THE REVOLTEX A TRAGICOMEDY Acted between the Hind and Panther, AND RELIGIO LAICI, etc.  
London, Printed in the Year 1687.   

THE REVOLTER. A Tragicomedy.  
THE Hind and the Panther— Certainly the Author of this Poem, deserves to be reckoned in the number of the Heathen Gods; For he has outdone all Natales Comes' Deities, and has made new Metamorphoses to make a second Ovid more work, far more wonderful than those of the Ancient Pagan Divinities. For he has changed the Church of Rome into a Hind, the Church of England into a Panther, the Presbyterians into Wolves, the Independents into Bears, the Quakers into Hares, Libertines into Apes, the Anabaptists into Boars, the Socinians into Foxes. And now the Beasts begin to talk and parley together again, and the Hind and the Panther enter into a long and serious Debate, as in the Days of Aesop; only with this difference, that Aesop's Beasts were all Moralists, but these Poetical Fictions are all Christians, and dispute and contend about things of a higher Nature. Truly, one would think the Author might have bethought himself of Allusions much more proper for his purpose than such Beastial Prosopopeia's as these; now altogether Antiquated, notwithstanding his idle Apology for what he has done, and his miserable Precedent of Mother Hubbard, as much out of fashion, as Helen of Troy's Wardrobe, or his Eyesore of Q. Elisabeth's Farthingale. Nor do we find that ever Christ, who spoke so much in Learned Parables, ever inspired the Brutes with Language to colour his Instructions. But the Poet's overhasty, which made it the more Officious Malice, having engaged him to turn all the Dissenters into Beasts; and not being able to pursue his Allegory, unless he made Beasts of the Church of Rome, and the Church of England likewise, has resolved to strain a Compliment with both; and rather than lose the pleasing Conception of his Brain, like a compassionate Numen, to change the one into a Hind; and like an irritated Daemon, to transform the other into a Panther.  
But while he sat thus in his Poetical Throne, or rather acting upon the Stage of Fable and Pagan Muthologie, and transfiguring into Beasts almost all Mankind but Turks and Infidels, that were out of his Road, he never considered what a Monster he was himself; a second Geryon with three Heads: for each of which he had a particular Employment; with the one to fawn upon the most infamous of Usurpers; with the other, at one time to lick the Beneficent Hands of his Protestant Mother; and by and by to court the Charity of his Catholic Mamma; while with the third, he barked and snarled, not only at his first deserted Female Parent, but also at all other differing Sentiments and Opinions, which his Sovereign had so graciously and generously indulged.  

BUT 'twas his Wrath, because his Native Church  
Left his high Expectations in the lurch:  
And well she might; for well she knew how soon  
His Muse her early Whoredoms had begun;  
And thought it brave to be a Cromwel's Jade,  
Like Pathic Caesar under Nicomede.  
She saw the Play-wright Laureate debauched  
By the Time's Vices which himself reproached:  
And by his Grand Reform of Stage-pit Fools,  
Judged his Ability to manage Souls.  
The Comedy, to see him preach, for aught  
She knew, might Tragic prove to those he taught;  
By ill Instructions to their loss beguiled,  
Or scorning Precepts from a Tongue defiled,  
With Stage-Obscenity—  
For who could have refrained from sportive Mirth,  
To hear the Nation's Poet Bayes hold forth?  
Or who would ever practise by the Rule  
Of one they could not choose but ridicule?  
The Scandal was the greater, the more rare;  
An ordained Play-wright in the House of Prayer.  
While People only flock to hear him Chime  
A rampant Sermon forth in Bully Rhyme:  
Or else his gaping Auditors he Feasts,  
With bold Isaiah's Raptures, and Ezekiel's Beasts.  
All this the Church foresaw, nor could endure  
Polluted Lips should handle Things most pure.   

At these Rebuffs th'offended Bays retires,  
Summons together his Poetic Fires,  
And all the rage that frantic Spite inspires.  
Did I for this, quo he, (for Anger is the Soul  
Of Passion, and must all my Christian Thoughts control)  
Did I for this expose upon the Stage  
My Roman Mother, not regarding Age,  
Or Sex, (I call her Mother now, and so  
I could the Abassinian Patriarch too,  
To serve my Turn)? Did I for this, I say,  
Expose Her naked as the Sunshine day;  
And by the Crimes I fastened on one Priest,  
Inculcate boldly what were all the Rest?  
Did I not paint'em worse, in all their close Debaushes,  
Than the lewd Priests of Isis, or the Gelt Reproaches  
Of Phrygian Rites to Phrygian Goddess due?  
Let the incredulous read my Play; 'tis new.  
Under the Colour of Confession, see,  
See how my Friar pimps for Golden Fee;  
See how I laid my Plot to bring him to't;  
And made the Knave forswear himself to boot.  
Nor whether true or false did I e'er mind,  
Resolving to my Mother to be kind.   

