Though the foundation on a rock were laid,
The church was undermin'd, and then betray'd;
Though the apostles these events foretold,
Yet even the fhepherd did devour the fold:
The fisher to convert the world began,
The pride convincing of vain-glorious man;
But foon his followers grew a fovereign lord,
And Peter's keys exchang'd for Peter's fword,
Which still maintains for his adopted fon
Vast patrimonies, though himself had none;
Wrefting the text to the old giant's sense,
That heaven, once more, must suffer violence.
Then fubtle doctors, fcriptures made their prize,
Cafuifts, like cocks, ftruck out each other's eyes,
Then dark diftinctions reafon's light difguis'd,
And into atoms truth anatomiz❜d.

Then Mahomet's crefcent, by our feuds encreaft,
Blafted the learn'd remainders of the east :

That project, when from Greece to Rome it came,
Made mother ignorance devotion's dame;
Then, he whom Lucifer's own pride did fwell,
His faithful emissary, rose from hell

To poffefs Peter's chair, that Hildebrand,
Whose foot on mitres, then on crowns did stand,

And before that exalted idol, all

(Whom we call Gods on earth) did proftrate fall. Then darkness Europe's face did over-spread, From lazy cells, where fuperftition bred,

Which, link'd with blind obedience, fo encrcaft, That the whole world, fome ages, they oppreft;

Till through those clouds the fun of knowledge brake,

And Europe from her lethargy did wake;

Then first our monarchs were acknowledg'd here,
That they their churches nurfing fathers were.
When Lucifer no longer could advance
His works on the falfe ground of ignorance,
New arts he tries, and new defigns he lays,
Then his well study'd master-piece he plays;
Loyola, Luther, Calvin he infpires,

And kindles with infernal flames their fires,
Sends their fore-runner (confcious of th' event)
Printing, his most pernicious inftrument !
Wild controversy then, which long had flept,
Into the prefs from ruin'd cloysters leapt ;
No longer by implicit faith we err,
Whilst every man's his own interpreter ;
No more conducted now by Aaron's rod,
Lay elders, from their ends create their God,
But feven wife men the ancient world did know,
We fcarce know feven who think themselves not fo.
When man learn'd undefil'd religion,

We were commanded to be all as one;
Fiery difputes that union have calcin'd,
Almost as many minds as men we find,

And when that flame finds combustible earth,
Thence fatuus fires, and meteors take their birth,
Legions of fects and infects come in throngs;
To name them all would tire a hundred tongues.
So were the centaurs of Ixion's race,
Who a bright cloud for Juno did embrace;

And

And fuch the monfters of Chimæra's kind,
Lions before, and dragons were behind.

Then from the clafhes between popes and kings,
Debate, like fparks from flints collision, springs :
As Jove's loud thunder-bolts were forg'd by heat,
The like our Cyclops on their anvils beat ;
All the rich mines of learning ranfack'd are,
To furnish ammunition for this war:
Uncharitable zeal our reafon whets,
And double edges on our paffions fets;
'Tis the moft certain fign, the world's accurft,
That the best things corrupted, are the worst;
'Twas the corrupted light of knowledge, hurl'd
Sin, death, and ignorance, o'er all the world;
That fun like this (from which our fight we have)
Gaz'd on too long, refumes the light he gave;
And when thick mifts of doubts obfcure his beams,
Our guide is error, and our visions dreams;
'Twas no falfe heraldry, when madnefs drew
Her pedigree from thofe who too much knew ;
Who in deep mines for hidden knowledge toils,
Like guns o'er-charg'd, breaks, miffes, or recoils;
When fubtle wits have fpun their thread too fine,
'Tis weak and fragile like Arachne's line :
True piety, without ceffation toft

By theories, the practic part is loft,

And like a ball bandy'd 'twixt pride and wit,
Rather than yield, both fides the prize will quit ;
Then whilft his foe each gladiator foils,
The atheift looking on, enjoys the fpoils.

Through

Through feas of knowledge we our course advance,
Discovering ftill new worlds of ignorance;
And these difcoveries make us all confefs
That fublunary fcience is but guess,
Matters of fact to man are only known,
And what seems more is mere opinion;
The ftanders-by fee clearly this event,
All parties fay they 're fure, yet all diffent;
With their new light our bold inspectors prefs
Like Cham, to fhew their father's nakedness,
By whofe example, after-ages may

Discover, we more naked are than they;
All human wisdom, to divine, is folly;
This truth, the wifest man made melancholy;
Hope, or belief, or guefs, gives fome relief,
But to be fure we are deceiv'd, brings grief:
Who thinks his wife is virtuous, though not fo,
Is pleas'd, and patient, till the truth he know.
Our God, when heaven and earth he did create,
Form'd man, who should of both participate;
If our lives motions theirs must imitate,
Our knowledge, like our blood, must circulate.
When, like a bridegroom from the east, the fun
Sets forth, he thither, whence he came, doth run;
Into earth's fpungy veins the ocean finks,
Those rivers to replenish which he drinks;
So learning, which from reafon's fountain springs,
Back to the fource, fome fecret channel brings.
'Tis happy when our ftreams of knowledge flow
To fill their banks, but not to overthrow.

OF

OF OLD A G E.

CATO, SCIPIO, LELIUS.

ΤΗ

'HOUGH all the actions of your life are crown'd Withwisdom, nothing makes them more renown'd, Than that thofe years, which others think extreme, Nor to yourself, nor us uneasy seem ;

Under which weight, most like th' old giants, groan, When Ætna on their backs by Jove was thrown.

CATO. What you urge, Scipio, from right reafon flows; All parts of age feem burthenfome to thofe Who virtue's and true wifdom's happiness Cannot difcern; but they who thofe poffefs, In what 's impos'd by nature find no grief, Of which our age is (next our death) the chief, Which though all equally defire t' obtain, Yet when they have obtain❜d it, they complain; Such our inconftancies and follies are,

We fay it fteals upon us unaware :

Our want of reasoning these false measures makes,
Youth runs to age, as childhood youth o'ertakes.
How much more grievous would our lives appear,
To reach th' eighth hundred, than the eightieth year?
Of what, in that long space of time hath past,
To foolish age will no remembrance last.
My age's conduct when you seem t' admire,
(Which that it may deserve, I much defire)