Page:The Hind and the Panther - Dryden (1687).djvu/69

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The Hind and the Panther.
59
Because a trust so sacred to confer
Shows want of such a sure Interpreter:
And how can he be needful who can err?
Then granting that unerring guide we want,
That such there is you stand oblig'd to grant:
Our Saviour else were wanting to supply
Our needs, and obviate that Necessity.
It then remains that Church can only be
The Guide, which owns unfailing certainty;
Or else you slip your hold, and change your side,
Relapsing from a necessary Guide.
But this annex'd Condition of the Crown,
Immunity from Errours, you disown,
Here then you shrink, and lay your weak pretensions down.
For petty Royalties you raise debate;
But this unfailing Universal State
You shun: nor dare succeed to such a glorious weight.
And for that cause those Promises detest
With which our Saviour did his Church invest:

But