Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	according_a	open_v	work_n	3,235	5	5.8581	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44801	Oaths no gospel ordinance but prohibited by Christ being in answer to A. Smallwood, D.D. to his book lately published, being a sermon preached at Carlile, 1664, wherein he hath laboured to prove swearing lawful among Christians, his reasons and arguments are weighed and answered, and the Doctrines of Christ vindicated against the conceptions and interpretations of men, who would make it void / by a sufferer for Christ and his doctrine, F.H.	Howgill, Francis, 1618-1669.	1666 (1666)	Wing H3174; ESTC R16291	80,066	92

and hath set up that which is more Evangelical truth it self in which there is no shadow of change and it is binding upon the souls of all true Christians and that by which they are bound one to another and every word promise or testimony that go out of their hearts and mouths they by it are bound to keep least they fall into condemnation but their yea is yea and nay is nay and whatsoever is more then this cometh of evil and therefore they do not cannot nor dare not go beyond this or that which doth but amount to as much and there needs no more among true Christians Now as to them who are in the contention and strife and unbelief and oathes works of the flesh as variance discord whom the Law hath power over and is against as long as they live in such estate it s granted that the Law was added because of these transgressions and is against such and how far swearing can be binding among evil contentious unconscionable Men that make no conscience of any thing who cannot believe one another nor give credit to one another without swearing experience hath manifested whether they judge one another to be believed better by swearing then without swearing that 's little to us neither shall we meddle in contentious matters nor have to do with striving Men as little as possible but rather suffer wrong then wrong our consciences by swearing which we are perswaded by Christ we ought not to right our selves as hitherto we have done and have peace blessed be God in our hearts however we could rejoice and be glad to see all Men be at peace and agree and it s our desire to live in that love and we shall seek it with Men and to be at peace as much as in us lyes even in that love that works no evil nor thinks no evil but believeth all things and beareth all things and so carries beyond strife and oaths but if they will not be without Oathes in Courts and Judicatures we are cleer in the matter if they exact upon us and do as they have done to the undoing ruining of many in this World we must be content knowing it better to suffer wrong then do it and shall acquiesce and rest in the will of God till he plead our cause and open the hearts of Men to see through the Clouds of error and ignorance that is over their consciences Yet how ever this I must needs say this frequent common prophane swearing that hath exalted its Horn more of late years is one of the crying sins of England that Gods anger is against and will draw down his judgment and kindle the indignation which hangs over this Nation not only because of those that command Men to swear contrary to Christs command and that for to establish cruelty and injustice but also that swore falsly and vainly and that against their knowledge for their own profit and the disadvantages of others to accomplish their wicked malicious and revengeful designes against the innocent who dare not swear at all and thereby are made a pray to the teeth of Wolves and to the wills of corrupt Men who take occasion as it were to plow long Furrowes upon the backs of the poor and needy for which things sake the wrath of God will be poured out upon the head of the wicked and the Nation shall be on heaps and the wise Men shall be turned backwards and their Table shall be a snare and the curse shall be upon the rebellious and they shall fall and be broken and rise no more and this may justly befall this Nation because of Oaths and because of Oppression And oh much pittied Nation it may be said of thee truly as the Prophet Hosea 4. 2 3. Because of swearing and lying and killing and stealing and whoring they break out and blood toucheth blood therefore shall the Land mourn and every one that dwells therein shall be cut off Oh what sad times do we behold nothing but extreames of evil are presented to our eyes and eares some do little but swear ordinarily commonly and vainly in all kind of communication and conversation not only in their usual outer sourses in Courts with Judges and Magistrates but in their ho●ly discourses also with other Men in Cities Townes Princes and great Mens Courts and places Vniversities Colledges almost all Houses at least all Talvernes and Ale-houses and in the open Streets and Assemblies almost every where are full of dreadful Oathes and Mens discourses interwoven with execrable and direful Oaths even as it were daring God to confound them and damn them and such like and though there be divers Laws against swearing vainly and forswearing yet these