. 
 Then dauntless Champions from that Order bled, 
 Made now a scorn and shaking of the head ; 
 And gain'd that name it's well-earn'd meed of praise, 
 The scoffer's bye-word in these lawless days. 
 
 Ye Marian Martyrs ! joyful to endure 
 The fire and faggot, for a conscience pure ; 
 Shall all your triumphs, all your trials fail, 
 When casts her sword Dictation in the scale ? 
 Nor they the first in rank, who first the flame 
 Out-brav'd, from insult shield the Bishop's name ? 
 
 Oh venerated Church ! for thy dear sake, 
 Martyrs well-pleas'd have hasten'd to the stake ! 
 Prophets have pray'd, Apostles watchings kept, 
 Pastors have preach'd, Evangelists have wept ; 
 Monarchs have kneel'd, devoted Champions died, 
 God's own Elect by day and night have cried ! 
 Grey hairs with joy the goodly fabric prais'd, 
 And infant lips the loud Hosanna rais'd :
 
 71 
 
 While cheerful thousands lavish'd for thy good, 
 Their time, their tears, their talents, and their blood ! 
 What thrillings deep your honor'd names recall, 
 Cranmer and Whitgift, Usher, Leighton, Hall ! 
 How did your voices sound the glorious word, 
 Ridley and Jewel, Reynolds, Beveridge, Hurd ! 
 How can the good your sacred Order scorn, 
 Bedel, and Wilson, Butler, Porteus, Home ! 
 Not in the dust but in the realms of day, 
 Planets and stars their glittering ranks display; 
 There nightly shining 'mid the clouds serene, 
 Enthron'd in light, the marshall'd orbs are seen. 
 Some fallen star in lower realms may blaze, 
 Some wandering fire spread terror and amaze ; 
 But 'mid the plains where lamps nocturnal beam, 
 And halo-circled constellations gleam, 
 No meteor long arrests the gazer's eye, 
 Tis fix'd on Heaven, tis gazing on the sky ! 
 Thro' Indian stream may pass some golden grains, 
 The surface stratum speak of silver veins, 
 Tho' here not long, for gem and precious ore, 
 Will merchant search his rich and radiant store : 
 But where deep-bedded in the earth afar, 
 It glows incrusted with the shingly spar ; 
 There untold treasures unexhausted shine, 
 Whispering, Peruvia, of thy wealthiest mine. 
 
 4 F
 
 72 
 
 Ye Anglian stars ! with God's own glory deck'd, 
 His power to manifest, his love reflect ; 
 You shed resplendent on obscurest night, 
 The beams you borrow'd from the world's true light ! 
 From darkness once 'twas yours the blind to turn, 
 Now star-like 'mid the firmament to burn ! 
 'Twas yours, to sinners in the vale below, 
 Riches and grace unsearchable to show : 
 Full many a wanderer, yours the wise concern, 
 From paths of sin to righteousness to turn : 
 And now to shine, where glorious seraphs sing, 
 The glittering jewels of your God and King ! 
 
 In these our days when blasphemies prevail, 
 What foes, lov'd Church, thy " mitred front" assail : 
 What troops unite thy battlement to storm, 
 Beneath the specious banner of Reform ! 
 The God that bought them traitors who deny, 
 Combine with all indifferent to their lie; 
 And teachers, souls unstable that beguile, 
 Despise dominions, dignities revile, 
 Against their passive victim plan the blow, 
 That lays in dust thy hoary honors low. 
 In vain those honors, vain thy glories fair ; 
 Callous their hearts to pity or to spare : 
 Concordant discords swell the tocsin sound, 
 "Down, down," rebellowing, "raze it to the ground !'
 
 73 
 
 , You whom our forms and discipline displease, 
 Are you too heard 'mid voices such as these ? 
 O pause ; nor think if Anarchy should reign, 
 You by the change new dignity would gain : 
 Pause, lest you help untimely to destroy, 
 Wells where your fathers water drew with joy ; 
 Where thousands still, as once their sires of old, 
 Communion bless'd with God their Saviour hold. 
 
 Call not the Church's Orders and Degrees, 
 But couches plac'd for indolence and ease ; 
 For nurtur'd here, — are talents to explore 
 The boundless realms of Scripture's sacred lore : 
 And, slowly rising, each gradation pass'd, 
 Learning and zeal the summit gain at last. 
 
 Mistake not, vain Philosopher ! 'Tis yours 
 A ray to dart, which wilders and obscures. 
 Grasp in thy puny hand the boundless main, 
 Entice yon chariot from the azure plain ; 
 But what the world by wisdom never knew, 
 Think not to ope to blinded nature's view. 
 Wisdom tho' various, learning tho' profound, 
 In highest place of holiest office found, 
 Refusing, child-like, to the truth to bend, 
 Can nought but gloom perpetuate and extend. 
 But learning chasten'd to the hand-maid's place, 
 Owning her Lord, and sanctilied by grace,
 
 74 
 
 Can guard the trust committed to the saints ; 
 Expose each sophistry delusion paints j 
 And scoffers show, how each succeeding age 
 Unfolds the mysteries of the sacred page. 
 
 Thus meekly wise, how many a name combines 
 The milky zone, where Anglian Diptych shines. 
 Such meed was theirs, the foremost to reveal 
 The Book which error labor'd to conceal, 
 Why tell when morn with beauteous feet appear'd, 
 What murky clouds " The Bishop's Bible" clear'd ; 
 How Tindal, Matthews, Coverdale, unbind < 15 ) 
 That Word, no longer from the flock confin'd. 
 
 And who were honorM in the work a<jain, 
 To write the vision, and to make it plain ? 
 Educ'd the matchless version that appears, 
 Hoar with the honors of two hundred years ? 
 Tho' fluent, faithful to the sacred text ; 
 Simple, tho' grand ; sublime, but not perplex'd. 
 Hail happy labor ! Glory of our isle, 
 How every grace is centred in thy style ! 
 What page, like thine, so feelingly can touch, 
 Inspire the soul, and warm the heart so much ? 
 What page, like thine, the trembling spirit awe, 
 And tears from eyes unus'd to weeping draw ? 
 What guide, to Truth so safely can conduct, 
 What Angel tongue so pleasantly instruct ?
 
 75 
 
 Departed Laborers ! worthy of regard, 
 
 Andrews and Barlow, Abbot, Smith, and Ward ! ( 16 ) 
 
 Pleas'd in a task so sacred to engage, 
 
 You ponder'd prayerful on the Hebrew page, 
 
 The promis'd fire of holy guiding caught, 
 
 And Hebrew Minstrels Anglian numbers taught : 
 
 Churchmen and those for conscience who secede, 
 
 Both call your labors to attest their creed. 
 
 (Lord, when shall each thy Spirit's call attend 
 
 And strifes no more thy mystic body rend ?) 
 
 Ask yon Divine, with search recondite pale, 
 Each eastern tongue he ventur'd to assail ; 
 From year to year no midnight oil he spai J d, 
 Codex collated, Manuscripts compar'd : 
 Then hear him own, unalter'd by his pains, 
 The English version unimprov'd remains. 
 
 But those o'erlook'd, who " double honor" claim, 
 All ranks and titles evil tongues defame. 
 Why, levelling zeal with indignation cries, 
 Shoots Priestly grandeur to so vast a size ? 
 What learn'd Episcopalian can adduce 
 A text to sanction each gradation's use ? 
 
 Would such objectors who objections make, 
 For plunder some, and some for cavil's sake ; 
 But weigh the changes time has wrought since then, 
 When roam'd the Christian one proscrib'd of men ;
 
 76 
 
 Confess that some the Church's sons must guide, 
 Pastors appoint, and at the helm preside ; 
 Not love to censure, but a moment pause, 
 To search the source of order and her laws ; 
 Nor vainly hope in page inspir'd to find, 
 Rules meant minutest act of man to bind : 
 No longer strive the office to traduce, 
 By urging oft its officers' abuse : 
 Would they but leam in meekness to submit, 
 To duties plainly in the Scriptures writ ; — 
 Janglings like these would in a moment cease, 
 And Brethren join'd, for bitterness have peace. 
 
 Do earthly Kings by God's appointment reign, 
 Nor civil Judges bear the sword in vain ? < 17 ) 
 Then human power comes claiming for it's birth, 
 Thy will, thou " Monarch of the Kings of earth." 
 Thro' smiling nature's chequer'd light and shade, 
 God calls on beauteous order to pervade : 
 He too appoints in happier worlds than ours, 
 " Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms,Virtues, Powers." 
 Archangels marshal there angelic ranks, 
 Lead to the Throne to worship and give thanks. 
 Tho' each is bless'd, and sated with delight, 
 Yet order shines throughout their legions bright. 
 Ye sons of God ! ye morning stars that gild 
 The happy courts with glory ever fill'd ;
 
 77 
 
 'Burning with love, undying, — undecay'd, 
 Beaming more bright as earthly empires fade : 
 Ye who for knowledge to the fountain go, 
 Learn without labor, without sorrow know : 
 Living thro' ages of unmeasured length, 
 Beauteous in goodness, excellent in strength : 
 Exalted far beyond each rolling orb, 
 You leave the ills which human hearts absorb: 
 WingM with Devotion of immortal growth, 
 By pride unchill'd, impiety or sloth : 
 Envy too keen for mortals to withstand, 
 Blasts not, by breathing on your happier land : 
 Angels the riches of their Maker's grace 
 See in the glory of Archangel's face : 
 Feel kindling love excited at the view, 
 And hail his Deputy with reverence due ! 
 Immortal Hooker ! in thy parting strife, 
 Tir'd with the strange vicissitudes of life, 
 Well might'st thou hope in Angels' home to find, 
 The lucid order moulded on thy mind : 
 How wilt thou triumph when the saints that sleep, 
 In Jesus waken never more to weep ; 
 And hear their Saviour call them from the dust, 
 To share the joys awaiting for the just; 
 And stand approv'd, the heavenly threshold trod, 
 Ecpial to Angels, children of their God. ( l8 )
 
 t 
 
 78 
 
 Angels of England ! Consecrated band, 
 To combat error, doctrines strange withstand : 
 Fathers rever'd, and Pastors lov'd, take heed, 
 The flock of .Christ with living bread to feed. 
 Quit you like men : be valiant for the truth ; 
 Mark gifts and graces in the rising youth ; 
 O help the faithful : with the chastening rod, 
 Silence corrupters of the word of God. 
 Let not the Church her opening arms extend, 
 To those who scorn her doctrines to defend : 
 Position false let not her pale afford, 
 To dream or dogmatize, not preach the Lord ! 
 Thy work, O God, amid the years revive, 
 Strike the bless'd fire, and keep the flame alive : 
 Then, tho' the skies with gloomy aspect lower, 
 And muttering thunders tell of judgment's hour : 
 Tho' loud and louder rise the threat'ning breeze, 
 Till hands rapacious sacred treasures seize : 
 Thou, Lord, art King tho' angry waters swell, 
 And with thy presence, all shall yet be well. 
 
 Let him adverse our Hierarchy who sees, 
 Think of the Priest-hood's Orders and Degrees : 
 The High Priest first, then Priests and Levites came, 
 Varied their ranks their origin the same. 
 And oh ! what fate was their's who dar'd aspire, 
 To serve God's altar with unhallow'd fire :
 
 79 
 
 Let opening earth the dreadful tale recite, 
 Uzziah's hand the fearful history write ! ( 19 > 
 Nor deem in vain such records left hefore ; 
 Christians may perish in the sin of Core. ^ 20 ) 
 Think too, ye lovers of the Scripture rule, 
 Of hoary Samuel, and the Prophets' school ; 
 Whence He who knows the secrets of each heart, 
 Chose Prophets oft, his counsels to impart ; 
 As Pastors now, his Providence and Grace, 
 Call from a lower to a higher place. 
 
 But'grounds far higher can the Church adduce, 
 To shield her ancient orders from abuse ; 
 To God's last record can she fearless send, 
 Her Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, to defend. 
 Nor proves th' enjoyment of a common name, 
 Their office uniform, their rank the same. 
 What tho' the Master, when the twelve he chid, 
 Lordship and rule among themselves forbid ; 
 Yet these his chosen, honor'd more than they 
 Sent thro' the world his Gospel to convey, 
 He gave to sit in judgment on a throne, 
 And dimly represent the light his own : 
 As Israel's Princes of their tribes, the chief 
 Surpass'd the Elders rais'd for their relief. 
 And when the Saviour, mindful of his word, 
 His last best gift, his Paraclete conferr'd ;
 
 80 
 
 When rushing tempest-like the Spirit came, 
 And sat on each cleft tongues of lambent flame; 
 How then bestow'd his holy aid on each, 
 The Agent mightiest every truth to teach ? 
 The members' part, to each assigned his will, 
 Not all the head's high functions to fulfil : 
 To some, the church to plant were gifts supplied, 
 Some, o'er the church were planted to preside. 
 Nor fail'd each honor' d Instrument of Heaven, 
 To use the power for ends specific given ; 
 But charg'd, ordain' d, commanded, and disclos'd 
 The Teachers false, to God and truth oppos'd : 
 And as at first, thro' after years decreed, 
 Successive Overseers, the Church to feed. 
 How well the words, the simple truth repeat, 
 Sent to your Bishops, Ephesus and Crete ! 
 When Guides like these inspir'd Apostles plac'd, 
 Was holy influence from their minds effac'd ? 
 Let him who doubts, that gracious word attend ; 
 " Lo ! I am with you always, — to the end." < 21 ) 
 
 Nor think high Rank and Dignity a crime, 
 Tho' found in Witnesses of Truth sublime. 
 How both were blended ere your gold was dim, 
 Illustrious Rulers, of the Sanhedrim ! 
 If dread examples can attention win, 
 Look on the Rebel who made Israel sin :
 
 31 
 
 How fast hi* dire impiety increas'd, 
 Who made the lowest in the land a Priest, t 22 ) 
 Oh ! could this hand in colors true expose, 
 From whence the cry of Sacrilege arose ; 
 It's dire effects in every nation trace, 
 And track it's footsteps to its native place ! 
 *' Will man rob God" ? Ensconc'd in deep disguise, 
 *' In what" ? the fool's heart fearlessly replies. 
 " I know not God, and mean not to obey 
 *' The voice, that seeks my liberty to sway. 
 *' Who is the Lord ? to worship him is vain, 
 ** And hard the. task diurnal, to complain. 
 " Are not the proud, the thoughtless, and the gay, 
 " By far more happy than the saints who pray ? 
 " How should Jehovah from his lofty throne, 
 " Mark the loud laugh, or hear the heavy groan ? 
 " How can my thoughts be naked to his gaze ? 
 " I know not, wish not, to observe his ways ! 
 *' And why loves grandeur from her richest hoard, 
 <( For useless rites her treasures to afford ? 
 " Why should the Priest monopolize the mine ? 
 " Riches far less might answer for the shrine." 
 Language like this was in the heart conceiv'd, 
 When first thy lie, dull Reason, was believ'd. 
 Produc'd, 'twas grafted on " all evil's root," 
 And death eternal is the bitter fruit. 
 
