Verse 1
And is it come to this? and has the Man
On whose Integrity our Church relied,
Betray’d his trust, render’d our boastings vain,
And fal’n a Victim to ambitious Pride?

Verse 2
Whose zeal so long her Hierarchy maintain’d,
Her humble Presbyter, her duteous Son,
Call’d an High-priest, and by Himself Ordain’d,
He glorifies himself, and mounts19 a Throne.

Verse 3
Ah! where are all his Promises and Vows
To spend, and to be spent for Sion’s Good,
To gather the lost sheep of Israel’s house,
The Outcasts bought by his Redeemer’s blood?

Verse 4
Who won for God the wandring Souls of men,
Subjecting multitudes to Christ’s command,
He shuts his eyes, and scatters them again,
And spreads a thousand Sects throughout the land.

Verse 5
The great Restorer of Religion pure,
Ah! why shoud he a meaner style affect
His friends, his principles in death abjure
Head of a Kirk, and Leader of a Sect?

Verse 6
His Charge, departing to the Wolf he leaves,
(For Who so fit to keep the Flock as He?)
And to that fawning Beast unwary gives
“His power, and seat, and great authority.”

Verse 7
Whate’er of weak, or human in his Plan
Wood, stubble, hay built on the Solid Base,
(His own by-laws, his own inventions vain)
He leaves his furious Successor to raze.

Verse 8
Secure he now the sacred Pale or’eleaps,
(Taught by audacious C[oke] to slight the guilt)
And with that Besom of destruction sweeps
The Babylon which his own hands had built.

Verse 9
How is the Mighty fallen from his height,
His weapons scatter’d, and his buckler lost!
Ah! tell it not in Gath, nor cause delight
And triumph in the proud Philistine Host.

Verse 10
Publish it not in Askelon, to make
The world exult in his disastrous End!
Rather let every soul my Grief partake,
And ah! my Father, cry, and ah my Friend!

Verse 11
The pious Mantle or’e his Dotage spread,
With silent tears his shameful Fall deplore,
And let him sink, forgot, among the dead,
And mention his unhappy name no more.