AN ELEGY On His GRACE JOHN Lord Archbishop OF CANTERBURY. A Pindaric.  
LONDON Printed. And are to be Sold by John Whitlock near Stationers-Hall, 1695. Price 3 d.   

AN ELEGY On His Grace JOHN Lord Archbishop of Canterbury.  

I.  
WHEN, from a Shapeless Lump of humble Clay,  
The great Original of Humane Race,  
Designed the Empire of the World to Sway,  
And Substituted in his Maker's place;  
Was, by th'Almighty Operator's Hand,  
To just Proportion brought,  
While ravished Angels that did round him stand,  
Admired the curious Work Omnipotence had wrought;  
How every Limb, and every Joint  
Which his Eternal Wisdom did produce,  
He did to some peculiar Work appoint,  
And fitted each to serve its proper use:  
If here the God had given his Labour over,  
Pleased his chief Influ'ence to withhold,  
And not vouchsafed by an enlivening Power  
To animate the well-compacted Mold;  
How vain had been his Pains and Art?  
How insignificant the Symmetry,  
The just Adaption of each Part?  
Since all, alas! would useless be,  
Because he did not their Perfection give,  
The means their Operation to Exert,  
And by his powerful Word make the rare Figure Live.   

II.  
Nor would that Life avail, if only lent  
To actuate a while the Earthly Tenement;  
If, when its stinted days are Spent,  
And its short Lease expires,  
The Body that complained for want of room,  
Tho' bounded only with the World's extent,  
As soon as its Inhabitant retires,  
Must be confined within a narrow Tomb,  
Or crowded in a straighter Urn,  
While what was made of Dust, does there to Dust return;  
And in this Revolution, lies  
Deprived of Hope, as well as Power, to rise,  
Nor more its Being there shall boast,  
It's Being in Annihilation lost:  
Since the Endowments most desired,  
The copious Learning, and the ready Parts,  
The pregnant Wit, and cultivating Arts,  
By Nature given, or Industry acquired;  
Cannot oppose Mortality,  
Nor raise our Humane Babel high;  
The Builders with the Structure fall,  
And strange Confusion seizes All,  
While equally the Wise and Foolish die,  
And in the gen'ral Ruin Undistinguished lie.   

III.  
Too Sad an Instance of this Fading State,  
Death in one daring Stroke has given,  
Since He, who was of Nature's Store possessed,  
And from Arts noblest Wardrobe richly dressed,  
Alike revered on Earth, and dear to Heaven,  
Could not withstand the fierce Attack of Fate;  
Since CANTERBURY, whose Surviving Name  
Will give an Immortality to Fame,  
The Great, the Good, the Just,  
The Grave, the Learned, the Pious and the Wise,  
Insensible of his Spoiled Honours lies,  
Not to be known from common Dust  
Till from their level Graves the Summoned Dead arise:  
When they, whose Holy, Blameless Lives on Earth  
Proved their Original Divine,  
Before the Great Tribunal shall appear;  
Distinguished from the Vulgar there  
By an Illustrious Character;  
Shall claim the Privileges of their Birth,  
And raised to a conspicuous height,  
Shall in their Father's Starry Mansion Shine,  
And add new Splendour to the Realms of Light.   

iv  
There, while the Atheist, whose ungrateful Breath  
Denied the Power by whom it first was given,  
And spent itself in ridiculing Heaven,  
The Joys above, and Miseries beneath;  
The Wretch who did his Reason misimploy,  
(Reason, by which alone he was preferred  
Before the Brutal Herd;  
Reason, that raised him to a lofty State  
Above the other Works his Maker did Create;  
Reason, not given him vilely to abuse,  
But for a Guide to everlasting Bliss,  
And inconceiveable Felicities;)  
Converted to an Impious use,  
Its Author's Glory to destroy  
And make him meaner to his Creatures seem,  
Than the most Abject of them all to him,  
As well as to exclude himself from Joy;  
Is from the Beatific Vision driven,  
And from the Glory, which he did despise,  
Condemned to the Abyss of Hell,  
Amidst the Flames he durst deride to dwell;  
Heaven shall reward our Pious Prelate's Zeal  
With that Eternal State above  
Which his Immortal Labours amply prove.   

