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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A33217 The religion of an oath a discourse proving the danger and immorality of rash and prophane swearing / by the late reverend and judicious Dr. Claggett. Clagett, William, 1646-1688. 1700 (1700) Wing C4392; ESTC R37673 15,974 32

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THE Religion of an Oath A DISCOURSE PROVING The Danger and Immorality OF Rash and Prophane Swearing By the late Reverend and Judicious Dr. Claggett Reprinted on Occasion of the Parliament's Address to His Majesty to Issue out His Proclamation against Immorality c. LONDON Printed for Will. Rogers at the Sun against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet 1700. THE Religion of an OATH c. MATTH V. 34 35 36 37. But I say unto you Swear not at all neither by heaven for it is God's throne nor by the earth for it is his footstool neither by Jerusalem for it is the City of the great King Neither shalt thou swear by thy head because thou canst not make one hair white or black But let your communication be Yea yea Nay nay for whatsoever is more than this cometh of evil THat Religion and the fear of God and a sense of his Authority are Principles supposed by the Laws of God is from hence evident that in great part the process of our Courts depends upon Testimony given under the obligation of an Oath for though the use of an Oath there is required by Humane Authority yet the peculiar obligation it lays upon us to speak the Truth is antecedent to all Humane Laws being founded originally upon our Duty to God Wherefore though an Oath in respect of some use and end of it may be a Civil Act yet in respect of the reason whereby it obligeth it is an Act of Religion for this reason it is highly conducible to the end of Civil Government to maintain a sense of Religion in the minds of men and particularly it must be of great use to make them observe those Laws of God which are plainly designed to secure the reverence which is due to an Oath and to keep men at a wide distance from the danger of Perjury Such is that Law of our Saviour which I have read to you which therefore doth not tend more to the Honour of God than to the Common Good of Mankind and this no man can be ignorant of who considers what a vast influence the use of an Oath hath upon all the Affairs of Humane Life This is that whereby we come to conside in one another about things of the greatest moment to our lives this is that which is so often necessary to secure our Properties to save us from wrong and to make even our Enemy to do us right it is this which all Processes in Courts of Judicature are governed by which is supposed to all Administrations of Justice and gives an end to all Controversies about matters of Fact which will be no otherways decided it is this which must either direct or misguide the wisest Magistrates and make their Sentence it self either right or wrong and by which we are either strongly guarded against Injury or almost inevitably exposed to it Of how great consequence therefore must it be to the good of all men to have the reverence of an Oath secured and to make every man tremble at the thought of Perjury since the World cannot be well-governed nor the Administrations of Justice go forward without the use of Oaths And yet we had better be without them in as many cases as there are wherein Men are not afraid to be Forsworn And yet alas it is the daily complaint of our Age That the fear of an Oath is almost banished out of the World And although it be really a thousand times more dreadful to profane the Name of God by calling him to be a witness to our Lies than it would be to play before the Mouth of a Cannon while it was Firing yet if we may believe the Reports which are sometimes made from Courts of Judicature there are very few Peasants so pusillanimous but they are hardy enough to Swear to any thing and with equal confidence to contradict one another in the plainest matters and when under an equal obligation to speak the Truth by the Invocation of the dreadful Name of God Now if we would enquire how the sacredness of an Oath is grown into such contempt I do not question but the common and frequent use of Swearing in our ordinary Conversation would be found at least accessary to that dishonour which is done to God and that mischief to men by the so frequent Perjuries of our Age. Oaths are grown so familiar with us that men have forgotten the nature and true use of them and are not sensible that they call the Divine Vengeance upon themselves if their Testimonies be not exactly true they have been prostituted to the meanest Services and profan'd by common use and then no wonder if the Sacred Obligation peculiar to them be forgotten when they are used in those special cases for which they ought to be reserved therefore if we would do any thing to recover the fear of an Oath amongst our Country-men we must endeavour to do it by means contrary to those whereby it hath been so generally lost that is By abstaining our selves and not only so but by dissuading and restraining others as much as in us lies from that familiar and fashionable Swearing which is one of the great reproaches of our Age to which end I shall endeavour to explain the meaning and reason of these words of our Saviour And in them I shall consider 1. The Law it self Swear not at all but let your communication be Yea yea Nay nay 2. The sanction and reason of this Law viz. 1. The Authority of our Saviour But I say unto you 2. The nature of the thing it self For whatsoever is more than this cometh of evil In the Law it self we are to consider the Prohibition and the Precept 1. The Prohibition which contains 1. A general Rule Swear not at all 2. Some particular instances whereto the Rule extends Neither by Heaven nor by Earth nor by Jerusalem nor by thy head 3. The Reason why the Rule extends to these Instances not by Heaven for it is God's Throne not by the Earth for it is his footstool not by Jerusalem for it is the City of the great King not by thy Head for thou canst not make one hair white or black Let us begin with the general Rule Swear not at all From which words the Anabaptists and Quakers have contended That an Oath or an Appeal to God that what we say is true is in no case lawful I shall here shew the contrary and prove that the meaning of the Rule is this That we are not to Swear in our common and daily Conversation with Men and this will appear 1. By comparing the Prohibition with the Precept 2. With the particular instances whereunto the Prohibition extends 1. With the Precept But let your communication be Yea yea Nay nay i. e. Let this be the manner of your ordinary discourse barely to affirm or deny or if need be sometimes with vehemence which perhaps is intimated by the repetition of yea and nay Now it is plain if