And may be ex parte of the maker,
More criminal than th' injur'd taker;
For he that strains too far a vow,

Will break 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 found t' all purposes of troth;
As broken laws are ne'er the worse,
Nay, till they're broken have no force.
What 's justice to a man, or laws,
That never comes within their claws?
They have no power, but to admonish;
Cannot control, coerce, or punish,
Until they 're broken, and then touch
Those only that do make them fuch.
Befide, no engagement is allow'd

280

285

By men in prifon made for good;

For when they're fet at liberty,

They 're from th' engagement too set free.

290

The Rabbins write, When any Jew

Did make to God or man a vow,
Which afterwards 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 power to use
A greater privilege than three Jews?
The court of Confcience, which in man
Should be fupreme and soveran,

295

300

Is 't fit fhould be fubordinate

To every petty court i' th' ftate,
And have less power than the leffer,
To deal with perjury at pleasure ?
Have its proceedings difallow'd, or
Allow'd, at fancy of pye-powder ?
Tell all it does, or does not know,
For fwearing ex officio?

305

Be forc'd t' impeach a broken hedge,

And pigs unring'd at vif. franc. pledge?

310

Discover thieves, and bawds, recufants,

Priefts, witches, eaves-droppers, and nufance;

Tell who did play at games unlawful,

And who fill'd pots of ale but half-full;

And have no power at all, nor shift

315

To help itself at a dead lift?

Why should not Confcience have vacation

As well as other Courts o' th' nation;

Why should not tricks as flight do points?
Is not th' High-court of Justice sworn
To judge that law that serves their turn?
Make their own jealoufies high-treason,
And fix them whom foe'er they please on?
Cannot the learned Counsel there

Make laws in any shape-appear?

325

330

Mould

Mould them as witches do their clay,
When they make pictures to destroy,
And vex them into any form
That fits their purpose to do harm?
Rack them until they do confefs,
Impeach of treason whom they please,
And most perfidiously condemn

335

Will not Fear, Favour, Bribe, and Grudge,

345

The fame cafe feveral ways adjudge?

As feamen with the felf-fame gale,

Will feveral different courfes fail;

As, when the fea breaks o'er its bounds,

And overflows the level grounds,

350

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

355%

To keep it out, are made defend it.

Does

Ver. 345. Grudge.] Grutch, in the four first editions. Ver. 353.] So when tyrannical, in the four first editions. Altered to tyrannick, in 1700, if not fooner.

Just as they 're fet, too fast or flow;

And where in Confcience they 're strait-lac'd, 'Tis ten to one that fide is caft.

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 breast no windores,

To publish what he does within doors;

370

Nor what dark fecrets there inhabit,

Unless his own rash folly blab it.
If Oaths can do a man no good
In his own bufinefs, why they fhou'd,
In other matters, do him hurt,

I think there 's little reafon for 't..

He that imposes an Oath makes it,

Not he that for Convenience takes it:.
Then how can any man be faid

375

To break an oath he never made?

380

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,

385

Whofe

Whose least part crackt, the whole does fly,
And wits are crackt to find out why.

Quoth Ralpho, Honour 's but a word
To swear by only in a Lord:

In other men 'tis but a huff

390

To vapour with, instead of proof,

That, like a wen, looks big and fwells,

Is fenfelefs, and juft nothing else.

395

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 shun,
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 substitute.

Though nice and dark the point appear,

400

(Quoth Ralph) it may hold up and clear.

That out of Doctrine could cut Ufe,
And mend men's lives as well as fhoes.

415