Say, was not this good Service to my Church,  
But after all to leave me in the Lurch,  
As if I'had laid Defilement in her Porch!  
(Thus raving, the embittered Bays went on,)  
Could a more vile Ingratitude be shown?  
I will not bate thy Crime, Laomedon,  
Unthankful to the Gods: for if the Gods  
Were mercenary, where's the Pagan odds  
'twixt Me and Them? Theirs was corporeal Pain,  
Mine the more noble Labour of the Brain.   

I was their Neptune; I their great Apollo,  
Repaired their Trojan Walls, when cracked & hollow.  
To me were these Laomedon's unjust,  
So kind to toil and labour upon Trust.  
But now I'll spout whole Seas upon the Main,  
And with a Deluge bring down all again.  
And all their dear Hesione's deflower;  
At least I'll strive what lies within my power,  
And use all Charms that in mysterious Fury lurk.  
This said, the proud Revolter fell to work;  
And a whole Winter and a Spring bestowed  
The Burden of his Cranium to unload.   

Now Heaven forbid that we should e'er assail  
Real Conversion; Man is prone to fail:  
For Thoughtless Youth, oft winged with vain Desires,  
And Manhood too, misled by wand'ring Fires,  
Follow false Lights; and when their Glimpse is gone,  
His Pride strikes out new Sparkles of his own.   

Howe'er by happy chance when thoughtless Youth,  
Has once descried the Sacred Paths of Truth,  
And wand'ring Manhood has regained the Way  
Whence those false Meteors led him once astray,  
The Path is free, when Conscience satisfied,  
To tread the Tracks of its unerring Guide,  
'Tis Conscience only, Conscience can convince,  
Conscience unspotted and without pretence:  
What Conscience then calls bad before, is bad  
To him whom such a Conscience does persuade,  
And whither she directs, must be obeyed.   

But when with Charms Circean wooed, she yields  
To what Preferment and Ambition guilds;  
When disappointed Hopes, and consequent Revenge  
Push on the Malcontent to frequent Change,  
There, Conscience, stripped of her Celestial part;  
Proves a Disease, the Passion of the Heart:  
A Frenzy of the Mind, as when the Maid  
Runs mad, to find her Virgin Love betrayed.  
The Helm of Fools, that serves in merry Gales,  
But in the ruder Storms and sudden strokes,  
Of boyst'rously contending Passions, fails,  
And throws unruddered Man upon the Rocks.   

He then who with a rambling Conscience moves  
From his first Choice, a wild Cimmerian roves,  
And only changes Seats for better Pasture.  
If one Religion will not feed him, he's the Master  
Of his own Reason, and another shall;  
Indifferent which way the Cane may fall,  
Or toward Italy, or the Levant.  
He'll Mecca's Plenty change for Roman Want,  
Still ready for the Turn; for all along  
He's always in the right, but when he's wrong.   

But let him ramble on; such roaming Tartars  
No Converts are, but positive Deserters:  
Changed in Opinion, not in Principles;  
Religion's Vagabonds, and Gypsie-Scrowlers;  
To all Opinions prostituted Tools,  
And Pilgrims to the Shrines of Crowns and Dollars.   

A sort of Craven Cocks that always Crow  
On their own Dunghills, guarded from the blow  
Of free Reply, their mainly dreaded Foe;  
And ne'er their Teeth, but still in safety, show.   

Conversion silently retires, and awed  
With her past Errors, hides her Head,  
Only Contrition waits Her, mured within,  
While she completes the days of mourning for her Sin.   

But here's a Ramping Infant Proselyte,  
No sooner turned, but he hath Teeth to bite,  
And sets up Champion e'er half taught to fight.  
Such certain Marks of tainted Conscience,  
He ne'er can veil his cloven Innocence,  
With all his Ulyssean Eloquence.   

