%ISOlat1; %ISOlat2; %ISOnum; %ISOpub; ]> The Loyal Nonconformist; / OR, / An Account what he dare swear, and vvhat not. Wild, Robert University of California - Santa Barbara The Early Modern Center English Broadside Ballad Archive (EBBA) Director Patricia Fumerton Associate Director Carl G Stahmer 1666-1666 Early Modern Center, University of California Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA 10/26/2018 36354

The University of California makes a claim of copyright only to original contributions made by Early Modern Center participants and other members of the university community. The University of California makes no claim of copyright to the original text. Permission is granted to download, transmit or otherwise reproduce, distribute or display the contributions to this work claimed by The University of California for non-profit educational purposes, provided that this header is included in its entirety. For inquiries about commercial uses, please contact:

Patricia Fumerton Early Modern Center - English Department University of California Santa Barbara, CA 93105 United States of America EMail: pfumer@english.ucsb.edu

R228842 I Fear an Oath, before I swear to take it; / And well I may, for 'tis the Oath of God: Society of Antiquaries of London - Broadsides Editor none none none none Information in this section of the Source Description refers to the original ballad manuscript. 6: 570 The Loyal Nonconformist; / OR, / An Account what he dare swear, and vvhat not. The Loyal Nonconformist; OR, An Account what he dare swear, and what not. Wild, Robert 1666-1666

This document follows the guidelines specified for TEI.

XML Generated Automatically at 10/26/2018 4:36:23 PM Using EMC

XBallad Parsing Engine developed by Carl G Stahmer.

TEI Template developed by Gerald Egan and Modified by Carl Stahmer

All apostrophes are encoded as '.

Any dashs occurring in line breaks have been removed;

All dashs are encoded as ‐ and all em dashes as —.

 Early Modern Center Ballad Project Keyword Taxonomy advice affliction / health alcohol Americas animals / nature Bible / biblical figures buildings / architecture catastrophe children class clothing / appearance country / nation crime death economics / commerce entertainments family Featured folklore gender holidays / seasons infidelity labor / craft law London love maritime marriage military / war monstrosity mythology / Classical news nobility / court politics / government procreation punishment race / ethnicity religious concepts religious figures religious groups royalty rural life servitude sex / sexuality supernatural / magic travel trickery / deceit urban life vice violence virtue vulgar humor youth / age Library of Congress Subject Heading Taxonomy 10/26/2018 Santa Barbara, California, United States of America politics / government religious concepts religious figures religious groups Ballads, English 17th century Broadsides, England 17th century 10/26/2018 4:36:23 PM XBallad Lew, Lilly Created XML Version of Ballad 10/26/2018 4:36:23 PM Transcription Supervisor McCants, Kristen Transcription of ballad manuscript 10/26/2018 4:36:23 PM Double-Key Comparison and Merging McCants, Kristen Transcription of ballad manuscript 10/26/2018 4:36:23 PM Transcriptionist Two Stark, Nicole Transcription of ballad manuscript 10/26/2018 4:36:23 PM Transcriptionist One Raychawdhuri, Anita Transcription of ballad manuscript 9/7/2017 Bibliographer Kristen McCants Initial Ballad Catalogue Record Created 8/20/2018 Checker Minh Hua Edited Ballad Catalogue Record
<seg n="1" rend="left"><hi rend="italic">The Loyal Nonconformist;</hi></seg> <seg n="2" rend="left"><hi rend="italic">OR,</hi></seg> <seg n="3" rend="left"><hi rend="italic">An Account what he dare swear, and what not.</hi></seg>
I Fear an Oath, before I swear to take it; And well I may, for 'tis the Oath of God: I fear an 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 & 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'll pray that all his Subjects may agree, And never more be crumbled into parts; I will endeavor that his Majestie 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-Policy I swear I doubt it; And if my Bible want thApocrypha, I'l 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 are worth, That Bishopricks will stand, & Doomsday see; And yet I'l swear the Gospel holdeth forth Christ with his Ministers till then will be.
That Peter was a Prelate they aver; But I'l 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, & in them catch Men too; Yet I'l not swear they are alike, for them He caught he sav'd: these catch, & them undo. I dare not swear that Courts Ecclesiastick Do in their Laws make just and gentle Votes; But I'l be sworn that Burton, Pryn and Bastwick Were once Ear-witnesses of harsher Notes. Archdeacons, Deans & 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 Presbyterians, who Refused Bishopricks, and might have had'em: But Mistris Calamy I'll swear doth do As well as if she were a Spiritual Madam. For Holy Vestments I'll not take an Oath Which Linen most Canonical may be; Some are for Lawn, some Holland, some Scotscloth; And Hemp for some is fitter than all three. Paul had a Cloak, and Books, & Parchments too; But that he wore a Surplice I'll not swear, Nor that his Parchments did his Orders shew, Or in his Books there was a Common-Prayer. I owe assistance to the King by Oath; And if he please to put the Bishops down, As who knows what may be, I should be loth 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'le obey, And seek the Peace & Welfare of the Nation: If this won't do, I know not what to say, But farewel London, farewel Corporation. R.W.
Printed in the Year, 1666.