A fecond century not half-way run,

Since the new honors of her blood begun.
A lion old, obfcene, and furious made
By luft, comprefs'd her mother in a shade;
Then, by a left-hand marriage, weds the dame,
Covering adultery with a specious name :
So fchifm begot; and facrilege and she,
A well match'd pair, got graceless herefy.
God's and kings rebels have the fame good caufe,
To trample down divine and human laws :
Both would be call'd reformers, and their hate
Alike deftructive both to church and state:
The fruit proclaims the plant; a lawless prince
By luxury reform'd incontinence;

By ruins, charity; by riots, abftinence.
Confeffions, fafts, and penance fet afide;
Oh with what ease we follow fuch a guide,
Where fouls are ftarv'd, and fenfes gratify'd!
Where marriage pleasures midnight prayer?
fupply

And mattin bells, a melancholy cry,

Are tun'd to merrier notes, Increafe and mul

tiply.

Religion fhews a rofy-color'd face;

Not hatter'd out with drudging works of grace
A down-hill reformation rolls apace.

What flesh and blood would crowd the narrow

gate,

Or, 'till they wafte their pamper'd paunches, wait?

All would be happy at the cheapest rate.

Tho our lean faith these rigid laws has given,
The full-fed Muffulman goes fat to heaven;
For his Arabian prophet with delights
Of fenfe allur'd his eastern profelytes.
The jolly Luther, reading him, began
T'interpret fcriptures by his alcoran ;
To grub the thorns beneath our tender feet,
And make the paths of Paradife more sweet :
Bethought him of a wife ere half way gone,
For 'twas uneafy travelling alone;

And, in this masquerade of mirth and love,
Miftook the blifs of heaven for Bacchanals above.
Sure he prefum'd of praise, who came to stock
Th' etherial pastures with so fair a flock,
Burnish'd, and bat'ning on their food, to show
Their diligence of careful herds below.

Our Panther, tho like thefe fhe chang'd her
head,

Yet as the mistress of a monarch's bed,
Her front erect with majefty fhe bore,
The crofier weilded, and the mitre wore.

Her upper part of decent discipline

Shew'd affectation of an ancient line;

And fathers, councils, church and churches head,
Wére on her reverend phylacteries read.
But what difgrac'd and difavow'd the reft,
Was Calvin's brand, that stigmatiz'd the beast.
Thus, like a creature of a double kind,
In her own labyrinth the lives confin'd.
To foreign lands no found of her is come,
Humbly content to be defpis'd at home.
Such is her faith, where good cannot be had,
At least she leaves the refufe of the bad:
Nice in her choice of ill, tho not of beft,
And leaft deform'd, because deform'd the leaft.
In doubtful points betwixt her differing friends,
Where one for fubftance, one for fign contends,
Their contradicting terms fhe ftrives to join ;
Sign fhall be substance, substance shall be fign.
A real prefence all her fons allow,

And yet 'tis flat idolatry to bow,

Because the Godhead's there they know not how.
Her novices are taught, that bread and wine
Are but the vifible and outward fign,
Receiv'd by those who in communion join.
But th' inward grace, or the thing fignify'd,
His blood and body, who to fave us dy'd;

"The faithful this thing fignify'd receive :
What is't those faithful then partake or leave?
For what is fignify'd and understood,

Is, by her own confeffion, flesh and blood.
Then, by the fame acknowledgment, we know
They take the fign, and take the substance too.
The literal fenfe is hard to flesh and blood,
But nonfenfe never can be understood.

;

Her wild belief on every wave is toft; But fure no church can better morals boast: True to her king her principles are found Oh that her practice were but half fo found! Stedfast in various turns of state she stood, And feal'd her vow'd affection with her blood: Nor will I meanly tax her conftancy,

That intereft or obligement made the tye.
Bound to the fate of murder'd monarchy,
Before the founding ax fo falls the vine,
Whose tender branches round the poplar twine,
She chose her ruin, and refign'd her life,
In death undaunted as an Indian wife:
A rare example! but fome fouls we fee
Grow hard, and ftiffen with adverfity:
Yet thefe by fortune's favors are undone;
Refolv'd into a bafer form they run,

And bore the wind, but cannot bear the fun.

Let this be nature's frailty, or her fate,
Or Ifgrim's counfel, her new-chofen mate;
Still he'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 authority;

For how can fhe constrain them to obey,
Who has herself caft off the lawful sway?
Rebellion equals all, and those, who toil

In common theft, will fhare the common fpoil.
Let her produce the title and the right
Againft her old fuperiors first to fight;
If the reform by text, e'en that's as 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 airy faith will no foundation find:
The word's a weathercock for every wind:
The bear, the fox, the wolf, by turns prevail;
The most in power fupplies the present gale.
The wretched Panther cries aloud for aid
To church and councils, whom the first betray'd;
No help from fathers or tradition's train :
Those ancient guides fhe taught us to disdain,
And by that fcripture, which the once abus'd
To reformation, ftands herself accus'd.