 G
 
 82 
 
 Where is the King, the Kingdom, or the Tribe 
 Thus stain'd, thatswift-wing'd recompence could bribe ? 
 What wretched footsteps, bordering on despair, 
 Rush'd to the bait, and miss'd the hidden snare ? 
 O see, how constant the polluted hand, 
 Brings swift destruction on a guilty land. 
 Such culprits stand like monuments aecurs'd, 
 Where wrath's dread vials have in fury burst : 
 Here judgment sure with rapid flight precedes ; 
 In future worlds what long remorse succeeds ! 
 
 Yon lone heap ask, in Achor's mournful vale, ( 23 > 
 What truth corroborates the fearful tale ? 
 How deep the crime aveng'd on Midian's day, 
 Zeba, and Oreb, and Salmuna, say ! ( 24 ) 
 Princes who cried, in Israel's deep distress, 
 " Come let us haste their temples to possess" ! 
 Why tell the fire retributive from God, 
 That stay'd the fury of Assyria's rod ; 
 Assyria daring, awe's restraint unfelt, 
 The House to plunder where Jehovah dwelt ? t 25 ) 
 Why name the sentence, the requital dire, 
 Pour'd on the pride of Sidon and of Tyre ? P°) 
 Who darM to offer to their Gods abhorr'd, 
 The hallow'd treasures of the only Lord ? 
 Why the dread list should Heliodorus swell ? ( 27 ) 
 Or thee, Antiochus, what end befel P < 28 )
 
 83 
 
 Why turn where Crassus on the Parthian plain, 
 Reap'd harvest sorrowful of sinful gain ? < 29 ) 
 Why tell what angry judgments undelay'd, 
 O'ertook the Templars in the wild Crusade ? ( 30 ) 
 Or why, my Country, should the hard recall, 
 Thy Henry's phrenzy, and his Wolsey's fall ; < 31 > 
 And pause, with burning blushes to relate, 
 How each was taken by the golden bait ? 
 But, search each history from it's earliest page, 
 Each land examine from remotest age ; 
 And "own the actors of a deed so dark, 
 Of righteous vengeance bear no dubious mark : 
 They stand like wrecks upon the quicksands driven. 
 Or scath'd oaks shrivel!' d by the fire from Heaven : 
 Each has a voice : " Attend each future, time ! 
 " Behold our fate ; — abominate our crime" ! 
 
 Yet not alone upon the pompous pile, 
 Religion lingers to bestow her smile. 
 The ling-thatch'd cottage on the lonely moor, 
 That yields precarious shelter for the poor, 
 Perchance, in naked sanctity may vie, 
 With proudest steeple, towering to the sky ! 
 That dome is sacred, sanctified by prayer ; 
 And He, the High and Lofty One, is there! 
 There, like the volume in the Jewish shrine, 
 Is found the copy of the Law divine :
 
 84 
 A flame, unkindled by a mortal hand, 
 Burns in the bosom of that little band ; 
 And prostrate falling at the Saviour's feet, 
 His perfect offering is their mercy-seat ! 
 Nor wanting sacrifice : for each apart, 
 Yields God th' oblation of a broken heart : 
 Unseen, — yet felt, the Angel that attends, 
 And prayer and praise the incense that ascends ! 
 Thou Power ! whom not the Heaven of Heavens 
 confines, 
 Nor space contains by limitary lines ; 
 What fane too gorgeous for thy glorious feet ; 
 What cell too humble for thy gracious seat ! 
 Yet in the place selected for thy name, 
 With clearest lustre burns the living flame. 
 Then pilgrim, waiting for the sacred fire, 
 Oh ! late, and early, at his courts enquire : 
 His courts reflect the beauty of his grace : 
 Respond his mandate ; — " Lord, we seek thy face" ! 
 So shall thy soul his quick'ning mercy share, 
 For life he gives, and grants the blessing there.
 
 THE ARGUMENT. 
 
 Subject proposed. — England one of the ten horns mentioned 
 by Daniel. — Design of this Part. — The pretensions of the 
 Romish Church protested against long before the Reformation. 
 — Aidan observed Easter at a different time to Rome. — Alcuin 
 opposed the worship of Images. — Alfred protected Scotus, who 
 controverted the doctrine of Transubstantiation. — Athelstan 
 promoted the translation of the Scriptures. — Elfcre (Earl of 
 Mercia) encouraged the marriage of the Clergy — Abp. Wulstan 
 caused the Writings of Alfric to be read, who combated the 
 doctrine of the " real presence," and other Papal notions of 
 the mass — in Cent. 10. — Hiklebrand's Edicts are withstood in 
 the 11th Cent. — The Statutes of Clarendon. — Richard the 1st 
 hears the Apocalypse expounded — and the Waldenses appear — 
 in Cent. 12. — First Crusade against this People — and Bishop 
 Grosthead's famous Protest against Innocent the 4th — in the 
 13th Cent. — Wickliff appeared in Cent. 11 — His character, 
 success, and treatment. — Revival of Letters — Sawtre, Badby, 
 and Cobham, Martyrs — in Cent. 15. — Luther comes forward 
 early in the 16th Cent. — The principal Errors protested against 
 at the Reformation. — Prominence of the Doctrine of Justifica- 
 tion by faith. — Progress of the Reformation under Henry the 
 8th. — Merits of Edward the 6th. — Accession of Queen Mary. — 
 Marian Martyrs. — Many of the Bps. suspended and imprisoned 
 — Several of them summoned before their Adversaries. — Mar- 
 tyrdom of Rogers —Followed by that of Bp. Hooper — and 
 others. — Deportment, and Confession, of Taylor at the Stake. — 
 Bps. Ridley and Latimer burnt together. — Fall, recovery, and 
 martyrdom of Abp. Cranmer. — The Reformation completed 
 under Queen Elizabeth.
 
 PART IV. 
 
 THE FREQUENT PROTESTS OF FAITHFCL WITNESSES FOR TUE 
 TRUTH, IN BRITAIN, AGAINST THE ERRORS OF THE PAPAL 
 SYSTEM, FROM THE TIME OF THE SAXONS. THE RE- 
 FORMATION. 
 
 Twice thirty Prelates Ebor's chair had held, W 
 Ere orient truth the cloud in part dispell'd, 
 That, gathering blackness, wide had spread from Rome, 
 Religious, moral, intellectual gloom. 
 Too dread, too daring, were the Muse's flight, 
 Thro' centuries wrapp'd in worse than Egypt's night, 
 To sing,— commencing from her natal hour, 
 How rose at first, how grew the monstrous Power, 
 That still enlarg'd her sorceries with her reign ; — 
 Forg'd link by link, the soul-enthralling chain ; 
 Till high o'er prostrate thrones she reared her seat, 
 And Earth's tiaras trampled 'neath her feet. 
 
 Nor this the theme, what time a hand unseen 
 ** Upharsin" wrote, where rcign'd the Tuscan Queen ; 
 
 1 G
 
 88 
 
 How sprang, from Empire's wreck asunder tornv 
 Amid its fellows England's regal horn ; W 
 How, reason's ken delusion's influence seal'd, 
 As o'er the isle the Papal thunders peal'd ; 
 Till heavenly might the dire enchantment broke, 
 And from her trance the spell-struck captive woke. 
 
 Be mine the search, (for such e'en then were found, 
 When strongest fetters Prince and People bound,) 
 For those who dar'd, — a small unflinching band, 
 The giant arm'd from time to time — withstand ; 
 And show not wholly rais'd his voice in vain, 
 The woe-clad Witness on our Dura's plain. < 3 ) 
 
 Yes, long in Britain ere Reformer's blow, 
 Had dash'd the Arch-Usurper's sceptre low ; 
 Sure as when causes work effects succeed, 
 Ere fell his kingdom, was its fall decreed. 
 The baseless fabric of unscriptural sway, 
 Was sapp'd, and totier'd, long ere Luther's day. 
 Then, Boaster, tell of concord's rare increase, 
 First make a solitude then call it peace: 
 Not all was peace, — when Aidan's flock refus'd, 
 To change the seasons that their fathers us'd ; 
 And look'd on those the Church of God no less, 
 Who dar'd dissent from Romish rules profess. (4 i 
 
 A nobler stand succeeding years disclose, 
 And sorer ills 'twas Alcuin's to oppose :
 
 80 
 fJi Sj — f rom the scriptures boldly to refute 
 Worship to emblems, and to relics mute; 
 And early show, as impious rites began, 
 God's word more binding than decree of man. < 5 ) 
 
 Spirit of Alfred ! Master-mind, awhile 
 In mercy lent, the lorn-distracted isle ; 
 What patriot Bard thy varied praise may sing, 
 Brave, wise, pacific, warrior, statesman, king ? 
 Northumbrian glory ! truly " Great," 'twas thine, 
 To tune thy early lay to theme divine ; 
 And lion's harp by royal Minstrel strung, 
 Its sweetness mingled with the Saxon tongue ! 
 If call'd to linger on each worthy deed, 
 Thy lore might aid me, " Venerable Bede." < 6 ) 
 Blest King ! thy truth — illumin'd eyes survey'd, 
 Fast o'er the church how deepen'd error's shade : 
 And, call'd by thee, enlighten' d Guides resort, 
 And find an honor'd shelter in thy court. 
 There Scotus came, the Witness that proclaim'd, 
 How innovating hands the Eucharist maim'd : 
 By symbols taught, to sense distinct and plain, 
 How faithful souls divine refreshment gain. < 7 ) 
 
 Next lower'd the leaden age on sombre wings, 
 When Popes were Fiends, remorseless Tyrants Kings, 
 And seem'd the Pilot, 'mid that darkness deep, 
 As on thy wave, ^enne^aret, asleep :
 
 90 
 
 While scarce the tremblers on destruction's verge, 
 Were found the prayer in peril's hour to urge.( 8 > 
 But God was there ! the reeling bark he kept, 
 Nor Israel's Guardian 'mid the tempest slept. 
 For then thine eyes, lov'd Athelstan, discern'd, 
 To thine own tongue the sacred records turn'd ; 
 And Mercia's Earl, instructed from its page, 
 Denounc'd th' invention of the sinful aare 
 Which Heaven belied, and that bless'd state could call 
 Sinful in Priests, by God approv'd in all ; 
 While moping Monks in cloister'd cells immur'd, 
 The holy joys of wedded love abjur'd. ( 9 ) 
 
 And, mitred Wulstan, Mammon's sordid slave, 
 Whose mental prime far other promise gave ; 
 In thy best days, nor rites nor masses vain, 
 Had chased from Ebor, meek devotion's train ; 
 Else had'st thou fear'd, lest Alfric's doctrines spread, 
 Nor caus'd his faithful record to be read. C 10 ) 
 
 Still darkness frowns, but Norman ears can scorn, 
 The loud pretensions of the stretching horn. 
 Thy oft-rais'd watch-cry, Berengarius,( n ) fann'd, 
 Truth's glimmering embers in each distant land : 
 My country felt the protest's trumpet blast, 
 That Babel shook, astounding as it past ; 
 And dar'd in part thine edicts to withstand, < 12 ) 
 High-Priest of Satan,— blood-stain'd Hildebrand ! < 13 )
 
 91 
 
 Where nought but clouds or twinkling stars had been, 
 Is morn's first roseate indication seen. 
 "With wisest laws Plantagenet restrains, 
 The galling bondage of* the Papal chains : 
 Thy statutes Clarendon, t 14 ) remain to show, 
 How bigh the waves of Rome encroaching flow ; — 
 And stand the record of its ravage wide, 
 To mark the reflux of the ebbing tide. 
 And, Paynim Scourge, that lion-heart of thine <- ls ) 
 How aw'd the Seer's apocalyptic line ; 
 What time display'd Calabria's letterM sage, 
 The import clear of Revelation's page ; — 
 Twixt Rome and Antichrist the likeness drew, 
 And show'd, thro' all its parts, the portrait true. 
 
 Hark too, from Piedmont, thro' the echoing vales, 
 The word of truth comes wafted on the gales.— 
 Ye sufferers pristine, 'mid the wilds your own, 
 The heavenly corn, — the precious seed is sown : — 
 Its golden fruit, like Lebanon shall shake, 
 And of the harvest years unborn partake*. 
 
 What means that conflict ? in the dread Crusade 
 What glorious Martyrs has the Harlot made ! 
 As drunk with blood, she waves her weapon red, 
 A million saints have in her fury bled ! 
 They conquering bleed ! the snow-capt Alps afford, 
 Their Caves i<> hide tin servants of the Lord. —
 
 92 
 
 Each lonely isle, each continental state, 
 
 Shout the glad welcome ; — open wide the gate ! 
 
 Receive the wandering strangers that remain, 
 
 The sad survivors of their brethren slain. 
 
 Tho' bath'd in weeping is the garb they wear, 
 
 Than gold more precious is the seed they bear ! 
 
 So every land in future ages found, 
 
 When first it sprung exuberant from the ground. ( 16 ) 
 
 Illustrious Grosthead ! 'mid thy lonely fens, 
 
 How didst thou yearn the mystic cage to cleanse ; 
 
 Tho' on thine head, thy good confession brought, 
 
 The pealing thunders of the Papal court, 
 
 A holier bar the sentence dire repeal'd, 
 
 A Power more just than Innocent thy shield. ( 17 > 
 
 Fairest of Stars ! bright harbinger of day, 
 That beam'd from Lutterworth, I hail thy ray ! 
 Immortal Wickliff ! Mercy's envoy, born, 
 To spread the glad intelligence of morn ; 
 Ere darkness palpable of Papal night, 
 Extinguish'd wholly, struggling truth thy light ; 
 And storms that howl'd thro' skies with mourning hung, 
 Expiring faith, thy dirge funereal sung. 
 He comes, he comes, Interpreter divine, 
 Wake drowsy watchmen ! England, rise and shine ! 
 What radiance new the gloomy prospect cheers ! 
 Truth's glorious lamp his vent'rous progress clears.
 
