Tho Huguenots condemn our ordination,
Succeffion, ministerial vocation ;
And Luther, more mistaking what he read,
Misjoins the facred body with the bread:
Yet, lady, ftill remember I maintain,
The word in needful points is only plain.
Needlefs, or needful, I not now contend,
For ftill
you have a loop-hole for a friend;
(Rejoin'd the matron): but the rule you lay
Has led whole flocks, and leads them still astray,
In weighty points, and full damnation's way.
For did not Arius firft, Socinus now,
The Son's eternal God-head difavow?
And did not these by gospel texts alone
Condemn our doctrine, and maintain their own ?
Have not all hereticks the fame pretence
To plead the scriptures in their own defence?
How did the Nicene council then decide
That strong debate? was it by fcripture try'd?
No, fure; to that the rebel would not yield;
Squadrons of texts he marshal'd in the field :
That was but civil war, an equal fet,
Where piles with piles, and eagles eagles met.
With texts point-blank and plain he fac'd the foe
And did not Satan tempt our Saviour fo?
The good old bishops took a fimpler way;
Each ask'd but what he heard his father fay,
Or how he was inftructed in his youth,
And by tradition's force upheld the truth.
The Panther fmil'd at this; And when, faid
Were those first councils difallow'd by me?
Or where did I at fure tradition strike,
Provided still it were apoftolic?
Friend, faid the Hind, you quit your former ground,
your faith you did on fcripture found:
Now 'tis tradition join'd with holy writ;
But thus your memory betrays your wit.
No, faid the Panther; for in that I view,
When your tradition's forg'd, and when 'tis true.
I fet them by the rule, and, as they square,
Or deviate from undoubted doctrine there,
This oral fiction, that old faith declare.
(Hind) The council steer'd, it seems, a different course ;
They try'd the fcripture by tradition's force:
But you tradition by the fcripture try;
Purfu'd by fects, from this to that you fly,
Nor dare on one foundation to rely.
The word is then depos'd, and in this view,
You rule the fcripture, not the fcripture you.
Thus, faid the dame, and, fmiling, thus purfu'd:
I fee, tradition then is difallow'd,
When not evinc'd by fcripture to be true,
And fcripture, as interpreted by you.
But here you tread upon unfaithful ground;
Unless you could infallibly expound :
Which you reject as odious popery,
And throw that doctrine back with fcorn on me.
Suppose we on things traditive divide,
And both appeal to fcripture to decide;
By various texts we both uphold our claim,
Nay, often, ground our titles on the fame :
After long labor loft, and time's expence,
Both grant the words, and quarrel for the sense.
Thus all difputes for ever muft depend;
For no dumb rule can controverfies end.
Thus, when you said, Tradition must be try'd
By facred writ, whofe fenfe yourselves decide,
You faid no more, but that yourselves must be
The judges of the fcripture fenfe, not we.
Against our church-tradition you declare,
And yet your clerks would fit in Moses' chair:
At least 'tis prov'd against your argument,
The rule is far from plain, where all diffent.
If not by fcriptures, how can we be sure Reply'd the Panther, what tradition's pure? you may palm upon us new for old: All, as they fay, that glitters is not gold.
How but by following her, reply'd the dame, To whom deriv'd from fire to fon they came; Where ev'ry age does on another move,
And trufts no farther than the next above;
Where all the rounds like Jacob's ladder rife,
The lowest hid in earth, the topmost in the fkies.
Sternly the favage did her anfwer mark,
Her glowing eye-balls glittering in the dark, And faid but this: Since lucre was your trade, Succeeding times fuch dreadful gaps have made, 'Tis dangerous climbing: To
I leave the ladder, and its omen too.
(Hind.) The Panther's breath was ever fam'd for fweet;
But from the wolf fuch withes oft I meet:
You learn'd this language from the blatant beast,
Or rather did not speak, but were poffefs'd.
As for your anfwer 'tis but barely urg'd:
You must evince tradition to be forg'd;
Produce plain proofs; unblemish'd authors use
As ancient as thofe ages they accufe;
"Till when 'tis not fufficient to defame :
An old poffeffion ftands, 'till elder quits the claim.
Then for our int'reft, which is nam'd alone
To load with envy, we retort your own.
For when traditions in faces fly,
Refolving 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 Wolf did with more craft provide
To fet those toys traditions quite afide;
And fathers too, unless when, reason spent,
He cites them 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 fcripture to the crowd,
Each for his own peculiar judge allow'd;
The way to please them was to make them proud.
the shelf;
Thus with full fails they ran upon
Who could fufpect a cozenage from himself?
On his own reafon fafer 'tis to ftand,
Than be deceiv'd and damn'd at fecond-hand,
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