The Works of Daniel Defoe Author:Daniel Defoe Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE TRUE-BORN ENGLISHMAN PART I WHEREVER God erects a house of prayer, The Devil always builds a chapel there:1 And 't will be found upon examinatio... more »n, The latter has the largest congregation : For ever since he first debauched the mind, He made a perfect conquest of mankind. With uniformity of service, he Reigns with a general aristocracy. No non-conforming sects disturb his reign, For of his yoke there's very few complain. He knows the genius and the inclination, And matches proper sins for every nation, He needs no standing-army government; 1 This old proverb was quoted by Robert Burton in his " Anatomy of Melancholy " (1621), " Where God hath a temple the Devil hath a chapel" (Part III. sc. iv. subs. 1). It was also No. 670 in George Herbert's " Jacula Prudentium," first published in 1640, where it ran, " No sooner is a temple built to God but the Devil builds a chapel hard by." Defoe was the first rhymer of the proverb, and the rider to it is his own. He always rules us by our own consent: His laws are easy, and his gentle sway Makes it exceeding pleasant to obey : The list of his vicegerents and commanders, Outdoes your Caesars or your Alexanders. They never fail of his infernal aid, And he's as certain ne'er to be betrayed. Through all the world they spread his vast command, And Death's eternal empire is maintained. They rule so politicly and so well, As if they were Lords Justices of Hell, Duly divided to debauch mankind, And plant infernal dictates in his mind. Pride, the first peer, and president of Hell, To his share Spain, the largest province, fell. The subtile Prince thought fittest to bestow On these the golden mines of Mexico, With all the silver mountains of Peru, Wealth which would in wise hands the world ...« less