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A Godly man that has servd out his Time
In Holiness; may set up any Crime;
As Schollers when th' have taken their Degrees
May set up any Faculty they Please,
Are free t' administer to Soul or Body
Although they never meant it for their Study.

The Greatest Saints and Sinners have been made
Of Proselytes of one anothers Trad[e].

'Tis Hard to understand a Proselyte
Distinctly, from a wholesale Hypocrite,
That one Religion for another trucks:
The money of all Fayths is orthodox
And lofty'st Steeples have Guilt wethercocks.

An Augur Scor'd Imaginary Lines
In Heaven, Proper for his own Designes
T' observe, and Note the Flight of any Bird
That in the Circle of his Scheme Appeared
And by the Computation understand
Th' Event of his Inquiry before hand.
When Egles, Hawks, and Vulturs on their wing[s]
Bore all the Interests and fates of Kings
A Daw, and Raven, and a Monedula
Foretold the Issu of a Suit in Law.

A Teachers Doctrine, and his Proof
Is all his Province, and enough,
But is no more concernd in use
The[n] Shoemakers to weare all shoes.

For to do
Is one thing, and to mean is two.

Th' Apostles were but Messengers,
And Angels Letter-Carryers,
But now a Saint's a Secretary,
That open's what they did but carry,
And has a Cipher to reveal
What they brought only under Seal.

Th' Apostate Jews, though zealous Brethren,
That worship'd th' Idols of the Heathen,
Were punishd by Idolaters
Profaner then themselves and worse.

A Convert's but a Fly that turns about,
After his Head's puld of[f], to finde it out.

The Saints, who had Designd to build upon
Th' Imperfect Model, of Old Babilon.
Had taught their Insignificantest Jabb[e]rers,
A Language worse then that of all their Labour[e]rs:
For 'twas confounding Languages Fore-run,
The Fatal Slavery of Babilon.
When Ignorance, and want of understanding,
Was all Reducd to Controversy, and Bandy[i]ng.
And vowd to settle Church, and Commonweal,
Upon Dissenting Principles of Zeale.
When all Pretenders venturd to Proscribe
The Rest, that were not of their Chosen Tribe:
And made 'em guilty Spiritual Bandittys,
Exild from all great Burrough-Towns and Citty[s]:
And Banishd them like Criminals, to Lurke
In Obscure Cottages to do their work.

The Good old Cause, Interpreters believe
To be the serpent, that had tempted Eve,
And taught her to tempt Adam out of Eden,
With godlike Gifts, and Fruit that was forbidden,
And when the Saints, began at first t' adore
Was Titled old, for what it did before
When all her Talent could not understand
But how to break themselvs, and one Command,
And ever since that time, do's still invite
The world to Disobedience with New light.
Whence Saints of all Religions, use t' exclame,
And one anothers Dispensations Damne:
Who once would have Admitted Presbyters,
Upon their Good-behavior, for three years:
But that there could no Common-Baite be found
That to such hard Conditions would be Bound;
By Rapine, Bloud, and Tyranny Profess
New ways, of Suffering for Righteousnes;
And by Revenge, and Insolence Propose
The Evangelique Course, of taking Blows:
For Pardons are Ill Characters of Saints,
As due to those, wee have don Il against.
And do but work, the same Effects; Reprievs
Are wont to do, upon the stubbornst Thieves:
Who apprehend, They have the Greater wrong,
Only because they are but Half-unhung;
And therefore understand the Grace, and Favour,
To be but Binding to the Good Behavior:
Which make's th' Afflicted wretches live in Paine,
Untill th' have don the Injury againe.
Which when an Opportunity falls out,
They never let a Moment slip to do't.
For when the Lashes of a Conscience smart,
Layd on severly by its own Desert,
The Guilty Suffrer thinks it comes from those,
From whom (he knows) He has deservd the Blows:
And still Abhor and hate 'em, more, and more,
The more th' have don them Injury before.
As Huntsmen use to chace the wounded Deare,
But those that have Receivd no Hurt, Forbeare;
For Zealous Men, must be Allowd
The Hot Distempers of their Bloud:
That is not calculated, for the Coole,
And Sober Temper of a Christian Rule;
Enough to make the Rigor of Devotion,
Keep within Compass of Abundant Caution,
But frequently is apt to loose his Credit,
For being Peremptory, and Hot-Headed;
When temper only has Supplyd the Place
Of all their High Prerogativs of Grace:
And that which once past for the word Reveal'd,
Is only now the old Dead Letter Held:
And that which was the Spiritual Light within one,
Reducd to Fancy only and opinion.

For the best Temperd Saints, are more Stiff-necked
Then all the Hottest-headed of the wicked,
Are Sons so Fierce, and Zealous of the Church,
Some Guess they were begotten in the Porch.
Have got themse[l]vs a General Reputation,
Of welth, and Zeal, and Numbers in the Nation:
By driving Proselyts like Head's of Beasts,
From other Churches, and their Interests:
For what else makes, a Richman's esteemd
So hard, and Difficult to be Redeemd,
But that th' have Mony, to lay down the Prices,
Of all the Dearst Iniquitys, and vices?
And tho the Cause profanely did Propose
To take up Arms, for holy Purposes,
That Scruple Awd th' Erroneous Rabble more
Then all the Right of Just, and Lawfull Powr:
As Post appeare t' have Spurs, and Switches, worse
Then those that gen[t]ly Ride a Startled Horse.

