Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A65330
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The Way to heaven in a string, or, Mr. A--'s argument burlesqu'd a poem. Canto I.
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1700
(1700)
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Wing W1169; ESTC R10590
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3,813
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12
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THE Way to HEAVEN in a String OR Mr. A 's Argument BURLESQU'D A POEM CANTO I. LONDON Printed for A. Baldwin in Warwick-Lane MDCC To the READER WE have of late been entertain'd with many pretty Whimms in Divinity but this the finest of them all A Religious Piece of Knight-Errantry to which if I said any thing at all I thought it must be in Burlesque for the Humour is comical enough Pity it is this wondrous Man had not liv'd in the Infancy of Time and taught poor Mortals this Lesson ' ere Death for so many Thousands of Years had ravaged the habitable parts of the World and glutted it self with the Spoils of Mankind The Scythe of Death had then a long time ago been rusty and useless and the Sands in the Glass of Time had run to no purpose But we of these latter Ages of the World must have the only Advantage of his Project who will not go out of the VVorld in the Common Road of his Neighbours but in a manner peculiar to himself Hinc Itur ad Astra Bootatus Spurratus ire ad Coelum Away mounts our Friend John and leaves this declining VVorld lessening out of sight These are the first Lines that ever I attempted in Dogrel and according to their reception in the VVorld perhaps may be the last The Design will bear a great many more and my Lines flow as the Learned Dr. Bunyan says of his They came to mine own Heart thence to my Head Thence to my Fingers ends they trickeled Thence to my Pen and then immediately On Paper I did drible it daintily Mr. A 's ARGUMENT BURLESQU'D THERE are some things are counted Real In which we Mortals do agree all Things form'd by cunning Allegories We do account to be meer Stories Some write of Fights of Mice and Froggs And others prate of Mastiff Dogs One has the Fairy Queen espy'd And told the Tale as if he ly'd Of Tib and Tom and Mib and Mab Names ne'er attain'd by Poet Squab But while such Fools do please Mens Fancies With idle Canto's of Romances I 'll tell you of a greater Knight Then e'er made Love or mov'd in Fight He neither was a Priest nor Parson Or Warriors Saddle laid his Arse on Yet in Divinity Profound He could great Sophisters confound Knew difference 'twixt the Jews and Turks And had read Learned Bunyan's Works Had Brooks his Golden Pippins read And by the wiser Folk 't is said He can as learnedly dispute As Parson Keith or fam'd Giles Shute He sagely in his Youth foresaw That Truths Divine need Props of Law To study which he did adhere And in 't became a Barister He something else at length became An Office got I must not name Ne Sutor ultra Crepidam He never bow'd his stubborn Knee In any Feats of Chivalry Despising such Knight-Errantry Where People for the very nonce Do fracture one another's Bones As Bullocks fight in Marshes fed To try which has the hardest Head He never lov'd the dismal Sounds Of murd'ring Guns of Blood and Wounds He still abhorr'd the frightful Sight The sad effect of cruel Fight He never got a broken Head Or for a Wound had Plaister spread Had no mischance in any Points To dislocate his nimble Joints But such Disasters as befal In Battels Metaphysical Which tho securing Head and Snout Do craze the Brains not beat 'em out By a deep insight in Religion He found how Mahomet and his Pigeon Did fly from hence to blest Abodes Translated to the very Gods With ev'ry Pinion not unhing'd And not one Feather of 'em sing'd In sacred Scripture he had read How Enoch and Elijah fled To Heav'n by Faith and in their flying Disdain'd the Common way of Dying Which does Mankind in Thraldom fetter Only because they know no better He and his Printer did agree To set men from this Bondage free And now Sir Knight has got a Squire As fit as e'er he could desire To preach this Doctrine would be vain Disturb the Head and Lungs would strain Let Parsons preach and Clerks go whilstle They 'l do the business by Epistle Which has of late gain'd Proselytes Of Tolandists and Asgilites Who form new Articles Divine Exceeding far our Thirty nine In London Town there 's scarcely found One Corner of that fertile Ground Which does not to the Age afford New Sects all founded on the Word Who like Logicians do dispute And one another still confute All of 'em Orthodox and all Alike are Apostolical But tho they make such zealous pother Some do thrive better than the other As Plants more generous are found To flourish best in fattest Ground Some tall ones scatter do their Seed And new ones do as Maggots breed Whilst these to height are always shoving Some others only are improving St. Pauls scarce outdoes Salters-Hall Tho its high Roof be far more tall Octavo Band and Cloak Divine As Folio Cassock is as fine The little Roundhead looks as big As Bishop in his powder'd Wig. And eke a wondrous Reformation Is happened in this godly Nation After a many stubborn Greetings The King is pray'd for in the Meetings That he may live long in the Nation Of publick Funds a long duration For these no King did e'er adore But what encreas'd their private Store Pardon good Reader I digress 'T is common in Pindarick Verse And eke in this it must be too If I but please to make it so And I without a Reason for 't Will make em long or cut 'em short Poets are Princes in their Station Although they govern not the Nation No man their Pow'r did yet dispute But always held 'em absolute Now had Sir Knight his Brain imploy'd How he might conquer and avoid Old Death that cunning subtle Fox Who lays Mankind in Earthy Stocks Says he good Squire 't is but folly To sit thus pensive melancholy Put but my Notions into print We 'll conquer Death or Devil's in 't I am Robustick tho I 'm Civil And grown a Match e'en for the Devil The Crooked Serpent who by Lying Entices Mankind into Dying So far does foolish Men deceive They cannot the dull Custom leave Had they but Faith they need not die Like Enoch might ad Astra fly And view the Regions of the Sky But here the Squire to Knight reply'd You have not yet your Notion try'd Your mighty Faith your Sense enthrals 'T is Philosophically false For what is born must surely die Or else Philosophers do lie All that is nourish'd is unstable And is revera corruptible And Death deciding of the strife Is but Corruption of our Life You must not Notions Sir espouse That do the Bonds of Nature loose And with such vehemence dispute 'em When e'ery Church-yard does confute ' em Besides Sir where is your Protection Against received Resurrection For it appears to all the Wise If we don't die we shall not rise You may for this be brought in Court And there be made