The Pack-Man's Pater Noster.
On which to think, it makes me sweat for sham
[...]
As are these Rites maintain'd in
Romes Theatre;
And first the casting of their holy Water.
Their
Exorcisme, their
Images, their
Altars.
Of
Crosses, Cups and
Pals, Popes are exalters,
Of
Candles, and of Churches consecration.
With vestments in the
Church for Decoration,
Their Hypocritical hid Hermitages,
Their
Penna
[...]ce and
Polluted Pilgrimages;
Free-will, and humane Merit for Offe
[...] ▪
With jugling,
Jubilees, and
Indulgences,
And of the
Saints their idle invocation,
And by the
Pope their
Curst Canonization.
Auricular Confession, vile pollution,
And for their
Sins a-pay'd for Absolution.
Their privat
[...]
Masses, and their mu
[...]ation,
Their
Elevation, Transubstantiation.
Sir
John, if you would hear me bot record,
Some Verses on the
Supper of our
Lord:
It was a Friend of mine to me did send them,
Hee's not a
Christian will not commend them.
Priests make
Christs both Body and Soul, we need not doubt,
They Eat, Drink, Box him up, they bear about,
One is to little, Bread and Wine,
Holds not him several so we Dine;
Thou with thy
Christ, I with mine.
Is thy Mouth the Virgins Womb? Is bread he
[...] seed
Are thy words the Holy Ghost? Is this our Creed?
O presumptuous undertaker!
Never Cake could make a Baker,
Yet the
Priest can make his Maker.
What's become of all these Chistshe Priests have made?
Do these Hostes or Ostes abide? or do they fade
One
Christ abides the rest do flie:
One
Christ he lives, the rest do Die:
One
Christ True, the rest a lie.
R. S.
Into the
Gospel, Take Ye, Eat Ye, Christ saith,
For which
Receive Ye, Swallow Ye, your priest saith.
See how by popes the Sacraments are driven,
Where Christ makes two, they ad five, so make seven.
For
Baptism and the
Supper of the
Lord,
These only two did Christ to us afford.
With Christ his Institution not content,
To these two True, Five Bastards they augment.
A Bastards name doth duly them be fit;
For they were never Re-abled as yet;
Nor ever shall, but still will be abhor'd,
Because they have no Warrant from the Lord,
As
Confirmation, Pennance, Extream Ʋnction,
With
Priestly Orders to adorn their Function;
And
Matrimony they maintain as One.
But here's a wondrous Thing to think upon,
How Popes do call themselves,
Servi Servorum;
Yet in Procession keep a Strange
Decorum,
They tread on Necks of Kings upon the Street;
And forcing Emperors to kiss their Feet.
Doth God the Father in his Law allow
These vile Inventions your Church doth Avow?
Doth Christ his Son into his Gospel give
Such wayes to walk in, such Faith to believe?
Or doth the Holy Ghost in us inspire,
More than the Law and Gospel doth require?
The Father hath perscrib'd to us a Law,
To keep us in obedience and Aw:
And Christ his Son our Saviour, did Provide us
His Glorious Gospel always for to Guide us;
The Holy Ghost doth from them both proceed,
To Guard us from our Sins in time of need.
If we transgress the Law of God the Father,
Then neither Grace nor Confort can we gather.
If we believe not in his only Son,
Then our belief is doubtlesly undone;
And if we breath not of the Holy Ghost,
Then is our Labour all our life-time lost.
But Gods Commandments your Church renverses
S me she conjoyns, and others she disperses:
She trust in
Saints and
Angels many one,
And should Trust in the Trinity alone:
Wherefore Gods Holy Spirit can nev'r attend her▪
Nor in distress or danger ever defend her,
And though she Reign a while in pompe & pride▪
I hope in God my good and gracious Guide,
To her the True Religion hee'l advance.
