Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
scripture_n	authority_n	church_n	err_v	2,923	5	9.8588	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A36627	The hind and the panther a poem, in three parts.	Dryden, John, 1631-1700.	1687 (1687)	Wing D2281; ESTC R179	43,423	154

Yet these by fortunes favours are undone Resolv'd into a baser form they run And bore the wind but cannot bear the sun Let this be natures frailty or her fate Or Isgrim's counsel her new chosen mate Still she 's the fairest of the fallen crew No mother more indulgent but the true Fierce to her foes yet fears her force to try Because she wants innate auctority For how can she constrain them to obey Who has herself east off the lawfull sway Rebellion equals all and those who toil In common theft will share the common spoil Let her produce the title and the right Against her old superiours first to fight If she reform by Text ev'n that was plain For her own Rebels to reform again As long as words a diff'rent sense will bear And each may be his own Interpreter Our ai'ry faith will no foundation find The word 's a weathercock for ev'ry wind The Bear the Fox the Wolfe by turns prevail The most in pow'r supplies the present gale The wretched Panther crys aloud for aid To church and councils whom she first betray'd No help from Fathers or traditions train Those ancient guides she taught us to disdain And by that scripture which she once abus'd To Reformation stands her self accus'd What bills for breach of laws can she prefer Expounding which she owns herself may err And after all her winding ways are try'd If doubts arise she slips herself aside And leaves the private conscience for the guide If then that conscience set th' offender free It barrs her claim to church auctority How can she censure or what crime pretend But Scripture may be constru'd to defend Ev'n those whom for rebellion she transmits To civil pow'r her doctrine first acquits Because no disobedience can ensue Where no submission to a Judge is due Each judging for himself by her consent Whom thus absolv'd she sends to punishment Suppose the Magistrate revenge her cause 'T is onely for transgressing humane laws How answ'ring to its end a church is made Whose pow'r is but to counsell and persuade O solid rock on which secure she stands Eternal house not built with mortal hands O sure defence against th' infernal gate A patent during pleasure of the state Thus is the Panther neither lov'd nor fear'd A meer mock Queen of a divided Herd Whom soon by lawfull pow'r she might controll Her self a part submitted to the whole Then as the Moon who first receives the light By which she makes our nether regions bright So might she shine reflecting from afar The rays she borrow'd from a better star Big with the beams which from her mother flow And reigning o'er the rising tides below Now mixing with a salvage croud she goes And meanly flatters her invet'rate foes Rul'd while she rules and losing ev'ry hour Her wretched remnants of precarious pow'r One evening while the cooler shade she sought Revolving many a melancholy thought Alone she walk'd and look'd around in vain With rufull visage for her vanish'd train None of her sylvan subjects made their court Leveés and coucheés pass'd without resort So hardly can Usurpers manage well Those whom they first instructed to rebell More liberty begets desire of more The hunger still encreases with the store Without respect they brush'd along the wood Each in his clan and fill'd with loathsome food Ask'd no permission to the neighb'ring flood The Panther full of inward discontent Since they wou'd goe before 'em wisely went Supplying want of pow'r by drinking first As if she gave 'em leave to quench their thirst Among the rest the Hind with fearfull face Beheld from far the common wat'ring place Nor durst approach till with an awfull roar The sovereign Lyon bad her fear no more Encourag'd thus she brought her younglings nigh Watching the motions of her Patron 's eye And drank a sober draught the rest amaz'd Stood mutely still and on the stranger gaz'd Survey'd her part by part and sought to find The ten-horn'd monster in the harmless Hind Such as the Wolfe and Panther had design'd They thought at first they dream'd for 't was offence With them to question certitude of sense Their guide in faith but nearer when they drew And had the faultless object full in view Lord how they all admir'd her heav'nly hiew Some who before her fellowship disdain'd Scarce and but scarce from in born rage restrain'd Now frisk'd about her and old kindred feign'd Whether for love or int'rest ev'ry sect Of all the salvage nation shew'd respect The Vice-roy Panther could not awe the herd The more the company the less they fear'd The surly Wolfe with secret envy burst Yet cou'd not howl the Hind had seen him first But what he durst not speak the Panther durst For when the herd suffis'd did late repair To ferny heaths and to their forest lare She made a mannerly excuse to stay Proff'ring the Hind to wait her half the way That since the Sky was clear an hour of talk Might help her to beguile the tedious walk With much good-will the motion was embrac'd To chat awhile on their adventures pass'd Nor had the gratefull Hind so soon forgot Her friend and fellow-suff'rer in the plot Yet wondring how of late she grew estrang'd Her forehead cloudy and her count'nance chang'd She thought this hour th' occasion would present To learn her secret cause of discontent Which well she hop'd might be with ease redress'd Consid'ring Her a well-bred civil beast And more a Gentlewoman than the rest After some common talk what rumours ran The Lady of the spotted-muff began THE HIND AND THE PANTHER The Second Part. DAME said the Panther times are mended well Since late among the Philistines you fell The toils were pich'd a spacious tract of ground With expert hunts-men was encompass'd round Th' Enclosure narrow'd the sagacious pow'r Of hounds and death drew nearer ev'ry hour 'T is true the younger Lyon scap'd the snare But all your priestly calves lay strugling there As sacrifices on their Altars laid While you their carefull mother wisely fled Not trusting destiny to save your head For what e'er promises you have apply'd To your unfailing church the surer side Is four fair leggs in danger to provide And what e'er tales of Peter's chair you tell Yet saving reverence of the miracle The better luck was yours to 'scape so well As I remember said the sober Hind Those toils were for your own dear self design'd As well as me and with the self same throw To catch the quarry and the vermin too Forgive the sland'rous tongues that call'd you so How e'er you take it now the common cry Then ran you down for your rank loyalty Besides in Popery they thought you nurst As evil tongues will ever speak the worst Because some forms and ceremonies some You kept and stood in the main question dumb Dumb you were born indeed but thinking long The Test it seems at last has loos'd your tongue And to