"Thought Proteftant too good a name A Proteftant's a special clinker ; It ferves for sceptic and free thinker : "It ferves for stubble, bay, and wood, "For ev'ry thing,-but what it should. WHAT Writings has he left behind?"I hear they're of a diff'rent kind: "A few in verfe; but most in proseSome high-flown pamphlets, I suppose: All fcribbled in the worst of times, To palliate his friend Oxford's crimes, " To praife Queen Anne; nay more, defend her, But not one fermon, you may swear. Sir, our accounts are different quite, "And your conjectures are not right; "'Tis plain, his writings were defign'd ." To please, and to reform mankind :"And if he often mifs'd his aim, "The world muft own it, to their fame : "THEN, fince you dread no further lashes, The end of the MISCELLANIES in VERSE. P 170 200 175 186 185 190 195 A A LETTER to a YOUNG CLERGYMAN lately entered into HOLY ORDERS *. SIR, A Dublin, Jan. 9. 1719-20. LTHO' it was against my knowledge or advice, that you entered into holy orders, under the prefent difpofitions of mankind towards the church ;'yet fince it is now fuppofed too late to recede, (at least according to the general practice and opinion), I cannot forbear offering my thoughts to you upon this new condition of life you are engaged in. I could heartily with, that the circumstances of your fortune had enabled you to have continued fome years longer in the university, at least till you were ten years ftanding; to have laid in a competent stock of human learning, and fome knowledge in divinity, before you attempted to appear in the world: for I cannot but lament the common courfe, which at least nine in ten of those who enter into the miniftry are obliged to run. When they have taken a degree, and are confequently grown a burden to their friends, who now think themfelves fully difcharged, they get into orders as foon as they can, (upon which I fhall make no remarks); first folicit a readership, and, if they be very fortunate, arrive in time to a curacy here in town, or elfe are sent to be affiftants in the country, where they probably continue feveral years, (many of them their whole lives), with thirty or forty pounds a-year for their fupport; till fome bishop, who happens to be not over-stocked with relations, or attached to favourites, or is content to fupply his diocese without colonies from England, beftows upon them fome inconfiderable benefice, when it is odds they are already incumbered with a numerous family. I * This ought to be read by all the young clergymen in the three kingdoms. Tho' it be addreffed only to a young clergyman, yet it is adapted to every age and understanding. It contains oblervations that delight and improve every mind; and may be read with pleasure and advantage by the oldest and most exemplary divines. Orrery. I would be glad to know, what intervals of life fuch perfons can poffibly fet apart for the improvement of their minds; or which way they could be furnished with books, the library they brought with them from their college, being ufually not the moft numerous, or judicioufly chofen. If fuch gentlemen arrive to be great fcholars, it must, I think, be either by means fupernatural, or by a method altogether out of any road yet known to the learned. But I conceive the fact directly otherwise, and that many of them lofe the greatest part of the small pittance they received at the university. I take it for granted, that you intend to purfue the beaten track, and are already defirous to be seen in a pulpit; only I hope you will think it proper to pafs your quarantine among fome of the defolate churches five miles round this town, where you may at least learn to read and to speak, before you venture to expofe your parts in a city-congregation; not that these are better judges, but because if a man muft needs expofe his folly, it is more fafe and discreet to do fo before few witnesses, and in a scattered neighbourhood. And you will do well, if you can prevail upon fome intimate and judicious friend to be your conftant hearer, and allow him with the utmost freedom to give you notice of whatever he fhall find amifs either in your voice or gefture; for want of which early warning many clergymen continue defective, and fometimes ridiculous, to the end of their lives. Neither is it rare to obferve, among excellent and learned divines, a certain ungracious manner, or an unhappy tone of voice, which they never have been able to shake off. I could likewife have been glad, if you had applied yourself a little more to the ftudy of the English language, than I fear you have done; the neglect whereof is one of the most general defects among the scholars of this kingdom, who seem not to have the least conception of a ftyle, but run on in a flat kind of phrafeology, often