Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 5.djvu/168

160 for no reason in the world, but because it is spoken extempore: for ordinary minds are wholly governed by their eyes and ears; and there is no way to come at their hearts, but by power over their imaginations.

There is my friend and merry companion Daniel: he knows a great deal better than he speaks, and can form a proper discourse as well as any orthodox neighbour. But he knows very well, that to bawl out, My beloved! and the words grace! regeneration! sanctification! a new light! the day! the day! ay, my beloved, the day! or rather the night! the night is coming! and judgment will come, when we least think of it! and so forth He knows, to be vehement is the only way to come at his audience. Daniel, when he sees my friend Greenhat come in, can give a good hint, and cry out, This is only for the saints! the regenerated! By this force of action, though mixed with all the incoherence and ribaldry imaginable, Daniel can laugh at his diocesan, and grow fat by voluntary subscription, while the parson of the parish goes to law for half his dues. Daniel will tell you, It is not the shepherd, but the sheep with the bell, which the flock follows.

Another thing, very wonderful this learned body should omit, is, learning to read; which is a most necessary part of eloquence in one who is to serve at the altar: for there is no man but must be sensible, that the lazy tone, and inarticulate sound of our common readers, depreciates the most proper form of words that were ever extant in any nation or language, to speak their own wants, or his power from whom we ask relief.

There cannot be a greater instance of the power of action than in little parson Dapper, who is the common