The Works of the English Poets, from Chaucer to Cowper: Including the Series ...

Grotius, whose paraphrase the doctor quotes,
Gives it this meaning in his learned notes;
"The word of prophecy we all allow

To be of great authority, but now,

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And took occasion, from the healed lame,
To preach the gospel, in our Saviour's name;
Thus he bespake the people that stood by,

God, by the mouth-(observe the sacred tie)—
Of all his prophets hath foreshown his Son, 821
Jesus, by whom this miracle is done."
Which of them, singly then, did Peter cite?
What independency, where all unite?
Where all predicted, as one spirit bid,
That Christ should suffer, as he really did.
"And enter into glory"-for that next
The preacher speaks to, in the following text:
Where, in his exhortation to repent,
Jesus, he tells them, shall again be sent;
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Heav'ns must receive mankind's appointed head,
"Till time hath done whatever God hath said
By all his prophets, since the world began-
780 For so the sense, without curtailing, ran;
Of which the doctor, quoting but a part,
Has yet dissolv'd the charm of all his art:
Since all the prophets-let the world begin
With Moses, if he will-are taken in;
And join'd together, must, whate'er he thinks,
Produce a chain, however few the links.

With us, much greater, who have seen th' event
So aptly correspond with its intent."
This paves the way to a becoming sense,
And overthrows our author's vain pretence;
"Vain art and pains, employ'd upon the theme,
To dress up an imaginary scheme,
Of which, the whole New Testament around,
Nor foot, nor footstep, sir, is to be found 3."
Tradition-tho' of apostolic kind,
Such as was Enoch's prophecy-you find
Contemptuously call'd, "I know not what","
Tho' by St. Jude so plainly pointed at:
Because, if Jude's authority be good,
Prophets existed long before the flood:
That glorious advent-set so oft in view,
Both in the ancient Scriptures, and the new-
Of him, who first was promis'd at the fall,
Hope of all ages, was foretold in all.
If Enoch and if Noah preach'd away,
Was Adam, think ye, silent in his day?
Had he no loss to tell his children then?
No saving righteousness to preach to men?
Did God ordain two Saviours, in the case
Of ante, and of post diluvian race?
Let oral mention, or let written fail,
If good, that is, if Christian sense prevail,
It never can permit us to reject
Consistency of truth, for their defect:
One God, one Saviour, and one Spirit sti's
Recurs, let bookworms reason as they will:
Whatever saves a man from being curst,
What man can say, God hid it from the first?
Or, if he does, and talks as if he knew,
Will want of writings prove that he says true? 800
With, or without them, fancy can take aim;
If wanting, triumph; or, if not, disclaim:
Let them abound, no miracles make out;
Let them be silent, make apostles doubt.

The two main pillars of his whole discourse,
Whereon the doctor seems to rest its force,
And begs the reader, sir, to recollect
In his conclusion, are to this effect;
"That gospel proofs on prophecies rely'd,
Singly, and independently apply'd;

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And, that the first, from whom its preachers draw

Their proof of Christ, is Moses in the law 5."

Both' which St. Peter's evidence, again, Shows to be slips of his too hasty pen: For when th' apostle, at the temple gate, Restor❜d the cripple to a perfect state;

2 P. 32. "And Grotius paraphrases the same words, as if the apostle had said, The word of prophecy had always great authority with us, but now a much greater, after we have seen the events corresponded so aptly with the predictions concerning the Messiah."

P. 4. "I found much art and pains employed (by the bishop) to dress up an imaginary scheme, of which I had not discovered the least trace in any of the Four Gospels."

P. 18. "Nor do they (the apostles) refer us, for the evidences of our faith, to I know not what prophecies of Enoch."

5 See the quotation in the next column. VOL. XV.

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'Tis true, he afterwards begins to quote,
And, first, the prophet of whom Moses wrote:
Adding" that all, who in succession came,
Had likewise spoken of the very same:"
The same (see how prophetic words conspire)
God's own predicted to the Jewish sire:
"And in thy seed," so Peter's words attest,
"Shall all the kindreds of the Earth be blest:"
Proofs of our Saviour Christ you see him draw
From in, from after, from before the law.

