Heard at conventicle, where worthy men, Misled by custom, ftrain celeftial themes Forth comes the pocket mirror.-First we ftroke Than in a churchman flovenly neglect And ruftic coarseness would. An heav'nly mind May be indiff'rent to her house of clay, And flight the hovel as beneath her care; And quaint, in its deportment and attire, He that negociates between God and man, As God's ambaffador, the grand concerns Of judgment and of mercy, should beware Of lightness in his speech. 'Tis pitiful To court a grin, when you fhould woo a foul; To break a jeft, when pity would inspire Pathetic exhortation; and t' addrefs The skittish fancy with facetious tales, When fent with God's commiffion to the heart! So did not Paul, Direct me to a quip Or merry turn in all he ever wrote, And I confent you take it for your text, No: he was ferious in a serious cause, And understood too well the weighty terms That he had ta'en in charge. He would not stoop To conquer those by jocular exploits, Whom truth and fobernefs affail'd in vain. Oh, popular applaufe! what heart of man But, fwell'd into a guft-who then, alas! And therefore heedlefs, can withftand thy pow'r ? And craving poverty; and in the bow Is oft too welcome, and may much disturb In language foft as adoration breathes? Ah, fpare your idol! think him human still. Dote not too much, nor fpoil what ye admire. All truth is from the fempiternal fource Of light divine. But Egypt, Greece, and Rome, Drew from the ftream below. More favour'd, we Drink, when we choofe it, at the fountain head. To them it flow'd much mingled and defil'd With hurtful error, prejudice, and dreams Illufive of philofophy, fo call'd, But falfely. Sages after fages ftrove In vain to filter off a cryftal draught Pure from the lees, which often more enhanc'd The thirft than flak'd it, and not feldom bred Intoxication and delirium wild. In vain they pufh'd inquiry to the birth And fpring-time of the world; afk'd, Whence is man? Why form'd at all? and wherefore as he is? Where must he find his Maker? with what rites Adore him? Will he hear, accept, and bless? Or does he fit regardless of his works? Has man within him an immortal feed? Or does the tomb take all? If he furvive His afhes, where? and in what weal or woe? A Deity could folve. Their anfwers, vague, Left them as dark themselves. Their rules of life, To bind the roving appetite, and lead Blind nature to a God not yet reveal'd, Explains all mysteries, except her own, That fools discover it, and stray no more, My man of morals, nurtur'd in the shades |