Could it of art fuch miracles invent,

And raise a beauteous world of fuch extent? "Still at the helm does this dark pilot stand, And with a steady, never-erring hand,

580

Steer all the floating worlds, and their fet courfe command?

That clearer ftrokes of masterly defign,

Of wife contrivance, and of judgement, fhine

In all the parts of Nature, we affert,

Than in the brightest works of human art:

585

And fhall not those be judg'd th' effect of thought,

As well as thefe with fkill inferior wrought?

Let fuch a sphere to India be convey'd,

As Archimede or modern Hugens made;

Will not the Indian, though untaught and rude,

590

This work th' effect of wife defign conclude ?
Is there fuch skill in imitation fhown?
And in the things, we imitate, is none?
Are not our arts, by artful nature taught,
With pain and careful observation fought?

Behold the painter, who with Nature vies:
See his whole foul exerted in his eyes!
He views her various fcenes, intent to trace
The mafter lines, that form her finish'd face :
Are thought and conduct in the

copy clear,

While none in all th' original appear?

Tell us, what mafter, for mechanicks fam'd,

Has one machine fo admirably fram'd,
Where you will art in fuch perfection grant,
As in a living creature, or a plant?

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600

605

Declare,

Declare, what curious workmanship can vie
Or with a hand or foot, an ear, or eye?
That can for fkill as much applause deserve,
As the fine texture of the fibrous nerve;
Or the stupendous fyftem, which contains
Th' arterial channels, or the winding veins?
What artificial frame, what inftrument,
Did one fuperior genius yet invent,
Which to the bones or mufcles is preferr❜d,
If you their order, form, or use, regard ?

610

615

Why then to works of nature is affign'd

An Author uninteiligent and blind,

When ours proceed from choice and Confcious Mind? To this you fay, that Nature's are indeed

Moft artful works, but then they ne'er proceed

620

From Nature acting with defign and art,
Who void of choice her vigour does exert,
And by unguided motion things produce,
Regardless of their order, end, or use.
By Tully's mouth thus Cotta does difpute;
But thus, with eafe, the Roman we confute:
Say, if in artful things no art is shown,

625

What are the certain marks, that make it known?

How will you artful from unartful bound,

And not th' ideas in our mind confound?

630

Than this no truth difplays before our fight

A brighter beam, or more convincing light,
That skilful works fuppofe a skilful Cause,
Which acts by choice, and moves by prudent laws.
Where you, unless you are as matter blind,
Conduct and beauteous difpofition find,

I 2

635

Con

Confpiring order, fitnefs, harmony,
Ufe, and convenience; will you not agree,
That fuch effects could not be undefign'd,

Nor could proceed but from a Knowing Mind?
Old fyftems you may try, or new ones raise,
May shift and wind, and plot a thousand ways;
May various words, and forms of diction, ufe,
And with a different cant th' unjudging ear amuse;
You may affirm, that Chance did things create,
Or let it Nature he, or be it Fate;
Body alone, inert and brute, you'll find,
The caufe of all things is by you affign'd.
And, after all your fruitlefs toil, if you
A Caufe diftinct from Matter will allow,
It must be confcious, not like matter blind,

640

645

650

And fhew you grant a God, by granting Mind.

Vaninus next, a hardy, modern chief,

A bold oppofer of Divine Belief,

Attempts Religion's fences to fubvert,

655

Strong in his rage, but deftitute of art;

In impious maxims fixt, he Heaven defy'd,

An unbelieving anti-martyr dy'd.

Strange, that an Atheist pleasure should refuse,
Relinquish life, and death in torment chufe!
Of science what a defpicable share
Vaninus own'd, his publifh'd dreams declare.
Let impious wits applaud a Godless Mind,
As bleft with piercing fight, and fense refin❜d,
Contriv'd and wrought by Nature's careful hand
All the proud fchools of learning to command;

660

Let

Let them pronounce each patron of their caufe
Claims by diftinguish'd merit juft applaufe;
Yet I this writer's want of fenfe arraign,
Treat all his empty pages with difdain,
And think a grave reply mis-spent and vain :
To borrow light, his error to amend,
I would the Atheift to Vaninus fend.

At length Britannia's foil, immortal shame!
Brought forth a fage of celebrated name,
Who with contempt on bleft Religion trod,
Mock'd all her precepts, and renounc'd his God.
As awful fhades and horrors of the night
Disturb the mother, and the child affright,
Who fee dire fpe&tres through the gloomy air
In threatening forins advance, and fhuddering hear
The groans of wandering ghofts, and yellings of
despair :

From the fame fpring, he fays, devotion flows,
Confcience of guilt from dread of vengeance rofe;
Religion is the creature of the fpleen,

And troubled fancy forms the world unfeen ;
That timorous minds, with felf-tormenting care,.
Create thofe awful phantoms which they fear.

Such arms were us'd by impious chiefs of old,
Vain as this modern hero, and as bold.
Who would not this philofopher adore,
For finding worlds discover'd long before?
Can he one flower in all his garden fhow,
Which in his Grecian master's did no: grow?
And yet, imperious, with a teacher's air,
Boaftful he claims a right to wifdom's chair;

I 3

675

685

620

695

Gafping

Gafping with ardent thirft of falfe renown,
With Grecian wreaths he does his temples crown,
Triumphs with borrow'd fpoils, and trophies not

his own.

The world, he grants, with clouds was overfpread;
Truth ne'er erected yet her ftarry head,

Till he, bright Genius, rofe to chace the night,
And through all nature fhone with new-fprung light.

But let th' enquirer know, proud Briton! why
Hope fhould not Gods, as well as fear, fupply?
Does not th' idea of a God include

The notion of beneficent and good,
Of one to mercy, not revenge, inclin❜d,
Able and willing to relieve mankind?
And does not this idea more appear

705

710

The object of our hope, than of our fear?

Then tell us, why this paffion, more than that,
Should build their altars, and the Gods create ?

But let us grant the weak and timorous mind
To fuperftitious terrors is inclin'd;

715

That horrid fcenes, and monfters form'd in air,
By night the children and the mother scare;
That apparitions, by a fever bred,

Or by the fpleen's black vapours, fill the head;
Does that affect the fage of fenfe refin'd,
Whose body's healthful, and ferene his mind?
Yet more, infulting Briton! let us try
Your reafon 's force, your arguments apply.
You fay, fince fpe&res from the fancy flow,
To timorous fancy Gods their being owe;

720

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