The National Register.
London, England, 1813-05-09 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL 'REGISTER.

itbe elerfraliati
OR, `

• - -..•. .
EVANGELICAL CONFABULATION.

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Fal tiVD .1N:I POtT.
F.—Since snug by Scotia's Minstrel the tat lay, •
And English Genius wanes with England's day ;
What theme may now th' adventurous bard engage,
Ensure his fame, and please a critic age ? -
P.—Thungli fond of fame, and fonder still of ease,
This critic age I yet aspire to please :
This critic age, in learning's, nature's spite, '
When chits, that scarce can read, afflict to write;
While beardliogs, in reviewing gocarts plac'd,
-Become dictators to the world of taste!
My theme? 'Bs that, each gospel.hearer knows,
Whieh erst Onesimus dieenss'd in prose.
F.—Beware the theme; beware, alike, his fate,
Whose work, the town will cry, you imitate.
Again, hew are : lo ! Heaven's committed rod
Awaits his back, who mauls our • Men of God t'
Him clerics scourge ; con.enting saints, the while,
gnjoy the pastime, and his pangs revile.
P.—Let clerics scourge, and their applauding crew
Revile, the man from me shall have his due ;
Onesinins,—no saint am,:ngst the tribe i.— (1)* •
Whom some may intimate, but few describe.
Health to Onesimns ! perchance a stave
Tuted to his wt itiugs, of no sect the slave.
Ile.li!th to thiesimus ! that pulpit wiglit,
Who dragg'd the host of preachers into light ;(4).
Raki,! e'en departed mioisters of yore,
Made living popular, not known before;
Friendly to all, of none the envious foe,
Critics a1low,(3) and both his volumes show.
Health to Oaesinins ! who clearly would,
parsons doubt, 1w priestly—if lie could'
Health to Onesimus, I say, ;igen;
Nor let one spleenful clrs k withhold Amen.'
rumour'd, that his pen, yon just descrili'd,
Rome clerics courted, and, some few, e'en hrad!
P.—l doubt the latter quite, whoe'er might court
Him of whose critic lash they fear'd the sport.
'Who knows the righteous priesthood, and their fare,
Knows they have nothing from themselves to spare!
Poor as the chosen childmi of the jast,'
They mourn in sackcloth, all but eat the dust ;
Compell'd to traffic vile to condescend,
Salute each pious bookseller their friend,
Buy at trade-price, the market understand, •
Plead pauper still, and discount too demand.
Yield these much profit ? IV*len ask ; ask 11? y*l's ;
Who, sighing say Our labour for our pains!' k 4)

(1) Onesimus,—no saint amongst the tribe!—Although I lave at-
tended to what has been either written or rumoured as to aststiotls,
I cannot refer literaily to the Christiau Watchman;' ulicre he is
spoken of, if I remember right, as a person " whom no one tu,pects
of met hodism."

(T) Who draped the hot of prencl,crs into Ught.—" The number
of Gentlemen %%Anise histories, chant( ti.rs, and • habits, are here &a:-
Red fool, int') public view," &c &c. &c. Eclectic Review, fur Sep-
tember 1809.

(3) Friendly to all, &e. Sic.—" Their respective merits are, in ge-
net. .1, jurlichnisie exhibaed ; iAntl th, it few &feet., pointed out with
auffiri,tit de!iciiev." G vie:it:tit • Magaante, for September, 1809.
" is, certainly, tt tricinl to the group he brings before, us." Gua-
pe: Ala!Tazine, fur February 1810.

(4) WelAt ark; ask 13"yus.—It is but justice to the former trades-

MAY S.

