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Called to the temple of impure delight,
He that abftains, and he alone, does right.
If a wish wander that way, call it home;
He cannot long be safe whose wishes roam.
But, if you pass the threshold, you are caught;
Die then, if power Almighty save you not.
There hardening by degrees, till double steeled,
Take leave of nature's God, and God revealed;
Then laugh at all you trembled at before;
And, joining the free-thinkers brutal roar,
Swallow the two grand noftrums they difpenfe-
That fcripture lies, and blafphemy is fenfe.
If clemency revolted by abuse

Be damnable, then damned without excufe.

Some dream that they can filence, when they will, The ftorm of paffion, and say, Peace, be still; But" Thus far and no farther," when addrefsed To the wild wave, or wilder human breast, Implies authority that never can,

That never ought to be the lot of man.

But mufe forbear; long flights forebode a fall;
Strike on the deep-toned chord the sum of all.

Hear the juft law-the judgment of the skies!
He that hates truth fhall be the dupe of lies:
And he that will be cheated to the last,
Delufions ftrong as hell shall bind him fast,

But if the wanderer his mistake difcern,
Judge his own ways, and figh for a return,
Bewildered once, muft he bewail his lofs
For ever and for ever? No-the cross!
There and there only (though the deift rave,
And atheist, if earth bear fo base a slave);
There and there only is the power to fave.
There no delufive hope invites despair;
No mockery meets you, no deception there..
The fpells and charms, that blinded you before,
All vanish there, and fascinate no more.

I am no preacher, let this hint fuffice-
The cross once feen is death to every vice :
Elfe he that hung there fuffered all his pain,
Bled, groaned, and agonized, and died, in vain.

TRUTH.

Pensantur trutinâ.

HOR. Lib. II. Epift. 1

MAN, on the dubious waves of error toffed,
His ship half foundered, and his compass loft,
Sees, far as human optics may command,
A fleeping fog, and fancies it dry land:
Spreads all his canvass, every finew plies ;
Pants for it, aims at it, enters it, and dies!
Then farewell all felf-fatisfying schemes,
His well built fyftems, philofophic dreams;
Deceitful views of future blifs farewell!
He reads his fentence at the flames of hell.

Hard lot of man-to toil for the reward

Of virtue, and yet lofe it! Wherefore hard ?He that would win the race muft guide his horfe Obedient to the cuftoms of the courfe;

Elfe, though unequalled to the goal he flies,

A meaner than himself shall gain the prize.
Grace leads the right way: if you choose the wrong,
Take it and perish; but reftrain your tongue;
Charge not, with light fufficient, and left free,
Your wilful fuicide on God's decree.

Oh how unlike the complex works of man,
Heaven's easy, artless, unincumbered plan!
No meretricious graces to beguile,

No clustering ornaments to clog the pile;
From oftentation as from weakness free,
It ftands like the cerulean arch we fee,
Majestic in its own fimplicity.
Infcribed above the portal from afar
Confpicuous as the brightness of a star,

Legible only by the light they give,

Stand the foul-quickening words-BELIEVE AND LIVE. Too many, fhocked at what should charm them most, Despise the plain direction and are loft.

Heaven on fuch terms! (they cry with proud disdain) Incredible, impoffible, and vain !-

Rebel, becaufe 'tis eafy to obey;

And fcorn, for its own fake, the gracious way..

These are the fober, in whose cooler brains

Some thought of immortality remains ;

The reft too busy or too gay to wait
On the fad theme, their everlasting state,
Sport for a day and perish in a night,
The foam upon the waters not fo light.

Who judged the Pharifee? What odious cause
Exposed him to the vengeance of the laws?'
Had he feduced a virgin, wronged a friend,
Or ftabbed a man to serve some private end?
Was blafphemy his fin? Or did he stray
From the ftri&t duties of the facred day?
Sit long and late at the carousing board?

(Such were the fins with which he charged his Lord.)
No-the man's morals were exact, what then?
"Twas his ambition to be seen of men ;

His virtues were his pride; and that one vice
Made all his virtues gewgaws of no price;
He wore them as fine trappings for a fhow,
A praying, synagogue-frequenting, beau.

The felf-applauding bird, the peacock fee-
Mark what a fumptucus Pharifee is he!
Meridian fun-beams tempt him to unfold
His radiant glories, azure, green, and gold :
He treads as if, fome folemn mufic near,
His measured ftep were governed by his ear;
And feems to fay-Ye meaner fowl give place,
I am all splendour, dignity, and grace !

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