What can be said in answer, sir, to this?
The fact is plain, tho' Peter judg'd amiss;
For such defect, he scruples not to own,
"Collins against th' evangelist has shown:
The very gospels have some proofs assign'd
Of loose, precarious, and uncertain kind "."
This unbeliever (in the shocking terms,
In which his cause a clergyman confirms)
"Has arguments unanswerably strong,

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To prove their manner of applying wrong: 860
Altho' whatever difficulties lie

Against the way, wherein they shall apply,
It is the best, which, of all other ways,
The case affords,"-so runs his rev'rend phrase.
So deist, and divine, but both in vain,
Seek to unfasten the prophetic chain.

Should the New Testament be treated so
By one, whose character we did not know,

6 P. 151. "From these two observations, it follows, that whatever difficulties may be charged to the particular applications of prophecies, which are found in the New Testament, yet on the whole, that way of applying them must be esteemed by Christians, as the best which the case affords; and that the authority of the gospel, as far as it is grounded on prophecy, rests on those single and independent predictions, which are delivered occasionally, here and there, in the Law and the Prophets. It must be confessed, however, that the author, against whom the bishop's discourses are levelled, has alleged several strong and even unanswerable objections to some of them, which are cited by the evangelists in proof of the mission of Jesus, as being of too loose and precarious a nature to build any solid argument upon."

Had Enoch's, Jude's, and Peter's words fulfill'd!
To clear a tortur'd passage from abuse,
This good effect may, possibly, produce,
That when a writer, of the modern mode,
Shall cast reflections on the sacred code,
Men will not, merely upon sudden trust
In bold assertions, take them to be just;
Since it may be-that he has only made
Of great mistakes a critical parade;
Has only spoken evil of those things,
Of which he does not really know the springs;
Has met with matters high above his reach,
And, scorning to be taught, presum'd to teach:
Raising, about them, an affected cry,
That ends in nothing but a who but I?

"Bare prophecy" the doctor has profest,
"Admits completion only for its test:
Th' event, foretold by it, must also be
What human prudence never could foresee;
Nor human power produce; or else no sign
Could, thence, appear of agency divine"."

Prophecy then, as his descriptions own,
Can be made sure by miracles alone:
It is, what he himself is pleas'd to call,
While unfulfill'd, no evidence at all.
How is it, then, in his repeated term,
Of standing evidence, more sure and firm?
How is this consonant to standing still
As none at all, till miracles fulfill?
If it has none till they are overpast,
Is not the evidence from them at last?
From them prophetic word, before obscure,
Becomes an evidence confirm'd, and sure;
Its truth is first demonstrated, and then,
Reflects its light on miracles again.

A hungry question, therefore, to inquire,
Of two great proofs, that actually conspire,
Which is the best; when, with united light,
They both produce an evidence so bright.
But "the freethinker, with a crafty view,"
(If what his learn'd assistant says be true)
"Had rais'd prophetic credit to excess,
In order, more securely, to depress;
And, for this cause, his lordship undertook
To write, it seems, at all events, a book 8."

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This being, then, the motive which he had,
A reader asks-what is there in it bad?
With what decorum does a priest accuse
A bishop, writing against crafty views?
Views of an enemy to gospel truth-
Is the defending of him less uncouth?
Does such defence, with such a rudeness writ,
The priest, the bishop, or the cause befit?
So interlarded with that loose reproach,
Which want of argument is wont to broach;
So deeply ting'd the Ciceronian style
With, what the critics commonly call, bile;
That they, who thought it worth their while to
seek

The author's motive, judg'd it to be pique.