are not looked at but how should we exspect that they should look at the execution of the Laws of Men which are good who heeds not the Law of God and are so buzzed now a days with over-executing those intangling Laws that are extant for Oaths and forswearing to intrap and insnare poor innocent men who dare not swear at all but keep the Commands of Christ so that there is no leisure lost to look after those most wholsome and profitable Laws of both God and the King which are against vain Oaths and forswearing which the Land abounds with the like hath not been in any age which is a sad presage of the Judgment of God to be at hand And last of all A. S. he says hath done and he fears it 's more and time to have done with the Exposition of those words and so comes to application and so he speaks to all in general who at that time or any other may be legally called to take their oaths which you have heard vindicated to be lawfull notwithstanding the seeming opposition of these words Swear not at all but those must be understood of necessary Oaths and your Righteousness is to exceed the Scribes and Pharisees but they condemned perjury in the verse immediately before mytext and your warrant for swearing is in Jer. 4. 2. which thence appears not only lawful but in some cases necessary Reply It 's more then time indeed to have done to pervert Christ's plain Doctrine with his imaginary Exposition and what he counts legally called seeing Christ prohibited it is not of much force neither will A. S. Vindication stand against the real opposition of Christs words Swear not at all but his seeming Vindication will in the day of the Lord when the secrets of all hearts shall be manifest by Jesus Christ when the book of Conscience shall be opened will be found to be in real opposition unto Christ and his reward will be according to his workes who hath by his work strengthen'd the hand of evil doers and persecutors to the adding affliction to affliction upon the Righteous and if the words must be understood of necessary Oaths then there is none necessary among Christs true Disciples who commanded let your yea be yea or

Oaths no Gospel Ordinance But prohibited by CHRIST Being in ANSWER TO A. SMALLWOOD D. D. TO HIS Book lately published being a Sermon Preached at Carlile 1664. wherein he hath laboured to prove Swearing lawful among Christians his Reasons and Arguments are weighed and answered and the Doctrine of Christ Vindicated against the Conceptions and Interpretations of Men who would make it void By a Sufferer for Christ and his Doctrine F. H. Because of Oaths the Land mourneth Jer. 33. 10 11 12 c. By Swearing and lying and killing and stealing and committing Adultry they break out and blood toucheth blood therefore shall the Land mourn and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish Hosea 4. 2 3. Printed in the Year 1666. To the Reader READER TRuth never had that advantage nor countenance from the men of this world though wise in their generation since sin entered into it to have the approbation of the World neither of the powers and Potentates thereof for it alwaies hated the truth because it bore witness against the World and the deeds and works thereof which are evil for Wisdom is only justified of her Children and Truth is justified of her Children neither indeed doth it need any other Patron to shelter it self under but the God of all Truth from whence it proceeds neither shall I seek a shelter neither run to any mountain or hill for safety or protection nor to the mighty of the Earth as many of latter dayes have done to Patronize their Labours and to make them the more acceptable and to be the sooner and more readily received But seeing the Apostle saith Not many wise not many rich not many noble are chosen but he hath chosen the weak and poor and despised of the world who are rich in Faith and good works who are heirs of the promise and of the world to come I chuse only to be approved to the witness of Christs light in every mans Conscience and to the measure of his holy Spirit which he hath placed in every man to that only I desire to be either approved or by it reproved for wholly unto the judgment of that in every Conscience I appeal and do commend this ensuing Discourse in the sight of God and the Answer unto Smalwood's Book who hath sought to make void Christs command for to obey the command of men as is manifest in his Epistle Dedicatory to the Gentlemen of Cumberland For it seems by his Epistle they put him on work to Preach and Print this Sermon whether upon this subject or not I shall not determine but however he sayes he hath obeyed their commands though he hath laboured as much as in him lies to make the command of Christ void and the Apostles Doctrine by his Arguments which he hath raised to prove Christs Doctrine one thing and his intention another and so would blind the minds of people only to establish the Doctrines of men and the Traditions of men in the Apostacy and hath put divers Constructions upon the plain words of the Scripture and interpretation to prove his false Assertion that he laid down at the first