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arthly parts;
But, oh, inflame and fire our hearts!
Our frailties help, our vice control,
Submit the senses to the soul;
And when rebellious they are grown,
Then lay thy hand, and hold them down!
Chase from our minds the infernal foe,
And peace, the fruit of love, bestow;
And, lest our feet should step astray,
Protect and guide us in the way.
Make us eternal truths receive,
And practise all that we believe:
Give us thyself, that we may see
The Father, and the Son, by thee.
Immortal honour, endless fame,
Attend the Almighty Father's name
The Saviour Son be glorified,
Who for lost man's redemption died:
And equal adoration be,
Eternal Paraclete, to thee!
* * * * *
THE HIND AND THE PANTHER.
A POEM, IN THREE PARTS.
--Antiquam exquirite matrem.
Et vera incessa patuit Dea.
VIRG.
* * * * *
PREFACE.
The nation is in too high a ferment for me to expect either fair war, or
even so much as fair quarter, from a reader of the opposite party. All
men are engaged either on this side or that; and though conscience is
the common word, which is given by both, yet if a writer fall among
enemies, and cannot give the marks of _their_ conscience, he is knocked
down before the reasons of his own are heard. A preface, therefore,
which is but a bespeaking of favour, is altogether useless. What I
desire the reader should know concerning me, he will find in the body of
the poem, if he have but the patience to peruse it. Only this
advertisement let him take beforehand, which relates to the merits of
the cause. No general characters of parties (call them either Sects or
Churches) can be so fully and exactly drawn, as to comprehend all the
several members of them; at least all such as are received under that
denomination. For example, there are some of the Church by law
established, who envy not liberty of conscience to Dissenters, as being
well satisfied that, according to their own principles, they ought not
to persecute them. Yet these, by reason of their fewness, I could not
distinguish from the numbers of the rest, with whom they are embodied in
one common name. On the other side, there are many of our sects, and
more indeed than I could reasonably have hoped, who have withdrawn
themselves from the communion of the Panther, and embraced this gracious
indulgence of
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