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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	good_a	love_n	love_v	4,903	5	6.7044	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A90903	A summons for svvearers, and a law for the lips in reproving them wherein the chiefe disswasives from swearing are proposed, the sleight objections for swearing answered, the strange judgments upon swearers, forswearers, cursers, that take Gods name in vain, related. Which may be a terror to the wicked for swearing, and a preservative for the godly from swearing. With sundry arguments to prove the verity of the Scriptures, and excellencie of the decalogue, against all prophane and atheisticall deniers thereof. By Walter Powell, preacher at Standish, neer Glocester.	Powell, Walter, b. 1590 or 91.	1645 (1645)	Wing P3098; Thomason E1228_1; ESTC R203197	141,220	287

unto God as a witnesse by oath especially when that is to be averred which in the conscience lies concealed The reason of Oathes is grounded upon this point that forasmuch as it is presumed upon by all men that they doe believe that there is a God unto whom all secrets are open and of whom faith and truth is well liked And that on the other side he is much offended with lies and hath so great regard of justice that he will inflict worthy punishment on such as forsweare themselves It was received by a common consent and custome of all men to use and take the name of God the God of all men for witness when we would have men credit those things which we ascertaine and confirme by oath to be true and appoint God to be the revenger thereof in case we doe sweare any thing that is false Seeing all nations were accustomed to swear by the names of their Gods therefore the Israelites here were accustomed to sweare by the glorious name of the Lord their God The Ends of an Oath are 1. That doubts may be cleared 2. Good causes furthered and bad suppressed 3. Authority obeyed Divine and Humane 4. Gods glory in all much promoted Such an Oath when we publickly take Why men swear laying hands on a book 4. Causes we doe it by laying our hand upon the Bible or Evangelists 1. That the Swearer remembring the benefit of the redemption by Christ might be the more afraid to sweare that which is false This love of Christ should constrain us to love him againe by speaking nothing but the truth 2. That the Swearer might know the multitude of witnesses Father Sonne and holy Ghost that abide beholders of his oath and therefore his offence in swearing falsly to be so much the greater by how many the more behold it 3. That the swearer might deliberate what to speak and might not afterwards say that he was suddenly and unadvisedly taken and urged to testifie what he did 4. That as the Scriptures are true so is what he sweareth free from falshood 1. Vses 1. For the justification of the godly from time to time that have taken oathes and of the Lawes of the Land herein that doe maintain the same as lawfull to decide many controversies which otherwise could not be decided Heb. 6.16 2. Vse 2. Anabaptist For confutation of the Anabaptists which utterly condemne all kind of swearing as utterly unlawfull because of Christ his words Matth. 5.34 Sweare not at all but let your Yea be Yea and your Nay Nay So the Manichees utterly rejected the old Testament Manichees Deut. 6.13 because it commanded to sweare by the name of God Deut. 6.13 Yea Jerome Hieron in Matth. a learned Father held that the liberty of swearing by the Name of God was only granted unto the Jewes as unto little children lest they should sweare by Devils even as saith he God would have sacrifices offered unto him rather then to Idols Homil. 7. in Matth. The error of the Anabaptists is so stiffly maintained because of the ill understanding of the fore-mentioned words Matth. 5.34 Hereby they would make Christ contrary to his Father as though he had been sent down upon the earth to abrogate the decree of his Father Exo. 22.11 seeing his Father doth not only permit but also command an Oath But Christ affirmes that He is one with the Father affirming what he doth and his Doctrine not his own Joh. 10.18.30 Now should God disallow what he once enjoyned and abrogate what at first he absolutely commanded If we look into the text we shall perceive that the purpose of our Saviour was not to restrain oathes but only to purge the Law from the false Glosses of the Scribes and Pharisees not wholly condemning oathes but such only as transgresse the rules of the Law It appears that the people then only feared and shunned Perjuries when as the Law did not only inhibit perjuries but all idle vain and superfluous oathes For Christ the best expositor of the Law informed and admonished them that not forswearing but also vain swearing was a sin and a breach of the Law Vain swearing I say