LETTER II.

No office seems more sacred, and august,
Than that of preachers who fulfill their trust;
Working with God, and helping men to find
The Prince of life, the Saviour of mankind:
Who came himself a preacher, from on high,
Of peace to all; the distant and the nigh.

So said the saint, whose preaching was the same,
To Jew, to Greek-salvation thro' his name—
Who taught, thro' him, to preach immortal life,
Avoiding questions that engender strife;
Patient, and meek, and gentle unto all,
Instructing even opposers without gall;
If peradventure God might give them grace
The truth, when kindly offer'd, to embrace.

If these conditions preaching may demand,
What must we think of the discourse in hand?
Which, when we read, is apter to suggest
A diff'rent temper in the preacher's breast;
A text perverted from its native scope;
A disappointment of all hearing hope.
Here is a long dispute, in his first head,
About what doctor Middleton had said;
That "when the gift of tongues was first bestow'd
'Twas but an instantaneous sign, that show'd
The gospel's chosen minister; and then,
That purpose signified, it ceas'd again:
So was its type, the fiery tongue, a flash

Of light'ning quickly vanish'd"-and such trash-
To which a minister, who knew the press,
Ill chose the time, when preaching, to digress;
To take a text affording, thro' the whole,
Such grounds of comfort to a Christian soul,
And then neglect; to preach a poor debate,
That could but shine at pamphleteering rate;
That, from the pulpit, must disgust the pew
Of sager bench, and sober students too.

You may, hereafter, if you choose it, see
How they mistook, both Middleton and he,
The gift of tongues; how little, quite throughout,
They knew, tho' learned, what they were about:
In present lines, I shall but just relate
One instance of the, no uncommon, fate
Of learned men, who, in deep points exact,
Forget, sometimes, the most apparent fact.

Th' apostles, gifted by the Holy Ghost, Began to speak with tongues, at Pentecost; "But did not"-so the preacher says" begin To speak, before the multitude came in." He urges roundly how, in this respect, "The learned Middleton did not reflect, That in a private room they all were set, And tongues not spoken, till the people met." Now if you read the Pentecostal facts, As you will find them written in the Acts, From his reflection tho' the point lay hid, The text affirms, expressly, that they did. No learning wanted to determine this; 'Tis what a reading child could never miss : This very gift, it is exceeding clear, Was that which brought the multitude to hear: "Speaking with tongues" foregoing words proclaim; The next-" when this was nois'd abroad"-they

came.

Scarce to be thought that, studying the case, With formal purpose to explain a place, A man so learned, and acute, could make, Could preach, could publish, such a flat mistake:

VOL. XV.

But 'tis the fate of great, and eager wits, To trust their memory too much, by fits.

To prove that Middleton's dispute was wrong Takes up the pages, for a sermon long: Soon after this you'll see another start, To fill his first division's second part: For having touch'd upon the names of all The gifts enumerated by Saint Paul, Then, in what sense the scripture was inspir'd, Higher, or lower, comes to be inquir'd: The high he calls "organical;" the low "Partial;" and "true;" as he proceeds to show. This is the summary of what is said, Touching the Holy Ghost, in his first head; As guide to truth, and aiding to excite, To clear, to give the understanding light. What makes it sermon is the text prefixt, Tho' scarce a word of it is intermixt; Consistently enough, for it has none Which suit the topics that he dwells upon: Topics, without a dignity to grace Text, office, audience, person, time, or place. But were this all, and did not what he spake Lead, by degrees, to serious mistake, Taking a text, for form sake, to prepare The church to hear some shop-renown'd affair, (Too oft the turn of the polite divine) Would hardly merit your regard, or mine; But, sir, it is not only misapply'd, This glorious text, but in effect deny'd; Or misconceiv'd; and therefore cutting short, At present, errours of less fatal sort, Let us pursue this subject, in the next, And from the sermon vindicate the text.

LETTER III.

