I Remember a saying of Vin­centius Lyrinensis, Lib. de Hae­res. c. 37. Nullam esse ad fallendum faciliorem viam quàm ut ubi nefari [...] erroris subin­ducitur frau­dulenti [...], ibi divinorum verborum praetendatur autoritas. which as it meets with many bold practises in our times, so it nearly concerns my pre­sent purpose, Nullam esse ad fallendum faciliorem viam, &c. There is no way so easie (sayes he) to deceive a multitude (or the common people, who both love, and are easie to be deceived) and to invite [Page 2] them to sin, as when we endeavour by fraudu­lent means to sow the seed of errour in their hearts, to pretend the Divine Authority of Gods word. It seems the Scribes and Phari­sees, like many in our dayes, had learned this art of spreading and maintaining their false Doctrine by corrupting the Text. For, whereas God commanding us to have in due Reverence his holy Name, forbad the Jews, and in them us, to take the same in vain, Exod. 20.7. i. e. to use it idly, or to no purpose, without any warrant from necessity, and without respect to the ad­vance of his Glory, the Scribes expounding [...] in vain by [...] falsly, i. e. To back and confirm a lie (which word we find Levit. 19.12. Thou shalt not swear by my Name falsly) they hereby confounded two distinct precepts. For by the latter in Le­viticus is forbidden perjury, which is the confirmation of a lie by an Oath; by the former precept in Exodus all vain Oaths, which are so, when they are commonly used to confirme or ratifie the Truth in our private negotiations, contracts, bargai­nings and discourse.

From this false glosse of the Scribes in­terpreting the third Commandement, as if only perjury were by it forbid, and this too onely in the abuse of Gods sacred Name; from this corrupt Spring issued [Page 3] these three perverse Doctrines, which in our Saviours time were settled in the minds and hearts of the deluded Jewes.

First, to swear by the Creature, and to forswear, they affirmed to be no sin.

Secondly, they counted it no breach of the third Commandement, if they used in their ordinary discourse the Name of God, so long as they did what they pro­mised, and affirmed what was true. With the Scribes and Pharisees in this second opinion agree both Maldonat the Jesuit on Levit. 19. and Socinus, Vid. Rivet. in explicatione 3. Praecepti Decalogi. In hác corrupte­lâ eadem cum Phari­saeis sentit impurus iste Socinus, &c with his fol­lowers, who maintain that onely perjury is forbidden by that Commandement.

Thirdly and lastly, from this latter stream issued another as corrupt and un­sound, viZ. That whatsoever they had bound themselves to by an Oath in the Name of God, they maintained that they were bound to do it, were the thing never so unjust and bad.

Our blessed Saviour, as it became so wise a Teacher who came from God, (as Nicodemus witnessed of him, John 3.2.) endeavoured in his first Sermon Ad Popu­lum on the mount, to root out of the peo­ples minds this false Doctrine of the Scribes, and to prevent all dangerous Con­sequents which might issue from it, he propounds here in the Text (which I have [Page 4] prefixed to my Treatise) for our better in­struction the true meaning and intent of the Law, ushering it in with divine Au­thority, the Authority, of his own person, who is God and man by an hypostaticall union, [...], But I say unto you, Swear not, that is, not

• False,
• Temerè,
• Iniquè,

not Falsly, Rashly, nor unjustly, by the awfull and dreadfull Name of God, not without great cause and necessity, and: Swear not at all by the crea­tures, for to sweare by any of them is no lesse sin then Idolatrie. And this, with the consent of the best and most judicious Ex­positours, I take to be the full scope and meaning of the words, [...], Swear not at all.

Not to stick in prostibulo in the porch or preface of the text, I say unto you, from which in reference to the Context or the prece­ding V. 33. It hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not for­swear thy self, &c. verse, I might deduce this Inference, That, Antiquitie pleaded for a corrupt opinion or Custome contrarie to the Truth revealed in Gods word, is but a vizard under which errour and much danger lieth hid, and therefore not to be admitted, but rejected. This Inference by way of Doctrine might be drawn from the Preface, and proved against those patrons of superstitious practises and opinions, the great pleaders and proctours for Antiqui­ty [Page 5] in the Church of Rome, to whom I could retort and assert, that the written word of God is the only true Antiquitie, to be the rule of our faith, and that Anti­quitie without truth is like those dissem­bling Gibeonites Josh. 9.12. who deceived Joshuah with their old shooes, and torn baggs, Josh. 9.12. sowre drink, and mouldie bread: I could like­wise tell them that that is to be supposed to be the language of all the ancient Fathers, which one of them modestlie said of him­self and in the name of all, St. Ambr. Nolo nobis creda­tur, recitetur Scriptura, I will not desire any to relie onely upon my words, let the Scrip­ture be recited, and let that be the Judg of con­troversies. Were I in the pulpit (for which this Treatise was first intended) I might prosecute the former Thesis, and enlarge my meditations in the proof of it: but be­cause this point is not agreeable to my prime Intent, passing by the preface, I shall insist upon the prohibition, together with its extention, [...], at all, Swear not, and Swear not at all.

But what, some may say, The I. Ge­neral part. The explica­tion of the prohibition, swear not. is Christs king­dome divided against it self? is the Gospell against the law? Have we not an injunction or command to the contrary Deut. 6.13. Thou shalt feare the Lord thy God and serve him, and shalt sweare by his name; Find we not the same precept Deut. 10.12, 20. [Page 6] Him shalt thou serve, to Him shalt thou cleave, and sweare by his Name? Doth not the Pro­phet Isaiah insinuate the same in his 65. ch. 16. v. He that blesseth himself in the earth shall blesse himself in the God of Truth, and he that sweareth in the earth shall sweare by the God of Truth? Nay further, have we not Christs own example and practice to confirme the lawfulnesse of an oath in some cases? His Amen, Amen, so oft by Him used, intimates as much. God is the God of Truth, nay Truth it self, and Amen in the Hebrew and Syriack signifying Fidelitie and truth, Christ in his Amen dico vobis, Verily I say un­to you, said thus in effect, as the best exposi­tours assert, Per Deum qui est Amen (i. e. ve­ritas) dico vobis, I call God, who is most true, to witnesse what I say and affirm unto you. Dares then any Anabaptisticall Schismatick open his impure mouth against this evident truth, that it is in some cases lawfull to use an Oath? They that denie this, maintaining it in no case lawfull to swear by the Name of God, (of which sort was that Basilides mentioned in Eusebius) such mens ignorance I pittie, Lib. 6. c. 5. as being en­thrall'd to the slaverie of a Scrupulous con­science, which makes the way to heaven narrower then indeed it is, and proposes to it self a streighter passage then Christ in his word hath revealed unto us. But to o­mit [Page 7] the refutation of this errour of the Anabaptists, and to reconcile Moses to Christ, the Law to the Gospel, or those fore­named places or Texts in Deuteronomie to the words of my Text. First, let me lay this down for a certain ground or thesis (and it is our Saviours own assertion) Christ came not to destroy the Law, but to fulfill it: Mat. 5.17. and Se­condly, let me premise this for an undenia­ble maxime or position, that the precepts of the Gospell are not repugnant or contrary to the Commands of the Law; Praecepta E­vangelii non contrariantur praeceptis le­git. Aug. This Thesis is de­fended and proved at large by St. Augus­tine in his 19 book against Faustus the Heretick c. 16.

First then, our Lord and Saviour Christ, in whom dwelleth the fulnesse of the Godhead (i.e. who is perfect God) and in whom there is a fulnesse without any defect of wisdome, and all heavenly graces, He ful­fil'd the law two manner of waies, Aqui. 1.2.101. Qu. 2. Art. Opere et Ore, or Doctrinâ, by his works and doctrinal words. First by his works or deeds, in that, to leave us an example of a meek heart and sound Obedience, he submitted himselfe to the Ceremoniall law, being circumcis'd the 8. day, &c. so likewise to satisfie the rigour of Gods Justice he fully perform'd the morall law by his Active Obedience, doing what the law required of us to be done, thereby to bring us to Heaven, and by his [Page 8] passive, suffering for our sins to redeem us from the paines or torments of Hell. Thus Christ fulfilled the law Opere, by doing. Secondly, He fulfild the law Ore seu doctri­nâ, by his word or Doctrine, and that two manner of wayes. First, verum legis sensum exprimendo, Aquin. by explaining the full scope, the intent or meaning of the law, as in those two cases of Murther and Adulterie, Mat. 5.21, 27, &c. when he declar'd that whosoever is angry with his Brother without a cause, and beares ma­lice against him, in his heart, is a murtherer; and that he who looks on a woman to lust after her, is in the sight or esteem of God an Adulterer. Secondly, He fulfilled the law praecepta legis ordinando ut tutiùs observaretur quod lex vetuerat, by ordaining lessons, or prescribing rules for the better observing of the lawes prohibitions and precepts. To passe by many Instances which I might produce and to adhere only to my Text, Because the law forbids perjurie, where it is said, Lev. 6.5. Thou shalt not swear by my Name falsly,

That we may the bet­ter observe and keep this prohibition, [...]. Chrys. [...]. Id. Hom. 14. and be freed from the danger of so great a sin (in regard that men ac­customed to swearing, do commonly account perjury [Page 9] but a light and frivolous thing) Christ therefore here in the words of the Text gives us an wholsome admonition to ab­stain altogether from swearing, nisi in cau­sâ necessitatis, except in cases of necessity, Hier. Zanch. viz. Ʋbi gloria Domini vindicanda, aut Fratris aedificatio promovenda, when and where the glory of God is to be vindicated by an o­pen defence of the Truth opposed, or mine own and my Neighbours welfare and good may thereby be promoted.

So then, say the Anabaptists (who de­rive their opinion from the Manichees) say they what they please, Christ does not altogether forbid Swearing, but restrains it to certain circumstances of Time and Case.

For in some cases a man may swear: The II. Gen. part. In what ca­ses, and when a man may swear. Deut. 1.16. Psal. 82.6. as First, when an Oath is (for the deciding of a controversie) ministred by the subordi­nate Magistrates under the Supreme, to whom God in this respect hath bequeath­ed his Soveraign Power, and committed that Authority, that when any one of them demands it in a matter of great impor­tance or consequence, we may lawfully swear or take a solemn Oath. Secondly, when an Oath serveth to maintain, pro­cure, or win unto God any part of his glo­ry, or to preserve the same from disgrace or ignominie against the contumelious rage [Page 10] and malice of his enemies.

Thus if a man should converse with Papists and Infidels, and he alleadging for the confirmation of truth the Authority of Gods word, if any one of them should stiffely deny what he produces to be a part of the Scriptures, he in this case may safe­ly and justly use an Oath to defend it. An example hereof we have in St. Paul, who being moved with a Godly and Religious zeal for the Truth, made use of an Oath to confirm his Doctrine, that the Churches to whom he writ might be established in the truth, and God Almighty thereby glo­rifyed. The Oath which he used is expres­sed, and that clearly, Gal. 1.20. Before God I lie not, Vid. Rom. 1.9. 2 Cor. 11.31. which is a Confirmation of his former assertion in the 17.18. ver. foregoing part of the Chapter, viz. That he had preached the Gospel in Arabia and Damascus, that he went from those parts to Hierusalem, that he did not learn the Gospel there of Peter and James, or of any other Apostle. Now because some of the false Apostles might perhaps retort and say (to attache him of falsity, and so diminish his Autho­rity) that these avouchments of his were false and fabulous, he therefore justifies his Narration or Assertions by a kind of Oath, saying, Before God I lie not. It may be de­manded how these words can be a form [Page 11] or kind of Swearing, or in what sense they fall under the nature of an Oath. I answer, that in an Oath there be four things implyed, though not alwaies expressed.

The first is an Asseveration of the Truth.

The second a faithful Confession or open Profession, whereby the party that is to Swear acknowledgeth from his heart with a firm belief the power and presence, the omnisciency and wisdom of God, that he is the only searcher of the heart, a discerner of the inward Spirit, and that he is both a Witnesse and a Judge of all our thoughts, words and works.

The third is a solemn Invocation of God, that he would be a witnesse with and to us, that we speak the truth with our Tongues from our hearts.

The fourth and last is a sad Imprecation, that God would be a judge to take re­venge, and to inflict a sore judgement on us if we lie. Now then a formal Oath is a certain frame or composition of words, in which not alwaies all, but some of the prin­cipal parts of it are expressed; the other being concealed, and yet to be supposed and understood. Jer. 4.2. The Lord liveth, &c. There is the forme or essence of an oath onely in Confession of the life or being of God; which includes his essentiall At­tributes, [Page 12] viz. his Omnisciency and Omni­presence, &c. His Attributes are his very essence, quicquid est in Deo est ipse Deus, it is a rule and maxime in the schools. The form of swearing, 2. Cor. 1.23. I call God for a record upon my soul, expresseth the third particular, namely, Invocation. That pas­sage in Ruth chap. 1.17. The Lord doe thus and thus to me, is an Imprecation. And the forme in that forecited place Gal. 1.20. is directly a plaine Confession that God is present as a witnesse and Judge of our sayings, and will if we speak not the truth severely punish us.

Thirdly, a man may use an Oath when it serveth to maintain or promote his own or his Neighbours safety in body, goods, or good name. So to save his life, a man may swear to a Thief to give him a piece of money at a set appointed time, which Oath he is bound to keep, and if after­wards in respect to the common good he discover him to the Magistrate, he is no way guilty of falsity, in that he performs what is every mans private duty, i. e. to preserve the welfare of the King and State, and to promote the bonum communi­tatis, the common good, which cannot con­sist with a common Thiefs impunity. Therefore I adde, that in case a man for fear of losing his life with his money, be­ing [Page 13] urged and pressed to it, sweares to a Thief that he will not betray him, that man is bound to be silent, nor to reveal him in that which concerns himself, as having been robbed by him: But if he find and is assured that his silence may be prejudiciall to the publick good, for that he perceives the licenciousness of the offender proceeds (and is like so to do) to the like damage and mischief of others; he is bound in du­ty (though not to accuse the Delinquent for the fact done unto himself) yet to give warning or notice to some in Authority, to have a vigilant eye upon so lewd a per­son, for the preventing of any further Vil­lanie. So the late most pious and learned Bishop of Norwich determines this case, Bishop Hall in his Cases of Consci­ence resolv. Dec. 1. c. 8. and annexes this saying to his determina­tion (to deter all men from perjury or breaking their Oaths) When once we have interessed God in any businesse, it is dangerous not to be punctuall in the performance.

Now that it is lawful in this case to swear to an High-way Rogue to save our life, none will doubt, who shall consider the many inconveniencies and evils which would ensue, if the true man in this streight take not an Oath.

The first is the losse of his own life.

Secondly, the loss of the others soul, be­ing guilty of Murther in shedding that [Page 14] mans bloud: these dangers may be preven­ted by a promise & an Oath of silence. But as it is lawful for a man in such a streight to Swear, so it is unlawfull for him to break his Oath: for if any one having so solemnly promised by an oath not to dis­cover the Thief (as to that fact of rob­bing him) should afterwards make his fact known to the magistrate, this mischiefe would follow upon his discovery, all ho­nest men for his sake might justly be sus­pected as if they would doe the like, though they have solemnly promis'd or sworn to the contrary, and so it might cost many a good man his life, when Thieves are put in feare of losing theirs, being perswaded that though an Oath be taken, they may be betrayed and given up to the hands of Justice. Of the same opinion with the forenamed Bishop is the right reverend Father in God the Bishop of Lincolne, Dr. Sanderson, Lib. de Ju­ramenti Ob­ligatione. that, if a man falling into the hands of thieves, be forc'd to promise, and that by an Oath, not to detect or reveale their robbery of him, and this to preserve himselfe from being murdered by them, as he may without offence to God take such an oath, so the same being taken by him must be religiously kept.

But I desire that this assertion may be admitted for a truth with the former qua­lification. [Page 15] I shall only adde this for a Close of this Question, (and it is the summe or abridgment of what His advice is this, [...]. Hierocles. Hierocles delivers more at large by way of advice or coun­sel) That nothing but necessity and the command of lawfull Authority should force or draw an oath from us.

Fourthly, A man may sweare or take an oath to confirm and establish peace be­tween him and another at variance with him: thus did Abraham swear to Abimelech, Gen. 21.24. that he would not deal falsly with him nor with his Son, nor with his Sons Son. Thus two severall Kings may swear one to another upon an agreement or ratification of peace, not to invade one anothers terri­tories for so long a space of time. Thus a King takes an oath At his Coronati­on. to his Subjects to maintaine their ancient lawes and liberties; and they reciprocally oblige themselves by a solemn oath to preserve his honour, to defend his person, and maintain his Royall rights and prerogative, to be obedient to his just commands, to be observant of his lawes: all this, and more, is implied in the Oath of Allegiance, which Oath cannot stand or consist with the Subjects taking up [Page 16] of Armes against their Soveraign Lord the King (under what specious pretences soever) without the high guilt of Treason and Rebellion.

To conclude this point concerning the Legality or lawfulnesse of taking an Oath in private and publick Cases, the meaning of our Saviours prohibition, Mat. 5. Swear not at all, is this, which before hath been touched in few words, Swear not at all in your com­mon talk and familiar discourse, but as Christ commands v. 37. Let your communi­cation be Yea Yea, Nay Nay, i. e. use onely a bare affirmation of what you know to be true, and a simple Negation of what you are assured is false, without interposing the sacred and dreadfull Name of God. Let your Yea be Yea, &c. As the doubling of Pharaohs dreame was an infallible demon­stration of the certainty of it's event; Gen. 41.2, 5. so the repetition of these our Saviours words is remarkable, and not to be passed over with­out due regard and a speciall observation. Upon this Text Ʋgo has this ingenuous glosse. Ipsa gemina­tio p [...]ndus habet, quasi diceret, quod dicis verbo dic opere, & quod nega [...] verbo noli confirmare facto. Ugo. The very gemination or doubling of the words (saies he) is weighty, and deserves our attentive consideration: it is as if Christ should have said, Let not thy actions give thy words the lie; what thou hast affirmed with thy tongue, maintain and make good the same by thy actions, and confirm not that by thy deeds what thou hast [Page 17] denied in thy words. Let your Yea be Yea, and your Nay Nay: whatsoever is more then these [...], cometh of evill, i. e. as St. Augustine expounds the words, Aug. lib. 10. de Serm. Dom. c. 30. ex malo in­firmitatis, from the Sin of infirmity; which I take to be anothers incredulity, when a man for want of a good or commendable opinion of his Brother (which betrays a weakness in him or a want of charity) shall suspect the truth of his narration or report, and so require of him an oath to confirme it. E. g. If a man should accuse thee of per­fidiousnesse or slander, as having with the black tooth of calumnie wounded his repu­tation, or wrong'd him in his goods, if thou, to purge and cleanse thy self from this foule aspersion, shalt deny the fact by a simple and bare protestation of thy inno­cency in this particular, and he still su­specting thee to the contrary To do this in the judgement of Isidore Pe­lusiota is a sin, and that a great one. [...]. Lib. 1. Ep. 155. shall require an oath of thee to confirm his belief of what thou deniest, in such a case to vindi­cate thy credit, and to work out of his mind that injurious su­spicion, thou mayest use an At­testation by invocating or calling God to witnesse the Truth, which Attestation by interposing the name of God is an Oath. And that, in such or the like case (to settle in another [Page 18] a perswasion of our Integrity,) an oath be­tween private persons is no Sin, we have the example of Gods Saints in the Holy Scriptures to warrant it; as that of Abraham, who upon this occasion swore to Abimelech (as was before recited Gen. 21.24.) The like passed between Jacob and Laban, Gen. 31.53. and from Boaz to Ruth. Adde to these two examples the testimony of St. Augustine: Ruth. 3.13. As the Lord liveth, said he to her, &c. Aug. loco praedicto in lib. de Serm. Dom. Christus non dixit, quod amplius ma­lum est, sed ex malo, i. e. ex malo infir­mitatis, &c. When Christ (says he) enjoyned us to use in our common discourse Yea Yea, Nay Nay, He said not, whatsoever is more then this is evill or a sin, but, cometh of evill, i. e. from the evill of Infirmity, viz. the weaknesse or want of Faith in him who compells thee to Sweare. Tu enim non male facis qui bene uteris juratione, ut alteri persua­deas quod utiliter persuades; sed à malo est illius cujus infirmitate jurare cogeris. For thou dost not ill who usest an oath well, i. e. to a good end, that thou mayest beget in another a firm beliefe of the Truth, and a perswasion of thy Integrity: He rather does ill, whose diffidence or distrust enforces thee to use an Oath. Swear then we may, and an Oath may be used in our pri­vate conference, when the Incredulitie of him with whom we deale or converse for­ces it from us, either to beget in him a per­swasion of our fidelitie in the performance of our lawfull promises, or to wipe out of his minde a blot who suspects our honesty [Page 19] and uprightnesse. In such a case, when an Oath is required of us to maintaine our re­putation or credit, then to forbeare to Swear is neither to obey the intent of Christ in the Gospell, nor to obey the voice of God in the Law. For in such a case to swear is so far from taking Gods name in vaine, that he who refuses to doe it runs upon the rock of a dangerous guilt, and that is the breach of the sixth Commandement; by which as vitae conservatio, Thou sha t do no murther. the preservation of our Bro­thers and our own life, so likewise injuriae propulsatio, the use of all lawfull meanes to redeem him, and chiefly our selves, from all injuries is commanded. What greater in­jurie can there be, what more greivous wound then that of Infamie, and losse of re­putation? which when thou maiest plaster up, if thou refuse to doe it, thou joynest by thy assent with thine enemy in wounding of thy good name or credit. Qui famam negligit homicida est, who so neglects his fame or credit, destroys in a part his being, in that when he lies under the burden of Infamie and disgrace, he ceases in the esteem of the world to be that man he was once voiced or nois'd to be.

