And thus 'tis ; Whether 't be a fin

To claw and curry your own skin,
Greater or lefs, than to forbear,
And that you are forfworn forfwear.
But first, o' th' firft: The inward man,
And outward, like a clan and clan,
Have always been at daggers-drawing,
And one another clapper-clawing;
Not that they really cuff or fence,
But in a spiritual mystick sense;

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Which to mistake, and make them fquabble

I's 't not enough we 're bruis'd'and kicked,
With finful members of the Wicked d;

Qur veffels, that are fanctify'd,

Profan'd, and curry'd back and fide;

-But we must claw ourfelves with fhameful
And Heathen ftripes, by their example?

Which (were there nothing to forbid it)

Is impious, because they did it:
This, therefore, may be justly reckon'd
A heinous fin. Now to the fecond;

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106.

That

That Saints may claim a difpenfation

To fwear and forfwear on occation,

I doubt not but it will appear

With pregnant light: the point is clear.

Oaths are but words, and words but wind;
Too feeble implements to bind;

And hold with deeds proportion fo

As fhadows to a fubftance do.

Then when they strive for place, 'tis fit
The weaker veffel fhould fubmit.
Although your Church be oppofite
To ours, as Black friars are to White,
In rule and order, yet I grant

You are a Reformado faint;

And what the Saints do claim as due,
You may pretend a title to:

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115

But Saints, whom oaths and vows oblige,
Know little of their privilege;.,

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Further (I mean) than carrying on

Some felf-advantage of their own:

For if the devil, to ferve his turn,

Can tell truth, why the Saints should scorn,
When it ferves theirs, to fwear and lie,

I think there's little reafon why:

Elfe he 'as a greater power than they,

Which 'twere impiety to fay.

We 're not commanded to forbear,

Indefinitely, at all to fwear;
ut to fwear idly, and in vain,
at felf-intereft or gain:

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For

Before our plate, to have them burst,
And caft in fitter models, for

The present ufe of Church and War?
Did not our Worthies of the House,
Before they broke the peace, break vows?

750 For

Ver. 136.] When it was first moved in the House of Commons to proceed capitally against the King, Cromwell ftood up and told them," That if any man moved "this with defign, he fhould think him the greatest "traitor in the world; but fince Providence and ne"ceffity had caft them upon it, he fhould pray to God to blefs their counfels." And when he kept the King clofe prifoner in Carisbrook Caftle, contrary to vows and proteftations, he affirmed, "The Spirit would "not let him keep his word." And when, contrary to the public faith, they murdered him, they pretended they could not refift the motions of the Spirit.

re

For having freed us firk from both
Th' Allegiance and Suprem'cy oath,
Did they not next compel the nation
To take, and break the Protestation?
To fwear, and after to recant,
The Solemn League and Covenant?

1

To take th' Engagement, and disclaim it,
Enforc'd by those who first did frame it?

Did they not fwear, at first, to fight

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For the King's safety and his right?

160

And after march'd to find him out,

And charg'd him home with horse and foot;
But yet ftill had the confidence

To fwear it was in his defence?

Did they not fwear to live and die

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With Effex, and straight laid him by?

If that were all, for fome have swore
As falfe as they, if they did no more.
Did they not fwear to maintain Law,.
In which that fwearing made a flaw?
For Proteftant religion vow,
'That did that vowing difallow?
For Privilege of Parliament,

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In which that fwearing made a rent?
And fince, of all the three, not one
Is left in being, 'tis well known.
Did they not fwear, in exprefs words,
To prop and back the House of Lords?
And after turn'd out the whole houfefull
Of Peers, as dangerous and unuseful.

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180

So

So Cromwell, with deep oaths and vows,
Swore all the Commons out o' th' House;
Vow'd that the Red-coats would disband,
Ay, marry would they, at their command;
And troll'd them on, and fwore, and fwore,
Till th' Army turn'd them out of door.
This tells us plainly what they thought,
That oaths and fwearing go for nought,
And that by them th' were only meant
To serve for an expedient.

What was the Public Faith found out for,
But to flur men of what they fought for?
The Public Faith, which every one
Is bound t' observe, yet kept by none;
And if that go for nothing, why
Sould Private Faith have fuch a tie ?
Oaths were not purpos'd, more than Law,
To keep the Good and just in awe,

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But to confine the Bad and Sinful,
Like mortal cattle in a pinfold.

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A Saint's of th' heavenly realm a Peer;
And as no Peer is bound to swear,
But on the Gofpel of his Honour,
Of which he may difpofe, as owner,
It follows, though the thing be forgery,
And falfe, t' affirm it is no perjury,
But a mere ceremony, and a breach
Of nothing but a form of speech,
And goes for no more when 'tis took,
Than mere faluting of the Book,

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