Thee Saviour, thee the Nation's Vows confefs;
And, never fatisfy'd with feeing, blefs.
Swift, unbefpoken Pomps thy Steps proclaim,
And stamm'ring Babes are taught to lifp thy Name.
(Dryd. Abf.& Achit.

The People rend the Skies with loud Applaufe,
And Heav'n can hear no other Name but yours;
The thronging Crowds prefs on you as you pifs,
And with their eager Joy make Triumph flow.

(Dryd. Span. Fry,
All Tongues fpeak of him, and the bleared Sights
Are fpectacled to fee him. Your pratling Nurfe
Into a Rapture lets her Baby cry,

While fhe chats him. The Kitchin Malkin pins.
Her richest Lockram 'bout her reeky Neck,

Clamb'ring the Walls to fee him :

Stalls, Bulks, Windows, are fmother'd up,

Leads fill'd, and Ridges hors'd.

I've feen the dumb Men throng to fee him,

And the blind to hear him fpeak. The Nobles bended,

As to Jove's Statue; and the Commons made

A Show'r and Thunder with their Caps and Shouts.

POYSO N.

(Shak, Coriol.

Obferve in this finall Phial certain Death,

It holds a Poyson of fuch deadly Force,
Should Afculapius drink it, in five Hours,
For then it works, the God himself were mortal.

(Lee. Alex.
Quick fhootings thro' my Limbs,and pricking Pains,
Qualms at my Heart, Convulfions in my Nerves,
Shiv'rings of Cold, and burning of any Entrails,
Within my little World make medley War,
Lofe and regain, beat and beaten back,
As momentary Victors quit their Ground:
Some deadly Draught, fome Enemy to Life:
Boils in my Bowels, and works out my Soul.

(Dryd. Den. Seb.

PRE

PRECEPT S.

Yet virtuous Rules will new Defires inftill, And streiten to themselves the warping Will; Precepts well-urg'd will rifing Lufts controll, Give a new Turn, and Beauty to the whole,

And from its winding Track reftrain the byafs'd

PREDESTINATION.

But here the Doctors eagerly difpute,

Some hold Predeftination abfolute :

(Soul,

Some Clerks maintain, that Heav'n at first forefees,
And in the Virtue of Forefight decrees.

If this be fo, then Prefcience binds the Will:
And Mortals are not free to Good or Ill:
For what he first forefaw, he must ordain,
Or his eternal Prefcience may be vain.
As bad for us if Ptefcience had not been:
For firft, or laft, he's Author of the Sin.
And who fays that, let the blafpheming Man
Say worse, ev'n of the Devil, if he can.
For how can that Eternal Pow'r be just
To punish Man, who fins because he muft?
Or, how can he reward a virtuous Deed,
Which is not done by us, but first decreed?
I cannot boult this Matter to the Bran,
As Bradwardin, and holy Auftin can :
If Prescience can determine Actions fo,
That we must do, because he did foreknow:
Or that foreknowing, yet our Choice is free,
Not forc'd to fin by ftrict Neceffity:

This ftrict Neceflity they fimple call,

Another Sort there is conditional.

The first fo binds the Will, that Things foreknown,

By Spontaneity not Choice are done.

Thus Galley-flaves tug willing at their Oar,
Content to work in profpect of the Shore;

But would not work at all, if not conftrain'd before.

The

The other does not Liberty restrain;
But Man may either act, or may refrain:
Heav'n made us Agents free to Good or Ill,
And forc'd it not, tho' he forefaw the Will.
Freedom was first bestow'd on human Race,
And Prescience only held the second Place.
If he could make fuch Agents wholly free,
I'll not difpute, the Points too high for me:
For Heav'ns unfathom'd Pow'r what Man call found,
Or
put to his Omnipotence a Bound?

He made us to his Image, all agree,
That Image is the Soul, and that must be,
Or not the Maker's Image, or be free.
But whether it had better Man had been
By Nature bound to Good, not free to Sin,
I wave, for fear of splitting on a Rock:

}

The Tale I tell is only of a Cock. Dryd. Cock & the Fox.
The Priesthood grofsly cheat us with Free-will,
Will to do what? But what Heav'n firft decreed :
Our Actions then are neither Good nor Ill,
Since from eternal Caufes they proceed.
Our Paffions, Fear and Anger, Love and Hate,
Meer fenfelefs Engines that are mov'd by Fate:
Like Ships on ftormy Seas without a Guide,
Toft by the Winds, and driven by the Tide.

