Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A67501
|
Ecclesia & Factio a dialogue between Bow-Steeple Dragon and the Exchange Grasshopper.
|
Ward, Edward, 1667-1731.
|
1698
(1698)
|
Wing W733; ESTC R8751
|
5,558
|
18
|
Bended-knees submit In disrespectful Postures Lolling sit Next with Church-Government you disagree And causlesly condemn our Hierarchie Rail at my Bishops angry at their State And Envy them whose Merit made them Great The Learn'd and Pious Characters they wear Hath rais'd them to the Dignities they bear Unstain'd their Lives they are as Guardians chose To save the Church from Errour and from Foes Without whose Conduct and Authoritie Religions Pristine state can never be Kept from Erroneous Innovations free But stand expos'd to every abuse That each Fanatick whimsie shall produce Then sure such Men who by a Painful Life Thro' Grace to Knowledge more sublim'd arive And with the piercing Eyes of Reason see Thro' all the Mist'ries of Divinitie Justly deserve a Spiritual advance Above an unlearn'd or a half-learn'd Dunce Whose rowling Eyes feign'd Looks and yawning Jaws Can nothing utter but with Hums and Haughs Inspir'd with Ignorance then roars aloud Audacious Nonsense to a Brainless Croud T is these who from their Cradle are misled And backward taught to Factious Pulpits bred Who with impetuous vi'lence headlong run Pursuing Ills their Rebel Si'res begun Thus in their Fathers faults they persevere And by Instinct of Nature envious Dunces are These thro' their barren Ignorance exclaime Against all Order and the Church defame Pelting with Factious and Calumnious Lyes That Sacred Pow'r to which they cannot rise Spurning at all Ecclesiastick Pomp True Zealous Sons of the detested Rump Waiting the lucky Minute to be turn'd up Trump Grashopper These bald aspersions from afar you fetch Serve but as Bullets to enlarge the Breach Why so Disturb'd so Scornful and so High You 're but a Weather-cock as well as I. Boast of fix'd Fundamentals yet I find For Interest you can Turn with ev'ry Wind. Where 's Right Divine your Passive and your Non The Bubble's once blown up now Poh they 're gon Where is your Loyalty so subt'ly shown Sometimes to th' Prince and sometimes to the Throne Sometimes to both sometimes to ne'er a one Thus is it Logically plac'd behind So many School-boys Querks 't is hard to find When the great Change by Heav'ns permition try'd Your Churches Doctrine and her Clergies Pride Some Conscientious Fools 't is true turâ—'d out But all the Wiser Sheepheards fac'd about And like good Men could blacken and upbraid That sinking Pow'r for which before they Pray'd Dragon Scandal as you are wont I know you chuse As the best Weapon of Offence to use Whether on search it True or False be found No matter which if you can make it wound But know my Armour 's temper'd against Fate And much to hard for you to penetrate The Iron Walls my treasur'd Truths defend Reverb'rate all the poisonous balls you send You charge me with the want of Loyalty That am the chief support of Monarchy By my High Priest the Holy Oyl 's apply'd By me Kings Reign are Crown'd and Sanctifi'd I am on Earth their Safety and to Heav'n their Guide By me the Factious Falshoods are supprest Scatter'd by restless Rebels to molest The happy quiet of a Peaceful Reign Which Traitors Envy and blind Fools Disdain Duty to Kings I to the Public teach To Loyalty Excite Perswade Beseech That all things to the Throne be easie made And him thereon be Rev'renc'd and Obey'd What are all these but Marks of Loyaltie Religious Graces manifest in me Virtues I find too bright for thy dull Eyes to see But pray your Reasons to the World impart Why now you from your old Opinion start In happy days when Charles the Scepter swai'd When base Designs by you know who were lai'd Then all your Awkward Canting Brood profest 'T was Damnable the Bread of Life to Tast Within my Sacred Temple-Walls but now What then you held so Dang'rous you Allow If Once 't was an Offence so great we know As you maintain'd full Twenty Years ago 'T is Now the same and Ever will be so Why do the Grandees of your Leering Tribe Who from rank Dugs their Prejudice imbibe So curb their Malice as Conform of late And with my Flocks they Envy Congregate Oft on a Sabaths Morning have I seen Rich Awful Zealots of a bulkey Mein Cheat Heaven and dissemble with the State To be by Flatt'ry and Deceit made Great Visit my Temples seem devout as Saints And for their Int'rest turn base Sicophants Thus with my Worship thro' design agree And only Mimmick what they hate to be To climb unfairly to Authoritie Then by their own Corrupted Whimsies led Where the rape meet and common Ills are bred There hear the Church from whence they came Lampoon'd And True Religion by an Ape Buffoon'd Who o'er his Cushion full of Yawn and Hum Stands Gaping like the Bear that beats the Drum Thus is the Afternoon at Meeting spent The Morning in the Church at Sacrament Rare Pious Christians full of Faith and Grace To thus with Heav'n dissemble for a Place And pawn their Souls to purchase Sword or Mase If I am Right and from Mistakes most free Why do they not Conform intire to me If your dark System they believe most True Why not alone Communicate with you