 93 
 
 That flame, still fed with everlasting 1 oil, 
 Shows night her blackness, sin her impious toil ; 
 On wondering ignorance sheds mental day, 
 And fraud and falsehood startled, slink away. 
 'Twas his, rich blessing on the slumbering age, 
 To pour the treasures of the sacred page ; 
 To first unclench the rivets of the chain, 
 And paint the freedom future years shall gain. — 
 
 So once Columbus ventured to explore, 
 A world in darkling waves conceal'd before ; 
 The barrier burst by fear impos'd to keep, 
 Store-house of wonders, the mysterious deep ; 
 And led the way for countless barks to urge, 
 Their fearless passage o'er th' unfathom'd surge ; 
 While glorious states o'er green savannas spread, 
 Erewhile assign'd to spectres of the dead ! 
 
 Brightest of Stars ! tho' earth and hell unite, 
 In sad eclipse to shroud thy risen light ; 
 Tho' rage, not decency's control can curb, 
 Presume thy slumbering ashes to disturb ; 
 Thy moul'dring form drag furious from the grave, 
 Consume with fire, — then scatter to the wave ; 
 Yet fail'd to quench, the baffled fiend, the brand, 
 Thy faithful breath had kindled thro' the land : 
 It smoulders, — dissipates the damps of shame, 
 Then bursts victorious in a general flame.
 
 94 
 
 Rock'd on the surges of the mighty deep, 
 
 Thy hallow'd ashes for a moment sleep ; 
 
 Ere long to waken from a restless bed, 
 
 When heard the summons, — " Sea, give up thy dead." 
 
 Like them the truths thy glorious accents taught, 
 
 To every strand, by Ocean lav'd, are brought; 
 
 Not in their progress thro' the world to tire, 
 
 Till heaven, and earth, and time, and death, expire ! < 18 ) 
 
 The Angel flies: the sluggish stream is stirr'd, 
 Thro' courts, thro' camps, pursues its course the Word ; 
 And Kings, and Senators, and Judges, hear 
 The firm remonstrance, and the witness clear. 
 
 The Greek, now exil'd from Byzantine shore, 
 Expands the classic page of ancient lore ; 
 And science hastes, with thoughtful brow serene, 
 To ope her long-lock'd Eastern magazine : 
 And genius rous'd, those treasures to impart 
 Has found her happiest, and her noblest artJ 19 > 
 But highest art, and deepest knowledge fail, 
 To rend dark sin's impenetrable veil : 
 In every age a lying world will hate, 
 The faithful witness of its ruin'd state. 
 
 This Sawtre found ; first proving 'mid the flames, 
 How tolerant Rome an erring son reclaims ! 
 And constant Badby, martyr to record 
 What flesh can brave when aided by the Lord !
 
 95 
 
 And noble Cobham, bunted like tbe deer, 
 
 Destin'd to perish in the chase severe : 
 
 What tho' thy foes, thy painful course to goad, 
 
 Thee, like thy Master, with reproaches load ; 
 
 Against thee loud, the heavy charges bring, 
 
 False to thy God, and traitor to thy King ; 
 
 Thy pains are o'er, and God thy Saviour soon, 
 
 Shall make thy dealing as the shining noon. 
 
 Martyrs endear'd ! tho' feeble nature shrink, 
 
 E'en on your tortures once endurM to think ; 
 
 And dim-eyed reason, silent with amaze, 
 
 Catch your glad smile amid the mounting blaze ; 
 
 'Mid all its fury, heaven-born faith can see, 
 
 " The Saviour walking with his faithful Three" ! ( 20 ) 
 
 Heard ye the thunder of that rugged strain, 
 Wax louder, longer, from the Eastern main ? 
 Hark, 'tis thy fall, adult'rous Queen, avow'd, 
 Hear, how her sentence is proclaim'd aloud ! 
 Haste, every kindred, from apostate. Rome, 
 Or wait the vengeance of her righteous doom ! 
 Those lingering there, in strong delusion fix'd, 
 Shall drink the cup eternal wrath has mix'd. 
 Look at the creatures which her walls infest, 
 List how the dauntless witnesses protest : 
 
 Wo to the church, that from the faith decoy'd, 
 Makes God's pure word, by vain traditions void :
 
 96 
 
 A right asserts, O libel on the skies ! 
 
 To murder, pillage, mock all solemn ties : 
 
 That bids her Priests a holy ritual boast, 
 
 Then lowly bend before the lifted host : 
 
 That votive seeks a creature's shrine for aid, 
 
 And makes, and bows to grav'd device she made ; 
 
 Whose breath has kindled purgatory fire, 
 
 To render, Lord, thy sacrifice entire ! 
 
 Wo, wo, for her, that Satan's branch to plant, 
 
 Presumes for sin indulgences to grant : 
 
 That souls allures, in bonds of Priestcraft led, 
 
 And pours out vain petitions for the dead ! 
 
 Wo, wo, for her, presuming to conceal, 
 
 The glorious truth which every wound can heal ; 
 
 That seeks by merits, and by works, to mar, 
 
 Jehovah's message to a world at war : 
 
 By self-inflicted torments would atone, 
 
 And hide thy virtue, saving faith alone. < 21 ) 
 
 Thrice glorious truth ! that on the lands athirst, 
 At that blest period like a torrent burst ; 
 And whelm'd indignant, now with freedom wild, 
 The towering mounds that dark'ning age had pil'd ; 
 Mounds, rais'd by those, with sacred truth at strife, 
 That stay'd the current of the stream of life ! 
 It flows ; and where the wretched pains that try, 
 By toil or torture, heavenly joys to buy?
 
 97 
 
 -Where every hope, that strong delusion culls ; 
 " Indulgences, dispenses, pardons, bulls" ? 
 "Where now the pile that human merit rears ? 
 The mass dissolves ; the mountain disappears ; 
 And flowers and fruits excluded long from day, 
 Now bloom and bask beneath the genial ray. 
 
 So, where the vales in drifted snows are lost 
 And Ocean murmurs in his chains of frost ; 
 And dusky night-fall, long protracted broods 
 O'er loveless, joyless, Arctic solitudes ; 
 When first the sun from Cancer's neighbouring sign, 
 Shoots the glad beam enlightening and benign ; 
 The clouds disperse, the snows dissolve, the main 
 Has burst indignant from his icy chain : 
 Where languish'd nature's tuneless torpid scene, 
 Hark ! rivers gush, and vales are cloth'd in green ; 
 In haste sweet spring-tide wakes the birds and flowers, 
 And leads in festive dance the rosy hours. 
 
 Unhappy Henry ! vassal of a mind, 
 By grace unchang'd, by reason unconfin'd; 
 Tho' in thy land ten thousand hearts are stirr'd, 
 And Luther's call each kindling breast has heard ; 
 God will not crown with mercy's brightest smile, 
 The land which yet thy cruelties defile. 
 Misguided Monarch ! not thy sinful days, 
 Shall view his church a glory and a praise. 
 
 H
 
 98 
 
 Yet wherefore judge ? If cheering life's last hour, 
 The gospel came in spirit and in power ; 
 And if that grasp, when failing strength was weak, 
 Meant that confession which thou could'st not speak, 
 Then art thou bless'd : — He saves, who bore our grief, 
 A king repentant, as a dying thief! < 22 ) 
 
 Hail much lov'd Monarch ! Edward, youthful sage, 
 Sent like Josiah to reform the age ! 
 Like him, thine heart yet tender and a child, 
 Wept o'er the horrors that the land defiTd : 
 Thine hand, like his, with Godly zeal expell'd, 
 The motly group from haunts for craft upheld : 
 Like him, unequall'd ! for there rose no king, 
 So fairly blooming from thy early spring : 
 Like him, untimely, as blind man computes, 
 'Twas thine to reap thy faith's immortal fruits : 
 And, loud as Israel, from Megiddo's vale, 
 Their slaughter'd king with tearful eyes bewail ; 
 When plaintive choirs the weeping Prophet led, 
 Lamenting sore for good Josiah dead : 
 Not less sincere the sorrow that arose, 
 When drew thy life, meek Edward, to a close : 
 A nation mourn'd thy glorious stay so brief, 
 And future Martyrs mingled in the grief: 
 As from Josiah, Judah's sons decline, 
 So days of mourning must succeed to thine. < 23 )
 
 99 
 
 They dawn, — they break, — the melancholy Queen, 
 Frowns on the glories of the opening scene. 
 O, moody madness of a bigot soul ! 
 Princes may counsel, but the heavens control, 
 God bids the work a moment to be stay'd, 
 Ere clos'd the deep foundations that are laid ; 
 That so the barrier blest, each future flood 
 Might stem, cemented with his Martyr's blood. 
 
 The Sun goes back ! 'tis chilly horror's reign, 
 Cimmerian darkness has appear'd again. 
 Each deed that Romish Kalendar defiles, 
 Is leagued, intriguing Gardiner, with thy wiles ; 
 The storm-cloud soon in bloody torrents burst, 
 Nor, brutal Bonner, then allay 'd thy thirst. — 
 
 What need of witness ? from the sacred page ; 
 It dies unheard, amid the frantic rage. 
 What need of Philpot's, or of Philip's tongue ? 
 Haddon, or Cheny, Ailmer, or of Young? 
 Hark, Weston cries ; " Take, Heretics, the Word ; 
 " But learn how Catholics can wield the Sword" ! < 24 ) 
 The Queen commands : and rising murmurs hush, 
 Retiring Holgate, Ferrar, Bird, and Bush 
 Obey her mandates ; but untainted still, 
 Those honor* d rites, which God ordains, fulfil; 
 Nor deem, by monkish hypocrites beguil'd, 
 By word of man, the nuptial bed defil'd. W 
 
 2 H
 
 100 
 
 And you lov'd Three, the crown of giory near, 
 Must leave your charges for the cell severe. 
 
 Next brought successive to their foes enrag'd, 
 Two champions come ; — then Latimer the aged, 
 O how emotion thro' the bosom thrills, 
 How every eye with starting tear-drops fills, 
 As meekness, zeal, and venerable age, 
 Meet the dread shock of ignorance and rage ! 
 O how that wrong, emotion deep awakes, 
 " Which patient merit of th' unworthy takes" ! 
 
 The fires are kindled ! tho' my feelings fail, 
 Rogers and Hooper, Taylor, Bradford, hail ! 
 Illustrious Saints ! with wreaths celestial crown'd r. 
 Martyrs of Jesus ! tried and faithful found ! 
 His peace is perfect whom the Saviour keeps - y 
 See, sweetly, Rogers, ere his tortures, sleeps ! 
 Tho' here no more the husband and the sire, 
 As earthward stoops, one lingering last desire, 
 May hope his wife and filial train to see, 
 His God has whisper'd; — " Leave them all to me.' r 
 He comes, — that face benignly bright survey; 
 No signs of fear those placid looks betray ; 
 Those steady joints, no fitful tremors shake ; — 
 Is this thy conquest, thou terrific stake ? 
 " Recant" ! they cried, and live thy future days : — 
 " Persist, and perish in the torturing blaze."
 
 101 
 
 " How choose," he cried, half kindling with disdain, 
 
 " Eternal burnings for a moment's pain ! 
 
 *' Lord, in these flames, thy meanest servant seals, 
 
 " The glorious doctrines, that thy word reveals." 
 
 — He speaks, — kind cruelty the torch applies ; 
 
 It mounts ;-— he smiles, then struggles, triumphs, dies! 
 
 Thee too, grave Hooper, meaner cares resign'd, 
 To death now faithful, shall thy Saviour find. 
 How joy'd thy heart, thy dying voice to raise, 
 'Mid those that heard it, in unclouded days ! 
 Unus'd to weep, that sobbing in thy ear. 
 Has touch'd a chord within that breast severe. 
 Thou man of God ! in pains protracted long ; 
 How can'st thou smile, those bickering flames among ? 
 It's piece-meal prey as scath'd the green-wood fire, 
 Say, did'st thou singly wage that warfare dire ? 
 By One forsaken, was the flood surpass'd ? 
 O no : thy God sustain'd thee to the last ! 
 Hark ! ere his soul her burning temple leaves, 
 "With Stephen's prayer his panting bosom heaves. 
 
 Why tell how Sanders all his pains endur'd ; 
 Thro' patient faith the promises securM ? 
 Why tell how Bradford's animating breath, 
 Out-pour'd 'mid all the agonies of death, 
 A voice of gratulation to sustain, 
 And cheer the youthful partner of his pain ! 
 
 3 H
 
 102 
 
 But O ! if tributary tide of song, 
 In plaintive flow, might yet the theme prolong ; 
 " If yet one tear be warm in pity's urn," 
 That tear, that prayer, to Rowland Taylor turn. 
 How fairly glows each excellence combin'd, 
 Blent in that fondest, and yet firmest mind : 
 As meek dove harmless, brave as Forest King, 
 As serpent wise, without the guile and sting, 
 Cheerful as when he taught in happier hours, 
 His flock belov'd, 'mid Hadley's quiet bowers ; 
 Th' heroic martyr the dread pyre ascends, 
 And thus a course of faith and practice ends: 
 " None other doctrines have I taught or own'd, 
 " Than those on page of Revelation found ; 
 " And now defending what the truth I feel, 
 " I come its lessons with my blood to seal" ! 
 But whence came these, the venerated pair, 
 Heirs of one hope, one conflict call'd to share ? 
 IiOok ! to the furnace how unmix'd with dread, 
 Ridley and hoary Latimer are led ! 
 The gates are pass'd : but why that look behind ? 
 Thro' yon dim lattice, Cranmer is confin'd 
 " Brother," they cried, " To life's extremest term, 
 " Hope still in God; be faithful and be firm ; 
 ft The Lord thy Saviour tremble to disown, 
 " Watch, lest the Tempter rob thee of thy crown :
 
 103 
 
 • And pray for us: O plead with striving voice, 
 " Our God in flames can cause us to rejoice" ! 
 
