John Dryden - Delphi Poets Series

by John Dryden

  Leaving them, therefore, in so fair a way (if they please themselves) of satisfying all reasonable Men of their sincerity and good meaning to the Government, I shall make bold to consider that other extream of our Religion, I mean the Fanaticks, or Schismaticks, of the English Church. Since the Bible has been Translated into our Tongue, they have us’d it so, as if their business was not to be sav’d, but to be damn’d by its Contents. If we consider onely them, better had it been for the English Nation that it had still remained in the original Greek and Hebrew, or at least in the honest Latine of St. Jerome, than that several Texts in it, should have been prevaricated to the destruction of that Government which put it into so ungrateful hands.

  How many Heresies the first translation of Tyndal produced in few years, let my Lord Herbert’s History of Henry the Eighth inform you; Insomuch that for the gross errours in it, and the great mischiefs it occasion’d, a Sentence pass’d on the first Edition of the Bible, too shameful almost to be repeated. After the short reign of Edward the Sixth (who had continued to carry on the Reformation on other principles than it was begun) every one knows that not onely the chief promoters of that work, but many others, whose Consciences wou’d not dispence with Popery, were forc’d, for fear of persecution, to change Climates: from whence returning at the beginning of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, many of them who had been in France, and at Geneva, brought back the rigid opinions and imperious discipline of Calvin, to graffe upon our Reformation. Which, though they cunningly conceal’d at first, (as well knowing how nauseously that Drug wou’d go down in a lawfull Monarchy which was prescrib’d for a rebellious Common-wealth) yet they always kept it in reserve, and were never wanting to themselves, either in Court or Parliament, when either they had any prospect of a numerous Party of Fanatique Members in the one, or the encouragement of any Favourite in the other, whose Covetousness was gaping at the Patrimony of the Church. They who will consult the Works of our venerable Hooker, or the account of his Life, or more particularly the Letter written to him on this Subject, by George Cranmer, may see by what gradations they proceeded; from the dislike of Cap and Surplice, the very next step was Admonitions to the Parliament against the whole Government Ecclesiastical; then came out Volumes in English and Latin in defence of their Tenets: and immediately, practices were set on foot to erect their Discipline without Authority. Those not succeeding, Satyre and Rayling was the next: and Martin Marprelate (the Marvel of those times) was the first Presbyterian Scribler who sanctify’d Libels and Scurrility to the use of the Good Old Cause. Which was done, (says my Authour,) upon this account; that (their serious Treatises having been fully answered and refuted) they might compass by rayling what they had lost by reasoning; and, when their Cause was sunk in Court and Parliament, they might at least hedge in a stake amongst the Rabble; for to their ignorance all things are Wit which are abusive; but if Church and State were made the Theme, then the Doctoral Degree of Wit was to be taken at Billingsgate: even the most Saintlike of the Party, though they durst not, excuse this contempt and villifying of the Government, yet were pleas’d, and grind at it with a pious smile; and call’d it a judgment of God against the Hierarchy. Thus Sectaries, we may see, were born with teeth, foul-mouthed and scurrilous from their Infancy: and if Spiritual Pride, Venome, Violence, Contempt of Superiours, and Slander had been the marks of Orthodox Belief; the Presbytery and the rest of our Schismaticks, which are their Spawn, were always the most visible Church in the Christian World.

  ’Tis true, the Government was too strong at that time for a Rebellion; but to shew what proficiency they had made in Calvin’s School, even Then their mouths water’d at it: for two of their gifted Brotherhood (Hacket and Coppinger) as the Story tells us, got up into a Pease-Cart, and harangued the People, to dispose them to an insurrection and to establish their Discipline by force; so that, however it comes about, that now they celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s Birth-night, as that of their Saint and Patroness, yet then they were for doing the work of the Lord by Arms against her; and in all probability they wanted but a Fanatique Lord Mayor and two Sheriffs of their Party to have compass’d it.

