In Imitation of Hudibras The Dissenting Hypocrite, or Occasional Conformist; with reflections On Two of the Ring-Leaders, &c. Viz. I. Their Works and Writings. II. Their Professions and Principles. III. Their Qualifications and Parts. IV. Their Persons and Practices [by Edward Ward] |
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 | In Imitation of Hudibras |  |
Who likes a Democratick Form
After that blust'ring bloody Storm,
Which this whole Kingdom then confounded
'Twixt Cavalier and Cruel Round-Head;
Let Him, I say, begin at Home;
And as He is the Major Dome,
Not keep his Family i'th' Dark,
And play the rigid Patriarch;
But give his Children, Servants, Right
Equal to his own Pow'r and Might.
When They begin to cut his Throat,
And leave him not a Scottish Groat;
If He with Reason then can bear it,
He is in Earnest, I will swear it:
And otherwise, it is a Jest
To put gull'd People to the Test
Of their enveigling damn'd Delusion,
To breed the Government's Confusion.
A Commonwealth, to speak more nice,
Is but a Scab with many Lice,
Which would on England soon determine
The Plague of Egypt with those Vermine.
After that blust'ring bloody Storm,
Which this whole Kingdom then confounded
'Twixt Cavalier and Cruel Round-Head;
Let Him, I say, begin at Home;
And as He is the Major Dome,
Not keep his Family i'th' Dark,
And play the rigid Patriarch;
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Equal to his own Pow'r and Might.
When They begin to cut his Throat,
And leave him not a Scottish Groat;
If He with Reason then can bear it,
He is in Earnest, I will swear it:
And otherwise, it is a Jest
To put gull'd People to the Test
Of their enveigling damn'd Delusion,
To breed the Government's Confusion.
A Commonwealth, to speak more nice,
Is but a Scab with many Lice,
Which would on England soon determine
The Plague of Egypt with those Vermine.
When Whigs
Hypocrisy find rampant,
They plausibly Religion stamp on't:
{S}o false Republicans are pure,
{A}s Whores at Christ'nings look Demure;
Formal appear, and sober godly,
Yet still most singularly Odly;
They can their Countenance behave,
As Senators, austere and grave:
But, Janus-like, they have Two Faces
To reconcile Two diff'rent Cases,
And hold Communion for Great Places:
As if Religion were but Local,
And State-Preferment Sins did Cloak All.
Thus are, from Scripture Union freed,
The Devil and the Saint agreed.
They plausibly Religion stamp on't:
{S}o false Republicans are pure,
{A}s Whores at Christ'nings look Demure;
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Yet still most singularly Odly;
They can their Countenance behave,
As Senators, austere and grave:
But, Janus-like, they have Two Faces
To reconcile Two diff'rent Cases,
And hold Communion for Great Places:
As if Religion were but Local,
And State-Preferment Sins did Cloak All.
Thus are, from Scripture Union freed,
The Devil and the Saint agreed.
Now these Occasional Non-Cons,
Encourag'd by the City-Dons
And some late treach'rous Whiggish Parsons,
Church-Bastards, disobedient, rare Sons;
Divide th'Establisht Church's Law,
That we can't know a Friend from Foe:
As Johnson, Stephens, and some other
That would destroy their Lawful Mother;
For if Church-Papists we allow,
There are Church-Presbyterians too;
Who'll on Occasion change the Church,
Turn Whigs, and leave her in the lurch.
Thus may the injur'd Church complain,
At Heart, of an Intestine Pain;
Her Sacred Bowels torn to pieces
By Rav'nous Wolves in good Sheeps Fleeces:
As Tree in Fable, that alledges,
She's split in Two by her own Wedges;
For all close Schismaticks agree
To cut it down, and cleave the Tree.
Encourag'd by the City-Dons
And some late treach'rous Whiggish Parsons,
Church-Bastards, disobedient, rare Sons;
Divide th'Establisht Church's Law,
That we can't know a Friend from Foe:
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That would destroy their Lawful Mother;
For if Church-Papists we allow,
There are Church-Presbyterians too;
Who'll on Occasion change the Church,
Turn Whigs, and leave her in the lurch.
Thus may the injur'd Church complain,
At Heart, of an Intestine Pain;
Her Sacred Bowels torn to pieces
By Rav'nous Wolves in good Sheeps Fleeces:
As Tree in Fable, that alledges,
She's split in Two by her own Wedges;
For all close Schismaticks agree
To cut it down, and cleave the Tree.
| In Imitation of Hudibras | |