 He saw, — he heard, — while streaming torrents start, 
 And strange emotion struggles in his heart : 
 " Why am I left"? with faltering voice he cried, 
 " Dear lost companions, sever'd from your side ! 
 " Lord in the flames thy witnesses preserve; 
 " And with thy might the fluttering spirit nerve." 
 
 Why tell their tortures ? at the ending race, 
 What fond affection in that last embrace ! 
 The veteran speaks : and, " Brother," glad he cries, 
 " Such flames to-day from England shall arise, 
 " As Popes and Demons shall unite in vain, 
 " Their rancor impotent to cpaench again ! 
 " Bless' d be the God that from the scorching flame, 
 " Permits those lips his mercy to proclaim" ! 
 —Amazement seiz'd the sympathizing throng, 
 The pile — They stand the glorious ranks among ! 
 
 Nor leave unsung, instructive is the tale, 
 How Satan's arts o'er Cranmer's faith prevad. 
 O grievous fall ! but laughing fiend, restrain 
 The sneer contemptuous ; — he shall rise again. 
 By fierce temptation, sifted like the wheat, 
 And drawn by inward whispers of deceit ; 
 Entic'd by promises in evil hour, 
 He falls, unaided by a mightier power. 
 
 i H
 
 104 
 
 " Cranmer recants : that thousands has allur'd ! 
 " Their boasted Chief, his errors has abjur'd !" 
 
 " Cranmer recants" ! exulting Bigots cry, 
 
 " 'Tis well ; — the leader of the sect must die. 
 
 " Bid him, once more, his heresies disown; 
 
 " Then for their number at the stake atone." — 
 He comes ; and all with breathless wonder mute, 
 
 Expect him now his errors to refute. 
 
 Hark ! wretched Comforter, officious Cole, 
 
 Attempts the passive victim to console : 
 
 *' Exult," he cried, " tho' justice bid thee burn, 
 
 " In this thy bless'd miraculous return ; 
 
 " Aloud, let all thy errors be eonfest ; 
 
 " Masses, and dirges, shall supply the rest." 
 
 — Awhile he spoke not, for to grace renew'd, 
 
 His crime in all its magnitude he view'd : 
 
 His heart one moment with its searcher spoke, 
 
 Then from his lips, confession struggling, broke : 
 
 " In evil hour, unprompted by the mind, 
 
 " This treacherous hand, the lying parchment sign'd. 
 
 " This was my crime ; my miserable fear 
 
 " Prevail'd o'er conscience, and o'er knowledge clear. 
 
 " Lord, heal my guilt ; and to the furnace brought, 
 
 " I die confessing what my writings taught. 
 
 " And hear me friends" : — No ! frantic rage awake, 
 
 Leads on impetuous to the murderous stake. 
 
 No more disturb'd or troubled by their dread,
 
 105 
 
 ''Look, every fear the Penitent has fled ! 
 "While husy hands th' unheeded pile prepare, 
 He holds communion with his God in prayer : 
 His arm then thrusts, where glow'd the hottest brand, 
 And, hark ! he utters : — " That unworthy hand" ! 
 " Unworthy, Lord, to move one passing sigh, 
 " That darM thy truth an instant to deny." — 
 And then, with consolation strong inspired, 
 A more than Conqueror, Cranmer has expirM ! ( 26 ) 
 
 That woe is past : the power that led the war, 
 Herself is summon'd to the awful bar. 
 The fires are quench'd ; no more the Martyr bleeds, 
 A Nursing Mother to the realm succeeds. 
 Return ye exiles from each far retreat, 
 Return, the work unfinish'd to complete : 
 Tell latest years, for terror's reign is o'er, 
 The glorious doctrines Martyrs held of yore. 
 Write in a book, for ever to remain, 
 Their gracious words, and make the Vision plain : — 
 So plain; — that Child, in scripture vers'd, may tell, 
 The mine from whence, the rock-stone used so welU 27 ) 
 Ye wisest Builders: God your work approv'd, 
 And yet it stands by rudest blasts unmov'd. — 
 For thee that fleet his early love appall'd, 
 Which impious lips " Invincible" had call'd -J* 8 ) 
 For thee " made bare his holy arm" appears, 
 Thro' all the struggles of three hundred years.
 
 THE ARGUMENT. 
 
 Eminence of the earliest Abps. after the Reformation. — 
 Grindall— Called the English Eli— His Character. — Succeeded 
 by Abp. Sandys — Declaration found in this Prelate's Will. — 
 Extraordinary conversion of his Successor, Abp. Piers. — Abp. 
 Hutton — His doctrine and practical preaching described. — 
 Diligence of Abp. Matthew. — Quick removal of Abp. Moun- 
 teign by Death. — Abp. Harsnet perhaps too severe against the 
 Puritans. — Loyalty and Devotion of Abp. Neile. — Suspension 
 of Episcopacy under the Commonwealth. — Abp. Williams 
 censured for disloyalty. — Restoration of Monarchy and Epis- 
 copacy. — Abp. Frewen'scare in ordaining Ministers. — Character 
 of Abp. Sterne glanced at — Dolben — Lamplugh — Sharp. — 
 Successors of Sharp to the present Abp. Harcourt. — Reflections 
 suggested by the subject. — A retrospective glance at his own 
 history taken by the Writer. — Confirmed by the present Abp. 
 — Afterwards ordained Deacon by him— His affection for the 
 Church to which he belongs. — Conclusion of the Poem. — Re- 
 capitulation of its several Parts, inculcates gratitude to God 
 from us, as Christian Britons, and Protestants. — Exhortation to 
 Churchmen to labour to transmit their Blessings to Posterity. 
 
 Dissenters reminded of their Privileges.— The Author's 
 
 Apology for Writing. — His Prayer for his Church, and Nation. 
 — Joy of his faithful Countrymen at the consummation of all 
 things.
 
 PART V. 
 
 A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF SOME OF THE MOST EMINENT 
 ARCHBISHOPS OF YORK, FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE 
 PRESENT TIME. — REFLECTIONS SUGGESTED BY THE SUBJECT. 
 — CONCLUSION OF THE POEM. 
 
 When morning blush'd with golden promise fair, 
 Who fill'd Eboracum's Cathedral chair ? 
 How many a guide of venerable name, 
 Now star-like gilds her galaxy of fame ! 
 How swift your light the northern Chaos clears, 
 Grindall, and Sandys, and illustrious Piers. 
 And scarce less fervent was your sacred zeal, 
 Hutton, and Matthew, Mounteign, Harsnet, Neile, 
 Departed Chieftains ! valiant for your God, 
 Who 'neath your feet the Papal hydra trode ; 
 O, might I catch a portion of your fire, 
 Whose gifts and graces ask a loftier lyre ! 
 
 First, holy Grindall, Anglian Eli, bears 
 'Mid fears and fightings, evcry^Church's cares.
 
 108 
 In labors, perils, tenderness and tears, 
 He more like Paul, exemplar blest, appears : 
 But more to him the youthful Samuel's guide, 
 In days, and sorrows, and in death allied. 
 Surpass'd the term to mortal man allow'd, 
 With head by more than four-score winters snow'd j 
 While on his watch in seasons wildly dark, 
 His heart like Eli's " trembled for the Ark !" 
 Nor causeless trembled : aching with remorse, 
 He view'd the binding of the Gospel course ; 
 O'er-cast with clouds the smiling morning view'd, 
 As grim revenge, the storm not lingering brew'd : 
 Too soon it burst : the self-same fated dart, 
 The fold that scatter'd, broke the Pastor's heart. — 
 Enlightened Father ! welcom'd to thy rest, 
 Thy name is honor'd, and thy memory blest : 
 When Kings and Kingdoms, diadems and thrones, 
 Shall crumble, crush'd 'mid dying nature's groans ; 
 Thy wise remonstrance to the injur'd Queen, 
 Thy name from charge of trust betray'd shall screen. 
 Would, 'mid the Courtier herd that kings surround, 
 Such sterling honesty were always found ! 
 Tho' bold, — respectful, — tender tho' severe, 
 Commingling loyalty with godly fear : — 
 To warn tho' prompt, reluctant to complain, 
 And when inflicting, clearly suffering pain. (*)
 
 109 
 
 Then Sandys comes, who sorrow's cup had drain'cl, 
 Exil'd for conscience, and in bonds detain'd : 
 And by that discipline his tutor'd heart, 
 Learnt how the stream consoling to impart ; 
 Felt most the blessing of that cheering ray, 
 That brightest sparkles in the darkest day. 
 Ere hush'd his accents in the silent grave, 
 Pause on the blest confession that he gave. 
 " Now westering sinks life's fast descending sun, 
 " Night comes apace ; my course is well-nigh 
 
 run; 
 " And ere this vessel mingle with the dust ; 
 " I yield the charge committed to my trust. 
 " Angels, and men, and God's all seeing eye, 
 " Witness the faith in which I liv'd and die ! 
 " Witness the truth he publish'd with his breath, 
 " Supported Sandys in the hour of death. 
 ;< That truth, thro' grace, in England's church main- 
 
 tain'd, 
 " Awaits thy coming, heaven-born faith unfeign'd ; 
 " And all that hungering to her pale repair, 
 " May find the bread of life eternal there. 
 " There, as these lips nor would nor durst deceive, 
 " Each Truth is held, that sinners should believe. 
 " * * * In all her Rites left free by sacred page, 
 " Each heart with all good conscience may engage :
 
 110 
 
 *' Let each then fear her unity to hreak, 
 
 " Respect the power, and bend for Order's sake. — ■ 
 
 " 'Tis left my record ! now, my God, to Thee, 
 
 " With all my guilt for Mercy's smile I flee. 
 
 " I own my frailties, mourn my grievous sin ; 
 
 " Lord, purge my dross, and take away my tin. 
 
 " Assur'd by hope, I need thy succor still, 
 
 " Thy purpose Lord, and all thy grace fulfil : 
 
 " Give me thy glory, death in life consume, 
 
 " Salvation's cause and consummation come !" ( 2 ) 
 
 See Piers approaches ; — is not this a brand, 
 Pluck'd from the burning with a sovereign hand ? 
 When headlong lust the fierce commotion rais'd, 
 And, fann'd by passion, glaring ruin blaz'd ; 
 A God of love the distant wanderer eyedy 
 A God of power effectual aid supplied : 
 Nor quench'd alone th' unhallow'd fires of sin, 
 See purer flames from holier source begin. 
 Burning and shining with devotion's glow, 
 Around he flings his beacon-lustre now ; 
 To guide the humble penitential train, 
 To that blest fountain open for each stain. 
 Let Sceptics scoff", and Pharisees dispute ; 
 What saith the scripture ? " Know them by their fruit. 
 By this sure test will contrite spirits trace, 
 Th' exceeding riches of abounding grace ;
 
 Ill 
 
 'With grateful transport on its subjects gaze, 
 And leave the Lord to justify his ways. < 3 ) 
 
 Hutton succeeds ere Papal cries are still'd, 
 Mighty in Scripture, and with wisdom fill'd. 
 His voice with richest eloquence would plead, 
 What depth in doctrine ! purity in deed ! 
 Unlike some Teachers of succeeding times, 
 Denouncing only what the world calls crimes; 
 That leave all mystery, and would strive in vain, 
 By meagre morals purchas'd Heaven to gain ! 
 Nor yet, like those, delighting to report, 
 How fair the fabric, and how neat the court ; 
 But dare not, lingering in the outer pale, 
 Its holiest, brightest, glories to unveil : 
 More studious far, the godly fane to praise, 
 Than drink the joys that at the altar blaze. 
 Preachers like these the pointers may adjust, 
 Varnish the case, and wipe away the rust : 
 But all is silent ; — nor avails that care, 
 The inward wheels, and main-spring to repair. 
 Offspring of Eve ! thy mortal frame, and all 
 Thy soul's desires were ruined at the fall : 
 Since then, thine heart, once love's delightful seat, 
 Untun'd, unstrung, with love has ceas'd to beat. 
 Dark is the mind, the headstrong will beguil'd ; 
 Self-centering now, the affections have run wild.
 
 112 
 
 Say, hast thou learnt thy ruin to deplore, 
 And fled to him who only can restore ? — 
 Him at whose word, the new creation starts, — 
 Who teaches wisdom in the inward parts ; — 
 Whose Spirit's might can quickening impulse give, 
 Restore the blind, and bid the dead to live ! — 
 Who forms his people from a race deprav'd, 
 Fore-known, and call'd, and sanctified, and sav'd. 
 So Hutton taught ; not daring to withhold, 
 The Shepherd's counsels from his purchas'd fold : 
 How power and promise have engag'd to keep, 
 And none can sever from his hand his sheep : 
 For why? his sheep in safety may rejoice ; — 
 They know, are known, and hearken to his voice. W 
 
 Matthew, thy life a higher praise affords, 
 Than all th' obsequious marble flag records. 
 My Country's Chrysostom ! the frost of age 
 The fervor chill'd not of thy noble rage : 
 On high thy recompence is sure, content 
 Like Paul to spend, and wholly to be spent : 
 And scarce allow one momentary pause 
 Of time, not yielded to thy Master's cause. ( 5 ) 
 
 Mounteign, thou monument but rais'd to show, 
 How frail the hold of Dignities below : 
 Scarce hush'd the hymn, and breath'd the solemn prayer, 
 That rose to vest thee in the vacant chair ;
 
 113 
 
 ■When, contrast strange ! at Heaven's mysterious call, 
 
 Thy hymn a dirge, thy vest a funeral pall ! ( 6 ) 
 
 No sudden summons greatly can surprize, 
 
 The faithful Steward, and Dispenser wise : 
 
 He hears, but unperturb'd, the horse-hoof's tramp, 
 
 The bride-groom comes ; he trims the flickering lamp : 
 
 And leaves the joys that hope can here afford, 
 
 To gain their fulness, — " present with the Lord." 
 
