you reject as odious Popery And throw that doctrine back with scorn on me Suppose we on things traditive divide And both appeal to Scripture to decide By various texts we both uphold our claim Nay often ground our titles on the same After long labour lost and times expence Both grant the words and quarrel for the sense Thus all disputes for ever must depend For no dumb rule can controversies end Thus when you said tradition must be try'd By Sacred Writ whose sense your selves decide You said no more but that your selves must be The judges of the Scripture sense not we Against our church tradition you declare And yet your Clerks wou'd sit in Moyse's chair At least 't is prov'd against your argument The rule is far from plain where all dissent If not by Scriptures how can we be sure Reply'd the Panther what tradition's pure For you may palm upon us new for old All as they say that glitters is not gold How but by following her reply'd the Dame To whom deriv'd from sire to son they came Where ev'ry age do's on another move And trusts no farther than the next above Where all the rounds like Iacob's ladder rise The lowest hid in earth the topmost in the skyes Sternly the salvage did her answer mark Her glowing eye ' balls glitt'ring in the dark And said but this since lucre was your trade Succeeding times such dreadfull gaps have made 'T is dangerous climbing to your sons and you I leave the ladder and its omen too Hind The Panther's breath was ever fam'd for sweet But from the Wolfe such wishes oft I meet You learn'd this language from the blatant beast Or rather did not speak but were possess'd As for your answer 't is but barely urg'd You must evince tradition to be forg'd Produce plain proofs unblemish'd authours use As ancient as those ages they accuse Till when 't is not sufficient to defame An old possession stands till Elder quitts the claim Then for our int'rest which is nam'd alone To load with envy we retort your own For when traditions in your faces fly Resolving not to yield you must decry As when the cause goes hard the guilty man Excepts and thins his jury all he can So when you stand of other aid bereft You to the twelve Apostles would be left Your friend the Wolfe did with more craft provide To set those toys traditions quite aside And Fathers too unless when reason spent He cites 'em but sometimes for ornament But Madam Panther you though more sincere Are not so wise as your Adulterer The private spirit is a better blind Than all the dodging tricks your authours find For they who left the Scripture to the crowd Each for his own peculiar judge allow'd The way to please 'em was to make 'em proud Thus with full sails they ran upon the shelf Who cou'd suspect a couzenage from himself On his own reason safer 't is to stand Than be deceiv'd and damn'd at second hand But you who Fathers and traditions take And garble some and some you quite forsake Pretending church auctority to fix And yet some grains of private spirit mix Are like a Mule made up of diff'ring seed And that 's the reason why you never breed At least not propagate your kind abroad For home-dissenters are by statutes aw'd And yet they grow upon you ev'ry day While you to speak the best are at a stay For sects that are extremes abhor a middle way Like tricks of state to stop a raging flood Or mollify a mad-brain'd Senate's mood Of all expedients never one was good Well may they argue nor can you deny If we must fix on church auctority Best on the best the fountain not the flood That must be better still if this be good Shall she command who has herself rebell'd Is Antichrist by Antichrist expell'd Did we a lawfull tyranny displace To set aloft a bastard of the race Why all these wars to win the Book if we Must not interpret for our selves but she Either be wholly slaves or wholly free For purging fires traditions must not fight But they must prove Episcopacy's right Thus those led horses are from service freed You never mount 'em but in time of need Like mercenary's hir'd for home defence They will not serve against their native Prince Against domestick foes of Hierarchy These are drawn forth to make fanaticks fly But when they see their countrey-men at hand Marching against 'em under church-command Straight they forsake their colours and disband Thus she nor cou'd the Panther well enlarge With weak defence against so strong a charge But said for what did Christ his Word provide If still his church must want a living guide And if all saving doctrines are not there Or sacred Pen-men cou'd not make 'em clear From after ages we should hope in vain For truths which men inspir'd cou'd not explain Before the Word was written said the Hind Our Saviour preach'd his Faith to humane kind From his Apostles the first age receiv'd Eternal truth and what they taught believ'd Thus by tradition faith was planted first Succeeding flocks succeeding Pastours nurs'd This was the way our wise Redeemer chose Who sure could all things for the best dispose To fence his sold from their encroaching foes He cou'd have writ himself but well foresaw Th' event wou'd be like that of Moyses law Some difference wou'd arise some doubts remain Like those which yet the jarring Iews maintain No written laws can be so plain so pure But wit may gloss and malice may obscure Not those indited by his first command A Prophet grav'd the text an Angel held his hand Thus faith was e'er the written word appear'd And men believ'd not what they read but heard But since th' Apostles cou'd not be confin'd To these or those but severally design'd Their large commission round the world to blow To spread their faith they spread their labours too Yet still their absent flock their pains did share They hearken'd still for love produces care And as mistakes arose or discords fell Or bold seducers taught 'em to rebell As charity grew cold or faction hot Or long neglect their lessons had forgot For all their wants they wisely did provide And preaching by Epistles was supply'd So great Physicians cannot all attend But some they visit and to some they send Yet all those letters were not writ to all Nor first intended but occasional Their absent sermons nor if they contain All needfull doctrines are those doctrines plain Clearness by frequent preaching must be wrought They writ but seldome but they daily taught And what one Saint has said of holy Paul He darkly writ is true apply'd to all For this obscurity could heav'n provide More prudently than by a living guide As doubts arose the difference to decide A guide was therefore needfull therefore made And if appointed sure to be obey'd Thus with due rev'rence to th' Apostles writ By which my sons
are taught to which submit I think those truths their sacred works contain The church alone can certainly explain That following ages leaning on the past May rest upon the Primitive at last Nor wou'd I thence the word no rule infer But none without the church interpreter Because as I have urg'd before 't is mute And is it self the subject of dispute But what th' Apostles their successours taught They to the next from them to us is brought Th' undoubted sense which is in scripture sought From hence the church is arm'd when errours rise To stop their entrance and prevent surprise And safe entrench'd within her foes without defies By these all festring sores her councils heal Which time or has disclos'd or shall reveal For discord cannot end without a last appeal Nor can a council national decide But with subordination to her Guide I wish the cause were on that issue try'd Much less the scripture for suppose debate Betwixt pretenders to a fair estate Bequeath'd by some Legator's last intent Such is our dying Saviour's Testament The will is prov'd is open'd and is read The doubtfull heirs their diff'ring titles plead All vouch the words their int'rest to maintain And each pretends by those his cause is plain Shall then the testament award the right No that 's the Hungary for which they fight The field of battel subject of debate The thing contended for the fair estate The sense is intricate 't is onely clear What vowels and what consonants are there Therefore 't is plain its meaning must be try'd Before some judge appointed to decide Suppose the fair Apostate said I grant The faithfull flock some living guide should want Your arguments an endless chase persue Produce this vaunted Leader to our view This mighty Moyses of the chosen crew The Dame who saw her fainting foe retir'd With force renew'd to victory aspir'd And looking upward to her kindred sky As once our Saviour own'd his Deity Pronounc'd his words she whom ye seek am I. Nor less amaz'd this voice the Panther heard Than were those Iews to hear a god declar'd Then thus the matron modesty renew'd Let all your prophets and their sects be view'd And see to which of 'em your selves think fit The conduct of your conscience to submit Each Proselyte wou'd vote his Doctor best With absolute exclusion to the rest Thus wou'd your Polish Diet disagree And end as it began in Anarchy Your self the fairest for election stand Because you seem crown-gen'ral of the land But soon against your superstitious lawn Some Presbyterian Sabre wou'd be drawn In your establish'd laws of sov'raignty The rest some fundamental flaw wou'd see And call Rebellion gospel-liberty To church-decrees your articles require Submission modify'd if not entire Homage deny'd to censures you proceed But when Curtana will not doe the deed You lay that pointless clergy-weapon by And to the laws your sword of justice fly Now this your sects the more unkindly take Those prying varlets hit the blots you make Because some ancient friends of yours declare Your onely rule of faith the Scriptures are Interpreted by men of judgment sound Which ev'ry sect will for themselves expound Nor think less rev'rence to their doctours due For sound interpretation than to you If then by able heads are understood Your brother prophets who reform'd abroad Those able heads expound a wiser way That their own sheep their shepherd shou'd obey But if you mean your selves are onely sound That doctrine turns