Prince Eugene has beat the Turks, he has You Tory Dog! the Son of a Whore of a Vizier got off with the Cheft, but who can help that? I am a Presbyterian, and what then Sirrah! I'll ftand to't. Who the Devil cut You out for a Writer? You Papift, Pitiful Rafcal! I have drank Damnation to You forty Times, L fhould be glad to fee You in Hell, and You hall never know my Name till then. No. 33. No. 33. MONDAY September 16. 1717. Te are Curfed with a Curfe, for ye have robbed me, even this whole Nation, Mala. iii. 9. HE Canters, Whiners, and Snufflers, of the old Puritanical Confort in Forty-One, among other Entertainments in Recitativo, did very often tune their Nofes, and run Divifions at their Opera-Houfes, upon the following Strains and Notes. Proud, Lordly, Popish, Prelacy! Antichrift! High-Places! The Man of Sin! Babylon! The Beaft, and it's Rider! The He-Whore in Scarlet! A Table-Serving, Land Devouring, Tyth-gather ing Clergy! Preachers for Loaves, bandfuls of Barley, and bitts of Bread! Priests of Bell and the Dragon! Fat, ftalled Deans and NS Preben Prebendaries! Lazy, Swinish Rectors! Tenths and Offerings, the Wages of Sin, the Portion of the Hirelings! Glebes, Donatives, Temporalities, the Pope's Inventory, the Toys, Trinkets and Rubbifh of Rome's Ware-boufe, and the Devices and Abomination of Simon Magus. These were the Ravings of the Spirit, that were then let loofe among us; and thus the Viper vented it's Foam the moment after it was hatch'd; and by this Charm of Words, the fpiritualiz'd Weaver, the Self-denying Cobler, and the World-renouncing Tinker, whose Call was pure and unmixt, without the least Ingredient of Learning, Study, or Common Senfe, prevail'd against the Angels of our Church, and reduc'd the whole Body of the Clergy (the Ornaments of the Age and Glory of the Reformation) to the fame State of Poverty, Mifery, and Perfecution, which themfelv: had made to be the only Mark of a True Church, and the Standard Qualifications of an Apoftolical and Gospel Ministry. Here the Farce began to open, and the Pious Juggle was made manifeft; When they had difpoffeffed the Cananite and the Hivite, they fcrupled not to keep faft hold of those very Lands, upon which they had brought so Ill a Report. The Silver and Gold Trinkets, which they had rail'd at, upon the Backs of the Egyptians, they made no Bones of bor . rowing rowing and keeping; and the Riches, Pomps, and Vanities they had renounc'd, nay, the Earth it felf became their own, their Right and In beritance, as having been promis'd to the Meek; who could fubfift no longer upon Types and Shadows, and the vifionary Profpect from Mount Pifgab. At the Restoration, they loft all again: Only fome few kept Poffeffion, by a seasonable Complyance; at what time Occafional Confor mity was firft dubb'd a Virtue, and enroll'd among the Duties of Practical Chriftianity. But the old Stagers return'd to their first Cant, and in defiance of Twelve years Experience, which had branded them for Hypocrites, fet up once more for Elemofynary Divinity, and a FreeTrade in the Gospel. They bellow'd as heartily against Church-Revenues, as they parted with them unwillingly; and the Eears contended, that the Ox was to be muzled. Religion was represented as a bad Bargain, that ought to come cheap; and the Gospel must be Sold, as the Boy fold his Topp, for Nothing. When the Ladder was taken away, they had just the fame Stomach to fpiritual Honours, Titles and Income, as the Fox had to the Grapes; and the most they could accept of, was a Dram of the Bottle, or a Sunday's Dinner. But the Times mending upon their Hands, and having by Degrees crept to the Sunny Side of the Hedge; they they have now forgot their Firft Works and Profeffion, and all thefe Self-denying Topicks are long fince buried in Silence and Oblivion. They now fwarm and neftle in the richest and most populous Parts of the Kingdom, have purchafed an Intereft in the feveral Trading Socie ties, and can influence an Election; they are making their Approaches at Court, and know too well the Advantage of being used as the Tools of State-Policy, and the Allies of a Party: This is a warm Seafon, and a rich Harvest for them: No more Gofpel then for God's-fake; not a Word more of Primitive Poverty and Self-denyal. Their Stock rifes, and they can now comply with the Church in many Indifferent Things, which they once exploded; they can follow the Mode of thofe Pomps and Vanities, which their Fore-fathers abhorr'd; and till they can again fucceed in feizing the Spoils of the Clergy, they are content to drive a feparate Trade; and if they dare not get overturn the Church, they will at least Rival her, in her outward Ornaments and Glory. A Common Obferver may fee as many Presbyterian Parfons lolling in their Coaches, as: there are Bishops in England; whofe Ancestors would allow no Minifter to be Apoftolical, that did not propagate the Faith on Foot. Thus they carry with them the unfanctified Infirmi ties of Eafe and Luxury, to fome ftately and well |