An Oath then we may use not This is implied by the Heb. word [...] which being of a passive signif [...] ­cation, signifies rather to be sworn then to swear, intimating thus much unto us, that a man should not swear but when an oath is forc'd upon him, and enjoyn'd by lawfull authority. voluntarily, but being com­pell'd to it by him who suspects [Page 20] our credit. Thus or then to swear in vindication of our reputation is not repug­nant to Christs precept, or prohibition, Swear not. And unlesse you will say that the Prophets borrowed not their light from Christ the everlasting Sun of righteousnesse, most resplendent in all graces, who like­wise being the eternall word of God, spoke to the ancient Prophets by his Spirit, unlesse you will say that these were not true Stars, but slimie meteors, coloured with pretences of truth, and that their Doctrine is false, un­less you will assert this (which is an horrid crime but to think) then you must set your seale to this truth, that in some cases it is not unlawfull to use an Oath. Witness that of the Prophet Ieremiah in his exhortation to revolted Israel, Jer. 4.2. Judicio caret Juramentum incautum, Veritate ju­ramentum mendax, Ju­stitiâ jura­mentum ini­quum & illi­citum. Aqui. Thou shalt swear, The Lord liveth, in Truth, in Judgment, & in Righteousness. These three cautions or circumstances if they accompany thine Oath, thou ful­fillest Christs prohibition, Swear not.

Swear not. First, non falsè, not falsly, so our blessed Saviour intends; but in veritate, in Truth, so the prophet Jer. expresly, i. e. for the confirmation of the Truth when thou art urged to it by some private person, or injoyn'd by a lawfull magistrate, as hath formerly been demonstrated. Promissori­um est de fu­turo seu de re faciendâ. But to en­large this point a little more; There is a twofold Oath, a Promissory, and that which [Page 21] we call an Assertory. Assertori­um de prate­rito sive de re factà. By the former we en­gage our selves for the time to come to do that which is lawfull and just: By the lat­ter we assert or solemnly affirm to be cer­tain and true, what we know to have been done and said either by our selves or others. Agreeable to these two kinds of oaths there is a twofold truth,

• First, Logicall,
• Second, Morall.

The first implies the truth of the thing, the second the truth of the mind. The first is when we speak or affirm nothing but what beares a correspondency with the nature of what is affirm'd, or as the thing is, not asserting, that white is black, or black white. The second, i. e. the morall truth, is when we speak as we think, and think as we speak. Both these kinds of truth are requi­red in an Assertory Oath. First, there must not be any jarring or disagreement between the Tongue and the Thing asserted, that must go according to this; and that not up­on bare conjectures, or what Aristotle in his Topicks calls [...], seeming probabilities, but upon a well-grounded knowledge of the truth of the thing or fact. In an As­sertory Oath we may be guilty of perjury two manner of wayes. For not on­ly he is guilty of perjury who in an Asser­tory Oath swears a known untruth (as Mat. 26.72, 74, 75, Peter did, and afterwards repented of it) but he also who swears an unknown or uncertain truth, which is when we swear that to be a [Page 22] truth of which for the present we doubt, and imagine to be a falshood.

Secondly, in an Assertory oath our mind or meaning must not dissent from our Tongue; we must beware that we mean not one thing when we swear another: which that deceit­full Johanan and the Captains of the Host did, Jer. 42.5. who called God to witness that which they never intended to perform. Thus the Papists juggle in their Aequivocations, and when they take the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance, they have a Tongue for the Prince and an Heart for the Pope. Thus did that Franciscan Monk aequivocate, who being asked which way a murderer fled that passed by him, & being willing to con­ceal him, he answered, putting his hand into his sleeve, that he passed not that way, meaning that he passed not through his Sleeve. Of this stamp was he in Euripides, who being attached of perjurie, replied, [...], i. e. I did swear with my Tongue, but not with my Mind. Thus I fear too many have done in these sinful times, who having taken the Oath of Allegiance to their King, enter'd into a so­lemn League with his traiterous enemies. Those I exhort speedily to make their peace with God by an hearty repen­tance, lest, to their endlesse woe and misery, they feel the weight of his heavy wrath, which never suffer'd the perjured to [Page 23] escape unpunished. Beware then of Swear­ing falsly, or of taking a false Oath; let your Tongue agree with the thing you express by it, and let not your heart or meaning dissent from your tongue. Use no Aequivo­cation, but when you are constrain'd to take an oath, take it according to the [...], the literal sense or plain meaning of the words, and according to the intention of him who propounds it; and be clearly perswaded in thy Conscience or Judgment of the Truth and equity of the thing you swear. Two Co­rollaries; the first concerning an Assertory Oath. If in an Assertory Oath we affirm to be true what we know to be false, we in effect make God the Patron of a Lye, or think that he may be deluded and deceived; whereby we discover a kind of Atheisticall profane Impiety, whilst we deale with God as if he regarded not things here below, and place him in a lower condition then we would do any plain honest man, quem fallere volens non auderet quis in Societatem falsi vo­care, whom no man, Phil. Jud. [...]. being about to defraud or deceive his Neighbour or Friend, will dare call or invite to be a partaker with him in his Sin. To do this then to God, how great and horrid a crime must it needs be? He doth it that calls God to witness a lye. The second Corolla y [...]oncerning a Promissory Oath

Lastly, to close this point concerning a false Oath, when we promise by Oath to do what we never mean to perform, we are guilty in an high degree of perjury; so is [Page 24] he who having meant at the Oaths taking, and fully purposed to do as he promis'd, yet afterwards, when the thing is possible, and not unjust, but onely difficult and dis­advantageous to him, changes his resolu­tion and purpose, contrary to that Just man describ'd by the Prophet David, Psal. 15.5. who Swears to his Neighbour and disappoints him not, though it be to his own hurt. And thus much of the first restriction of Christs pro­hibition, Swear not, i. e. non falsè, not falsly.

Secondly, Swear not, non levitèr & temerè, not lightly or rashly, for no cause, but cum Judi­cio, in Judgement, i. e. onely when the cause is weighty, and when there are no other witnesses but God and thine own Conscience, so that thou art compell'd to Swear by a constraint of Necessity.

Thirdly, Swear not contra jus & iniquè, not unjustly, but in Justitiâ, in Justice, as the same Prophet, Jer. 4.2. advises. The Matter or Subject of thy Oath must be what in it self is lawful, just and good, and not re­pugnant to the words or intent of any for­mer Oath, which if lawfully taken, and the matter of it be just, is in no wise, neither for any threats or promises, to be violated, but faithfully kept. From what hath been said we may collect and deduce a Negative Rule, which is one of five set down or de­livered by Rivetus in his most judicious and learned Explication of the Decalogue. [Page 25] The Rule is this, Com. 6. p. 90. Where he teaches when & in what Cases an Oath binds. Non est servandum Jura­mentum cujus Executio cum Salute publicâ, cum honestate, & bonis moribus pugnaret, i. e. That Oath which is against the good of the Common-wealth, against the rules of honesty and good manners (or that duty which we owe in things that are lawful to our Supe­riours) such an Oath which is repugnant to these three particulars, to all of them, or any of them, is not to be kept. For he that promises by an Oath to do what is unlawful and unjust, as he sinned in Swearing, so would he aggravate his sin if he should keep it. Such was Davids Oath when he threatned Nabals ruine, which he revoked, 1 Sam. 25. Juravit Da­vid temere, sed non im­plevit jura­mentum ma­jori impieta­te. Aug. to teach us that all such Oaths are better broken then kept. Definitio incauta laudabilitèr sol­venda est, nec est haec praevaricatio, sed temeri­tatis emendatio, An hasty and unlawfull pro­mise may be broken with Commendation, nei­ther is he that breaks such a promise to be con­demned as prevaricating with the Truth, but to be thought well of, for correcting his errour, whilest he performs not what he rashly under­took. Mar. 6.26. If Herod Antipas had observ'd this Rule delivered in that famous Council of Eliberis, he (although his Oath had seem­ingly bound him to it) would not have be­headed John the Baptist: and as hereby he might have freed himself from the guilt of murdering so holy a man, so should he not have felt from the hand of God that [Page 26] heavy punishment which Euse [...] and Jo­sephus record that he suffered. Euseb. l. 2. c. 4 Joseph. l. 18. c. 14. He was ba­nished (as they tell us) by Caligula into Lyons in France, where with his wife He­rodias, that incestuous Harlot, he ended his life in extreme misery and want. From the former explication of our Saviours pro­hibition, we may infer that as [...]. Epiph. between the Law and the Gospel there is no dis­cord, so between Christs words and the sayings of the Prophets there is no jarring, nor disagreeing difference, but a sweet harmony and consent: whence we may likewise conclude that one and the same God was the Author of the Old and New Testament, which the Manichees denyed: The same harmonious concord or agree­ment between them is a strong and suffi­cient argument of the Deity of the Son of God Christ Jesus, John 1.1. the Word. This we af­firm and maintain against the Arrians, in that He was the Prophets instructer and Teacher by his Spirit, or by divine inspi­ration, and withall a God of Unity, Peace, and Concord. What they assert he affirms, what they forbid he prohibits. His prohi­bitions imply their commands, their com­mands include his prohibitions. Him (i.e. God) onely shalt thou serve, Mat. 4.10. sayes our Saviour▪ Thou shalt not worship other Gods, this is the common tenor of the Doctrine [Page 27] of the Prophets. So (as hath been proved) Christs prohibitions point at their command­ing precepts. Swear not, sayes Christ; Jer. 4.2. Isa. 65.16. Thou shalt Swear, sayes the Prophet Jeremy: which dissents not from the words of Christ in my Text, Swear not, which forbids onely the use of all False, Rash, and Ʋnjust Oaths, and enjoynes us, when there is need of an Oath, to advance Gods glory in the Vin­dication of his Truth, or to promote our own or our Neighbours good, then onely to use it. And this is the meaning of the third Commandement, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; But shalt Swear in Truth, in Judgement, and Righteousnesse. Thus much of our Saviours prohibition, from which I pass to the ex­tent of it, denoted by the particle [...] (which followes) at all, Swear not at all, i.e. not at all by the Creatures.

Non est tam absurdum delir [...]mentum quod defensorem non inveniat, saies Varro: The III. Gen. part. We must not swear by the Creatures. there was never any opinion so absurd, no Here­sie so impious, but at some time or other found patrons and defenders, even against the light of reason and Holy Scriptures. Examples to prove this we find many in Church-histories. What more impious then to depose God (as it were) from his throne of Soveraignty, to rob him of his honour, and to give it to the inferiour [Page 28] creatures? And if a man should rack his thoughts to the height of absurdities, no one thing would be found more absurd then that practice of the Romanists, who as they pray to Saints and Angels (attributing to them thereby Gods power, and omnisciency, who onely knows our severall wants, and can help us in all our needs) so to back this absurdity they have broach'd a new Impie­ty, maintaining it lawfull, as in prayer, so in Swearing, to invocate the creature; As to swear by the Holy Evangelists, by any Saint or Angel, and the like. Whereby they break the first Commandment in set­ting up a new Deity, and so prove guilty of a Sin which they make light of, and that is no less then blasphemy: which Sinne is committed, First, when we attribute or as­cribe to God what he is not, Aqui. 2.2.13.2. 1. Art. Three de­grees of blasphemy. Secondly, when we detract from him what he is▪ and Third­ly, when we ascribe or give what is due to him to the creatures; and this we do when we swear by them, as I shall prove after I have discovered the fountain or Originall, and withall the foulnesse of the Papists er­rour herein. This profane practice of the Romanists, besides that it has no ground nor warrant from the Holy Scriptures (which in matters of Religion must be the rule of our actions) and besides that it is scandalous to the hearer, who, by our blasphemous and [Page 29] Idolatrous custome in this Sin, may be in­duced to imitate and use the same forme in swearing; besides these and many other the like reasons, which I could alleage, we must know (to lay open this Sin, and to make it more odious) that it owes its beginning to certain hereticks called Osseni, Lib. contra Nic. Serrà­rium. whom Sca­liger will have to be all one or the same with the Esseni. Of these (as Epiphanius re­cords li. 1. c. 19.) one Elxai was notorious, who lived in the time of Trajan, and spread abroad the poison of this corrupt doctrine, teaching that men ought to swear by Salt and Water, by the Earth, by Bread, and by the Heaven, by the Aire, and by the Wind, &c. which Hereticall opinion is refuted at large in the forecited place by Epiphanius. Like unto these were the Manichees, whose Ringleader and Capt. was Manes or Mani­cheus, whom Cyril justly calls [...], the Master and Con­triver of Iniquity, [...]. Cyril. Hier. Catech. 7. a magazin of Impiety, the common Inne or Store-house of all filthy ab­surdities and obscenities, whose heresie contain'd a masse, a vene­mous composition of old ex­tinguisht heresies. This Manes with his Followers taught, what they of the Church of Rome maintain, that it was lawfull to swear by the creatures, as appeares by those [Page 30] words of St. Augustine, Lib. 19. Cant. Faust. c. 22. Jurabant saepissime nulloque mentis scrupulo per creaturas, They, says he, used to swear by the creatures fre­quently. Hereby we may see what grounds, and how good Authors our adversaries in the Church of Rome have for their per­nicious and dangerous practice: yet to set a glosse upon it, they have inven­ted a prettie distinction, as vain as they are vicious. First, they divide the creatures into two Classes or ranks, Rationall, and Irratio­nal: by the former they assert we may swear Absolutè, absolutely, without any restriction: Such are the Angels and Saints in Heaven. Aquin. 2.2. Qc. 89. (They might as well have added men on Earth) By the latter only Relativè, Rela­tively, In quantum divina veritas in iis mani­festatur, so far or forasmuch as the divine truth is manifestly revealed in them; As when we swear by the Gospell, it is (say they) by that God whose truth is manife­sted in the Gospel. I say again, this Asser­tion is vain and frivolous, invented only to countenance and maintain their Invocation or prayers to Saints and Angels. Omitting the former part of that fond distinction as unworthy of a refutation, let us examine the second part of it, which is to swear Re­lativè in relation to God. This the Roma­nists affirm we may do, which we abso­lutely denie, and prove it thus. To swear [Page 31] by the creature in relation to God is to in­vocate or call upon the creature religiously with reference to God: this latter is expres­ly forbidden in Gods word, as in the fore­named place, Levit. 6.13. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, Him only shalt thou serve, and swear by his Name. So Isaiah 45.53. Every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall swear to me. Which Text St. Paul citing Rom. 14.11. and following the Septuagints Translation, fearing lest if he should do o­therwise, an offence thereby might be given to the Gentiles or Greeks, who adhered to that translation, useth these words, [...], To me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confesse to God, i.e. Swear by his name; Est enim Jusjurandum vera ac aperta ejus Dei professio quem ut testem et perjurii vindicem appellamus, Beza. For an Oath is a true and open profession of that God whom as a witnesse of our sayings and a Revenger of perjurie we invocate. This honour▪ none can or may affixe to the crea­ture. Therefore swear not at all by it, but (in those cases premised) by the Creatour. But I meet with a seemingly-strong Ob­jection from the Romanists, which deserves a solution. It is borrowed from the 42. of Gen. v. 15. where we read that Joseph swore to his Brethren that he would not let them [Page 32] goe back to their Father, unless they would send for their younger Brother Benjamin, and he seems there to swear by a creature, namely by the King, where he saies, By the life of Pharaoh ye shall not goe hence, except your younger Brother come hither. It is not (say they) to be imagin'd that Joseph, so good a Saint, and so wise a man, would have sworn by his King, unless he had been fully perswaded in his soul (and that by the spi­rit of God, by whom he was alwaies go­verned) that to swear by the creature was not a sin, nor derogated any whit from Gods glory, at which he ever aimed. A plausible objection. To which I answer first with the learned Zanchie, Ab exemplo unius quamvis Sancti viri argumentum duci non posse contra apertum Verbum Dei, Zanch. in Miscellan. From the example of one particular man, though for his piety never so much famed, we may not draw a pattern for our practise against the express word of God. Ex fide personas, non ex perso­nis fidem probamus, Tertul. We must prove or try mens persons by the Faith, or Doctrine of the word, and not the Faith by mens persons; i. e. Because God hath said or commanded it, and not be­cause such a one did it, is a thing lawfull and good. Supposing then that Joseph swore by Pharaoh, his action must not be a rule or pattern for thy imitation. The law [Page 33] of God, as it is the way wherein we must walk, so it is the Rule whereby in our pas­sage to heaven we must be guided. And al­though it be probable that Joseph used such an Oath that he might comply with the Egyptians in that forme which, perhaps, was by them used, and might also do it, as be­ing unwilling to be discovered by his Bre­thren not to be an Egyptian; yet my second answer will better clear the doubt and re­fute the objection. I say then in the second place, that it was not properly nor simply an oath, but rather an Obtestation, a kind of desire or wish, as if he should have said, So may the king prosper as what I have averred is true, viz. That you shall not goe forth hence except your youngest Brother come hither, &c. This then is not to swear by Pharaoh, it is rather, as I said, a desire and wish added to an asseveration of a truth. Examples of the like manner of Obtestations we find in the holy Scriptures. 1 Sam. 17.55. There Ab­ner sayes to Saul, As thy Soul liveth, O King, I cannot tell, so our English translation ren­ders it; but the words must be expounded in the same sense as those of Joseph before, because that the phrase in Hebrew is the same. [...] The effect then of Abners answer to Sauls quaere may be this, As I wish thee, O King, long life and happinesse even as this is reall and true, so what I affirme is [Page 34] not false, &c. The like kind of asseverati­on, whereby they of old ratified and con­firmed the truth of what they affirm'd, we find 1 Sam. 1.26. 2 Sam. 14.19. 2 Kin. 2.2. 1 Sam 25.26. So then admit of which of the two answers you please, it is clear that from the example or practice of Joseph we may not conclude it lawfull to use the name of any creature in an Oath. But this we willingly grant, having Gods word for our warrant, that the names of some crea­tures may be used when we swear: yet with this limitation, and in that sense only which I have premised, viz. Not to swear by them absolutely and simply, i. e. to invo­cate or call upon them to witnesse the ve­ritie or Truth of our assertion, but only so, that we wish their good and welfare if we speake the truth; if otherwise, i.e. if we lie, their mischiefe and destruction. St. Pauls asseveration 2 Cor. 1.23. I call God for a record on my Soul, is a sufficient argument to prove this doctrine, Vid. Calvin. in loc. whereby he wish'd in effect that he might perish, or that his life might be taken from him, if that were false which he affirmed to be true to the Corin­thians. The like interpretation is to be made of the words of Ioseph, though in an­other sense: for St. Pauls was an implicit Im­precation, which is to be used solemnly and with a great caution, only then when the [Page 35] thing (to maintain which we wish to our selves or others any hurt) is very materiall and weighty; for otherwise, i.e. to impre­cate or use a form of Cursing for a slight matter or for no cause, is a great and hai­nous Sin, and they who are guilty of it are rank'd in Gods word amongst the Repro­bate and Ungodly men. Rom. 3.14. Psal. 10.7. David there describing a wicked man, saies, His mouth is full of cursing, &c. Neither shall such a man escape Gods curse and maledi­ction, Psal. 109.17. As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him, &c. But to return from this short digression, and to shew the dif­ference between St. Pauls and Iosephs using the names of the Creatures in their asseve­rations: as St. Pauls was an Imprecation or Curse, so Iosephs words implie a Precation, Option or wish for the Kings prosperity and happinesse; from which his Brethren might inferre this, that his words were most certainly true, not void of sincerity, because his wish for Pharaohs health (whom he much honoured) was not hypocriticall, not feigned, but hearty. Having thus shaken the foundation of the Romanists pretended reasons for their Idolatrous Swearing by the Creatures, I passe now to the proposall of some better and sounder reasons to the contrary, to shew the unlawfulnesse of their practice, and withall their Impiety therein, [Page 36] which is great and hainous. To conclude this point then, Reasons why we must not swear by the Crea­tures. Swear not at all by the crea­tures, First, because an Oath solemnly ta­ken is a great part of Divine Worship, as appeares by Isa. 19.18. where the prophet foretelling that Egypt should be redeemed from the darknesse of Idolatrous Worship, and brought to the light of the knowledge of the true God, whom they should invo­cate or worship in Sincerity and Truth, a­mong other duties which he reckons up as parts of Gods worship there he sayes, that five cities in the Land of Egypt shall swear by the Lord of Hosts. Not unlike to this of the Prophet Isaiah is that of Jeremy c. 5.7. Thy Sons (so God by him bespeaks the re­bellious Nation of the Jewes) have foresa­ken me, and sworn by them which are no Gods. By this latter part of the verse he declares or expounds what he had asserted in the former, how the Jews had forsaken the Lord, and he saies in expresse terms, that they swore not by the Name of God, but by them which are no Gods. And hence I in­ferre, that since to Swear by the Sacred name of God is a piece of religious and di­vine worship, and a thing so acceptable to God (when there is great need of it) as that for doing the contrary he denounced against the Jews his indignation and wrath; it must then of necessity be no lesse then Ido­latry [Page 37] to transferre that honour to the Crea­tures which is proper and due only to God the Creatour: and this sin we commit when we use their names in any Solemn protesta­tion or Oath. For (which is my second ar­gument to prove the hainousness of this sin) when we swear by any one, we call him to witness the truth of what we speak, as be­ing a Discerner of the heart and searcher of the Spirit, and in effect we acknowledge that he is not only omniscient, but also omni­potent, as having power to punish us with destruction both of body and Soul if we willfully lie and assert an untruth. They therefore that swear by Saint or Angel, or any other Creature, ascribe to them this honour of knowing our hearts, and discer­ning our intentions, and withall seem to ac­knowledge and profess that they have a Lord-like and all-commanding power and command over their persons, their goods, and lives (which honour and power belongs only to God) and what is this but to deifie the Creatures? For this cause alone that good Bishop of Smyrna, Polycarpus (as it is recorded by Eusebius) chose rather to die by the fagot in hot flames, Euseb. l. 4. c. 15. then he would swear per fortunam Caesaris, by Caesars for­tune, which he esteemed a robbing God of his glory, and giving that which is not due to the Creature. Undoubtedly he then [Page 38] remembred the words of our Saviour, Luk. 20.25. Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesars, and unto God the things that are Gods; i. e. Give the Lord the honour due unto his Name, Ps. 29.2. The honour due unto his Name is to swear by it, when we have a necessary and just occasion. Therefore to swear by any creature, as it is a piece of blasphemy (because thereby we derogate and detract from God, whilst we ascribe to the Creature his incommunicable attributes, his Omnipresence, his Omnisciency, and All-mightinesse) so it is wholy forbidden by the particle [...] at all in the Text: although the Schoolmen relying upon the Authority of some modern writers, and to patronage their superstitious practice of invocating Saints and Angels, have darkned this place with a false gloss: Swear not at all, i. e. saith Estius upon the Mr. of the Sentences, nisi justâ causâ et necessariâ apparente, unlesse you have a just and necessary cause. This glosse might have been admitted if [...] at all had been left out. Swear not at all; and how is that? Heare what followes from Christs own mouth, the Mr. of truth, the best Commen­tator upon his own words, Neither by Hea­ven, nor by Earth, i. e. not at all by any Creature; and so St. Hierome with others ex­pound the Text. Ʋbi justa subest causa in nomine Dei jurandu [...] neque enim Coelum [Page 39] Deus est, neque Terra, &c. Neque teipsum fecisti: per nullam igitur creaturam jurandum. So Ferus upon the sixth of Mat. i.e. ‘When and where there is a just cause offered, we must swear only by the dreadfull Name of God: For neither to the Heavens, nor to the Earth, can or must we ascribe that glorious Name, without the guilt of blas­phemous Idolatry. Thou didst not make or create thy selfe, much lesse can they be said to be thy Creatour; therefore you must not swear by any Creature. And when there is no just cause of an Oath, we must likewise forbeare to swear by the sacred name of God.’