For other Oathes by the Law commanded or commended he leaves untouched as safe and free Whereas they the Anabaptists dwell so unremoveably upon the word Non omnino not at all we must know that it is not to be restrained unto the word Swearing but to the subjected formes of swearing by heaven earth c. For that was the error of the Jewes that they thought when they sware by heaven earth or such like oathes they took not Gods name in vain nor transgressed this third Precept if they named not God in their oathes Therefore our Saviour took away all colour of excuse or objection seeing when they sware either by heaven or earth the light Baptisme never naming the name of God they notwithstanding did indirectly take Gods name in vain seeing all these benefits are pledges of his liberality and on every of them his name remains engraven Not at all saith Aug. Augustine not because to sweare is a sin but because to forsweare is a great sin Christs meaning then is Sweare not at all that is not at all by any creature upon what pretence soever or not at all by God himselfe falsly or unadvisedly neither disorderly for affection nor childishly for imitation nor desperately for custome nor cunningly for deceit Oher oathes which fail not in the conditions required in Jer. Jerem. 4.2 4.2 S. Iames mislikes not Christ condemneth not If Christs meaning had been to allow of no swearing at all why should that addition be made neither by heaven nor earth c to have said Sweare not at all had been sufficient And Christ himselfe who was a pattern of perfection would not have sworn so often neither his Apostles would so frequently have assumed God as their witnesses Rom. 1.9 2 Cor. 1.23 And the Apostle Heb. 6 16. acknowledgeth an Oath to be the last remedy and means for the ending of controversies If it be lawfull it doth not derogate from but advance Gods glory as we see by the Prophets position Jerem. 4.2 Thou shalt swear The Lord liveth in truth judgement and righteousness and the Nations shall bless and praise him How doe the Nations praise the Lord For that the Nations doe sweare by his Name they doe praise him i. they doe make his Name glorious when they doe give credit to them that doe sweare by it and doe find so great observance and reverence thereof in the Swearer that he doth alwayes perform the same which he hath sworn By the fore mentioned place of Heb. 6. it is cleare that an oath is not evill for as he that doth begin strifes among other or hinder their atonement is reputed anoysome enemy a peace-breaker Matth. 5.9 a child of the Devill and therefore cursed so that must needs be a

will be alledged 2. The Swearers sins increased 3. The edge of our zeale abated If David had good cause to destroy all the wicked in the land early Ps 101.8 then have we no colour to rebuke or correct black-mouth'd swearers lately yet let there bee no more hast then good speed If thou in the company of Swearers art an inferiour and there be other superiours thou art a private and other are publick persons Magistrates or Ministers then expect one of them to performe the dutie of reprehension that so from the gravitie or greatnesse of the person reproving the reproof it selfe may the more piercingly work and ungainsayably be entertained in respect of the authority calling and estimation of the person whence it proceeds as a man suddenly falling sick rather takes the prescription of an experienced Physitian there present in the company then of an ordinary meaner person standing by But if such a Physitian be carelesse in prescribing a remedy better it is for any to put to his helping hand then the suddenly sick Patient to sink away in a swound If thou perceivest such superiours Magistrates or Ministers to be slack as very few are forward enough in this dutie then others coldnesse must put an edge to thy zeale their silence untie the strings of thy tongue to stand for the honour of thy God endevouring by thy due admonition to remove the Devill from possessing the heart and tongue of the swearer and to raise his siege from assaulting the heart and eare of the hearer which otherwise for want of wise reproofe might endanger the body and soule of either And so Satan should with Caesar triumphantly say with change of one of his three words veni dixi vici I came to the heart and lips of the Swearer I spake to the eare and heart of the non-reprover and without any opposition have in an instant obtained the victory against one and the other When thou perceivest this office of admonition to be sleighted by those which for place and abilitie might in better manner more fitly and to better purpose performe it be not overmannerly by straining curtesie who shall begin first for some one must strike some must strive how else can there be a combat how else a conquest The Devill himselfe first making the