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And since, of all the three, not one
Is left in being, 'tis well known.
Did they not swear, in express words,
To prop and back the House of Lords,
And after turn'd out the whole house-full
Of peers, as dang'rous and unuseful?
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 wou'd they, at their command;
And troll'd them on, and swore, and swore, 185
Till th' army turn'd them 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 serve for an expedient.

What was the public faith found out for,
But to slur men of what they fought for?
The public faith, which ev'ry one

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Is bound t' observe, yet kept by none;

And if that go for nothing, why

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Should private faith have such a tie?

Oaths were not purpos'd, more than law,

To keep the good and just in awe,

But to confine the bad and sinful,

Like moral cattle, in a pinfold.

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A saint's of th' heav'nly realm a peer;

And as no peer is bound to swear,

But on the gospel of his honour,

Of which he may dispose as owner
It follows, though the thing be forgery,
And false, 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 saluting of the book.
Suppose the Scriptures are of force,
They're but commissions of course,
And saints have freedom to digress,
And vary from 'em, as they please;
Or misinterpret them, by private
Instructions, to all aims they drive at.

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I

Then why should we ourselves abridge
And curtail our own privilege?
Quakers (that, like to lanterns, bear
Their light within 'em) will not swear:
Their gospel is an accidence,

By which they construe conscience,
And hold no sin so deeply red,
As that of breaking Priscian's head
(The head and founder of their order,

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225

That stirring hats held worse than murder,;
These thinking th' are obliged to troth
In swearing, will not take an oath:

Like mules, who, if th' have not their will

To keep their own pace, stand stock-still: 230 But they are weak, and little know

What free-born consciences may do.

'Tis the temptation of the devil

That makes all human actions evil:

For saints may do the same things by 235
The Spirit, in sincerity,

Which other men are tempted to,
And at the devil's instance do;
And yet the actions be contrary,
Just as the saints and wicked vary.
For as on land there is no beast
But in some fish at sea's exprest,
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 th' other is a sin.

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Quoth Hudibras, All this is true; Yet 'tis not fit that all men knew Those mysteries and revelations; And therefore topical evasions

Of subtle turns and shifts of sense

Serve best with th' wicked for pretence;

Such as the learned Jesuits use,

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And Presbyterians, for excuse

Against the Protestants, when th' happen

270

To find their churches taken napping:
As thus: A breach of oath is duple,
And either way admits a scruple,
And may be ex parte of the maker,
More criminal than the injur'd taker;
For he that strains too far a vow,
Will broak it, like an o'er-bent bow:

And he that made, and forc'd it, broke it, 275
Not he that for convenience took it.

A broken oath is, quatenus oath,
As sound t' all purposes of troth,
As broken laws are ne'er the worse;
Nay, till th' are broken have no force.
What's justice to a man, or laws,
That never comes within their claws?
They have no pow'r, but to admonish;
Cannot control, coerce, or punish;
Until they're broken, and then touch
Those only that do make 'em such.
Beside, no engagement is allow'd
By men in prison made for good;
For when they're set at liberty,

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285

295

They're from th' engagement too set free. 290
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,
Any three other Jews o' th' nation
Might free him from the obligation;
And have not two saints pow'r to use
A greater privilege than three Jews?
The court of conscience, which in man
Should be supreme and sovereign,

300

Is't fit should be subordinate
To ev'ry petty court i' th' state,
And have less power than the lesser,
To deal with perjury at pleasure;
Have its proceedings disallow'd, or
Allow'd, at fancy of Pye-Powder?
Tell all it does, or does not know,
For swearing ex-officio?

Be forc'd t' impeach a broken hedge,

305

And pigs unring'd at Vis. Franc. Pledge? 310
Discover thieves, and bawds, recusants,

Priests, witches, eves-droppers, and nuisance;
Tell who did play at games unlawful,
And who fill'd pots of ale but half full;
And have no pow'r at all, no shift,
To help itself at a dead lift?

Why should not conscience have vacation
As well as other courts o' th' nation;
Have equal power to adjourn,

Appoint appearance and return:
And make as nice distinction serve
To split a case, as those that carve,
Invoking cuckolds' names, hit joints?
Why should not tricks as slight do points?
Is not th' High-Court of Justice sworn
To judge that law that serves their turn?
Make their own jealousies high treason,
And fix 'em whomsoe'er they please on?
Cannot the learned counsel there
Make laws in any shape appear?

Mould 'em as witches do their clay,
When they make pictures to destroy,
And vex 'em into any form

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325

330

That fits their purpose to do harm?

Rack 'em until they do confess,

335

Impeach of treason whom they please,

And most perfidiously condemn

Those that engag'd their lives for them?

And yet do nothing in their own sense,

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But what they ought by oath and conscience. Can they not juggle, and with slight Conveyance, play with wrong and right.

And sell their blasts of wind as dear

As Lapland witches bottled air?

Will not fear, favour, bribe, and grudge, 345 The same case several ways adjudge?

As seamen with the self-same gale,

Will sev'ral diff'rent courses sail.

350

Those banks and dams, that, like a screen,
Did keep it out, now keep it in;
So when tyrannic usurpation

Invades the freedom of a nation,

The laws o' th' land, that were intended 355 To keep it out, are made defend it.

Does not in Chanc'ry ev'ry man swear

What makes best for him in his answer?

Is not the winding up witnesses

And nicking more than half the bus'ness? 360 For witnesses, like watches, go

Just as they're set, too fast or slow;

And where in conscience they're strait-lac'd, "Tis ten to one that side is cast.