For a close of this point, I shall clear a doubt, and answer a question. The first is concerning that custome of the Primitive Christians in Tertullians daies, who used to swear Per Salutem Imperatoris (as we find it recorded in him) i. e. by the health of the Emperour: In Apolog. c. 32. the Question which arises hence is this, whether they sinned in so doing? To this I answer, that by this terme Salutem, health, they understood either God himself, the Author of health, and the fountaine of Salvation, so might effectivè be called the health of the Emperour, being the princi­pall or sole cause of it: or we are to conceive that this kind of expression was rather an Obtestation then an Oath properly so called, [Page 40] and that by way of comparison, or taken comparatively; as if one should say, I pro­test before God that I speak and love the Truth no less with my heart then I wish my Soveraign Lord the Emperour to live in health. Such kinds of speech, by the life of the King, by the fortune and health of the Emperour, used in the Primitive times, were rather Obtestations then Oaths, as is attested by St. Basil on the 19. Psalm, [...], [...], &c. Basil. &c. There be some kinds of speech which have a shew or shadow of Oaths, and are not such indeed, but only confirmations of an asserted Truth. There is another doubt concerning that usuall form of speech which is too too familiar in mens mouths, and that is, By my Faith; The Question is, whether it may be lawfully used? The learned and most pious Bishop Andrews delivers his Judge­ment or opinon thus concerning it, out of ‘St. Augustine, Beware, saies he, of that which is not a perfect or compleat Oath, Serm. 30. de verbis Apost. but a manuduction, way, or inlet to it, as to say, By my Faith: For when a man as­serts a Truth in this form, By my Faith, it is a solemn execration, which is an Appendix, or an additional part of an Oath, and he that saies so speaks thus in effect, If what I say be not true, I wish that God would deprive me of the saving gift of Faith; and God may take the same away [Page 41] at that hour or moment, and benight thy Soul with the darkness of distrust or doubt. Be therefore very sparing in the use of it.’

As therefore we are to abstain from this Form, because it hath in it an appearance of evil, being scandalous in regard of the particle Per or By (which is annexed to it, and prefix'd ever to an Oath, Amesius C. de Juramen­to. whereby we invocate or call immediately on God to be a Judge and Witness of what we speak) as for this reason it is scandalous, in that it may give an offence to the religi­ous; so likewise it is very dangerous to use it upon every slight or light occasion in matters of no moment, for it is a kind of vain and rash tempting of Almighty God, who may suddainly frown upon us in his wrath, and in justice punish us with a loss of our Faith, without which we can­not be saved. Luke 8.12. Act. 16.31. Our Faith (sayes a devout man) is the most pretious Jewel that we have. Now there is none but a Bankrupt that will lay the best Jewel which is in his house to pawn for every small trifle: so when we pawn our Faith for every word we speak, it argueth that we are Bank­rupts in Truth, and that we are of a broken or small credit, otherwise we would not produce this pretious Jewel of our Faith upon every needless occasion, and endan­ger [Page 42] the loss of it, without which (as I said before) there is no Salvation.

From all that hath been premis'd con­cerning the extent of Christs prohibition, Swear not at all, we may deduce this un­denyable and certain conclusion, That, as by Swearing by the creature God is dishonour'd, so by using his Name in a lawful Oath he is much glorifyed: Be­cause when we call on Him to witness the Truth of what we affirm, we do openly confess that he is an Eare and Eye-wit­ness of our Thoughts, Words, and Deeds, that he knowes our hearts, that he is a lo­ver of Truth, and a severe Revenger of a lie, that he both can and will punish us for it? then which profession (and this we pro­fess when we Swear) what can conduce more to Gods honour, and advance his glory? In the 45. of Isaiah, God speaks thus of himselfe, Isa. 45.22. I am God, and there is none else, i. e. none besides me to be honour'd with Divine Worship; so he explaines his own words verse 23. Ʋnto me every knee shall bow, and to me every tongue shall Swear: To me, i. e. By me; By me exclusive­ly, and not at all by any Inferiour Crea­ture. Christs words then, or his Prohibi­tion in my Text, are but a Comment or Illustration on those of the Prophet Isaiah: and St. James (as the Epistles are Com­ments [Page 43] upon the Gospels) in his fifth Chap. seems to have taken the words of our Sa­viour in that sense which we have main­tain'd and followed; whence he sayes ver. 12. But above all things, my Brethren, swear not, neither by Heaven, nor by Earth, nor by, any other Oath, i. e. besides the name of God, when you are lawfully cal­led to it: But in your private conference, contracts, and bargainings, let your yea be yea, and your nay nay, i. barely affirm what you speak without any other addition, lest you fall into condemnation. And this cau­tion of the Apostle (whereby is intimated a severe Judgement or punishment from God which shall fall upon rash swearers) the same leads me to the fourth Generall part, viz. The Reasons or Motives implyed in the prohibition, Swear not, viz. why we should fear an Oath, or abstain from all rash and vain swearing. Having illustra­ted this particular, I shall propose a few Rules, by the observation whereof, he that is accustom'd to swearing may (by Gods grace assisting him) abstain from this foul crying sin of profaning Gods holy and dreadful Name.

Although I cannot wholly allow of the superstitious niceties of the Jewes in the affaires of God, or in matters of Religion; The IV. Gen. part. Reasons of the prohi­bition, Swear not. yet I find in their practise many things that [Page 44] deserve our praise and imitation, and such as may justly put our profane carelesness to the blush. When I read of their curious scruples concerning the dreadful Name of God, [...] Jehovah, which they call Schem hammeporasch, Nomen separatum, a separate Name, because it is incommunicable to any Creature, it being the name of Gods Essence, signifying or denoting Him that is, that was, and ever shall be; which Name too they held in so great Reverence, that they term'd it Haschem, [...] The name, by way of Eminence, and Schem hannicbad, Nomen gloriosum, a glorious Name, it con­taining the Mystery of the Tri­nity, [...] These three di­stinct letters denote the Trinity. The doubling or Repetition of the middle letter [...] the two Natures in Christ. and the Incarnation of our Saviour Christ: when I like­wise read how they bore such an awful respect to it, that they deem'd it a crime worthy of death for any but sacred Lips (I mean those of the High Priest) to express or name it, and that on set times, and in certain places, as on the Feast of Expiation, and in the Temple, and in that solemn bene­diction, Num. 6.24, 25, 26. when I meet with these and the like curiosities of the Jewes in their writings, Vid. Alsted. in Paratilis Theol. p. 153. who did at first abstain from pronouncing of that most sacred Name onely out of a godly fear (or reverence) lest it should grow vile [Page 45] and contemptible by its familiar and fre­quent use (as all other things do that are daily and hourly used) I cannot (when I read this in the Jewish Records) but infer thus much, that from their superstition we Christians may well learn this lesson, Not rashly, lightly, or regardlesly to take the dreadfull Name of God into our mouths, but to hear and utter it with due fear and reverence.

It is a true and remarkable saying of St. Augustine, Falsa juratio exitiosa est, Serm. 28. de Verbis Dom. vera juratio periculosa, nulla juratio secura, To swear falsly is damnable, to swear truly without Gods warrant, i. e. without ne­cessity, dangerous, but not to swear at all is the surest and best way to secure the good and welfare of our souls.

This foul sin of Swearing is so hainous, if we respect our good God thereby offen­ded, and so dangerous, if we respect our selves who shall be most severely punish'd for it, that St. Chrysostom (as we may col­lect out of many of his Hom. 14. & 15. ad Pop. Antioch. Homilies) seldom or never came into the Pulpit without some bitter invective against it.

Swear not then, The first reason why we should forbear Swearing. first because this deadly and soul-murdering sin is most injurious to God, in that it carryeth with it a con­tempt of Gods person, and a contempt of his precept, which are not to be found in [Page 46] every sin. First, it implies a contempt of his person, when that we use his glorious Name (so called, Deut. 28.58.) in our common talk and familiar discourse, to back our reports, and to bolster out our Sto­ries of every idle thing. It is (as one sayes well) to set less by God then by an earthly Judge, whom we count it a disgrace to trouble about a Trifle. Nay it is to deal worse by him then by a good suit of Ap­parel, which we will not wear every day, but lay it up for special dayes and occa­sions. And yet the sacred Name of God, how is it torn and worn every day of the week, every hour of the day? I had almost said every minute of the houre, and in so saying, I had said the Truth.

Would not a man of any note, worth, or fashion, take it as a contempt thrown upon his person, if one should to his face, and in his hearing, use his name bluntly without any the least shew of respect, without any title or preface of Honour prefixed to it? Nay, which is more, would not that party burn with anger and disdain, if any one going about some absurd act should call upon him by Name to be a witnesse of it, as if it should be done with his liking and consent? Such for quality, though greater for quantity or extent, is the indignity we cast upon our gracious God, when our [Page 47] Tongues in a suddain unmannerlinesse pre­sume to blurt out his sacred Name, when we swear by it upon every vain and idle occasion, thereby calling him to witnesse what we wickedly either doe or speak, as if he did approve or allow of that Sin, which is an horrid impiety and blasphemous wic­kedness but to think or imagine, (God as he delights not in the death of a Sinner, so he delights not in any mans sins.) To do that thing then, i. e. to call God to witness our vanity and lying, as if he were pleased with it, is a fearfull crime; and of this we make our selves guilty when we swear vainly and rashly by his Name. Besides this, as the Sin of swearing implies a contempt of Gods person, so in the Second place, thereby we contemn and slight his precept, the third Commandement (which immediately concerns his person) therefore it is no small Sin; nay greater then the neglect and breach of those which concern men, by how much these are inferiour to God the Lord of Heaven: Quanto praeceptum de meliori datur, tanto est ejus inobedientia gravior. It is an usefull Rule commended to us by Aquinas, Aqui. 2. 2. 105. Q. 2. Art. ‘The breach of that Commandement which relates to a greater person is more hainous then the breach of that which respects a less; and the greater the offence is, the sharper will be the punishment.’ Vain and [Page 48] idle Swearing being then a breach of that Commandement (which enjoyns us a reve­rential and awfull esteem of the Name of God, never to use it but in our prayers and thanksgivings for mercies, and then too with feare and an awfull reverence, as it de­notes an Incomprehensible Essence, terrible in his Judgements, and filling Heaven and Earth with his unbounded infinite presence) I say, the sin of swearing being so directly against, and so injurious to so great a Majesty, must needs be repai'd with punishment, and that in the greatest and highest degree of vexing sorrow, and tormenting paine. For this the land mourns, Hos. 4.3. For this, i. e. for swearing vainly and falsly, as it is expressed v. 2. This sin as it is the leader in the Prophets muster of hainous sins there, so it is, I am perswaded, the Captain, the Chief sin of the inhabitants of this Island, and the chief provoking cause of Gods heavy judgements of Warre and Sedition, of Plague and Pestilence, of Sickness and Diseases, which have been and are still within our Walls, and reign among us. These calamities will stick close to and lie hard upon us, until by our prayers and hear­ty repentance we have cast out this Devil (I mean the Sin of Swearing) out of our tongues, and the contempt of God out of our hearts, and instead of it settle in them a [Page 49] reverentiall feare of his divine Majesty, which will so bridle the unrulinesse of our licentious loose tongues, that we shall sel­dom or never profane his holy Name. [...], &c. For where the fear of the Lord is, Naz. Ora. 3 [...]. there is (sayes Nazianzen) a dutiful observance of his will and commands; and in whom this observance is, that man keeps his soul clean and pure from the pollutions of sin, and from the corruptions of the Flesh: [...]. So that learned Father in his 39. Oration.

Secondly, The second Reason. as the sin of swearing is most injurious to God, so it is most dangerous in respect of our selves. The Jews have a saying which I find in Elias the This bite, Transgressio trahit transgressionem, [...] one sin draws on another. Sin is of a spreading and fruitful nature, the first begets a second, this a third, &c. God in his punitive and permissive Justice so ordering and disposing of the wayes or actions of men, that be­cause they (as the Apostle speaks) knowing God to be omnipotent, most just and good, Rom. 1.21. glorifie him not as God, but magnifie and exalt themselves above God, therefore by themselves shall they be debas'd, upon their own heads shall they heap coales, prove their own executioners, in that being given over by God to reprobate minds, they shall adde uncleanness to profaneness, [Page 50] drawing Sin as it were with a Cart-rope, encrea­sing daily in impiety, Isa. 5.18. and hereby aggra­vating their guilt and punishment. Thus in David murder followed upon his Adultery: 2 Sam. 11. and in his Son Solomon the excessive love of women brought forth Idolatry, 1 Kings 11.3, 4. his Wives turned away his heart after other Gods. In like manner lying doth evermore accompa­ny idle and rash Swearing.

