I POST-SCRIPT. N these kind of Expreffions, Blank Verse has certainly the Advantage over Rime; but, as SPENSER, WALLER, DRYDEN, and many others have fhewn, they are not Peculiar to Blank Verfe. To fill up therefore the Leaf that remains, I will give an Inftance first of the Sweetness and Power, and then of the Power and Variety of Numbers even in Rime itself; the Former from Mr. ADDISON, the Latter from Mr. PRIOR. Sō, when ăn Angel-by Divine Command- In Thefe Lines there is all the Mufic, and, at the fame time, all the Propriety of Numbers we could wish. The Trochee, the Pyrrichius, the Spondee and Tämbic, are each introduc'd in their proper Places, and all anfwer the Intention of the Poët with the Greatest Succefs. And Mr. PRIOR, in his Ode on the Battle of Ramellies, (which appears to Me to be the Noblest of all his Poëms,) having pro * See particularly DRYDEN's Tale of the Cock and the Fox from CHAUCER ; and his THEODORE and HONORIA from BOCCIA pos'd pos'd the Style and the Numbers of SPENSER for his Imitation, has admirably varied the Movements in Every Verfe, and adapted 'em to the Ideas with the Greatest Propriety. Let the Reader compare the following Lines with one another, and with the Idéas represented in 'em, When Great Aūgústus | gōvěrn❜d ancient Rōme, 6 And fént his Conq'ring Bands | to fóreign Wārs : And Bold | ǎs were his Countrymen in Fight, Snátch'd their fair Actions from degrading Profe, And fét their Battles în Etérnal Light. In the marking of which Lines I have not regarded the Accent fo much as the Time and real Quantity of Sound in Each Movement, The END of the ESSAYs. Remarks Z 2 Remarks on the Scripture Senfe of the Word PREACHING. T HE Word PREACHING is originally Latin, and fignifies no more, in general, than the Publishing of any thing. And the Senfe of the Greek is almoft the fame; viz. to report or deliver the Meffage with which we are charg'd. So we read of our LORD, that he went through every City and Village, PREACHING and SHEWING the glad Tidings of the Kingdom of GOD. LUKE viii. 1. And what we tranflate to PROCLAIM Liberty to the Captives, and the acceptable Year of the LORD, in ISAIAH, lxi. 1, 2. is to PREACH them in the Style of LUKE, iv. 18, 19. It is to perform the Office of that publick Meffenger, or Herald of a Prince, who writes down, reads, and by reading proclaims, or causes to be pofted up, at all public Places, the Meffage with which he is fent. And by whatever Methods he does effectually publish the Will of the Prince, he is faid to preach it, i. e. to perform his Office as a PRÆCO. Thus ISAIAH, and other Prophets of old, were anointed to PREACH, Ch. lxi. 1. But we find 'em fometimes directed to write down the Meffage they had received in a Table, and to note it in a Book, ISAIAH XXX. 8. That is, as the learned GATAKER obferves on the Place, that it might be hung up, or faftened to a Wall, Poft, or Pillar, in fome public Place, where All might take Notice of it. To which Custom Allufion feems to be made in HABAKKUK, Xi. 2. Write the Vifion, and make it plain upon Tables, that he may run that readeth it. Where the PROPHET feems to be commanded to hang up his Prophecy in fome public Place, and to write it in fuch fair and legible Characters, that he that runs might yet be able to read it. And thus you find, that when ISRAEL fhould have paffed over Jordan to the Land of Promise, they were to fet up great Stones, and to plaister them over, and to write upon them all the Words of the Law very plainly. DEUTERONOMY xxvii. 1, 3, 8. Thus then when the Prophets wrote and noted down the Contents of their Prophecies, they truly preached them, i. e. performed their Duty and Office as the PRECONES were wont to do. SOLOMON, at leaft, does evidently call himself the PREACHER, for having written and published the Sermon, which we read in the Scriptures, under the Title of ECCLESIASTES, or the PREACHER. Yet he calls them the WORDS of the Preacher, the Son of DAVID, King of ISRAEL. The WORDS, that is, the WRITTEN WORDS, Ch. xii. 9. Moreover because the PREACHER was Wife, he still taught the People Knowledge; And how? Why, he fought out, and fet in order many Proverbs: Several of which we may read to this Day in the Book of PROVERBS. And again, Ver. 10. The PREACHER fought, that is, endeavoured, to find out acceptable Words, and That which was WRITTEN was Upright, even WORDS of Truth. So that Words fought out by diligent and serious Premeditation, and then WRITTEN DOWN and PUBLISHED to the World, are faid to be PREACH'D to it in the Language of the Holy Scriptures. Again, the READING of the Word fo written, in any public Af sembly, is call'd by the HOLY GHOST the PREACHING of it. So faith the Apostle JAMES, ACTS XV. 21. For MOSES of old time bas in every City Them that PREACH him, being READ in the Synagogues every Sabbath Day. Though weak and ignorant People, or They who have a Defign to carry on and to manage by it, oppofe to So PROPERTIUS: I puer, et citus hæc aliquâ propone columnâ. Ver. 83. one one another PREACHING and READING, and particularly the Reading of thofe Words, which, after the Example of the wifeft Preacher of mere Men, are firft diligently fought out, and noted down in a Book, to be read in public Affemblies: Yea, and difallow, in like manner, even the reading of the Holy Scriptures themselves in those Affemblies. The laying down of which ancient Custom of reading the Scriptures, as MOSES was read over in the Synagogues once every Year; and the juftling out of that, which the HOLY GHOST calls PREACHING, by that other Method which alone is now honoured with this Name, I am verily perfuaded is one great Cause of That amazing Confufion, Stupidity and Ignorance, which may be often obferv'd in Perfons, who think themselves extremely knowing in the Scriptures, and yet feem never to have once read them over in Order in their whole Lives, or to have any other Acquaintance with them than what they have attained by hearing or reading the Sermons and other Difcourfes of a few ENTHUSIASTS. But furely it is fit, that we should sometimes hear GOD Himself speaking to us in his own Words, as well as to hear the Senfe, which others think fit to put upon them. And the Time was, when the greatest Part of Mankind must never have heard the pure Word of GOD at all, if they had not been able to hear it read in the Chriftian Affemblies: I mean when, before the Use of Printing, it had required a confiderable Fortune to have purchas'd a Bible, which they might read by themselves. FIN I S. |