And troll'd them on, and fwore, and fwore,
Till th' Army turn'd 'em out of Door:
This tells us plainly what they thought,
That Oaths and Swearing go for nought,
And that by them th' were only meant
To ferve for an Expedient:
What was the Publick Faith found out for,
But to flur Men of what they fought for?
The Publick Faith which ev'ry one
bound t' obferve, yet kept by none;
Shou'd Private Faith have fuch a Tie?
Oaths were not purpos'd more than Law, To keep the Good and Juft in awe,
But to confine the Bad and Sinful,
Like Moral Cattle ina Pinfold:
A Saint's o' th' Heavenly Realm a Peer,
And as no Peer is bound to fwear,
But on the Gospel of his Honour,
Of which he may difpofe, as Owner
It follows, though the thing be Forg'ry;
And falfe, th' affirm, it is no Perry,
D & 4
But a mere Cermony: and breach
Of nothing but a form of Speech;
for no more when 'tis took,
Than meer faluting of the Book.
Suppose the Scriptures are of Force,
They're but Commiffions of Course,
And Saints have freedom to digrefs,
And vary from 'em as they please ;
Or mif-interpret them by private
Inftructions, to all Aims they drive at :
Then why should we our felves abridge,
And curtail our own Privilege?
Quakers (that, like to Lanthorns, bear
Their Light within 'em) will not fwear.
Their Gofpel is an Accidence,
By which they conftrue Confcience,
And hold no Sin fo deeply red,
As that of breaking Prifcian's Head,
(The Head and Founder of their Order,
That ftirring Hats held worfe than Murder.) These thinking th' are oblig'd to Troth
Infwearing, will not take an Oath;
Like Mules, who if th' have not their will
To keep their own pace, ftand ftoc-kftill;
But they are weak, and little know
What Free-born Confciences may do ;
'Tis the Temptation of the Devil,
That makes all humane Actions evil:
For Saints may do the fame things by
The Spirit, in Sincerity,
Which other Men are tempted to,
And at the Devil's inftance do;
And yet the Actions be contrary,
Juft as the Saints and Wicked vary.
For as on Land there is no Beaft,
But in fome Fish at Sea's expreft,
So in the Wicked there's no Vice,
Of which the Saints have not a Spice
And yet that thing that's pious in
The one, in t' other is a Sin.
Is't not Ridiculous and Nonfenfe,
A Saint fhou'd be a flave to Confcience?
That ought to be above fuch Fancies,
As far as above Ordinances ?
She's of the Wicked, as I guess,
B' her Looks, her Language and her Drefs;
And though, like Conftables, we fearch
For Falfe Wares one another's Church:.
Yet all of us hold this for true,
No Faith is to the Wicked due;
For Truth is Precious and Divine,
Too rich a Pearl for Carnal Swine.
Quoth Hudibas, All this is true,
Yet 'tis not fit that all Men knew
Thefe Myfteries and Revelations;
And therefore Topical Evafions
Of fubtile Turns, and Shifts of Sense,
Serve beft with th' Wicked for pretence,
Such as the learned Jefuits use,
And Presbyterians, for Excufe
Against the Proteftants, when th' happen
To find their Churches taken napping:
As thus: A breach of Oaths is Duple,
And either way admits a Scruple,
may be ex parte o' th' Maker
More Criminal than th' injur'd Taker.
For he that ftrains too far, a Vow,
Will break it like an o'er-bent Bow:
And he that made, and forc'd it, broke it,
Not he that for Convenience took it:
A broaken Oath is, quat'nus Oath,
As found t' all purposes of Troth,
As broken Laws are ne'er the worse,
Nay, till th' are broken have no force;
What's fuftice to a Man, or Laws,
That never comes within their Claws;
They have no Pow'r, but to admonish,
Cannot controul, coerce or punish,
Untill they're broken, and then touch
Those only that do make them fuch.
Befide, n' Engagement is allow'd
By Men in Prifon made for Good;
For when they're fet at liberty,"
They're from th' Engagement too fet free:
The Rabbins write, when any Jew
Did make to God or Man a Vow,
Which afterward he found untoward,
And stubborn to be kept, or too hard;
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