assault some one must as speedily counterpoyse his assault That our celeritie may answere his sedulitie and the Lord beholding our zeale for him may assist us in the combat and crown us with the victory so shall such as are as strong as we by our pious examples be confirmed such as are as yet colder shall be encouraged we our selves shall have more heart to resist Satan and he lesse power to assault us Being I hope by this time animated to perform this biparted dutie of reprehension or correction of Swearers let us listen to the direction in the fourth particular to wit the manner how we must perform it 4. part the manner how 4. The manner how 1. By our works towards them 2. By our words with them 3. By our departure from them 1. Reprove swearing and Swearers we must by our deeds our own purity and freedome from the sinne As we must be holy because God is holy so we must be pure as he is pure 1 Joh 3.9 That thou mayst have the more comfortable successe in banishing this sinne from thy Family thou must be sure that thou banish it first from thine own heart Thou being a Magistrate Minister Father Master must cause thy practice to bee as powerfull as thy naked precept For if thou practice thy selfe what thou reprovest in another thou hereby bluntest the edge of thy reprehension and emboldenest him in his sinne and tansgression Lesser Planets look to those that bee greater Regis ad exemplum totus componitur or bis A bove majoridiscit arare miner and the meaner sort look to those that be higher from whom there is great force to draw inferiours either to good or evill Great men are like to great stones in the wall if they stand the wall stands if they fall many of the little stones soon clatter after They are like to a garden full of sweet Flowers if they be well ordered Labans sheep conceived according to the rods laid before their eyes Gen. 30 37 c. their examples yeeld much good savour prosperity counsell comfort encouragement to inferiours beholding them but they are like dunghils if they bee ill ordered they be contagious and noysome to such as are about them their poyson is strong and their infection dangerous Men desire to find occasion whereupon to refuse the means ordained for their good If they can espy any fault in those that reprove or admonish them then they presently imagine that such should neither reprove nor punish repelling all their sayings with the proverb Medice cura teipsum heale first thy selfe And to say the truth we can have no countenance to reprove or courage to punish swearing in others when we our selves make no conscience to commit the same The Pharisees lost their authority because they taught and did not He that wil have others do what he commands Judg. 9. must speak in the stile of Abimeleeh What thou hast seen me doe make haste and doe like me I and my house sayth Josuah 24.15 will serve the Lord I first then my house not first my house and then I. A small fault in Magistrates Ministers Parents Masters is as a Wart or Mole in the midst of the face which cannot be hid It is as a spot on a Ruffe or a Beacon on the top of an hill If the eye bee darke how great will that darknesse be Matth. 6.23 Men most greedily gaze on the Sunne when it is eclipsed so the multitude and inferiours more willingly discourse of the imperfections and vices of their governours and superiours then of their vertues thereby hoping to justifie themselves and so to escape unpunished uncontrolled The best rule then to have this law against swearing well executed is for Superiours first to keep it themselves in their owne persons it being the nature of man rather to be led by reason and example then by precept penaltie or force of Law the lives of their superiours being by them esteemed the fairest and safest copie they can rule their actions by They doe more good by their godly practice then by their vertuous precepts and more harme by their bad example then by their sin because being swearers themselves they convey the poison of their corruption into the bowells of the beholders Amend it in thy selfe or else endeavour it not in others 2. 2. By words Reprove Swearers we must by our words It is the most thanklesse office in the world to be a mans Pandar unto sin In other wrongs one man is a wolfe to another in this a Devill And though at first this damnable service carry away a reward yet in conclusion it is requited with hatred

