Tis
is range how fome men's tempers fuit
Like bawd and brandy) with difpute,
'That for their own opinions ftand faft
Only to have them claw'd and canvast ;
That keep their confciences in cafes,
As fiddlers do their crowds and bafes;
Ne'er to be us'd, but when they're bent
To play a fit for argument;
Make true and falfe, unjust and just,
Of no ufe but to be difcuft;
Difpute, and fet a paradox,
Like a ftrait boot, upon the ftocks,
And stretch'd it more unmercifully

Than Helmont, Montaigne, White, or Tully.
So th' ancient Stoics, in their porch,

With fierce difpute maintain'd their church,
Beat out their brains in fight and study,
To prove that virtue is a body,
That berum is an animal,

Made good with flout polemic brawl;
In which fome hundreds on the place
Were flain outright, and many a face
Retrench'd of note, and eyes, and beard,
To maintain what their fest averr'd,

All which the Knight and Squire, in wrath,
Had like t' have fuffer'd for their faith;
Each striving to make good his own,
As by the fequel shall be shewn.

The fun had long fince, in the lap
Of Thetis, taken out his
nap,

And like a lobster boil'd, the morn
From black to red began to turn;

When Hudibras, whom thoughts and aking

'Twixt fleeping kept, all night, and waking,

Began to rub his drowsy eyes,
And from his couch prepar'd to rife,
Refolving to dispatch the deed
He vow'd to do with trufty speed:

But firft, with knocking loud, and bawling,
He rous'd the Squire, in truckle lolling:
And after many circumstances
Which vulgar authors in romances
Do ufe to spend their time and wits on
To make impertinent defcription,
They got (with much ado) to horse,
And to the caftle bent their course,
In which he to the dame before
To fuffer whipping-duty (wore

Where now arriv'd, and half unharnest,
To carry on the work in earnest,

He stopp'd, and paus'd upon the fudden,
And with a serious forehead plodding,
Sprung a new fcruple in his head,
Which first he feratch'd, and after said;
Whether it be direct infringing

An oath, if I should wave this fwinging,
And what I've fworn to bear forbear,
And fo b' equivocation fwear;

Or whether 't be a leffer fin

To be forefworn, than act the thing,

Are deep and subtle points, which must,
To inform Confcience, be difcuft;
In which to err a title may
To errors infinite make way:
And therefore I defire to know
Thy judgment e'er we further go.

Quoth Ralpho, fince you do enjoin 't,

I fhall enlarge upon the point; And, for my own part, do not doubt Th' affirmative may be made out. But firft. to flate the cafe aright, For beft advantage of our light; 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 firft, o' th' firft: The inward man, And outward, like 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 niistic fenfe; Which to mistake, and make 'em squabble In literal fray, "s abominable: 'Tis Heathenish, in frequent use With Pagans and apoftate Jews, To offer facrifice of bridewells, Like modern Indians to their idols; And mongrel Chriftians of our times, That expiate lefs with greater crimes, And call the foul abomination Contrition and mortification,

Is 't not enough we're bruis'd and kicked,
With finful members of the Wicked;
Our vessels, that are sanctify'd,
Profan'd and curry'd back and fide;
But we must claw ourselves with fhameful
And Heathen stripes, 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;
That Saints may claim a dispensation
To fwear and forfwear on occafion,
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, so
As fhadows to a fubftance do.

Then when they ftrive for place, 'tis fit
The weaker vessel should 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 Saint;
And what the Saints do claim as due,
You may pretend a title to:

But Saints, whom oaths and vows obligė,
Know little of their privilege;
Further (I mean) than carrying on
Some felf-advantage of their own;
For if the Devil, to serve his turn,
Can tell truth, why the Saints should scorti
When it ferves theirs, to fwear and lie,
I think there's little reafon why:
Elfe he 'as a greater power than they,
Which 't were impiety to fay.
We're not commanded to forbear,
Indefinitely, at all to fwear;
But to fwear idly and in vain,
Without self-interest or gain:
For breaking of an oath and lying
Is but a kind of self-denying,

A faint-like-virtue; and from hence
Some have broke oaths by Providence * į
Some, to the glory of the Lord,
Perjur'd themselves, and broke their word:
And this the conftant rule and practice

Of all our late apoftles' acts is.
Was not the caule at first begun
With perjury, and carry'd on?
Was there an oath the godly took,
But in due time and place they broke?
Did we not bring our oaths in first,
Pefore our plate, to have them burst,
And caft in fitter models, for
The prefent ufe of Church and War?
Did not our worthies of the house,
Before they broke the peace, break vows?
For having freed us, firft from both
Th' alleg'ance and fuprem'cy oath,
Did they not next compel the nation,
To take, and break the proteftation;
To fwear, and after to recant,
The Solemn League and Covenant?
To take th' engagement, and difclaim it,
Enforc'd by thofe who firft did frame it?
Did they not fwear, at firft, to fight
For the king's fafety, and his right?
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
With Effex, and straight laid him by?

