So when you fland of other aid bereft,
You to the twelve apoftles would be left.
Your friend the Wolf did with more craft provide
To fet thofe toys traditions quite afide;
And fathers too, unlefs when, reafon spent,
He cites 'em but fometimes for ornament.
But, madam Panther, you, though more fincere,
Are not fo wife as your adulterer :

The private spirit is a better blind,

Than all the dodging tricks your authors 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 fails, they ran upon the shelf;
Who cou'd fufpect a coz'nage from himself?
On his own reafon fafer 'tis to ftand,

'Than be deceiv'd and damn'd at fecond-hand.
But you, who fathers and traditions take,
And garble fome, and fome you quite forfake,
Pretending church-authority to fix,

And yet fome grains of private spirit mix,
Are like a mule made up of differing feed,
And that's the reafon why you never breed;
At least not propagate your kind abroad,
For home diffenters are by ftatutes aw'd.
And yet they grow upon you every dav,
While you (to speak the beft) are at a stay,
For fects, that are extremes, abhor a middle way.
Like tricks of ftate, to top a raging flood,
Or mollify a mad-brain'd fenate's mood:
Of all expedients never one was good.

Well may they argue (nor can you deny)
If we must fix on church-authority,

Best on the best, the fountain, not the flood;
That must be better ftill, if this be good.
Shall the command, who has herself rebell'd?
Is Antichrift by Antichrift expell'd?

Did we a lawful tyranny difplace,

To fet aloft a baftard of the race?

Why all thefe wars to win the book, if we
Muft not interpret for ourselves, but she?
Either be wholly flaves, or wholly free.
For purging fires traditions muft not fight;
But they must prove epifcopacy's right.
Thus thofe led horfes are from fervice freed;
You never mount 'em but in time of need.
Like mercenaries, hir'd for home-defence,
They will not ferve against their native prince.
Against domeftic foes of hierarchy
Thefe are drawn forth, to make fanatics fly;
But, when they fee their countrymen at hand,
Marching against 'em under church-command,
Straight they forfake their colour, and disband.
Thus fhe, nor cou'd the Panther well enlarge
With weak defence against fo ftrong a charge;
But faid: For what did Chrift his word provide,
If still his church must want a living guide?

And if all faving doctrines are not there,

Or facred penmen cou'd not make 'em clear,

From after-ages we fhould hope in vain

for truths, which men infpir'd cou'd not explain. Before the word was written, faid the Hind, Our Saviour preach'd his faith to human kind:

}

From his apoftles the firft age receiv'd
Eternal truth, and what they taught believ'd.
Thus by tradition faith was planted first;
Succeeding flocks fucceeding paftors nurs'd.
This was the way our wife Redeemer chofe,
(Who fure could all things for the best dispose)
To fence his fold from their encroaching foes.
He cou'd have writ himfelf, but well forefaw
Th' event would be like that of Mofes' law;
Some difference would arife, fome doubts remain,
Like thofe, which yet the jarring Jews maintain.
No written laws can be fo plain, fo pure,
But wit may glofs, and malice may obfcure;
Not thofe indited by his firft command,

A prophet grav'd the text, an angel held his hand.
Thus faith was ere the written word appear'd,
And men believ'd, not what they read, but heard.
But fince th' apostles cou'd not be confin'd
To thefe, or those, but severally defign'd
Their large commission round the world to blow;
To fpread their faith, they spread their labours too.
Yet ftill their abfent flock their pains did share;
They hearken'd still, for love produces care.
And as mistakes arofe, or difcords fell,
Or bold feducers taught 'em to rebel,
As charity grew cold, or faction hot,
Or long negle&t their letfons had forgot,
For all their wants they wifely did provide,
And preaching by epiftles was fupply'd:
So great phyficians cannot all attend,
But fome they vifit, and to fome they fend.

Yet all thofe letters were not writ to all;
Nor first intended but occafional,

Their abfent fermons; nor if they contain

All needful doctrines, are thofe doctrines plain.
Clearness by frequent preaching must be wrought;
They writ but feldom, but they feldom taught.
And what one faint has faid of holy Paul,
He darkly writ, is true apply'd to all.
For this obfcurity cou'd heav'n provide
More prudently than by a living guide,
As doubts arofe, the difference to decide?
A guide was therefore needful, therefore made;
And, if appointed, fure to be obey'd.

Thus, with due reverence to th' apostles writ,
By which my fons are taught, to which fubmit;
I think, thofe truths, their facred 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.
Becaufe, as I have urg'd before, 'tis mute,
And is itself the fubject of difpute.
For what th' apostles their fucceffors taught,
They to the next, from them to us is brought,
Th' undoubted fenfe which is in fcripture fought.
From hence the church is arm'd, when errors rife,
To stop their entrance, and prevent surprise;
And, fafe intrench'd within, her foes without defies.
By thefe all feftring fores her councils heal,
Which time or has difclos'd, or shall reveal;
For difcord cannot end without a last appeal.

}

Nor can a council national decide,
But with fubordination to her guide:
(I wish the cause were on that iffue try'd.)
Much less the scripture; for suppose debate
Betwixt pretenders to a fair estate,

Bequeath'd by fome legator's laft intent;
(Such is our dying Saviour's teftament :)
The will is prov'd, is open'd, and is read;
The doubtful heirs their diff'ring titles plead :
All vouch the words their int'rest to maintain,
And each pretends by thofe his cause is plain.
Shall then the teftament award the right?
No, that's the Hungary for which they fight:
The field of battle, fubject of debate;
'The thing contended for, the fair estate.
The fenfe is intricate, 'tis only clear

What vowels and what confonants are there.
Therefore 'tis plain, its meaning must be try'd
Before fome judge appointed to decide.
Suppofe (the fair apoftate faid) I grant,
The faithful flock fome living guide fhould want,
Your arguments an endless chace pursue:
Produce this vaunted leader to our view,

This mighty Mofes of the chofen crew.

The dame, who faw her fainting foe retir'd,
With force renew'd, to victory afpir'd;
And, looking upward to her kindred sky,
As once our Saviour own'd his Deity,
Pronounc'd his words----She whom ye feek am I.
Nor lefs amaz'd this voice the Panther heard,
Than were thofe Jews to hear a God declar'd.

}