 Harsnet, thy care the Church's wounds had heal'd, 
 Perchance, if mingled with a mind to yield. 
 Reprove, rebuke, invite, beseech, persuade, 
 But cease a weaker Brother to upbraid. 
 What, tho' applause the faultless structure win, 
 And pure each sober rite maintain'd within ; 
 With scrupling conscience bear; nor hence deride; 
 Destroy not him, for whom a Saviour died : 
 Yea, let us love, since common danger lowers, 
 All who sincerely love their Lord and ours. < 7 ) 
 
 Devoted Neile, to earth and Heaven endear'd, 
 His King who honor'd, and his God who fear'd. 
 Around the Church, thy light sweet influence shed, 
 Ere impious Treason flourish'd o'er its head : 
 From evils snatch'd reserv'd for others, rest ! 
 The dead like thee remov'd betimes are blest. W 
 
 From whence this dread ? This strange portentous awe ? 
 The sun grows black ! The stars their light withdraw ! 
 
 I
 
 114 
 
 What night, not Nature's, has o'ercast the sky ? 
 
 What means this gloom ? From whence that frantic cry ? 
 
 'Tis horror's hour ! 'Tis anarch Fury's reign, 
 
 And Laud has bled ! and Hacket spoke in vain.W 
 
 Fanatic zeal with treason has combin'd, 
 
 And Law to Madness, helm and oar resign'd : 
 
 That Madness first the Church's guides attacks, 
 
 Then God's anointed falls before the axe. ( 10 ) 
 
 O deed accurs'd ! with clam'rous voice that cries, 
 
 Aloud for judgments fearful from the skies. 
 
 Example dire ! for nations to rebel, 
 
 Which France apostate copied but too well. 
 
 How fiercely raged the sanguinary fray, 
 
 Let topling tower, and shiver'd bastion say ! 
 
 How triumph'd perfidy, how honor fell, 
 
 Thy moor-lands, Marston, can the story tell. ( !1 ) 
 
 Williams, o'er thee the plaintive Muse had wept, 
 If faithful thou thy loyalty hadst kept : 
 Tho' fallen, honor'd, trac'd thee on thy way, 
 From Ebor's fane to Cambrian Llandegay : 
 Thy tomb explor'd, and own'd with softest sighs, 
 Herself indeed indebted to her eyes. 
 It may not be : the lawn-fring'd hand that draws, 
 The guilty sword in base rebellion's cause ; 
 No sympathetic Bard to braid may claim, 
 With wreath of minstrelsy the Traitor's name. < 12 >
 
 115 
 
 For ten long years the Hierarchy destroyed, 
 Each quire is hush'd, and every palace void : 
 God's scatter'd people, of their Guides bereft, 
 On every hill, to every wolf, are left. 
 Yet, the great Shepherd's pitying eyes survey, 
 His lost sheep wandering in the cloudy day : 
 His love chastis'd them, and his grace provides, 
 Again to feed them, Apostolic Guides. — 
 
 The God of Order from on high, survey'd 
 The monstrous havoc unleash'd phrenzy made : 
 Saw wild-fire zeal assume prophetic guise, 
 To work its wonders, and deceive with lies : 
 With words of peace, to make the wicked glad, 
 And grieve the hearts by God not render* d sad : 
 Heard every sigh that wide misrule deplor'd, 
 The Church her Guides, the land her King restor'd. 
 
 Fair, as when Spring first shows her virgin form, 
 See Frewen comes to chase the wintry storm : 
 O'er all the Church his watchful care extends, 
 And Laborers faithful thro' the Vineyard sends : 
 At two-fold call, — constraint! by double tie, 
 They go to execute their functions high. 
 (May all who teach, the summons two-fold share, 
 The Spirit's voice, the consecrating prayer !) 
 Thus call'd they go commission'd from above, 
 To tell the mystery of redeeming love : 
 
 2 I
 
 116 
 
 They go with trembling, their credentials clear, 
 Who never trembled, cannot be sincere : 
 Bold in their God, and not of man afraid, 
 They go by terrors sinners to persuade ; 
 To tell the glories of the Lord they preach, 
 To warn with love, with tenderness beseech. 
 Such Frewen sent : but ah ! how good, how wise 
 Avails not ; Frewen like his Fathers dies.' 13 ) 
 
 Awhile I pause, delighted to discern, 
 Thy much-lov'd features, Patriarchal Sterne ! 
 What faithful heart but hastens to applaud, 
 Thy latest kindness to the hapless Laud ! 
 What loyal heart, but feels emotion spring, 
 To see thy true devotion to the King ! 
 If zeal like this, lov'd Prelate, were thy guide, 
 When call'd o'er God's high household to preside ; 
 Who would not hail thee, and thy worth believe, 
 Howe'er thy marble labors to deceive ! ( 14 ) 
 
 Dolben, for valor fam'd, for virtue more, 
 Thy transient stay 'twere sinful to deplore : 
 Thy true devotion to thine earthly liege, 
 Speak Marston's fight, and Ebor's bloody siege. 
 Nor to the Church, thy nursing Mother, less 
 Thy warm affection in her deep distress. 
 How chang'd the scene! Where grac'd with many a scar, 
 He brav'd in youth the fierceness of the war;
 
 117 
 
 In age he held, e'en where the battle roai J d, 
 A holier standard, and a sharper sword : 
 Where hand to hand, he join'd the. deadly strife, 
 He preaches peace, and breaks the bread of life ! ( 15 ) 
 
 Lamplugh, thy cleaving to the hapless James, 
 The look of sorrow more than censure claims : 
 Such faith unshaken, in a better cause 
 Had woke and won, the world's deserv'd applause. 
 Yet love of truth, at wisdom's font imbib'd, 
 Had deep its lessons on thy heart transcrib'd. 
 Thee heard and fear'd, the zealot who despis'd 
 What Scripture taught, the good and learn'd devis'd.f 16 ) 
 
 How cold the bosom and untun'd the harp, 
 Unkindled by thy praises, virtuous Sharp ! 
 Planted by mercy in the fane of truth, 
 He serv'd his God, and fear'd him from his youth : 
 That early bud, uninjur'd which endured — 
 The wintry gale, the Summer's Sun matured. 
 Like Enoch walking with the Lord his God, 
 With heart in Heaven, the weeping vale he trode : — 
 God whom he still acknowledg'd in his ways, 
 His footsteps guided thro' the devious maze. 
 Devotion fervent, love without disguise, 
 Breathes from his lips, and sparkles in his eyes. 
 He lives to raise the friendless and forlorn, 
 The Church to bless ; the Gospel to adorn. ( ,7 > 
 
 3 I
 
 118 
 
 But wherefore lingering on the record pause ? 
 Why sing thy titles, and thy summons, Dawes? (,8 J 
 Blackburn succeeding to the sacred trust, 
 Who gave to distant Westminster his dust ; (19) 
 Herring, whose voice, as from some Watchman's 
 
 tower, 
 His Country rous'd, in dark Rebellion's hour ? < 20 ) 
 Or wherefore search, 'mid venerable names, 
 Hutton's, and Gilbert's, Drummond's, Markham's 
 
 claims ? 
 Markham, selected from the good and wise, 
 By watchful Love's discriminating eyes,' 21 ) 
 With sacred truth and ancient lore combin'd, 
 To form the future Monarch's youthful mind. 
 
 Yet gently turn, uncompromising Muse, 
 Nor well-earn'd meed to Harcoart's worth refuse. 
 His warm benevolence, paternal sway, 
 Some fitter Bard shall sing, some future day : 
 Some future day ! TV event be far remov'd, 
 That from the Head, shall take the Master lov'd ! 
 And when it comes, th' inevitable hour, 
 Alike prescrib'd to penury and power, 
 O may he change, replete with years, renown, 
 The vagrant mitre for a lasting crown : 
 And, link'd in Love's indissoluble ties, 
 Regain each lov'd Precursor to the skies ! < 22)
 
 119 
 
 " O! transient date of sublunary things! 
 Prophets and Pastors, Bishops, Heroes, Kings, 
 In quick succession on the busy stage, 
 See hope with fear, regret with joy, engage ; 
 A moment mingle in the pilgrim train, 
 Witness their sorrows and endure their pain : 
 The pulse just flutters, and the world looks gay, 
 The shade declines ; their glory flits away ! 
 Their place forgets them, and, unheard, unseen, 
 They sleep as tho' their name had never been. 
 — And" yet they hasten from this transient jar, 
 To meet their sentence at the solemn bar. 
 What, tho' their life, the vapor of an hour, 
 A dream, — a hand-breadth,— and a fading flower ; 
 A sleep,— a span,— a shadow when declin'd ; 
 Swift as a shuttle, passing as a wind : — 
 That vapour wafted thro' the starry sky, 
 Must join the cloud of witnesses on high; 
 And shine when worlds their transient march have done, 
 Bright with the lustre of the righteous sun : 
 Or, driven far distant to the realms of ill, 
 In blackest night eternal tears distill ! 
 That flower transported to a happier clime, 
 Shall bloom unwither'd by the blasts of time ; 
 Or, ever dying, and for ever dead, 
 In dismal glooms its baleful influenci: shed 
 
 l I 
 
 i
 
 120 
 
 That dream dissolve in Heaven's unclouded light, 
 Or break in blackness of eternal night. 
 
 My Soul, what dost thou here ? dost thou too haste, 
 To realms immortal thro' the peopled waste ? 
 Reviews the Bard the fates of ages flown, 
 Nor casts a moment's glance upon his own ? 
 Returns no scene, with deepest feelings fraught, 
 His earliest offering, and his holiest thought ? 
 Oh ! yes ; remembrance kindles to retrace, 
 The solemn accent, and the holy place ! 
 'Twas youth's bright morning, and the orient ray, 
 Had brush'd infantile tears and toys away ; 
 Scarce had this heart with pang of anguish heav'd, 
 Unpractis'd, wayward, trusting, and deceiv'd ; 
 When launch'd the school-boy's skiff on life's rough 
 
 tide, 
 Himself, the world, and Satan's depths, untried. 
 Yet ere consign'd to monitors like these, 
 He found an altar on a Mother's knees ; 
 And, love paternal beaming in his eyes, 
 A Sire, his son had prompted to be wise : 
 By these instructed in the solemn vow, 
 Beneath those arches he appear'd to bow : 
 With fluttering heart, the hallow'd ground he 
 
 trode, 
 To yield his life a sacrifice to God :
 
 121 
 
 He felt the hand, and heard in accent clear, 
 
 These solemn words slow wafted on his ear : 
 
 " Defend thy servant with thy grace divine, 
 
 " O, cause him ever to continue thine : 
 
 " Give him thy Spirit daily more and more, 
 
 " Till cross'd the desert, reach'd the heavenly shore."* 23 ) 
 
 Hearer of prayer ! thou search'st his Spirit then, 
 
 Tho' mute his lips, heav'd not his heart — " Amen" ? 
 
 Years roll'd along : enquire not how they past, 
 What sins and sorrows, life's bright dawn o'ercast : 
 Ask not, how well the solemn vow was kept : 
 Ask not, how oft o'er broken vows he wept : 
 Ask not, what transport thro' his bosom thrill'd, 
 What friend ships cheei-'d ; what cold unkindness chill'd : 
 How quickly faded fancy's treacherous beam, 
 Each thought romantic, and poetic dream : 
 Ask not the gaps that ghastly death had made, 
 How sunbright visions, hopes of fame decay'd. 
 
 Again they met : a trembling votary sought 
 Not entrance now, but service in the Court : 
 Before the altar of his God he knelt ; 
 How seem'd his heart, his soul subdued to melt ! 
 How long'd to love, devote to Heaven its days, 
 Then inward tum'd, confounded with amaze ! 
 He felt, he heard, the hand,— the voice, W>— before 
 Uprais'd to bless, and early grace implore;
 
 122 
 
 Then rose, to antedate with humble joy, 
 While here on earth, unwearied heaven's employ. (25) 
 Hail ! hallow'd Mother ! let the hearts that found, 
 Peace in thy walls, thy plenteous praise resound. 
 Can those in thy lov'd palaces who first 
 Felt the sad soul for living waters thirst; 
 The world-vex'd spirit, that when nature shrank, 
 At thy glad wells the living waters drank ; 
 Those hearts within thee, that were form'd anew, 
 Hung at thy bosom, in thy shadow grew : 
 Can these forget thee, in thy hour of ill, 
 Or cease to praise thee, cease to love thee still ? 
 The faithless flower besprent with morning dew, 
 The green sod may forget where once it grew ; — 
 The Bird of Heaven, with solar tints illum'd 
 Forget the eyrie where his wing was plum'd ; 
 The weary pilgrim thro' the pathless wild, 
 Forget the Oasis that sweetly smil'd ; — 
 But, God's blest witness, for salvation plac'd, 
 When shall thy image from my mind be chas'd ! 
 When shall my efforts for thy Glory cease ; 
 When still'd the prayer uplifted for thy peace !
 
 123 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 Where have I wander'd 3 Thro' what regions wide 
 Has travell'd Thought, to time and place untied ? 
 Why has the Muse, long hov'ring on the wing, 
 Presurn'd, lov'd Church, thy fates diverse to sing ?— 
 Dear Harp, that hast my sweet companion been 
 Thro' many a darksome, many a dazzling scene, 
 Thy tuneful aid I ask yet once again, 
 Then wake, dear Harp, and join the parting strain ! 
 
 And is there one, who mourning o'er the times 
 Of Heathen Britain's ignorance and crimes, 
 Has view'd with him who sang, and joy'd to view 
 The Heav'n-born years commence their order new, 
 As Shiloh's Sun with healing wing arose, 
 Upon a lost world's lengthen'd midnight woes ?- - 
 AVho view'd, to crush the infant Church, unite 
 With Earth's leagu'd Princedoms Diabolic spite ? 
 Her noiseless growth then witness'd, her defence 
 The ample ^Egis of Omnipotence ? 
 If such be found ;— be thankful that thine ear 
 Has heard, what Kings have wish'd in vain to hear 
 Believe, adore, thy creed adorning stand ; 
 Bless God thy birth-place was a Christian land ! 
 
 Is there who view'd what marks the Saxon left, 
 Then cast his idols to the mountain cleft P
 
 124 
 
 And, as the wanderer in remotest place, 
 Loves the sweet scenes of Childhood to retrace ; 
 While sang the Minstrel, in his ceaseless roam, 
 His native Eboi-'s venerable Dome, 
 Is there who felt emotion's melting beam, 
 And rose the better from the artless theme ? 
 Who dares to stem the restless liberal's rage ; 
 And owns the features of the sinful age ? 
 