The Prophet intimates as much, Hos. 4.2. where he couples these two foul and ug­ly Sins, giving the precedency to Swearing, By swearing and lying, &c. They met toge­ther in St. Peter, Mat. 26.72. who affirmed with an oath that he knew not Christ his Master: And he that accustoms his tongue to swear­ing will be bold with a lye, a base sin, which as it proceeds from a cowardly feare, so it tends to cozening and fraud; he that dares dishonour God will deceive his Neighbour. We read of Almanzor that famous Turkish Emperour (whose life is accurately penn'd by Sir W. Raleigh) that as he himself was never known to make a lye, Sir W. R. in his Hist. of Mahomet, p. 146. or speak an un­truth, so he term'd and accounted Lyars Disciples of the Devill, the plagues of the world, betrayers of the Truth, Destroyers of civill and Christian conversation, and the right hand of Satan. No man that ever told a lye unto him escaped unpunished, but received his punish­ment answerable to the quality or weight [Page 51] of his lye. The least was publick disgrace; but lies of an higher straine, of a deeper stain, which concern'd the Common-wealth, he chastised with whipping, cutting of tongues, banishment, disabling to be a wit­ness, and in some cases they were repaied with the losse of life: which rigour begat terrour in wicked dispositions, restrained false informations, and gave a stop to un­necessary suits. And when he was once sick, in an Admonitorie letter to his Son, he ad­vised him that he should at no time make, or bear with, a lie: for Lyars (said he) are Devills in flesh enemies to truth, Subverters of Justice, firebrands of Sedition, Causers of Re­bellion, betray [...]s of kingdomes, and to themselves thus much harmfull and injurious, that when they speak truth they are not believed nor credi­ted. If the practice of Almanzor and this Counsel to his Son were observed in our Christian Kingdome, we should be more free from bloody strifes and Sedition. As lying is a pernicious sin, dangerous and hurtfull to the Common-wealth or State we live in, so it is a base and infamous Sin. The antient Germans used to say, If a man loses his gold, it is a great losse; if his fame or good name, a greater; if his faith or credit, the greatest of all. And this loss a lyar sustains, whom no man will trust though he ushers his assertions with a thousand Oaths; Et [Page 52] saepe quo plus jurat, minus fidem facit, and it ofttimes so falls out, that the more he swear­eth the less he is believed. As lying is a Sin branded with infamie among men, so it is also to God most abominable and odi­ous. Prov. 12.21. Lying lips are an abomina­tion to the Lord. And Prov. 6.17. A lying tongue is reckon'd amongst those six things which the Lord hateth: and the reason of it is this, Because as we commonly hate those things which are repugnant and contrary to our humour or dispositions, so God hates a lie as most adverse and contrary to his revealed will (as where it is said, Thou shalt not bear false witnesse, &c.) and likewise most opposite to his divine Nature, which is most true, God is not a man that he should lye, Num. 23.19. Nay he is Truth it self, and that three manner of waies: First, because he is most truly that which he sees himself, and from everlasting knew himself to be, and that is a most perfect Essence, without any the least spot of errour or stain of sin; wherefore he is most truly good, truly om­nipotent, truly wise, truly mercifull and just. Secondly, he is Truth in his works, be­cause all his works are true, Ps. 111.7, 8. Dan. 4.37. being conforma­ble to his divine will, and answerable to his prescience, determining by an everlasti [...] decree either to act by himself, or to [...] mit by others things to be done in the [...] ry [Page 53] order and manner as we now see they are wrought and effected. Thirdly, he is Truth it self, i. e. most true and faithfull in his words, for what he has promised shall surely come to pass. Let God be true (saies St. Paul) i. e. God will be true, Rom. 3.4. though every man be a lyar. For as God is light, in whom there is no darkness either of Sin or misery; so he is Truth, in whom there can be no Falsity either Actively or Passively, for that he can neither deceive, nor be deceived by any, though never so closely shut up in the mantle of Hypocrisy or reserved Policy. To return then to the purpose. Seeing the sin of lying is so discordant to the nature of God, who is the original of all Truth, nay Truth it self in the abstract, i.e. most true in Himself, in his words, and workes, this sin there­fore must be [...], exceeding sinfull and hainous beyond all expression, it being set in so great an opposition to Gods es­sence, as that is most cold which is farthest off from the fountain of heat, the Sun, and that most dark which is remotest from it, Gods greater light, set up in Heaven to guide us by day, as the Moon by night. Ps. 163.8, 9. If ly­ing then be a sin so hainous, so odious to God, what may we think of Swearing, the procatarctick or prime cause of that foul sin? I say, that is the parent of this: For he that dares cast contempt upon the glo­rious name of God by taking it too fami­liarly [Page 54] in his mouth, the same will not stick to out-brave God, and out-face Man with a lye for his private gain, or to main­tain his Credit, because he promises to himself belief from the hearer, whose simple honesty and open credulity moves him to think no man so daringly impious, as to call the Almighty to witness a sin, I mean perjury; which he will severely punish with destruction both of body and soul, with poverty and disgrace, and sickness here, Ah miser! eisi quis primo perjuria celat, Sera tamen tacitis poena venit pedibus. Tibul. [...]. Chrys. Implacabilis est Deus contemptis juramentis. and hereafter with everlasting tor­ments in hell fire.

The sin of perjury is a crying sin, it roars so loud in the Con­science, that it evermore dis­quiets the souls inward peace. Nay more, it begets hell in it, and (as I may so say) awakens the Divine Justice, which some­times winks and connives at o­ther sins. It forces God to lay aside his Mercy, in which he most de­lights, and to become most severe in his punishments, which have evermore fallen heavy upon perjur'd persons, as appeares Gen. 14.4. where, to affright and scare us from the guilt of this sin, God by his ser­vant Moses hath left us the examples of five Kings, who having served Chedorlao­mer King of Elam twelve years, contrary to [Page 55] their promise confirm'd by an Oath, re­belled against him; for which Rebellion vengeance so pursued them, that he with three Kings more made them to flie their petty Kingdoms. The like examples we have 2 Kings 17.4. of Hosea King of Israel, and of Zedekiah King of Judah, 2 Kings 25.17. The former of these ha­ving promised obedience and service to Salmanezer, the King of Assyria, for his perjury lost his freedom, being till his death shut up in prison. The latter for the same crime against Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon lost his eyes, having first seen the butchering of his Sons; and now being led into Captivity, his legs fast bound in fetters of brasse, he had onely the use of his eares left to hear the reproches of his Enemies, and of his perjur'd tongue to entreat for mercy and pitty in the midst of his pain and misery. To these stories which I have borrowed out of the sacred Record of Gods word, I will adde two or three more as most remarkeable and true.

The first shall be of Earl Godwyn, who lived in the time of Edward the Confessor. This Earl was he who with his ambitious Sons by his cruelty so irritated and discon­tented the Nobility, that it was a main help and furtherance in the issue to the Conquest of this Nation by the Norman. [Page 56] He wishing at the Kings Table, that the bread might choke him if he were guilty of Alfreds death, whom he had slain a lit­tle before, was presently choked and fell down dead, to the great terror of those that sate with him at meat.

Lib. 6. c. 8. Eusebius likewise tells us of three lewd fellowes that charg'd Narcissus, Bishop of Hierusalem, with a grievous accusation, and to beget a belief of it in the minds of the Judges, confirm'd it with horrid Execrati­ons and Oaths. The first wished if it were not true, that he might be burnt to ashes; the second, that he might be tormented with some cruel disease; the third, that he might be smitten with blindness. Narcis­sus relying onely upon his Innocency, and unable to resist their malice, and master their matchless Villany, removed and hid himself in desart places for many years. But mark the heavy Judgements of God which in the mean time fell upon those perjur'd persons. The first, by the fall of a spark of fire in the night, was with his house and family consumed to ashes: The second tormented in his whole body with that disease which he wished. The third beholding these fearful Judgements inflict­ed on his two associates in wickedness, and fearing to be made the like example of Gods revenging Justice, confessed his sin, [Page 57] and for it mourn'd and wept till he lost both his eyes. A lamentable spectacle for false witnesses and perjur'd wretches.

A third story not to be parallel'd I learn'd of a knowing Gentleman in Hartfordshire, it is of one Everell, who many years since lived and dyed in St. Albanes. He being accused before the Bishops Official for an act of uncleanness with a Maid, to purge himself of this suspected crime, wish'd in open Court, that he might never speak more if he were guilty of that fact. The word was no sooner out of his mouth but vengeance stept in, for he was presently struck dumb, and never spake again; and afterwards by the Maids own confession it was proved that he had defiled himself with her.

By these dreadful examples, Vid. Dr. Beard in his Theatre of Gods judgements c. 27. and many others which I could alledge out of our own Records and other profane Authors, we may collect that God will not (as he threatens in his word) hold them guilt­less, but afflict them with sore Judgements, who shall dare even against the check of their own Consciences to confirm a lye with an Oath, as if it were true; Four de­grees of Perjury. or maintain that which is true to be false, knowing it to be true; or lastly, promise with an Oath what they mean not to perform; or what they have lawfully promised, then [Page 58] intending a performance of it when they made the promise, yet afterwards, even when the thing is possible, and in their power to do, perform it not, but wicked­ly fall from their word. These are the four degrees or parts of perjury in the proper and strict acception of the word. There is another degree or kind of it, which I find in St. Chrysostom, How. 14. ad Popul. An­tioch. who concludes excellent­ly in an Homily to the people of Antioch, That not only those who themselves take a false Oath are guilty of perjury, but they also who occasion the like sin in others, and that two manner of wayes. First, by forcing them through fear of death, losse of goods, imprisonment or the like, [...]. Chrys. ibid. to take a false Oath a­gainst their consciences. Second­ly, by swearing the contrary to that which another has sworn to do, and so opposing the same man by force and might, that he cannot effect what he has tyed himself to by Oath. As if a School-master (it is St. Chrysostoms in­stance) should swear that his Scholar should not eat a bit of bread untill he had fully obeyed his commands by performing what he had enjoyn'd him for his good: Now if the Father of that child, knowing that his Master had taken such an Oath, should [Page 59] rashly swear the contrary, and fondly (there being no fear of danger for want of food) feed the young Scholar having not perform'd his Task; the Father of the child would be guilty as well as the Ma­ster. And such men who cause others to sin, [...], &c. do as boyes that contend for a long rotten rope, some tugging at one end of it, and some at the other; so that the rope at length breaks asunder, by which means they fal all to the ground in a confused manner, & bruise their bodies in some one part or other. And this last kind of perjury, when we are the cause that others are perjur'd, we may call Perjurium occasionale, occasional Perjury; as there is Homicidium occasionale, occasional Murther, which is committed by thee when thou illegally actest & contrivest that which occasions a poor man either to lose his own life, or to kill his Brother. But to return to my purpose, and to discover more fully the hainousness of this crying sin of perjury: It is a compounded sin, a sin (as hath been said) made up of an Oath and a Lye, a Mon­ster amongst sins, ugly and odious to God and man, the Devils snare, so called by St. Chrysostom in his eleventh Homily on the Acts, [...], whereby he catches poor sinfull, deceived souls, and hurries them to infernal darkness. Falsa [Page 60] juratio (sayes St. Austin) non est leve pecca­tum; Serm. 10. in Decollat. Johan. Bap. imo tam magnum est peccatum, jurare falsum, ut propter reatum falsae jurationis Do­minus prohibuerit omnem jurationem, i. e. Perjury is no light nor trivial sin; nay it is so great and horrid a crime, that to prevent the guilt and danger of it, Christ forbad the use of all Oaths (he means such as are vain and idle ones) when he said, Swear not at all. Hast thou seen a stone (sayes [...], &c. [...]. Nazianzen) thrown down a steep hill or pre­cipice, never ceasing from its precipitate hasty motion untill it arrived at the hills foot or bottom? Of such a speedy na­ture or quality is every sin, chiefly that of Swearing, to which the tongue that is accustom'd in its unruly motion will at last fall into that [...] (as he calls it) that profound gulf of perjury. [...]. Naz. Perjury▪ the greatest down-fall, and most dangerous precipice. A gulf indeed; for whoso is plunged in it, i.e. whose soul is loaded with the weight of so great and heavy a guilt, that man, without a special hand of mercy, will hardly ever raise himself by repentance to recover Gods grace, but will sink deeper and dee­per, waxe worse and worse, adde sin un­to sin, and thereby provoke God to punish him both outwardly in his [Page 61] body, goods, and good name, with sick­nesses, poverty and disgrace, and inward­ly in his Soul with horror and perplexing grief, with disconsolate sadness, &c. un­till at the last despair sink him into the bottomless pit.

I will conclude this point with that of St. Bernard, Si pejerare times, Serm. de mo­do bene vi­vendi 32. nunquam jura­veris; si nunquam juraveris, nunquam pejera­bis, If the fear of perjury does possesse and trouble thee, never swear; if thou never swearest, thou shalt never be forsworn. And perjury he can hardly avoid, who hath an unbridled tongue accustom'd to take Gods name in vain. Qui saepe jurat, saepe oportet pejeret.

To this good counsel of St. Bernard I shall only adde that of St. Chrysostome to his Auditors the Antiochians, whom he be­spake thus in his forenamed 14 Homily. ‘ [...], &c. I beseech and exhort you to represent to your thoughts the Head of St. John the Baptist bleeding in a Charger, and sup­pose or imagine that you heare this voyce or exhortation utter'd from his Tongue, [...], Hate and abhor an Oath which was my murtherer.’ Herods rash Oath (of which he should have repented, and not kept it) was the cause of the Baptists death. And he that is given to [Page 62] much swearing murders his own Soul, de­prives it of Gods grace, which is the Souls life, and, being guilty of many other sins which accompany rash swearing, as lying, &c. he intitles it to everlasting death, the wages of unrepented sins: and if to forsake our sins be truly to repent, and the only mark of a sound and unfeign'd repentance, we may safely say that few Swearers can be named that ever truly repented. Therefore cast out this poyson out of thy mouth, ba­nish this sin speedily from thy tongue, be­fore it be habituated in thee, and so get the mastery or dominion over thee, that it never leave thee, but die and lie down in the grave with thee.

The third Reason. Thirdly, as the sin of Swearing is most in­jurious to God, most dangerous and hurtfull in respect of our selves (in that it is the pa­rent or cause of other crying sins, as lying and perjury, and likewise the productive and provoking cause of Gods just and hea­vy Judgments or punishments upon our souls and bodies) so it is a most scandalous sin in respect of our Neighbours or Bre­thren, Quanta est notitia & re­putatio de Deo in homi­nibus, tantum nominatur per vocem exteriús. Raym. with whom we have daily Conversa­tion and Commerce.

Raymundus in his Naturall Theologie, Tit. 193. saies truly, that, according to the measure of knowledge or estimation of God in our hearts, such commonly are the vocall ex­pressions [Page 63] of our Tongues. The Anatomists like­wise observe, that the Heart and Tongue are knit and conjoyn'd by one continued Nerve, whence there is such a coherence and sympathy between them, that the Phy­sitians look upon the Tongue, when they intend to find out and discover the affecti­on or malady of the Heart. So it is a Truth or maxime undeniable in morality and Di­vinity, that Lingua est index cordis, the tongue is the best and surest Indicatour of the heart. Take the Heart for the will and affections, or for the inward conceptions of the under­standing, the Tongue betrayes and disco­vers all. They therefore that dishonour God with their Tongues, declare that there is a want of feare and reverence of Him in their Souls. And this want proceeds from a lack of Hos. 4.6. Isa. 1.3. knowledge of Gods incompre­hensible greatnesse, and a true apprehension of his goodnesse: For, did they who pro­fane Gods holy Name by cursing and Swearing, did they but know and verily be­lieve that he is Almighty, and has power to strike them with suddain death, and to take from them in a moment their breath, which they should spend or use only in setting forth his glory and praise; were they per­swaded that he is able to stop their profane mouths with perpetuall silence, so that they shall never breath out a Peccavimus, never [Page 64] beg of God a pardon for their sins; did they certainly know and believe this (and this Judgment has fallen upon many desperate sinners) they in feare of his power and greatnesse would undoubtedly abstain from so dangerous a sin. And again, had they an inward feeling and taste of Gods bounty and mercifull goodness by which they are enrich'd daily with many and great bene­fits, this would incite them to love him, and this love, which is an Obedientiall Grace, would prompt them to a strict observance of his Commands. John 14.15. If ye love me (saies our blessed Saviour) keep my Commandments. They that doe unfainedly love him, will en­deavour to keep them. They therefore that willfully and presumptuously trans­gresse Gods precepts, betray a want of feare of his Majesty, as if he were like the Epicures [...], a sleepy, drowsie, unactive Deity, not Just at all, but all Mer­cy; and thereby they beget in others the like conceit of God, whose person they learn to undervalue, whilst they hear his Name slighted and abus'd by profane tongues: And harbouring in their wretch­ed thoughts so light or slight an esteem of our Almighty God, they prove like Jesu­run, they kick against God, i. e. reject his word, and slight his commands, they for­sake God that made them, and lightly regard the [Page 65] rock of their salvation. Ex reverentia praecipientis procedit reverentia pracepti (saies Aquinas truly) The reverence and respect we bear to the Commander begets respect and reverence to the Command. Aqu. 2. 2. 105. 2. Art. 2. That then thou give not an offence to thy Neighbour, prove not to him an occasion of sinning by begetting in him a mean and undervaluing esteem of God, Mat. 18.7. (Woe be to that man by whom such an of­fence comes:) that thou maiest escape this woe, and Gods heavy curse, never take his glorious and great Name into thy mouth, unlesse it be devoutly with reverence in thy prayers, or solemnly, when thou art forced to use it for Gods glory to advance it, or to thine own and thy Neighbours good and benefit. Having thus explain'd and given a few Reasons of the Prohibition, Swear not, I shall proceed to the next general part, which is the Preparative to the Cure or re­medy of this crying and most destructive sin of Swearing.

As the esteem of a good Physician consists in this, that he cannot only discourse accor­ding to Art of the nature of any disease or inward malady, but also out of his experi­ence prescribe first preparative Physick to segregate or sever the humours in the body, and after that a dose for a Remedy; so a Divine would betray the duty of his cal­ling, should he make invectives the aime [Page 66] of his endeavours, should he declaim only against mens Sins, discover the nature of them, rip up their foulness, and not withall by prescribing of heavenly and Spiritual physick labour to drive them out of mens souls. And in this case the Divine must fol­low the method of a wise Empirick, who in the cure of a disease has recourse by his skilfull search to the Cause, not regarding so much the Pars recipiens as the Pars mit­tens (to use Sennertus his phrase) not so much the part affected as the source from which the malady springs: So to cure the flushing in the face, he begins with the obstructed li­ver as the prime cause of that distemper, and to mitigate the pain in the head (the head, as one saies, of all pain) he applies his Physick to the stomach. In like manner when we find an exorbitancy in the Tongue, we must conceive that this poyson flowes into it from the Spring of the Heart; i.e. the Soul consisting of these parts, under­standing, will, and memory, and attended with a quaternion of Passions as so many Servants or Handmaids, they are Joy, and Sorrow, Aquin. 1.2. Qu. 23. Hope, and Feare; so the Stoicks di­vide them, the Peripateticks branching them into eleven Heads, which to rehearse makes not for my present purpose. Hast thou then, O sinfull man, by a long and inveterate use contracted this poyson of Aspes under thy lips, Rom. 3.13. [Page 67] a Custom of Swearing, a sin as hard to be cured as is the poyson of an Aspe which is incurable (if we may believe Pliny and Aristotle, Plin. l. 29. c. 4. Aspides per­cussos torpore et somno ne­cant, omni­um Serpen­tum minimè sanabiles. Lib. de Hist. Animal. 9. c. 29.) Notwithstanding this, despair not of a cure, but know and believe that the same God, even our Lord Jesus, who went about in hu­mane flesh curing all the Diseases of the body, can by his over-ruling most power­ful grace kill that poyson, subdue the Lord­ing power of the strongest corruption, the greatest sin that has got a quiet posses­sion, and reigns in thy soul.

First then (which is the Pre­parative to the cure of this foul sin) call to mind that saying of Eusebius Emissenus, The V. Gen. part. The Preparative for the Cure or Remedy of the sin of Swearing: it con­sists in Repentance and Prayer for the pardon of it, and other sins. Difficile est ut ad bonum assurgas, nisi à malo ante diverteris: quamdiu nova delicta adjiciuntur, vetera non curantur; that is, ‘ unless by an holy and just hatred of sin thou de­clinest from evil, thou canst never do good, hardly attain to a sincere and commendable, constant practise of well-doing: and so long as new sins are added to the heap of thy impieties, God will not pardon thy old ones, not passe by thy former transgressions.’