Soon as you enter on the work, you see
An instant sample what the whole will be:
First, "being jealous of the bishop's views,
His book, for years, he dar'd not to peruse;
Afraid to trust so eminent a guide,

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For fear his judgment should be warp'd aside:"
Tho' quite secure-" for he had ever found
Authority to be a treach'rous ground;
And even this "-this capital affair,
That was to lead his judgment to a snare,
"He found-and just as he expected too--
Who fear'd before a bias from his view"
When graciously inclin'd to see it since,
"Quite of a kind that never can convince 9:"
Which, to be sure, afforded reason good
To write a book against it, lest it should.
Had any other author, less polite,
900 With vulgar phrase attempted thus to write;
And, thus, begun so fine a scheme to spin;
"The reas'ners of this world had broken in, 950
Rudely unravell'd all his fine-spun scheme 10,"
And sent him forth to seek another theme.
How suited this to any good design,
That should engage a Christian, a divine?
"But what are names-if not a single one
Be worth regard, for sixteen ages gone?
If to inquire what any of them say
Be, as he thinks, but wasting time away"?

910

9 P.2. "I knew his lordship also to be eminently qualified to dress up any subject into any form, which would best serve his own views, and was jealous of warping my judgment by some bias, which his authority might be apt to imprint: for so far as my experience had reached, I had ever "P. 40. "Whereas a bare prophecy, delivered as found authority a treacherous guide to a searcher the proof of a divine character in any person or after truth." P. 4. "Upon this task I soon after doctrine, is incapable of any persuasive force, or entered, and found this capital work of his lordof giving any sort of conviction, until it be ac-ship's to be just such as I expected, exhibiting a complished; the completion of it being the sole test, by which its veracity can be determined. The event likewise, foretold by it, must be of a kind, which neither human prudence could foresee, nor human power produce; for otherwise it could not give any assurance of a divine interposition."

P.29."As far as these words go, there is certainly nothing in them but what a sincere advocate of the gospel might freely allow and join issue upon; but they caine from an enemy, who had a crafty view in extolling the credit of prophecy, in order to depress it afterwards the more effectually: and this was the ground of his lordship's resolution to confute, or, at all events, to contradict them, &c." quoted p. 18.

species of reasoning peculiar to himself, ever subtle and refined, yet never convincing."

10 P. 106. "But his lordship being apprehensive that the reasoners of this world might break in upon him, and rudely unravel his fine-spun scheme."

"P. 3. "I thought it an idle curiosity and waste of time, to inquire what any modern divine had preached or written about it (viz. the nature of prophecy), because the whole that can be known authentically, concerning its relation to Christianity, must be learnt from those who first planted Christianity, and were instructed by the author of it, on what foundation it rested, and how far the argument of prophecy was useful to its propagation and support."

Sure, of all treach'rous guides, the greatest cheat Is that of wild, unchristian self-conceit: Possess'd by this domestic, inbred pride, The wise freethinkers scorn the name of guide:' Their own sufficiency, with eyes their own, Clearly beheld, they trust to that alone. Resolv'd no other maxims to imbibe,

970

Than what their reason, and their sense prescribe;
That is themselves-for what a man calls his,
In such a case, is really what he is:
Choose how refin'd an egotist may be,
His reason, judgment, mind, and sense is he.
In such confinement if he sits enthrall'd,
No matter by what title he is call'd;
Blind, as a Sadducee, to heav'nly light,
He will believe his own conceptions right:
No prophecy, to him, can seem more sure;
Nor miracle attested work his cure.

That of conversion from his own dark mind
Must first convince him, that he once was blind:
Then may he see, with salutary grief,
981
The dire effects of wretched unbelief;
Looser, and looser from all sacred ties,
To what strange heights a self-taught sophist flies.
Friendship to doctor Middleton, sincere,
Must, if exerted, wish him to forbear
A kind of writing on the Christian cause,
That gains him no desirable applause:
That, whether meant or not, may, unawares,
Involve a reader in freethinking snares.
Involve himself-If frequent the relapse,
A teacher of divinity, perhaps,
May run the risque of being quite bereft;
Of having nothing, but the habit, left.

May that, which teaches rightly to divide
The word of truth, be his petition'd guide!
Or, if resolv'd, at present, to pursue,
At future leisure, a mistaken clue;
May future leisure-an uncertain date-
If granted, find him in a better state!

