From whom the Inftitution came,
When Church and State they set on Flame,
And worn by them as Badges then
1170 Of Spiritual Warfaring Men)
Judge rightly if Regeneration
Be of the newest Cut in Fashion.
Sure 'tis an orthodox Opinion,
That Grace is founded in Dominion.
1175 Great Piety confifts in Pride;
To Rule is to be Sanctify'd:
To domineer, and to controul,
Both o'er the Body and the Soul,
Is the most perfect Difcipline
1180 Of Church-Rule, and by Right Divine.
Bell and the Dragon's Chaplains were
More moderate than these by far:
For they (poor Knaves) were glad to cheat, To get their Wives and Children Meat; 1185 But thefe will not be fobb'd off so;
They must have Wealth and Power too, Or elfe with Blood and Defolation They'll tear it out o' th' Heart o' th' Nation. Sure these themfelves from Primitive 1190 And Heathen Priesthood do derive, When Butchers were the only Clerks, Elders and Prefbyters of Kirks: Whofe Directory was to kill;
And fome believe it is fo ftill. 1195 The only Diff'rence is, that then
They flaughter'd only Beafts, now Men.
For then to facrifice a Bullock,
Or now and then a Child to Moloch,
They count a vile Abomination,
1200 But not to flaughter a whole Nation.
Prefbytery does but translate
The Papacy to a Free State;
A Common-Wealth of Popery,
Where ev'ry Village is a See
1205 As well as Rome, and must maintain
A Tithe-Pig Metropolitan;
Where ev'ry Prefbyter and Deacon
Commands the Keys for Cheese and Bacon,
And ev'ry Hamlet's governed
1210 By's Holinefs, the Church's Head,
More haughty and fevere in's Place,
Than GREGORY and BONIFACE.
Such Church muft (furely) be a Monster
With many Heads: For if we confter
1215 What in th' Apocalypfe we find,
According to th' Apoftle's Mind,
'Tis That the Whore of Babylon
With many Heads did ride upon;
Which Heads denote the finful Tribe
1120 Of Deacon, Prieft, Lay-Elder, Scribe.
Lay-Elder, SIMEON to LEVI,
Whofe Little Finger is as heavy
As Loins of Patriarchs, Prince-Prelate,
And Bishop-Secular. This Zealot
1225 Is of a mungrel, diverfe Kind,.
Clerick before, and Lay behind;
A lawless Linfie-Woolfie Brother,
Half of one Order, half another;
A Creature of amphibious Nature,
1230 On Land a Beaft, a Fifh in Water;
That always preys on Grace or Sin;
A Sheep without, a Wolf within.
This fierce Inquifitor has chief
Dominion over Men's Belief
1235 And Manners; can pronounce a Saint
Idolatrous, or ignorant,
When fuperciliously he fifts
Through coarseft Boulter other's Gifts;
For all Men live and judge amifs,
1240 Whole Talents jump not just with his.
He'll lay on Gifts with Hands, and place
On dulleft Noddle Light and Grace,
The Manufacture of the Kirk;
Those Paftors are but th' Handy-Work
1245 Of his mechanick Paws, inftilling
Divinity in them by Feeling;
From whence they start up Chofen Veffels, Made by Contact, as Men get Meazles. * So Cardinals, they fay, do grope 1250 At th' other End the new-made Pope.
Hold, hold, quoth HUDIBRAS, Soft Fire,
They fay, does make fweet Malt. Good Squire,
Feftina lente, not too fast;
For Hafte (the Proverb fays) makes Waste.
1255 The Quirks and Cavils thou doft make
Are false, and built upon Miftake;
And I fhall bring you, with your Pack
Of Fallacies, t' Elenchi back;
And put your Arguments in Mood
1260 And Figure, to be understood.
I'll force you by right Ratiocination
To leave your Vitilitigation,
And make you keep to th' Queftion close,
And argue Dialecticas.
The Question then, to ftate it first,
Is, Which is Better, or which Worft,
Synods or Bears? Bears I avow
To be the Worft, and Synods thou.
But to make good th' Affertion,
1270 Thou say'ft th' are really all one.
If so, not worft; for if th' are idem,
Why then, tantundem dat tantidem.
For if they are the fame, by Course
Neither is better, neither worse.
1275 But I deny they are the fame,
More than a Maggot and I am.
That both are animalia
I grant, but not rationalia:
For though they do agree in Kind, 1280 Specifick Difference we find;
And can no more make Bears of these,
Than prove my Horfe is SOCRATES.
That Synods are Bear-Gardens too,
Thou doft affirm; but I fay, no:
1285 And thus I prove it, in a Word;
Whats'ver Affembly's not impow'r'd
To cenfure, curfe, abfolve, and ordain,
Can be no Synod: But Bear-Garden
Has no fuch Pow'r; ergo, 'tis none :
1290 And fo thy Sophiftry's o'erthrown.
But yet we are befide the Queftion,
Which thou didst raise the firft Contest on;
For that was, Whether Bears are better
Than Synod-Men? I fay, Negatur.
1295 That Bears are Beafts, and Synods Men,
Is held by all: They're better then :
For Bears and Dogs on four Legs go,
As Beafts; but Synod-Men on two.
'Tis true, they all have Teeth and Nails;
1300 But prove that Synod-Men have Tails;
Or that a rugged, fhaggy Fur
Grows o'er the Hide of Presbyter;
Or that his Snout and fpacious Ears Do hold Proportion with a Bear's. 1305 A Bear's a favage Beaft, of all Moft ugly and unnatural;
Whelp'd without Form, until the Dam
Has lick'd it into Shape and Frame:
But all thy Light can ne'er evict,
1310 That ever Synod-Man was lick'd;
Or brought to any other Fashion,
Than his own Will and Inclination.
But thou doft further yet in this
Oppugn thyself and Senfe; that is,
1315 Thou would't have Presbyters to go
For Bears and Dogs, and Bearwards too:
A ftrange Chimera of Beafts and Men,
Made up of Pieces heterogene;
Such as in Nature never met
1320 In eodem fubjecto yet.
Thy other Arguments are all
Suppofures, hypothetical,
That do but beg, and we may chuse
Either to grant them, or refuse.
1325 Much thou haft faid; which I know when
And where, thou ftol'ft from other Men,
(Whereby 'tis plain thy Light and Gifts
Are all but plagiary Shifts:)
And is the fame that Ranter faid,
1330 Who, arguing with me, broke my Head,
And tore a Handful of my Beard.
The felf-fame Cavils then I heard,
When, b'ing in hot Dispute about
This Controverfy, we fell out;
1335 And what thou know'st I answer'd then,
Will ferve to answer thee agen.
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