Secondly, compare thy great unthank­fulness with thy Makers bounty and good­ness; this may beget in thee a detestation or loathing of thy former sins and lewd­nesse, [Page 68] whereby thou didst reject Gods com­mands (who if thou servest Him will save thee) and obeyedst the Devils suggestions, who will for thy service everlastingly tor­ment thee. When thou hast attain'd to this, the first and best ingredient of Repen­tance, a Detestation of thy former impie­ties, as Cursing, Swearing, Lying, and the like; then draw near to the Throne of Grace meekly upon thy bended knees, with teares in thine eyes, and sorrow in thy heart, saying with blind Bartimaeus in the Gospel, Mark 10.48 Jesu, thou Son of David, have mercy on me, forgive me all my sins past, where­by thy holy name has been dishonour'd, thy word ill spoken of, and my Neigh­bour injur'd. When thou hast thus made thy approach to God with hearty sorrow for thy sins, doubt not but that he will draw near to thee with mercy and forgive­ness; Jam. 4.8. doubt not of a pardon, since Truth itself has made the promise, Ezek. 18.27, 28. Ezek. 18. When the wicked turneth away from his wick­ednesse, &c. Because he considereth, and turn­eth away from all his wickednesse which he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not dye; (he meanes the death of the Soul, which is an eternal separation of it from God, the fountain of joy and happiness; which in the Word are implyed under the name of life.) He shall surely live, he shall not dye: a [Page 69] sweet and gracious promise; distrust not Gods performance of it if thou truly repen­test. Daturus est, non fallet, quia veritas pro­misit; ask and thou shalt receive, Aug. for he that is most true will perform what he has pro­mised, because he will not, he cannot de­ceive nor be deceived. And thus relying upon his gracious promise of hearing and granting our devout Prayers and Pe­titions, our humble requests for his pardo­ning and purifying grace, in the third place, beg earnestly of him the assistance of the same grace, which is likewise preventing and strengthning, to keep thy tongue from all pro­fanenesse: cry with holy David, Psal. 141 3. Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth, and keep the door of my lips. From which humble request of the Prophet we may collect this, that as our lips in that they open and shut are the Souls gate, through which our in­ward thoughts break forth apparel'd in the dresse of outward words; so, as a gate is for the most part shut, our lips should never open but to the glory of God and our Neighbours good. [...], Naz. This by the way, [...], it is a learned Rabbies glosse on the Text. Now if you demand what kind of watch it is which David desires God to set before his lips, the acute Eusebius Emis­senus [Page 70] shall answer this Quaere, Euseb. Ho­mil. cont. di­versa vitia. p. 138. and clear this doubt: Si cordi statueris adhibere custo­diam, ori non laborâris imponere disciplinam, i.e. set a watch to guard thy heart, and there will be no need to fence thy mouth: Illud siquidem voce depromitur quod prius in officinâ cordis formatur. The heart is as it were the Master of the Mint, which first sets a stamp upon thy words, which are current, if they bear Gods image, if they carry in their sound the note or mark of Piety and goodness; if otherwise, i.e. if they be profane and impious, they are not allowed of by God, being condemned in the holy Scriptures. The Tongue is the Hearts servant, Mat. 12.36, 37. which, like that Centurion, saies to the Tongue by a kind of command, Speak this, and it speaks it; Run in the Praises of God, and it runneth; Swear, and it sweareth; Say nothing, and it is silent. The Tongue is but as the hammer in the Clock, which strikes not of it self, but keeps time, and moves according to the motion of the wheels within.

The VI. Gen. part. The me­thod which is to be u­sed in the Cure.To cure then the unbridled motion of the Tongue, begin with the Heart; the which if it be (as Davids was) fixed upon God, Psal. 108.1. the tongue will cease to lash out into Cursing and Swearing, but will (as it followes there in the same verse) sing and give praise to God for his manifold [Page 71] mercies and blessings which we have recei­ved. By the heart as hath been explain'd) is to be understood the whole Soul, which is fixed and setled upon God, when it seri­ously considers his Almighty wonder-working Power and Greatness, who created out of nothing this great Universe (consisting of Heaven and Earth) by his powerful word, and sustaines all things in being by his providence. This Medita­tion is an act of the Intellect, and may be­get in us an awfull fear of his Majesty, which ought to be feared. The will is fix­ed upon God, when considering and weighing his many and great benefits we devote our selves wholy to his service, submitting our wills to him in all things, & loving him without wavering, praise him without ceasing for his mercy & goodness. And lastly, the Affections are fixed upon God, when they wander not through loose de­sires of fading earthly vanities, but are chiefly taken up and possessed with an holy delight in God and his Saints on Earth, and fed with a firme hope of enjoying Gods presence, of seeing Him one day face to face in his Celestial Paradise. This Hope is not a barren grace, but begets in a man a religi­ous Care not to offend God, and to abstain from any the least Sin to which his Nature is most prone, because it may lead him into [Page 72] other sins, and separate him from the love of God, and at last procure his everlasting banishment from those joyes which he be­lieves are unspeakable, and hopes to enjoy in the glorious presence of the blessed Tri­nity, together with the blessed Angels and company of the elect Saints, to all eternity. Which most happy and joyful Fellowship rather then he would lose, a good Christian, if he were put to his disposall, would choose to suffer all the most exquisite torments that ever have been invented by the bloody wit of Tyrants; nay, he would rather su­stain for many thousand yeares even Hells paines.

Let fire and wild beasts, racks and stra­padoes, yea, and all the torments of Hell seize upon me, and torment me, so I may win Christ: it is the triumphant saying of Ignatius the martyr, recorded by Eusebius. This holy martyrs brest burnt with a love of God, and a desire of Heavens happinesse. That love caus'd him to feare nothing but Gods displeasure (which followes upon our sins) by means whereof he might be depri­ved of everlasting joyes, and debarr'd from the enjoyment of Gods most glorious pre­sence. In a word, the soul that hopes to at­tain Heaven, and desires to reign there for ever with God, will fear to offend him and provoke him to wrath, lest he fail of his de­sire [Page 73] and hope, being cast out of Gods sight and favour, in whose presence there is fulnesse of joy, as in the absence of his grace here sorrow and heavinesse, with darkness and anguish of spirit. A filiall Feare (whose proper object is the displeasure of Almighty God our most gracious and loving Father) it is the only and best curb to keep and re­straine us from sin; and now that I am to proceed to the Cure of that foul sin of Swearing, The I. Re­medy a­gainst swearing. I shall commend it in the first place as the prime remedy against it.

There be three sorts of men (sayes Nazianzen) that may and do attain Salvation; [...]. Naz. Or. 40 the first is in the condition of Servants, the second of Hirelings, the third of Sonnes. A servant is moved to doe his duty for fear of punishment; an hireling serves for hope of a reward; but a Son, who is of the best order or rank, reve­rences his heavenly Father, is zealous of good works, because it is a thing that is just and honest, and likewise commendable for him to obey his Fathers pre­cepts, [...]. Ibid. Haec est satú [...]impla mer­ces, quod gratum erit Patrī faecer [...], &c. although he should ob­taine no reward for his Obedi­ence, which is with God and man a most gratefull sacrifice. Al­though there be few of this hap­py and rare temper, as to serve [Page 74] God for his own sake, not expecting the reward to come, but his present and past goodnesse (whereby he has bestowed and does daily heap on us many great and sin­gular blessings) yet I cannot but commend their Christian endeavours who abstaine from the acting of many foul sins even for fear of punishment; which Feare may con­sist with the love of God (as Aquinas asserts) so long as we dread not the punishment as the only evill contrary to our natural good, Aqui. 2.2.19.2.6. Art. (i. e. Pleasure, Ease, and Profit,) but rather dread it as that whereby we shall be separa­ted from the presence of God in Heaven, who is our chief joy and sole delight. And this kind of fear being oft times more active then love, which slowly moves by the ap­prehension of good, whilst the other forces and drives us to our duty by the foresight of danger, this fear (I say) is a great help and remedy against the sin of Swearing; witnesse that of St. Augustine, who it seems before his conversion was guilty of this sin. He in his tenth Sermon concerning the be­heading of St. John, reports this of himself, Timendo Deum ab ore nostro abstulimus omnem jurationem, &c. The fear of God freed me from the Custome of Swearing: and then he appeales in these words to his Auditours, Ecce vobiscum vivimus; quis nos audivit ali­quando jurantes, &c. Behold I have daily [Page 75] commerce and fellowship with you, who ever heard an Oath to passe from me? was I not wont to sweare as familiarly and fre­quently as I spake? At ubi legi & timui, luctatus sum contra consuetudinem meam, but so soon as I began to search the Scriptures, and by reading of them to feare the great and terrible God of heaven, then forthwith I entred into the lists to contend with and strive against my vicious cu­stom, In ipsâ lustatione invoeavi Dominum adjutorem; prae­stitit mihi Dominus adjuto­rium non jurandi, nihil jam mihi facilius est quam non jurare. Aug. and in this contention I called earnestly upon the Al­mighty to assist and strengthen me in the combat, and the Lord was my helper and deliverer, by whose aid and assistance I became a Con­querour, I subdued that sin, so that now there is nothing so easie to me as altogether to abstain from Swearing. Here by the way note in this wholsome admonition of St. Augustine, Legi et timui joyned together, I read and feared, saies he, reading produc'd in him a godly feare. It seems Gods word, in which he was alwayes conversant, ter­rified and reclaim'd him: perhaps it was that signall Text in Exodus 20.7. The Lord will not hold him guiltlesse that taketh his name in vaine, i. e. He will revenge the disgrace­full injury that is done to his Name and person with severe punishments and judg­ments on his body and Soul, with sickness [Page 76] and diseases, with crosses and calamities, with spiritual desertions (the sorest of all afflictions) here, and with everlasting tor­ments hereafter. And beleeve this for a truth, that as God is faithfull in the perfor­mance of his promises, so he is most just in repaying of vengeance, and inflicting his threatned judgments on obstinate & obdu­rate Sinners, who shall not escape them un­lesse they be prevented by a speedy and hearty repentance of their Sins. The fore­named place in Exodus is confirm'd and ex­plain'd by another in Ecclesiasticus (which I doubt not but that St. Augustine read) it is c. 23. v. 10, 11, 12. Accustome not thy self to swearing, neither use thy self to the naming of the Holy one: for as a servant that is continually beaten shall not be without a mark; so he that sweareth, and nameth God continually, shall not be faultlesse. A man that useth much swearing shall be filled with iniquity, v. 11. That is, he shall add sin unto sin, Lying unto Swear­ing, stealing unto lying, according to that common saying, Ostende mihi mendacem, et ego ostendam tibi furem, shew me a lyar, and I will shew thee a Thief: and thus adding sin unto sin, he shall at length fill up the mea­sure of his iniquity and transgressions with perjury: from such a mans house the plague shall never depart, but his house shall be full of Calamities, (so the wise man threatens and [Page 77] denounceth against him in the close of the 11 v.) i. e. as he loved not blessing, but cursing and swearing, so, Cursed shall he be in all that he undertakes; Cursed shall he be in the City, and cursed in the field; Cursed shall he be in his estate, in his Children, and re­putation. God shall send upon him all those curses and plagues which are threatned and thunder'd out against all those who rebell against God, and will not hearken to the voyce of his word, to observe and do all his commandments, Vid. Levit. 26. as you may read at large Deut. 28.15, 16. He that beleeves Gods word to be infallibly true, and consi­ders oft with himself what his faith prompts him to beleeve, that so many and so grievous punishments shall be assuredly inflicted on him and his, cannot choose but feare and dread the wrath of so severe a judge, who searches him out (as the Prophet David speaks) and knows him, Psal. 1 [...]9.1, 2, 3. who is about his path, and about his bed, who spies out all his waies, and registers all his words: he that truly beleeves this will tremble with feare to offend so great an All-seeing God. Now Feare that is religious works in the soule these three effects: First, expulsionem peccati; Hug [...]. Secondly, executionem boni; Thirdly, conserva­tionem boni propositi. i. e. It drives out of the soul, and keeps out sin; it stirs us up to the practice of piety and Godliness; and lastly, it causeth us to maintain and [Page 78] cherish our good purposes of serving God in holinesse and righteousnesse. It is therefore call'd by Parisiensis, Lib. de. mo­ribus, c. 2. Janitor cordis, the door-keeper of the heart, Ipsum Infernum pro nodosâ clavâ vibrans, holding ever (as it were) a ragged Staff in its hand to knock down and kill the very first mo­tions of sin in the Soul; and that Club or Staff is Hell, or, the frequent considerati­on and remembrance of those everlasting torments which are prepared for the Devil and his associates, who combine with him in wickednesse, for profane Rabshakehs, and cursing Shimeies, for Whoremongers, for Adulterers, for Lyars, and common Swea­rers; between whom and Hells everlasting torments there is but a small partition, no­thing but a weak and slender thred of a [...]; Naz. brittle, frail, and momentanie life: the which when God shall cut with the Sword of his incens'd Justice, they shall drop into Topheth, that bottomless pit of Hell, where the everlasting wheel of their unsufferable torments shall run continually turning about, without ceasing, from ten thousand years to an hundred thousand; after which shall succeed so many millions as there be sands upon the Sea-shore, or have fallen drops of Rain since the beginning of the World; after all which ten hundred thou­sand thousands of years expir'd, the damn'd [Page 79] Souls in Hell would think themselves hap­py, if they then might have a release from their paines and torments. But there is an irrevocable sentence of Almighty God, and a For ever and ever annexed to that Decree, which shuts out all hopes of Ease and Comfort. O I could wish that men would in time often meditate on the grievousness and everlasting continuance of those tor­ments, that so they might prevent them by their seasonable and unfeigned repen­tance. To suffer pains and torments, and that too everlastingly, is a thing to humane nature (which delights in ease and plea­sure) so horrible and grievous, that if there were but one among all the Sons and Daughters of Adam that should suffer this-wise in Hell, it were enough to make us all quake and tremble; and to say within our selves (as Christs Disciples did, when he told them that one of them should be­tray Him) Is it I, Is it I? And let me say to thee as Nathan said to David, Mat. 26.22. 2 Sam. 12.7. Thou art the man, thou art he that shall suffer thus to all Eternity, whoever thou art that persistest in any sin without re­morse of Conscience, without any sense or feeling of thy sins committed against so great and terrible a God, whom the glori­ous Angels do worship with an awful Re­verence, chanting out evermore this joy­ful [Page 80] and triumphant Hymn, Blessing, Glory, Wisdom, Rev. 7.12. and Thanksgiving, and Honour, and Power, and Might be unto our God for ever and ever. And that thou mayest after death have a part or communion in this Cele­stial, Angelical Quire; and not howl and cry in the Devils Chappel beneath, amidst that Infernal and black Chorus of dark Fiends and Reprobates; labour betimes by an holy meditation of Gods infinite Power, Majesty, and Greatnesse, together with his great Mercy and Goodnesse, to settle the Fear of Him in thy Heart and Conscience. 2 King. 12. 2 Chr. 24. ver. 2. As Joash prospered so long as Jehoiada lived and was his Counseller; in like manner, so long as the Fear of God resides in thy trembling Soul, thou shalt go on and prosper in the wayes of Godli­nesse, and be freed from the perpetration or committing of many foul enormous sins. To conclude this particular, love and delight in God as a most indulgent loving Father, dread Him as a most just & terrible Judge, whose Power is irresistible, and his Justice implacable against impenitent ob­durate Malefactors. If thy heart be thus sweetly temper'd and tun'd with Love and Fear, there will be no unpleasant, no jarring discord in thy Tongue; but, in­stead of profaning and blaspheming Gods most holy name, it will ever be sounding [Page 81] forth his praises in Prayer and Thanks­giving. This is the first and best remedy against Swearing.

A second may be collected out of the fore-cited words of St. Austine. The II. Re­me [...]y, A firm pur­pose and resolution against it. Legi & timui (sayes he) & luctatus sum contra consue­tudinem meam, & in ipsâ luctatione invo [...]avi Dominum, i. e. I wrastled or contended with my bad custom of Swearing, and in my earnest contention and strife against it, Gen. 32.24. I strove like Jacob with God in prayer, I called upon the name of the Lord. Now what may we sup­pose to have been the matter or substance of his devout prayer, but that which was the Prophet Davids, Psal. 116.4? O Lord, I beseech thee deliver my soul from the power of sin and my imbred corruptions; keep my soul, O God, from the guilt of presumption, that I offend not wilfully with my tongue: Renew my will and affections, that I may hate and abhor this odious sin of swearing, that I may delight wholly in what thou hast promised, and love to do what thou commandest, &c. A man that can pray thus to God in Faith, not doubting to be heard, but believing that his Petiti­ons shall be granted, that man by Gods grace shall find a change in his heart: the eye of his Ʋnderstanding shall be enlightned to apprehend fully the infinite and awfull Majesty of the Almighty; his Will shall be inclined to that which is good, and en­flamed [Page 82] with a fervent desire to serve his God, for whose onely service he was created, Eph. 2.10. and for which he shall be most mercifully and richly rewarded. This Velle, this fervent desire of serving God, is the Remedy which St. Chrysostom prescrib'd to his Auditors to subdue and beat down in them any Lording sin, Hom. 11. in Act. Apost. especially that of accustom'd Swearing. There is (sayes he) no need of great cost for this main business; there is not required much labour or great pains, nor length of time. If there be onely a willing mind, an ardent desire to forsake this sin, the work is well-nigh done. Pars sanitatis est velle sanari, sayes the Physician, He is half cured that is willing and endeavours to be heal­ed: Erasm. in Enchir. d. Magna pars Christianismi est velle fieri Christianum, this is the language of the Di­vine, He is almost a Christian, or arrived to a good degree of Christianity, that is willing and desirous to be inform'd in the know­ledge of Gods Law, which must be the Rule of our Christian profession. Put on then a willing or strong resolution of forsaking thy habituated sin of Swearing, so maist thou put off by degrees and lose this vicious custom. A firm & well-ground­ed, setled resolution is the souls Coat of Maile, to arme it against the powerful commands of a long continued habit or custom in sin. Art thou then another A­pitius, [Page 83] a man given to excesse in meats and drinks, to surfeiting and drunkenness? re­solve to eate and drink sparingly, and that only at meals, for thy necessity; and by Gods grace assisting and strengthning thy resolution, Aquin. ut bonum quod velis efficaciter ope­reris, that thou mayest efficaciously put in­to act what thou resolvest, thou shalt by degrees get a contrary habit of sobriety and temperance. That thy resolution a­gainst swearing may be likewise effectuall in thee, observe that Rule of St. Chrysostom, Chrys. Hom. 28. prefix to thy self a certain number of dayes, whether eight, ten, or twelve, more or less, wherein thou must resolve never to swear an Oath (first beseeching God in prayer to strengthen thee by his grace, that thou mayest perform what thou resolvest.) If after this time expired or run out thou chancest to fall into the snare again, and be intangled in the guilt of thy former sin, what is then to be done by thee? Chrys. Hom. 5. ad Baptis. Follow the Counsel of the fore-named learned Father, punish thy tongue with an whole dayes thirst, thy body with a long fast; that the sense of this torment of hunger and thirst may beget in thee a sense or fear of Hells everlasting torments, Rom. 6.23 [...] the wages of this and other unrepented sins. If the fear of present pain in induring a daies thirst, or of future, I mean, that which is [Page 84] everlasting with the Devil and his black Angels in Hell, cannot bridle thy tongue, and deter thee from this sin; then try ano­ther way, take another course, perhaps the love of gain and reputation will do it. Resolve therefore as oft as thou profanest Gods name with an Oath, to give so many pieces of silver to the poorest of Christs Members. Their prayers to God for thee, together with the shame of thy often in­firmities in committing so foul and un­profitable a sin, whereby thou betrayest thy self to be Gods Ps. 139.20. Thine enemies take thy name in vain. enemy; their prayers, I say, on thy behalf to God, and the shame in being noted or branded for Gods ene­mie (as fighting against his will by a con­stant rebellion to his word and opposing his Commandement) these may prevaile so far as to redeem thee from thy custom of swearing, unlesse thy Conscience be cau­terized and hardned in thy sin.

The III. Remedy, A conside­ration of the great indignitie offer'd by it to God.Now if none of these Remedies can work a cure of thy malady, but after thy setled resolution and many tryals to subdue thy evil custom, thou beest again foil'd in the fight, and sin gets the Conquest; then consider with thy self what an indignity and disgrace is cast thereby on thy Al­mighty God: Let this supposall which I shall now propound to thy Conscience sink into thy heart; and ponder it seriously. [Page 85] Suppose the same Law were now in force which Lodowick (or Lewis) that famous King of France enacted in his time, which was, Vid. C [...]cht [...] v. Ser. de 2. prae­cepto. that the lips of all swearers should be sea­red, and their tongues bored through with an hot iron; or imagine that all blasphe­mers were to be drown'd, which another King of France, King Philip, ordain'd; or that they should be beheaded, which the Emperour Maximilian decreed; or punished with Confiscation of goods, besides the loss of their Lives: if these Lawes were now in force among us, wouldst not thou make a Covenant with thy lips and a League with thy tongue, never to speak of God, nor use his Name, but with a reverent and awful devotion, and that either in Prayer or Thanksgiving? I presume thou wouldst. Sith then God hath severely threatned, as a punishment of this sin of swearing, the everlasting burnings in the bottomless pit of Hell, and we notwith­standing slight his threats and reject his commands, do we not thereby O miser & praepost. ra fidei homuncio! homini plu [...] credi [...] quàm Deo qui crea­tor est hominis: poenam per­petuam minatur Deus, & negligis; poenam tempora­lem minatur jude [...] terrenus, & contremis [...]u. Viexmont. Instit. ad Poenitent. p. 1. c. 1. undervalue the Di­vine Majesty? do we not de­grade him in our thoughts be­low man, and thrust him (as much as in us lyeth) beneath the Creature? in that we deny him that Reverence, yield not that [Page 86] Obedience to his Lawes, which we would afford to the Proclamation of an Earthly King, or command of a Father. St. Paul was sensible of this indignity offer'd unto God by our bold rebellion & disobedience, where he sayes, Heb. 12.9. We had Fathers of our flesh who corrected us, and we gave them Reverence; shall we not much more be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live? Mal. 1.6. Heb. 12. Agree­able to this is that complaint of God by his Prophet Malachy, c. 1. A Son honoureth his Father, and a Servant his Master: if I then be your Master, where is my fear? saith the Lord of Hosts unto you that despise my name.

