BAXTER'S POEMS. 141 One from the dead sent could not change their mind; But it by sense too late will changed be. God gives men life; they'll not consider why: Time's short: fools know not what theyhaveto do, Nor think why they were born, till they must die, Nor whither their departing souls must go. They live, as ·if they thought that Heaven and Hell Were th' only places of consideration, And to be drunk, or mad, were to be well: And fool away this life of preparation. HYPOCRISY. BuT• none are worse than learned reverend fools, Who vend their folly under wisdom's name, And are Abaddon's keenest hurtful tools, By usurp'd grandeur and religious fame. Who teach untruths, or live not as they teach, Pretend to watch for other men's salvation, And hate the holy life for which they preach, And as a trade preach their own condemnation. Who against Christ do fight with sacred arms ; His name and words, church-order, forg'd commission, And reverend titles are made potent charms, To win the ignorant to their conditions. They praise God's word, but make it first their own, The words are God's, the church must make the sense,
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