Had he thus wrote when rudely he besmeared  
His pursy Friar; or for a cursed Reward,  
Cast an officious Grin in Cromwel's Face,  
His daring Verse had won him generous praise.  
But when his Mother flourished, to write Pro,  
And Con against her, when he thought her low,  
Shows him a mere Probationer, on Trial,  
Either for kind Reception, or denial.  
For he has still with cunning Men to do,  
Men that have reason to suspect it too,  
That who has twice been false, can ne'er prove true.  
The Sinner therefore must himself out-rime,  
And toil his best for Expiation of his Crime;  
Public Atonement, public Expiation,  
As well as private Sobs, and Whipcord Recreation,  
Must purge his Sins, & cure his rotten Reputation.   

Commanded thus, an Altar up he rears,  
Poetic Fires, and sharpened Knives prepares,  
Renews the Ancient Laws of Sacrifice,  
And for the Slaughter Victims new Supplies.  
Hares, Foxes, Apes, ne'er offered yet before,  
To these the Panther add, the Wolf and Boar;  
The Sacrificing Age had ne'er such store.  
A wondrous Holocaust, and such as might befit  
The burning Rage of such an Aetna Wit:  
And the more meritorious, since the Bigot  
Would not exempt her Mother from the Faggot.  
All this to Molach's Interest he designed:  
For by his Medley Offerings now we find,  
Which was the Idol of his ravenous Mind.   

But shame on all ill Luck, th'Oblation came too late;  
Indulgence, far more potent than his Hate,  
Indulgence stopped the hideous Blaze: For why?  
The harmless Beasts were fated not to die.  
And all his murdering Characters, the Cream  
Of his Stage-Wit, proved but the Forger's shame.  
A Winter's Toil in Rapture so ill spent,  
As made that Scandal, which for Harm was meant.  
For when Revenge and Malice spout forth Rhyme,  
'Tis all but Libel, never so sublime.   

Poor ill-timed Poem! thou mightst pity find,  
Hadst thou not such a Massacre designed;  
Hadst thou not toiled for general distaste,  
And 'stead of large applause, to be by all disgraced.  
Usurping Bards, so boldly to aspire,  
To Sacred foresight and Prophetic Fire,  
And Ours the most unhappy of the Quire.  
For had he had but half the Delphic Art  
Of Bacon's Head, he might have spared a Quart  
Of Groyneland Oil at least, consumed in Cotten,  
To form a Brat, no sooner Born but Rotten.   

