Despair, by which the gallant'st feats As wounds by wider wounds are heal'd, If we were, what we should be, men ; To side against ourselves with fate: 590 595 Are blinded first, and then turn'd over. And setting up exempts of saints,* 600 To be excus'd the efficace :5 3 As wounds by wider wounds are heal'd, And poisons by themselves expell'd:] Sneering sir Kenelm Digby, and others, who assert this as a fact, indeed, oil is a good cure of the serpent's bite. See v. 1029 of this canto. ↑ And setting up exempts of saints,] Dispensing, in particular instances, with the covenant and obligations. 5 That fine, like aldermen, for grace, To be excus'd the efficace :] Persons who are nominated to an office, and pay the accustomed fine, are entitled to the same privileges as if they had performed the service. Thus, some of the sectaries, if they paid handsomely, were deemed saints, and full of grace, though, from the tenor of their lives, they merited no such distinction, commuting for their want of real grace, that they might be excused the drudgery of good works, for spiritual men are too transcendent to grovel in good works, namely, those spiritual men that mount their banks for independent. Efficace is an affected word of the poet's own coining, and signifies, I suppose, actual service. 8 For spiritual men are too transcendent," And scorn to have the moderat'st stints Or any opinion, true or false, 605 610 615 Declar'd as such, in doctrinals; But left at large to make their best on, For spiritual men are too transcendent,] This, and the following lines, contain an elegant satire upon those persons who renounce all dependance either on the church or state. • That mount their banks for independent,] Etre sur les bancs, is to hold a dispute, to assert a claim, to contest a right or an honour, to be a competitor. To hang, like Mah'met, in the air,] They need no such support as the body of Mahomet; which, history fabulously tells us, is kept suspended in the air, by being placed in a steel coffin, between two load-stones of equal powers. 9 Or St. Ignatius, at his prayer,] Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the jesuits. An old soldier: at the siege of Pampeluna by the French he had both his legs wounded, the left by a stone, the right broken by a bullet. His fervours in devotion were so strong, that they sometimes raised him two cubits from the ground. The same story is told in the legends of Saint Dominick, Xavier, and Philip Neri. Interpret all the spleen reveals, As Whittington explain'd the bells;' But look so big and overgrown, They scorn their edifiers t' own, 620 Who taught them all their sprinkling lessons, Like charity, on those that want; 2 T' inspire themselves with shorthand notes, 630 For which they scorn and hate them worse For who first bred them up to pray, And teach the house of commons way? 1 Interpret all the spleen reveals, As Whittington explain'd the bells ;] In his imagination their jingle said, Turn again Whittington, For thou in time shalt grow Lord mayor of London. Obeying the admonition, he not only attained the promised honour, but amassed a fortune of £350,000. Tatler, No. 78. 2 And learn'd th' apocryphal bigots T' inspire themselves with shorthand notes,] Learn'd, that is, taught. Apocryphal bigots, not genuine ones, some suppose to be a kind of second-rate independent divines, that availed themselves of the genuine bigots or presbyterian ministers discourse, by taking down the heads of it in short-hand, and then retailing it at private meetings. The accent is laid upon the last syllable of bigot. Where had they all their gifted phrases, 635 But from our Calamies and Cases?] Calamy was minister of Aldermanbury, London, a zealous presbyterian and covenanter, and frequent preacher before the parliament. He was one of the first who whispered in the conventicles, what afterward he proclaimed openly, that for the cause of religion it was lawful for the subjects to take up arms against the king. Case, upon the deprivation of a loyalist, became minister of Saint Mary Magdalen church, Milkstreet; where it was usual with him thus to invite his people to the communion: "You that have freely and liberally contributed to the parliament, for the defence of God's cause and the gospel, draw 66 near," &c. instead of the words " ye that do truly and earnestly repent you of your sins." He was one of the assembly of divines, preached for the covenant, and printed his sermon; preached often before the parliament, was a bitter enemy to independents, and concerned with Love in the plot. 4 ↑ Without whose sprinkling and sowing, Whoe'er had heard of Nye or Owen ?] Here read sprinkleing, or sprinkeling. Philip Nye was a most virulent dissenting teacher, zealous against the king and bishops beyond most of his brethren. He went on purpose into Scotland, to expedite the covenant, and preached before the houses in England, when that obligation was taken by them. He was at first a presbyterian, and one of the assembly; but afterward joined the independents. At the restoration, it was debated by the healing parliament, for several hours, whether he should not be excepted from life. Doctor Owen was a great stickler on the independent side, and in great credit with Cromwell and his party. He was preferred by them to the deanry of Christchurch, in Oxford. The Biographical Dictionary in 8vo. says, that, in 1654, being vice-chancellor, he offered to represent the university in parliament; and, to remove the objection of his being a divine, renounced his orders, and pleaded that he was a layman. He was returned; but his election being questioned in the committee, he sat only a short time. Their dispensations had been stifled, They 'ad ne'er been sainted as they are:" And dwindle down to reprobate; Their zeal corrupts, like standing water, Their dispensations had been stifled, 8 640 645 650 But for our Adoniram Byfield;] Byfield was a noted presbyterian, chaplain to colonel Cholmondely's regiment, in the earl of Essex's army, and one of the scribes to the assembly of divines. Afterward he became minister of Collingborn, in Wilts, and assistant to the commissioners in ejecting scandalous ministers. And had they not begun the war, They'ad ne'er been sainted as they are :] Had not the divines, on the presbyterian side, fomented the differences, the independents had never come in play, or been taken notice of. 7 Without the power of sacrilege;] That is, if they have not the power and opportunity of committing sacrilege, by plundering the church lands. 8 And tho' they 'ave tricks to cast their sins, As easy as serpents do their skins,] Positis novus exuviis, nitidusque juventa. Georg. iii. 437. |