Heard at conventicle, where worthy men, Grow wanton, and give proof to ev'ry eyeWhoe'er was edified, themselves were not. Forth comes the pocket mirror. First we stroke An eye-brow; next, compose a straggling lock; Than in a churchman flovenly neglect And And ruftic coarsenefs would. An heav'nly mind May be indiff'rent to her house of clay, And flight the hovel as beneath her care; And queint in its deportment and attire, He that negotiates 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 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 consent you take it for your text, Your only one, till fides and benches fail. No: he was ferious in a ferious caufe, And understood too well the weighty terms That he had ta'en in charge. He would not stoop To conquer thofe by jocular exploits, Whom truth and foberness affail'd in vain. Oh, popular applaufe! what heart of man But fwell'd into a gust-who then, alas! And therefore heedlefs, can withstand thy power? And craving poverty; and in the bow Is oft too welcome, and may much disturb In language foft as adoration breathes? Ah spare your idol! think him human ftill. All truth is from the fempiternal source 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 pufh'd enquiry to the birth And spring-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? Or does the tomb take all? If he furvive His afhes, where? and in what weal or woe? A Deity could folve. Their answers vague, And all at random, fabulous and dark, Left them as dark themselves. Their rules of life To bind the roving appetite, and lead Of |