V  
While he who dares the great Three-One deny,  
And Scorns their Triple Unity  
Condemned by the Divine Incarnate Word,  
Shall Perish by his two-edged Flaming Sword;  
This Glorious Champion for his Saviour's Cause,  
Shall be received above with just Applause,  
To triumph in the Joy and Glory of his Lord.  
Invited to the Father's Throne  
By the Coequal, Coeternal Son,  
And by the Spirit with new Ardour fired,  
That Holy Spirit who his Zeal inspired,  
With most profound Devotion,  
Such as on Earth he paid before,  
And scarce in Heaven can offer more,  
He shall Three Persons in One God adore,  
And there, delighted still to Love and Pray,  
In Allelujahs spend the everlasting Day.   

VI  
While Sinners, who in Impious Works deny  
The God whom they in fruitless Words confess,  
And in such known Offences Live,  
And unrepenting Dye,  
As if they did not, what they own, believe,  
Or thought the Power, whose Sanctions they transgress,  
Would with their Crimes against himself comply,  
Deceived by their Hypocrisy;  
Perceive there is no Virtue in Pretence,  
No Sly imposing on Omniscience,  
And find the guilded Title of a Saint,  
That only does the Outside paint,  
Too light to hid the Loathsome Sin,  
The nauseous Rottenness within;  
This Righteous Man, this Friend of God indeed,  
Who practised more than others boast,  
And, through a Sense of Duty, did exceed  
The Good, to which Vain Glory urged them most;  
By Heaven's discerning Judge shall be preferred,  
Whose Eyes do secret Piety regard,  
Who thinks they most his Care deserve,  
Who not for mercenary Reasons serve,  
And best may claim, who lest design Reward.   

VII.  
While the Adorers of Rome's monstrous Beast,  
Such as was ne'er admitted to the Ark,  
Too Sacred for so foul a Guest,  
Are branded with its Ignominious Mark;  
And by their Vain Traditions are misled,  
(Traditions, more by them preferred  
Than mighty Truths in Holy Writdeclard,)  
To boast an universal Head;  
While they perceive themselves astray,  
In the destructive easy Way,  
And find neglected Heaven deride  
Their vain Pretence of an unerring Guide;  
While they amidst their Terror and their Pain,  
Call on their helpless Saints in vain,  
And no Relief from Merits, or Indulgences obtain:  
He, who against those Errors did dispute,  
And them, and their Defenders too, confute;  
Saved by the Virtue of that precious Blood,  
On which alone his Hope relied,  
The Power of which redeeming Flood  
To his Estatick Soul applied,  
Shall fit it with Seraphic Love,  
While with God's spotless Lamb he lives above;  
The Lamb that once below for Man's Salvation died.   

VIII.  
Our happy Church, while by this Pilot steered,  
No dangerous Rocks or Quick Sands feared,  
Judgement and Learning did direct this Way;  
No Storms against him could prevail,  
While he by these unerring Stars did sail,  
And Piety, his faithful Cart,  
Whose Dictates were imprinted in his Heart,  
Would never let him loosely stray,  
But, maugre meeting Tides impetuous Force,  
Still kept him steady in his happy Course.  
Nor less successful was his Care  
In managing the Steerage of the State.  
While at the Helm thereof he sat,  
Called by its Prince for his Assistance there,  
Where none more useful proved, nor was more justly dear.   

IX.  
But Heaven, which faithfully he served,  
And where, alone, he laboured to be great,  
Exalts him now to a sublimer seat,  
In Mansions for its Favourites reserved;  
Where, placed in the Celestial Hierarchy,  
He does his happy Time employ  
In Hymns of loudest Gratitude and Joy,  
And raises there his elevated Voice,  
Which often graced the Pulpit here,  
And with angelic Harmony  
Delighting each attentive Ear,  
Made Crowds, of Men below, and Saints above rejoice,  
But silent as the Grave in which he lies,  
He who revealed Heaven's Mysteries,  
And did Truth's sacred Oracles declare,  
Withdrawn from our lamenting Eyes,  
Informs the wretched World no more,  
The World that in his Fall does its own Loss deplore.   
FINIS.