You wonder'd much, why any man of parts
Would use, in preaching, low, invective arts;
By which the vain disputings, that infest
The Christian world, have seldom been supprest;
But often heighten'd, and that use destroy'd
For which fine talents ought to be employ'd

If one can judge from reading this divine,
Whose parts and talents would be really fine,
If juster notions of the heav'nly grace
Taught but the earthly not to quit the place,
If one can judge, I say, from stated laws,
In his discourses, what should be the cause
Of such perversion of a lively wit,

In erudite possessors, this is it.

They think that, now, religion's sole defence
Is learning, history, and critic sense;
That with apostles, as a needful guide,
The Holy Spirit did indeed abide;
But, having dictated to them a rule

Of faith, and manners, for the Christian school,
Immediate revelation ceas'd, and men
Must now be taught by apostolic pen :
Canon of scripture is complete; and they
May read, and know, what doctrine to obey:
To look for inspiration is absurd;
The Spirit's aid is in the written word:
They who pretend to his immediate call,
From pope to quaker, are fanatics all.

Thus, having prov'd, at large, to Christians met,
What no one Christian ever doubted yet,
That the New Testament was really writ
By inspiration, which they all admit,

He then subjoins that-" this inspir'd record
Fulfill'd the promise of our blessed Lord;"
(Fulfill'd it" eminently," is the phrase)
"For tho' the faithful, in succeeding days,
Occasionally find, in ev'ry place,
The Spirit's ordinary help, and grace,
His light supreme, his constant, fixt abode,
Is in the scriptures of this sacred code."

This was the sense, not easy to explore, When, reck'ning up the Spirit's fruits before, 61 Scripture," said he (which this account explains)

"Does not record them only, but contains;"
"CONTAINS," in capitals as if he took
The scripture to be something more than book;
Something alive, wherein the Spirit dwelt,
That did not only tell his fruits, but felt.
"The sure deposit of the Spirit's fruits
In holy scripture," (he elsewhere computes)
"Fulfill'd the Saviour's promise, in a sense
Very sublime"-So it should seem, from hence,
That eminently, and sublimely, thus
The Holy Spirit should abide with us.

If I mistake him, or mis-represent,
You'll show me where, for 'tis not with intent:
I want, if possible, to understand

A sentence coming from so fam'd a hand:
Tho' plain the words, 'tis difficult to solve
What Christian sense he meant them to involve:
In ev'ry way that words, and sense agree,
'Tis perfect bibliolatry to me:

No image worship can be more absurd,
Than idolizing thus the written word;
Which, they who wrote intended to excite
Attention to our Lord's predicted light;
To that same Spirit, leading human thought,
By which themselves, and all the good were
taught;

Preaching that word, which a diviner art,
Which God himself had written on the heart.
How can the best of books (for 'tis confest
That, of all books, the Bible is the best)
Do any more than give us an account

Of what was said, for instance, on the Mount?
Of what was done, for instance, on the cross,
In order to retrieve the human loss?
What more than tell us of the Spirit's aid,
Far as his fruits by words can be display'd?'
But words are only the recording part,
The things contain'd must needs be in the heart;
Spirit of God no more in books demands
To dwell, himself, than temples made with hands,
"Fruits of the spirit," as St. Paul defin'd?
"Are love, joy, peace"-the blessings of the mind;
The proofs of his abiding-who can brook
A meek, a gentle, good, long-suff'ring book?
Or let true faith, and temperance, be sunk
To faith in writings, that are never drunk?
In fine, whatever pen and ink presents,
Can but contain historical contents;
Nor can the fruits of Spirit be in print,
In any sense, but as recorded in't.

Plain as this is, and strange, as you may think, The learned worship paid to pen and ink, It is the main hypothesis, you'll find, On which are built discourses of this kind; Which yet can give us, for a scripture clue, What contradicts its very letter too: As this has done-be shown as we go onBy these important verses of St. John.

LETTER IV.

THE gospel's simpler language being writ,
Not for the sake of learning, or of wit,
But to instruct the pious, and the meek;
When its intent mere critics come to seck,
We find, on plain intelligible text,
The variorum comments most perplext.