And let it rot, a Babe of vile Disgrace,  
The Sire's Reproach, and shame of all the Race,  
From a worse Fate, perhaps thereby redeemed,  
When the ●oul Father of the Cub contemned  
By all he has with so much Spite condemned,  
And by his own detected, shall be forced  
To hide a Head by both his Mothers Cursed.  
Bearing their Proverb in his Pia Mater,  
They love the Treachery that hate the Traitor▪   
Thus much in reference to the Author's design in general. For as for his particular disputes which are so involved in Characters, and muffled up in Notion and Poetical Darkness; 'tis intended that Himself, as best understanding his own meaning, shall modestly and civilly be his own Interpreter and Answer himself. Only by the way, before we bring D. against D. to the Stake, I would fain know how Mr. Bays, that so well understood the Nature of Beasts, came to pitch upon the Hind and the Panther, to sign ifie the Church of Rome and the Church of England. Doubtless his Reply will be, because the Hind is a Creature harmless and Innocent: the Panther mischievous and inexocrable. Let all this be granted; what is this to the Author's absurdity in the choice of his Beasts? For the Scene of the Persecution is Europe, a part of the World which never bred Panthers since the Creation of the Universe. On the other side, grant his allusion passable, and then he stigmatizes the Church of England to be the most Cruel, and most voracious Creature that Ranges all the Lybian Deserts. A Character which shows him to have a strange mist before his Eyes when he reads Ecclesiastical History. And then says he, 
The Panther, sure the Noblest next the Hind,  
And fairest Creature of the spotted Kind.  Which is another Blunder; cujus Coutrarium verum est, For if Beauty, Strength and Courage advance the value of the several parts of the Creation, without Question the Panther is far to be preferred before the Hind, a poor silly timorous ill-shaped, bobtailed Creature, of which a Score will hardly purchase the Skin of a true Panther. Had he looked a little farther, Ludolphus would have furnished him with a Zecora, the most beautiful of all the fourfooted Creatures in the World, to have 
L. 1. c 10. Hist. Aethiop.  Coped with his Panther for Spots, and with his Hind for gentleness and mildness: of which one was Sold singly to the Turkish Governor of Suaquena for two thousand Venetian Ducats. There had been a Beast for him, as pat as a Pudding for a Friar's Mouth. But to couple the Hind and the Panther, was just like Sic parvis componere. And therefore he had better have put his Hind in a good Pastry, or reserved her for some more proper Allusion; for this, tho' his nimble beast have four Feet, will by no means run quatuor pedibus, tho' she had a whole Kennel of Hounds at her Heels.  
But this was the Church of England's Misfortune: rather than a true Poet will lose his Conceit, he'll bespatter the best friends he has. For you must know the Church of England was made a Panther for two Reasons. First at the easily granted request of a Thought, which was this, 
Oh! could her inborn Stains be washed away,  
She were too good to be a Beast of Prey.  Dii te Damasippe decaeq.— Donent Tonsore, for these small Remainders of Pity.  
The next was to show ye that he could tame a Panther, while you see the Hind and the Panther so lovingly discoursing together. A miracle i'll assure ye equal if not superior to the choicest in all Ribadenira, if you consider how difficult a thing it is to domesticate that wild Animal.  
In short the whole Poem, if it may deserve that Name, is a piece of Deformed arrogant Nonsense, and self-contradiction, dressed up in fine Language, like an ugly Brazen faced Whore peeping through the Costly Trappings of a Point de Venise Cornet. I call it Nonsense, because unseasonable; and Arrogant, because Impertinent; For could Mr. Bays have so little Wit, to think himself a sufficient Champion to decide the High Mysteries of Faith and Transubstantiation, and the nice disputes concerning Traditions and infallibility in a Discourse between the Hind and the Panther, which undetermined hitherto, have exercised all the Learning in the World. Or could he think the Grand Arcana of Divinity a Subject fit to be handled in flourishing Rhyme by the Author of the Duke of Guise, or the Conquest of Peru, or the Spanish Friar: Doubts which Mr. Bayes is no more able to unfold, than Saffold to resolve a Question in Astrology. And all this only as a Tale to usher in his beloved Character, and to show the excellency of his Wit in abusing Honest Men. If these were his thoughts, as we cannot rationally otherwise believe, seeing that no man of understanding will undertake an enterprise wherein he does not think himself to have some advantage of his Predecessors; then does this Romance, I say, of the Panther and the Hind fall under the most fatal Censure of unreasonable folly and saucy Impertinence. Nor can I think that the more Solid, Prudent and Learned Persons of the Roman Church Con him any Thanks for laying the Profane Fingers of a Turncoat upon the Altar of their Sacred Debates.  
And so much for the Hind and Panther. Now you shall hear Mr. D. disputing against Mr D. Mr. D. the Romanist against Mr. D. the Protestant. As if he thought the controverted Points of Religion between differing Judgements were only Paradoxes for acute Ingenuities to play with, and show the Dexterity of Wit to manage the Cause of Plaintiff or Defendant.  
Mr. D. the Romanist discoursing of Traditions thus begins, Hind and Panther, p. 41. 
— But the Rule you lay  
Has lead whole Flocks, and leads them still astray;  
For did not Arrius first, Socinus now  
The Sons Eternal Glory disavow?  
And did not they by Gospel Texts alone,  
Condemn our Doctrine and maintain their own?  
Have not all Heretic's the same pretence,  
To plead the Scriptures in their own defence?  
How did the Nicene Council then decide  
That strong debate, was it by Scripture tried  Page 42. 
No sure, to those the Rebel would not yield,  
Squadrons of Texts he Marshaled in the Field:  
The good old Bishops took a simpler way;  
Each asked but what he heard his Father say,  
Or how he was instructed in his Youth,  
And by Traditions Force upheld the Truth.   
To this after he has put a frivolous Answer of his own into the Panther's Mouth, he goes on; 
I see Tradition then is disallowed,  
When not evinced by Scripture to be true,  
And Scripture, as interpreted by you:  
But here you tread upon unfaithful Ground,  
Unless you could infallibly expound  p. 44. 

Which you reject as odious Popery,  
And throw the Doctrine back with scorn on me;  
Thus when you say Traditions must be tried,  
By Sacred Writ, whose Sense yourselves decide;  
You said no more, but that yourselves must be  
The Judges of the Scripture Sense not we.   

If not by Scripture, how can we be sure  
Replied the Panther, what Tradition's sure?  
For you may 
* A proper Expression, to put into the Mouth of the Church of England; as if she were a common Gamester.  Palm upon us now for old,  
All as they say that Glitter is not Gold.   