The Lord of Hosts! methinks this one appellation, when thou readest it, should strike thy heart with fear, considering his universal power and generall Command over the Creature, the Heavens, the Earth, and all things in them contain'd: All which, like an Army set in battel-aray, and sweetly order'd in their several ranks, are ever in a readiness to obey their Ma­kers commands. Heb. 1.14. The Angels, those Mini­string Spirits, do fly where and when God sends and appoints them; Josh. 10.13. the Sun and Moon stand still when he speaks the word, as in the dayes of Joshuah. A cloud will drop from the middle Region, Exod. 14.20 leave its proper place, and forsake its diurnall [Page 87] revolution, to be a guide to Israel, at its Ma­kers command: so the waters will stand on an heap, and cease from their natural mo­tion, that Gods people may be secur'd from their pursuing enemies, whilst they walk through the Sea, as if it were dry land. verse 29. More of this we may read in the 16. of Wisdom, where we have many examples of the Creatures subjection to God their Creator. Thus the inanimate and sense­less Creatures are willing and ready to o­bey their Maker; and shall man alone (who only amongst them is honour'd with so rare a priviledge, endow'd with so high a prerogative as to have reason and under­standing given him, to know, to love, and so the better to serve his God) shall he alone be wanting in his duty, deny obedience to his Maker, for whose service he was crea­ted, as the Creatures were for his? The greater and lesser Luminaries of Heaven, all sheep and oxen, the beasts of the field, the fouls of the aire, and the fishes of the Sea, and whatsoever walketh through the paths of the Seas; all these, recited by the Prophet David, Ps. 8.3, 6, 7, 8. with many more not mentioned by him, were made to serve us; and all do in a manner thus call upon and be­speak every one of us, God made us for thee, Coelum & terra & omnia in illis creata [...] ut a­mem te, Domine & servia [...] tibi. Maub. Exercit. [...]iet. that thou shouldst serve and glorifie him who made [Page 88] us and thee. O then let the consideration of thy unthankfulness to God thy Creator put thee to a blushing shame, and let the me­mory of his mercies and blessings spur or incite thee to an active obedience, and quicken thy dead or drowsie spirit to walk cheerfully and constantly in the waies of his Commandements; do not dishonour nor disgrace him by a constant and wilfull breach of them by a frequent and rash taking of his name in vain. Swear not.

The IV. Remedy, by way of mo­tive, drawn from the irrational Creatures.If all the fore-named Motives will not startle thy obdurate Conscience, and drive thee to obedience of Gods Commands; consider then the brute Beasts, who want­ing Reason, which thou enjoyest, and Speech (which God gave thee to set forth his praises, Homo immed [...]atè est prop­ter Deum, & omnia qu [...]lia­bet, habet propter Deum. Raymund. to advance and publish the glo­ries of his Attributes) yet they led only by the guidance of Na­tures Law, offer no indigni­ties, no injuries to their Ma­sters, from whom they receive food and sustenance; nay, they have ever shewed themselves thankful to strangers, from whom they received the least bene­fits or courtesies: (All which may serve to check thy ingratitude in dishonouring God by Rebelling against his precepts. Lib. 7. c. 4 [...]. Nat. H st.) The story in Aelian of Androcles and a Lion is remarkable; he pull'd a thorne out of the Lions foot; the Lion afterwards repai'd this [Page 89] courtesie, by saving his life when he fell among thieves and cryed out for help. Ael. l. 8. c. 22. A parallel story to this we find in the same Historian of the Tarentine Woman and a Stork: she cured one of the Storks young ones, which had by a casualty broke its leg; the Stork not long after in requital of her goodness, dropped a rich Jewel into her lap, as she sate in a solitary place bemoaning the death of her dear Husband a little be­fore that time deceased. The truth of these Stories I cannot warrant. Let then the Scriptures to our shame be witness of mans ingratitude to God, and of the brute Crea­tures thankful respect to their Masters and Benefactors. Man, for his sensuality and beastly lusts, Ps. 49.12, 20 may be fitly ranked with and compared to the beasts that perish; but they are above him, admit him not as their equal, if you respect their grateful dispositions. The Oxe knoweth his owner, Isa. 1.3. i. e. will submit his neck to the yoke, to toile and labour in the field, when and so long as his Master pleases; so the Asse knoweth his Masters crib (or Manger) i. e. willing­ly and readily stoops to any burthen, su­stains any blow, because that is imposed, and this comes from his hand by whom he is fed: But Israel doth not know (what great things I have done for them) my people doth not consider, how that, for their Saviours sake or merits, I have provided Heaven for [Page 90] them, which shall be the reward of their service, and where they shall rest everlast­ingly from their labours. O Man, think of Gods complaint here by his Prophet, think of it with shame; with an inward blushing confusion of spirit, and for shame let not the brute beasts out-strip thee in thankfulness; submit thy neck to Gods yoke, which is easie and light, obey his Commands, and Swear not.

The V. Re­medy, A third consi­deration.In the fifth place, consider seriously in thy most recollected thoughts (which may be a great remedy against Swearing) what recompence God requires of us for all his benefits unto us. It is Honour and Praise. Praemium Dei est honor o­peris, lau [...], & gloria: praemi­um creatura est utilitas. Raymund. And this duty we discharge, when we declare and publish with joyful hearts and thankful tongues the Magnalia Dei, those great things which he out of his great mercy hath done for us in our Creation, Redemption, Vocation, together with the manifold and wonderful acts of his Providence over us. For the least of which his mercies we could not be suffici­ently thankful to God, although we should live a thousand years ten hundred times told, and spend every day and hour in that long period of time onely in Prayer and Thanksgiving. Oh then let us wash our hearts from filthinesse, and our tongues [Page 91] from all obscene pollutions: Let our mouths be ever fill'd with Gods praises, and let us chearfully redeem the time to this blessed work of thankfulnesse; which be­cause it is too large or too great to be done in this span-long life, Sit illud meditatio frequens in hoc seculo, quod perpetu­um opus erit in futuro. Aug. in Psal. 148. it shall be ever doing in that which shall succeed hereafter, and is ever­lasting. For Thanks is the chief, if not the whole, work of the glorified Saints and Angels in Heaven, who vent and spend (as one sayes well) all their burning fire of love in the flame of Gods praise.

The erect posture wherewith God has endowed man above his fellow-Creatures should put him in mind of his duty to God by way of thankfulness. For, as if the earth were not a fit object for our Contem­plation, our faces are set upward, and our Souls too by so many foot carried up to­ward Heaven as our Bodies are erected to it. By which frame of our Bodies we are taught this lesson, to have our hearts al­wayes fixed upon God in Prayer and Thanksgiving. He that shall endeavour to follow Saint Pauls wholsome admonition, Pray continually, In all things give thanks; 1 Thes. 5.17, 18. that man will seldome or never swear, nor defile his Soul with the guilt or stains of idle and sinful discourses, but being here [Page 92] on earth will live an Angelical life, live like to an Angel and Saint in Heaven, where there is only continual chaunting out cheer­ful Hymns which contain Gods praises: and he that intends to bear a part in that Celestial Quire, must lay aside his Cursing and Swearing, and practise here betimes, before death surprise him, to sing that new Song which Saint John heard in his Reve­lation, Chap. 5.9, 10. and ever joyn with Saint Paul in his joyful and thankful Doxo­logy (1 Tim. 1.17.) saying, Ʋnto the King immortal, invisible, and only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever.

Again, to incite us to use our Tongues to the praise, or to exercise them in the praises of God, let us consider to what end He gave us speech and utterance, which he has denied to the other inferiour Creatures; was it not that we should exceed them, and praise the Lord both for himself, and for them whom he created for our service, and for the glory of his Name? Shall the Birds sing to God, and not he for whose benefit he created them? So said once a pious man, a great Master of Meditation. It was a devout speech of another, If God had made me a Nightingale, I would have sung as a Nightingale: but now in that he hath made me a man, I will sing and publish the praises of God with my tongue as a Christian; [Page 93] whose spirit being enlarged by the power­ful work of divine grace, because it dis­cernes or foresees the eternity of Gods love, it therefore endeavours (as far as it can) to maintain an eternity of Gods praise. They will be ever giving of Thanks, Psal. 84.4. sayes the Pro­phet David in his Description or Character of Gods true Saints. And were it not for these, a few gracious Souls, what honour should God have from a generation of proud & perverse worldlings, who tread his favours under their feet like Swine, and are never mindful of that everlasting Spring of his goodnesse from which the streames of his blessings are derived unto us? And this their unthankfulnesse who dishonour God by their tongue, Which David calls his glory, Psalm 16.10. My glory rejoyceth. Glo­ria mea, i. e. lingua mea, quod membrum conditum est praesertim ut gloriam Dei celebret. Sim. de Mi­ris, in loc. which was given them to glo­rifie Him, this, I say, should stir us up the more to be Trumpe­ters of Gods praises in the midst of his enemies; because this no­ble and gracious act hath in some sort a Prerogative above our praising God in Heaven, for that he hath there no enemies to dishonour him, and we meet with no opposition.

Lastly, to deter you from this disgrace­ful and ungracious sin of Swearing and Blas­pheming the holy Name of God, and to stir you up to this Heavenly work of prai­sing [Page 94] him with your tongue; consider what reward shall be given thee, if thou performest this holy service and duty. God hath so linked and joyn'd his glory and our happinesse together, that if we referre all that we have or doe to his glo­ry, if we employ the whole stock of his graces in us to his honour and praise, he will re-pay us with everlasting happinesse. To him that hath shall be given; Mar. 4.25. i. e. to him that hath a thankfull heart and a thankful tongue, to him shall be given an encrease of grace and goodnesse, with an accesse or addition of outward blessings, which shall be seconded and crown'd in the World to come hereafter with transcen­dent joyes. Where do men delight to sow but in fertile soiles, where they reape most fruit? where do Musicians delight to sound their Instruments, but where the Echo multiplies their Notes in spee­dy and quick returnes? So God delights to scatter and shed his grace and favours in the hearts and upon the heads of those that are humble and fruitful in love and thank­fulness. We may collect from hence how great the benefit is which shall redound to those whose tongues are ever exercised in sounding forth Gods praise. As first, their mouths shall never be polluted with vain Oaths; and secondly, they shall find by a [Page 95] joyfull experience that the reward of this their service will be everlasting joy and happiness. Id quod damus Deo non est ei utile, sed nobis; quia quod Deo redditur, reddenti additur. Aug. There was never an [...] that was a loser by Gods ser­vice▪ God is the best pay-ma­ster. Never any that trusted in Him (thereby glorifying his Truth, Power, and Providence) and was confounded, they never fail'd of their hope or expected reward; He is a most faithful rewarder and bountifull bene­factor. So much for the fifth Remedy; the sixth followes, of which very briefly.

Bona vis habere & malus vis esse, The VI. Rem [...]y to beware of idle words, or to utter nothing but what is necessary & profitable. so said St. Austine once to an ungodly man who deferred his conversion to God; Thou de­sirest, vain man, and expectest good things from God, and in the mean time wilt not cease to be wicked: It is all one as if he should have said in plainer terms, In vain doest thou expect any good from God above, so long as thou servest the Devil here beneath. And believe me, thou canst not do the De­vil greater service then by profaning Gods sacred Name, whereby thou begettest a light esteem of his Majesty and Person in the hearts of those that hear thee blaspheme. Familiarity, we say, breeds contempt: And the common Swearer▪ makes himself equall with Almighty God, whose great and glo­rious Name he, so familiarly or frequently [Page 96] takes into his mouth without any the least shew of Reverence or Respect. To prevent then a great mischief, even the Corruption of those with whom thou con­versest and thine own destruction, entertain a Religious and high esteem of God in thy heart, and then thy whole body, all the parts of it, will strive to testifie by out­ward expressions thy inward Veneration of his Majesty, Religio est quadam pro­testatio fidei per aliqua signa v [...]e­riora. Aqui. (which to do, in the judge­ment of Aquinas and other Schoolmen, is a main point or part of Religion.) The knees will then bend, the eyes and hands will be oft lift up to God in prayer, neither will he want then the sacrifice of a joyfull tongue, Luke 6.45. which is the Souls best interpreter. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. If the heart abound with sinful lust­ful thoughts, the tongue will froth and lash out into blasphemy and unchaste Speeches; if it be garnished with the fear of God and Heavenly Meditations, the tongue will utter nothing but what is necessary to be spoken, and profitable to be heard. And these are the two words which (as Bona­venture asserts) we are permitted in our or­dinary discourse onely to utter: Bonav. l. 2. de profect. Relig. c. 10. the first is, Quod necessarium est tibi vel alteri; the second is, Quod utile est tibi vel alteri: i. e. in all our discourses with men we should aime or drive onely at this, to speak no­thing [Page 97] but what is necessary to be said, and profitable to be heard, both in respect of our selves and others. As when we stand up in the defence of the Truth as undaunted Champions of it, boldly opposing those that be enemies to it; and secondly, when we only speak and utter that which may conduce to our Neighbours edification and comfort, by instructing the ignorant in the knowledge of Divine Truths, or of such things as are stamped with the mark of goodness, and by reforming those who erre and go astray from God: to reduce such by our counsel into the right way, and to comfort others who are mourners in Sion, who are under any outward cross, or inwardly troubled in Spirit; this is a befitting duty and work of one that is truly sanctified.

And those two fore-named Rules of Bo­naventure, being rightly and duly obser­ved, may prove likewise, by God's bles­sing, a great Remedy against vain and idle Swearing.

The seventh Remedy consists in the mo­deration of our unbridled Passions, chiefly that of Anger, the common make-bate of the world, the cause of so much blood spilling, and of so many quarrels and dissensions among Christians; whose very name, in which they all agree, may put [Page 98] them in mind of that mutual love and amity which is due from Brother to Brother, Christianus nomen est cha­ritatis, justitia, sobrietatis, patientiae, & pietatis, &c. Carthusianus. [...], id est, Dignos nos exhibeamus cognomento quod accepi­mus. Ignat. bear­ing one name of Christian, and having one heavenly Father. But why is this amity so rare a­mongst us? How comes it to pass that strife is so often heard in our streets, and discord so abounds, as appears by those many Suits and Processes in common Courts of Ju­stice? From whence come wars and fighting a­mongst us? (to speak in S. James his lan­guage, c. 4. v. 1.) and, that I may come nearer to my present purpose, from whence proceed such horrid blasphemies as we dayly hear? from what source so much cursing and so many execrable oaths? Proceed they not from our passions that domineer and raign in us? proceed they not chiefly from Anger, whose material cause is an ebullition or boyling of the blood about the heart, which being thus affected sends up such a steam and fogge into the head, that the Brain (which is the seat of Reason) is immediately stifled and choaked, Nihil rationis est ubi semel affectus inductus est, jusque illi aliquod voluntate no­strá datum est, Senec. de Irâ c. 8. so that the light of Reason is for a while ex­tinguished and put out? And hence it comes to passe that the Tongue, wanting the guidance of the Un­derstanding, [Page 99] like an unruly Mastiff that has slipp'd his Collar or Chain, breaks forth into contumelious speeches against man, nay lashes out into blasphemies, flies even in the face of the Almighty with bitter oaths and execrations. May we not right­ly say of a man in this distempered case, [...]. Ira furor brevis est. Philo. that he is troubled with a short fit of mad­ness, that for the time in which his distem­per lasteth, he is (as we use to say) out of his wits, [...], being under the command of Anger, a sharp and cruel Mistress? Should we appeal to Seneca in this point, we might find that he asserts as much and no less. In his first Book De Irâ, c. 1. Ut autem sci­as (saies he most excellently) non esse sanos quos ira possedit, ipsum illorum habitum intuere, &c. Compare the carriage and behaviour of an angry man with one that is mad, and you will find that there is a very small difference in their tempers, there being so great a likeness in their outward deportment and demea­nours; Furentium certa indicia sunt auda: & minax vul­tus, tristis frons, torva fa­cies, citatus gradus, in­quietae manus, color ver­sus, crebra et vehementius acta suspiria: Ita irascen­tium eadem signa sunt. Senec. lib. 1. cap. 1. De Irâ. both of them having a mena­cing or threatning aspect, a sowre look, a distorted face, a ruddy blushing countenance, caused by the fervour of their blood boyling in the veins, a furious hasty pace, a disor­derly managing of each part of their bodies, as the hands, feet, and eyes, [Page 100] with the rest. But to omit the further illu­stration of this Comparison between An­ger and Madness, and to leave the descri­ption of the Malady, that I may proceed to the Cure or Remedy of it; let me first pro­pound this as a ground or basis on which I shall build the fabrick of my short discourse, which I confess a Stoick would entertain with scorn and derision, for that he con­demns all Passions as being of themselves or in their own nature vicious; whereas they are good and bad according as the se­veral Objects are on which they are set and fastned. My ground which I shall first lay or propose is this, Temperare iram, non tollere; Cum rectam rationem se­quantur affectiones, et quando et ubi oportet ad­hibeantur, quis eas tunc morbidas et vitiosas pas­siones audeat dicere? Aug. we must labour to temper this passion, to reduce it to some moderation, not take it quite a­way, not wholly abolish and ex­tirpate it: Eoque detracto quod ex­undat, ad salutarem modum cogere, id vero retinere sine quo languebit actio, & vis & vigor animi resolvetur; So that by pa­ring away what is superfluous in it, and bringing it to a mediocrity, we may re­tain and keep that spark alive in us, with­out which we should want zeal and vigour in the performance of our Christian duties. This spark of Anger had glowed in our Saviours brest into a flame of Zeal, Mat. 21.12. when he whipped the buyers and sellers out of the Temple, [Page 101] and overthrew the Tables of the mony-changers, and of them that sold Doves. Angry then we may be, but take care we must that we sin not, Eph. 4.26. And sin we shall, if our Anger offend either in the matter or mea­sure of it; i. e. if the ground or cause of An­ger be unjust (as when we are angry with a friend that reproves us for doing amiss,) or (when we are unjustly wronged) if we retain our Anger (which is an inordinate desire of revenge) too long, until that de­sire break forth into act, to the hurt or ruine of our Neighbour, and hurt of our own selves: for as envy slayeth the silly one, (Job. 5.2.) so wrath killeth the foolish man. Upon which Text Aquinas hath this gloss, Stulti per iracundiam spi­ritualiter occiduntur, in quantum scilicet non re­franando per rationem motum, dilabuntur in aliqua peccata mortalia, puta in blasphemiam Dei vel injuriam proximi. A­quin. Stulti per iracundiam Spiritualiter occiduntur, &c. Foo­lish men void of understanding are spiritually slain by Anger and Wrath: for that by not re­straining with the curb of reason the eruption or breaking forth of this unruly Passion, they fall into some deadly sins, as Blasphemy against God, and wronging their Neighbours, when they either shed their blood, or wound them by opprobrious terms in their reputa­tion and credit. My exhortation then shall be that of Saint Paul to the Ephesians, c. 4.31. Let all bitterness and Anger be put away; [Page 102] and that in his Epistle to the Colossians, c. 3.8. Put off these, Anger, Wrath, Ma­lice, and Blasphemy. We may collect hence, that Blasphemy is an individual compani­on and an attendant of Anger and wrath. But how may these be put off, or rather prevented before they come on, before they take hold of us, and so get the maste­ry of our Souls? (For as wise Princes are wont in the calm of Peace to provide a­gainst the storms of Warre; so must we in the calmest state of our Souls, prepare and provide Antidotes against this inward tur­bulency of our minds.) To prevent then the sudden Commotions of this unruly Passion, or to allay it when it hath broken the bounds of Reason or Discretion, Si passio Do­mini ad me­ [...]riam re­vocetur, ni­hil adeo du­ram quod non aquo animo toleretur. Greg. Con­sider in the first place Christs bitter Death and Passion, what or how great pains and torments he hath suffered, how much he hath sustained for thee. Trace him in thy meditations from the Garden to Golgotha: and as Pilate said once out of pity to the Jews, Joh. 19.5. Behold the man, so say I to thee, Behold thy Saviour, who was and is God and Man in one Person; behold him sweating great drops of Blood in his Agony in the Garden, sustaining whip­pings and scoffings, spittings and buffe­tings in the face, and last of all a most shameful and painfull death on the Cross [Page 103] for thee, to redeem thee from Hell, and to bring thee to Heaven, into which it was impossible for thee to climb, being clogg'd with the weight and burden of thy many and grievous sins, whose pardon he hath purchased by the merit of his death and sufferings. When thou hast seriously pon­dered and considered these things, then (even when for some distasteful word thou feelest the heat of passion begin to enflame thy blood) then bespeak thy self in the words of Saint Basil in his Morals, [...]; What doest thou, O Man? art thou better then thy Master? Hath Christ my Lord suffered such unsufferable pains, so many reproches for me, and shall I, who am a Worm, a poor contemptible Crea­ture, shall I, who am a Cage of Unclean­ness, a Dunghill of Impurity, fret and fume for some conceived spot of disgrace or ignominy thrown upon my name? Shall not I suffer this and more for him, for the profession of his Truth, and glory of his Name? (for they who profess Christ, they that live godly, must look to suffer persecution, at least that of the Tongue. Mitescat savitia, mansu­escat Iracundia, remitta [...]t sibi omnes culpas invicem suas, nec exactor sit vindi­cta qui petitor est veniae. Aug.) Shall I by seeking revenge for some injury done me, snatch the Scepter out of Gods hand, or (which is worse) deny his Providence and Sove­raignty, [Page 104] as if he did sit still or sleeping in Heaven, not regarding what is done here beneath on Earth? God is the Lord to whom vengeance belongeth, Psal. 94.1. and, Ven­geance is mine, Deut. 32.35 I'le repay it, saith the Lord. Meditate often on this, and on thy Savi­ours sufferings, the thought whereof will teach or move thee to be gentle and kind to others, Eph. 4.32. forgiving them, as God for Christs sake hath forgiven thee. And thus by this means having gotten the mastery of thy Passion, thou wilt have the better com­mand over thy Tongue, and free it as from bitterness and clamour and evil-speaking, so from blaspheming Gods Name by Cursing and Swearing.