Such is the text before us; and so plain
The Saviour's promise, which the words contain,
That men, for modern erudition's sake,
Must read, and study to acquire mistake;
Must first observe the notions that prevail,
Amongst the famous in their church's pale;
Firm in the prejudice, that all is right
Which books, or persons, most in vogue, recite;
Then seek, to find, how scripture coincides
With each decision of their knowing guides.

Without some such preparatives as these,
How could the forc'd interpretation please,
That makes a sacred promise, to bestow
Perpetual aid, exhausted long ago?
In one short age?-for God's abiding guide
Withdrew, it seems, when the apostles died;
And left poor millions, ever since, to seek
How dissonant divines had constru'd Greek,

In graver writers one has often read
What in excuse of bookworkship is said;
"It is not ink, and letter, that we own
To be divine, but scripture sense alone;
We have the rule which the apostles made,
And no occasion for immediate aid."--
Suppose, for once, the gross delusion true;
What must a plain and honest Christian do?
The Spirit's aid how far must he extend,
To bring his Saviour's promise to an end?
This he perceives discourse to dwell upon;
And yet" for ever to abide❞—has none,
He, for the sake of safety would be glad
To have that spirit which apostles had;
Not one of them has writ, but says, he may;
That 'tis the bliss for which he ought to pray:
That God will grant it him, his Saviour said,
Sooner than parents give their children bread,
If reading scripture can improve a soul,
This is the sum, and substance of the whole;
And gives it value of such high degree:
For tho' as sacred as a book can be,
'Tis only so, because it best revives
Thought of that good which animated lives;
Because its authors were inspir'd to write,
And saw the truth in it's own heav'nly light;
Because it sends us to that promis'd source
Of light, and truth, which govern'd their discourse,
The Holy Spirit's ever present aid,
With us, and in us-so the Saviour pray'd-
That, when he left the world, the Holy Ghost
Might dwell with Christians, as an inward host;
That teaching, truth, and comfort in the breast,
Might be secur'd by this abiding guest.

Yes; with apostles"-sunk, by such a thought, Th' inestimable treasure down to nought; An history of sunshine may, as soon, Make a blind man to see the shining noon, As writings only, without inward light, Can bring the World's redemption into sight: Jesus the Christ-the very book has shown, Without the Holy Spirit none can own: In words they may, but what is plainly meant, They cannot give a real, heart consent.

What friend to scripture, then, sir, can displace
This inward witness of redeeming grace?
And rest the gospel on such outward view,
As any Turk may rest his Coran too?
Nay, he can own a written word, or work
That Christians do, and yet continue Turk.
Why do the Christian disputants so fill
The world with books, of a polemic skill,
When 'tis the sacred, and acknowledg'd one
That all their jarring systems build upon?
But that the Spirit does not rule their wit,
By which at first the sacred one was writ:
Of whose support great scholars stand in need,
As much as they who never learnt to read:
Unhappy they! but for that living guide,
Whom God himself has promis'd to provide!
A guide, to quote the blessed text again,
"For ever to abide with Christian men."

Fond of its books, poor Learning is afraid;
And higher guidance labours to evade:
Books have the Spirit in supreme display!
Men but in lower, ordinary way!

This strange account of men and books is true, It seems, according to the promise too!

Such wild conceits all men have too much wit Or learned, or unlearned, to admit; But when some interest, or custom rules, And chains obsequious wills to diff'rent schools, The wisest, then, sir, will relinquish thought, And speak, like parrots, just as they are taught. What this should be, what spends in vain the fire Of brisker tempers-let us next inquire.

LETTER V.

WHEN Christians first receiv'd the joyful news-
"Messiah come"-unmixt with worldly views;
When the whole church with heav'nly grace was
And (from the Spirit Comforter) possest [blest,
One heart, one mind, one view to common good;
Then was the real gospel understood.

Then was the time-to cite what you will find
The preacher noting-" when the world combin'd
Its pow'rs against it, but could not destroy;
When holy martyrs, with enraptur'd joy,
Encounter'd death; enabled to sustain
Its utmost terror, and its utmost pain:
At such a juncture, Heav'n's uncommon aid
Shon forth, to help humanity display'd.