FOUR EPISTLES

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1000

TO THE REV. MR. L, LATE VICAR OF BOWDEN, UPON THE MIRACLE AT THE FEAST OF PENTECOST.

EPISTLE I.

Our folks, gone a visiting, reverend sir,
Having left me at home here, less able to stir,
I am thinking on matters, that lovingly past,
Where the 'squire of the house, and I, visited last;
At the vicar's of Bowden, old friend of us two,
And a lover of learning, fair, honest, and true;
Especially such, as shall make to appear
Any passage of Scripture more easy, and clear.

The Scripture was writ, and is oft understood,
By persons unlearned, but pious and good;
Who have much better helps, than mere learning
can yield,

Which may yet be of use, in it's own proper field; If it be but to mend its own faults in a brother; And correct, in one man, the mistakes of another; Or to combat our scruples, and fix a true thought, When the head shall confirm what the heart has been taught.

means,

To obtain his review of those wonderful scenes.

It is not my thought; for I first was appris'd Of the thing by a Jacob, too greatly despis'd; Dipping into whose writings, which little I knew, Some expression like this was presented to view"All languages spoken by Peter in one-" A truth, which the moment I entered upon, All the force of simplicity, fitness, and fact, Extorted assent, that I could not retract.

If the honest old vicar, our visited friend, To St. Luke's own account will be pleas'd to attend,

I cannot but think, that the current conceit
Will yield to solution, so clear, and complete,
Of a number of difficult points, that arise
Upon viewing the text with unprejudic'd eyes;
If speakers were more than apostles; and spoken
But to one in fifteen was a sensible token.

For the names to that number, if rightly I count
By a Baguly Bible, of nations amount,
Who all understood what a Peter, or John,
Or whoever he will, was discoursing upon:
And to all, at one time; for, how plain to be seen,
That persons, nor place, could admit of fifteen?
When Parthians, and Medes, Elamites-and the
rest-

Must be too intermix'd to be singly addrest.

"Are not these"-said the men (the devout) of each land, [stand?-" "Galileans, that speak? whom we all underAs much as to say-by what wonderful pow'rs Does the tongue Galilean become, to us, ours? While the good were so justly astonish'd, the bad, Whose hearts were unopen'd, cry'd out, they are Unaccountable charge, if we do not recall [mad: That, in one single tongue, the apostles speak all.

For separate speakers, and tongues, it is clear, Good and bad, without madness, might equally hear;

And surprise, in the bad, would be equally keen,
How illiterate men could speak all the fifteen:
But the miracle, wrought in the simplest of ways,
In both good and bad, well accounts for amaze;
One was sensibly touch'd with a gift so divine,
One stupidly rais'd the reproach of new wine.

When St. Peter stood up, and, to all the whole

throng,

Show'd the truth, in a sermon so good, and so long,
But to one-fifteenth part was it only then shown?
To the worst, the Jerusalem scoffers alone? [word,
Whilst all the good strangers, not knowing one
Stood unedifi'd by? This is greatly absurd:
God pour'd out his spirit-that answers all
mock---

And spake, by St. Peter, to all his whole flock.

The vulgar objection, which commenting strain Has made to a thing so exceedingly plain, Is the miracle then would not be in the speaker, It would be in the hearers-now what can be weaker?

For the gift, in this case, had a twofold respect, And must needs be in both, to produce its effect; To account for the fact, which the comments forgot, [not.

Why the pious could hear what the mockers could

It is no where affirm'd, that th' apostles acquir'd Any tongue but their own, tho' divinely inspir'd: St. Peter, St. John are soon mention'd again, And describ'd as unlearned, and ignorant men: -But enough-or too much-for the shortness of time [rhyme; Gives a hint to set bounds to the extension of Our friend will acknowledge, tho' hasty the letter, This question's solution-or give us a better.

tend

The receipt of your letter, dear vicar, and friend;
Which, at first, being left to your leisure to frame,
Was sure to be welcome, whenever it came:
The point, which the Muse had a mind to propose
In her free spoken rhymes, you have handled in
prose;

All fair on both sides, because say it, or sing,
Truth alone, in the case, is the principal thing.