How, but by following her, replied the Dame,  
To whom derived from Sire to Son they came;  
Where every Age does one another move,  
And trusts no farther than the next above,  
Where all the Rounds like Jacob's Ladder rise,  
The lowest in the Earth, the Top-most in the Skies.  
46. You must evince Traditions to be forged:  
Produce plain Proofs: Unblemished Authors use,  
As ancient as those Authors they accuse  
Till when, 'tis not sufficient to defame,  
And old possession stands, till Elder quits the claim.    
This was the Opinion of Mr. D. the Romanist upon the Case of Traditions: now you shall hear the Judgement of Mr. D. the Protestant upon the same Subject. Relig. Lai. p. 20. 

We hold and say, we prove from Scripture plain,  
That Christ is God; the bold Socinian:  
From the same Scripture urges he's but Man.  
Now what appeal can end th' impatient suit?  
Both parts talk loudly, but the Rule is mute?   

Shall I speak plain, and in a Nation Free,  
Assume an honest Layman's Liberty.  
I think according to my little skill,  
To my own 
* Meaning the Church of England.  Mother Church submitting still,  
That many have been saved, and many may  
That never heard the Question brought in play.  
For the Straight Gate would be made straighter yet,  
Were none admitted there but Men of Wit.  
The Few by Nature formed, with learning fraught,  
Born to instruct, as others to be taught,  
Must study well the sacred Page, and see  
Which Doctrine, this or that, does best agree  
With the whole Tenor of the work Divine▪  
And plainliest points to Heavens revealed design.  
Which Exposition flows from genuine sense,  
And which is forced by Wit and Eloquence,  
And then Traditions parts are useful here  
When general, old, disinterest and clear.  
That ancient Fathers thus expound the Page.  
Give Truth, the Reverend Majesty of Age;  
For still, the nearer to the Spring we go▪  
Moore limpid, more unsoiled the Waters flow.  
Thus first Traditions were a Proof alone,  
Could we be certain such they were, so known,  
But since some flaws in long descent may be,  
They make not truth, but probability.  
Tradition written, therefore more Commends  
Authority than what from Voice descends:  
And this as perfect as its kind may be,  
Rowls down to us the sacred History.  
Which from the Universal Church received,  
Is tried, and afterward believed.    
And p. 16 
If Scripture, though derived from Heavenly Birth  
Has been but carelessly preserved on Earth.  
If Gods own people—  
— Who did neither time nor study spare.  
To keep this Book untainted, unperplexed  
Let in gross Errors to Corrupt the Text.  
Omitted Paragraphs, embroiled the sense,  
With vain Traditions stopped the gaping Fence,  
Which every common hand pulled up with ease,  
What sasety from such Brushwood helps as these▪  
If Written Words from time are not secured,  
How can we think; have, Oral sounds endured.  
Which thus transmitted, if one Mouth has failed,  
Immortal lies on Age are entailed;  
And that some such have been is proved too plin,  
If we consider 
* Meaning the Roman Interest, Church, and Profit.  Interest, Church and Gain.   
In the Second place Mr. D. the Romanist is for proving the Infallibility of his New Mother, which he thus Essays to accomplish. Hind and Panth. p 52. 
And w●at one Saint has said of Holy Paul,  
He darkly Writ is true applied to all.  
For this obscurity could Heaven provide,  
More prudently than by a living Guide,  
As doubts arose the difference to decide?  