and frequent in reprehending for hee is patient and full of compassion There is nothing so cold as lead Sol. nothing so scalding if it bee heated nothing so blunt as Iron nothing so piercing if it be sharpened nothing so calm as the Sea in a boysterous weather nothing so tempestuous nothing so milde as the Elephant nothing so cruel if once intaged nothing so mercifull as God and if still provoked nothing so terrible to sinfull swearers that continue to take his name in vain hee will not hold them guiltlesse Now will God not spare but certainly punish such persons and shall man that was created after his Image in righteousnesse and true holinesse and must be just holy and pure as God is 1 Joh. 3.9 1 Joh. 3.9 Shall a man I say refuse to reprehend with tongue whom God will severely punish with hands God forbid If we are afraid to touch them with the scabbard of reprehension we would be much more a fraid to smite them with the sword of punishment the sharp edge of correction If wee confesse God before men wee shall be confessed before him at the last day but if wee deny him here we shall be denyed before him there Matth. 10 32 33. Mat. 10.32 33. Parents would not take it well at their children if they should heare them abused and evill spoken of by other slanderous persons and would not open their lips to reprehend the slanderer and stand in the defence of the credit and name of their wronged Father When Croesus as Herodotus relates was assaulted in the sight of his dumb Son they say the force of nature wrought so forcibly with him that it loosed the strings of his tongue and he cryed out Homo ne perdas Croesum O man kill not Croesus The story I leave to be defended by the Authour this is certain no outward action more cleares our inward grace of adoption arguing us indeed to be the sons of God then when wee are truly sensible of dishonour offered to our heavenly Fathers name wee imbark our selves in his quarrels Do not I hate them that hate thee and am not I grieved with them that rise up against thee yea I hate them with a perfect hatred Psal 139.21 as though they were mine enemies Psal 139.21 How many have vainly spilt their blood for the defence of their Mistresses beauty or their own imaginary reputation which had they done in the defence of God and his Religion against blasphemous swearers and hellish cursers they had undoubtedly purchased both the renown and the reward of martyrdome I finde this duty of reprehending Swearers but rawly performed Object 2. therefore I forbear also If one Judge in one Circuit hath spared the hanging of a malefactor Sol. must another Judge in the next Circuit therefore forbeare to punish him Shine thou as a light in the midst of a crooked and dark nation If thou refuse to do it also then thou increasest the number of wicked and crooked persons By Precepts we are to be directed which are good and not by examples which are bad Performe it thy self then shalt thou cause others to imitate thee and so make many where none were sincerely zealous before Wee say the Gardner is the cause that weeds do grow because he letteth them grow and so it may be said in Church and Commonwealth of them that will not rebuke sin because they will not be medlers but if we do but stand by Act. 7.5 8. 8.1 and look on as Saul did wee are made allowers of the fact When thou sawest a thiefe thou consentedst Psal 50.18 Peter makes the Jews murtherers Psal 50.18 Acts 4. because they were allowers of it I finde such ill successe when I do reprove Object 3. as that few have been bettered or amended thereby Though it be said of the belly Sol. Psal 58.4 Venter non habet aures yet it may be as truly said of the tongue of the Swearer Lingua non habet aures the tongue hath no eares for as the Swearer doth imitate the poyson of the Adder in his tongue so hee the deafnesse of the Adder in his eare stopping his earelike the Adder and will not hearken to the voyce of the charmer yet discharge thou thy duty and leave the successe to God No man doth cast away as it were and spend in vain so much as the Lord doth how many Sermons spends he in vain how many promises in vain how many threatnings in vain how many things commandeth and forbiddeth he in vain men nothing esteeming them and yet he ceaseth not Shall we herein expect to fare better then the Lord Shall we not as good children of so good a Father still labour in discharging our duty though by our admonition or correction we find little amendment considering we shall receive a reward not according to our successe but according to our labour 1 Cor. 15. Thou by Gods blessing many times shalt find such good successe even beyond hope and expectation as that thou wilt have just cause to rejoyce in the performing of thy duty and to praise God for his blessing upon it Naturall motions gather strength in moving do thou begin this duty whether of reprehension or punishment as thy calling and conscience shall round thee in the eare and then see whether though thou find some rubs oppositions and gain-sayings at the first yet the further thou wadest in this duty the more easie thou shalt find the passage and the means more ready to compasse thy intended purpose Thou shalt have greater comfort in thy conscience more respect to thy person