But I cannot but marvel, that much better sight
Than my own, should not see so meridian a light,
As that of the speaking, at Pentecost time,
By the Spirit of God, to the good of each clime,
In one single tongue, by that Spirit inspir'd,
Whose assistance did all, that could then be re-
quir'd;
[known,
Whose power, it is certain, could make itself
By a number of tongues, or by one tongue alone.

So needless the many, so simple the one, That I wonder what judgment can hesitate on, Or a learned inquiry, that finds, if it seek, That the tongue might be one, in construction of

Greek:

Which as comma takes place (as old Gregory said, Nazianzen I think) either way may be read;

They speak in our tongues or, as crystalline clear,

The fact is, to my understanding-we hear.

And day it is still for account that you give, "So plain and so obvious" is water in sieve; Which seems to be something, at first-looking view, [through. But by holes plain, and obvious, it quickly runs

"The tongues which appcar'd, and which sat

upon each,

All cloven, and fiery, (you argue,) may teach,
And, by notice symbolical, make it discern'd
That they spake in such tongues, as they never
had learn'd'."-

spun

Need I tell an Hebræan, that tongue is the same, In relation to fire, as the English word flame? Which appears to be cloven, and proof that is [the pun. From the tongues, or the flames-has too much of When you ask-"Pray, what reason can else be assign'd

[wind?" For tongues?" I ask you" Pray, what reason for Not to shun a fair question; but tongue being [aim:

flame

May have answer'd, already, your questioning I think that an air, that a flame from above, Both is, and betokens, the life, and the love, Which if Christians were blest with, one language would do; [be two. And their whole body fill'd with, there could not

But let them be symbols, the tongues, if you will, Of the grace which the Spirit was pleas'd to instil; His gift is as good, if, in speaking their own, Men made the same truth, in all languages, known: This effect, you will grant, the good gift to intend; Now, supposing two ways of attaining one end, Is that explication less likely, or just, Which takes the more simple, more plainly august?

Your account is quite new, in one thing that I meet,

[street; That is "That the speakers went into the

Or went out of the house to the multitude met2"
For of this going out I have never read yet;
Or, if ever I did, have forgotten the book, [Luke,
And can find nothing said in th' account of St.

"The cloven tongues like fire, which sat upon cach of the persons mentioned (Acts i. 15.), were a plain symbolical notice, that by the Holy Ghost, with which they were then baptized, they should be endowed, for the propagation of the gospel in all nations, with divers languages. If this is not the case, pray what reason can be assigned why there should be an appearance of fiery tongues divided, and sitting upon each of the apostles and disciples?"---Mr. Lancaster's Letter to Dr. Byrom.

2 The apostles and disciples, upon the rumour of what had happened being spread abroad by those of the house in which they were assembled, went out to the multitude, whom such a report had brought together; and then, in order, first one of them in one language, and then another

of them in another, and so on, till all the languages

of the nations specified were used, addressed the multitude; who hearing illiterate Galileans speak

I sent you some reasons, from Baguley, why The tongue was but one, which you choose to passing after such a manner, to each different class by; amongst them, in their own proper language, in which they were born, were amazed and confounded." Mr. L.'s Letter.

[way,

And to comment St. Luke in a many-tongu'd That darkens the light, which I took to be day:

Knew only their vulgar, Jerusalem tongue 3"-But when you say, farther, what cannot but strike, "That the nations, too, all understood it alike”Your order'd confusion of speaking a store To a crowd, out of doors-is more puzzling, and more! [light, In the midst of such darkness, if you can see You need not complain of the want of eye-sight 4.

Thus, my dear old acquaintance, I run thro' your And defend my conviction, as well as I can, [plan, As to what a Bengelius, or Wesley 5, may raise From twelve hundred and sixty prophetical days; As the book is not here, if it otherwise could, My skill in the German can do you no good; But the part, that you mention, my author foretells Will be put in our tongue, by a doctor at Wells.

