If these move not, advance a little higher,
Shew how he deviates from th'indulgent fire;
That if to mifery he will confine

Your future days, and all his love refign;
He cancels then the obligation due,
Upon th' account of his begetting you;
Since more electable 'tis not to be,
Than have an effence in perpetual mifery.

If all your arguments at laft fhou'd fail,
Upon his cruel temper to prevail,

You fafely may refuse, for heav'n does give
No pow'r to parents, but a negative.

Next, as to him, on whom your paffion's bent, You can't comply with, without his confent ; Your duty then perform'd, your actions fair, The iffue wait, and caft on heav'n your care, You'll meet your wish at laft, or fufferance to bear. Q. Since in thofe realms of ever boundless height, The prince and peasant have an equal share, Tho' matchless joys, and tho' immenfe delight, In unexhausted freams are flowing there;

Since to attain thofe joys a well spent life, Is all the care, that heav'n of each requires ; Since there in blifs their fouls fecure from strife, With equal flame shall burn, and with the fame defires Why then on earth does heav'n's omniscient God,

His diftributions fo unequal give?

And why must one taste the afflicting rod ?

Why in reverfe to that the other live ?

A. We fhou'd with tranfport bug th' afflicting rod," The very hand that ftrikes us we shou'd kifs ; Since this the way to please a gracious God,

The way to court unfathomable bliss.

When profperous Job in foothing plenty flow'ds
And might enjoy, whate'er his cravings fought,
The fpiteful king of hell with envy glow'd,
And flily faid, Fob does not ferve for nought.

Gg 3

Com

Commiffion'd from above the tempter came,
And like the tyrant ravag'd all his ftore;

He fuffer'd in his one untainted name;
And ah! His darling children were no more.
Then 'twas, that he difplay'd the God-like faint,
Difplay'd a foul above infernal fpite;

He fhew'd his virtue to be more than paint,
And rais'd his glory to yon boundless height.

'Tis falfe that thofe, whom heav'n fhall deign to grace With endless honours, everlasting fame,

Shall fhare alike in their unequal race,
And leffer lights an equal splendor claim.

No, no; the brighteft faint may fure expect
The brightest luftre, as the chiefest guest;
O! May we all on this decree reflect,
He fhall be greateft, who fhall live the best..

To her Sacred Majesty on Occafion of His Royal Highness the Prince's Death.

HA

AD not religion been your tend'reft care;
Celeftial minds for dire events prepare,)
Had not your Saviour been your dearer spouse,
Been fuch a bridegroom, as you ne'er can lofe;
Had not a foul to heaven's decrees refign'd,
Forbad you to complain, that heaven's unkind ;
Had you not learnt to bear the stinging rod,
To bear all loffes, but to lose your God;

The fatal blow your burthen'd thoughts had tir'd,
And with your other felf you had expir'd.
'Tis true, we cannot blame a just concern,
Since he has left you, never to return;
He, you fo dearly lov'd, thro' circling years:
Sure fuch a confort may command your tears.
Tears are a tribute you to nature owe;
Are nature's tribute, fo they gently flow:
But if fhe claim a more than difmal scene,
And play the tyrant o'er so mild a queen ;

If

If flooding forrows fhou'd invade your breaft,
And poynant grief your bleeding heart moleft;
Yet meditation can affwage the pain,

While rufhing forms attack the fort in vain.
Your ravisht foul from earth can take its flight,
And mount the regions of eternal light.
There you can view your separated dove;
Enjoy his converfe with the bleft above.
So faints with feraphims communion hold,
And mortal men the heav'nly choirs enfold.
So diftant churches (hence an union grows}
The one, the univerfal church compofe.
What tho' his perishing enjoyments ceafe?
Th' eternal fpheres falute his bleft release.
No Athma's there reftrain the panting breath;
(An exile fickness, where there is no death.)
No Lethargies the difencumber'd foul
With flight-confining manacles controul.
No bloating dropfies ever there intrude,
(What evil durft approach unmingled good?)
No ftrange convulfions can their nerves diftort,
Who to thofe calm, those peaceful realms refort.
There the balfamick God of health refides;
And there the fount of pleafure fmoothly glides.
There be, who struggling for a bright renown,
Prefer'd his brother's fafety to a crown,
Enjoys a crown, his brother ne'er possest,
Till wafted over to eternal rest.