that Christ did not forbid all swearing I say I could have willingly have been silent rather then to be found over and over again contending with every new opposer of those old truths that have been believ'd and received long before the Apostacy entered in which hath been answer'd by that People I own in judgment and conversation long ago to let pass those disadvantages we have adventered upon our low persecuted imprisoned and in a manner condemned condition so that we may exspect our words how true soever yet they are not like to gain much credit against such an eminent man as Doctor Smallwood Again considering how we expose our selves to the lash and severity of a sharp law which some men in their blind zeal are far more ridged and severe in their Prosecution of it then I am apt to believe the supream enactors of it were in their intentions when they did inact it all which notwithstanding are no discouragement unto me for as much as the internal and eternal truth of our God which we have known received and believed is very precious in our eyes yea far more then either life or liberty and estate which some have forfeited and lost upon Truths account or any external treasure or outward enjoyment whatsoever so that considering how the truth lies at stake we cannot be silent least thereby we should appear to some mens apprehensions as to be satisfied with what the Doctor hath said and own his Arguments Reasons that he hath laid down for possitive truth I could do no less then to show our dislike of his Doctrine and to manifest the weakness of his Arguments about this particular of Swearing at all under the Gospel though he hath strained very hard to prove his Assertion that Oaths may lawfully he taken by Christians in some cases notwithstanding Christs prohibition and command to the contrary but of how little effect or force his Reasons are thou wilt see in the ensuing Discourse although his Book be looked upon by some to be sufficient force to convince all gain-sayers and although he say he hath had divers Papers and Books of Dissenters who are of a contrary judgment where he found any Reason offered against what he hath laid down for Doctrine he hath answered though indeed he hath over-riden the most weighty matters in them and hath said little but that hath been said before by other opposers of Christs Doctrine though its very like the Doctor will count this but a loose Discourse as he hath done others of very great weight yea indeed of more weight and reason in them then any thing he hath exhibited yet to the contrary and so count it not worth taking notice of but though he do not it is not of much moment for that end only I have writ to bear my testimony for Christs Doctrine against all the false and feigned interpretations of men being that which I have stedfastly believed and is of that force and weight upon many Consciences and so evident by the Spirit of Christ that they can receive nothing of mans faln reason and conceptions which are variable and changable to answer or weigh down the Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles and Primitive Christians who walked in the order of the Gospel and obeyed the Commands of Christ before the Apostacy entered in and the power was lost and the life and Spirit of Christ erred from and mingled the Ordinances of the first and second Covenant together and the injunctions of men among them for Doctrine and then compelled all to receive it all this long time of Antichrists reign and the false Church visibility wherein she hath sitten as a Queen upon the Waters which are the Nations Kindreds Tongues and People which A. S. brings as a great argument to prove Swearing in use among Christians since Christ gave

the observation of those things which did not make perfect as pertaining to the Conscience Heb. 8. 9. Heb. 9. 9. and for all these texts he alledges out of the Old Testament Mat. 6. 13. Psal. 63. 11. Jer. 12. 16. unto these it hath been answered that this proves nothing that Christians under the second Covenant should swear as they did in the first for these Precepts were only to keep them from Idolatry for Jer. 12. 16. If you will diligently learn the ways of my people to swear by my name the Lord liveth as they taught my people to swear by Baal then shall they be builded in the midst of the people And the 6. of Deut. 13 14. is to the same effect You shall fear the Lord and serve him and swear by my name And Verse the 14. Ye shall not go after other Gods All these only prove that the Nations went after other Gods and sware by them and served them and Israel too prone to follow their manners did so also and therefore he gave them these Precepts to serve him and fear him and acknowledge him to keep them from Idolatry as hath been said in the state of their Minority and weakness and that before the seed was revealed and that which A. S. calls a prophesie by Isa. 19. 