But fhou'd, ah! painful thought! thro' tedious Years,
One faithful heart the other's lofs deplore, Hope points to realms beyond this vale of tears Where we shall meet.
The two following Poetical Epiftles paffed between a Clergyman and an accomplished young Lady, by profeffion, a Quaker.The Reader will obferve the Subject is BAPTISM. Which of them has best reafoned on this matter, is submitted to the Public. Be that as it may, they have both displayed Abilities pot unworthy of their characters.
LAVINIA.
ARK, how the facred thunder rends the skies!
H Repent and be baptiz'd, Chrift's herald cries;
Repent and be baptiz'd, confenting Hear's replies,
And can Lavinia unaffected hear
This awfui Meffage echoing in her Ear?
Will my Lavinia unconverted prove
Rebel to God, and faithlefs unto Love?
Say fill a Parent's abfolute Command,
The mighty voice of God himself withstand?
Shall heavenly Calls to earthly Ties give Place,
And filial Fondness fruftrare Chriftian Grace?
Shall Human Wit, Omnifcience engage,
And Barclay, endless War with Jesus wage
Mut each Apofle wave his claim to merit,
That Fox may fhine first Martyr of the Spirit?
Must common fenfe he banish'd from the Soul,
E'er Gofpel-Selve can, make the Sinner whole?
Mut each Adept in Calvary's great school
Be not in meeknefs, but in fact a fool?
Mud Paul at Corinth, be a Babbler too;
And Peter, when a Baptift, be a Jew.
Vol. I.
'Muft Philip's procefs be fuperfluous thought,
Becaufe He wab'd the Eunuch He had taught ?
Muit Fed'ral rites be metaphor'd away
And atual Homage conftrued Difobey?
Such juggling arts may change each part of fpcech,
Make Water Spirit- and Baptize, to teach,
Bu if fuch jargon Jefus :ep efets,
The light indeed is lent alone to Saints?
Thea in the Letter double death we find,
And Chrift in figure only fav'd mankind.
LAVINIA's ANSWER.
"Hark. bow the facred Thunder rends the skies,
Repent and be baptiz'd, Cbrift's Herald cries:
"Repent and be baptiz'd, confenting Heaven replies.”
THE Chriftian heart reveres the folemn found,
And doubly bumbled treads the facre ground;
Owns the injunction's undifputed claim,
Its awful import, and its glorious aim;
But here a diffrence mutual Zeal excites,
You plead for outward, we for mental rives ?
We think the gospel's hallow'd page inspires
Superior efforts, nor one type requires ;
Since no lavations can effectual prove
The innate ftains of nature to remove.
No mode of Words can heavenly Grace impart
To an infantile and unconscious Heart.
Hence we as vain and ufelefs difallow
The faithefs furety and unbinding Vow;
As empty hadows which men may obferve,
Yet from the fubftance in the Conduct swerve:
While fuperftitious Rites their time divide,
They ceafe to follow Virtue as their guide ;
Enfav'd by canons and the various roles
Of councils, fynods, colleges, and schopis,
Thus might mankind, for some an ample field,
To circumcifion's ancient custom yield ;'
Or humbly prostrate, in the public street,
With blind devotion, wash each other's feet.
Its thus that holiness to form gives place,
And folemn trifling fruftra es Christian grace.
In Jordan's pool, well pleas'd the Almighty faw
His Son belov'd, fubmitting to the Law;
But His Apofties thro' the World he fent
With a Baptizing Pow'r, beyond th' E ́ement.
This mighty pow'r His Ferald did proclaim,
He hall Baptize you wish an holy flame.
Yet water was in ufe, an ancient rite,
Of old the common form o profelyie;
But no dependance placereon you'll fee,
And Paul and Peter on this point agree.
Then real chriftians with illumin'd thought,
View truth unbiafs'd, as its Author taught :
No typic Obfervations are revered,
Since their immortal antitype appeared.
Fox preach'd this Doctrine to a leeking age,
It shines in Barclay's unrefuted Page.
Simp'e their fcaeme No mean feif-love they knew,
Bur freely preaca'd, without a fordid view;
With hearts devoted, goipel trutn display'd,
And scorn'd to make Divinity a Trade!
No juggling arts e'er used
O'er obvious texts and fenfe to tyrannize:
Difcerning truth by its own native light,
And by its guidance, practis'd what was right.
This ftate a rain'd-external figns no more
Demand obie vance, as in days of yore.
'fis grace alone we by experience find,
Imparts inftruction to th' attentive mind.
Convicts of Error-aid reftrains from fin,
For what thefe a e, it man teits wirbin.
Each waywar'd Paffion by its aid fubdued,
The foul's enthron'd in native rectitude:
Cleans'd of its ftains-and sprinkled from above,
With pure defcendings of atoning Love.
A Baptifm this! effe it at you will find,
Or" Christ in figure only fav'd mankind :"
Tais then alone my fuppliant fpirit crave,
Since but one Lord, one Faith, one Baptim faves.
The laft Month's ENIGMA and REBUSSES
Answered by W. L. Sunderland.
THE tweet and fragrant PIPPIN can
Than PASSMAN does in fciences,
He handles them right well..
By naval art he fteers his courfe;
Sound judgment is his rudder;
Can fail the Mathematics thro',
Nor at a CURRENT fhudder.
The fame anfwered by ARIST EUS.
The STOCKTON BEE
Verùm ipfæ è foliis natos, et fuavibus berbis
TO cull from herbs and various flow'rs we fee, What laws do govern the industrious B÷E.Æ4 Their petty king by choice they now obtain; And PASSMAN first must rule their fmall doR 9:
But by the windy CURRENT if they'retoft, R8 Their wings are broken, and their lives are loft Yet, for the love of flow'rs an i fruit, we find They fuck the PIPPIN;--we improve the R. 10.
Thro' their short life, of feven years fpan, 'Tis poffible, perhaps, t'improve the plan; And then their houfe at Stockton we may
To keep the records of their ancient fame.
"The fame anfwered by Mr. W. TATE, in
ENIGMA V.
BEFORE the fons of inen received birth, 4
I was created, with their mother Earth;
But by rude hands I from my reft was torn;
My shape uncouth and rugged-I was borne,
With rapid CURRENT, to the artifan, R. 8.
As Mr. PASSMAN may give in the plan. R.9.
My back and front are polifh'd fimooth indeed,
But various figures often grace my head:
Sometimes 'tis acute, obtule, or ogee,
As Art, by Fancy prompted, doth agree;
And when I'm finish'd both for ufe and view,
The king of terrors I prefent to you.
The wit in 'nigmas fkill'd, that me explai is,
Deferves a golden PIPPIN for his pains. R.10
VI. By a STOCKTONIAN.
FAIR Ladies your attention lend,
And you'll difcover me your friend.
The earth at first doth me produce;
1 next am formed for your
ufe;
I various fufferings undergo,
And ftrange viciffitudes of woei
To fatisfy a brute's defire,
I'm catt into a flaming fire;
Where my body they do burn,
Tho' fometimes in revenge I turn,
And give them moft exquifite pain;
Nay I have many thousands flain.
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