In the second place, that thou mayst curb this unbrided Passion of Anger, a Capital sin, for that it is (as I have shewed) the cause of many other sins, and most com­monly that of Swearing, Consider with thy self in private, how oft thou hast offended God, Psal. 19.12. (but who can tell how oft he offendeth?) and how oft he hath pardoned thee. This consideration of thy many infirmities, this knowledge of thy filthy sins will move thee to a mean esteem of thy self; and he that out of a deep apprehension of his sins and a sight or sense of his infirmities has learn'd to contemn himself, that man will not be easily provoked by a small injury and con­tempt from others.

[Page 105] Thirdly, when thou art moved to Anger, labour to suppresse this flame that it break not forth, suppress it by silence. For, as fire under green wood, if not blown, will go out; so anger in the breast, kept in by the silence of the tongue, will waste and spend it self to nothing. An example of this we have in David, Psal. 39. Ps. 39.2. He kept silence, he kept his mouth as it were with a bridle, whilst the ungodly (who did provoke him) was in his sight. He spake nothing, but refrain'd his tongue, abstaining even from good words, ver. 3 which was a pain and grief unto him. If we speak any thing at all when we are moved to anger by our Persecuting, Reviling E­nemies, let it be in the phrase of our meek­est Saviour upon the Cross, Father, Luke 23.34 forgive them, for they know not what they do; or in the Language of that Protomartyr Saint Stephen, Acts 7.60. Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. Yet, if thou beest a publick person, and thy Injury great and notorious, Qui illatam sibi sustinet injuriam & contumeliam, conviciantis nutrit auda­ciam. Vid. Aqui. 2. 2. 72. Qu. then to prevent scan­dal, lest by silence thou givest men an occasion to suspect the integrity of thy Conscience, thou mayest vindicate thy Innocency by a just complaint to the Magistrate, [...] Basil. and from the Decree of Justice seek a Redress of thy Injury; and in so doing thou committest thy cause unto the Lord, in that thou Re­vengest [Page 106] not thy self, but referrest thy cause to the publick Magistrate, Gods Minister of Peace, whose Office it is to see that they be righted who suffer wrong; as also to encourage Vertue, to punish Vice, and suppress the growth of sin.

Fourthly and lastly, to incite or move thee further to abstain from immoderate Anger, let the examples and practise of the De his ita Nazianzenus, [...]. i. e. Anticipant fidem mo­ribus, i. Justitiâ & Tempe­rantiâ, & indigent tantum Christianorum nomine, quod Christum profitentes decet operibus id suis exhibentes. Heathen ever run in your thoughts, who by the dimme light of nature have gone further in the way of Piety then we Christians, who live in the Sun-shine of the Gospel of Peace. To repeate the Stories of them renown'd for their pa­tience, would be both imperti­nent and tedious: I will com­mend to your Meditation but one, and that of a true Roman, I mean Cato, who used to say, That he could and did forgive all offenders but himself. So be thou angry with the Malice, but love (i. e. wish well to) the Person of thy Enemy that has offended thee; forgive him by not studying an hasty Revenge of thy Injury, and testifie thy hearty forgiveness of it by thy prayers to God to forgive him his sins, and to heal him of his malice. And thus if thou imita­test God, who is good to his very Enemies, [Page 107] thou wilt shew thy self to be a genuine Son of thy [...]. Ignat. Ep. ad Antioch. Heavenly Father. If thou imitatest him not, but suf­ferest thy heart to burn with Anger and Malice, I pronounce against thee, thou art a Bastard and no true Son. That then thou mayest truly retain the [...]. Ignat. Ep. ad Magnes. name, and main­tain by thy practise the duty of a good Christian, follow the Prophet Davids ad­vice, Psal. 37.8. Cease from An­ger, and forsake Wrath, else shalt thou be moved to do evil; thou wilt wrong thy Neighbour, and injure thy good God by break­ing his Commandements, chiefly the third, which concerns the hallowing of his Name, which (if thou beest a man of an angry and hasty disposi­tion) thou wilt often do, when by Cursing and Swearing thou takest the same in vain. Therefore in a devout imitation of thy Fa­ther which is in Heaven, be thou, as he is, full of Compassion and Mercy, slow to anger, Psal. 103.8. and of great goodness; and if thou beest ad­dicted or given to much Swearing, (besides the prevention of many other sins) thou shalt by curbing thy angry Passion so bridle and restrain thy Tongue, that it shall not so often as formerly, nay, seldom or never, profane Gods holy Name.

[Page 108] The VIII. Remedy, To beware of intem­perance, e­specially in Drink.The eighth Remedy is to beware of Drunkenness, that [...], as St. Basil calls it, that common strumpet, that be­witches mens hearts, and besots their braines: That hateful Night-bird which was wont to waite for the Twilight, to seek nooks and corners, to avoid the houting and won­derment of Girles and Boyes; but now is grown audacious, and, as if it were some Eaglet that dares the bright Sun, it flies a­broad at high-noon in every Street, and displaies its filthy Nakedness in open pla­ces, without all fear or shame. It is obser­ved by Clemens Alexandrinus, Clem. Alex. in Strom. that it took first footing in the most barbarous Nati­ons, the Scythians, who were such lovers of it, that it grew into their name; and to Scythianize was all one and the same with this, [...], & [...] idem quod [...] inebrior. Suid to be drunk. I pray God that stain or reproach be not hereafter thrown upon us, as it was upon those sottish Nations. If His Majesties late The 30. day of May 1660. Proclamation for the repressing of this foul sin were duly and strictly observed and put into execution, it would not be so common among us. But in that it is so frequent, I wonder not that Oaths are so familiar in mens mouthes. Quod in corde Sobrii est in linguâ Ebrii, That which lodges with security in the Heart of a man that is sober, discovers it self in his Tongue when he is drunk. Hence is that [Page 109] saying of a wise and learned Author, He that would Anatomize the Soul, (i. e. detect its inward and most benighted thoughts and intentions) may do it best, when wine and strong drink has benummed the senses. The reason of this is given by Seneca, Ep. 83. Non est animus in suâ potestate Ebrietate devinctus, &c. again, Omne vitium Ebrietas incendit & detegit, i. e. Reason is not at its own Com­mand: so long as it is bound up by Drun­kenness, and fetter'd (as it were) with ex­cesse of Meats and Drinks. To confirm this (besides our daily experience) we have the expresse Warrant and Testimony of Gods word, Whoredom, Wine, Hos. 4.11. and new Wine take away the heart, i. e. deprive a man of the use of Reason: Nay, which is more, excesse of Wine, or Drunkenness, robs a man of Gods grace and assistance, and banishes or drives his holy Spirit from us, [...]. Basil. in Moral. even as smoke does chase and drive away Bees, as St. Basil observes. Now, what sin is there so horrid, what abomination so prodigious and hainous, which a Drunkard is not ready to act, he being deserted by Gods holy Spirit, void of Reason and Sense, and left to the Ruling power of the Devil, and the rage of his native lust, which is well termed by Parisiensis origo & seminarium omnium vitiorum, the root, source and se­minary of all sin?

[Page 110]A man in such a desperate forlorn case or condition is like Sampson, Judg. 10.19. when the locks of his haire were cut off, and his eyes put out. The Text sayes, that not onely his strength went from him, but that also the Lord had departed from him. And as the Phi­listines did by Sampson, so doth the Devil by a Drunken man; he leads him in a string where he pleases, makes him grind in the Mill of all kinde of Sins and Vices, and like a Mill-horse leads him in a round from sin to sin, from one wickednesse to another, from Lying to Swearing, from this to Stealing, and from that to Perjury or For­swearing. The Devil having moistned and steeped him in liquor, shapes him like soft Clay into what mould he pleaseth. Having shaken off his [...], or, as a Father calls it, Basil. [...], his Rudder and Pilot, his Stay and Prop, which is his Rea­son, the Tempter hurries him into the gulf of all licentiousness and uncleanness, dashes his Soul upon what Rocks and Sands he listeth, and that with as much facility as a man may push down the moistned bur­then of his body tottering upon its unstable Porters, his feeble legs.

A man who has thus unmanned or un­made himself, devested of Reason, which by Plato is term'd [...], a little Deity in the Soul of Man, sitting there (as it were) [Page 111] in a Throne of Judicature, prescribing what is good, and forbidding what is bad, A man, I say, (if I may call him so that is drown'd in drink) wanting the eye of Reason and the light of Gods Spirit, (both which he hath put out by his excessive li­quor taken in) such a one is the fittest agent for the Devil to work by; he is now ready to act and attempt any sin or wickedness, be it the sin of Cain or Absalom, the killing of a Brother, Father, or Mother: now he Sweares and Blasphemes, who in his right wits and sober mood seems to be more Mo­dest, Chaste, and Devoute. And oft-times it so falls out, by the just Judgement of God withdrawing his grace from those who are accustom'd to this Vice, that the Oathes which fell from their tongues when they were drunk, stick in their teeth when they are sober. Thus one sin becomes the cause of another; thus Swering for the most part accompanies and followes Drunken­nesse. They are two Sister-Vices, whose Mother is our own corrupt nature, the De­vil their Father. They, like Hippocrates his twinns, are born, and live, and die toge­ther; they go (as we say) hand in hand, and seldom part asunder. Beware there­fore of Drunkennesse, Eph. 5.1. 1 Pet. 2.21. and shew thy self alwaies a follower of Christ and his Saints by thy constant practise of Sobriety and Tem­rance. [Page 112] Think seriously of the sad Curses which God in his word denounceth against Drunkards: [...] (woe) [...], &c. Chrys. as Prov. 23.29, &c. Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? &c. they that tarry long at the wine, they that go to seek mixt wine, &c. Read likewise Isa. 5.11. Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning that they may follow strong drink, that continue untill night, till wine enflame them. Isa. 28.3. The Crown of Pride, the Drunkards of Ephraim shall be trod [...]n under feet. What is here threatned against the Drunkards of Ephraim, shall certainly without repentance befall the Drunkards of England, whose Poverty, Shame, and utter ruine is intimated by the treading under the feet, and implyed in the woe which in the first ver. of that 28. Chap. is denounced against such brutish sinners. Peruse likewise 1 Cor. 6.10. where Drun­kennesse is reckon'd amongst mortall sins, which exclude men from the Kingdom of Heaven. Meditate often on this, how great will be this losse to be thrown into Hell, and banish'd from Gods glorious presence in Heaven. Think too on that saying of Cyrus in Xenophon, who refusing to drink Wine, told Astyages, he thought it to be poy­son, for that he saw it metamorphos'd men into beasts. I beseech you fasten your serious, sober, morning thoughts upon these sayings and threats of Judgements out of the holy [Page 113] Scriptures; ever use your Meat and Drink as Physick, the which St. Austine (as appeares by one of his Confessions) used to do. Lib. 10. Confess. He that surfets himself with Phy­sick, we may well count him sick of a phrensie or mad. As great a madnesse, nay, a greater, doth possesse the Drunkard, whose wine is the wine of Sodom and Gomor­rah, whose God is his belly, which he serves, Deut. 32.32. and offers daily to it with drink-offerings, whose glory is his shame, Phil. 3.19. and whose end will be damnation. Seldom shall you see or hear of a man who proved a true con­vert by a sound and constant recovery from this sin; the Baude of lust, the Furnace of concupiscence, and the Forge or Anvil which the Devil frames and fashions all other sins upon. It is a deep ditch or pit that is miry and full of nasty dirt, like the Dungeon into which Jeremy the Prophet of the Lord was put. Jer. 38.6.

And although it may please God to let down the cords of his Divine Mercy, and cause the Drunkard to lay hold thereon, that so he may escape the snares of Death and Destruction; yet the safest advise that I can give, or a man follow, is, not to play with his hand upon the hole of this Cockatrice, to avoid all occasions that may intangle him in the guilt of this foul sin, to shun the conversation of debauch'd companions, to [Page 114] avoid all excesse in Meats and Drinks: so may he escape uncleanness, Nunquam ego ebrium castum pu­tabo. which is the spume or froth of drunkenness (Charity never lodged in the Drunkards bed) so too will that man seldom be lavish in his Speech, which lavishness or excess in words flowes from excess in Drink; so likewise wil he be free from excess of passi­on, which being caused by the heat of wine sends up such a steam into the brain, that it drowns reason, and is the cause, as of other sins, so more frequently that of profane Swearing. 1 Pet. 4.7. Be ye therefore Sober, and watch unto prayer. Watch, First, horam mortis indies expectando, by a daily expecta­tion of death, and providing for it. Second­ly, watch, Diem judicii semper meditando, by a continual Meditation of the day of Judgement. Thirdly, watch, precibus instan­do, by being instant and frequent in Prayer. Thus watch and be sober, so shalt thou sel­dom or never Swear, to which Drunken­nesse is a great incentive, inducement, and spur.

The IX. Remedy.The ninth Remedy is to avoid the Com­pany of those whose ordinary discourses are filled and interlaced with oathes. Con­verse not with an angry man (such for the most part is a common Swearer) neither keep company with a furious man, lest thou learn his wayes, and bring destruction to thy [Page 115] Soul. Prov. 22.24. Ill company is like pitch, which defiles onely by the touch. It is another Dalilah, which binds, betrays, Judg. 16. blinds, and undoes at once. There is no enemy like unto it. Saint Augustine in­veighing against it cryes out thus, Lib. 2. Conf. c. 9. O inimi­ca amicitia, seductio mentis, &c. It kills with friendly smiles, and destroyes with kind embraces. It is like a Spanish poyson mix'd with a sweet perfume, which insen­sibly and violently insinuates it self, and works upon the spirits by the smell, and infects the brain; the which being infect­ed conveyes its poyson to the heart, the Fountain of Life and Motion. So in like manner the Soul may be infected by a se­cret poyson taken in at the Eare. And al­though we affirm against the Pelagians, Morbus pro­fundatus & diffusus in totam homi­nem. Pa [...]is. that Original sin (which is a general Vi­cious quality in the Soul corrupting the whole man) is not derived to us onely by imitation; yet as sinful acts proceed from vicious habits, so these from bad inclina­tions and dispositions, and these ill dispo­sitions are ingendred in us and encreased by our daily conversation with railing Shimeies and profane Rabshakehs, men that are enemies to God and Godliness. In regard of this great danger by bad See a Sto­ry to prove his in Euseb. l. 3. c. 23. Company, the Holy Ghost oft-times disswades us in the Holy [Page 116] Vid. Josh. 23.12, 13. 2 Chron. 19.2. Job 31.3. Ps. 36.1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Prov. 1.10. & 4.14. Scriptures from having fellowship with the ungodly and wicked doers, as Levit. 7.21. Numb. 16.26, &c. Now seeing this sin of swearing is very contagious (for the plague it self, as one saies, is not more infectious) let me exhort all men in the words of Saint Paul, Eph. 5.7, 8, 9. Eph. 5. Be not there­fore companions with Swearers. For ye were once darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord, walk as Children of light. And if by chance thou fallest into the company of such foul-mouth'd Ismaelites, Ver. 11. have no fellowship with their unfruitful works of Darkness, but ra­ther reprove them, if there be hope of bet­ter fruit or amendment. However, although they be for the most part incorrigible, yet are they sometimes to be reproved with all meekness and lenity, with love and pity, and with reverence or some re­spect, if they be thy betters or superiours; Vid. Job. 31.13. and that in regard of others, thy equals or inferiours, whose danger and infection may hereby be prevented, whilest they hear another reproved.

As then you desire to contract neither guilt nor spot from other mens sins, observe these two Rules.

First, converse not familiarly with Swea­rers. And,

Secondly, In hoc te non comma­culat malus, si non consen­tias, si redar­guas. Aug. Partake not with them in their sins by a patient and silent forbearance, [Page 117] when thou doest hear them profane Gods most holy and sacred Name, but rebuke them friendly and lovingly, with a gentle meekeness. To do which is a precept of the Natural and Moral Law, a general duty of Neighbour towards Neighbour, and a special deed of Charity.

Lastly, The X. Remedy. To consi­der the hea­vy judge­ments of God on Blasphe­mers. That this abominable and dan­gerous sin may fall into a final and total consumption, that it may receive its deaths wound, and be wholly abolished in thee, Consider the fearful judgements which in all ages have fallen upon Swearers, and withall the great and many mischiefs which such Blasphemers bring upon the State and Families where they live.

