And spring-time of the world; ask'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 sit regardless of his works? Or does the tomb take all? If he survive His ashes, where? and in what weal or woe? A Deity could solve. Their answers, vague, Left them as dark themselves. Their rules of life, Blind nature to a God not yet reveal'd. Explains all mysteries, except her own, That fools discover it, and stray no more. Now tell me, dignified and sapient sir, Is Christ the abler teacher, or the schools? Men that, if now alive, would sit content And humble learners of a Saviour's worth, And thus it is.-The pastor, either vain By nature, or by flatt'ry made so, taught To gaze at his own splendour, and t'exalt Absurdly, not his office, but himself; Or unenlighten'd, and too proud to learn; Or vicious, and not therefore apt to teach; Perverting often, by the stress of lewd And loose example, whom he should instruct; Exposes, and holds up to broad disgrace, The noblest function, and discredits much. The brightest truths that man has ever seen. Below the exigence, or be not back'd With show of love, at least with hopeful proof Of some sincerity on th' giver's part; Or be dishonour'd, in th' exterior form And mode of its conveyance, by such tricks As move derision, or by foppish airs And histrionic mumm'ry, that let down The pulpit to the level of the stage; Drops from the lips a disregarded thing. The weak perhaps are mov'd, but are not taught, While prejudice in men of stronger minds Takes deeper root, confirm'd by what they see. A relaxation of religion's hold Upon the roving and untutor'd heart Soon follows, and, the curb of conscience snapt, As nations, ignorant of God, contrive Some fifty or an hundred lustrums hence, Of whom I needs must augur better things, Since heav'n would sure grow weary of a world Productive only of a race like our's, A monitor is wood-plank shaven thin. We wear it at our backs. There, closely brac'd And neatly fitted, it compresses hard The prominent and most unsightly bones, And binds the shoulders flat. We prove its use But, thus admonish'd, we can walk erect- Our habits, costlier than Lucullus wore, And by caprice as multiplied as his, Just please us while the fashion is at full, This fits not nicely, that is ill conceiv'd; Variety's the very spice of life, That gives it all its flavour. We have run Through ev'ry change that fancy at the loom, |