dious Life, much Reading and little Eating at College, and of poring fo hard upon a Set of crabbed Systems, many and many a Night*, when the Butler has been happy, and the meaneft Scull of the Kitchen faft afleep? Muft a Man for no more than this, be expected to be a Linguift t, a Grammarian, a Critick, an Orator, a Philofopher, an Hiftorian, a Cafuift, a Difputant, and whatever fpeaks Skill and Knowledge in any learned Science? Muft he for this, in the particular Science of Divinity, be fo thorowly acquainted with all Writers Syftematical, Textual, Historical, Polemical and Practical, as the great Directors of our Studies appoint? O quam vilis eft annona Literarum! And how much wifer is that Parent, who difpofes of his Son in fome honeft Handicraft (where, if he will but work, there can be no danger of ftarving) than to run him into a Profeffion, where (unless he is minded to be a Bungler) there must be fo much moiling in Books, and beating his Brains, and all to no purpofe; where, without fome reafonable Profpect of Provifion, he must be content to be a Beggar, for the bare Satisfaction of being a Gentleman: For I may venture to fay, that an ordinary Bricklayer, or Carpenter, (I mean not your great Untertakers, and MafterWorkmen) that earns conftantly but his Two Shillings a Day, upon the whole, has clearly a

Mediæ, quod noctis ab hora

Sedifti, qua nemo faber, qua nemo fedebat Qui docet obliquo lanam deducere ferro. † Dr. Edwards's Preach. p. 268.

Comber's Difcourfe upon the Ordination-Office, p. 238. Vid. Hug. Grot. & aliorum Differtationes de Studiis inftituendis, Amftel. 1645. Bp. Barlow's Directions for Study Dr. Bray's Paroch Library. Wilkin's Ecclef. Dr. Edwards's Preach. p. 25%.

better

better Revenue, and certainly more command of Money, than this Gentleman-Divine, feated in his Country Curacy, or commencing an Hackney-Preacher here about Town, where fair Words will butter no Parfnips, nor all the Learning in the World bring from the Market one Joint of Mutton; where every Scholar-like Habit will not do, and a fhort Gown (if he be not able to provide a long one) with a ftanding Collar, and Sleeves freight at the Hands, to hide his want of Linen, is fure to be pink'd thro' and thro' with inceffant Scoffs, and Words that are sharper than Razors, notwithstanding a very wholesome *Canon to prevent fuch Ufage.

PARENTS fhould therefore have more Confideration, than to throw away the Towardness of a Child, and the Expence of Education, upon a Profeffion, the Labour of which is increased, and the Rewards of which are vanished: To condemn promifing lively Parts to Contempt and Penury, in a defpifed Calling, what is it else but f the cafting of a Mofes into the Mud, or offering a Son upon the Altar, and instead of a Priest, to make him a Sacrifice?

THE Clergy of the Church of Rome have in many places, we own, no very large Allowances; but then, what may not a Man do, that is fupposed to be a Retainer to an infallible Head, and the Maker of God in every Confecration of the Hoft? What Money may not he draw out of the Peoples Pockets, who, befides an Exemption from Marriage, and confequently no Family Deductions to keep him low, has the whole Affair of auricular Confeffion, of enjoining and mitigating Penances, of forgiving Sins, of freeing Souls from Purgatory, and of ad

Vid. Can. 74. † South's Serm. Vol. I. p. 170.

mitting

mitting Saints to Heaven, befides many more ufeful Cheats and Tales, and lying Wonders, under his fole Management and Administration.

THE Minifters of feparate Congregations, have one way or other an ample Provifion made for them: For befides the conftant Subscription of an Hundred or two Hundred Pounds per Annum to fome, or the accrewing Rent of the Pews, which by others is thought a more eligible Settlement; they have many profitable Perquifites, and Arts of getting Money, that are not fo much in requeft among us fuch as enable them to live up vifibly to the Port and Figure of the greatest Dignitaries, and at the fame time provide no inconfiderable Eftates for those that they leave behind them.

