Came in at last for better ends,
To prove themselves your trusty friends,
You basely left them, and the Church
They train'd you up to, in the lurch,
And suffer'd your own tribe of Christians
To fall before, as true Philistines.
This shews what utensils y' have been,
To bring the King's concernments in;
Which is so far from being true,
That none but he can bring in you;
And if he take you into trust,
Will find you most exactly just,
Such as will punctually repay
With double int'rest, and betray.
Not that I think those pantomimes,
Who vary action with the times,
Are less ingenious in their art,
Than those who dully act one part;
Or those who turn from side to side,
More guilty than the wind and tide.
All countries are a wise man's home,
And so are governments to some,
Lord, thou knowest that they are a false perfidious nation, and do all they do for their own ends."
By the author of a tract, entitled Lex Talionis, 'tis proposed, as a preventing remedy," to let the Scots, in the name of God, or of the devil that sent them, go home."
Who change them for the same intrigues
That statesmen use in breaking leagues;
Whilst others in old faiths and troths
Look odd, as out-of-fashion'd clothes,
And nastier in an old opinion,
Than those who never shift their linen.
For True and Faithful's sure to lose,
Which way soever the game goes;
And, whether parties lose or win,
Is always nick'd, or else hedg'd in:
While pow'r usurp'd, like stol'n delight,
Is more bewitching than the right,
And, when the times begin to alter,
None rise so high as from the halter.
And so we may, if w' have but sense
To use the necessary means,
And not your usual stratagems
On one another, lights, and dreams:
To stand on terms as positive,
As if we did not take, but give;
Set up the Covenant on crutches,
'Gainst those who have us in their clutches,
And dream of pulling churches down,
Before w' are sure to prop our own;
Your constant method of proceeding,
Without the carnal means of heeding,
Butler.1
Who, 'twixt your inward sense and outward,
Are worse, than if y' had none, accoutred.
I grant all curses are in vain,
Unless we can get in again,
The only way that's left us now,
'But all the difficulty's how.
Tis true w' have money, th' only pow'r
That all mankind falls down before;
Money, that, like the swords of kings,
Is the last reason of all things:
And therefore need not doubt our play
Has all advantages that way,
As long as men have faith to sell,
And meet with those that can pay well;
Whose half-starv'd pride, and avarice,
One church and state will not suffice,
T'expose to sale, besides the wages,
Of storing plagues to after-ages.
Nor is our money less our own
Than 'twas before we laid it down;
For 'twill return, and turn t' account,
If we are brought in play upon't.
Or but, by casting knaves, get in,
What pow'r can hinder us to win?
We know the arts we us'd before,
In peace and war, and something more,
And by th' unfortunate events
Can mend our next experiments;
For when we 're taken into trust,
How easy are the wisest choust,
Who see but th' outsides of our feats,
And not their secret springs and weights,
And, while they 're busy at their ease,
Can carry what designs we please?
How easy is't to serve for agents,
To prosecute our old engagements?
To keep the good old Cause on foot,
And present power from taking root;
Inflame them both with false alarms
Of plots and parties taking arms:
To keep the nation's wounds too wide
From healing up of side to side;
Profess the passionat'st concerns,
For both their interests by turns,
The only way t' improve our own,
By dealing faithfully with none;
(As bowls run true, by being made
On purpose false, and to be sway'd)
For if we should be true to either,
'Twould turn us out of both together;
V. 1362. For bealing up. In all editions to 1704, exclusive.
v.1368. Of purpose false.] In all editions to 1704, ex^ clusive.
And therefore have no other means
To stand upon our own defence,
But keeping up our ancient party.
In vigour, confident and hearty:
To reconcile our late Dissenters,
Our Brethren, tho' by other venters;
Unite them, and their different maggots,
As long and short sticks are in faggots,
- And make them join again as close,
As when they first began t' espouse;
Erect them into separate
New Jewish tribes in Church and State;
To join in marriage and commerce,
And only among themselves converse
And all that are not of their mind,
Make enemies to all mankind:
Take all religions in, and stickle
From Conclave down to Conventicle;
Agreeing still, or disagreeing,
According to the Light in being.
Sometimes for liberty of conscience,
And spiritual misrule in one sense:
But in another quite contrary,
As Dispensations chance to vary:
And stand for, as the times will bear it,
All contradictions of the Spirit:
Protect their emissaries, impower'd
To preach Sedition and the Word;
|