66

When it was firft moved in the Houfe of Commons to proceed capitally againit the King, Cromwell food up and told them, That if any man moved this with deign, he thould think him the greateft traitor in the "world; but lince Provid nce and necefity had caft them upon it, he thould pray to God to blefs their countels." And when he kept the King clofe prifoner in Canbrook Caitle, 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 bụn, they pretended they could not refit the motions et Spirit.

Mm

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 Parlament,

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 houseful
Of Peers, as dang'rous and unufeful.
So Cromwell, with deep oaths and vows,
Swore all the Commons out o' th' House;
Vow'd that the Redcoats would disband,
Ay, marry would they, at their command;
And troll'd them on, and fwore, and fwore,
Fill 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 ferve for an expedient.

What was the public faith found out for,
But to flur men of what they fought for ?
The public faith, which ev'ry one
Is bound t' obferve, yet kept by none;
And if that go for nothing, why
Should private faith have fuch a tie?
Oaths were not purpos'd, more than law,
To keep the good and just in
But to confine the bad and finful,
Like mortal cattle in a pinfold.

awe,

A Saint's of th' heav'nly realm & 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 forg❜ry,
And falfe, t' affirm it is no perj'ry,
But a mere ceremony, and a breach
Of nothing but a form of fpeech,
And goes for no more when 'tis took,
Than mere faluting of the book.
Suppole the Scriptures are of force,
They're but conimiffions of courfe;
And faints have freedom to digrefs,
And vary from 'era, as they please;
Or minterpret them by private
Infractions to all aims they drive at.
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 gofpel is an accidence,
By which they conftrue confcicnce,
And hold no fin fo deeply red,
As that of breaking Prifcian's head,

The head and founder of their order,
Thar ftirring hats held worfe than murder)
Thefe thinking they're oblig'd to troth
In fwearing, will not take an oath ;
Like mules, who, if they've not their will
To keep their own pace, ftand flechitill:

But they are weak, and little know
What freeborn confciences may do.
'Tis the temptation of the devil
That makes all hunian actions evil;
For Saints may do the fame things by
The Spirit, in fincerity,
Which other men are tempted to,
And at the devil's inftance do,
And yet the actions be contrary,
Just as the Saints and Wicked vary.
For as on land there is no beast
But in fome fish at fea's expreft;
So in the wicked there's no vice
Of which the Saints have not a fpice;
And yet that thing that's pious in
The one, in th' other is a fin.

Is 't not ridiculous and nonfenfe,
A Saint should be a slave to Conscience,
That ought to be above such 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.
The truth is precious and divine,
Too rich a pearl for carnal swine.

Quoth Hudibras, All this is true;
Yet 'tis not fit that all men knew
Those myfteries and revelations;
And therefore topical evasions
Of fubtle turns and fhifts of fenfe,
Serve beft with th' wicked for pretence,
Such as the learned Jesuits ufe,
And Presbyterians, for excufe
Against the Proteftants, when th' happen
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 for a vow,
Will break it, like an o'erbent bow:
And he that made, and forc'd it, broke it,
Not he that for convenience took it,
A broken oath is, quatenus oath,
As found t' all purposes of troth,
As broken laws are ne'er the worse,
Nay, till they're broken, have no force.
What's juftice 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
Thofe only that do make 'em fuch.
Befide, no 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 er man a vow,
Which afterwards he found untoward,
And tubborn 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 Confcience, which in man
Should be fupreme and foveran,
Is't fit fhould be fubordinate
To ev'ry petty court i' th' State,
And have lefs power than the lesser,
To deal with perjury at pleafure?
Have its proceedings difallow'd, or
Allow'd, at fancy of pie-powder?
Tell all it does, or does not know,
For fwearing ex officio?