* The Hind begs the Question.  A Guide was therefore needful, therefore made,  
And if appointed, sure to be obeyed.  
Thus with due reverence, to th' Apostles Writ▪  
By which my Sons are taught, to which submit:  
I think those truths their sacred works conrain,  
The Church alone can certainly explain,  
That following Ages leaning on the Past,  
May rest upon the primitive at last,  
Nor would I thence the word no Rule infer,  
But none without the Church Interpreter.  P 59 
Then granting that unerring Guide we want,  
That such there is, you stand obliged to grant,  
Our Saviour else were wanting to supply  
Our needs, and obviate that necessity.  
It than remains that Church can only be  
The Guide which owns unfailing certainty.  p. 60. 
All which the 
* His new Mother.  Mother Church asserts her own  
And with unrivalled claim ascends the Thrown.   
[Exit. Hind. Now Enter Panther in the Person of D. the Protestant Relig. Laic. p. 18. 
Such an Omniscient Church we wish indeed  
'Twere worth both Testaments, and cast in the Creed,  
But if this Mother be a Guide so sure,  
As can all Doubts resolve, all Truth secure,  
Then her Infallibility, as well  
Where Copies are corrupt or lame, can tell;  
Restore lost Canon with as little Pains,  
And truly explicate what still remains.  
Which yet no Councils dare pretend to do,  
Unless, like Esdras, they could write a new;  
Strange Confidence still to interpret true,  
Yet not be sure, That all they have explained  
Is in the blessed Original contained.  
More safe, and much more modest 'tis to say  
God would not leave mankind without a Way.  
And that the Scriptures, though not every where  
Free from corruption, or entire and clear,  
Are uncorrupt, sufficient, clear, and entire  
In all things which our needful Faith require;  
If others in the fame Glass better see  
'Tis for themselves they look, but not for me;  
For my Salvation must its doom receive,  
Not from what Others, but what I believe.   
And p. 16. speaking in commendation of the Translation of Father Simon, he has these words: 
Where we may see what Errors have been made,  
Both in the Copier's, and Translator's Trade;  
How Jewish, Popish Interests have prevailed,  
And where Infallibility has failed.   
P. 24. He goes on thus. 
In those dark times they learned the Knack so well,  
That by long use they grew Infallible;  
At last, a knowing Age began t' inquire  
If they the Book, or That did them inspire?  
And making narrower search they found, though late,  
That what they thought the Priests, was their Estate;  
Taught by the Will produced, the Written Word,  
How long they had been cheated on Record.   
P. 22. He has moreover these Lines. 
The Partial Papists would infer from hence,  
Their Church, in last resort, should judge the sense;  
But first they would assume, with wondrous Art,  
Themselves to be the whole, who are but part  
Of that vast Frame, the Church——   
And in his Preface to his Relig. Laic. he has this Expression upon the same Subject. 
But by asserting the Scripture to be the Canon of our Faith, I have unavoidably created to myself two sort of Enemies: The Papists indeed more directly, because they have kept the Scripture from us what they could, and have reserved to themselves a right of Interpreting what they have delivered, under pretence of Infallibility.   
After this Mr. D. the Romanist falls into a Rapture, and extols his new Mother to that degree, as if he were striving to outdo the Canticles. Says he, Hind and Panther, p. 61. 

Behold! what marks of Majesty she brings,  
Richer than Ancient Heirs of Eastern Kings;  
Her right hand holds the Sceptre and the Keys  
To show whom she commands, and who obeys,  
With these to bind, or set the sinner free,  
With that t' assert spiritual Royalty.   

