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cause_n	death_n	sin_n	wage_n	2,391	5	11.9240	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A28819	An antidote against swearing to which is annexed an appendix concerning an assertory and promissory oath in reference to the stature of the two now flourishing sister universities : also a short catalogue of some remarkable judgments from God upon blasphemers, &c. / by R. Boreman ...	R. B. (Robert Boreman), d. 1675.	1662 (1662)	Wing B3755; ESTC R18222	86,033	206

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 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 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 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 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 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

rather imprecation was what I tremble to name The Devill take me The Devill when he was asleep took him in earnest and threw him out of a window by which disaster though he was not slain yet by the bruises and breaking of his bones in that fall he was so scared and affrighted with horrour and fear that he ever afterwards abstain'd from that horrid kind of imprecation 2. A certain Priest in Ruthnerwald wished if Luthers Doctrine against the Masse and Purgatory c. were true that a Thunderbolt might destroy him after 3. dayes a tempest with Lightning and Thunder so terrified him that he ran to the Church for Sanctuary and at his forc'd devotion was struck down flat to the ground who recovering and led homewards by a friend a flash of lightning burnt him to death so that his body was as black as hell it self I heartily wish that all those who have oft a God damn me in their hellish mouths would think of this fearful Judgement and fear lest God as he may in Justice do take them at their word or whilst that dreadful Curse is utter'd by their impure Tongues and causing the Earth to open its mouth throw them quick and alive into Hell to be tormented which is to be damn'd in those everlasting flames 3. That famous storie of Sir Gervase Elwais must not be omitted in this black Register who suffer'd on Tower-hill for having an hand in the death of Sir Thomas Overbury Before he suffered he was a picture of a true humble penitent and acknowledg'd with teares the just hand of God upon him for his rash and unpreserved vow which a great loss at Cards once occasion'd at which time he being very much troubled clapping his hand upon his brest vowed seriously and wished that if ever he played again he might be hang'd and now being upon the ladder he said to the glory of God God in Justice hath made me keep my imprecation and to pay my vow which I once utter'd with my tongue by this just though violent death And so wished all to take warning by his sad example to forbear and to be afraid of self-cursing and swearing and to abstain from that which is the usual cause of cursing and blaspheming viz. Gaming 3. Examples of Judgments upon Blasphemers 1. In the Year 1645. one W. Knot of Dalston in Cumberland being a common noted Swearer when he was servant to an Alderman of York fell into a Lead full of boyling liquor by which he within a few dayes after dyed By this means his foul Tongue which was set on fire of Hell Jam. 3.6 was washed in scalding water and felt a punishment fitted and proportioned to it Blessed was his punishment if that wretches Soul was thereby cleansed 2. One Hudson of the forenamed Town in Cumberland who was a notorious Swearer was struck dumb to his dying day and though he lived many years yet could speak nothing but swear by God and with this Blasphemy in his mouth he rendred his impure Soul I fear to the Devil and not to God 3. I received this Narrative from a Gentleman of the late E. of Oxford of a Dutch Merchant who in the year 1648. going to Loretto in a Wagon with four or five passengers more of whom the Reporter was one did swear and blaspheme in that horrid manner that he was a great offence to all the company who rebuked him for it though to no purpose for he proceeded still in his swearing upon every light occasion till at length whilest they were in their passage there brake into tne Wagon a black thing without any form or shape which was the Devil in a dark Cloud who by Gods command and appointment stopped the Blasphemers throat at which time he cried out as well as he could speak and called upon his master the Devil and said withall Oh he will choak me c. Upon this all the Gentlemen being in darknesse for there was a black stinking Mist in the Wagon drew their swords and leaped out of it and immediately looking into it they found him dead and his face with his whole body as black as a Cole at which sight they were all much terrified And I hope that all Blasphemers who shall peruse this and the fore-named stories will learn by them to forsake and abhor swearing lest the same or worser Judgments fall upon them Ex aliorum vulneribus medicamenta nostris faciamus Aug. Let us from other mens sores and sufferings make a Plaister to heal our own wounds FINIS