 Is there, who join'd me 'neath the vaulted arch, 
 To muse on Time's unhesitating march ? 
 Who heard entranc'd the vocal Aisle prolong, 
 Or Anthem high, or Zion's holy song ? 
 Is there, who eyed with admiration's gaze, 
 The giant Intellects of earlier days ; 
 Who burst the trammels of the mental chain, 
 Like Him green Withs were powerless to detain ; 
 Unravell'd error's mesh, perspicuous show'd, 
 What Holy Writ enforc'd, forbade, allow'd ? 
 [s there, who learn'd, presumptuous thoughts repress'd, 
 " Some are and must be greater than the rest" ? — 
 
 If such be found ; — rejoice thou claim'st thy birth 
 Where, regulates Respect, the Object's worth ; 
 And with the Temple of our God has vied, 
 No sumptuous Structure rearM to human pride : 
 Where Prudence summons to Devotion's aid, 
 Whate'er can awe, convince, delight, persuade :
 
 125 
 
 Rejoice thine eyes, thy Teachers' ranks behold 
 
 By Scripture rule, in order fair enroll'd : 
 
 With meekness hear ; nor thoughtlessly despise 
 
 What fram'd the learn'd, devout, judicious, wise : 
 
 Bless God, that thrives, where tares abound, the wheat, 
 
 That Christian Britain prov'd thy native seat ! 
 
 Is there, who watch'd the Mystery dread unfold, 
 As agre on apre in dark succession roll'd ; 
 Who mark'd delighted, tho' with moisten'd view, 
 The toils and sorrows of the faithful few ; 
 In wreaths of flame saw glorious Martyrs smile, 
 To praise their Maker from the sea-girt isle : 
 Then turn'd from cruelties contriv'd in vain, 
 A system false and impious to maintain ; 
 To witness Prelates, Blessings in their day, 
 " Allure to brighter Worlds and lead the way;" 
 To God devote their time and talents given, 
 Then pass, by transit calm, from earth to Heaven ? 
 If such be found ; — for wine and oil and corn, 
 When such are multiplied from Plenty's horn, 
 Rejoice ; — but O ! for this be grateful more 
 Than increase thousand-fold of worldly store ; 
 That kindly fix'd a Providential God, 
 A land of Gospel light for thine abode : 
 A land of mercies, where no hideous stake, 
 Awaits the Prisoner bound for conscience sake ;
 
 120 
 
 A land of means, along whose Pathways cries 
 The Voice of Wisdom, — " Turn, reflect, be wise" ! 
 A land of Bibles, where what God requires 
 Tn his own tongue may read, whoe'er desires. 
 Bless God for all thy mercies' untold sum, 
 For Britain Protestant thy Christian home ! 
 
 Companions, Brethren, ye who in the round 
 Of means of grace your Church affords, have found 
 The pearl of nameless worth, the heavenly prize 
 Not all the gold of both the Indies buys ! 
 If those ye love, design'd to fill your spot, 
 When, sleeping with your Fathers, you are not ; 
 To them, if dear their welfare to your heart, 
 One blood-bought Heir-loom unimpair'd, impart. 
 Trust not to Hopes fallacious, nor await 
 The batter'd Church dissever'd from the State : 
 Pray that as heretofore, in seasons hence 
 May prove the Union England's best defence ; 
 And stand our Zion to remotest days, 
 Her walls salvation, every portal, praise. 
 
 And ye, the clans diversified, that wait 
 Content to worship at her outer gate ; 
 No more the rock beneath whose shade he grew 
 With mining axe let each, ungracious, hew. 
 In evil hour, forget not to what cause 
 Ye owe protection, tolerance, equal laws ;
 
 127 
 
 And should ere long, the Serpent scotch'd, not slain, 
 
 Erect, for blood, its Dragon-crest again ; 
 
 Should other arms be needed than the pen, 
 
 Be strong, be grateful, quit yourselves like men ! 
 
 For him that sings, boon Parent, when he sees 
 The countless offspring foster* d on thy knees ; 
 Sees as he walks thy hallow'd Courts around, 
 What glorious Champions of the Truth are found ; 
 What men of Prayer, Antagonists that fought 
 A noble warfare ; and what God has wrought ; 
 What Heavenly Writers, Preachers fill'd with zeal, 
 Martyrs their doctrines with their blood to seal ! 
 When like the Seer I view thee from the mount, 
 And fail one quarter of thy dust to count : 
 O when I mark the thousands that have past 
 Thro' thy bless'd gates to Heaven their home, at last ; 
 To thousands turn, around while Tempests rail, 
 Who serve their God in many a tranquil vale ; 
 This eye grows dim, this rocky heart relents ; 
 Then bursts the cry — " How goodly are thy Tents" ! 
 
 And when I hear thee vilified, assail'd, 
 Thy fall demanded, not thy sins bewail'd ; 
 Hate, Envy, Malice, all their arts employ 
 To cramp thy energies, thy fame destroy ; 
 While every child each secret ailment tells, 
 And restless Rage the long indictment swells ;
 
 128 
 
 Thy meanest Son is taught to prize at first, 
 
 The knees that bare him, and the breast that nurs'd : 
 
 Then in the moment of thy keenest ill, 
 
 He grasps thee closer, loves thee dearer still. 
 
 'Tvvas this inspir'd him : strong affection rose, 
 
 Nor reck'd the power, or number of thy foes : 
 
 For seem'd it then, as tho' the meanest child, 
 
 The humblest shepherd of the rudest wild, 
 
 Of all the clamors that assail thee most 
 
 Could quell with artless melody an host : 
 
 Or that too much ; at least the lay might tend, 
 
 To rouse some listless, fix some wavering friend. 
 
 And thou, my God, that still, when Tempests lower 
 Art Goodness, Wisdom, and Almighty Power : 
 Within thy Church thy Goodness is display'd, 
 And gilds with mercy's bow the darkest shade : 
 There too thy Wisdom manifest appears, 
 Unfolding brightly thro' the lapse of years : 
 And there thy Power, thy Spirit bless'd abides, 
 Renews, enlightens, comforts, and presides. 
 Rise, Lord of Hosts, and, for thy glorious name, 
 Reguard thy Zion, and remove her shame ! 
 Our eyes have seen, our wondering ears have heard, 
 How oft thy Pity for thy Church was stirr'd : 
 And while we paus'd, our Fathers have declar'd, 
 How oft for them thy mighty Arm was bared.
 
 129 
 
 O that thy Power the silent Heavens might rend ! 
 O that thy Grace, distill'd like dew, descend ! 
 Rise, Lord of Hosts, thine own just cause to plead, 
 Let all men know, that thou art God indeed ! 
 In righteous vesture let thy Priests he clad, 
 And make thy People with thy favor glad ! 
 Prostrate in dust, we deprecate thine ire, 
 Thy patience long thro' fruitless years admire : 
 Our sinful feuds have breaches dread reveal'd, 
 Wide as the sea, refusing to be heal'd : 
 Author of Peace, in all thy Churches bind 
 The subjects thine, in judgment and in mind : 
 Bid all that join to call upon the Lord, 
 Join in submission to thy Holy Word. 
 So, while thy Love defends us as a shield, 
 Our land in season shall her increase yield ; 
 And peace, on earth begun, no pause to know 
 Thro' endless ages like a river flow. 
 
 And now 'tis done ! what Wisdom has contriv'd, 
 The crisis grand of all things has arriv'd ! 
 While midnight gloom the thoughtless culprit shrouds 
 He comes, his Chariots are the flaming clouds: 
 What mighty shout a World astounded rends ? 
 Once more the Lord, but O how chang'd ! descends. 
 The blast is blown that Death's dull organs wakes ; 
 The Word gone forth that Earth's deep pillars shakrs: 
 
 K
 
 130 
 
 Nature has ceas'd her elements to poise, 
 The fervent Heavens are melting with a noise ! 
 Hark, now the Judge, in all his Saints admir'd, 
 Has thine, my Country, in his love requir'd : 
 They spring, they rush, transported at the Word, 
 A glorious throng collected by the Lord : 
 While Angels ministrant around Him stand, 
 He speaks, — "Ye everlasting Doors expand, — 
 And, righteous Nation, wash'd from every sin, 
 That kept the truth, victorious enter in" ! 
 
 FINIS.
 
 NOTES TO PART I. 
 
 1 — page 1. When Julius Ceasar was embarking for Britain, 
 iie said to his hesitating Pilot : " Perge, Ca?sarem veins, 
 
 Cpesarisque fortunas." Vide Plutarch. Vit. J. Caesar. ; et 
 
 Lucan. Lib. 5. 
 
 2 — p. 7. The principal Idols of the Pagan Britons were 
 Apollo, by them styled Belinus the Great ; Andraste or Andate 
 the goddess of Victory ; and Diana the goddess of the game. 
 
 Fuller's Ch. Hist., London 1655, Cent, i, p. 1. 
 
 3 — p. 8. For the word Branch there are three several words 
 used in the original by Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Zechariah. See 
 Is. xi. 1, Jer. xxiii. 5, Zech. iii. 8. Some have thought, that 
 the word used by Isaiah -|^j (Netzer) is alluded to by_St. 
 Matthew, " He shall be called a Nazarene." Math. ii. 23. 
 
 4 — p. 8. St. Paul, St. Peter, and Simon Zelotes, are severally 
 asserted to have planted the Gospel in Britain. But Joseph of 
 Arimathea, said to be buried at Glassenbnry is much more 
 
 confidently affirmed to have been the apostle of our island. 
 
 See Fuller, Cent. i. p. 3—8; and Tindal's Rapin, 2nd Edit. 
 Vol. i. p. 28. 
 
 5— p. 9. That the Claudia mentioned by St. Paul, then 
 living at Rome, was the same Claudia, a Briton-born, mentioned 
 by Martial, is the opinion and probable conjecture of many 
 
 modern Writers. Fuller, Ibid. 
 
 6 — p. 10. Wc have the testimony of two Fathers, both 
 flourishing in the third century, who assert the early progress 
 of Christianity in Britain: Tertul. adv. Jud. cap. 7 ; and 
 
 Orig. in Luc. cap. I. See also Rapin, Vol. i. p. 28; and his 
 
 authorities. 
 
 7 — p. io. Lucius, British King, probably under the Roman 
 Monarchy, sent to Eleutherius Bishop of Rome, requesting 
 that he might be instructed in the Christian faith. The Bishop 
 sent Faganus and Derwianus by whom the King was baptized, 
 together with many of his subjects. Fuller, Cent. ii. p. 12. 
 
 2 K
 
 132 
 
 8 — p. 10. This Lucius, who is thought to he the first King 
 who embraced Christianity, was, it is highly probable, born 
 at York. Vide Geof. of Monmouth, anil Hist. August. 
 
 9 — p. 11. For proof that many Pagan Temples were con- 
 verted into Christian Churches, — See Fuller, Cent. ii. p. 13. — 
 See also Bingham's Origines Ecclesiastical — Vol. i. Book 8 : 
 where, besides the statement of this fact, and the zeal of Con- 
 stantino, and some succeeding Christian Emperors, in erecting 
 and adorning magnificent Churches, there is a learned Account 
 of the origin, names, early existence, different styles, and ap 
 propriate use of each particular Part, of Churches among 
 Christians. 
 
 10 — p. 12. The opening of the seven seals (Rev. vi.) is 
 universally applied by our best Commentators to the judgments 
 of God upon Pagan Rome. It will be seen, that this Chapter 
 has been the Author's guide in several of the following 
 paragraphs. See Bishop Newton on the Prophecies in loc. 
 
 11 — p. 13. Bishop Newton shows how exactly Rev. vi. 
 synchronizes with Roman history to the time of Constantine. 
 Cunningham and others have identified the sixth seal with 
 the French Revolution ; yet it is certain, that the figurative 
 language employed, can only receive its full and final ac- 
 complishment at the consummation of all things. — ~Bp. New- 
 ton, Ibid. 
 
 12 — p. 14. Some Commentators have thought, that the ten- 
 days mentioned Rev. ii. 10., refer to the ten general persecu- 
 tions: and always Scripture speaks of the afflictions of the 
 righteous as but of short duration : a night, Psalm xxx. 5— 
 an hour, Luke xxxii. 53 — a moment, 2 Cor. iv. 17. 
 
 13 — p. 15. Our first Martyr's Epitaph has been preserved : 
 " Hie est Martyrii roseo decoratus honore, 
 Albanus, Civis, inclyta Roma, tuus." 
 
 Camden's Britannia, a Gough — 1806; and Fuller's Ch. Hist. 
 Cent. iv. p. 17. 
 
 14 — p. 15. Chlorus, the Father of Constantine, granted 
 toleration to the Christians in Britain: or, as Eusebius has it, 
 " preserved unhurt the religious people who were under him." 
 De Vit. Const. Lib. i. 
 
 15 — p. 16. As seven cities contended for the birth-place of 
 Homer, three have contended for that of Constantine: viz., 
 London, York, and Colchester. Fuller, Cent. iv. p. 23.
 
 133 
 
 16— p. 16. That Chloruswas buried at York, See Ibid. p. 20. 
 
 17 — p. 17. On the death of Constantius (Chlorus) the 
 British soldiers enrolled in the Roman legions, immediately 
 saluted their native Prince Constantine as Emperor, and pre- 
 sented him with a Tufa or golden ball, as a symbol of Sove. 
 reignty. This he highly prized, and afterwards surmounted 
 with a cross, which he caused to be carried before him in all 
 great processions. See Speed's Hist, of Gt. Brit. p. 158; and 
 Drake's Ebor, p. 45. 
 
 18 — p. 19. At the Council of Nice met to condemn Arianism> 
 Eusebiussays — "To which censures agreed thoseof the Church 
 tcara ras BpiTowioy." At Sardis, also, the Bishops of Britain 
 concurred with the rest to condemn the Arians and acquit 
 Athanasius. Fuller, Cent. iv. p. 24. 
 
 19 — g. 19. See an acccount of the Arian heresy, and the 
 proceedings upon it, in Hooker Ecc. Pol. B. v, Sect. 42, 51 — 
 54. See also Milner's Hist, of the Ch., Cent. iv. chaps. 3 and 4. 
 