It is well observed by Hugo upon that of the Psalmist, God spake once, &c. Hugo de San­cto Victore in Ps. 62.11. That God speaks once to us in this life four man­ner of wayes, Praecipiendo, Prohibendo, Pro­mittendo, Comminando; by commanding, by forbidding, by promising, by threatning: And once more will he speak to us hereafter, when he comes to judge the quick and the dead according to the works they have done in the flesh. Every Judgement which he inflicts now upon particular sinners is a threatning warning-piece to affright and scare others from sinning. And can the blaspheming Swearer, who shares in th [...] sin, expect not to share with others in [...] [Page 118] suffering? See many the like ex­amples in Mr. Perkins his small Treatise called The Government of the tongue. Two Gentlemen of Kent (whom I knew, and forbear to name) being too much addicted to this horrid sin of Swea­ring, were strucken with Apoplexies, so that for many years they lived (which was but a dying life) and continued Speechless. In whom we cannot but magnifie Gods Justice in depriving them of the use of their Tongues which they only employed to vent Cursings and Oaths. We read of some whose Tongues being before set on fire from Hell (as Saint James speaks) have been en­flamed with a strange fire from Heaven; Jam. 8.6. their mouths being scorched with a continu­al burning heat, which is one of Gods fiery Judgements threatned against Swearers, Deut. 28.22. which Chapter he that reads and feareth not an Oath, Vid. v. 58, 59, 60. I may conclude that his heart is hardned. Some have been struck dead with an oath in their mouths; others have been bereaved of their senses, and run mad: the former wanting time, the other reason and grace to repent, they are now lamenting themselves, and blas­pheming in everlasting torments. Et lerum (que) justo Dei ju­dicio moriens obliviscitur sui, qui dum vixerit fue­rit oblitus Dei, Viex­mont. lib. De Poeni­tent. And oft-times it comes to pass by the just judge­ment of God, that those men who forget God in their lives, when they come to die, are punished with a stupid kind of oblivion, so that they forget themselves, and for want of repentance, or a deep sight and sense of [Page 119] their transgressions, perish in their sinnes.

If the fore-named examples, and many other which might be produced, will not drive thee to Piety or Holiness, from thy loose prophaneness, (and methinks they should, for whatever did befall one may befall another) then let the consideration of the State or Familie wherein thou dwel­lest invite or move thee to forsake thy Swearing by a timely care and speedy con­version.

When I read of the brave Spirits that re­sted in the ancient Roman brests, Such were the Horatii, Decii, Curtius, &c. who fre­quently devoted themselves to death for the good of their Country and Common­weale, I cannot but with pity wonder at the uncharitable thoughts, and most un­worthy acts of our common profane Swea­rers, who do what they can in effect to undo a Kingdom wherein they were born and bred, and withall procure an inevitable ruine and destruction to their own particu­lar Families and Kindred. For if it be most certainly true, that because of Oaths the Land mourneth, Jer. 23.10. as it oft hath done by reason of those two dreadfull Judgements, the Sword and Pestilence; then they who are the chief cause of the Lands mourning can be no good subjects, because they sin against the whole Kingdom, rob this Garden of its best Flower, that is, Peace, [Page 120] and bring down upon it showres of Blood. May we not then truly avouch that Swearers are the worst of, Traitors? They commit Treason not only against the K. of Heaven (in that they abuse his most sacred Name, and violate his Person) but also against the King and State, who may truly object to Swearers what Jacob said once to his two Sons, Gen. 34. [...]0. Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me; you are those for whose multiplied sins the whole Island is torn with Schisms and Divisions; you are the men that have chief­ly incensed Gods wrath against the Ma­gistrates of this Land, who should have drawn out the sword of Justice against your sins: but because they connived at them and suffered them to go unpunished, Vid. Wisd. 6.4, 5, 6. which Texts I wish that all who are in Authority would oft ponder in their thoughts. there­fore they themselves were severely punish­ed; some banished, others imprisoned, and impoverished, being devested of all their means, and degraded from their Authori­ty which they abused, and did not use to Gods glory.

If then there be in you any bowels of pity to the Church & Kingdom wherein you live, any true loyalty to your most gracious King, if you desire (as all good men do) that your Families and Posteritie after you be not blasted with a curse; then cleanse your hearts from hypocrisie, and wash your mouths clean from the filthy pollution of [Page 121] his defiling and State-murdering sinne: Neither wilfully nor customarily, not falsly nor vainly, not deceitfully nor rashly, but Re­verently, and never but when you are for­ced to it by necessity, use Gods holy and most reverent Name. And let your tongues be evermore the instruments of sounding and setting forth Gods praises (by whom you were made, and from whom all the blessings and good things you enjoy are derived:) so may you prevent future Judg­ments, which do but sleep for the present, and may be awakened by your sins; so may the Sword which is now put into the scab­bard rest and be still, Ier. 47.6. and be no more drench'd or bath'd in the blood of this nation; so may you likewise intail a blessing to your selves and posterity, & after this short life partake of a better, which is everlasting, with God and his holy Angels for ever in glory.

That the former prescribed Remedies may be the better observed, and for as much as a recidivation or relapse into sin (as into a disease) is both easie and dange­rous, to prevent this danger, I shall now prescribe a Diet for the Tongue, when, by Gods sanctifying Grace concurring with your sedulous practice of the fore-men­tioned Precepts or Remedies, it is cu­red of the contagious poyson of that sinne.

[Page 122] A Diet for the Tongue which hath been accu­stomed to Swearing.Being then willing, or altogether cured of that deadly poyson of the Tongue (I mean a corrupt and vicious custom of Swearing) beware of a Relapse, which in this case (as in bodily diseases) is very dan­gerous; for when a man hath tasted the sweetness of Gods Mercy in pardoning his sins, and restoring him to health, he must expect, if he returns to his vomit again, and falls into his former sin, to feel the severi­ty of his Justice in punishing him for his da­ring presumption. For a prevention of this great danger, in your dayly conference and conversation with men, put into practice that wholsome admonition of Saint James, Be slow to speak: Jam. 1.19. Never open thy mouth, but shut up thy tongue in silence, unless by thy speech thou mayest benefit thy Neigh­bour, prevent thine own hurt, and advance Gods honour.

Num. 19.15The Vessel which wanted a cover, under the Old Law was counted unclean. For either the dust fell into it, which bred Worms and such like Creatures that defiled it; or else if there were put into it any precious or sweet oyntment, it presently lost its sa­vour, and was corrupted. In like manner, he that sets not a watch before his lips, by silencing his Tongue so, that it never speaks but to some good purpose, that man (as Saint James attesteth) although he seemeth [Page 123] Religious, Iam. 1.26. or makes a profession of Christi­anity, because he bridleth not his Tongue, he deceives himself, or he hath a deceitful false heart, his Religion is vain, i. e. Nomen sine re, a bare and empty Title without re­ality. For how can he be thought to be re­ligious, who fears not God with an holy and devout reverence? Neither can he just­ly be said to fear God, Psal. 5.10. whose Throat is an open Sepulchre, sending forth out of it the noysome stench of cursing, corrupt and fil­thy communication, lyes, and fearful oaths. The guilt of which crying sin that you may avoid, and withall not chill the fervour of devotion, but preserve it in thy soul, Keep thy mouth with all diligence, remembring that saying of Bonaventure, Si dignum quicquam relatione non habes, Bonavent. Spec. Relig. c. 20. tace; Tutius & humilius audis quam loqueris: i. e. Keep silence if thou canst utter nothing worthy to be heard by the judicious and pious Christian; If it be so, thou mayest with more safety and a greater esteem for thy humility listen to anothers discourse, then vent any thing of thine own which is light and frivolous▪ Remember also that dreadful admonition of our Saviour, Mat. 12.36. Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give an account thereof at the day of judgment. Now▪ that is an idle word in the opinion of Saint Hierom, which is spoken sine utilitate loquen­tis [Page 124] aut audientis, which redounds neither to the good of the Speaker, nor profit of the Hearer; much more is that which tends to the hurt of either. Therefore be not hasty to utter any thing with thy Tongue, so shalt thou free thy self from the guilt of ma­ny a sin, chiefly that of Swearing.

Nescit poeni­tenda loqui qui proferen­da justo pri­us tradidit examini. Casaiod. l. 10. Secondly, be circumspect in speaking. Nescit poenitenda loqui, &c. saies Cassiodore, That man will never repent of what he hath said, who weighs his words in the ba­lance of Discretion before they be uttered. Evermore consider, what thou speakest, and before whom, ordering thy words so with Wisdom and Prudence, that thou of­fend not God (who is an ear-witness of thy words) either by contradicting the Truth, or perswading others to a belief of what is false. Often call to mind that saying of S. Cyril. 11. Caetheches. Cyril, [...], &c. God hath a Book of Re­membrance, he sits and writes down in it thy oaths, thy perjuries, thy blasphemous and idle words, for which he will call thee to a severe account at the great day of Judgement. Therefore (as I before ex­horted) consider alwaies as what, so before whom thou speakest, even in the sight and audience of God, who will one day be your Judge; Dr. Parisi­ensis. Cujus praesentia est impraevisibilis, potentia infallibilis, Justitia inflexibilis, & iracur­dia [Page 125] implacabilis, who may surprize thee un­awares (even in the very act of sinning) by his grim Bailiff Death, whose Power too is infallible, for none can escape it; his Ju­stice inflexible, for it may not be corrup­ted; as his Anger against the ungodly sin­ners is implacable, and hardly to be ap­peased.

He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life, Prov. 13.3. and he that openeth wide his lips shall have de­struction. But he that never openeth his mouth but to the glory of God, either by praising, or praying unto him (whereby he declares his belief in the excellencie of Gods Omnipotencie, Goodness, Truth, and Omnisciency) or for his Neighbours edifica­tion and good, (as Saint Paul exhorts us to, Eph. 4.29.) that man shall lift up his head with cheerfulness in the day of Judgment before the dreadful Tribunal of God, and by his words he shall be justified: i. e. For that he glorified God with his Tongue in his life, he shall be pronounced just and righ­teous in the audience of the Saints and An­gels, and for the merits of Christ (for whose sake his good works are accepted, and his imperfections pardoned) he shall receive the reward of the righteous, and be glori­fied both in body and soul. The Body with all the parts of it shall be beautified with Clearness, Impassibility, Subtility, and Agi [...]y: [Page 162] for it being most transparently bright and glorious, it shall move wheresoever the Soul (then wholly guided by Gods Spirit) shall command it; it shall move as nimbly as a small Fish in the water, without any resistance or hinderance, nay, with far greater agility. The Soul shall be adorned and beautified with more excellent per­fections then our first Parents were before their fall in Paradise. For the Understand­ing shall be freed from all errour, in it shall be light without any the least mist of dark­ness, it shall be filled with wisdome and knowledge in an high degree without any spot of ignorance: The Memory purged from all possibility of forgetfulness: The Will redeemed from its natural pravity and perverseness, whilest it is onely fixed by Love upon God Almighties good­ness. If every part of man expects to be thus glorified by God, it is good reason that [...]. Naz. every part should glori­fie Him. For this is the tribute they owe to their Creatour, as every good Subject oweth Loy­alty to his King. This is the ser­vice they must pay for their Re­demption. God made all the parts of the body, Christ Re­deemed all, I mean, every part and facul­ty both of Soul and Body: therefore God [Page 127] must be served by all. The Heart or Soul must not say to the Hands, Serve ye Him, for the Heart must be like that of the blessed Virgin, Luke 1.46. it must by thanksgi­ving magnifie the Lord, and rejoyce (with faith and love) in God its Saviour. Neither must the Hands say to the Eyes, Serve ye Him, for the hands must be ever stretched out to God in Prayer (as David witnesseth his were, Psal. 88.9.) and extended often by a liberal contribution to the poor. Neither must the Eyes say unto the Feet, Serve ye Him, for they must be ever looking to­wards the Lord, as the Prophet Davids were, Psal. 25.15. Psal. 121.1.123.1, 2.141.8. Neither must the Eares say unto the Tongue, Serve thou Him, for they must be presented or offer'd unto God in Sacrifice; and they are then of­fered by thee, when thou canst say with Samuel, Speake, Lord, for thy servant heareth; 1 Sam. 3.9. thereby testifying thy willing obedience and chearful attention to his holy Word, either read in private, or publickly preach­ed. (As the Lord looks down from Heaven, Speculator adest desuper Qui nos diebus omnibus Actusque nostros prospicit, A luce primâ ad vesperam. Prudent. Psal. 14.2. and his eyes are over the Righteous, the eye of his Mercy, and the eye of his Providence, to protect their persons, and to help them in their di­stresse; and as his Eares are open to their Prayers: so the eyes of the Righteous must [Page 128] ever look up to Heaven, and their eares never be stopped, but alwaies open to Gods Commands in his Word published by the voice of his Ministers.) Neither, lastly, must the Feet say to the rest of the Members, God has no need of us, for these too must be offer'd up to God as a lively Sacrifice, Psal. 1.1. by not standing in the way of sinners, i. e. by not frequenting of scandalous and base houses, but carrying thee to Church, to the Congregation of Gods Saints, so oft as thou art able and the Lawes of the Church require. Then mayest thou truly say with the Prophet David, Psal. 26.12. My foot standeth right (i. e. I have not wil­fully swerved from the path of Gods Com­mandements) in the Congregation I will praise the Lord. This is done by the Tongue, which amidst the other Members of the body must not be defective or wanting to its service and duty, being the onely and chief Instrument ordain'd by God to cele­brate his Name, to set forth his Glory, and to proclaim his Praise. And it dis­charges this Office when it expresseth and publisheth with joyful lips the goodness and greatness of its Maker, for Spirituall and Corporall, for Temporall and Eternall, (all undeserved) Mercies.

When the Tongue ceases to do this, it is then peccant and deficient in its proper and [Page 129] prime Office: Et infans sit necesse est qui di­vina proloqui non potest, Lactant. l. 4 c. 26. isque verè elinguis & mutus est habendus, ut sit omnium disertissimus. ‘And he is to be reputed a meer infant in Religion, whose chief discourse is not of God, and of his glorious works of Crea­tion and Providence, and may be said to be Dumb and Speechless, al­though in a Worldly respect he hath a most Eloquent Tongue, and polite lan­guage.’

That then thou mayest praise God with thy Tongue, and abstain wholly from pro­faning his glorious Name, this shall be my last prescript for thy Tongues Diet, where­with I shall conclude, and whereby thou mayest, if thou strictly observest it, put an end to thy inveterate and foul Custom of Swearing. It is onely this, Speak not much, use not many words in thy daily and ordinary discourse. Hippocr. Aphor. 8. Sect. [...]. I remember that Hippocrates in his Aphorisms reckons this amongst his many fatall or infallible signs of Death, if the sick party having lost his hearing and understanding prattleth and talketh he knows not what. And truly we may conclude that man to be void of the life of grace, i. e. to want the knowledge and fear of God, who, like to those, Psal. 12.4. assumes to himself a bold Liberty [Page 130] of speaking when he lists, and what he pleases, behaving himself in the mean time like one that is deaf, when he should modestly yield turns of Speech to those that are wiser, and more able for discourse. Let me bespeak such a Battus or Babler in the words of a wise Counsellor, famous for his Christian-like Resolves, ‘Go to the Crane, thou Prater, read her Story, and let her inform thee, who flying out of Sici­ly, puts little stones in her mouth or beak, lest by her own obstreperousness she bewray her self, and become a prey to the Eagles of mount Taurus, the which by this kind of policy she flyes over with safety.’ Hence is that saying of the Jews, [...] Si locutio argentum, silentium Aurum, Buxtorf. Silence every where or in all places is a mans safeguard, and a sure fence, not to be broke through either by envy or malice.

As to speak too much argues folly, and too little an unperceiving or dull stupidity; so it is Wisdoms proper Character in dis­course to be free from babling garrulity; A worthy act hath he done who hath learn'd to bridle his Tongue; and surely much evil and mischief hath he prevented who knows rightly where to speak and where to be silent. Lib. 2. c. 20. Ruffinus records of Apollinaris Bishop of Laodicea (who gloried in the quickness of his wit, and delighted to contradict every thing that he heard) [Page 131] that at last through much contention of strife of words he turned Heretick, Ex con­tentione haeresin generavit. True is that of the Wise man, Prov. 10.19. In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin, but he that re­fraineth his lips is wise. For, a wise man will hold his tongue till he see an opportunity, Ecclus. 20.7. and when he opens his mouth, it shall be to some purpose, and sparingly. If we talk with fools, many words are too much; if with a wise man, a few are enough. Verbum Sapienti, it is a common rule. Non multis opus est verbis, sed paucis & efficacibus, it is Seneca's advice in one of his Epistles. There is no use of many words, Lib. 5. Epist. 38. Ep. but of those rather which are few and effi­cacious, which are good (as the Apostle speaks) to the use of edifying, Eph. 4.25. and may minister grace to the hearers, or conduce to their pro­gress or encrease in Piety and Goodness. The heart of fools is in their mouth, Ecclus 21.26. but the mouth of the wise is in their heart (saies that wise son of Sirach.) Fools when they open their mouths to speak, they pour out all that is hid in the inward corners or remote recesses of their hearts: But a wise man utters nothing from his mouth, but what out of a mature Judgment he hath conclu­ded and determined fit to be spoke. The Hom. Il. [...]. Poet tell us of one Thersites, that he was [...], a prating fellow, and withal [Page 132] [...], a very knave, Dedecus & Carci­noma Graeci exercitus, and likewise hateful to Achilles and Ʋlysses, who did detest and abhor him: whence Plutarch infers, [...], [...]. Ibid. it argues an height of villany or wickedness when one is hated by good men. From this remarkable passage of the Poet, the Prince of Poets, we may inferre this, that he that talks much, as he makes himself odious to men, so he must needs be burden'd with the weight and guilt of many a sin, of many a lye; neither can he, if he be a frequent Swearer, escape the dan­ger of Perjury. Therefore, let thy words be few, Eccles. 5.2. We commonly say, that words are but wind: Be not deceived, they are such a wind, that (if they be not well ordered) may blow your Souls to Hell, that fiery Haven of the wicked. Therefore make not light of thy words: be as sparing of them as an Earth-worm, a covetous Euchlio, a Miser is of his Gold, which he keeps under lock and key, suffers not the light to peep into his Coffers, fearing lest it should shew a way to another to enter into them, and never spends a penny un­less he be pinched with extremity, and forced to it by the commanding Law of Necessity, which sometimes he basely breaks, robbing his own back of cloathing, [Page 133] and starving his pined belly. Even so keep thou the treasure of thy heart, thy thoughts and intentions, which are shut up and sto­red in it; seldome vent them by thy speech, unless it be to the praise of God, or thy neighbours good.

Thus if thou doest fence and guard thy mouth with the wall of silence, Muro si­lentii (as Saint Gregory expresseth it) I mean moderation and deliberation in thy speech, thou shalt procure to thy self reputation, Nec pateblt inimici jaculis civitas mentis (as he sayes) Thy [...]. Chrysost. Hom. 14. ad Pop. Antioch. Soul also within thee shall be as an impregnable Fort or City secured from the shot and invasion of its enemies: It shall (as hath been formerly said) be kept and preserved from the stain and pollution of many crying sins, which defile and waste the consciences of those that are given to much idle tal­king; such are Swearing, Lying, Blasphemy, and corrupt communi­cation, which we must with disdain eject and spit out of our mouths in an holy scorn and indignation, as not becoming Gods Saints, his Sons and Servants. We are his Sons by the grace of Adoption, let us then out of a filial love observe his commands; Swear not: we are his Servants, and he our [Page 134] Lord, let us therefore serve him with an awful fear and reverence, in holiness and righteousness all the dayes of our life, gi­ving him the honour due unto his Name, as holy David exhorts, Psal. 29.2. which we may do by worshipping him with an holy wor­ship, as it is expressed in the subsequent or following words of that Text, when we humbly submit our Souls and Bodies to God in prayer, acknowledging our Spiri­tual wants, also confessing our sins, and unworthiness to receive any of the least of his blessings and benefits, and rendring him most hearty thanks always for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. To whom, with God the Father, and the Holy Ghost, three Persons, yet but one Almighty, most merciful, and everlasting God, be ascribed by all people, in these and other parts of the world, Thanksgiving and Praise, all Honour and Dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

For a close of all that hath been said, and for the better observation of our Saviours injunction or precept, I shall commend to all profane Swearers that good & profitable advice of S. Chrysostom, who, when the City of Antioch where he lived was visited with the Plague, did frequently and bitterly inveigh against this horrid sin of Swearing, [Page 135] as being the productive cause, as of other Judgments, so of that heavy and fearful Vi­sitation. Amidst his many and sharp In­vectives against it, we find this useful ad­monition Homil. 14. ad Pop. Antiochen.

[...]. Which for the more delight and profit of the unlearned, I have translated into Verse, retaining the full sense and meaning of the words.