A Journey to Hell or, A Visit paid to the Devil. A poem. The Second Edition [by Edward Ward] |
 |
|
 | I. |
| II. |
| III. |
| I. |
| II. |
 | A Journey to Hell |  |
The Church, for Persecution, they arraign'd,
And both her holy Sacraments profan'd;
Condemn'd her Doctrines to a vile degree,
And call'd her decent Rites rank Popery;
Revil'd her Members, did her Priests disgrace,
And stil'd her Common-Pray'r the dregs of Mass;
Despis'd her Prelates and the Robes they wore,
As Marks and Badges of the Scarlet Whore;
Did for no Cause her Hierarchy degrade,
And ridicul'd with Spight her Female Head.
So murmu'ring Fools, Illiterate and Rude,
Too oft reproach the Vertuous and the Good,
And Cavil at those things they never understood.
In the High-Church they Moderation lov'd,
Yet never us'd the Vertue they approv'd,
But show'd invet'rate Enmity to those
Which their own Malice had proclaim'd their Foes:
Thus did to others those abuses give,
Themselves deserv'd, but hated to recieve.
They rent God's House, and did Divisions sow,
One part they call'd High-Church, the other Low;
The High they held as Papists, in disdain,
But prais'd the Low as just and mod'rate Men,
Whose cool Indifference to their Faith was such,
They serv'd God little, and themselves too much.
These by the grunting Faction were Carest,
As moderate Saints, with tender Conseience blest,
Altho' but Luke-warm Christians at the best.
One way they Look'd and did the other Row,
Would little Zeal without much Int'rest show;
Run with the Church, and with Dissenters hold,
And would comply with any side for Gold;
Made that the standard of their wavering Faith,
And thought the richest way the surest Path;
Which, to their sorrow, they at last have found
Has brought them to the place they'd fain have shun'd.
So harden'd Thieves pursue their Ills, with hope
To baffle Justice, and escape the Rope;
But Justice still o'vertakes them in the end,
And punishes as sure as they offend.
And both her holy Sacraments profan'd;
Condemn'd her Doctrines to a vile degree,
And call'd her decent Rites rank Popery;
Revil'd her Members, did her Priests disgrace,
And stil'd her Common-Pray'r the dregs of Mass;
Despis'd her Prelates and the Robes they wore,
As Marks and Badges of the Scarlet Whore;
Did for no Cause her Hierarchy degrade,
And ridicul'd with Spight her Female Head.
So murmu'ring Fools, Illiterate and Rude,
Too oft reproach the Vertuous and the Good,
And Cavil at those things they never understood.
In the High-Church they Moderation lov'd,
Yet never us'd the Vertue they approv'd,
8
Which their own Malice had proclaim'd their Foes:
Thus did to others those abuses give,
Themselves deserv'd, but hated to recieve.
They rent God's House, and did Divisions sow,
One part they call'd High-Church, the other Low;
The High they held as Papists, in disdain,
But prais'd the Low as just and mod'rate Men,
Whose cool Indifference to their Faith was such,
They serv'd God little, and themselves too much.
These by the grunting Faction were Carest,
As moderate Saints, with tender Conseience blest,
Altho' but Luke-warm Christians at the best.
One way they Look'd and did the other Row,
Would little Zeal without much Int'rest show;
Run with the Church, and with Dissenters hold,
And would comply with any side for Gold;
Made that the standard of their wavering Faith,
And thought the richest way the surest Path;
Which, to their sorrow, they at last have found
Has brought them to the place they'd fain have shun'd.
So harden'd Thieves pursue their Ills, with hope
To baffle Justice, and escape the Rope;
But Justice still o'vertakes them in the end,
And punishes as sure as they offend.
| A Journey to Hell | |