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;[1]
And that by them th' were only meant
To serve for an expedient.[2]190
What was the Public Faith found out for,[3]
But to slur men of what they fought for?
The Public Faith, which ev'ry one
Is bound t' observe, yet kept by none;[4]
And if that go for nothing, why195
Should private faith have such a tie?
Oaths were not purpos'd, more than law,
To keep the good and just in awe,[5]
- ↑ Sir Roger L'Estrange has put this into the moral of his Fable (No. 61), "that in a certain place, the people were only sworn not to dress meat in Lent, and so might do what they pleased, but," says the speaker, "for us who are bound that would be our undoing."
- ↑ Expedient was a term often used by the sectaries. When the members of the Council of State engaged to approve of what should be done by the Commons in Parliament for the future, it was ordered to draw up an expedient for the Members to subscribe.
- ↑ It was usual to pledge the Public Faith, as they called it, by which they meant the credit of Parliament, or their own promises, for monies borrowed, and many times never repaid. Ralph argues that if the public faith be broken with impunity, private faith could not be considered binding.
- ↑ * "Resolved that the Public Faith be buried in everlasting forgetfulness, and that John Goodwin do preach its funeral sermon from Tothill Fields to Whitechapel;" says Sir John Birkenhead, in his "Paul's Church Yard" (Cent. 3, p. 20).
- ↑ The reference is to 1 Timothy i. 9. "Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient." And Colonel Overton averred that the Presbyterians held this literally.
Presbyterians in the House were forward to do. And Cromwell, to lull the Parliament, called God to witness, that he was sure the army would, at their command, disband and cast their arms at their feet: and he again solemnly swore, that he had rather himself and his whole family should be consumed, than that the army should break out into sedition. The army, however, did not throw down their arms; but finding that (as they said) all they were to get for these victories was "a piece of paper," and that Parliament intended to make itself perpetual, they marched on London, and in the end, headed by Cromwell, turned the Parliament out of doors.
