terms with the king as soon as you can, if he'll let

you.

For the only alternative is to cut off his head,

and submit to a new tyrant. And who that will be I think I can divine.

SECOND OFFICER. Who, then?

FIRST OFFICER. Time will show; and when the time comes you may have cause to remember what I have

FIRST SOLDIER. Who's that crow in black?
SECOND SOLDIER. Baxter, the minister from Cov-

entry.

FIRST SOLDIER. What, the Presbyter?
SECOND SOLDIER. Yes, the Priestbyter.

FIRST SOLDIER. We've had about enough of those gentlemen.

SECOND SOLDIER. So I say.

soon

For my part I'd as

be under a bishop as an elder.

And as to their

primitive model taken straight out of the Bible, if you come to that, what is the Bible? It's the record of the Spirit, I grant. But the Spirit's within us

not without.

Scripture's

As the preacher said yesterday, the a dead letter, until the Holy Ghost in

terprets it. The Spirit's everything. There are some who talk of Reason

FIRST SOLDIER. I wish there were a few more.

SECOND SOLDIER. Well, in my opinion, Reason is

only the wisdom of the world.

quarrel with any man

FIRST SOLDIER. That's right.

Not that I want to

You think as you

like, and I as I like. But then comes your Presby

terian and says You think as I like," and that's where I join issue. Let him set up his church, if he likes, and you yours, and I mine, and let none of us pay for the other's religion. That's what I call fair.

SECOND SOLDIER. So do I.

FIRST SOLDIER. No tithes, no endowments, no privilege. The State has nothing to do with religion. Let the creeds and churches settle their disputes among themselves. What we are fighting for is a political settlement. And that must be based on toleration.

66

SECOND SOLDIER. So I say. Let every man do what he likes, so long as he's in a state of grace. That's what the Ranters say. 'If a man's in a state of grace," they say, "he can do no sin." The Spirit's everything.

FIRST SOLDIER. I should recommend you to be careful of your dealings with the Ranters. I know of a respectable woman who joined them and was

carted through the streets the other day as a common whore.

SECOND SOLDIER. Well, if she was in a state of grace, perhaps there was no harm in it. One doesn't know what to believe now, there's so much light. Some say there's no such thing as a soul. I heard a man yesterday-" What," he says, "is the soul? Did any one ever see it, or touch it, or taste it? If it isn't the body, what is it? And the body," he said, "perishes at death, and so does the soul, if there is one. And so hell fire's only a bogy."

FIRST SOLDIER. I advise you not to trouble your head about such stuff. There are more important things to deal with. What do you think you've been fighting for all these years?

SECOND SOLDIER. A settlement, I suppose.

FIRST SOLDIER. Yes, but what kind of settlement? SECOND SOLDIER. Toleration.

FIRST SOLDIER. Yes, but how will you secure toleration? Do you think you will ever secure it while you have a king?

SECOND SOLDIER. But we have a king, whether we like it or not.

FIRST SOLDIER. You have a king until you get rid of him.

SECOND SOLDIER. What, are you a republican?

FIRST SOLDIER. And not the only one in the army, as you well know. But that isn't all. This war was fought by poor men, and poor men ought to gain by it. SECOND SOLDIER. How can we gain? We don't even get our pay.

FIRST SOLDIER. Nor will you, unless you see that you get it, and something more too. What is to become of the bishops' revenues? Are they to go to these new priestbyters? What of the land? To whom does that belong?

SECOND SOLDIER. To the lords, I suppose.

FIRST SOLDIER. To the lords, while we let them have it. But I say it belongs to no man while other men are starving. And if anyone will go and dig it, he has a right to it.

SECOND SOLDIER. Really? That's a new idea.

FIRST SOLDIER. There are too many to whom it is new, and to whom it must become familiar. But, hush! here comes the General. We will talk further of this.