the reformation round And all the rest are false reformers found Because in sundry points you stand alone Not in communion join'd with any one And therefore must be all the church or none Then till you have agreed whose judge is best Against this forc'd submission they protest While sound and sound a diff'rent sense explains Both play at hard-head till they break their brains And from their chairs each others force defy While unregarded thunders vainly fly I pass the rest because your church alone Of all usurpers best cou'd fill the throne But neither you nor any sect beside For this high office can be qualify'd With necessary gifts requir'd in such a guide For that which must direct the whole must be Bound in one bond of faith and unity But all your sev'ral churches disagree The Consubstantiating church and Priest Refuse communion to the Calvinist The French reform'd from preaching you restrain Because you judge their ordination vain And so they judge of yours but Donors must ordain In short in doctrine or in discipline Not one reform'd can with another join But all from each as from damnation fly No union they pretend but in Non-Popery Nor shou'd their members in a synod meet Cou'd any church presume to mount the seat Above the rest their discords to decide None wou'd obey but each wou'd be the guide And face to face dissentions wou'd encrease For onely distance now preserves the peace All in their turns accusers and accus'd Babel was never half so much confus'd What one can plead the rest can plead as well For amongst equals lies no last appeal And all confess themselves are fallible Now since you grant some necessary guide All who can err are justly laid aside Because a trust so sacred to confer Shows want of such a sure interpreter And how can he be needfull who can err Then granting that unerring guide we want That such there is you stand oblig'd to grant Our Saviour else were wanting to supply Our needs and obviate that necessity It then remains that church can onely be The guide which owns unfailing certainty Or else you slip your hold and change your side Relapsing from a necessary guide But this annex'd condition of the crown Immunity from errours you disown Here then you shrink lay your weak pretensions down For petty royalties you raise debate But this unfailing universal state You shun nor dare succeed to such a glorious weight And for that cause those promises detest With which our Saviour did his Church invest But strive t'evade and fear to find 'em true As conscious they were never meant to you All which the mother church asserts her own And with unrivall'd claim ascends the throne So when of old th' Almighty father sate In Council to redeem our ruin'd state Millions of millions at a distance round Silent the sacred Consistory crown'd To hear what mercy mixt with justice cou'd propound All prompt with eager pity to fulfill The full extent of their Creatour's will But when the stern conditions were declar'd A mournfull whisper through the host was heard And the whole hierarchy with heads hung down Submissively declin'd the pondrous proffer'd crown Then not till then th' eternal Son from high Rose in the strength of all the Deity Stood forth t' accept the terms and underwent A weight which all the frame of heav'n had bent Nor he Himself cou'd bear but as omnipotent Now to remove the least remaining doubt That
the gen'rous Lyon has in sight His equal match he rouses for the fight But when his 〈◊〉 lyes prostrate on the plain He sheaths his paws uncurls his angry mane And pleas'd with bloudless honours of the day Walks over and disdains th' inglorious Prey So IAMES if great with less we may compare Arrests his rowling thunder-bolts in air And grants ungratefull friends a lengthn'd space T' implore the remnants of long suff'ring grace This breathing-time the Matron took and then Resum'd the thrid of her discourse agen Be vengeance wholly left to pow'rs divine And let heav'n judge betwixt your sons and mine If joyes hereafter must be purchas'd here With loss of all that mortals hold so dear Then welcome infamy and publick shame And last a long farwell to worldly fame 'T is said with ease but oh how hardly try'd By haughty souls to humane honour ty'd O sharp convulsive pangs of agonizing pride Down then thou rebell never more to rise And what thou didst and do'st so dearly prize That fame that darling fame make that thy sacrifice 'T is nothing thou hast giv'n then add thy tears For a long race of unrepenting years 'T is nothing yet yet all thou hast to give Then add those may-be years thou hast to live Yet nothing still then poor and naked come Thy father will receive his unthrift home And thy blest Saviour's bloud discharge the mighty sum Thus she pursu'd I discipline a son Whose uncheck'd fury to revenge wou'd run He champs the bit impatient of his loss And starts a-side and flounders at the cross Instruct him better gracious God to know As thine is vengeance so forgiveness too That suff'ring from ill tongues he bears no more Than what his Sovereign bears