But forc'd t' impeach a broken bedge,
And pigs unfring'd at vif. frane. pledge?
Discover thieves, and bawds, recufants,
Priests, witches, avefdroppers, and nuisance;
Tell who did play at games unlawful,
And who fili'd pots of ale but half-full;
And have no power at all, nor shift,
To help itself at a dead lift?

Why should not confcience have vacation
As well as other courts o' th' nation;
Have equal power to adjourn,
Appoint appearance and return;
And make as nice diftin&tion serve
To fplit a cafe, as those that carve,
Invoking cuckolds' names, hít joints?
Why should not tricks as flight do points?
Is not the high court of justice fworn
To judge that law that ferves their turn?
Make their own jealoufies high treason,
And fix 'em whom foe'er they please on?
Cannot the learned counfel there
Make laws in any shape appear?
Mould 'em as witches do their clay,
When they make pictures to deftroy,
And vex 'em into any form

That fits their purpose to do harm?
Rack 'em until they do confefs,
Impeach of treafon whom they please,
And most perfidioufly condemn

Thole that engage their lives for them?
And yet do nothing in their own fenfe,

But what they ought by oath and confcience.
Can they not juggle, and with flight
Conveyance play with wrong and right;
And fell their blasts of wind as dear,
As Lapland witches bottled air?

Will not Fear, Favour, Bribe, and Grudge,
The fame cafe fev'ral ways adjudge?
As feamen with the felf-fame gale,
Will fev'ral diff'rent courfes fail;
As when the fea breaks o'er its bounds,
And overflows the level grounds,
Those banks, and dams, that, like a fcreen,
Did keep it out, now keep it in;
So when tyrannical ufurpation
Invades the freedom of a nation,
'The laws o' th' land, that were intended
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'nefs? For witneffes, like watches, go

Juft as they're fet, too faft or flow,
And where in confcience they're strait lac'd,
'Tis ten to one that fide is caft.

Do not your juries give their verdict
As if they felt the cause, not heard it?
And as they please make matter o' fact
Run all on one fide, as they're packt?
Nature has made man's breaft no windores,
To publish what he does within doors;
Nor what dark fecrets there inhabit,
Unless his own rash folly blab it.
If oaths can do a man no good
In his own bus'nefs, why they fhou'd
In other matters do him hurt,

I think there's little reafon for 't.
He that impofes an oath makes it,
Not he that for convenience takes it:
Then how can any man be faid

To break an oath he never made?
These reasons may perhaps look oddly
To th' wicked, though they evince the godly
But if they will not ferve to clear
My honour, I am ne'er the near.
Honour is like that glaffy bubble,
That finds philofophers fuch trouble,
Whofe leaft part crackt, the whole does fly,
And wits are crackt to find out why.
Quoth Ralpho, Honour's but a word
To fwear by only in a lord:

may

and clear.

In other men 'tis but a huff
To vapour with, instead of proof,
That, like a wen, looks big and fwells,
Infenfelefs, and juft nothing else.
Let it (quoth he) be what it will,
It has the world's opinion ftill.
But as men are not wife that run
The flightest hazard they may fhun,
There may a medium be found out
To clear to all the world the doubt;
And that is, if a man may do 't,
By proxy whipt, or fubftitute.
Though nice and dark the point appear,
(Quoth Ralpho) it
hold up
That finners may supply the place
Of fuff'ring faints, is a plain cafe.
Juftice gives fentence many times
On one man for another's crimes,
Our brethren of New England ufe
Choice malefa&ors to excufe,
And hang the guiltlefs in their flead,
Of whom the churches have lefs need;
As lately 't happen'd: In a town
There liv'd a cobler, and but one,
That out of doctrine could cut use,
And mend men's lives, as well as fhoes.
This precious brother having fain,
In times of peace, an Indian,
Not out of malice, but mere zeal,
(Because he was an Infidel)
The mighty Tottipottymoy
Sent to our elders an envoy,

Complaining forely of the breach

Of league, held forth by Brother Patch,
Against the articles in force

Between both churches, his and ours,
For which he crav'd the faints to render
Into his hands, or hang th' offender;
But they maturely having weigh'd
They had no more but him o' th' trade,
(A man that ferv'd them in a double
Capacity, to teach and coble)
Refolv'd to fpare him; yet to do
The Indian Hoghan Moghan too.
Impartial justice, in his ftead did
Hang an old weaver that was bedɛid:
Then wherefore may not you be skipp'd,
And in your room another whipt?
For all philofophers, but the Sceptic,
Hold whipping may be fympathetic.
It is enough, quoth Hudibras,
Thou haft refolv'd and clear'd the cafe;
And canft, in confcience, not refufe,
From thy own doctrine to raise vse :
I know thou wilt not (for my fake)
Be tender confcienc'd of thy back :
Then ftrip thee of thy carnal jarkin,
And give thy outward fellow a ferking;
For when thy yeffel is new hoop'd,
All leaks of finning will be stopp'd.