 20 — p. 21. St. Keby was a zealous Asserter of the purity 
 of religion against the poison of Arianism. He has left his 
 name to a promontory in Wales, called from him Holy-head, 
 in Welsh, Caer-Guiby. Fuller, Cent. iv. p. 26. 
 
 21 — p. 22. Pelagius was a Briton by birth. How wonderful 
 was the Providence that the same day whereon he was born 
 in Britain, St. Augustine beheld the light in Africa ! This 
 was indeed the bane and the antidote. Wise and unsearchable 
 are thy ways thou King of Saints ! Ibid. Cent. v. p. 27. 
 
 22 — p. 23. The main errors set forth by Pelagius may be 
 seen in Fuller, Cent. v. p. 28. See too Milner, Cent, v, Chs. 
 3, 4 j and the Articles, Creeds, and other standard Documents 
 of our Church. 
 
 23 — p. 23. Gcrmainc and Lupus were French Bishops who 
 came over the channel, and by their faithful labors confirmed 
 the Crthodox, and confronted the Heretics. Fuller, Cent, v, 
 
 p. 29. 
 
 24— p. 21. See Ibid p. 32; and Bishop Jewel in 2 Thess. 
 
 25 — p. 25. Vortiger, forsaken of God and man, and pressed 
 hard by his Invaders, took the desperate step of inviting the 
 Saxons to his help. This opened the door for all the horrors 
 
 that were now to stalk through the land. Ibid ; and Itapin, 
 
 Vol. i. B. i. p. 25. 
 
 26— p. 25. The cruelties of the Pagan Saxons arc minutely 
 enough detailed by Bcdc ; who was himself a Saxon, aud 
 
 3 K.
 
 134 
 
 cannot be thought too highly to have coloured his picture. 
 
 Ecc. Hist. Lib. i. 
 
 27— p. 26. See Rapin, Vol. i. B. i, p. 27. 
 
 28 — p. 26. King Arthur succeeded to the British crown, 
 
 A.D. 509. He is counted one of the nine worthies. Fuller, 
 
 Cent. vi. p. 39. 
 
 29 — p. 27. Dubritius was in great repute among the learned 
 men that were invited to the Court of Arthur, and the Father 
 of many eminent Scholars, who successively contended for the 
 faith. He was a great Champion of the truth against Pelagi- 
 anism. Ibid p. -10; and Rapin, Vol. i. B. ii. p. 43. 
 
 30 — p. 27. St. David was Uncle to King Arthur. He pri- 
 vately studied the Scriptures ten years, before he would 
 presume to preach, and always carried the Gospels about with 
 him. Fuller, Ibid. 
 
 NOTES TO PART II. 
 
 1 — p. 30. This Dialogue is circumstantially told by the 
 Venerable Bcdc, the Father of British Ecclesiastical History. 
 Eeel. Hist. Lib. ii. 1. — See also Milner, Cent. vi. Ch. vii. 
 
 2 — p. 31. See an account of the great number of Persons 
 baptized, in one day, in the River Swale, near Richmond, by 
 Augustine or Paulinus, in Fuller, Cent vii. p. 66 j and Milner, 
 Cent. vii. Ch. i. 
 
 3 — p. 31. " A little Oratory of wood was occasionally 
 thrown up in the very place where the great church now 
 stands, and dedicated to St. Peter ; in which, on Easter-day, 
 being April 12, 627, * * * * the King and his two Sons 
 Osfrid and Edfrid, with many more of the Nobility, were 
 
 solemnly baptized." History and Descrip. of the Cathed. 
 
 Church of York, p. 4. 
 
 4 — p. 31. For the praise due to those who thus honour 
 God with their substance j See Hooker, Ecc. Pol. B. v. Sect. 
 11, 15, and 79 
 
 5 — p. 32. " By the Bishop's (Paulinus') direction, he (Ed- 
 win) began to build a magnificcut Fabric of stone. Hist. 
 
 &c. p. 5.
 
 135 
 
 G— p. 33. For an account of Oswald, his completion of the 
 Minster, and the manner of his death, see Ibid. 
 
 7 p. 33. For the industry and vigor of this Prelate in 
 
 restoring the Minster, See Ibid, p. 6. 
 8— p. 33. See Ibid. 
 
 9_p. 34. For the circumstances of this fire in the reign of 
 William the Conqueror, See Ibid. 
 
 10 — p. 34. For a relation of these facts, See Ibid, p. 7 ; and 
 Vol. ii. p. 40. 
 
 11— p. 34. " His tomb, although the oldest in the Church, 
 is still to be seen." Ibid, Vol. ii. p. 52. 
 
 12— p. 34. For the additions which he made, See Ibid, 
 Vol. i. p. 7. 
 
 13— p. 34. His building of the North Transept, as well as 
 the Steeple, is recorded, Ibid, p. 8. 
 
 14— p. 34. See infra, note 16. 
 
 15— p. 34. The Hebrew word for year is njtf, Sheneh, from 
 «jjf to repeat. Buxtorf Lex. in verb. 
 
 16 p. 34. The Historian here translates from a table which 
 
 still hangs in the Vestry. "Anno 1291, The building of the 
 Nave of York Minster was begun by John le Romaine, Arch- 
 bishop thereof, and forty years after in a manner completed 
 
 by William de Melton, Archbishop thereof." Hist. See. 
 
 Vol. i. p. 8. 
 
 17 — p. 35. " This John Thoresby, Archbishop, laid the first 
 Stone of the new Choir, and the same table in the Vestry bears 
 testimony of it." Ibid, p. 10. 
 
 18 — p. 35. By the munificence of Walter Skirlaw, the old 
 Steeple was taken down, and a new one erected. Ibid, p. 12. 
 
 19— p. 3,3. See Ibid, p. 13. 
 
 20 — p. 35. All that have any love for what is sacred or 
 regard for what is ancient, know how Devotion and Antiquity 
 lament together over the irreparable loss they both sustained, 
 by the misguided zeal which first broke out, in the early dawn 
 of the Reformation. See Strype's Ecc. Mem. Ch. 51, p. 
 
 5 , and Lcyland's Itin. passim. 
 
 21— p. 36. The great design of Luther's Commentary on 
 Galatiaus, which appeared about this time, was to maintain 
 the doctrine of Justification by Faith against the Popish error 
 of Justification by Works and Faith conjointly. He distinctly 
 
 I K
 
 136 
 
 enumerates " fifty inconveniences" arising from the Pupal 
 scheme. See Luther on Gal. See, also, the interesting and 
 masterly account of the character and opinions of Luther, 
 furnished hy the late learned and pious Dean of Carlisle, Dr. 
 Milner. — Hist, of the Ch., Vol. iv. 
 
 22— p. 37. Dan. chap. iv. 13—14. 
 
 23 — p. 38. Alluding to the well-known Motto inscribed on 
 the wall ; 
 
 " Ut Rosa Phlos Phlorum, 
 Sic est Doinus ista Domorum." 
 
 See Hist. &.c. p. 18. 
 
 21 — p. 1 1. No one surely will venture to identify the Book 
 now used in the Irish schools with the Bible. This miserable 
 maiming of those Scriptures, all of which are given by in- 
 spiration of God, has been nobly, tho' ineffectually, protested 
 against by the established Church : here she has stood in the 
 gap, and caused her voice to be heard as the Guardian of the 
 Oracles of God. 
 
 25 — p. 41. The Reader who is acquainted with passing 
 Occurrences will need no other authority for the painful 
 allusions in this, and a few similar Paragraphs: and the 
 Author forbears further to particularize : devoutly praying, 
 that on some of these Heads, all Ranks of men, beginning first 
 at home, will concur in an attempt at a radical Reformation. 
 
 26 —p. 48. See his Sketch of all Denominations, &c. This 
 whole work is written as if there was no sin in schism ; no 
 danger in heresies; and, in short, nothing to be apprehended 
 by the Church of Christ, except Bigotry, and Illiberalisni. 
 
 27 — p. 49. 1 Cor. xiii ; and Mat. vii. 
 
 28 — p. 50. Mat. ix, xi, xii ; and the Gospels passim. 
 
 29 — p. 50. For the primitive character of this class of per- 
 sons, see Luke, xviii. 9 — 14; and the last note. 
 
 30— p. 50. Isa. lxv. 5. 
 
 31 — p. 50. See Mat. vii. 1 — 5; and xxiii. And let me 
 intreat every class of professed Christians, who deal in De- 
 traction, and the other Vices of the Tongue, to read carefully 
 the Epistle of St. James. There they will see the mischiefs 
 of this species of Deportment awfully depicted, and their own 
 " seeming Religion" pronounced " vain." 
 
 32 — p. 51. An account of the different Monuments referred 
 to, may he found. Hist. &c. Vol. ii. p. <>! — 70.
 
 137 
 
 NOTES TO PART III. 
 
 1— p. 57. See Gen. xxviii, 10—20. 
 2— p. 59. 1 Chron. xvii, 2. 
 3 — p. 59. 1 Chron. xxix. 
 4 — p. 59. 2 Chron. vi. and vii. 
 5 — p. 59. Haggai i. 4. 
 6 — p. 61. Exod. xv. 
 7 — p. 62. Deut. xxxii. 
 8 — p. 62. Judges v. 
 9 — p. 62. 1 Sam. ii. 
 
 10 — p. 63. See Bp. Lowth on the Sacred Poetry of the 
 Hebrews, passim ; and Bp. Horsley's Bib. Crit., Vol. iv. 
 p. 334", &.c. 
 
 11 — p. 63. 1 Sam. xvi. 
 
 12— p. 69. See Math. xxvi. 30 ; Bishop Home's Pref. to 
 his Commt. on the Psalms ; and Poli Synops., Tom. iv. p. 636. 
 13— p. 69. 2 Chron. xx. 22. 
 
 14— p. 69. See Fuller's Ch. Hist, Cent. xvii. p. 177. 
 15 — p. 74. Bishop Tomline's Elemts. of Cn. Theol., Vol. ii. 
 Ch. 1. 
 
 16— p. 75. See Todd's Vind. of English Bible, p. 60, 49, 
 61, 58. 
 
 17 — p. 77. Romans xiii. 
 
 18— p. 77. See Life prefixed to Ecc. Pol. near the end. 
 19— p. 79. 2 Chron. xxvi. 19—21. 
 20— p. 79. Numb. xvi. 32 ; and Jude v. 11. 
 21 — p. 80. Matt xxviii, 20: But besides the appropriate 
 Texts of Holy Writ, see also on this subject, Bp. Hall's Divine 
 Bight of Episcopacy ; Hooker's Ecc. Pol., Ii. v, Sect. 76 — 78; 
 Bs. vii, and iii ; and Bingham's Origines Ecclesiastics, Vol. i, 
 B. 2 : — in each of which Works the Doctrine here maintained 
 is absolutely demonstrated. 
 
 22 — p. 81. 1 Kings xii and xiii. 
 23 — p. 82. Joshua vii, 26. 
 
 24— p. 82. Judges vii, 25; and Pin. lxxxiii, 11, 12. 
 25 — p. 82. 2 Kings xix, 35; lsa. x. ; and Poli Synops. 
 Tom. i. in loe. ; and Dan. v.
 
 1:38 
 
 2(5 — p. 82. Joel iii, 4 and 5. 
 
 27— p. 82. See Prideaux's Connection ; and Rollin's Anct. 
 Hist. Vol. vii. p. 93. 
 
 28— p. 82. 2 Maccabees, ix. 
 
 29— p. 83.— See Plutarch's Lives— Marcus Crassus. 
 
 30— p. 83. Mosheim's Ecc Hist. Vol. i. p. 223, and Note ; 
 and Bower's Hist, of the Popes, Vol. vi. p. 393. 
 
 31 — p. 83. See Burnet, Part. i. p. 340 ; and Part iii, p. 49 j 
 and Strype's Ecc. Mem. Vol. i. Chs. xv, xvi. 
 
 NOTES TO PART IV. 
 
 1— p. 87. Nicholas Heath was the 60th Archbishop of York. 
 Under his Successor, Thomas Young, the Pope's authority 
 ceased in England. Hist. &c. Vol. ii. p. 128. 
 
 2— p. 88. All Expositors make the Kingdom of the Anglo- 
 Saxons, once a Roman Province, one of the ten Kingdoms 
 
 typified by the ten crowned horns, mentioned Rev. xiii. 1. 
 
 See Bp. Newton on the Prophecies, Ed. London, 1826, p. 
 229—30, and 609. 
 
 3— p. 88. The two Witnesses, Rev. xi, 3—13, point out the 
 continual succession of faithful Witnesses to protest in an 
 
 afflicted state, against the errors of Popery for 12G0 years 
 
 Ibid, p. 563. 
 
 4— p. 88. The first Dissension between the British and 
 Roman Church was concerning the celebration of Easter, See 
 Bede, Ecc Hist. Lib. ii. Cap. 2; and Abp. Usher's Discourse 
 of the Religion anciently professed by the Irish and British. — 
 Tracts, Edit. London, 103i, T. iv. Sect. 9. 
 
 5 — p. 89. The British Churches lamented and censured 
 the 2nd Council of Nice, and the famous Albin or Alcuin 
 wrote a refutation of it. Bp. Newton, p. 571. 
 
 6— p. 89. That he translated the Psalms into English, 
 Fuller informs us, Cent, ix, p. 121 ; and, for his general 
 character, See Ibid, p. 116$ Rapin, Vol. i. p. 90— 9" ; and 
 Hist, passim. 
 
 7 — p. 89. The doctrine of Transubstantiation advanced in 
 the ninth century by Radbertus, was strenuously opposed by 
 Scotus. He was invited into England, and honored by King 
 Alfred. Bp. Newton, p. 573. 

 
 139 
 
 8 p. 90. The tenth Century has hecn called the iron, 
 
 leaden, and obscure age. The comparison made in this para- 
 graph is taken from Baronius. See Bp. Newton, p. 574, 
 
 who quotes Baron, ad ami- 912 ; and another Writer of the 
 Romish Communion, who says, that at this unhappy period 
 there were " about fifty Popes totally degenerated from the 
 virtue of their Ancestors, being more Apostates than Apostles." 
 
