Priesthood, that makes a merchandize of Heav'n! Priesthood, that sells ev'n to their pray'rs and blessings, And force us to pay for our own cos'nage! Dryden's Troilus and Cressida. You want to lead My reason blindfold like a hamper'd lion, And shew strange tricks, which you call signs of faith: Otway's Venice Preserved. Ill befal Such meddling priests, who kindle up confusion, It never was a prosperous world Since priests have interfer'd with temporal matters; And change their shirts of hair for robes of gold; Whilst piety and conscience dwell in caves. Bancroft's Fall of Mortimer. For this the clergy will still argue on, Show us the lesson, seldom the example, And preach up laws which they will ne'er obey. Havard's King Charles I. Babble on, ye priests, amuse mankind With idle tales of flames, and tort'ring fiends, W. Shirley's Parricide. Whate'er I may have been, or am, doth rest between To be my mediator. Byron's Manfred, a. 3, s. 1. Cowls, hoods, and habits with their wearers tost The sport of winds: all these upwhirl'd aloft The Paradise of Fools. Milton's Paradise Lost, b. 3. White, black, and grey, with all their trumpery. Ibid. b. 3. Wolves shall succeed for teachers, grievous wolves, To their own vile advantages shall turn Ibid, b. 12. Then shall they seek to avail themselves of names, Others of graver mien, behold, adorn'd Ibid. Akenside's Pleasures of Imagination, b. 3. Of right and wrong he taught Truths as refined as ever Athens heard; And (strange to tell!) he practis'd what he preached. In man or woman, but far most in man, Cowper's Task, b. 2. Behold the picture! Is it like? Like whom? up From such apostles, oh ye mitred heads Preserve the church; and lay not careless hands Ibid. On sculls that cannot teach, and will not learn. Ibid. I venerate the man, whose heart is warm, Whose hands are pure, whose doctrine and whose life Coincident, exhibit lucid proof That he is honest in the sacred cause. He, that negociates between God and man, The skittish fancy with facetious tales, Ibid. When sent with God's commission to the heart! Ibid. 42 COMET.-COMMONWEALTH.-CONSCIENCE. COMET. Hast thou ne'er seen the comet's flaming flight? Young's Night Thoughts, n. 4. Lo! from the dread immensity of space Thomson's Seasons-Summer. COMMONWEALTH. We will renew the times of truth and justice, And making firm the whole with grace and beauty, Infringement of the general symmetry. Byron's Doge of Venice, a. 3, s. 2. CONSCIENCE. Conscience! Poor plodding priests and preaching friars make Of churches ring, with that round word; but we, That draw the subtile and more piercing air Know all is good we make so, and go on Secured by the prosperity of our crimes. Ben Jonson. He that has light within his own clear breast, Milton's Comus. Here, here it lies; a lump of lead by day; Dryden. Conscience, what art thou? thou tremendous power! As with a peal of thunder, to strange horrors, Young's Brothers, a. 1. 'Tis ever thus With noble minds, if chance they slide to folly; Of their severe repentance. Mason's Elfrida. Conscience, and nice scruples Are taxes that abound in none but meagre soils, To choak the aspiring seeds of manly daring: Those puny instincts, which in feeble minds, Unfit for great exploits, are miscall'd virtue. Jephson's Braganza. |