Quoth Ralpho, you mistake the matter,
For in all fcruples of this nature,
No man includes himfelf, nor turns
The point upon his own concerns.
As no man of his own felf catches
The itch, or amorous French aches;
So no man does himself convince,
By his own doctrine, of his fins:
And though all cry down felf, nore means
His own felf in a literal sense:
Befides, it is not only foppish,
But vile, idolatrous, and Popish
For one man out of his own skin
To frisk and whip another's fin;

As pedants out of schoolboys' breeches
Do claw and curry their own itches,
But in this cafe it is profane,
And finful too, because in vain;
For we must take our oaths upon it,
You did the deed, when I have done it.
Quoth Hudibras, That's anfwer'd foon;
Give us the whip, we'll lay it on.

Quoth Ralpho, That we may fwear true,
'Twere properer that I whipp'd you ;
For when with your confent 'tis done,
The act is really your own.

Quoth Hudibras, It is in vain
(I fee) to argue 'gainst the grain.
Or like the ftars, incline men to
What they're averse themselves to do:
For when difputes are weary'd out,
"Tis intereft ftill refolves the doubt :
But fince no reafon can confute ye,
I'll try to force you to your duty;
For fo it is, howe'er you mince it,
As, e'er we part, I fhall evince it s

And curry (if you stand out) whether You will or no, your ftubborn leather. Canft thou refufe to bear thy part

I' th' public work, bafe as thou art?
To higgle thus, for a few blows,
To gain thy Knight an op'lent spouse,
Whofe wealth his bowels yearn to purchase,
Merely for th' intereft of the churches?
And when he has it in his claws,
Will not be hide-bound to the caufe:
Nor fhalt thou find him a curmudgin,
If thou dispatch it without grudging:
If not, refolve, before we go,
That you and I must pull a crow.

Ye 'ad beft (quoth Ralpho) as the ancients
Say wifely, Have a care o' th' main chance,
And look before you e'er you leap;
For as you fow, you're like to reap:
And were you as good as George-a-Green,
I fhould make bold to turn agen;

Nor am I doubtful of the iffue

In a juft quarrel, and mine is fo.

Is 't fitting for a man of honour

To whip the faints, like Bishop Bonner?
A Knight t' ufurp the beadle's office,
For which y' are like to raise brave trophies?
But I advise you (not for fear,

But for your own fake) to forbear.

And for the churches, which may chance,
From hence, to spring a variance,

And raise among themselves new scruples,
Whom common danger hardly couples.
Remember how in arms and politics
We still have worsted all your holy tricks;
Trepann'd your party with intrigue,
And took your grandees down a peg:
New-modell'd th' army, and cashier'd
All that to Legion smec adher'd;
Made a mere utenfil o' your church,
And after left it in the lurch;

A fcaffold to build up our own,

And when we 'ad done with 't, pull'd it down;
Capoch'd your Rabbine of the Synod,

And fnapp'd their Canons with a Why-not :
(Grave fynod-men, that were rever'd
For folid face, and depth of beard)
Their claffic model prov'd a maggot,
Their Direct'ry an Indian pagod;
And drown'd their difcipline like a kitten
On which they 'ad been fo long a fitting;
Decry'd it as a holy cheat,

Grown out of date and obfolete,
And all the faints of the first grafs,
As caftling foals of Balaam's afs.

At this the Knight grew high in chafc,
And, ftaring furiously on Ralph,
He trembled, and look'd pale with ire,
Like afhes firft, then red as fire.
Have I (quoth he) been ta'en in fight,
And for fo many moons lain by 't,
And when all other means did fail,
Have been exchang'd for tubs of ale?
Not but they thought me worth a ransom
Much more confid'rable and handfome,