Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
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A63058
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A pastoral dialogue a poem.
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Tate, Nahum, 1652-1715.
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1690
(1690)
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Wing T202A; ESTC R28192
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12,358
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34
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A Pastoral Dialogue A POEM Liberius si Dixero quid si forte Jocosius Hoc mihi juris Cum Veniâ dabis Hor. Vincit Amor Patriae Virg. LONDON Printed for Richard Baldwin near the Oxford-Arms in Warwick-Lane MDCXC PREFACE I Could heartily have wish'd there had been no Occasion offer'd or Subject-matter for an Essay of this kind After so happy and wonderful a Revolution as we have seen when our Hopes were grown desperate and our Liberty reduc'd to its very last gasp to have the only Remedy in Nature so effectually apply'd so miraculous a Recovery perform'd after all this to find English-men and such as pretend to no other Interest or Religion but That of their Country to findThem expressing Dissatisfaction every-where busie in sowing Dissention obstructing as far as in them lies the Progress of Affairs and unhinging the present Settlement upon which alone depends the Safety of these Nations and common Quiet of Europe This is so just a Cause of Indignation as must make every Lover of his Countrey to turn Satyrist or at least excuse the honest Zeal of such as upon this Occasion express their Resentments To be unconcern'd for a Man's Country is theworstwant of natural Affection A Crime reputed so heinous amongst the more generous Heathens that it divested the indulgent Brutus of all Compassion on his Sons whom he submitted to the extremity of Punishment for making Commotions in the new Settlement of the Roman Liberty Gnatosque Pater nova Bella moventes In Paenam dulci pro Libertate vocabit In tracing the Occasions of the late Disturbances and Discontents of the State I was unwillingly brought within the Verge of the Church There is no Man that has a greater Veneration for the Sacred Function and Order or the Discipline and Worship by Law establish'd neither does the Passive Principle it self that has so nearly endanger'd the Shipwreck both of State and Church derive its source from the pure Fountain of our Reformation 'T was a new-sprouted Tail of the Dragon that swept many of our Stars tho but few of the First Magnitude most whereof recover'd themselves as soon as they were sensible of the Consequence For my own part says one I am so little asham'd of altering my Opinion in this matter that I think I have nothing to blush for but that I no sooner discover'd my Error and the ungrateful and odious use that was design'd to be made of it The Number is but small of such as still adhere to the Prejudice of their Education under a Government whose bufiness it was to debauch our Principles and dispose us for the Slavery that was to be brought upon us What I have touch'd concerning Penal Impositions on Conscience and the Nicene Assembly amongst whom were many Persons that preserv'd the Primitive Character I must for the Consequence refer you to the Testimony of Church-Historians inftancing only one Passage in St. Hilary who gives us this Account Conscii sumus quod post Nicaenam Synodum nihil aliud quam Fidem scribimus dum in Verbis pugna est dum de novitatibus quaestio est dum de Ambiguis Occasio est dum de Authoribus querela est dum de studiis certamen est dum in Consensu difficultas est dum Alter Alteri Anathema esse caepit prope jam nemo Christi est c. Tandem eo processum est ut neque penes nos neque penes quenquam ante nos Sanctum exinde aliquid perseveret annuas atque menstruas de Deo fides decernimus decretis paenitemus paenitentes defendimus defensos Anathematizamus aut in nostris aliena aut aliena in nostris damnamus mordentes invicem jam absumpti sumus ab invicem I cannot bètter make my Apology than in the words of a late Writer upon this Occasion who says It is not their declaring their Opinion wherein they seem to me to have light upon the Truth if they had likewise upon the Measure that could have moved me to speak with this liberty but their imposing what was not contain'd in express words of Scripture under Spiritual and Civil Penalties contrary to the Privilege of Religion and making a Precedent follow'd and improv'd by all succeeding Ages for most Cruel Perfecutions There is no Person so obscure or inconfiderable but might have observed our most zealous Protestants both Church-men and Dissenters to have been all along Properties to the Common Enemy so visible have been the Triumphs and Insultings of Roman Emissaries upon the Animosities they have sown amongst us and of which they reckon'd shortly to reap the Harvest The Unreasonableness that is to say the Impossibility of Force in matters of meer Conscience and Opinion has demonstrated it self through all Ages Our Dissenters have had their Faults and they have suffer'd Neither is it the least Blessing amongst those Great and Many that seem to be reserv'd for His present Majesty's Reign That we do not yet despair of a Comprehension His Majesty has with more than Constantine's Piety signaliz'd His Royal Inclination the ablest of our Spiritual Guides are zealous Endeavourers for it and That amongst other weighty Reasons for the True Interest and Inviolable Security of the Church Establish'd Which as it influences the Publick Happiness it is the Duty of ev'n the meanest Lay-man to be sollicitous for it And this Privilege at least I may plead for what I have said For common quiet is Mankinds Concern Relig. Lai Now as to your Censure of this Essay as a Poem I have that Indifference which is necessary for an ill Writer If it have the least degree of Art or Beauty the Judicious will not miss of it Otherwise I have seldom known a Reader barangu'd into a favourable Opinion against his Conscience The Nature of the Dialogue oblig'd me for the most part to Expressions that were familiar and Sermoni propiora You will find it but praeliminary to a more agreeable Subject if any Pitch of Zeal can warrant so mean a Talent in the Faculty as Mine for the Undertaking A Pastoral Dialogue A POEM NEar Isis Spring the Muses poor Retreat Palaemon dwelt in his unenvied Seat Whose little but Hereditary Soil Answer'd his mod'rate Hopes if not his Toil For Nature's Wants did modestly provide Content and Innocence the Rest supply'd His Years declin'd his Thoughts their Manly Fire Preserv'd advancing as his Days retire None better knew or practis'd in his Cell The chast Delights that in Retirement dwell That scorn the Golden Mansions of the Proud And fly the Haunts of the unhallow'd Crowd Betimes he shunn'd the beaten Roads of Strife And found the secret Track to peaceful Life Too blest if while his private Cares did cease No Fears had seiz'd him for his Countrey 's Peace So strong the Guard of Vertues which he chose Fate had no other way to his Repose Religion He and Loyalty held dear Bigot in neither tho in both Sincere In ev'ry Course by Truth