So writes younger Wesley, who call'd here, and din'd,

And to him I subscrib'd for it; tho' in my mind,
What prophets have written, it's learning in vain,
Without some prophetical gift, to explain;
Nay, in points that are clear, beyond any fair doubt,
It is fifteen to one-that the learned are out.
This ratio, I find, in one instance is true;
Excuse the presumption-dear vicar, adieu.
November 30, 1756.

EPISTLE III.

I HOPE that the vicar will pardon the haste With which an occasion, once more, is einbrac'd Of getting some knowledge, in points that I seek, From one so well vers'd both in Hebrew and Greck;

3 "The mockers appear to be such as understood the Jewish language. St. Peter's speech (beginning Acts ii. 14.) is addressed to all the multitude; and as being so, is spoke in the Jewish language, which all of them, tho' of different nations, understood."Mr. L.'s Letter.

4"A much greater complaint than this I have to make, and that is want of eye-sight-for what appears to you as clear as the Sun, does not appear to me clear at all."- -Mr. L.'s Letter.

5 "The rev. Mr. John Wesley in his Explanation of the New Testament, this year published, says that the 1260 prophetical days in the Revelations are not, as some have supposed 1260, but 777 common years; and that Bengelius in his German Introduction has shown this at large. You understand the German language, and therefore, if Bengelius be in your library, I desire in a few lines you will let me know how he makes this out." Mr. L.'s Letter.

In a question of fact, where a friendly pursuit
Has the truth for its object, and not the dispute:
Which, tho' haste should encroach upon metrical
leisure,

Will be sure, if it rise, to be kept within measure.

It would save much voluminous labour, some

times,

If disputes were ty'd down to dispassionate rhymes,
As well as to reasons-but, not to digress-
Having weigh'd his responses both larger, and less;
I resume the same subject, same freedom of pen,
To entreat for some small satisfaction again,
In relation to points, which, appearing absurd,
Have extorted poetical favour the third.

Three things are laid down in prose favour the last, [them past; And regard to his thoughts would have none of To his first it was paid, to his future shall be; But let veritas magis amica be free; First,-" manage the comma," says he, "how you will, [it still," Speak, or hear-the same sense will result from Yes; the sense of the context-λayTwv auTWY While they speak in their tongue, we all hear in

our own.

"The Hebrew word T, or tongue," says he next,

"Whene'er it is us'd, by itself, in a text,
Never signifies fire, never signifies flame"-_-_-_-_
And believing it true, I say also the same;
But in joint wx T, tongue of fire, or a blaze,
Foreign languages claim no symbolical phrase;
Tho' tongue may occasion mistake to befall,
It has here no relation to language at all.

promise was made

Short issue, he thinks, the dispute will admit, And desires me to answer this query, to-wit, Were the tongues, the new tongues, which a [play'd, That disciples should speak, as St. Mark has disNew languages? (such as have never been got By learning, before-hand, to speak them) or not?" To which, for the present, till somebody show That it must have this meaning, my answer isNo.

Now this, if he can, I could wish he would do, And prove the construction-new languages-true In the sense that he means; for, when all understood

One person who spake, it was really as good
As if numbers had spoken, or promised grace
Were interpreted laugua es here in this place;
The effect was the same, and may answer the
pith

Of all that his second has favour'd me with.

1 "You send me to Hebrew and Greek, and the result of my inquiry is, however the comma be managed in the verse you mean, (Acts ii. 11.) the sense is the same; and that 77, when used by itself, never signifies fire or flame. And therefore, to bring the dispute to a short issue, I desire your answer to the following query.

"Were the new tongues, which our Saviour (St. Mark xvi. 17.) promised his disciples should speak with, new languages, i. e. such as they had never learned-or not?"Mr. L.'s Letter.

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The Works of the English Poets, from Chaucer to Cowper: Including ..., Band 15