Heard 'at conventicle, where worthy men, Forth comes the pocket mirror.-First we ftroke Now this is fulfome; and offends me more Than in a churchman flovenly neglect And ruftic coarfenefs 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 negotiates between God and man, As God's ambaffador, the grand concerns Of judgment and of mercy, fhould beware Of lightness in his fpeech. 'Tis pitiful To court a grin, when you should 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 caufe, 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 And therefore heedlefs, can withstand 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. All truth is from the fempiternal fource Of light divine. But Egypt, Greece, and Rome, But falfely. Sages after fages ftrove Pure from the lees, which often more enhanc'd The thirst than flak'd it, and not seldom bred In vain they push'd inquiry to the birth And spring-time of the world; afk'd, Whence is man? Where muft he find his Maker? with what rites Adore him? Will he hear, accept, and blefs? 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 myfteries, except her own, My man of morals, nurtur'd in the shades |