mingled with barbarous terms and expreffions peculiar. to the nation: neither do I perceive, that any person either finds or acknowledges his wants upon this head, or in the leaft defires to have them fupplied: Proper words in proper places make the true definition of a ftyle.» P 2, But But this would require too ample a difquifition to be now dwelt on. However, I fhall venture to name one or two faults, which are easy to be remedied with a very fmall portion of abilities. THE firft is, the frequent ufe of obfcure terms, which by the women are called hard words, and by the better fort of vulgar fine language; than which I do not know a more univerfal, inexcufable, and unneceffary mistake, among the clergy of all diftinctions, but efpecially the younger practitioners. I have been curious enough to take a lift of feveral hundred words in a fermon of a new beginner, which not one of his hearers among a hundred could poffibly understand: neither can I eafily call to mind, any clergyman of my own acquaintance, who is wholly exempt from this error, altho many of them a gree with me in the diflike of the thing. But I am apt to put myself in the place of the vulgar, and think many words difficult or obfcure, which the preacher will not allow to be fo, because those words are obvious to scholars. I believe the method obferved by the famous Lord Falkland, in some of his writings, would not be an ill one for young divines. I was affured by an old perfon of quality, who knew him well, that when he doubted whether a word were perfectly intelligible or no, he ufed to confult one of his lady's chambermaids, (not the waiting-woman, because it was poffible fhe might be converfant in romances), and by her judgment was guid ed whether to receive or reject it. And if that great perfon thought fuch a caution neceffary, in treatifes offered to the learned world, it will be fure at least as proper in fermons, where the meanest hearer is fuppofed to be concerned, and where very often a lady's chamber. maid may be allowed to equal half the congregation, both as to quality and understanding. But I know not how it comes to pafs, that profeffors in moft arts and fciences are generally the worft qualified to explain their meanings to those who are not of their tribe. A common farmer fhall make you understand, in three words, that his foot is out of joint, or his collar-bone broken; where. in a furgeon, after a hundred terms of art, if you are not a scholar, shall leave you to feek. It is frequently the fame fame cafe in law, phyfic, and even many of the means er arts. AND upon this account it is, that, among hard words, I number likewise those which are peculiar to divinity as it is a science, because I have observed feveral clergymen, otherwife little fond of obfcure terms, yet in their fermons very liberal of thofe which they find in ecclefiafti cal writers, as if it were our duty to understand them; which I am fure it is not. And I defy the greatest d1vine to produce any law, either of God or man, which obliges me to comprehend the meaning of omnifcience, omniprefence, ubiquity, attribute, beatific vifion, with a thoufand others fo frequent in pulpits, any more than that of eccentric, idiosyncracy, entity, and the like. I believe I may venture to infift further, that many terms used in holy writ, particularly by St Paul, might, with more difcretion, be changed into plainer fpeech, except when they are introduced as part of a quotation. I am the more earnest in this matter, because it is a general complaint, and the jufteft in the world. For a divine hath nothing to fay to the wifeft congregation of any parish in this kingdom, which he may not exprefs in a manner to be understood by the meanest among them. And this affertion must be true, or elfe God requires from us more than we are able to perform. However, not to contend whether a logician might poffibly put a cafe that would ferve for an exception, I will appeal to any man of letters, whether at least nineteen in twenty of those perplexing words might not be changed into eafy ones, fuch as naturally first occur to ordinary men, and probably did fo at firft to thofe very gentlemen. who are fo fond of the former. WE are often reproved by divines from the pulpits on account of our ignorance in things facred, and perhaps with juftice enough: however, it is not very reasonable for them to expect, that common men fhould understand expreffions which are never made ufe of in common life. No gentleman thinks it fafe or prudent to fend a fervant with a meffage, without repeating it more than once, and endeavouring to put it into terms brought down to the capacity of the bearer: yet, after all this care, it is frequent for fervants to mistake, and fometimes occafion mifunderstandings P 3 |