All which the Knight and Squire in wrath
Had like t' have suffer'd for their faith.
Each striving to make good his own,
As by the sequel shall be shown.
The sun had long since, 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 sleeping kept all night, and waking,
Began to rub his drowsy eyes,
And from his couch prepar'd to rise,
Resolving to dispatch the deed
He vow'd to do with trusty speed.
But first, with knocking loud, and bawling,
He rous'd the Squire, in truckle lolling:
And, after many circumstances,
Which vulgar authors in romances
Do use to spend their time and wits on,
To make impertinent description,
They got, with much ado, to horse,
And to the castle bent their course,
In which he to the dame before
To suffer whipping duly swore :
Where now arriv'd, and half unbarnest,
To carry on the work in earnest,
He stopp'd, and paus'd upon the sudden,
And with a serious forehead plodding,
Sprung a new scruple in his head,
Which first he scratch'd, and after said:
Whether it be direct infringing
An oath, if I should wave this swinging,
And what I've sworn to bear, forbear,
And so b' equivocation swear:
Or whether 't be a lesser sin
To be forsworn, than act the thing,
Are deep and subtle points which minst,
T' inform my conscience, be discust;
In which to err a tittle, may
To errors infinite make way:
And therefore I desire to know
Thy judgment, ere we further go.
Quoth Ralpho, Since you do enjoin 't,
I shall enlarge upon the point;
And for my own part, do not doubt
Th' affirmative may be made out.
But first, to state the case aright,
For best advantage of our light;
And thus 't is, Whether 't be a sin
To claw and curry your own skin,
Greater, or less, than to forbear,
And that you are forsworn, forswear.
But first o' th' first: 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 mystic sense;
Which to mistake, and make 'em squabble,
In literal fray 's abominable:
'Tis heathenish, in frequent use
With Pagans and apostate Jews,
To offer sacrifice of Bridewells,
Like modern Indians, to their idols:
And mungrel Christians of our times,
That expiate less with greater crimes,
And call the foul abomination
Contrition, and mortification.
Our vessels that are sanctify'd,
With sinful members of the wicked;
Is 't not enough we 're bruis'd and kicked,
Profan'd and curry'd back and side;
But we must claw ourselves with shameful
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 sin. Now to the second,
That saints may claim a dispensation
To swear and forswear, on occasion,
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 shadows to a substance do.
Then, when they strive for place, 't is fit
The weaker vessel should submit:
Altho' your church be opposite
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 saiats, whom oaths and vows oblige,
Know little of their privilege;
Farther, I mean, than carrying on
Some self-advantage of their own:
For if the dev'l, to serve his turn,
Can tell truth, why the saints should scorn,
When it serves theirs, to swear and lie,
I think there's little reason why:
Else h' has a greater pow'r than they,
Which 't were impiety to say.
W' are not commanded to forbear
Indefinitely at all to swear;
But to swear idly, and in vain,
Without self-interest or gain:
For breaking of an oath and lying,
Is but a kind of self-denying,
A saint-like virtue, and from hence
Some have broke oaths by providence :
Some, to the glory of the Lord,
Perjur'd themselves, and broke their word:
And this the constant rule and practice
Of all our late apostles acts is.
Was not the Cause at first begun
With perjury, and carried on;
Was there an oath the godly took,
But in due time and place they broke?
Did we not bring our oaths in first,
Before our plate, to have them burst,
And cast in fitter models, for
The present use of church and war?
Did not our Worthies of the House,
Before they broke the peace, break vows?
For having freed us, first, from both
Th' allegiance and supremacy oath.
Did they not, next, compel the nation
To take and break the protestation?
To swear, and after to recant
The soleinn league and covenant?
To take th' engagement, and disclaim it,
Enforc'd by those who first did frame it?
Did they not swear at first to fight
With Essex, and straight laid him by?
If that were all, for some have swore
As false as they, if th' did no more.
Did they not swear to maintain law,
1n which that swearing made a flaw?
For Protestant religion vow,
That did that vowing disallow
For privilege of Parliament,
In which that swearing made a rent?
And since, of all the three, not one
Is left in being, 't is 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 would they, at their command;
And troll'd them on, and swore, and swore,
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
Like moral cattle in a pinfold.
A saint 's o' th' heavenly 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, tho' the thing be forgery,
And false, th' 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 't is 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 them as they please,
Or misinterpret them by private
Instructions, 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 them) 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;
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