A VOTIVE TABLE, CONSECRATED To the Church's DELIVERERS, THE PRESENT King and Queen. By EDM. ARWAKER, A. M.  
LONDON, Printed for W. Canning in the Temple-Cloysters, 1689.   

A VOTIVE TABLE, Consecrated to the Present KING and QUEEN.  

I.  
AS when the welcome Dove brought to the Ark,  
Wherein the World's Abridgement did embark,  
The grateful Token of the Deluge ceased,  
The Water's and Heaven's Wrath appeased;  
A mighty Joy the favoured Eight possessed,  
Great as the Danger lately passed,  
And as the Bliss they had in View at last:  
So when, Great Sir, Your Blessed Arrival here  
Dispelled our almost Shipwrecked Church's Fear,  
With equal Signs of Preservation near,  
She did the kind Indulgence celebrate,  
With Just Applauses vast as That,  
And suited to the Alteration of her State.   

II.  
But now she sees the Happy Hour,  
That places You on Albion's Throne,  
With the Fair Partner of Your Heart and Power,  
Whose brighter Virtue far outvyes the Crown.  
Secure she casts her Wand'ring Eye  
Back on the Frightful Rocks and Boisterous Waves,  
On every hand prese●●ing Death and Graves▪  
And thick black Te●●ests gathered in the Sky,  
threatening sad Ruin ●●gh:  
When she revolves, in her scarce settled Mind,  
The Fate to which she saw her Sons exposed,  
Th'assaulting Rage with which they were enclosed,  
And does deliverance unexpected find;  
Now past her Dangers and her Fears,  
Placed on a lofty Ararat,  
Above the Reach of Fate,  
To You, her mighty Rescuers,  
She does this Votive Table humbly consecrate.   

III.  
The first Design a 
* Bishop of London.  Mytred Hero shows  
The third Supporter of her Hopes and Cares,  
Whose Virtue, equal to his High Descent,  
Makes him her Noble Ornament;  
But Virtue still to Envy does expose,  
Whoever in its Lofty Paths dares tread,  
And this Reward he amply shares,  
This brings down Tempests on his Sacred Head▪  
On him the Rising Storm first vents its Rage,  
Which he, Undaunted▪ does engage;  
In vain are Threat'ning added to Commands,  
Even those he slights, as well as these withstands;  
Assured it would the easier lessening be  
To Suffer, than Pronounce a Wrong Decree.   

IV.  
A whole 
‖ Magdalene College.  Community next Scene presents,  
Made a lamented Sacrifice  
To Spleen and Avarice,  
Insatiate Furies whom no Victim ere contents!  
The Stations, theirs by Merit, and Just Choice,  
They are compelled to quit,  
Because they would not to their Helm admit  
One as unworthy of their Voice,  
As by their Rules unfit:  
And, lest they in another Soil should thrive,  
Since in their own they are denied to live;  
To them all Succour is forbid,  
No Hospitable place must open be,  
Scarce even the Arms of Charity;  
And those who caused their wretched Fate,  
Maligning the Compassion due to that,  
Th'unhappy Plea of Poverty denied.  
Their Time and Labour they had spent in vain,  
In vain to Heaven devoted all their days,  
Excluded from Subsistence other ways,  
It's vowed Attendants in their Woes,  
(Such was the Malice of their Foes)  
The Altar might not shelter, or maintain.   

V.  
seven Reverend Prelates make the next sad Show,  
Wise as that Number famous heretofore,  
Whose Sacred Names we must, like Theirs, adore;  
Of such Integrity, that each alone  
Might for the sinful World's black Crimes atone,  
And save it from a Second Overthrow:  
Yet not their Merit, nor their Piety  
Could be their own Defence;  
Nor Guard, alas, that there was need! Their Innocence.  
A new, extravagant Decree,  
Framed by the Enemies of True Religion,  
By Tolerating all, to Settle none,  
Unless (what were as bad) their Own;  
A 'Slight, t'inslave with Shows of Liberty,  
Must by these Angels be declared:  
This Trick the Loyolites prepared,  
That from their Mouths the Flocks might learn to stray,  
Whose business 'tis to keep them in the Way.  
But these good Shepherds, Brave and Just,  
Scorned to Desert, or to Betray their Trust▪  
Nor would that amiable Truth expose,  
Or suffer others to forsake,  
Which, amidst Flames, their Predecessors chose,  
And vouched Her Beauty's Triumph at a Stake,  
For this the Cheerful sufferers were conveyed  
To a Confinement for the Guilty made,  
And there (why is their Virtue made their Fault?)  
Practised the Doctrine they had often Taught.   

