338
HUDIBRAS.
[PART III.
That swore to any human regence 275
Oaths of suprem'cy and allegiance;
Yea, tho' the ablest swearing saint,
That vouch'd the Bulls o' th' Covenant:
Others for pulling down th' high places
Of Synods and Provincial classes,[1] 280
That us'd to make such hostile inroads
Upon the saints, like bloody Nimrods:
Some for fulfilling prophecies,[2]
And th' extirpation of th' excise;
And some against th' Egyptian bondage 285
Of holidays, and paying poundage:[3]
Some for the cutting down of groves,[4]
And rectifying bakers' loaves;
And some for finding out expedients
Against the slav'ry of obedience: 290
Some were for Gospel-ministers,
And some for Red-coat seculars,[5]
As men most fit t' hold forth the word,
And wield the one and th' other sword:[6]
Some were for carrying on the work 295
Against the Pope, and some the Turk:
Some for engaging to suppress
The camisad' of surplices,[7]
Oaths of suprem'cy and allegiance;
Yea, tho' the ablest swearing saint,
That vouch'd the Bulls o' th' Covenant:
Others for pulling down th' high places
Of Synods and Provincial classes,[1] 280
That us'd to make such hostile inroads
Upon the saints, like bloody Nimrods:
Some for fulfilling prophecies,[2]
And th' extirpation of th' excise;
And some against th' Egyptian bondage 285
Of holidays, and paying poundage:[3]
Some for the cutting down of groves,[4]
And rectifying bakers' loaves;
And some for finding out expedients
Against the slav'ry of obedience: 290
Some were for Gospel-ministers,
And some for Red-coat seculars,[5]
As men most fit t' hold forth the word,
And wield the one and th' other sword:[6]
Some were for carrying on the work 295
Against the Pope, and some the Turk:
Some for engaging to suppress
The camisad' of surplices,[7]
- ↑ They wished to see an end of the Presbyterian hierarchy.
- ↑ That is, perhaps, for taking arms against the Pope, or Spain, as the headquarters of Popery.
- ↑ The festivals or holy days of the Church had been abolished in 1647. The taxes imposed by the Parliament were numerous and heavy: poundage was a rate levied, according to assessment, on all personal property.
- ↑ That is, for destroying the churches, which they regarded as built originally for purposes of idolatry and superstition. It is well known that groves were anciently made use of as places of worship. The rows of clustered pillars in our Gothic cathedrals, branching out and meeting at top in long drawn arches, are supposed to have been suggested by the venerable groves of our ancestors.
- ↑ Some petitioned for the continuance and maintenance of the regular clergy ministry; and others thought that laymen, and even soldiers, who were nicknamed "Church dragoons," might preach the word, as some of them did, particularly Cromwell and Ireton.
- ↑ "The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." Ephesians vi. 17.
- ↑ Some sectaries had a violent aversion to the surplice, which they called a rag of Popery. Camisado is an expedition by night, in which the soldiers sometimes wear their shirts, called a camisade (from the Greek καμισιον,