WE grudge no Succefs to our Brethren the Lecturers, who come skimming about the Parish. once or twice a Year, and carry more off at one Sweep, than goes to maintain three or four Curates: But it grieves us to fee every little Clark of a Parish, who not long ago was a Footman, or fome broken Mechanick, and who, by his Inftitution, is to attend our Orders, and be fubfervient to us, fcorning our Character, as knowing the Disparity of our Wages, and lording it over us with an arrogant Difdain, as being not unconscious of his own Merit, and our Inconfiderableness, when he finds that his bare faying Amen, brings him in fo very much, and our performing all the reft of the Service, is thought to deferve fo very little.

BUT why fhould we grieve at the Clark, when the very Sexton pretends to outvie us in point of Income; and is not afraid to tell us, that any common Footman, with feven Pounds yearly, and seven Shillings a Week Board-wages, with a good entire Livery, his Mafter's caft

off

off Clothes, and now and then fome accidental Vails and private Advantages, is in a more profperous and thriving Condition of Life, than the higheft Stipendiary Curate among us. Thus, Eccl.x.17. Servants upon Horfes, are no new or uncommon Sight in our Days; and Priefts, that call themselves fpiritual Princes, walking as Servants upon the Earth

BUT to carry this Matter into fome of its Confequences: How can it otherwise be, but that Contempt and Ignominy, as well as all other Calamities of Poverty, fhould be the certain Effect of fuch incompetent Allowances? For, fay what we will, there is no correcting the Opinions of Mankind; even wife People will follow the Vulgar in efteeming Men according to their Riches, Dignities and Honours, and fuch other things as are without them, notwithstanding the manifeft Abfurdity of the thing. And tho' the Refpect that is due to us is fettled, as I have fhewn abfolutely, upon our facerdotal Character, and in that Regard is unalterable by any Circumftances of Fortune; yet few People have fuch logical Heads as to diftinguifh, or fuch nice Conceptions as to feparate the Man from his Profeffion, and fo reverence him as a Divine, while they defpife him for being poor: Few People fuch unprejudicedMinds, as not to account of an Ecclefiaftick in proportion to the Value of his Livings, and think that he rifes or falls in his Pulpit-performance, according to the Colour of his Wig, or the Luftre or Tarnish of Scarf, Gown, or Caffock.

No Man can think, * fays another much quoted, that he whofe "Countenance is cheary, and Barns full, can preach more powerfully,

*Vid. Grounds of the Cont. of the Clergy, p. 125, 126.

or

or petition Heaven more prevalently, than he "who is pitifully pale, and has not one Ear of "Corn of his own: and yet (fo the Humour is) "Men will not believe that he talks any thing "to the Purpose, that wants ordinary Food " for his Family; or that his Advice can come "from Above, who is fcarce defended against "the Weather; nor care they to confefs their "Sins, or pray against them, with him that "they think fighs more for Money and Victuals, "than for his Trefpaffes and Offences.". The wife Son of Sirach has more gravely remark'd this Difference: When the Rich Speaketh, fays he, every one boldeth his Tongue, and his Words are extoll'd to the Clouds; but if the poor Man Speak, they fay, who is this? Who is this, that in fuch a forlorn Habit dares inveigh against Riches and Excefs? that with fuch a meagre Look flies in the Face of triumphant Wickednefs? He forgets the Distance his Condition fhould teach him, and that such Boldness as this but badly becomes his tatter'd Gown.

*La Richeffe permet une jufte Fierte ; Mais il faut etre fouple avec la Pauvrete.

FOR your Lordship must know, that there are fome Texts and Points of Doctrine, that we dare no more touch upon, than take a Bear by the Tooth, for fear of offending fome of the new-fashion'd Gentry, and thereby lofing the ftanding Perquifite of a Sunday's Dinner.

THUS, for Inftance, if there happens to be in the Parish such an one as the Poet describes,