 9 — p. 90. About this time Athelstan caused the Scriptures 
 to be translated into Anglo-Saxon; Elfere, Earl of Mercia, 
 substituted married Clergy for Monks in his province, and 
 Alfric, both in his homily and his letters, combatted the doc- 
 trine of transubstantiation. Ibid, p. 575. 
 
 10 — p. 90. To this Prelate one of Alfrie's letters was ad- 
 dressed. He joined the heathen Danes against his Christian 
 
 Countrymen, and Benefactor Athelstan. See Hist. &c< Vol. 
 
 ii. p. 24"; and Newton, p. 576. 
 
 11 — p. 90. His opinions and success are detailed by Bp. 
 Newton, p. 578. In spite of Popes and Councils, he died in 
 
 the sentiments he professed while living. See too Abp. 
 
 Usher, Tracts, p. 83. 
 
 12 — p. 90- This was done at the council held at Winchester, 
 A.D. 1076 Collier's Ecc. Hist. B. iv. p. 248. 
 
 13 — p. 90. Gregory 7th, sometimes styled Hell-brand. Both 
 William the Conqueror, and Win. Rufus, refused him homage. 
 Bp. Newton, p. 577. 
 
 14 — p. 91. In the reign of Henry 2nd, the famous Constitu- 
 tions of Clarendon were sworn to, by clergy and laity. From 
 
 hence the ebb of Papal power in England. See Bp. Newton, 
 
 p. 579 ; and Mosheim's Ecc Hist. Vol. i. p. 286- 
 
 15 — p. 91. For an interesting account of a conversation 
 between Rielul. 1st and Joachim, Abbot of Calabria, respecting 
 the interpretation of certain parts of the Apocalypse, See 
 llogeri de Hoveden Annales; Edit 1596, p. 388. — See too Bp. 
 Newton, p. 580. 
 
 16 — p. 92. In explanation and support of this Paragraph, 
 See, v.g., a Sketch of the Reformation, by the Rev. J. J. Hlunt; 
 Bp. Newton, and his Authorities, p. 581; and the recent 
 Works of Gilly, ami Jones, on this subject. In noticing this 
 last named Work, the Quarterly Reviewers, No. <i.J, p. Kill, 
 say: " There is no exaggeration in Mr. Jones' language, when 
 In: says, ' that if hell had been emptied of its inhabitants, and 
 all let loose among the Vailies of Piedmont, greater enormities
 
 no 
 
 could neither have been expected nor committed.'" — See also 
 Rev. xvii ; where the mystical Babylon is represented by a 
 Woman, who is a " Harlot"; — this Harlot is " drank"; — drunk 
 with " blood"; — " the blood of the Saints, and of the Martyrs of 
 Jesus"! — v. 5 and 6. 
 
 17 — p. 92. Grosthead, Bp. of Lincoln. Matthew Paris, a 
 Contemporary Historian, gives the substance of his dying 
 discourses. Excommunicated by the Pope, he appealed from 
 the Court of Innocent to the tribunal of Christ. Bp. New- 
 ton, p. 588; and Fuller, Cent. xii. p. 65. 
 
 18 — p. 94. The writings of Wickliff contain, with some 
 alloy, the leading doctrines of the Reformation. After his 
 death his works were burned, his body disinhumed, consigned 
 to the flames, and the ashes cast into a brook ; the Swift, that 
 flows into the Avon; from thence into the Severn; and 
 
 ultimately into the Sea. See Milner's Ch. Hist. Vol. iv. 
 
 Part i. p. 107—119; Fuller, Cent. xv. p. 171; and Newton, 
 p. 589. 
 
 19 — p. 94. Two things contributed to the revival of learning 
 in Cent. xv. : The flight of the Greeks with their books from 
 
 Constantinople, and the invention of Printing. Bp. Newten, 
 
 p. 591. 
 
 20 — p. 95. William Sawtre, parish priest of St. Osith, Lou- 
 don, was the first English Martyr burned for heresy. Thomas 
 Badby was afterwards burned at Smithfield. Sir John Old- 
 castle, Baron Cobham, Patron of the Lollards, hanged as a 
 traitor, and burned hanging as a heretic, in the reign of Henry 
 
 5th. See Bp. Newton, p. 591 ; Fox's Acts and Monuments j 
 
 and Burnet. 
 
 21 — p. 96. Martyn Luther began publicly to preach against 
 the Pope's indulgences, A.D. 1517. Bp. Newton applies Rev. 
 xiv. 9 — 10. to the protest then loudly raised against Popery. 
 For the papal errors here mentioned, and their unanswerable 
 refutation, see Abp. Usher's Answer to a Jesuit, Tracts, ut 
 supra, T. 1. passim. 
 
 22 — p. 98. When Cranmer requested Henry 8th to give a 
 token of his dying a Protestant, the expiring Monarch had 
 
 only power to squeeze the future Martyr's hand. Burnet's 
 
 Hist. Ref. Vol. i. ad finem ; and Strype's Life of Cranmer, 
 p. 389. 
 
 23 — 98. His learning and piety far outstripped his age, and 
 from his letters and prayers remaining, the depth of the former
 
 141 
 
 y 
 xvas only exceeded by the fervor of the latter. He was often 
 
 called the Josiah of the Nation. Burnet, Vol. ii. p. 214; 
 
 and Fuller. 
 
 24 — p. 99. The account of this interview is given by Burnet. 
 Ibid, p. 247. 
 
 25 — p. 99. These worthy Prelates were respectively com- 
 pelled to resign their office, for being married men : and 
 
 Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer, were committed to prison. 
 
 Ibid, p. 275. See also Fuller. 
 
 26 — p. 105. That he may avoid tedious repetition, for the 
 correctness of his statements with regard to the above named 
 Martyrs, the Author here refers, at once, to Bp. Burnet, 
 Strype, and Fox, in locis. In these unimpeachable Historians, 
 the Reader may find the most ample details and confirmation 
 of particulars, both appalling and pleasing.— If he desire 
 further'information on the more general controversy between 
 the two Churches at issue, he will find a good specimen of it, 
 in the Works of Bps. Jewel, and Hall, and those of Dr. J. 
 Barrow: If he prefer modern and lighter Publications, let 
 him peruse Southey's " Book of the Church," with his" Vin- 
 diciffi Ecclesise Anglicanae" ; Townsend's " Accusations of 
 History against the Church of Rome"; Overton's " Catholic 
 Claims rejected" ; Richardson's " Review of the Declaration 
 of tiie Catholic Bishops" ; and Mr. Todd's " Vindication of 
 Abp. Cranmer, and the Reformation in England." — In the 
 last-mentioned Work, independently of its own merits, he will 
 find, the valuable Testimony of Dr. Wordsworth to the un- 
 shaken integrity of Fox ; which avouches him to have proved 
 " one of the most faithful and authentic of all historians." 
 See Pref. to Eccles. Biog. 
 
 27— p. 105. See the Liturgy, Arts., and other Authentic 
 Documents of the British Church ; and, besides the preceding 
 References, her approved Advocates, passim. 
 
 28 — p. 105. For an account of the circumstances connected 
 witlt this fact, See Rapin, Vol. ii. p. 13.5 — 7. That we are 
 wholly indebted to a gracious Providence for the protection of 
 our beloved Zion from that era, ad cum usque diem, needs no 
 proof, but loudly calls for our devout gratitude.
 
 142 
 
 NOTES TO PART V. 
 
 1— p. 108. A truly Apostolic and loyal Bishop, as testifies 
 
 his letter to Queen Elizabeth. See Fuller, Cent. xvi. p. 
 
 123—130. 
 
 2_ p, HO. A Marian Exile. For the full confession of his 
 faith, see the Preamble to his Will, Prerogative office, York, 
 dated Augt. 1st, 1587. For his Character, see Fuller, Ibid, 
 p. 197 ; and Hist. &c, p. 125—9; and its Authorities; which, 
 besides Fuller, include Le Neve, who wrote " An Account of 
 the Protestant Bps. of this See"; "Willis on Cathedral 
 Churches"; " M. S. Torre" ; &c. 
 
 3 — p. 111. No less remarkable for the dissipation of his 
 youth, than the gravity and sobriety of his manhood. He lived 
 and died with the character of one of the most grave and 
 
 reverend Prelates of his day. Fuller, Cent, xvi, p. 223; 
 
 and Hist. &c, p. 130. 
 
 4— p. 112. Accounted the ablest preacher of his day. Tn a 
 letter preserved by Fuller he gives full assent to the articles 
 of Lambeth : an outline of the doctrines contained in these 
 
 articles, is here attempted. Ibid, p. 230; and Hist. &c. 
 
 Vol. ii. p. 131,2; which adds here to its authorities, Thoresby's 
 " Vicaria Leodensis." 
 
 5— p. 112. Styled in his Epitaph " the English Chrysostom." 
 He thought all time lost, which was not devoted to the good 
 of souls. Hist. &c. Vol. i. p. Ill, and Vol. ii. p. 132. 
 
 6— p. 113. " Scarce warm in his Church ere cold in his 
 co ffi n .» Ibid ; and Fuller, Cent. xvii. p. 134. 
 
 7— p. 113. Considered by many as too severe against the 
 Puritans. In his will he renounces " as well all modern 
 
 Popish Superstitions, as all Novelties of Geneva." M.S. 
 
 Torre, p. 478; and Hist. &c. Vol, ii, p. 136; and Fuller, Cent, 
 xvii, p. 138, and 144. 
 
 8— p. 113. For the character and conduct of this amiable- 
 Prelate whose Episcopal notions displeased the Puritans, See 
 Hist. &c. Vol. ii. p. 137 ; and Eachard's Hist, of Eng.— " He 
 died," says Eachard, " full of years, yet he was as full of 
 honors: A faithful Subject to his Prince, an indulgent Father 
 to his Clergy, a bountiful Patron to his Chaplains, and a true 
 Friend to all that relied upon him."
 
 143 
 
 B— p. 1 14. See a simple but very affecting account of Abp. 
 Laud's execution, and dying behaviour, and previous life, in 
 Fuller, Cent, xvii, p. 215 — 219; See also this Prelate's own 
 Diary ; and Rapin, Vol. ii, p. 5(1(3 : and See an excellent 
 Speech of Dr. Racket's, in Parliament, Fuller, Ibid, p. 177. 
 
 10 — p. 114. See, e. g., Rapin, Vol. ii, p. 570, and its context. 
 
 11— p. 114. See Ibid, p. 499. 
 
 12 — p. 114. Excluded by the Parliamentarians, he retired 
 into Wales, and ultimately forsaking his Royal Master, ex- 
 changed lawn for buff, and commanded at the Siege of Aber- 
 conway. To this Prelate Hudibras alludes : 
 
 " More plainly than that reverend writer, 
 Who to our Churches vail'd his mitre." 
 His Epitaph concludes thus: 
 
 " Abi, viator, sat tuis oculis debes." 
 
 Hist. &c. Vol. ii, p. 140. 
 13— p. 116. At the happy Restoration of Church and Mo- 
 narchy, he was nominated to this See, and installed in person, 
 A.D., 16f>0. In his Will he bequeathed to every Bishop of the 
 Kingdom a Ring with this Inscription: 
 
 " Neque melior sum quam Patres mei. 
 Re. 19. A. F." 
 
 Ibid, p. 143. 
 
 14 — p. 116. He was Chaplain to Abp. Laud; and, when 
 his Master suffered for his Loyalty, he stood on the fatal 
 Scaffold with him. " His whole behaviour," says Mr. Willis, 
 " was worthy of the high station he bore ; and his learning is 
 best seen by his accurate Book of Logic ; and the hand he had 
 in composing the Polyglot Bible." Ibid, p. 143 — 4. 
 
 15 — p. H7. He served as an Ensign at the siege of York, 
 and was dangerously wounded at Marston Moor: He first 
 instituted weekly Sacraments in the Cathedral. For his 
 character, see Ibid, p. 144,5; and Wood's Ath. Oxon. Edit, 
 prim, art Dolben. 
 
 16 — p. 117. He adhered to James II. when almost uni- 
 versally forsaken. — A striking instance of Ignorance and 
 Bigotry is furnished in an Anecdote connected with the early 
 history of this Prelate. " When Curate at Southampton," we 
 are told, " in the height of fanaticism, he got by heart almost 
 the whole of the Liturgy of the Church of England, which he 
 used to speak off" Book to his hearers, in (apparent) imitation 
 • if the zealots of those times; especially the Burial Service,
 
 144 
 
 with which the People were so taken, that the Relations and 
 Friends of such as were buried frequently made him Presents, 
 and desired, that when they died, they might be buried in the 
 same manner: but he acquainted them it was not his own 
 Composition, but only the Words of the Liturgy, so much then 
 set at nought and despised" ! ! — See Hist. &c. Vol. ii. p. 147. — 
 Would that the above mentioned Cousins German, had confined 
 their Union and Mischiefs to that period of our Church history! 
 
 17 — p. 1 17. The life of this most excellent Prelate is drawn 
 up by his son Dr. Sharp, formerly Archdeacon of Northumber- 
 land. Ibid, p. 147. 
 
 18 — p. 118. This Christian Bishop was immaturely snatched 
 
 away by the hand of death, A.D. 1724. iEtat. 53 years- 
 
 Ibid, p. 149. 
 
 l«j_p. US. This Prelate was buried at St. Margaret's 
 Church, Westminster. Ibid, p. 150 
 
 20— p. 118. When the Rebellion broke out in Scotland, 
 A.I). 1745, he was the first who awakened the nation from its 
 Lethargy. His exemplary conduct at that interesting period, 
 will always be remembered to his honor by every sincere 
 Protestant. Ibid, p. 151. 
 
 21 — p. 1 18. It is well known, that our good and pious King, 
 George the 3rd, was both a shrewd discerner of characters, and 
 anxiously attentive to the education of his Children. 
 
 22 — p. 1 18. At the moment this was written, His Grace had 
 just lost his amiable and excellent Consort, Lady Anne. The 
 other particulars noticed, are " known and read of all men." 
 
 23 — p. 121- See the Confirmation Service 
 
 24— p. 121. See the solemn Service of Ordination. 
 
 25— p. 122. See Rev. vii. 15. 
 
 //. Bellerby, Printer, Gazette-Office, YorJt.
 
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