  Our venerable Hooker, after many Admonitions which he had given them, toward the end of his Preface breaks out into this Prophetick speech. “There is in every one of these Considerations most just cause to fear, lest our hastiness to embrace a thing of so perilous Consequence, (meaning the Presbyterian discipline) should cause Posterity to feel those Evils which as yet are more easy for us to prevent, than they would be for them to remedy.”

  How fatally this Cassandra has foretold, we know too well by sad experience: the Seeds were sown in the time of Queen Elizabeth, the bloudy Harvest ripened in the Reign of King Charles the Martyr: and, because all the Sheaves could not be carried off without shedding some of the loose Grains, another Crop is too like to follow; nay, I fear ’tis unavoidable, if the Conventiclers be permitted still to scatter.

  A man may be suffer’d to quote an Adversary to our Religion, when he speaks Truth: And ’tis the observation of Meimbourg in his History of Calvinism, that, where-ever that Discipline was planted and embrac’d, Rebellion, Civil War, and Misery attended it. And how indeed should it happen otherwise? Reformation of Church and State has always been the ground of our Divisions in England. While we were Papists, our Holy Father rid us by pretending authority out of the Scriptures to depose Princes, when we shook off his Authority, the Sectaries furnish’d themselves with the same Weapons; and out of the same Magazine, the Bible. So that the Scriptures, which are in themselves the greatest security of Governours, as commanding express obedience to them, are now turned to their destruction; and never since the Reformation, has there wanted a Text of their interpreting to authorize a Rebel. And ’tis to be noted by the way, that the Doctrines of King-killing and Deposing, which have been taken up onely by the worst Party of the Papists, the most frontless Flatterers of the Pope’s Authority, have been espous’d, defended, and are still maintain’d by the whole Body of Nonconformists and Republicans. ’Tis but dubbing themselves the People of God, which ’tis the interest of their Preachers to tell them they are, and their own interest to believe; and, after that, they cannot dip into the Bible, but one Text or another will turn up for their purpose: If they are under Persecution (as they call it,) then that is a mark of their Election; if they flourish, then God works Miracles for their Deliverance, and the Saints are to possess the earth.

  They may think themselves to be too roughly handled in this Paper; but I who know best how far I could have gone on this Subject, must be bold to tell them they are spar’d: though at the same time I am not ignorant that they interpret the mildness of a Writer to them, as they do the mercy of the Government; in the one they think it Fear, and conclude it Weakness in the other. The best way for them to confute me, is, as I before advised the Papists, to disclaim their Principles, and renounce their Practices. We shall all be glad to think them true Englishmen, when they obey the King, and true Protestants, when they conform to the Church Discipline.

  It remains that I acquaint the Reader, that the Verses were written for an ingenious young Gentleman, my Friend, upon his Translation of The Critical History of the Old Testament, composed by the learned Father Simon: The Verses therefore are address’d to the Translatour of that Work, and the style of them is, what it ought to be, Epistolary.

  If any one be so lamentable a Critique as to require the Smoothness, the Numbers, and the Turn of Heroique Poetry in this Poem; I must tell him, that, if he has not read Horace, I have studied him, and hope the style of his Epistles is not ill imitated here. The Expressions of a Poem designed purely for Instruction ought to be Plain and Natural, and yet Majestic: for here the Poet is presumed to be a kind of Law-giver, and those three qualities which I have nam’d are proper to the Legislative style. The Florid, Elevated, and Figurative way is for the Passions; for Love and Hatred, Fear and Anger, are begotten in the Soul by shewing their Objects out of their true proportion; either greater than t
he Life, or less; but Instruction is to be given by shewing them what they naturally are. A Man is to be cheated into Passion, but to be reason’d into Truth.

  Religio Laici

  DIM, as the borrow’d beams of Moon and Stars

  To lonely, weary, wandring Travellers

  Is Reason to the Soul: And as on high

  Those rowling Fires discover but the Sky

  Not light us here; So Reason’s glimmering Ray 5

  Was lent, not to assure our doubtfull way,

  But guide us upward to a better Day.