more power in thy words by Gods blessing to prevail with them and they lesse power in their actions and their courses to gainsay thee They by this thy diligence may be converted and thou shine gloriously in heaven thou without this canst not have thy duty discharged or ever live comfortably on earth I believe Object 4. that they in their ordinary swearing mean no ill do it but in jest and for fashion I should but seem to shame them and seeke my own glory in reproving them If they are not ashamed to utter ill oathes will they be ashamed to heare good words Sol. If it be discredit to wander out of the way is it not a credit to return into the right way againe It is wonder that the imputation of a common swearer should be so odious and the practice so frequent amongst men wherefore either seem to be as thou art or else to be as thou wouldest seem either make care and conscience that thou rashly utter not oathes or else be content that a man call a Spade a Spade a Swearer a Swearer When Thespis the first Stage-player was asked if he were not ashamed to utter so many untruths in so worthy an audience he answered he did it in sport To whom wise Solon replied if we approve and commend this sport

David in Gods Tabernacle aime to attain to his courage and resolution He that telleth lies and blasphemeth Gods name shall not tarry in my sight Psal 101.7 or dwell in my house I will hasten soon to be rid of all such wicked persons lest they should bring Gods judgments upon mine house and plagues upon the whole land whose wrath already seems to be incensed against the same the coals whereof no otherwise can bee quenched then by having courage and resolution against this other sins and by making our hearts springs our heads fountaines and our eyes rivers of teares nay let us turn our fountaine of teares into a stream our streame into a flood and that flood into an ocean and let that ocean be bottomlesse and that spring boundlesse that God may be pleased to forgive all our sinnes and remove all his fearfull judgements which hee hath threatned and crown us with those Myriads of blessings which he hath promised to all those that love him and leave their sins and sanctifie the great holy and glorious Name of God in giving laud honour and praise to the same for ever So much be spoken of the fifth use The sixth and last followeth scil of imitation God holds not swearers guiltilesse Vse 6. For imitation Psa 39.1 So must not we I will keep my mouth with a bridle I will take beed unto my way that I off end not in my tongue saith the sweet Singer of Israel which one lesson Pambus a famous professor in the primitive Church plying hard nineteen whole years together as Socrates in his Ecclesiasticall history speakes out of his own mouth yet could not learne it so perfectly as to take out anew which the author imputes not so much to the dulnesse of the scholar as to the difficultie of the lesson insomuch that if there be any man that offends not in his tongue the same is a perfect man and able to bridle his own body But because this difficultie of bridling this little-great unruly member is so great and the danger breaking forth by neglect so manifold therefore am I willing and as it were inforced to stand the longer and with Pambus to bestow the greater pains about the same God will not hold them guiltless that take his name in vain saith the Text. Therefore we imitating God after whose image we were created must oppose this sinne to the uttermost of our power by setting our selves against the sin of them that set themselves against God himselfe The wicked fact of Jezabel covering bloody impietie in proclaiming a Fast when she would have Naboth slain for blasphemy 1 King 21.9 10. shewes the custome of those times was both to punish and have publick humiliation for such sins lest the wrath of God should come upon the land for the same And when good King Hezekiah heard the blasphemy which Rabshakeh uttered against the Lord he fell to his prayers and to humble himselfe before God Shall this good King doe this for another mans blasphemy and shall not wee doe the like for our owne but continue in swearing and suffer others to continue therein without any redresse of others and remorse for our own sins We must resemble God in our zeale here or else not reigne with him in glory hereafter God 1. Reproves and punisheth swearing 2. Is himself pure from it 3. Absents himselfe from the company of such We must be holy as he is holy pure as he is pure just as he is just In the application of this last use I will propose and prosecute these particulars 1. The matter what we must doe 2. The men whom we must reprove 3. The time when 4. The manner how 5. The motives why And when I have run through these particular passages you may expect a period to this discourse of swearing and reproving