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In conversation frivolous, in dress

Extreme, at once rapacious and profuse;
Frequent in park with lady at his fide,
Ambling and prattling fcandal as he goes;
But rare at home, and never at his books,
Or with his pen, fave when he fcrawls a card;
Conftant at routs, familiar with a round
Of ladyfhips, a ftranger to the poor;
Ambitious of preferment for its gold,
And well-prepared, by ignorance and floth,
By infidelity and love of world,

To make God's work a finecure; a slave
To his own pleasures and his patron's pride :
From fuch apoftles, oh ye mitred heads,
Preferve the church! and lay not careless hands
On fculls, that cannot teach, and will not learn.

Would I defcribe a preacher, such as Paul, Were he on earth, would hear, approve, and own, Paul fhould himself direct me. I would trace His mafter-strokes, and draw from his defign. I would exprefs him fimple, grave, fincere; In doctrine uncorrupt; in language plain, And plain in manner; decent, folemn, chafte,

And natural in gefture; much impressed
Himself, as confcious of his awful charge,
And anxious mainly that the flock he feeds
May feel it too; affectionate in look,

And tender in addrefs, as well becomes
A meffenger of grace to guilty men.
Behold the picture!-Is it like?-Like whom?
The things that mount the roftrum with a skip,
And then fkip down again; pronounce a text;
Cry-hem; and reading what they never wrote,
Juft fifteen minutes, huddle up their work,
And with a well-bred whisper close the scene!

In man or woman, but far most in man,
And most of all in man that minifters
And ferves the altar, in my foul I loath
All affectation. 'Tis my perfe&t scorn;
Object of my implacable disgust.

What!-will a man play tricks, will he indulge
A filly fond conceit of his fair form,
And juft proportion, fashionable mien,
And pretty face, in presence of his God?
Or will he feek to dazzle me with tropes,
As with the diamond on his lily hand,

And play his brilliant parts before my eyes,
When I am hungry for the bread of life?
He mocks his Maker, proftitutes and shames
His noble office, and instead of truth,
Displaying his own beauty, ftarves his flock!
Therefore avaunt all attitude, and stare,
And ftart theatric, practifed at the glass!
I feek divine fimplicity in him,

Who handles things divine; and all befides,

Though learned with labour, and though much

admired

By curious eyes and judgments ill-informed,
To me is odious as the nafal twang

Heard at conventicle, where worthy men,
Misled by custom, ftrain celestial themes
Through the preft noftril, fpectacle-beftrid.
Some decent in demeanour while they preach,
That task performed, relapfe into themselves;
And having fpoken wifely at the close
Grow wanton, and give proof to every eye,
Whoever was edified, themselves were not!
Forth comes the pocket mirror.-First we stroke
An eye-brow; next compofe a ftraggling lock;
Then with an air moft gracefully performed

Fall back into our feat, extend an arm
And lay it at its eafe with gentle care,
With handkerchief in hand depending low :
The better hand more busy gives the nofe
Its bergamot, or aids the indebted eye
With opera glafs, to watch the moving scene,
And recognize the flow-retiring fair.—
Now this is fulfome; and offends me more
Than in a churchman flovenly neglect

And ruftic coarsenefs would. An heavenly mind
May be indifferent to her house of clay,
And flight the hovel as beneath her care;
But how a body fo fantastic, trim,

And quaint, in its deportment and attire,
Can lodge an heavenly inind-demands a doubt.

He, that negotiates between God and man
As God's ambaffador, the grand concerns
Of judgment and of mercy, fhould beware
Of lightness in his fpeech. 'Tis pitiful
To court a grin, when you should woo a foul;
To break a jest, when pity would inspire
Pathetic exhortation; and to address

The fkittish fancy with facetious tales,

When fent with God's commission to the heart!

So did not Paul. Direct me to a quip
Or merry turn in all he ever wrote,
And I confent you take it for your text,
Your only one, till fides and benches fail.
No: he was ferious in a ferious cause,
And understood too well the weighty terms
That he had taken in charge. He would not ftoop
To conquer thofe by jocular exploits,

Whom truth and soberness affailed in vain.

Oh popular applaufe! what heart of man
Is proof against thy fweet feducing charms?
The wifeft and the best feel urgent need
Of all their caution in thy gentleft gales;
But fwelled into a guft-who then alas!

With all his canvafs fet, and inexpert,

And therefore heedlefs, can withstand thy power?
Praise from the riveled lips of toothless bald
Decrepitude, and in the looks of lean

And craving poverty, and in the bow
Refpectful of the fmutched artificer,
Is oft too welcome, and may much disturb
The bias of the purpose. How much more,

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