TO THE King's Most Excellent Majesty, Giving Thanks for His ROYAL DECLARATION FOR LIBERTY of CONSCIENCE.  

NO Monument, though made of Solid Gold,  
As high as the proud Pyramids of old;  
No Marble Statue, reaching to the Skies,  
Great CAESAR can do more to Eternize  
Your Memory, and make Your Royal Name  
Sound in the Trumpet of Immortal Fame,  
Through all succeeding Ages, than this thing  
So wisely brought to pass; the World shall ring  
With loud Applause, and Children yet unborn,  
Your worth shall strive to set forth and adorn:  
While with Triumphant Joy they Celebrate  
The Day, when first You wore the Crown in State.  
That happy Monarch, in whose Nuptial Bed,  
The White Rose grew united to the Red,  
Shall not so famous in our Annals stand,  
As You for making Peace throughout the Land.  
And Your Progenitors, which did advance  
Victorious Ensigns in the Heart of France,  
Never such Honour, nor such Glory won,  
As by this Declaration You have done.  
Mercy in its soft Bosom carries Charms,  
More Potent to prevail, than warlike Arms;  
And Kings, like God himself, appear to Shine,  
When they are Decked with Clemency Divine.  
No Thoughts can reach, much less can Words declare,  
What the sad Miseries of the Nation were;  
Till like a wise Physician, You had found  
This Sovereign Balm, to heal our bleeding Wound.  
Orpheus they say, in Music had such Skill,  
That he could Tame fierce Tigers at his will;  
The Hound would court the Hare, and Lions play  
With tender Lambs, forgetful of their Prey.  
This Fable is made good by You in part,  
For cruel Men that have the hardest Heart,  
If they but listen to your Counsel Sage,  
'Twill calm their Spirit, and restrain their Rage.  
Were I a Poet, whose rich Fancy stood  
Up to the Chin in the Castallian Flood:  
Yet my enlarged Soul could not express  
The thousandth Part of England's Thankfulness.  
Nor might this Verse of mine presume to show  
To You, how much both Church and State must owe  
For such Transcendent Grace, by which You have  
Raised up many from their very Grave,  
Which there lay Dead in Law, and Slain before,  
But now Your Bounty doth to Life restore;  
You give them Rest and Safety, and have broke,  
From off their Necks, the Iron-Galling Yoke.  
Freedom for Conscience will create a Heaven  
Here upon Earth; there's nothing can be given  
More Sweet and Precious; this, and this alone,  
Even in the Hearts of Men, sets up a Throne  
For Princes there to Reign, and win such Love,  
As may their strongest Guard and Fortress prove.  
What though Selfseeking Men at this Repine,  
Such as can gladly Feast and swim in Wine,  
While others swim in Tears, and still would fain  
By public Loss, increase their private Gain:  
Yet all true Friends of Peace must needs rejoice,  
And give You Thanks with One consenting Voice.  
Upon Your Sacred Head, let Heaven pour  
The choicest Blessings in a fruitful Shower.  
Let all Success and Happiness attend  
Your Glorious Reign, and Crown it to   
Thomas Cheisman a Nonconformist Minister, living at Ilsley in Berkshire.  
The End.   

LONDON: Printed for Richard Janeway in Queens-Head-Alley, in Pater-Noster-Rom. MDCLXXXVIII.