the same 1. The matter what We must reprove and punish this sin of swearing 1 The matter what if ever we expect the suppression thereof Reprove and punish for I joyn them both together because reproofe is a verball punishment and punishment a reall reproof herein following the method of Mr. Perkins that judicious Divine who on Mat. 7.5 confounds reproof and correction together And to some it appertains to reprove only according to their conscience and calling and to others both to reprove and punish such are Magistrates in respect of subjects Masters in respect of servants Tutors in respect of scholars Parents in respect of children and housholders in respect of their families For every King or mighty Monarch is but Magnus Paterfamilias a great housholder and every housholder is parvus Rex a little King in his family And therefore if Kings may and ought to make lawes for the suppressing of this Gangren-like disease that hath fearfully already over-spread Court Citie Countrey Kingdome then also may and ought every Magistrate Parent Master Housholder make some lawes and take some sharp course that this horrid hellish sinne may at length be banished from our lips eares and land Some sharp course I say some having power and authority to deale herein more sharply then others that so privat men privatly in their owne families may in time effect that which by a more publick law and sharp punishment were to be wished to be enacted for the whole land Till some such sharp course and generall law by some godly Phineas be procured let us in our severall callings goe so farre as Gods word doth enjoyn and mans law permit for the suppressing this sinne which being so directly and immediatly practised against God himselfe cannot bee too much preached against by his ministers For if you say to me Why doe you harp so long upon this string I say to you Why do you continue so long in this sinne Your practice your practice which hath been evill hath occasioned my preaching which then hath been good if by this great pains and long labour you are at length brought to the sight of the greatnesse of this your sinne and the severity of Gods judgements against the same that so you may endeavour to perform for the good of others also which I endevour now to perswade you unto namely to reprove and punish swearers Reprove I say and punish for I told you ere-while that in this discourse I confound both together and you in the application may be pleased to take them asunder You who are Masters Parents Governours whose calling is to punish when I name reprove understand you punish And you whose calling is to reprove onely when I name punish understand you reprove that so my speech may not be misapplied that is rightly intended but that the fish of your soules may be caught by one of those baits you performing one of these duties reproving or punishing swearers And so relying upon Gods good blessing for successe I lanch into the deep intreating you to suffer this net of Gods word not to swim in the shallownesse of

your eares alone but also to sink into the depth of your hearts that so at length you may have true cause to say and sing with Zacheus O God I thanke thee this day is salvation come into my house I that before blasphemed thy name by my vain rash hellish oathes now am perswaded resolved to endevour to sanctifie thy name by reproving punishing others that do blaspheme the same that so hereby my repentance to others may be manifested their conversion to themselves assured the former negligence of either by the future diligence of both requited and countervalued And so from the wide gates I make haste into the little Citie for feare you should imagine my gates to be greater then the Citie the windowes then the house the circumstance then the substance of this ensuing discourse That this duty of reproving and punishing swearers is to be performed is proved by the Prophet the only meanes to divert Gods vengeance from a land is to hinder sinne that men break not forth by swearing lying whoring stealing c. For these sins breaking forth Gods judgements break in But how shall I hinder either judgements or sinne Quest Verse 4. is added a cause why men break forth into this sinne Answ because they are not reproved Yet let no man strive nor rebuke one another intimating that the means that will hinder the breaking forth into this sinne is striving against by reproving and punishing the swearer For this people are as they that strive with the Priest sh●wing that Satan strives by the sinne of the swearer to overcome the admonitions of God in the mouth of the Minister And should not the Minister and every Reprover strive as much for the enlargement of the Lords Kingdome as the Swearer doth for the enlargement of the Devils There must be striving you see betweene the Swearer and the Reprover Think not saith our Saviour that I am come to send peace Matth. 