Ere l
[...]ng, and bring her out of ignorance,
Wherein she hath these many Hundreth Years
Lyen wilfully, which manifest appears,
By her unwillingness from thence to part,
She is so obdurate, and hard of heart;
So that except God by his mighty hand,
Her power, her pride and Cruelty, withstand,
And force her from her Filthinesse to flie.
Of Errors great, and Gross Idolatry:
So if she follow not Christs True Instruction,
I fear her Final dangerous Destruction:
Which God forbid: I hope in his own Time,
Hee'l both forgive, and purge her of all Crime.
Heard ever ye, Sir
John, a purpose Quicker,
To prove the Pope to be Christs only Vicar?
S. J. S.
And though he were full Vicar to our Lord,
Should not his words and Christs keep one accord?
Priest.
Doubtless tho do, and never are contrary,
In
Pater Nosier, Creed: nor
Ave Mary.
Pack-Man.
But Christs Disciples when they made their m
[...]tion.
To Christ their Master, how to make Devotion,
As I have done to you, Sir
John, to day,
I pray you, in what tongue bade He them pray?
Christ did not one w
[...]
[...]tin to them speak:
Their talk was all in
Syriack, He
[...]rew, Greek.
He bade all Nations pray after one Manner:
But bade not all tak
[...]
Latine for their Banner.
Your
Latine is but one of the Translations:
Why should it then exclude all other Nations?
And on my Soul, Sir
John, if I but say,
[...] mine own Mother tongue, when I do pray;
[...]ord, help me, Lord, forgive me all my Sins;
[...]a, why not, Lord, increase my pack and pins,
[...]d every thing whereof I stand in need;
[Page 19]
For this depends upon our dayly bread;
I hope in God, to
[...] more comfort herein,
Than
Latine ye would make me so parquier in.
And since some tongues have more Antiquity,
Than
Latine, were it not Iniquity
To force all People to pray like the Pope?
No, good Sir
John, ye'l not say that, I hope.
Priest.
But Pack-Man, one Point would I fain make plain
Let us come back to our
Ladie again;
And if thou had as much Capacity,
As raving wit, with great audacity,
The case is clear, that Virgine
Mary meek,
She could all Languages perfitely speak.
Hast thou not heard, Man, how the
Holy Ghost
Came down like cloven tongues at the
Pentecost,
And fild the House where all the twelve were ready.
And one Tongue Truely lighted on our Lady?
And lest thou think I talk of idle themes,
Consult the reverend
Jesuits of
Rhemes;
I pray thee, Pack-Man, earnestly this note.
Pack-Man.
In Faith, Sir
John, it is not worth a Groat.
Will I believ't, think ye, because they say it?
Priest.
No; but they prov't as no Man can deny it.
[Page 20]
Saith not the Text, that when the Lord ascended,
Unto the
Twelve he earnestly Recommended,
That from
Jerusalem they should not go,
Untill the Comforter should come; and so
Into an upper Room they went together,
Where
Marie still was one, you must consider,
With many mo in number full six score,
That with the
Twelve did daily God Adore;
And then he saith, when
Pentecost was come,
They were together in one place, all, and some,
And (all) were filled with the Holy Ghost.
Pack-Man.
O good Sir
John, ye count without your host.
Now I see well your
Jesuitical Tongues
Have cloven the Text even to the very Lungs:
That (all) which first was spoken of six Score,
Is here meant only of the
Twelve, no more,
Now
Mary is not named now, as than;
What need I then believe it, holy Man?
On with your Spectacles, Sir
John, and Read,
And credite this as a Point of your
Creed:
The
Holy Ghost could fall upon no more
Than He was promised unto before.
Doubtless He took not a blind-folded Flight,
Like fyled
Larks, not knowing where to light.
Now, He was promis'd only to the
Twelve,
Look on the Text, Sir
John, and judge your selve;
Speak man, and be not silent: I am sorry
To see you ignorant of such a story.
