Classic Poem

What makes a knave a child of God,
And one of us?--A livelihood.
What renders beating out of brains,
And murther godliness?--Great gains,
What's tender conscience?--'Tis a botch
That will not bear the gentlest touch,
But breaking out, dispatches more
Than the epidemical'st plague-sore.
What makes y'encroach upon our trade,
And damn all others?--To be paid.
What's orthodox, and true believing
Against a conscience?--A good living.
What makes rebelling against kings
A Good Old Cause?--Administ'rings.
What makes all doctrines plain and clear?
About two hundred pounds a year.
And that which was proved true before,
Prove false again? Two hundred more.
What makes the breaking of all oaths
A holy duty? Food, and clothes.
What laws and freedom, persecution?
B'ing out of pow'r and contribution.
What makes a church a den of thieves?
A Dean, a Chapter and white sleeves.
And what would serve if those were gone,
To make it orthodox? Our own.
What makes morality a crime,
The most notorious of the time?
Morality, which both the Saints,
And Wicked too, cry out against?
'Cause grace and virtue are within
Prohibited degrees of kin;
And therefore no true Saint allows,
They should be suffered to espouse;
For Saints can need no conscience
That with morality dispense;
As virtue's impious, when 'tis rooted
In nature only, and not imputed:
But why the Wicked should do so
We neither know, nor care to do.
What's liberty of conscience,
I' th' natural and genuine sense?
'Tis to restore with more security,
Rebellion to its ancient purity;
And Christian liberty reduce
To th' elder practice of the Jews:
For a large conscience is all one,
And signifies the same with none.