Those who for Int'rest carry fair with both Are Just to neither by their Faith or Troth But plung'd between two Crimes to Greatness bent Erre with the Wrong and from the Right Dissent Grashopper If you make Laws t' eclips my purer light And rob my Sons of what 's their native Right The fault 's not theirs 't is you incur the blame The Cunning's on their side on yours the Shame Why not by Birth and Christiaâ— Knowledge free To Riches Honour and Authoritie Why must these Worldly Comforts rest in you Or your Sons count all Pow'r and Place their due Why may not mine as well assist the State And in as great attempts prove fortunate If you such Laws procure such Pow'r possess As prove a hind'rance to our happiness How can you iustly blame us to evade And leap o'er all the stumbling-blocks you 've laid If you such bars to our Preferments make As Oaths and Sacraments for your own Int'rest sake It is no crime in us the same to Break or Take If you attempt thro' Pride to keep us low And we thro' Cunning your designs o'erthrow Call it not Cozening Heaven but Out-witting you Dragon No Laws can such loose Principles restrain No force can bind you but a Golden Chain Int'rest I find is the prevailing tye Makes you Approve Conform Dissent Deny Oppose the Right or the Wrong Justisie Int'rest from me first made you Seperate And become Rival to the Church and State Int'rest dispos'd you to Intestine Jars Improv'd to Bloody and Domestick Wars Wherein being flatter'd with unjust success Trampl'd on Merit spit in Virtues Face Riffled the Throne and stain'd the Judgment-seat With Crimes too black and dreadful to repeat As if to you Omnipotence had given A Sanguine not a Milky-way to Heaven Still are your Thoughts by wild Ambition tost Aiming to gain that Pow'r you justly lost At all Ellections busie are your Brood Heaving and shoving 'gainst the Public Good On all Promotions Zealously intent Sqneese Bawl and Jostle till their Breaths are spent Kick Cuff and Scandal heedless of the Laws Tongues Feet and Arms all working for the Caufe To raise some Meager Darling of their own Faction in whose penurious looks is shown Rich by meer Chance or Fraud not Great by merit grown Who can Lye Cant Dissemble or Forswear Declaim against or hear the Common-Prayer Thro' all Opinions Halt to Lamely reach the Chair Who can his Conscience to his Interest mould Run with the Court or with the City hold And without shame can true Reflections face Or bear all scandal with a comely Grace And will his Pow'r beyond just bounds extend To injure Foes or to advance a Friend Or any thing will do to serve a Factious End These are the worthy Dolts your Sons advance By their false Poles and double Diligence These are the Men of merit they provide To Row and Toe against the Wind and Tide Who in Tempestious Discords they create Sail quite repugnant to the Church and State Yet to such outward Godliness seem bent To Church they 'll come tho' in their Hearts Dissent But for no Faith will either Hang or Starve Both God and Mammon for advancement serve Thus seasonably comply or in fit times can swerve If such unsteddy Rovers bear Command Whilst Men of Worth shall unregarded stand By Law and Nature Qualifi'd for Trust To something Fix'd and known in all things Just. Iâ— Men like these shall be by Fraud put by And yield their Rights to the Pedantick Fry England must soon from all her Greatness fall And mourn her Ancient Glories Funeral Which Heaven prevent And that she may once more her Grandure boast Retrieve her Virtues now so nearly lost And from all Factious Quarrels and Despights Preserve the King Church Nation and our Rights That in One Faith we may United be And accord sweetly in just Harmonie FINIS
Ecclesia Factio A DIALOGUE BETWEEN Bow-Steeple Dragon AND THE Exchange Grashopper LONDON Printed in the Year 1698. ECCLESIA FACTIO A DIALOGUE c. Dragon TELL me Proud Insect since thou can'st not Fly By what assistance thou art Hopp'd so high The busie swarms of Gnats and Wasps around With Hum and Buz thy Revelations sound And cry in thee alone their happiness is found Me they Despise and thee they Praise aloud Admire thee and Adore thee as a God Misled by false Enthusiastick Light They 've rais'd thee now to a Destructive hight Who restless strive'st by thy accustom'd ways To stain those Glories which thou ne'er cou'dst raise And like your Dam the Babylonian Beast Cry down those Truths by which Mankind are Blest Which Reason well as Faith makes manifest Grashopper Thy Scaly Body and Aspiring Wings Thy furious Tallons and thy frightful Stings Makes thee seem Monstrous to our milder Flock Who Dreaded once but now Disdains thy Yoke You 'd bind our Souls b'Omnipotence made free And Rob us of that Heav'n-born Libertie To which we have a Right as cleaâ— as thee My Sons thou wou'dst unreasonably confine To Worship God within no Walls but thine As if the Prayers from other Temples sent Of sighing Souls who faithfully Repent Were Scorn'd and by repulsion backward driven Vanish'd in Air and reach'd no Ear of Heaven Where is its Goodness What avails its Grace If our sincere Repentance wants access Thro' Heav'ns respect to either Time or Place Those measures but our own Projections be Vnminded of the Great