One in herself, not rend by Schism, but sound,  
Entire, one solid shining Diamond,  
One central Principle of Unity  
As undivided, so from Errors free,  
As one in Faith, so one in Sanctity.  
Thus one, thus pure, behold her largely spread.  
Like the fair Ocean, from her Mother-Bed.  
From East to West triumphantly she rides,  
All Shores are watered by her wealthy Tides.  
The Gospel's sound diffused from Pole to Pole,  
Where Winds can carry, and where Waves can roll,  
The self same Doctrine of the Sacred Page,  
Conveyed to every Clime, in every Age▪    
But Mr. D the Protestant talks at another rate, as for Example, Relig. Laic. p. 23. 
In Times o'ergrown with Rust and Ignorance,  
A Gainful Trade their Clergy did advance,  
When want of Learning kept the Laymen low,  
And none but Priests were authorised to know.  
When what small Knowledge was, in them did dwell,  
And he a God, who could but Read or Spell;  
Then Mother Church did mightily prevail,  
She parcell'd out the Bible by Retail;  
But still expounded what she sold or gave,  
To keep it in her power to damn or save:  
Scripture was scarce, and as the Market went,  
Poor Laymen took Salvation on Content.  
As needy men take Money, good or bad,  
God's Word they had not, but the Priests they had;  
Yet whate'er false Conveyances they made,  
The Lawyer still was certain to be paid.   
When he comes to the Panegyric upon his present Majesty, where he had so transending a Subject, and aught, though it had been by way of Digression, to have expended the whole Treasure of his Genius, Heaven's! what a difference there is between the feminine Encomiums of Mr. D. the Romanist, upon His present Majesty, and the ranting Raptures of Mr. D. the Independent upon a Monster of a Tyrant, as if the very Noise of oliver's silver Prize had inspired him.  
The choicest of Mr. D. the Romanist's thoughts, which he had to bestow upon his Sovereign, are only these. 
A plain good man, whose name is understood  
(So few deserve the Name of Plain and Good)  
Of three fair Lineal Lordships stood possessed,  
And lived, as reason was, upon the Best,  
Inur'd to Hardships from his early Youth;  
Much had he done, and suffered for his Truth:  
●t Land and Sea in many a doubtful fight,  
Was never known a more Adventurous Knight,  
Who oftener drew his Sword, and always for the Right▪   
But this is nothing to the lofty strain, wherein Mr. D. the Independent Courts the fortune of a prosperous Rebel, in his Poem upon the Death of Oliver Cromwell, where he has these towering Expressions. 
His Grandeur he derived from Heaven alone,  
For he was great ere Fortune made him so:  
And Wars, like Mists that rise against the Sun,  
Made him but greater seem, not greater grow.  
And yet Dominion was not his Design,  
We owe that Blessing not to him, but Heaven,  
Which to fair Acts unsought Rewards did join,  
Rewards that less to us than him were given.  
Swift and resistless through the Land be past,  
Like that bold Greek that did the East subdue,  
And made to Battles such Heroic haste,  
As if on Wings of Victory he flew.  
He fought secure of Fortune as of Fame,  
Till by new Maps, the Island might be shown,  
Of Conquests which he strewed where ere he came;  
Thick as the Galaxy with Stars is sown.   
Nay the Tyrant's Nose, that was the Laughter and Contempt of that time, could not scape the Adoration of his Independent Muse. 
'Tis true his Countenance did imprint an awe,  
And naturally all Souls to his did bow,  
As Wands of Divination downward draw,  
And point to Beds where sovereign Gold doth grow.   
By the way, take notice what a Yerk he gives his Mother the Church of Rome in the same Panegyric, for than it was convenient so to do. 
That Old unquestioned Pirate of the Land,  
Proud Rome, with dread the Fate of Dunkirk heard;  
And trembling, wished behind more Alps to stand,  
Although an Alexander were her Guard.   
By all which the Reader may perceive how much the Enthusiasm of those days surmounted the flagging Wit of these times.  
But now you will find Mr. D. the Romanist, and Mr. D. the Protestant at Dagger's drawing about the Plot, and the Papists too, which is more; so positively opposite one to the other, as if he had two Seats of Judgement, the one in his forehead, and the other in the Nape of his Neck.  
Mr. D. the Romanist upbraids the Churchmen of England, and gives her good Instructions in these Lines. Hind and Panther. p. 112. 
To name the Test, would put you in a Rage,  
You charge not that on any former Age:  
But smile to think how Innocent you stand,  
Armed by a weapon put into your hand;  
Yet still remember that you wield a Sword  
Forged by your Foes against your sovereign Lord,  
Designed to hew th' Imperial Cedar down,  
Defraud Succession, and disheir the Crown.   
And thence transporting himself to the Plot. 
What more could you have done than now you do,  
Had Oats and Bedlow, and their Plot been true?  
Some specious Reasons for those wrongs were found,  
The Dire Magicians threw their Mists around,  
And wisemen walked as on enchanted Ground:  
But now when Time has made th' Imposture plain,  
What new Delusion charms your cheated Eyes again?  
The painted Harlot might a while bewitch,  
But why the Hag uncased, and all obscene with itch?   
Had Mr. D. the Romanist but whispered these words at Will's Coffee-house, time was when, Mr. D. the Protestant had certainly informed against him, and procured him corporal Punishment: For, do but hear Mr. D. the Protestants Opinion at that time in steady Prose, in his Protestant Epistle to Religio Laici. 
