Then thus the matron modeftly renew'd:
Let all your prophets and their fects be view'd,
And fee to which of 'em yourselves think fit
The conduct of your confcience to submit:
Each profelyte would vote his doctor beft,
With abfolute exclufion to the reft:
Thus wou'd your Polish diet difagree,
And end as it began in anarchy.
Yourself the fairest for election stand,
Because you seem crown-gen'ral of the land;
But foon against your fuperftitious lawn
Some Prefbyterian fabre would be drawn.
In your establish'd laws of fov'reignty
The reft fome fundamental flaw would fee,
And call rebellion gofpel-liberty.
To church-decrees your articles require
Submiffion mollify'd, if not entire.
Homage deny'd, to cenfures you proceed:
But when Curtana will not do the deed,
You lay that pointless clergy-weapon by,
And to the laws, your fword of justice, fly.
Now this your fects the more unkindly take
(Thofe prying varlets hit the blots you make)
Becaufe fome ancient friends of yours declare,
Your only rule of faith the Scriptures are,
Interpreted by men of judgment found,
Which every fect will for themfelves expound;
Nor think lefs rev'rence to their doctors due
For found interpretation, than to you.
If then, by able heads, are understood
Your brother prophets, who reform'd abroad;
Thofe able heads expound a wifer way,
That their own theep their thepherd should obey.
But if you mean yourselves are only found,
That doctrine turns the reformation round,
And all the rest are falfe reformers found;
Because in fundry 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 whofe judge is beft,
Against this forc'd fubmiffion they protest:
While found and found a diff'rent fenfe explains,
Both play at hard-head till they break their brains;
And from their chairs each other's force defy,
While unregarded thunders vainly fly.
I pafs the reft, becaufe your church alone
Of all ufurpers beft could fill the throne.
But neither you, nor any fect befide
For this high office can be qualify'd,
With neceflary gifts requir'd in fuch a guide.
For that, which muft direct the whole, muft be
Bound in one bond of faith and unity:
But all your feveral churches difagree.
The confubftantiating church and priest
Refufe communion to the Calvinift.
The French reform'd from preaching you
Because you judge their ordination vain;
And fo they judge of yours, but donors muft or-
In short, in doctrine, or in difcipline,
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, fhould their members in a fynod meet,
Could any church prefume to mount the feat,
Above the reft, their difcords to decide;
None would obey, but each would be the guide:
And face to face diffenfions would increase;
For only distance now preferves the peace.
All in their turns accufers, and accus'd:
Babel was never half fo much confus'd:
What one can plead, the rest can plead as well;
For amongst equals lies no last appeal,
And all confefs themselves are fallible.
Now, fince you grant fome neceffary guide,
All who can err are juftly laid afide:
Becaufe a truft fo facred to confer
Shews want of fuch a fure interpreter:
And how can he be needful who can err?
Then granting that unerring guide we want,
That fuch there is you ftand oblig'd to grant:
Our Saviour elfe were wanting to supply
Our needs, and obviate that neceffity.
It then remains, that church can only be
The guide, which owns unfailing certainty;
Or else you flip your hold, and change your fide,
Relapfing from a neceffary guide.
But this annex'd condition of the crown,
Immunity from errors you difown;
Here then you fhrink, and lay your weak pretenfions
For petty royalties you raife debate;
But this unfailing univerfal state
You fhun; nor dare fucceed to fuch a glorious weight;
And for that cause thofe promifes detest,
With which our Saviour did his church invest;
But strive t'evade, and fear to find 'em true,
As confcious they were never meant to you:
All which the mother-church afferts her own,
And with unrival'd claim afcends the throne.
So when of old th' Almighty Father fate
In council, to redeem our ruin'd state,
Millions of millions, at a distance round,
Silent the facred confiftory crown'd,
[pound. To hear what mercy, mix'd with justice, could proAll prompt, with eager pity, to fulfil
The full extent of their Creator's will.
But when the stern conditions were declar'd,
A mournful whisper through the host was heard,
And the whole hierarchy, with heads hung down,
Submiffively declin'd the pond'rous proffer'd crown.
Then, not till then, th' eternal Son from high
Rofe 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 could bear, but as omnipotent.
Now, to remove the least remaining doubt,
That e'en the blear-ey'd fects may find her out,
Behold what heav'nly rays adorn her brows,
What from his wardrobe her belov'd allows,
To deck the wedding-day of his unípotted spouse.
Behold what marks of majesty the brings;
Richer than ancient heirs of eaftern kings:
Her right hand holds the fcepter and the keys,
To fhew whom fhe commands, and who obeys:
With thefe to bind, or fet the finner free,
With that t' affert fpiritual royalty.
* One in herself, not rent by fchifm, but found, Entire, one folid fhining diamond;
Not sparkles fhatter'd into fects like you:
One is the church, and muft be, to be true:
One central principle of unity.
As undivided, fo from errors free,
As one in faith, fo one in fanctity.
Thus fhe, and none but fhe, th' infulting rage
Of heretics oppos'd from age to age:
Still when the giant-brood invades her throne,
She stoops from heav'n, and meets 'em half way
down,
And with paternal thunder vindicates her crown.
But like Egyptian forcerers you fland,
And vainly lift aloft your magic wand,
To fweep away the fwarms of vermin from the land:
You could, like them, with like infernal force,
Produce the plague, but not arreft the course.
But when the boils and blotches, with difgrace
And public fcandal, fat upon the face,
Themfelves attack'd: The Magi ftrove no more,
'They faw God's finger, and their fate deplore;
Themselves they could not cure of the dishoneft fore.
Thus one, thus pare, behold her largely fpread,
Like the fair ocean from her mother-bed;
From east to weft triumphantly the rides,
All hores are water'd by her wealthy tides.
The gospel-found, diffus'd from pole to pole,
Where winds can carry, and where waves can roll.
Marks of the Catholic church from the Nicene
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