There valiant George his refcu'd ⋆ Chriftian views,
And there his fweet endearments he renews;
There happy Denmark with his Glo'fter meets :
Lo! How the raptur'd fon the welcome father greets!
Lo! With what eager transports they embrace!
The joy and wonder of the heav'nly race.

What? Grieve, that thofe you love to heav'n repair,
When O! You wish, that you your felf were there?

*Chriftian V. King of Denmark, and elder Brother to the Prince.

But pardon, Madam, our ungen'rous love,
If here your fubjects envy thofe above:
If we the fovereign of the world implore;
That Sovereign you fo conftantly adore:
If we intreat that he would late bestow
The fwelling joys, your fon and confort know.

Q. Why are the four Evangelifts reprefented with each their particular fymbol; as St. Matthew with an Angel, St. Mark with a lyon, St. Luke with an ox, and St. John with an eagle?

4. The hieroglyphicks firft fpecified are drawn from the feveral beginnings of their Gospels.

An Angel is allotted to St. Matthew, because in his firft chapter he informs us, that an Angel appear'd to Jofeph, to a thoughtful, a melancholy Jofeph; and who fo proper as a pure, as a spotless Angel to acquaint the difconfolate husband, that his fufpected wife was a pure, was a spotless virgin?

St. Mark is reprefented with a lion, because at the commencement of his accounts he relates our Saviour's temptation by the devil; the devil, that grand enemy of fouls, who is a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

St. Luke is decypher'd with an ox, because as he gives us the moft particular relation of our Saviour's birth, fo he lets us know, that he was brought forth in a stable, born among oxen. And this fymbolically difplays the intention of his birth: it fymbolically fhews us, that he came into the world to turn beafts into men, to change finners into faints: that we may fay of him in allufion to what was faid of Auguftus (the fecond Roman Emperor) he found us brutal, he left us angelical.

St. John is reprefented with an eagle, from the lofty, the uncommon ftrains fo defervedly admir'd at the entrance of his Gofpel; for he made an unusual flight in his myfterious doctrine, his fublime difcovery of the eternal Word: like the foaring eagle he took a nearer view of the Sun of righteousness. Hence it is, that Theodoret tiles his Gofpel a theology inferu

table

table to human understandings. Hence it is, that he is favour'd with a name above the chiefest Apostles, and in a peculiar manner is entitled the Divine. Hence it is, that the moft learned philofophers of the heathen world both admir'd and quoted him. And as Amedias (the Platonist) esteem'd the first sentence of his Gospel as not inferior to the most exalted notions of his mafter Plato, fo another Platonist faid of that celebrated paffage, it ought to be written in golden letters, and fixt to the front of all churches.

Thefe pertinent fymbols may appofitely teach us to live as Angels, to do God's will on earth, as it is done iu heaven; to bid adieu to our brutal lufts; to fhew that we are men; to fecure our felves from the wiles of the devil, not to be ignorant of his devices; to fubmit to St. John's doctrine, and in our elevated thoughts to contemplate the very place from whence he fetch'd it, and thus (to apply the Pfalmift) our wings will be like eagles wings, and our feathers will be thofe of gold.

Q. In Matthew, Mark and Luke 'tis faid, that when our Saviour went to be crucified, they compell'd one Syr mon a Cyrenean to bear his cross for him; and in John 'tis faid he bore it himself. How do you reconcile that

text?

Alfo, whether 'twas a customary thing for malefactors to bear their own gibbets ?

4. The paffage in St. John is a figure (call'd fynec doche) which ufes a part for the whole. Chrift there, fore carried his own cross part of the way; but be ing too weak to carry it any further, they fubftituted another in his room. And well might he be unequal to the burden, fince he had been fo lately in an agony in the garden, had fweated drops of blood (and common fweat enfeebles the wafted body) had trod the wine-prefs of his father's fury.

Q Pray oblige me with a definition of charity.

A. Charity in its most extenfive fenfe, as inclufive of the various branches referable thereunto, is a ready compliance with the fecond of the two compre Gg s henfive