For Gifted men, in little Benefices,
Use to conform, according to the Prices:
Like him, who lately venturd to Ingross
A Parish Church, and Conventicle House;
Read Common Prayr, and after Preachd it downe,
And hid his Surples underneath his Gown:
Which some Free Consciencd Saints, affirmd hee wore,
And to trepan the Visitation, swore:
Untill in Contemplation of the oath,
And Impious fraud, He was turnd out of both.
For Zealous Saints are but Probationer[s],
That have but once Incurd the Loss of Eares:
But have not don their usuall exercise
Untill they have Betrayd, and Perjurd, twice,
The solemne Sacrament of Confirmation
To fix Perfidiousnes upon the Nation.
Abhord to Read the Common-Prair, as vaine,
And Superstitious, Popish, and Profane:
But Really, because th' have no Occasions,
By Spelling, to Hold-forth their Dispensations:
And th' Ablest of their Brethren, have no shifts,
For Setting off the Meanest, of their Gifts.
As if they were but such Notorious Knaves,
In Nature, as they use to make their Braves;
Before their Extraordinary conversions,
And turning th' Inside outward of the[i]r Persons:
Tho some are Confident, 'Tis but to Raise
Their own cooperating work of Grace:
Whose Gifts are not to be confided in,
Where Nature was so Influencd by Sin.
That never has been known to Quit the least
Puntilio, wholly of her Interest.

For Zeal is only Proper to Imbroyle,
To overturne, Disorder, and to Spoyle,
But has no Temper, Jugment, nor Discretion,
To manage things of Consequence in Reason;
But roote, and Branch, at Random, to demolish
Unsight, unseen; and Cross, or Pile abolish.
For Sober Reason, takes to Complesance,
No less then Pertinacy, t' Ignorance:
And as a Crutch, or wooden Leg, is stiffer
Then one that has its Natrall Joynts, they Differ:
That b'ing in Orders, to Divide the world,
Was after to Divide the Church Impourd:
And gave no Quarter to the Carnall, vaine,
The Naturall, and Morall, or Profane;
But always Prov'd abhominably shy
At Taking Notice of Hypocrisy,
For feare their Hands should slip, and hit upon
These Natural Endowments, of their owne.
As if the Brethren did not mean to win
By fair Means, Heavn, but rather take it in:
And therefore, like the Antique Gyants, Arme
To fall by onslaught, on the Place, and Storme
Had rather venture Force, and violence
Then any other way before, or since:
For all New lights avoyd the Beaten Path
To Heav'n; Good works, and Charity, and Faith.
Whose Piety, and Zeal to send a Martyr,
T' æternity's so great, they give no Quarter:
For were not swords, and Daggers, and Edg-tools
The only means, to save Th' Apostles Soules?

The Turks that have such gentle Tendernesses,
For Brutish Animals, of evry Species:
Are by their false Religion, taught t' have none,
But Naturall Defyance to their own.
Who when th' have payd, the Ransom of a Bird,
Wil perjure, to have Christians Massacerd.
Where Charity, and Cruelty are Drest,
And in their Native Types at once exprest.

Religion once was wrapt-up in Disguise
Of mystique Fables, and Mythologies;
But Modern Nonsense, without Parables,
Pass Muster in Religious Shape, and zeales:
Is like the Indian River-Fish, that's sed
To have a Magot breeding in his head,
And therefore Natrally 's observd, to stem
His constant Directly against the Streame.

No Phrygian Turk durst ever Counterfet
Or Try to Act the Part, of Mahomet,
Assumd his Borrowd Person, in Disguise,
Upon his New Return from Paradice,
With tru, or False Pretences, to maintaine
His Antient Promise, to Come back againe:
When Jews, and Christians, or some counted such,
In evry Age have undertooke as much
That more then twelve Messiases at least,
Have ownd the sacre[d] Function, and Profest:
That 'tis a Miracle, wee have no more,
But Nayler, to set up, upon that Score:
Enough to settle Infamy, and shame,
Upon the Christian Interest, and Name:
But that Fanatiques have been found t' attone,
And blot out all, with what themselvs have don.

For Saints are too transcendent and Sublime
To be suspected, but to own a Crime;
And when 'tis Acted, like a modern Saint
Not ask a Pardon for it, but maintain't.
Impenitence keep's up their Reputation,
As if they never had deservd th' occasion.

The Preachers in the Prologue of a Prayr,
Turn Sins to Gifts, and tell how great they are.
For 'tis the greatest Signe of Gifts, and Graces
To Magnify their Sins, by varying P[h]rases.
And he that dos it, with the Greatest Art
Is held a Man, of Singular Desert.

Men take up Religion, just
As they do other things on trust:
'Tis all one at how hard a Rate
To those who never meane to pay't.

The Church of Rome bende's Heretiques
With Flames of Fire, like Crooked Sticks.
And transubstanciat's them with Tricks
To zealous Fire-new Catholicks.
So Chymists transubstantiate
Base Mettles in the Fire to Plate.

Religion is the Interest of Churches
That sel in other worlds, in this to Purchase.

Good workes are nothing but to give,
And merit only to Relieve.

The Antient Pagans kept their Chequers
Securd in temples from their own Church-breakers
More safe, then Christians can, the Poorman Box,
Tho Double Fortifyd, with Plats and Locks.

Our Blessed Savior never did Discover
To his Disciples, what he was to suffer,
Who therefore strove to Præposses th' Injoyments
In his New Kingdom, of the best Imployments.