Quoth Hudibras, All this is true; 260
Yet ’tis not fit that all men knew,
Those mysteries and revelations,
And therefore topical evasions
Of subtle turns and shifts of sense,
Serve best with th’ wicked for pretence,
Such as the learned Jesuits use, 265
And Presbyterians for excuse
Against the Protestants, when th’ happen
To find their Churches taken napping: 
As thus:  A breach of oath is duple,
And either way admits a scruple, 270
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 sound t’ all purposes of troth,
As broken laws are ne’er the worse;
Nay, till th’ are broken have no force. 280
What’s justice to a man, or laws,
That never comes within their claws
They have no pow’r, but to admonish: 
Cannot controul, coerce, or punish,
Until they’re broken, and then touch 285
Those only that do make ’em such. 
Beside, no engagement is allow’d
By men in prison made for good;
For when they’re set 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 afterward he found untoward,
And stubborn to be kept, or too hard,
Any three other Jews o’ th’ nation, 295
Might free him from the obligation
And have not two saints pow’r to use
A greater privilege than three Jews? 
The court of conscience, which in man
Should be supreme and sovereign, 300
Is’t fit should be subordinate
To ev’ry petty court i’ the state,
And have less power than the lesser,
To deal with perjury at pleasure? 
Have its proceedings disallow’d, or 305
Allow’d, at fancy of Pye-Powder? 
Tell all it does, or does not know,
For swearing ex officio? 
Be forc’d t’ impeach a broken hedge,
And pigs unring’d at Vis.  Franc.  Pledge? 310
Discover thieves, and bawds, recusants,
Priests, witches, eves-droppers, and nuisance: 
Tell who did play at games unlawful,
And who fill’d pots of ale but half-full
And have no pow’r at all, nor shift, 315
To help itself at a dead lift
Why should not conscience have vacation
As well as other courts o’ th’ nation
Have equal power to adjourn,
Appoint appearance and return; 320
And make as nice distinction serve
To split a case, as those that carve,
Invoking cuckolds’ names, hit joints;
Why should not tricks as slight do points