18. of Christians swearing under the Gospel it s no such thing but a prophesie of Aegipt his joyning to the Jewes and owning their worship and their God and acknowledge him and do sacrifice and oblation yea and vow a vow unto the Lord and performe it ver 21. Which clearly hath relation to the Law and the Worship of the Jewes and not to the Gospel so that A. S. might have as well said it was a promise how Christians under the Gospel should offer sacrifice and oblations as under the Law as well as swear But the Doctor hath traversed many paths which are crooked winding and turning to gather something together and hath fetched it farre to prove swearing under the Gospel but all his proofe falls short of his matter by much And that of Isaiah the 5. 23. is a prophesie of Israels return out of the Captivity of Babylon in the days of Cyrus whom the Lord called his anoynted and shepherd Isa. 44. 28. 45. who made a Decree for all Israel to go out of Assyria to Jerusalem and build their City and their Temple and Worship their God according as he had commanded as may be seen at large in the Book of Ezra and Nebemiah and this was fulfilled then when they builded the City and the Temple in those days long before Christ was manifest in the flesh and then did Israel return and every knee did bow and every tongue did swear by the Lord which before the Captivity had not bowed nor served nor acknowledged his Name but Idols which provoked the Lord and therefore gave he them into the hand of the Babylonians for seventy years till they were humbled and then brought them back according to Jeremiah Isaiah Haggai and Zachariah's Prophesies for this was fulfilled then is spoken by Isaiah in this Prophesie Isaiah 5. ver 23 24 25. without contradiction to Christs command and his command entrencheth not upon this prophesie neither doth this make the Gospel thwart the Law beyond all terms of reconciliation as A. S. vainly suggests in his margent for this prophesie was fulfilled long before Christ gave forth this command swear not at all Moreover if this prophesie have any relation to the state of the Christian Church as A. S. supposes upon what ground I know not saving his own affirmation then we shall consider and see how it is fulfilled under the Gospel and what the Gospel allowes of in this particular the Apostle Paul a Minister of the Gospel not of the Letter as he saith himself which some interprets to be the Law citeth this prophesie of Isa. 45. 23. compare it with Rom. the 14. ve 11. for it is written where in Isaiah before cited As I live saith the Lord every knee shall bow unto me and every tongue shall confess to God and in Philippians the 2. v. 10 11. that at the Name of Jesus whom the Father hath sent whom all is to obey unto whom all power is given in Heaven and Earth the Apostle citing again the very words of the Prophet says unto him viz. Jesus every knee shall bow and ver the 11. and that every tongue shall confess to the glory of God the Father so that it cannot be reasonably thought or judged that if God had required swearing by his name among Christians as among the Jewes that the Apostle thus should alter the words as to put confessing instead of swearing seeing he says he used always plainness of speech for this had not been plainness and we have better reason to believe the Apostle unto whom the Gospel was committed whom the son was revealed in who declared the whole Council of God and yet never either commanded or exhorted any to swear or reproved them for not swearing by the name of God as the Jewes did in all his writings that are extant I say we have better ground to believe him and his rendering of the words of the Prophet to be according to the mind of Christ where he puts in confession to the Christians which before was swearing to the Jewes as being acquainted with the command of Christ Mat. 5. 23. Swear not at all and what ever A. S. look upon it as to be Heresie and derogatory both to the Scriptures and God himself it is not much matter of Man's judgment he might as well accuse Christ and the Apostle the one forbidding to swear and the other for deminishing from the Scripture and altering the Prophets words and though it seems strange to A. S. yet it is not to us that some Men was commanded in the Old Testament for observing some things yea many things which is condemned in the New and yet God is not dishonoured neither the Scripture broken if we see the end of every command and the time for which it served and the service for which it served as this about Oaths hath been sufficiently declared before to keep the Jewes from Idolatry to end strife among them where it was but among true Christians indeed strife is ended and peace is come and they seek it with all Men and that is done away for which the Law was added to wit sin and transgression diffidence and unbelief and strife and no necessity of them among them and all the morality that doth remain is confession or saying or testimony in true words in any matter is that which is equivolent with an oath and is that which is the most conforme to Christ and the Apostles Doctrine under the Gospel but I come to his last Argument Twelfth and last Argument The consent of the Christian world the practice of Emperours Kings Princes Councils Bishops and people of all sorts confirme this truth that