  And as those nightly Tapers disappear

  When Day’s bright Lord ascends our Hemisphere;

  So pale grows Reason at Religions sight; 10

  So dyes, and so dissolves in Supernatural Light.

  Some few, whose Lamp shone brighter, have been led

  From Cause to Cause to Natures secret head;

  And found that one first principle must be;

  But what, or who, that UNIVERSAL HE; 15

  Whether some Soul incompassing this Ball,

  Unmade, unmov’d; yet making, moving All;

  Or various Atom’s, interfering Dance

  Leapt into Form (the Noble work of Chance,)

  Or this great All was from Eternity; 20

  Not ev’n the Stagirite himself could see;

  And Epicurus Guess’d as well as He.

  As blindly grop’d they for a future State,

  As rashly Judg’d of Providence and Fate:

  But least of all could their Endeavours find 25

  What most concern’d the good of Humane kind:

  For Happiness was never to be found;

  But vanish’d from ‘em, like Enchanted ground.

  One thought Content the Good to be enjoyed:

  This, every little Accident destroyed: 30

  The wiser Madmen did for Vertue toyl,

  A Thorny, or at best a barren Soil:

  In Pleasure some their glutton Souls would steep,

  But found their Line too short, the Well too deep,

  And leaky Vessels which no Bliss cou’d keep. 35

  Thus, anxious Thoughts in endless Circles roul,

  Without a Centre where to fix the Soul:

  In this wilde Maze their vain Endeavours end:

  How can the less the Greater comprehend?

  Or finite Reason reach Infinity? 40

  For what cou’d Fathom GOD were more than He.

  The Deist thinks he stands on firmer ground,

  Cries Eureka: the mighty Secret’s found:

  God is that Spring of Good; Supreme and Best,

  We, made to serve, and in that Service blest; 45

  If so, some Rules of Worship must be given,

  Distributed alike to all by Heaven:

  Else God were partial, and to some deny’d

  The Means His Justice shou’d for all provide.

  This general Worship is to PRAISE, and PRAY: 50

  One part to borrow Blessings, one to pay:

  And when frail Nature slides into Offence,

  The Sacrifice for Crimes is Penitence.

  Yet, since th’ Effects of Providence, we find

  Are variously dispensed to Humane kind; 55

  That Vice Triumphs and Vertue suffers here,

  (A Brand that Sovereign justice cannot bear;)

  Our Reason prompts us to a future State,

  The last Appeal from Fortune, and from Fate,

  Where God’s all-righteous ways will be declar’d, 60

  The Bad meet Punishment, the Good, Reward.

  Thus Man by his own strength to Heaven wou’d soar:

  And wou’d not be Obliged to God for more.

  Vain, wretched Creature, how art thou misled

  To think thy Wit these God-like notions bred! 65

  These Truths are not the product of thy Mind,

  But dropt from Heaven, and of a Nobler kind.

  Reveal’d Religion first inform’d thy sight,

  And Reason saw not till Faith sprung the Light.

  Hence all thy Natural Worship takes the Source: 70

  ’Tis Revelation what thou thinkst Discourse.

  Else how com’st Thou to see these truths so clear,

  Which so obscure to Heathens did appear?

  Not Plato these, nor Aristotle found.

  Nor He whose wisedom Oracles renown’d. 75

  Hast thou a Wit so deep, or so sublime,

  Or canst thou lower dive, or higher climb?

  Canst Thou, by Reason, more of God-head know

  Than Plutarch, Seneca, or Cicero?

  Those Gyant Wits, in happyer Ages born, 80

  (When Arms, and Arts did Greece and Rome adorn,)

  Knew no such Systeme: no such Piles cou’d raise

  Of Natural Worship, built on Pray’r and Praise,

  To One sole GOD:

  Nor did Remorse, to Expiate Sin, prescribe: 85

  But slew their fellow Creatures for a Bribe:

  The guiltless Victim groan’d for their Offence;

  And Cruelty and Blood, was Penitence.

