The Works of Richard Savage ... With an Account of the Life and Writings of the Author, by Samuel Johnson. A New Edition |
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CHARACTER OF THE REV. JAMES FOSTER. |
 | The Works of Richard Savage |  |
170
CHARACTER OF THE REV. JAMES FOSTER.
From Codex hear, ye ecclesiastic men,
This past'ral charge to W*bs*r, St*bb*ng, V---n;
Attend ye emblems of your P---'s mind!
Mark Faith, mark Hope, mark Charity, defin'd;
On terms, whence no ideas ye can draw,
Pin well your faith, and then pronounce it law;
First wealth, a crosier next, your hope enflame;
And next church-power—a pow'r o'er conscience, claim;
In modes of worship right of choice deny;
Say, to convert, all means are fair—add, why?
'Tis charitable—let your power decree,
That Persecution then is Charity;
Call reason error; forms, not things, display,
Let moral doctrine to abstruse give way;
Sink demonstration; myst'ry preach alone;
Be thus Religion's friend, and thus your own.
This past'ral charge to W*bs*r, St*bb*ng, V---n;
Attend ye emblems of your P---'s mind!
Mark Faith, mark Hope, mark Charity, defin'd;
On terms, whence no ideas ye can draw,
Pin well your faith, and then pronounce it law;
First wealth, a crosier next, your hope enflame;
And next church-power—a pow'r o'er conscience, claim;
In modes of worship right of choice deny;
Say, to convert, all means are fair—add, why?
'Tis charitable—let your power decree,
That Persecution then is Charity;
Call reason error; forms, not things, display,
Let moral doctrine to abstruse give way;
Sink demonstration; myst'ry preach alone;
Be thus Religion's friend, and thus your own.
But Foster well this honest truth extends—
Where Mystery begins, Religion ends.
In him, great modern miracle! we see
A priest, from av'rice and ambition free;
One, whom no persecuting spirit fires;
Whose heart and tongue benevolence inspires:
Learn'd, not assuming; eloquent, yet plain;
Meek, tho' not tim'rous; conscious, tho' not vain;
Without craft, rev'rend; holy, without cant;
Zealous for truth, without enthusiast rant.
His faith, where no credulity is seen,
'Twixt infidel and bigot, marks the mean;
His hope, no mitre militant on earth,
'Tis that bright crown which heav'n reserves for worth,
A priest, in charity with all mankind,
His love to virtue, not to sect confin'd:
Truth his delight; from him it flames abroad,
From him, who fears no being, but his God:
In him from christian, moral light can shine;
Not mad with myst'ry, but a sound divine;
He wins the wise and good, with reason's lore;
Then strikes their passions with pathetic pow'r;
Where vice erects her head, rebukes the page;
Mix'd with rebuke, persuasive charms engage;
Charms, which the unthinking must to thought excite;
Lo! vice less vicious, virtue more upright:
Him copy, Codex, that the good and wise,
Who so abhor thy heart, and head despise,
May see thee now, tho' late, redeem thy name,
And glorify what else is damn'd to fame.
But should some churchman, apeing wit severe,
The poet's sure turn'd Baptist—say, and sneer;
Shame on that narrow mind so often known,
Which in one mode of faith owns worth alone.
Sneer on, rail, wrangle! nought this truth repels—
Virtue is virtue, wheresoe'er she dwells;
And sure, where learning gives her light to shine,
Hers is all praise—if hers, 'tis, Foster, thine.
Thee boast dissenters; we with pride may own
Our Tillotson; and Rome her Fenelon .
Where Mystery begins, Religion ends.
171
A priest, from av'rice and ambition free;
One, whom no persecuting spirit fires;
Whose heart and tongue benevolence inspires:
Learn'd, not assuming; eloquent, yet plain;
Meek, tho' not tim'rous; conscious, tho' not vain;
Without craft, rev'rend; holy, without cant;
Zealous for truth, without enthusiast rant.
His faith, where no credulity is seen,
'Twixt infidel and bigot, marks the mean;
His hope, no mitre militant on earth,
'Tis that bright crown which heav'n reserves for worth,
A priest, in charity with all mankind,
His love to virtue, not to sect confin'd:
Truth his delight; from him it flames abroad,
From him, who fears no being, but his God:
In him from christian, moral light can shine;
Not mad with myst'ry, but a sound divine;
He wins the wise and good, with reason's lore;
Then strikes their passions with pathetic pow'r;
Where vice erects her head, rebukes the page;
Mix'd with rebuke, persuasive charms engage;
Charms, which the unthinking must to thought excite;
Lo! vice less vicious, virtue more upright:
Him copy, Codex, that the good and wise,
Who so abhor thy heart, and head despise,
May see thee now, tho' late, redeem thy name,
And glorify what else is damn'd to fame.
172
The poet's sure turn'd Baptist—say, and sneer;
Shame on that narrow mind so often known,
Which in one mode of faith owns worth alone.
Sneer on, rail, wrangle! nought this truth repels—
Virtue is virtue, wheresoe'er she dwells;
And sure, where learning gives her light to shine,
Hers is all praise—if hers, 'tis, Foster, thine.
Thee boast dissenters; we with pride may own
Our Tillotson; and Rome her Fenelon .
In this character of the Rev. James Foster, truth guided the pen of the muse. Mr. Pope paid a tribute to the modest worth of this excellent man: little did he imagine his Rev. Annotator would endeavour to convert his praise into abuse. The character and writings of Foster will be admired and read, when the works of the bitter Controversialist are forgotten.
| The Works of Richard Savage | |