His office facred, his credentials clear.
By him the violated law speaks out

Its thunders; and by him, in ftrains as fweet
As angels ufe, the gospel whispers peace.
He stablishes the ftrong, reftores the weak,
Reclaims the wanderer, binds the broken heart,
And, armed himself in panoply complete
Of heavenly temper, furnishes with arms,
Bright as his own, and trains, by every rule
Of holy difcipline, to glorious war,

The facramental hoft of God's elect!

Are all fuch teachers?-would to heaven all were!
But hark-the doctor's voice!-faft wedged between
Two empirics he stands, and with fwoln cheeks
Infpires the news, his trumpet. Keener far
Than all invective is his bold harangue,
While through that public organ of report
He hails the clergy; and, defying shame,
Announces to the world his own and their's!
He teaches thofe to read, whom schools difmiffed,
And colleges, untaught; fells accent, tone,
And emphafis in fcore, and gives to prayer
The adagio and andante it demands.

He grinds divinity of other days

Down into modern ufe; transforms old print
To zig-zag manuscript, and cheats the eyes

Of gallery critics by a thousand arts.

Are there who purchase of the doctor's ware?

Oh, name it not in Gath!-it cannot be,

That grave and learned clerks fhould need fuch aid.
He doubtless is in fport, and does but droll,
Affuming thus a rank unknown before-
Grand caterer and dry-nurse of the church!

I venerate the man, whofe heart is warm,

Whofe hands are pure, whose doctrine and whofe life
Coincident exhibit lucid proof

That he is honeft in the facred caufe.

'To fuch I render more than mere respect, Whose actions say that they respect themselves. But loofe in morals, and in manners vain,

In converfation frivolous, in dress

Extreme, at once rapacious and profuse;
Frequent in park with lady at his fide,
Ambling and prattling scandal 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 stranger 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 describe a preacher, such as Paul,
Were he on earth, would hear, approve, and own,
Paul fhould himself direct me. I would trace
His mafter-ftrokes, and draw from his design.
I would express him simple, grave, fincere ;
In doctrine uncorrupt; in language plain,
And plain in manner; decent, folemn, chafte,
And natural in gefture; much impreffed
Himfelf, 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 skip 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 moft in man, And moft of all in man, that minifters

And ferves the altar, in my foul I loath

All affectation. "Tis my perfect scorn;
Object of my implacable disguft.

What!-will a man play tricks, will he indulge
A filly fond conceit of his fair form,
And just proportion, fashionable mien,
And pretty face, in prefence 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 fhames
His noble office, and inftead of truth,
Difplaying his own beauty, ftarves his flock!
Therefore avaunt all attitude, and ftare,
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 cuftom, ftrain celeftial themes

Through the preft noftril, spectacle-bestrid.

Some decent in demeanour while they preach,
That task performed, relapse into themselves;
And having spoken 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 ftroke
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 ease with gentle care,
With handkerchief in hand depending low:
The better hand more bufy gives the nose
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 neglec

And ruftic coarseness 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 mind-demands a doubt.

He, that negotiates between God and man