The Loyal Non-Conformist, OR; An Account what hedareswear, and what not.
I Fear an
Oath, before I swear, to take it;
And well I may, for 'tis the Oath of God:
I fear
Oath, when I have sworn, to break it;
And well I may, for Vengeance hath a Rod.
And yet I
may swear, and
must too; 'tis due
Both to my
Heav'nly and my
Earthly King:
If I
assent, it must be
full and
true;
And if I
promise I must
do the thing.
I am no
Quaker, not at all to swear:
Nor
Papist, to swear
East, and mean the
West:
But am a
Protestant, and shall declare
What I
cannot, and what I
can protest.
I never will endeavour Alteration
Of Monarchy, or of that Royal Name:
Which God hath chosen to command this Nation;
But will maintain his
Person, Crown and
Fame,
What
He commands, if
Conscience say not nay,
(For Conscience is a greater King than He)
For
Conscience sake, not
Fear, I will obey;
And if not
active, passive I will be.
I'II pray, That all his Subjects may agree,
And never more be
crumbled into
Parts:
I will endeavour that His Majesty
May not be
King of Clubs, but
King of Hearts.
The
Royal Oak I swear I will defend;
But for the
Ivy which doth hug it so,
I swear that is a
Thief, and not a
Friend;
And about
Steeples fitter for to grow.
The
Civil Government I will obey,
But for
Church Policie I swear I doubt it:
And if my
Bible want th'
Apocrypha,
I swear my Book may be compleat without it.
I dare not swear
Church-Government is
Right
As it should be: but this I dare to swear,
If they should put me to 't, the Bishops might
Do better and
be better than they are.
Nor will I swear for all that they arc worth;
That Bishopricks will stand, and Doomsday see.
And yet I'll swear the Gospel holdeth forth;
Christ with his Mysteries till then will be.
That
Peter was a
Prelate, they aver;
But I'll not swear't when all is said and done:
But I dare swear, and hope I shall not err,
He preach'd a
hundred Sermons to their
one.
Peter a
Fisher was, and he
caught men;
And
they have
Nets, and in them
catch men too:
Yet I'll not swear they are alike; for them
He
caught he
sav'd; these
catch, and them
undo.
I dare not swear that
Courts Ecclesiastick
Do in their Laws make
just and
gentle Votes:
But I'll be sworn that
Burton, Pryn and
Bastwick,
Were once
Ear-witnesses of harsher
Notes.
Archdeacons, Deans and
Chapters are brave men
By
Canon, not by
Scripture; but to this,
If I be call'd I'll swear and swear agen,
That no such
Chapter in my
Bible is.
I'll not condemn those
Prechyterians who
Refused Bishopricks and might have had 'cm:
But
Mistress Calamy, I'll swear, does do
As well as if she were a
Spiritual Madam.
For
Holy Vestments I'll not take an Oath,
Which
Linnen most
Canonical may be:
Some are for
Lawn, some
Holland, some
Scotch-cloath,
And
Hemp for some is fitter than all
three.
Paul had a
Cloak, and
Books, and
Parchments too;
But that he wore a
Surplise I'll not swear:
Nor that his
Parchments did his
Orders show,
Or in his
books there was a
Common-Prayer.
I own
Assistance to the King by Oath;
And if he please to put the Bishops down,
(As who knows what may be) I should be loath
To see
Tom Beckets Mitre push the
Crown.
And yet
Church-Government I do allow,
And am contented
Bishops be the men:
And that I speak in earnest, here I vow
Where we have
One I wish we might have
Ten.
In fine, the
Civil Power I'll obey;
And seek the Peace and Wellfare of the Nation:
If this won't do, I know not what to say;
But farewell
London, farewell
Corporation;
LONDON, Printed Anno Domini, MDC LXX.