F.--Skpoor!. yet marry t
.P.—Cesar decreed they shored
%Be ponr,..yet marry---for the:yuklie. good !
Itacon long since complain'd of this disgrace ;
•
Warburton cltarg'd it on the recreant. race,
Reformers thought, who, or,shipping the 'crown,
Tarred the establishment gate upside down ; (5)
Gave all her sons full licenses to roam • . •
From mother-church, and make the earth their home I
Degenerate since each age, sonic praiser-to these .
Who ivarry not, e'en now, themselves to please.
Angels they court, with ; cnaluo.Wll, wcd
Angels, though fall'n, as Garrow shrewdly srlid (6)
Married for conscience sake, they Hropagate
Purely to christianize the sceptic state.
• F.—Hold ! nor eclectic' worthies thus defame ;
Souls all their hire, and Heaven alone their aim.
Bishops and Deane; may flourish, or may fade,
A breath can make them, as a breath bath made ; (7)
But a bold preacherhood, religion's pride,
. If once destroy'd, whence shall it be .upplied ?
P.—Whilst at each turn the warning watchman calls,
Full fifty thousand mounted mi our walls, (8)
Their ranks demand inspection ; nor dismay,
Though the ' devouring lion' holds his way,
Need seize us, should some score, their merits tried.
And useless found, be wisely Jaid aside.

man, to add, much to his credit, that be is better known as the la
berions and 'ingenious Author of the History and' Antiquities of
Dissecting Churches.' Nevertheless, he cannot boast much, I fear, of
the patronage that he has received, whether as author or bookseller.
(5) . Bacon long since complain'd if this disgrace ;
Warburton charg'd it on the recreant race, &c. &c.
Lord Bacon somewl.ere sharply stigmatises the deprivalon of the
church lands by Henry the Eiehtle His lordship considers the pro-
ceeding to have been as atrocious as it was illegal, and one fer which
the country has ever since been humid to atone to the church. Yet
there are sopte who labour now to deprive the church of her tythes !
'' The Church (observes Bishop Warburton, upon this subject)
enriched them, and forbad them to marry; the State impoverished them,
and gave them wires to complete this kindness!"
(6) Angels, though
.fallen, as Garrote slnewdly said.--Sir Willi: m
(in reply to a couesel, pending an action for crinecon, who had
eebanced the value of the fair s,.bject of damages, with the court,
by describing her as an angel.) once observed, that. he would not deny
that woseen might be angels, only wishing the jury to recollect that
they were fallen ones ! Sir William is understood• to have eiyoycd, for
many years, the possession if an angelic helpmate; of whom, unfortu-
nately, he is rum deprived by death.
(7) Bishops and deans may flourish, or may fade.—Adaptation 0
some fine lines of Goldsmith, in his ' Deierted Village.'
According to the Eclectic Review, however, the maj like of the
teachers" in the Establishment 4• have already lost their hold on the
pubic mind,'' and the secession pout it is becoming so general, that
" its services• are no longer the objects of popuiro stotrege :' hence,
" the compact between church and state," tieing " a virtual rather than
a formal one," and resting " upon the circumstance (f the establisher!
religion being that of the majority," it clearly follows, agreably to these
p:eolises, that it is become " incapable ,f rendering those services to the
state, j 194 the sake of which in privileges and emoluments axle cone errt4l."
Alas. for the poor Church !
(8) Full fifty thousand mounted on our walls.—" Certainly," saith
the Gospel Magazine, for Jatinaty ;813, " if the prophet Isaiah Lail
enjoyed the felicity to have lived in this millrnium, he would have
had no occasion to have taken up his plaintive lamentation by saying
Who lath believed our report i" —" We live at a period when
the state of religion is extensive, and the profession of it has become
quite fashionable. In every neighbourhood of this great Metrepolis,
we have not only a clinrch, but (in various streets, lanes, camas,. and
alleys, of the city and suburbs,) there are &tape's and meeting-houses
in abundance, each with their respective instructars. 111 our insular
.situation. we have Messieurs Recerends by thousands ; inainnuch that
it has been asserted, upte. the west accurate calculation, that the
island of GRBAT Bit I I AIST CONT A/ NS NOT LLSS TAQN iIfTY TIIOI.I,
Si SAND TZACUDAIS Of CUTUSII4NIIII •