And, as the stories in themselves are divers,
Flowing and falling into sundry Rivers;
[...]n divers Chapters so they stand divided,
Whereof ye have no Warrant in the Word;
And yet pursue us both with Fire and Sword,
As Hereticks, fot not doing as ye do;
Yet what the World bids, and no more, that we do,
Think ye that any man can be so mad,
As to hold Christ his Saviour; and so bad,
As to hold
Marie for his Saviours Mother,
And not to love her still above all other?
We love her then, tho' we believe not in her.
Nor by will-worship think we for to win her.
We hold her blessed, for
Christs flesh conceiving,
But far more blessed, for
Christs faith receiving
She is his Mother, and the Church his Wife.
Which was to him more dearer than his life
So if the one could fall out with the other,
He would respect his Wife, more than his Mother;
For this is every Spouses carriage,
But most in this spiritual Marriage,
And as she's Mother of his humane life
She's but a Daughter of his heavenly Wife,
And by his Mother, member of
Christs body;
Who thinks not so, is but a very Noddy.
All this, Sir
John, I do but briefly say,
To let yov see, that ye play us foul play.
Priest,
Well, Pack-man. tho' thou bear about that trunk
I fear thou be but some foreloppin Monk,
Of
Luthers lore, or crooked
Calvins crew,
And sent abroad, such business to brew;
Transformed in the person of some Pedler
Pack man.
Now, good Sir
John; in faith I am no medler,
[Page 24]
Nor have I mind nor means so high to Mount;
I can but Read a little, and lay a Count,
And seek my Meat through many an unknown Maison.
I know not what you call your
Kyrie Laison;
So help me GOD, Sir
John, I know not better,
Nor in your
Latine can I Read one Letter.
I but believe in GOD and sometimes say,
Christ help me when I Wander out the Way.
Priest. R. S.
I pray thee,
Pack Man this much for to tell me,
Since thou presumes so far for to excell me.
Were't not a very Reasonable Thing;
If one were going to an Earthly King,
To get forgivenesse for some great Transgression.
That he should shortly suite the Intercession
Of some great Favourite, and he for to pass
To purchase pardon for his high Trespass;
And not the guilty person to proceed
Presumptuously before the King to plead;
But use his moyen by His Highness minion.
Pack-man.
Sir
John, that motion is not worth an
Onion.
What if the King shall hear the Poor Man's Suite,
Should he stand silent as if he were mute?
No: he should, prostrat, lay his Fault before Him,
And he himself for pity should implore him;
For
Intercessors oftimes lurks and lingers,
Except the
Pleaders largely fill their Fingers.
[Page 27]
Be here to m
[...]w just 'tween six and seven,
And thou w
[...]
[...] thyself
half way to Heaven.
Pack-Man.
Content quoth I, but there is something more,
I must have your Opinion in before.
In case the holy
Prior have
[...] le
[...]ure,
To speak of every purpose at our pleasure:
There was but one Tongue at the birth of
Abel,
And many at the building up of
Babel:
A wicked Work which God would have confounded,
But when Christ came all Tongues again resounded,
To build his
Church by his
Apostles teaching,
Why not in praying, as well as in Preaching?
Since prayer is the True and full perfection
Of holy Service: saying your Correction:
So if our LORD to mine own Tongue be ready,
What need I then with
Latine trouble our
Lady?
Or if both these my prayers must be in,
I pray thee, tell me at whom to begin?
And to pray Joyntly to them both as one,
Your
Latine prayers then are quickly gone:
For
Pater Noster never to accord,
With her, nor
Ave Mary with our LORD,
If I get him what need I seek another?
Or dare he do nothing without his Mother?
And this, Sir
John, was once in Question,
Disputed long with deep digestion,
Whether the
Pater Noster should be said,
To GOD, or to our
Lady, when they pray'd
When
Master Mare of learn'd Diversitie,
Was
Rector of our
Ʋniversitie:
They sate so long, they cooled all their Kail,
Untill the
Master-Cook heard of the Tale,
[Page 28]
Who like a Mad-Man ran amongst the
Clergie,
Crying with many a
Domine me asperge:
To give the
Pater Noster to the Father,
And to our
Ladie give the
Ave's rather;
And like a Welsh-Man swore a great
Saint Davies
She might content her well with Creeds and
Ave's
And so the
Clergie fearing more confusion.