and what his Saviour bore It now remains for you to school your child And ask why God's anointed he revil'd A King and Princess dead did Shimei worse The curser's punishment should fright the curse Your son was warn'd and wisely gave it o're But he who councell'd him has paid the score The heavy malice cou'd no higher tend But wo to him on whom the weights descend So to permitted ills the Daemon flyes His rage is aim'd at him who rules the skyes Constrain'd to quit his cause no succour found The foe discharges ev'ry Tyre around In clouds of smoke abandoning the fight But his own thundring peals proclaim his flight In Henry's change his charge as ill succeeds To that long story little answer needs Confront but Henry's words with Henry's deeds Were space allow'd with ease it might be prov'd What springs his blessed reformation mov'd The dire effects appear'd in open sight Which from the cause he calls a distant flight And yet no larger leap than from the sun to light Now last your sons a double Poean sound A Treatise of Humility is found 'T is found but better it had ne'er been sought Than thus in Protestant procession brought The fam'd original through Spain is known Rodriguez work my celebrated son Which yours by ill-translating made his own Conceal'd its authour and usurp'd the name The basest and ignoblest theft of fame My Altars kindl'd first that living coal Restore or practice better what you stole That vertue could this humble verse inspire 'T is all the restitution I require Glad was the Panther that the charge was clos'd And none of all her fav'rite sons expos'd For laws of arms permit each injur'd man To make himself a saver where he can Perhaps the plunder'd merchant cannot tell The names of Pirates in whose hands he fell But at the den of thieves he justly flies And ev'ry Algerine is lawfull prize No private person in the foes estate Can plead exemption from the publick fate Yet Christian laws allow not such redress Then let the greater supersede the less But let th' Abbettors of the Panther's crime Learn to make fairer wars another time Some characters may sure be found to write Among her sons for 't is no common sight A spotted Dam and all her offspring white The Salvage though she saw her plea controll'd Yet wou'd not wholly seem to quit her hold But offer'd fairly to compound the strife And judge conversion by the convert's life 'T is true she said I think it somewhat strange So few shou'd follow profitable change For present joys are more to flesh and bloud Than a dull prospect of a distant good 'T was well alluded by a son of mine I hope to quote him is not to purloin Two magnets heav'n and earth allure to bliss The larger loadstone that the nearer this The weak attraction of the greater fails We nodd a-while but neighbourhood prevails But when the greater proves the nearer too I wonder more your converts come so slow Methinks in those who firm with me remain It shows a nobler principle than gain Your inf'rence wou'd be strong the Hind reply'd If yours were in effect the suff'ring side Your clergy sons their own in peace possess Nor are their prospects in reversion less My Proselytes are struck with awfull dread Your bloudy Comet-laws hang blazing o're their head The respite they enjoy but onely lent The best they have to hope protracted punishment Be judge your self if int'rest may prevail Which motives yours or mine will turn the scale While pride and pomp allure and plenteous ease That is till man's predominant passions cease Admire no longer at my slow encrease By education most have been misled So they believe because they so were bred The Priest continues what the nurse began And thus the child imposes on the man. The rest I nam'd before nor need repeat But int'rest is the most prevailing cheat The fly seducer both of age and youth They study that and think they study truth When int'rest fortifies an argument Weak reason serves to gain the wills assent For souls already warp'd receive an easie bent Add long prescription of establish'd laws And picque of honour to maintain a cause And shame of change and fear of future ill And Zeal the blind conductor of the will And chief among the still mistaking crowd The fame of teachers obstinate and proud And more than all the private Judge allow'd Disdain of Fathers which the daunce began And last uncertain who 's the narrower span The clown unread and half-read gentleman To this the Panther with a scornfull smile Yet still you travail with unwearied toil And range around the realm without controll Among my sons for Proselytes to prole And here and there you snap some silly soul. You hinted fears of future change in state Pray heav'n you did not prophesie your fate Perhaps you think your time of triumph near But may mistake the season of the year The Swallows fortune gives you cause to fear For charity reply'd the Matron tell What sad mischance those pretty birds befell Nay no mischance the salvage Dame reply'd But want of wit in their unerring guide And eager haste and gaudy hopes and giddy pride Yet wishing