10.34 I came not to send peace but warre We must have war with sinners before wee can have peace with God or our own souls If by our timely admonitions we plead not for Christ by our dumb silence we really plead against Christ He that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad If God be God let us cleave to him but if Baal be God and the sons of Belial true saints let us say nothing against but cleave unto them Yee cannot serve two masters Gog and Magog Christ and Antichrist your delight cannot be in the Saints and those that doe excell in vertue and your eares sheathes for those that break forth with swearing Therefore there must be no silence but striving contending And why should we refuse the combat and doubt of the victory Swearers have the world on their side we have the word They custome we conscience They men we God They darknesse we light They error we truth which is strongest of all Through Gods mercie and the might of Christ we shall be more then Conquerours But if wee refuse to strive for the Lord of Hosts then hath he a controversie and will strive against us Therefore shalt thou fall in the day and the Prophet also shall fall in the night both the swearer and the sufferer scil the non-reprover of him And will the Lord strive plead Iob. 12. 1 Sam. 15.22 Levit. 26.24 Psal 18.26 and have a controversie with us If hee come to wrastle with man though with the stoutest of men the commander of heaven and earth with dust and ashes it cannot but prove impar congressus an unmeet match as the wrastling of a Giant with a Dwarfe We can make no match with him who powreth contempt upon Princes if they contemne him Now looke how severe the Cedar would be towards the Shrub resisting him the mighty towards the meanest ten thousand times more will the Lord be in opposing and striving against those that oppose and strive against him Doth he in any wise command thou shalt rebuke thy neighbour Levit. 19.17 And shall I see and heare him swear and not open my mouth to sanctifie when his is open to pollute the glorious name of the Lord knowing herein what God commands and what I my self practice Shall I not herein professe my selfe an enemy to God by rejecting his word by hating his soule whose body I seem to love Doth God command Ephes 5.12 Have no fellowship with the unfruitfull workes of darknesse but rather reprove them And shall I sit with the swearer and drink with the drunkard plead not a word for God when others spue forth many oaths against him knowing herein what God commands and I my selfe practice Shall I not herein professe my selfe a striver against the Lord himselfe a hearer of his name taken in vain and therefore not to be held guiltlesse a lover of darknesse and therfore not a child of light Ephes 5.12 seeing I approve in not reproving the workes of darknesse which is the means the Apostle professeth for the frustrating this and all other works of darknesse When the Ark was present Dagon fell down they could not both stand together When the Ark of Reprehension comes in place the Dagon of darknesse will fall down Have no fellowship of needlesse long and daily familiarity with them by sitting lodging dwelling with such unfruitful works i. workers of darkness by approving defending countenancing extenuating their finfull swearing but rather reprove them for it as God the Fatther here doth Christ the Sonne Matth. 5. God the holy Ghost Jam. 5.12 Above all things c. Shall that which S. James above all things commands to be regarded least and last of all things be heeded remembred and observed Or was it needfull in his time and is it not in ours We are they that live in the last and worst dayes wherein it seemes to be a lesser offence to sweare ordinarily rashly falsly then to reprove men for their so swearing The first thing that our Saviour teacheth us to pray is that Gods name may be hallowed and shall it be our last care or rather no care at all to reprove such as doe dishonour the same Thus out of the Prophet and Apostle wee have heard what we must doe scil reprove punish swearers by all means possible striving against this sin that causeth God to strive against a whole land Secondly the men whom wee must reprove 2. The men whom The object is Swearers the extent is all Swearers The Lord will not hold him guiltless The greatnesse of the Oke the talnesse of the Cedar the smoothnesse of the Popler the greennesse of the Lawrell or the lownesse of the Shrub shall not exempt themselves from the blast and fiercenesse of this censure The greatnesse of the wealthy the meannesse of the poore the ignorance of the simple the knowledge of the learned the passions of the angry the mincing of oathes the unpunishing by the Magistrates shall not be placcards to defend men from this