"But now"-his reason for abated grace, Diff'rence of primitive and present case “Now——ease, and honour" (mind the maxim, friend)

"On the profession of the faith attend:
At first, establish'd by diviner means,
On human testimony, now, it leans;
Supports itself, as other facts must do,
That rest on human testimony too;
Sufficient strength is the conviction there,
To make the present Christian persevere."

Here lies the secret-that may soon unfold
Why modern Christians fall so short of old;
Why they appear to have such diff'rent looks,
The men of spirit, and the men of books:
When racks and gibbets, torment and distress
Attended them who ventur'd to confess,
They had, indeed, a fixt, and firm belief,
To die for one who suffered like a thief;

Stretch'd on the wheel, or burning in the flame,
To preach a crucified Redeemer's name;
Courage like this compendious proof supply'd
Of Heav'n's true kingdom, into which they dy'd;
Thus was the wisdom of the world struck dumb,
And all the pow'rs of darkness overcome;
Gospel prevail'd, by its internal light,
And gave the subject for the pen to write.

But when the world, with a more fatal plan,
To flatter, what it could not force, began;
When ease, and honour, as the preacher saith,
Attended the profession of the faith;
Then wrought its mischief, in the too secure,
The secret poison, slower, but more sure:
Commodious maxims then began to spread,
And set up learning in the Spirit's stead:
The life diminish'd, as the books increas'd,
'Till men found out that miracles were ceas'd;
That, with respect to succours more sublime,
The gospel promise was but for a time;
That inspiration, amongst men of sense,
Was all a mere fanatical pretence:
And divers like discoveries, that grant
To ease, and honour, just what faith they want.
Faith to profess that wond'rous things of old
Did really happen, as the books have told;
But, with a caution, never to allow
The possibility of happ'ning now:
For, as the world went on, it might affect
An honourable ease, in some respect,
To own celestial comfort still inspir'd,
And suff'ring courage, as at first, requir'd;
Quite proper then; but equally unfit,
When once the sacred canon had been writ:
For upon that (is gravely here averr'd)
Part of the Spirit's office was transferr'd;
Books once compos'd, th' illuminating part
He ceas'd himself; and left to human art
To find, within his scriptural abode,
Th' enlight'ning grace that presence once be-
stow'd.

These suppositions, if a man suppose, You see th' immediate consequence that flows; That men, and churches afterwards attack'd, Are pre-demolish'd, by asserted fact; Which, once advanc'd may, with the greatest ease, Condemn whatever Christians he shall please: Owing to his forbearance, in some shape, If aught the extensive havoc shall escape. With such a fund of learning, and a skill To make it serve what argument he will; With choice of words, for any chosen theme, With an alertness rulingly supreme; What, sir, can single persons, or a sect, When he is pleas'd to preach at 'em, expect? Just what they meet with, in the present case➡➡ All the dogmatic censure, and disgrace, That a commanding genius can exert, When it becomes religiously alert; With narrow proofs, and consequences wide, Sets all opponents of its rote aside; The papists first, and then th' inferior fry, Fanatics; vanquish'd with a-who but 1? These are the modish epithets that strike At true religion, and at false alike; Of these reproaches infidels are full; Their use in others verging down to dull: How one, who is no infidel, applies

The hackney'd terms--may next salute your

eyes.

LETTER VI.

By reformation from the church of Rome
We mean, from faults and errours, I presume;
Against her truths to prosecute a war
Is protestant aversion push'd too far:
In them, should ease and honour not attend
The fair profession, one should be her friend.
She thinks that Christ has given to his bride,
His holy church, an ever present guide;
By whose divine assistance she has thought,
That miracles sometimes were really wrought;
That, by the virtue which his gifts inspire,
Great saints and martyrs have adorn'd her quire.
Now say the worst, that ever can be said,
Of that corruption which might overspread
This church in gen'ral-cast at her the stone,
They who possess perfection in their own;
Yet, were instructive volumes to enlarge
On bright exceptions to the gen'ral charge,
They that love truth, wherever it is found,
Would joy to see it, ev'n in Romish ground;
Where if corruption grew to such a size,
The more illustrious must examples rise
Of life and manners-these, you will agree,
Are true reformers, wheresoe'er they be.

