Colonial North America: Houghton Library

149

To swell their loathsom putrid treasures,

That ever yawn like wide mouthed oven,

From the unhallowed sluttish sloven ~

Thus Dic in constant hurry drives,

And as his fancy paints, believes,

If right or wrong, or good or evil,

Or his Lucin., or viler devil;

Or shade, or some fantastic substance,

Or easy fate, or sad resistence;

Come what it may, or dirt or water,

It matters not, nor is it matter,

That e'er can teach such unbelievers,

Or undeceive such dull deceivers;

Whose fancy governs all their actions,

In sober life & wild distractions,

That fancy bliss in empty phantoms,

Whose pates are substituted lanthorns;

And fancy lights those airy candles,

That leads them where the vision spangles,

150

Thro fens & bogs & miry places,

In [ignis?] fatuous numble races;

Tost up & down like vexed spirits,

That naught can plead but their own merits,

Nor this enough to give them ballest,

To ride secure in storms & tempests;

But down they plunge the putrid Ocean,

To wallow in their own corruption ~

These fancyed beings, or supine visions,

That putrify our earthly regions,

Whose clammy lungs infest the air,

To swell diseases big with fear,

Whose noxious vapour scatters death,

Imbibd by ev'ry labouring breath;

The righteous Gods to justice bring,

Or from the earth in hurry fling;

Nor let this mungrel race of man,

Invert the order or the plan,

151

Of rational delights, so harmless,

For brutal joys abscene & nameless,

Desir'd of all the rational,

Derivd from man original ~

Religion its own Enemy

Thro subtilty of heads tis giv'n,

To clog the road, that leads to Heav'n,

That hardly two agree together,

For conversasion & behaviour,

To walk the christian journey thro',

And render each his simple due;

Thro envy or malicious spite,

,Tis you are wrong, & I am right,

Nor can you enter realms above,

When all is joy & peace & love,

,Till you renounce those mad credentials,

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That scarce admit of pentitentials,

A gracious God will ever own,

From his all just & gracious Throne;

Who will not hear the Infidel,

But dooms him to an instant hell ~

The Quaker thinks his faith is just,

And so believes because he must;

All others deeming vainly wrong,

With partial scripture on their tongues,

And erring wide from precepts giv'n,

To form the soul & lift to Heav'n,

Can never hope, or justly so,

A safe retreat from endless woe;

In full assurance of that place,

Where ev'ry wish is tund to grace,

And one belief inspires each breast,

With all that makes the creature blest,

Who constant in that world above,

Banquets & feasts on boundless love ~

153

The Baptist to his tenets holds,

As what the scripture truth unfolds;

And he is right, or argues so,

And equal feels the equal glow,

That true credentials would empart,

To form the life & change the heart,

And while he's right, the other's wrong,

Nor can opposing faith be strong,

Or stronger than the only right,

That faultless shines divinely bright,

As what the God of truth approves,

Approving only what he loves ~

The congregational believes,

No other faith than Gospel gives;

On this as his supreme support,

He rests, & thinks he rests unhurt;

Nor would he change his faith for one,

On which he doubts himself undone,

Or give his better faith the lie,

For an exchangd christianity,

154

But instant damns all other faith,

Opposd to what the scripture saith,

Then swears his own religion just,

For he believes just as he must ~

Can faiths opposd unite in Heav'n

When but one law to all is giv'n?

That grates with sacriligious jar,

And instant to religious war,

Awakles, & rouses all to flame,

That courts or bears the christian name?

Yet all would join the world of peace,

And by their faith expect release,

From all that pains the heart or eyes,

And leap to bliss with glad surprise ~

Should christians quarrel on the way,

That leads them to an endless day?

Beware, nor let it e'er be said,

That christians who for Heav'n were made,

By difring here have left the road,

That leads them up to natures God ~