Vicar Of Bray Songtext

In good King Charles's golden times when loyalty no harm meant A furious High Church man was I and so I gained preferment Unto my flock I daily preached "Kings are by God appointed And damned are those who dare resist or touch the Lord's anointed" This is the law that I'll maintain until my dying day, sir That whatsoever king shall reign I'll still be Vicar of Bray, sir When Royal James possessed the crown and Popery grew in fashion The penal law I shouted down and read the declaration The Church of Rome I found would fit full well my constitution And I had been a Jesuit but for the Revolution When William our deliverer came to heal the nation's grievance I turned my face around again and swore to him allegiance Old principles I did revoke set conscience at a distance Passive obedience is a joke a jest is non-resistance When glorious Anne became our queen the Church of England's glory Another face of things was seen and I became a Tory Occasional conformists base I damned, and moderation, And thought the Church in danger was from such prevarication When George in pudding time came o'er and moderate men looked big, sir My principles I changed once more and so became a Whig, sir And thus preferment I procured from our faith's great defender And almost every day abjured the Pope, and the Pretender The illustrious House of Hanover and Protestant succession To these I lustily will swear whilst they can keep possession For in my faith and loyalty I never once will falter And George my lawful king shall be - until the times should alter