Of all the churches, justly loth to claim
Exclusive title to a sacred name,
What one, I ask, has ever yet deny'd
The inspiration of the promis'd guide?
Our own-to which the def'rence that is due
Forbids no just respect for others too-
Believes, asserts, that what reform she made
Was not without the Holy Spirit's aid:
If to expect his gifts, however great,
Be popish, and fanatical, deceit,
She, in her offices of ev'ry kind,
Has also been fanatically blind.
What form, of her composing, can we trace
Without a pray'r for his unstinted grace?
Taught, by the sacred volumes, to infer
A Saviour's promise reaching down to her,
Greatly she values the recording books;
But, for fulfilling, in herself she looks.

That she may always think aright, and act,
By God's good Spirit, is her pray'd for fact;
Without his grace confessing, as she ought,
Her inability of act, or thought:
Nor does she fear fanatical pretence,
When asking aid in a sublimer sense;
Where she records, amongst the martyr'd host,
"A Stephen-filled with the Holy Ghost"-
She prays for that same plenitude of aid,

By which the martyr for his murd'rers pray'd;
That she, like him, in what she undergoes,
May love, and bless her persecuting foes.

Did but one spark of so supreme a grace Burn in the breast, when preaching is the case, How would a priest, unpersecuted, dare To treat, when mounted on a sacred chair, A church of Christ, or any single soul, By will enlisted on the Christian roll, With such a prompt, and contumelious ire, As love, nor blessing ever could inspire?

Altho' untouch'd with the celestial flame, How could an English priest mistake his aim? So far forget the maxims that appear, Throughout his church's liturgy, so clear? Wherein the Spirit's ever constapt aid, Without a feign'd distinction, is display'd;

Without a rash attempting to explain,
By limitations foolish and profane,
When, and to whom, to what degree, and end,
God's graces, gifts, and pow'rs were to extend;
So far withdrawn-that Christians must allow
Of nothing extra-ordinary, now:

The vain distinction, which the world has found,
To fix an unintelligible bound

To gospel promise; equally sublime,
Nor limited by any other time
Than that, when want of faith, when earthly will,
Shall hinder Heav'n's intentions to fulfill.

If, not confining any promis'd pow'rs,
The Romish church be faulty, what is ours?
Does our own church, in her ordaining day,
Does any consecrating bishop say,
When on the future priest his hand is laid,
Receive the Spirit's ordinary aid?

Do awful words" Receive the Holy Ghost"-
Imply that he abides in books the most?
Books which the Spirit who first rul'd the hand,
They say themselves, must teach to understand,

His inspiration, without limits too,
All churches own, whatever preachers do:
Not even miracles, tho' set aside
In private books, has any church deny'd:
How weak the proofs, which this discourse has
To justify the fashionable thought,
That gospel promises, of any kind,
By spirit, or by scripture, are confin'd
To apostolic, or to later times,

[brought,

May be the subject of succeeding rhymes.

MISCELLANEOUS PIECES.

CONSISTING OF THOUGHTS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS,
FRAGMENTS, EPIGRAMS, &c.

WITH peaceful mind thy race of duty run;
God nothing does, or suffers to be done,
But what thou wouldst thyself, if thou couldst see,
Thro' all events of things, as well as he.

NATURAL knowledge is a moonshine light, And dreaming sages still kept sleeping by 't; But heav'nly wisdom, like the rising sun, Awakens nature, and good works are done.

LET thy repentance be without delay-
If thou defer it to another day,
Thou must repent for a day more of sin,
While a day less remains to do it in.

To be religious something it will cost;
Some riches, honours, pleasures will be lost;
But if thou countest the sum total o'er,
Not to be so will cost a great deal more.

HE that does good with an unwilling mind,
Does that to which he is not well inclin❜d:
"Twill be reward sufficient for the fact,
If God shall pardon his obedient act.

IF outward comforts, without real thought

Of any inward holiness, are sought,