VI  
The Shepherds Smitten thus, the Sheep next stray,  
Exposed to every Beast a helpless Prey;  
Now ravening Wolves break, or o'releap the Fold,  
And some, alas! the Pastral Crosier hold;  
Now with False Doctrines all the Paths abound,  
Spread by Infected Sheep to Taint the Sound;  
Against which 
* Church of England.  Eusebia's Pious Sons alone  
Did sovereign Antidotes prepare,  
While the once boasted Champions against Rome,  
Secure in Silence lurked at home,  
And of the Church took little care,  
But Sacrificed Her Safety to their own.  
Well might our Sacred Mother now  
The Royal Psalmist's Old Complaint renew,  
For even the Abjects at her rail▪  
And in the o'reflowing of his Wine and Zeal,  
A loose 
‖ Hind and Panther's  Apostate Bard makes Songs upon her too,  
And in strange Shapes by his False Libel dressed,  
Like her old Martyrs, baits her as a Beast.   

VII.  
Amidst these Storms what Refuge could she find,  
How stem the Tide? or how endure the Wind?  
She saw no Isle, no sheltering Harbour near  
To shun her Danger, or allay her Fear;  
When in this wide, tempestuous Ocean tossed,  
And ready now to be for ever lost,  
You, Glorious Stars! Her Relief appear;  
From whose kind Influence she does presage,  
Long Halcyon Days, another Golden Age.  
The noisy Winds now cease to roar,  
And gentle Breezes waft her to the Shore;  
She finds the Floods that threatened her abate,  
And a still Calm completes her Happy State.   

VIII.  
From what strange Cause did this Effect proceed?  
'Tis wondrous strange indeed  
That the great Work was almost done,  
ere the Design was known.  
The mighty Work, Great Lord of Labouring Thought,  
Was in your Mind's Recesses closely wrought,  
And finished there, e'er to our Knowledge brought.  
So when the wisest Prince on Iudah's Throne,  
The 
* Solomon's Temple.  Second Wonder of that Nation reared,  
No Axe, or Hammer's Sound, was by the People heard;  
But all was privately prepared,  
Till the vast Fabric, on a sudden raised,  
Surprised the Wondering Crowd, the Great Designer Praised.   

IX.  
Now, like the Patriarch rescued from the Flood,  
Abounding in a grateful Sense  
Of the inestimable Good,  
And the Almighty Donor's great Beneficence,  
We may to him accepted Altars raise,  
And from pure Hearts pay Hecatombs of Praise.  
Now we may plant the Fruitful Vine,  
And while we rest beneath its Shade,  
Refresh ourselves with the delicious Wine,  
And dread no Wrong our Properties t'invade:  
Nor let the Sullen blame our Mirth,  
Nor th'Envious at our Joys repine,  
Our Joys are Ecstasies Divine,  
And from Above derive their Lofty Birth.  
No airy Methods of applause,  
No Exultations in so great a Cause,  
Lessen the strict Regard due to its Gravity,  
Since by Example Royal led,  
We thus a King's and Prophet's Footsteps tread,  
Who laid his awful Grandeur by,  
And thought he well a Joy expressed  
To see the Ark of God approach its place of Rest,  
While he in nimble Measures danced before the Sacred Guest.   

X.  
Now safe from future as from present Fear,  
We need not a new Babel rear,  
To brave a Second Floud's aspiring Rage;  
Heaven for our future Safety does engage,  
By placing You, Great Queen, its Glorious Iris, here.  
You, the fair Ensign of our lasting Peace,  
Like that of Heaven's Eternal Truce with Man,  
Make all our apprehensions cease:  
Let breaking Cloud vent all the Rage they can,  
We know, alas! they spend in vain  
Their unsuccessful Rain;  
And though the mounting Billows rise  
To furnish them with new Supplies,  
Till Waters from below meet those above,  
What they would ruin, they must still improve:  
But ne'er shall Triumph o'er our Land again,  
While You, Bright Pledge of Heaven, adorn our Happy Skies.   
FINIS.