Shall heavenly calls to earthly ties give place,
And filial fondness fruftrate Chriftian grace ?
Shall human wit Omniscience engage,

And Barclay endless war with Jefus wage?
Muft each Apoftle wave his claim to merit,
That Fox may fhine first martyr of the fpirit?
Muft common sense be banish'd from the foul,
'Ere gofpel falve can make the finner whole?
Muft each adept in Calvary's great school
Be not in meekness, but in fact a fool?
Muft Paul, at Corinth, be a babbler too?
And Peter, when a baptift, be a Jew?
Muft Philip's procefs be fuperfluous thought,
Because he wafh'd the eunuch he had taught?
Muft foed'ral rites be metaphor'd away,
And actual homage conftru'd-disobey?
Such juggling arts may change each part of speech,
Make water fpirit, and baptize to teach :
But of fuch jargon, Jefus reprefents,
The light indeed, is lent alone to faints.
Then, in the letter double death we find,-
And Chrift by figure only fav'd mankind.

ARK, how the facred thunder rends the fkies!

HAR

"Repent and be baptiz'd,'--Chrift's herald cries "Repent and be baptiz'd,'-confenting heaven replies."

The Chriftian heart reveres the folemn found, And deeply humbled, treads the facred ground;

า

Owns

I've feen a flower which at Aurora's, call,
Burft into bloom and gaily rear'd its head;
Its rife all nature feem'd to hail, and all

The youthful grace of fpring around was spread. But foon came on the fultry hour of day,

Blafting whate'er was promis'd by the morn; Th' unhappy plant foon felt the parching ray, And loft its early bloom and droop'd forlorn. When lo! their genial fuccour to impart,

I faw the dews of night propitious come; Thus far'd it with the flower; my drooping heart Pants for the night eternal of the tomb.

LINCOLN'S INN,

JULY 25, 1786.

J. B.

A LETTER, from a CLERGYMAN of the Church of England, to a FEMALE QUAKER. With her (By defire)

ANSWER.

ARK, how the facred thunder rends the fkies!

HAR

cries:

"Repent, and be baptiz'd,"-Chrift's herald "Repent, and be baptiz'd,-confenting Heaven replies.

And can Lavania, unaffected, hear

This awful meffage echoing in her ear?
Will my Lavania, unconverted, prove
Rebel to God, and faithless unto love?
Say, fhall a parent's abfolute command
The mighty voice of God himself withstand?

Shall

Shall heavenly calls to earthly ties give place,
And filial fondnefs fruftrate Christian grace?
Shall human wit Omniscience engage,

And Barclay endless war with Jefus wage?
Muft each Apoftle wave his claim to merit,
That Fox may fhine first martyr of the spirit?
Muft common fense be banish'd from the foul,
'Ere gospel falve can make the finner whole?
Muft each adept in Calvary's great school
Be not in meeknefs, but in fact a fool?
Muft Paul, at Corinth, be a babbler too?
And Peter, when a baptift, be a Jew?
Muft Philip's procefs be fuperfluous thought,
Because he wafh'd the eunuch he had taught?
Muft foed'ral rites be metaphor'd away,
And actual homage conftru'd-difobey?
Such juggling arts may change each part of fpeech,
Make water fpirit, and baptize to teach :
But of fuch jargon, Jefus represents,
The light indeed, is lent alone to faints.
Then, in the letter double death we find,-
And Chrift by figure only fav'd mankind.

66

H

The

ANSWER.

ARK, how the facred thunder rends the fkies!

Repent and be baptiz'd,'--Christ's herald cries Repent and be baptiz'd,'-confenting heaven replies."

The Chriftian heart reveres the folemn found, And deeply humbled, treads the facred ground;

Owns

Owns the injunction's undifputed claim,
Its awful import, and its glorious aim:
But here a difference mutual zeals excites,-
You plead for outward,-we for mental rights:
We think the Gofpel's hallow'd page inspires
Superior efforts, nor one type requires;
Since no lavations can effectual prove,
The innate ftains of nature to remove;
No mode of words can heavenly grace impart
To an infantile and unconscious heart:
As vain and factious, hence we difallow
The faithlefs furety and baptifmal vow,
As being fhadows, which men may obferve,
Yet from the fubftance flagrantly they fwerve:
While fuperftitious rites their time divide,
They ceafe to follow their internal guide;
Enflav'd by canons, and the partial rules.
Of councils, fynods, colleges, and schools.
Thus might mankind, for fome, an ample field
To circumcifion's antient cuftom yield;
Or, humbly proftrate in the public street,
With mutual candor wafh each others' feet ::
'Tis thus that holiness to form gives place,
And folemn trifling fruftrates Christian grace.
In Jordan's pool well pleas'd, th' Almighty faw
His fon belov'd fubmitting to the law;*
But his Apoftles through the world he fent,
With a baptizing power beyond the clement.
This power does all true miniftry attend,
'Twas promis'd, and will never have an end:

This mighty power his herald did proclaim,-
"He fhall baptize you with an hely flame."
Yet water was in ufe, an ancient rite,
Allow'd the common way to profelyte;
But no dependence plac'd thereon, you see,
And Paul and Peter in this point agree.*
Then real Chriftians, with illumin'd thought,
View truth unbiass'd, as its author taught;
type nor obfervation are rever'd,

No

Since their immortal antitype appear❜d.
Fox preach'd this doctrine to a feeking age;
It fhines in Barclay's unrefuted page:
Simple their scheme, no mean felf-love they knew,
But freely preach'd, without a fordid view;
With hearts devoted, gofpel truths difplay'd,
And fcorn'd to make divinity a trade;
No juggling arts e'er us'd, no low disguise,
On obvious texts and fenfe to tyrannize;
Difcerning truth, by its own native light,
And by its guidance, practis'd what was right.
This state attain'd, prophetic figns no more
Demand obfervance, as in days of yore;
'Tis grace alone, exalted and refin'd,
Imparts inftruction to th' attentive mind;
Convicts of error, and restrains from fin,-
For what thefe are, it manifefts within;
Each wayward paffion by its aid fubdu'd,
The foul's enthron'd in native rectitude;
Cleans'd of its stains, and fprinkled from above,
With pure defcendings of atoning love.

* 1 Cor. i. 17. Pet. iii. 21.

A