  If Sheep and Oxen cou’d Attone for Men

  Ah! at how cheap a rate the Rich might Sin! 90

  And great Oppressours might Heavens Wrath beguile

  By offering his own Creatures for a Spoil!

  Dar’st thou, poor Worm, offend Infinity?

  And must the Terms of Peace be given by Thee?

  Then Thou art Justice in the last Appeal; 95

  Thy easie God instructs Thee to rebell:

  And, like a King remote, and weak, must take

  What Satisfaction Thou art pleased to make.

  But if there be a Pow’r too Just, and strong

  To wink at Crimes and bear unpunish’d Wrong; 100

  Look humbly upward, see his Will disclose

  The Forfeit first, and then the Fine impose

  A Mulct thy poverty cou’d never pay

  Had not Eternal Wisedom found the way

  And with Cœlestial Wealth supply’d thy Store; 105

  His Justice makes the Fine, his Mercy quits the Score.

  See God descending in thy Humane Frame;

  Th’ offended, suffering in th’ Offenders name:

  All thy Misdeeds to Him imputed see,

  And all his Righteousness devolv’d on thee. 110

  For granting we have Sin’d, and that th’ offence

  Of Man, is made against Omnipotence,

  Some Price, that bears proportion, must be paid

  And Infinite with Infinite be weigh’d.

  See then the Deist lost: Remorse for Vice 115

  Not paid, or paid, inadequate in price:

  What farther means can Reason now direct,

  Or what Relief from humane Wit expect?

  That shews us sick; and sadly are we sure

  Still to be Sick, till Heav’n reveal the Cure: 120

  If then Heaven’s Will must needs be understood,

  (Which must, if we want Cure, and Heaven be Good,)

  Let all Records of Will reveal’d be shown;

  With Scripture, all in equal ballance thrown,

  And our one Sacred Book will be That one. 125

  Proof needs not here; for whether we compare

  That Impious, Idle, Superstitious Ware

  Of Rites, Lustrations, Offerings, (which before,

  In various Ages, various Countries bore,)

  With Christian Faith and Vertues, we shall find 130

  None answ’ring the great ends of humane kind,

  But This one rule of Life; That shews us best

  How God may be appeas’d, and mortals blest.

  Whether from length of Time its worth we draw,

  The World is scarce more Ancient than the Law: 135

  Heav’ns early Care prescrib’d for every Age;

  First, in the Soul, and after, in the Page.

  Or, whether more abstractedly we look,

  Or on the Writers, or
the written Book,

  Whence, but from Heav’n cou’d men, unskilled in Arts, 140

  In several Ages born, in several parts,

  Weave such agreeing Truths? or how or why

  Shou’d all conspire to cheat us with a Lye?

  Unask’d their Pains, ungratefull their Advice,

  Starving their Gain and Martyrdom their Price. 145

  If on the Book itself we cast our view,

  Concurrent Heathens prove the Story True:

  The Doctrine, Miracles; which must convince,

  For Heav’n in Them appeals to humane Sense;

  And though they prove not, they Confirm the Cause, 150

  When what is Taught agrees with Natures Laws.

  Then for the Style, Majestick and Divine,

  It speaks no less than God in every Line;

  Commanding words; whose Force is still the same

  As the first Fiat that produc’d our Frame. 155

  All Faiths beside, or did by Arms ascend;

  Or Sense indulg’d has made Mankind their Friend;

  This onely Doctrine does our Lusts oppose:

  Unfed by Natures Soil, in which it grows;

  Cross to our Interests, curbing Sense and Sin; 160

  Oppress’d without, and undermin’d within,

  It thrives through pain; its own Tormentours tires;

  And with a stubborn patience still aspires.

  To what can Reason such Effects assign,