A General and uninterrupted Plot of their Clergy (meaning the Papists) ever since the Reformation, I suppose all Protestants believe. For 'tis not reasonable to believe but that so many of their Orders, as were outed from their Fat Possessions, would endeavour a Re-entrance against those whom they account Heretics. As for the late design, Mr. Coleman's Letters, for aught I know, are the best evidence; and what they discover without Wire-drawing their Sense, or malicious Glosses, all Men of Reason conclude Credible. If there be any more than this required of me, I must believe it as well as I am able in spite of the Witnesses, and out of a decent Conformity to the Votes of Parliament. For I suppose the fanatics will not allow the private Spirit in this Case. Here the Infallibillity is in one part of the Government, and our Understanding as well as our Wills are represented.  
But to return to the Roman Catholics. How can we be secure from the Practice of the Jesuited Papists in that Religion? For not two or three of that Order, as some would impose upon us; but almost the whole Body of them are of Opinion that their Infallible Master has a Right over Kings, not only in spirituals, but in temporals. Not to Name Mariana, Bellarmin, Emanuel Sa, Molina, Santarel, Simancha, and at least twenty others of foreign Countries, we can produce of our own Nation, Campian, and Doleman, or Parsons; besides, many are named whom I have not read, who all of them attest, That the Pope can give away the Right of any Sovereign Prince, if he shall warp never so little; but if he once comes to be excommunicated, than the Bond of Obedience is taken off from his Subjects, and they may and aught to drive him like another Nebuchaduezzar from exercising Dominion over Christians: And to this they are bound by Virtue of Divine Precept, and by all the ties of Conscience, under no less Penalty than Damnation. And their Champion Bellarmin has told the World, that the King of England is a Vassal to the Pope, and that he holds in Villeinage of his Roman Landlord.   
Here is Contradiction upon Contradiction. A Plot believed, and a Plot denied: Loyal Roman Catholic Subjects, that hold it Lawful to depose those Sovereigns, are branded with his mark of Wicklifs Brood, innate Antipathy to Kings. 
Hind. and P. p. 11.  Which makes me wonder that Mr. D. the Protestant, did not call in all his Heretical Writings, and burn 'em by the hand of the Common Hangman, before he revolted to write his Hind and Panther.  
Now, by the way of Corollary, a little more of your Christian Patience gentle Reader, and hear his low Opinion of the Martyrs of the Roman Faith, as he owns it in his Religio Laici, p. 13. where undertaking to prove, 
That if the Gentiles whom no Law inspired  
By nature did what was by Law required.  
They might be said, He goes on thus.  
Most righteous Doom; because a Rule revealed  
Is none to those from whom it was concealed.  
Then those who followed Reasons Dictates right,  
Lived up, and lifted high their Natural Light,  
With Socrates, may see their Maker's Face,  
While Thousand Rubric Martyrs want a place.   
Nor could ever Shimei be thought to have cursed David more bitterly than he permits his Friend to Blaspheme the Roman Priesthood in his Epilogue to the Spanish Friar; In which Play he himself has acted his own Part like a true younger Son of Noah, as may be easily seen in the first Edition of that Comedy, which would not pass Muster a second time without Emendations and Corrections. And as for the Epilogue, affixed by his allowance to the Play, which in effect is the same thing, as if he had done it himself; after the Author had stigmatised the Roman Clergy for Persons that would pimp and perjure themselves, and consequently commit any other Villainies for Money, his Friend thus concludes. 
There's none I'm sure who is a friend to love,  
But will our Friar's Character approve.  
The ablest spark among you, sometimes needs  
Such pious helps for Charitable Deeds.  
Our Church, alas, as Rome objects, does want  
The Ghostly Comforts for the falling Saint;  
This gains them their Whore-converts, and may be  
The reason of the Growth of Popery.  
So Mahomet's Religion came in Fashion,  
By the large leave it gave to Fornication.  
Fear not the Gild, if you can pay for't well;  
There is no Dives in the Roman Hell.  
Gold opens the straight Gate, and lets him in,  
But want of Money is a mortal sin;  
How are men cozened still with shows of Good?  
The Bawds best Mask is the grave Friar's Hood.  
'Tis a mock War between the Priest and Devil,  
When they think fit, they can be very civil.  
They boast the Gift of Heaven is in their power,  
Well may they give the God they can devour  
Still to the sick and dead their Claims they lay,  
For 'tis on Carrion that the Vermin prey.  
Nor have they less Dominion on our Life;  
They troth the Husband, and they pace Wife.  
Rouse up you Cuckcolds of the Northern Climes,  
And learn from Sweden to prevent such Crimes;  
Unman the Friar, and leave the Holy Drone,  
To hum in his forsaken Hive alone:  
He'll work no Honey, when his sting is gone.  
Your Wives and Daughters soon will leave the Cells,  
When they have lost the sound of Aaron's Bells.   
Now that you may see his Friend and he were both agreed, you shall find the Author himself concluding his second Act of his Spanish Friar to the same tune, where he brings in the tempted Elvira, commending the Friar for managing his business so well in these words. Elu. 
This Friar is a comfortable Man, he will know nothing of the business, but does it all: 
Pray Wives and Virgins at your time of need,  
For a true Guide, of my good Father's breed.    
And in the very first Scene of the third Act, the same Lady cries out, 
Well, if I prove frail,— never Woman had such an Husband to provoke her, such a Lover to allure her, or such a Confessor to absolve her.   
And a little farther, says Gomez, the jealous Husband, 
— When a swinging Sin is to be committed, nothing will cover it so close as a Friar's Hood, for there the Devil plays at Bopeep; puts out his Horns to do mischief, and then shrinks 'em back for safety, like a Snale into her shell.  The sense of the Epilogue all along: And enough to show how soon a Gentleman may alter his Opinion in point of Religion.  
FINIS.