Were all contented with the Cooks conclusion,
Priest.
Pack-Man, this Tale is coyned of the new.
Pack-Man.
Sir
John, I'le quite the pack, if't be not true.
Again, Sir
John, ye learned
Monks may read,
How
Christ himself taught us of his own Head,
That every Soul that was with Sin opprest.
Should come to him, and He would give them rest.
Come all to me, saith he, not to another,
Come all to me, saith he, not to my Mother:
And if I do all as
Christ did Command it,
I hope her Ladiship will not withstand it.
And so, Sir
John, if I should speak in
Latine
Unto the LORD, at Even-Song and at Matine,
And never understand what I were saying,
Think ye the LORD would take this for true praying,
No: that ye cannot; for ye may consider,
My Tongue and Heart should pray to GOD together.
And hereupon ye shall hear what befell,
To certain Clerks that
Latine well could spell;
With whom by chance, I Lodged at an
Inne,
Where an old Wife upon a Rock did spin;
And towards Evening she fell to and pray'd;
But neither they, not I knew what she said.
One said, the Carling Counterfeits the Canting.
Another said, it's but the Matrons manting.
Some call'd it Cibbers, other call'd it Clavers
But still the Carling speaks, and spins, and slavers,
Now good Sir
John, what think ye of this Hussie?
Where was her Heart, when her Hands was so busie?
In end, one said,
Dame, wot ye what ye say?
No, not, said she, but well I wot I pray.
Ye pray, said he, and wots not what? I grant.
Alace, how ye can be so ignorant?
The Matrone musing little at the Motion,
Said,
Ignorance is Mother of devotion,
Then
Dame, said he,
if Ignorance be the Mother.
Darknesse must be the Daughter, and none other.
Pray'd ye, said he,
when all the Time ye Span?
What reck of that? said she,
God's a good Man,
And understands all that I say in Latin,
And this I do at Even-Song and Matine.
Alace, Sir
John, was not this Wife abused,
Whose Soul and Senses all were so confused?
Ye know these unknown Tongues can profit no Man,
And one tongue is enough for any Woman.
But when one prayes in true sincerity,
As God commands, in Spirit and Verity;
The heart sends up the Tongue as Messenger
Unto the Lord a Pleasant Passenger.
Priest.
But
Pack-Man here's a pretie little Book,
Wherein if thou will listen for to look,
[Page 30]
Set out by a true Catholick Divine.
And out of doubt will settle thine ingine,
Faith, Read it,
Pack-Man, for it is but little.
The gadge of the
new-Gospel is it's tittle.
He clearly proves by
Zacharias Example.
When He did Sacrifice within the Temple,
And all the People stood and pray'd without,
They knew not then what Tongue He spake, no doubt;
Ergo the
Masse may both be said and Sung,
In other Language than the Mother Tongue.
Pack-Man.
Sir
John, I see your holy Catholick,
Upon the Truth, hath put a pretty Trick.
Have ye not heard this
Proverb oftimes founded,
Homo qui malè audit male rounded?
So if the People heard not what he said,
How could they know in what Language he pray'd?
Since understanding cometh by the Ear,
He cannot understand that doth not hear.
Or how proves this that
Zacharie the
Priest
Spake
Latine, then the Language of the Beast?
Were
Liturgies under the
Law but so
In such a Tongue that all the
Jews did know?
What e're He spake, himself sure understood it
And so your Catholick did ill conclude it:
Because a learned
Priest may pray in
Latine,
And mumble o're his Even-Song,
Masse and Matin
Ergo a
Pack-Man to the LORD may Pray,
And never know a Syllable he doth say:
For when you put me to my
Pater Noster,
I seek an
Egge, and ye give me an
Oster.