Who use to leffen their despairs
By parting them int' equal shares ;
As if, the more they were to bear,
They felt the weight the easier ;
And every one the gentler hung,

The more he took his turn among.

But 'tis not come to that, as yet,

If we had courage left, or wit,

Who, when our fate can be no worse,
Are fitted for the bravest course,
Have time to rally, and prepare
Our last and best defence, defpair:
Defpair, by which the gallant'st feats
Have been atchiev'd in greatest straits,
And horrid'ft dangers fafely wav'd,
By being courageously outbrav'd;
As wounds by wider wounds are heal'd,
And poifons by themselves expell'd :
And fo they might be now again,
If we were, what we should be, men ;
And not fo dully defperate,

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580

585

590

595

To fide against ourselves with Fate:

As criminals, condemn'd to fuffer,

Are blinded first, and then turn'd over.

This comes of breaking Covenants,

And setting up exauns of Saints,

600

That

Ver. 600.] And fetting up exauns of Saints. This is falfe printed; it should be written exemts, or exempts, which is a French word, pronounced exauns.

That fine, like aldermen, for grace,

To be excus'd the efficace :

For spiritual men are too transcendent,
That mount their banks, for independent,

To hang, like Mahomet, in the air,
Or St. Ignatius, at his prayer,
By pure geometry, and hate
Dependence upon church or state:
Difdain the pedantry o' th' letter,
And, fince obedience is better
(The Scripture fays) than facrifice,
Prefume the lefs on 't will fuffice;

And fcorn to have the moderat'ft stints
Prefcrib'd their peremptory hints,

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610

Or any opinion, true or false,

615

Declar'd as fuch, in Doctrinals;

But left at large to make their best on,

Without being call'd t' account or question:

Interpret all the spleen reveals,

As Whittington explain'd the bells;

620

And bid themselves turn back again

Lord Mayors of New Jerufalem;
But look fo big and overgrown,

They fcorn their edifiers to own,

Who taught them all their sprinkling leffons,
Their tones, and fanctify'd expreffions;

Beftow'd their Gifts upon à Saint,

625

Like charity, on those that want;

And learn'd th' apocryphal bigots

T' infpire themselves with fhort-hand notes;

630

For

D 2

1

For which they fcorn and hate them worse
Than dogs and cats do fow-gelders :
For who first bred them up to pray,

And teach the House of Commons' way ?
Where had they all their gifted phrases,
But from our Calamies and Cafes ?
Without whose sprinkling and sowing,
Who e'er had heard of Nye or Owen ?
Their Difpenfations had been stifled,
But for our Adoniram Byfield;
And, had they not begun the war,
They 'ad ne'er been fainted as they are:
For Saints in peace degenerate,

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640

And dwindle down to reprobate ;

Their zeal corrupts, like standing water,

645

In th' intervals of war and slaughter;
Abates the sharpness of its edge,
Without the power of facrilege :.

And

Ver. 636.] Calamy and Cafe were chief men among the Prefbyterians, as Owen and Nye were amongst the Independents.

Ver. 640.] Adoniram Byfield. He was a broken apothecary, a zealous Covenanter, one of the scribes to the Affembly of Divines; and, no doubt, for his great zeal and pains-taking in his office, he had the profit of printing the Directory, the copy whereof was fold for 400l. though, when printed, the price was but three-pence.

Ver. 648.] It is an obfervation made by many writers upon the Affembly of Divines, that in their annotations upon the Bible they cautiously avoid fpeaking upon the fubject of facrilege.

And though they 've tricks to caft their fins,
As easy as ferpents do their skins,

That in a while grow out again,

650

In peace they turn mere carnal men,

And, from the most refin'd of Saints,
As naturally grow miscreants

As barnacles turn foland geefe

In th' islands of th' Orcades.
Their Difpenfation 's but a ticket

655

For their conforming to the Wicked,
With whom the greatest difference

But that which does them greatest harm,
Their spiritual gizzards are too warm,
Which puts the overheated fots
In fever ftill, like other goats;
For though the Whore bends hereticks
With flames of fire, like crooked sticks,
Our Schifmatics fo vaftly differ,

Th' hotter they 're they grow the stiffer ;
Still fetting-off their fpiritual goods
With fierce and pertinacious feuds :
For Zeal's a dreadful termagant,
That teaches Saints to tear and rant;

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675

And

D 3

And Independents to profefs

The doctrine of Dependences;

680

Turns meek, and fecret, fneaking ones,
To Rawheads fierce and Bloodybones;

And, not content with endless quarrels
Against the Wicked, and their morals,
The Gibellines, for want of Guelfs,
Divert their rage upon themselves.
For, now the war is not between
The Brethren and the Men of Sin,

685

But Saint and Saint, to spill the blood
Of one another's Brotherhood,
Where neither fide can lay pretence
To liberty of confcience,

690

Or, zealous fuffering for the Cause,

To gain one groat's-worth of applause;
For, though endur'd with refolution,
"Twill ne'er amount to perfecution.
Shall precious Saints, and fecret ones,
Break one another's outward bones,
And eat the flesh of Brethren,
Inftead of kings and mighty men?
When fiends agree among themselves,
Shall they be found the greater elves?
When Bell's at union with the Dragon,
And Baal-Peor friends with Dagon;
When favage bears agree with bears,

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700

705

Shall fecret ones lug Saints by th' ears,
And not atone their fatal wrath,

When common danger threatens both?

Shall