 | The Poems of John Byrom |  |
II. ON TESTS.
This contrast of Dissenter and NonjurorShews, to be sure, which Side is much the surer:
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Who vainly for himself attempts to speak.
Says he—“That all Men by an equal Right
Judge for themselves, according to their Light;
That no Man's Conscience should be rul'd by Force,
Which needs not good ones, and makes bad ones worse;
That to impose however true a Creed,
Is what the World calls Popery, indeed;
That all, by Turns, lament the common Grief
Of Penal Laws to punish Men's Belief.”
All these are Arguments (it is confest)
With a Dissenter—that won't bear the Test.
| The Poems of John Byrom | |