For fpiritual gifts and offerings,

Which Heaven to present him brings;

And ftill, the further 'tis from sense,
Believes it is the more refin'd,

And ought to be receiv'd with greater reverence.

III.

But, as all tricks whofe principles

Are falfe, prove false in all things else,
The dull and heavy hypocrite

Is but in pension with his conscience,
That pays him for maintaining it
With zealous rage and impudence;
And, as the one grows obftinate,
So does the other rich and fat;
Difpofes of his gifts and difpenfations

40

45

50

Like fpiritual foundations

Endow'd to pious ufes, and defign'd

To entertain the weak, the lame, and blind;

But ftill diverts them to as bad, or worse,

55

Than others are by unjust governors :

For, like our modern publicans,

He ftill puts out all dues.

He owes to Heaven to the devil to use,

And makes his godly intereft great gains ;
Takes all the Brethren (to recruit

60

The fpirit in him) contribute,

And, to repair and edify his spent

And broken-winded outward man, prefent

For painful holding-forth against the government. 65

IV. The

IV.

The fubtle fpider never fpins,

But on dark days, his flimy gins;

Nor does our engineer much care to plant

His spiritual machines

Unless among the weak and ignorant,
Th' inconftant, credulous, and light,
The vain, the factious, and the flight,
That in their zeal are most extravagant;
For trouts are tickled best in muddy water:
And ftill, the muddier he finds their brains,
The more he 's fought and follow'd after,
And greater ministrations gains :
For talking idly is admir'd,

And speaking nonsense held infpir'd;
And still, the flatter and more dull

His gifts appear, is held more powerful :
For blocks are better cleft with wedges,

Than tools of fharp and subtle edges;

And dullest nonfenfe has been found,

70

75

80

By fome, to be the folid'ft and the most profound. 85

V.

A great Apoftle once was faid

With too much learning to be mad;

But our great Saint becomes distract,

And only with too little crackt;

Cries moral truths and human learning down,
And will endure no reafon but his own:

၄၈

For

For 'tis a drudgery and task

Not for a Saint, but Pagan oracle,
To answer all men can object or ask;
But to be found impregnable,

And with a sturdy forehead to hold out,

In spite of shame or reafon refolute,

t

Is braver than to argue and confute :
As he that can draw blood, they say,
From witches, takes their magic power away,
So he that draws blood int' a Brother's face,
Takes all his gifts away, and light, and grace:
For, while he holds that nothing is so damn'd
And shameful as to be asham'd,

He never can b' attack'd,

But will come off; for Confidence, well back'd,
Among the weak and prepoffefs'd,

Has often Truth, with all her kingly power, oppress'd.

VI.

It is the nature of late zeal,

'Twill not be fubject, nor rebel,

Nor left at large, nor be restrain'd,

But where there's something to be gain'd;
And, that being once reveal'd, defies

The law, with all its penalties,

And is convinc'd no pale

O' th' church can be fo facred as a jail :
For, as the Indians' prifons are their mines,
So he has found are all restraints
To thriving and free-confcienc'd Saints;
For the fame thing enriches that confines;

110

115

120 And

And like to Lully, when he was in hold,
He turns his bafer metals into gold;
Receives returning and retiring fees

For holding forth, and holding of his peace,

To draw the wildeft into nets,
More prevalent and natural

Than all our artificial pipes and counterfeits.

VII.

His flippery confcience has more tricks

Than all the juggling empirics,

And every one another contradicts;

All laws of heaven and earth can break,

And swallow oaths, and blood, and rapine easy,

135

To ferve its interefts abroad:

And, though no Pharifee was e'er so cunning

At tithing mint and cummin,

No dull idolater was e'er fo flat

150

In things of deep and folid weight;
Pretends to charity and holiness,

But is implacable to peace,

And out of tenderness grows obftinate.

And, though the zeal of God's house ate a prince 155 And prophet up (he fays) long fince,

His cross-grain'd peremptory zeal

Would eat up God's house, and devour it at a meal.

VIII.

He does not pray, but profecute,

As if he went to law, his fuit;
Summons his Maker to appear
And answer what he shall prefer;
Returns him back his gift of prayer,
Not to petition, but declare ;

Exhibits cross complaints

160

165

Against him for the breach of Covenants,

And all the charters of the Saints;

Pleads guilty to the action, and yet stands
Upon high terms and bold demands;

Excepts against him and his laws,

And will be judge himself in his own cause ;
And grows more faucy and fevere

Than th' Heathen emperor was to Jupiter,
That us'd to wrangle with him and difpute,
And fometimes would fpeak foftly in his ear,
And fometimes loud, and rant, and tear,
And threaten, if he did not grant his fuit.

170

175

IX. But