Eternitie Whose Love Divine moves round the Sinful Ball To Bless each wretch who on his Mercies call Without regard to Place no matter where If the Heart 's Contrit and the Mind Sincere Our Humble Guide the great Example yields Who Pray'd and Preach'd in Gardens Mounts and Fields Temples but Sacred from their use became Our Piety makes any House the same Where e'er we in th' Almighty's Name repair Omnipotence hath promis'd to be there Besides Our Prayers by which all-pitty'ng Heav'n we move To grant us His inestimable Love When with true Zeal our Pious Souls are warm'd Makes the Place Holy wheresoe'er perform'd Dragon Thou know'st I 'm founded on a fateless Rock Freed from the danger of an Envious shock Scripture's my Bass Immovable I stand Guarded by Lawful Pow'r on ev'ry hand Establish'd by a National Consent Preach Faith and Charity do ills prevent And for the Truths I Teach am made Predominant Stedfast and Pure from Innovations free Preserv'd intire from Mutabillity Safe from your Pride and Envy Arm'd with Law To humble stiff Precisians who withdraw From my Communion Conscious to agree With Heads uncover'd or a bended Knee And think a Bow a rank Idolitry Religion like a Prince tho' ne'er so Pure By Pow'r to Punish must be made secure Or else your Saints to Reformation given Would quickly cut Ten Thousand Paths to Heaven Could I from Factious Insolence be free And live unstain'd without an Enemy But that till thou art crush'd can never be Then Church and State might happily Unite To Mankinds Safety and to Heav'ns Delight But you by Pride are swell'd to such a Rage Fed by the Vice of a Corrupted Age That now you strike with Envy at my Pow'r And aim'st above my Sacred Head to tow'r But all in vain For that Blest Edifice can never drop Which when assail'd good Heav'n is still the Prop. You urge a Barn or Stable where you Meet A Field a Coffee-House Dancing-School or Street Are fit for Heav'nly Worship and for Prayer Sacred as unpoluted Temples are Rare Arrogance indeed so vilely prone To justify Irreverence to a God-head done A Room where Men their common Lusts pursue Drink Swear Lye Cheat all Worldly-business do In Christian Reason is a hopeful Place To beg God's Presence or expect His Grace Whilst His own House for Holy use ordain'd To Him Erected by our Sins unstain'd Shall be Despis'd and Unregarded stand A useless Fabrick in an Impious Land Yet do'st thou grumble in oppressive tones And rail at me for Persecutions If you thro' studdi'd Prejudice retire From what the Laws of God and Man require A Legal Force may justly then be us'd Such Factious Serpents may in time be bruis'd My Pow'r's from God and in His Word declard To those who to my Laws bear no regard Heav'ns Punishments are Just as to the Good Reward The Scriptures whatsoe'er I Teach contain What 's Easie I Recite what 's Hard Explain Virtue commend to Practice Sin reprove Excite to Faith Hope Charity and Love Obedience Loyalty Repentance Prayer The use of what we Spend or what we Spare Truth I advance and what is False suppress You can no more than these I do no less Then tell me what strange Feavour in the Head At first those Superstitious Frenzys bred From whence you raise that causeless discontent Which makes you from my Temples thus Dissent Grashopper Superfluous Rites there are which you maintain And hold as Decencies which I think Vain Look back upon your boasted Pedigree One part deriv'd of Romes Idolatry From whose fantastic Customs you have drawn Spuare Caps low Bows your Surpliss and your Lawn Proud Lazy Prelates with Pluralities Who speak but by their hair-brain'd Deputies Whose Iunior Years no Truths obscure can reach And seldom are so Wise as those they Teach Your Mass-like Service with your noisie Toots Of hum drum Organs Fiddle Faddles and Flutes Your high-flown Doctrins to advance a State And Please it till Vnlawfully made Great Then turn your Holy Flat'ries to its Fate These I dislike from these in chief Dissent As quite repugnant to the Lords intent These are the sumptious Trappings of the Whoar The Marks and Patches which she always wore These are her studdi'd and prevailing Charms Which but the looser part of Fancy warms And draws unwary Youth to her Adult'rous Arms. Dragon External Order first informs our Sence And raises in us a due Reverence Either towards Place or Person where we see Concurrent parts in Noble Form agree And tend to a peculiar Harmonie Or why did the Creator shape the World From a dark Mass together rudely hurl'd But that in ev'ry part Mankind should see The strokes of an Allpow'rful Deity From whence the light of Faith does first arise And makes our Reason subject to our Eyes For ev'ry wond'rous work of Heav'n we see Gives fresh Assurance of Eternitie And by its Graseful Order strikes an Awe Humbles our Souls and does Obedience draw By Natural means to Heav'n and Natures Law Therefore such decent Rites do I dispense As best shall Humble and Affect the Sense And in my Sons beget a Graceful Reverence How Insolent it looks How Evil bred T' approach God's Presence with a Cover'd Head Yet to a Great-man Couch with Hat in Hand And Bare before the Wealthy Idol stand Or at Devotion so neglectful be As quite abandon all Humilitie And rather than to