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ON THE

PARAPHRASE ON THE LORD'S PRAYER,

WRITTEN BY MRS. WHARTON.

SILENCE, You Winds! liften, ethereal Lights!
While our Urania fings what Heav'n endites:
The numbers are the nymph's; but from above
Defcends the pledge of that eternal love.
Here wretched mortals have not leave alone,
But are inftructed to approach his throne;
And how can he to miferable men
Deny requefts which his own hand did pen;
In the Evangelifts we find the profe
Which, paraphras'd by her, a poem grows;
A devout rapture! fo divine a hymn,
It may become the highest seraphim!
For they, like her, in that celestial choir,
Sing only what the fpirit does infpire.

Taught by our Lord and theirs, with us they may
For all but pardon for offences pray.

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SOME REFLECTIONS OF HIS

upon the feveral

PETITIONS IN THE SAME PRAYER.

1. His facred name with reverence profound Should mention'd be, and trembling at the found! It was Jehovah; 't is our Father now;

So low to us does Heav'n vouchsafe to bow *!
He brought it down that taught us how to pray, 5
And did fo dearly for our ransom pay.

II. His kingdom come. For this we pray in vain,
Unless he does in our affections reign.
Abfurd it were to wish for such a King,
And not obedience to his fceptre bring,
Whofe yoke is easy, and his burden light,
His fervice freedom, and his judgments right.
III. His will be done. In fact 'tis always done;
But, as in heav'n, it must be made our own.
His will should all our inclinations fway,
Whom Nature and the universe obey.
Happy the man! whose wishes are confin'd
To what has been eternally defign'd;

Referring all to his paternal care,

To whom more dear than to ourselves we are.
IV. It is not what our avarice hoards up;
"Tis he that feeds us, and that fills our cup;

* Pfalm xviii. 9.

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Like new-born babes depending on the breast,
From day to day we on his bounty feast:
Nor should the foul expect above a day
To dwell in her frail tenement of clay:
The fetting fun should seem to bound our race,
And the new day a gift of special grace.

V. That he fhould all our trespasses forgive,
While we in hatred with our neighbours live:
Tho' so to pray may seem an easy task,
We curfe ourselves when thus inclin'd we ask.
This pray'r to use, we ought with equal care
Our fouls, as to the facrament, prepare.
The nobleft worship of the Pow'r above,
Is to extol and imitate his love;
Not to forgive our enemies alone,
But use our bounty that they may be won

VI. Guard us from all temptations of the foes
And those we may in several stations know:
The rich and poor in slipp'ry places stand.
Give us enough! but with a fparing hand!
Not ill-perfuading want, nor wanton wealth,
But what proportion'd is to life and health :--
For not the dead but living fing thy praise,
Exalt thy kingdom, and thy glory raife.

Farete linguis !----
Virginibus pucrifque canto.

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ON THE FOREGOING DIVINE POEMS.

WHEN We for age could neither read nor write,
The subject made us able to endite:
The foul, with nobler refolutions deckt,
The body ftooping does herself erect.
No mortal parts are requifite to raise
Her that, unbody'd, can her Maker praife.

The feas are quiet when the winds give o'er :
So calm are we when paffions are no more!
For then we know how vain it was to boast
Of fleeting things, fo certain to be loft.
Clouds of affection from our younger eyes
Conceal that emptiness which age defcries.

The foul's dark cottage, batter'd and decay'd, Lets in new light thro' chinks that time has made: Stronger by weakness, wiser men become,

As they draw near to their eternal home.

Leaving the old, both worlds at once they view,
That ftand upon the threshold of the new.

Miratur limen Olympi.

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Virg.

One of our most celebrated writers, both for learning and language, has defined satire and invective to be the cafieft kind of wit, because almost any degree of it will serve to abuse and find fault: "for wit

(fays he) is a keen instrument, and every one can ❝ cut and gash with it; but to carve a beautiful image, **and polish it, requires great art and dexterity. To "praise any thing well is an argument of much more ** wit than to abuse. A little wit, and a great deal of "illnature, will furnish a man for fatire; but the "greatest inftance of wit is to commend well. And, "perhaps, the best things are the hardest to be duly ** commended; for though there be a great deal of "matter to work upon, yet there is great judgment "required to make choice; and where the subject is "great and excellent, it is hard not to fink below

the dignity of it." Whether or not Dr. Tillotson had Mr. Waller in his thoughts when he was giving this description of wit, it is evident that he has, in the liveliest colours, delineated the character of his genius and writings. And fince it was his principal intention to recommend, with all the ornaments of poetry, the brightest examples of his own age to the imitation of all that should fucceed, and even desired that every verfe might be expunged which did not

Excerpted from Mr. Fenton's Quarto edition of 1729.

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