Alas! Leviathan is not so tam'd: Laugh'd at, he laughs again; and, stricken hard, Turns to the stroke his adamantine scales, That fear no discipline of human hands. The pulpit, therefore (and I name it fill'd With solemn awe, that bids me well beware With what intent I touch that holy thing)— The pulpit (when the satʼrist has at last, Strutting and vap'ring in an empty school, Spent all his force and made no proselyte)— I say the pulpit (in the sober use Of its legitimate, peculiar pow'rs) Must stand acknowledg'd, while the world shall stand, The most important and effectual guard, There stands the messenger of truth; there stands His office sacred, his credentials clear. By him the violated law speaks out Its thunders; and by him, in strains as sweet He 'stablishes the strong, restores the weak, The sacramental host of God's elect! Are all such teachers?—would to heav'n all were! But hark-the doctor's voice!-fast wedg'd be tween Two empirics he stands, and with swoln cheeks He teaches those to read, whom schools dismiss'd, And colleges, untaught; sells accent, tone, And emphasis in score, and gives to pray'r He grinds divinity of other days Down into modern use; transforms old print To zig-zig manuscript, and cheats the eyes Are there who purchase of the doctor's ware? I venerate the man whose heart is warm, Whose hands are pure, whose doctrine and whose life, Coincident, exhibit lucid proof That he is honest in the sacred cause. To such I render more than mere respect, Whose actions say that they respect themselves. But, loose in morals, and in manners vain, In conversation frivolous, in dress Extreme, at once rapacious and profuse; Ambling and prattling scandal as he goes; Or with his pen, save when he scrawls a card; Of ladyships-a stranger to the poor; And well-prepar'd, by ignorance and sloth, To make God's work a sinecure; a slave To his own pleasures and his patron's pride: From such apostles, oh, ye mitred heads, Preserve the church! and lay not careless hands On sculls that cannot teach, and will not learn. Would I describe a preacher, such as Paul, Were he on earth, would hear, approve, and own- And tender in address, as well becomes Behold the picture!-Is it like?—Like whom? In man or woman, but far most in man, |