(Dryd. Span. Fry.

Hard State of Life! fince Heav'n foreknows my Will,

Why am I not ty'd up from doing Ill?

Why am I trusted with my felf at large?

When he's more able to fuftain the Charge?

Since Angels fell, whofe Strength was more than mine, 'Twould fhew more Grace my Frailty to confine,

For knowing the Succefs, to leave me free,

Excufes him, and yet fupports not me.

PRIEST.

(Dryd. State of Inn.

Priesthood that makes a Merchandize of Heav'n : Priesthood that fells ev'n to their Pray'rs and Bleffings,

And

And forces us to pay for our own Coz'nage,

Nay, cheats Heav'n too with Entrails and with Offals, Gives it the Garbage of a Sacrifice,

And keeps the best for private Luxury.

(Dryd. Trail.

Creff.

The Gods are theirs, not ours; and when we pray
For happy Omens, we their Price must pay:
In vian at Shrines th' ungiving Suppliant ftands
In vian we make our Vows with empty Hands.
Fat Off'rings are the Priesthood's only Care :
They take the Money, and Heav'n hears the Pray'r :
Without a Bribe their Oracles are mute,

And their instructed Gods refuse the Suit. Dryd. Cleom.
For Priests of all Religions are the fame :
Of what foe'er Defcent their Godhead be,
Stone, Stock, or other homely Pedigree;
In his Defence his Servants are as bold,
As if he had been born of beaten Gold.
For 'tis their Duty all the Learned think,
T'efpouse his Caufe by whom they eat and drink.
(Dryd. Abf. Achit.

I tell thee, Mufti, if the World were wife,
They would not wag one Finger in your Quarrels:
Your Heav'n you promife, but our Earth you covet ;
The Phaetons of Mankind, who fire that World,
Which you were fent by Preaching but to warm.

We know their Thoughts of us; that Laymen are Lag Souls, and Rubbish of remaining Clay, Which Heav'n, grown weary of more perfect Work, Set upward with a little Puff of Breath,

And bid us pafs for Men.

We know their holy Jugglings,

Things that would startle Faith, and make us deem
Not this, or that, but all Religions falfe.

Is not the Care of Souls a Load fufficient?
Are not your holy Stipends paid for this?
Were you not bred apart from worldly Noife,
To study Souls, their Cures, and their Diseases?

The

The Province of the Soul is large enough

To fill up ev'ry Granny of your Time,

And leave you much to answer, if one Wretch
Be damn'd by your Neglect.

Why then these foreign Thoughts of State-Employments,
Abhorrent to your Function, and your Breeding?
Poor droning Truants of unpractis'd Cells,
Bred in the Fellowship of bearded Boys;
What Wonder is it if you know not Men ?
Yet there you live demure with down-caft Eyes,
And humble as your Difcipline requires :
But when let loofe from thence to live at large,
Your little Tincture of Devotion dies:
Then Luxury fucceeds, and fet agog
With a new Scene of yet untafted Joys,
You fall with greedy Hunger to the Feast;
Of all your College Virtues, nothing now
But your original Ignorance remains.

(Dryd. Don. Seb.
For whether King or People feek Extreams,
Still Confcience and Religion are the Themes.
And whatsoever Change the State invades,
The Pulpit either forces or perfuades.
Others may give the Fuel or the Fire,

But Priests the Breath, that makes the Flame, inspire.

You want to lead

(Den. Sophy.

My Reafon blindfold, like a hamper'd Lion,
Check'd of its noble Vigour: then when baited
Down to obedient Tameness, make it couch,
And fhew strange Tricks,which you call Signs of Faith:
So filly Souls are gull'd, and you get Money.

If we must pray,

(Otw. Ven. Pref.

Rear in the Streets bright Altars to the Gods,
Let Virgins Hands adorn the Sacrifice;

And not a Grey beard forging Priest come there,

And