Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A23601
|
The swearer's doom; or, A discourse setting forth the great sinfulness and danger of rash and vain swearing. By John Rost M.A. rector of Offwell and Gittisham in Devon
|
Rost, John, d. 1713.
|
1695
(1695)
|
Wing R1987A; ESTC R203434
|
36,689
|
74
|
of Brethren by which he would have them learn and understand that it was out of perfect Love and Kindness to them that he so earnestly desires them above all things to avoid Swearing Although we lye under many Obligations to Love and to do good to all men yet ought we more especially to Love the Brotherhood 1 Pet. 2.17 The word Brother is a word of a large Extent and is taken in many senses but in the more senses or respects any persons are Brethren or the nearer they are such the greater Love and kindness they ought to have for one another and to advise each other for their good We ought to wrong and injust no man much less our Brethren Acts 7.26 Ye are Brethren why do ye wrong one to another And 1 Pet. 3.8 Love as Brethren be pitiful be courteous Many and various are the Offices of Love and kindness that Brethren owe to each other but amongst them all I know none greater then that Exod. 19.17 Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thy heart thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy Neighbour and not suffer sin upon him We cannot therefore do a greater act of kindness or give a greater Testimony of our Love to our Brethren than to disswade them earnestly from sin especially such as evidently bring them into danger of Damnation Brethren says our Apostle here v. 19. p 20. If any of you do err from the Truth and one convert him Let him know that he which converteth a sinner from the errour of his way shall save a Soul from death and cover a multitude of sins St. Paul writing to Philemon concerning Onesinus says thus v. 8. Tho I might be much bold in Christ to enjoin thee that which is convenient yet for Love's sake I rather beseech thee Thus tho St. James might peremptorily require the Christians he writes to yet he rather useth the kind importunity of a Friend then the Authority of an Apostle Exciting them out of pure kindness to themselves and to their own Souls above all things to avoid Swearing Common and vain Swearing is so silly foolish and Idle a thing that me thinks a Man that pretends to reason should be ashamed of it And I verily believe it will be difficult to give any reason or guess how it should become so common and usual but because it is so very wicked and sinful which is likewise the only reason that can be thought of why it should be accounted a Gentile accomplishment and an Ornament of Speech But many Men are arrived to that hardness of heart and Searedness of Conscience that they think it a Low mean Spirited thing and beneath a Gentleman to be afraid of Sinning But if they will own themselves to be men they must confess that if they are not afraid of Sin they ought to be ashamed of folly for those that Glory in their shame and think wickedness and debauchery no blemish to their reputation cannot endure that any one should think or account them Fools And yet among all sins there is no one so vain senseless foolish as that of rash Swearing all sin indeed is but folly and madness But the common Swearer is arrived to the Highest pitch of Folly he is given up to a reprobate mind as St. Paul says of the Profligate Gentiles Rom. 1.28 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to a sensless mind to a mind void of Judgment and Understanding as the word signifieth For either there is really a God or there is not Is there certainly a God! Doth the Swearers believe it and is he sensible who and what he is And doth he think himself wise in Trifling with and abusing his holy and sacred name by profane and wanton Oaths Or if there is no God is it not a Childish and Impertinent thing for those that pretend to wit and reason to Swear by that which is not Is this the way for Men of Honour and Credit to be believed in what they affirm or deny Or is nonsence vanity and impertinency so great an ornament of discourse Is there such pleasing Rhetorick are there such taking Charms in insignificant Oaths But were Swearing only a silly thing a childish and innocent folly they might be indulg'd and let alone in it till they grew wiser they might be Objects of Pity rather than Censure for who is concern'd to see Children taken with Toys and Baubles I shall therefore as I promised show that t is not only a very foolish thing but a most heinous and pernicious sin That it is exceeding sinful will appear if we consider 1. That it is a sin against the Law of Nature and Reason a violation of Natural Religion That there is a God and that this God is infinite eternal omnipotent that he is omniscient wise just and good that he is the most perfect and compleat and also the Sovereign or Supreme Being These things are not more plainly revealed in Scripture than discernible by the Light of Nature and Reason For St. Paul assures us Rom. 1.20 that the Invisible things of him from the Creation are plainly seen being understood by the things that are made even his Eternal Power and Godhead And doth it not therefore plainly argue want of due fear and Reverence when those that have no sense consideration or remembrance of him shall Idly and wantonly make use of his Sacred name in prophane and wicked discourse The Heathens themselves held it unlawful for men to Swear by the Names of their Gods unless it were done religiously awfully and in serious and weighty Causes The Turks who are great Assertors of the unity of the Godhead and Irreconcileable Enemies to Idolatry Yet give in a manner the same honour to the name of God that they do to himself of which that Learned Ambassador Busbequins gives several Instances in his Epistles He tells us that he saw an Army of them when they were at their Solemn devotions and he observed that when in reading the Alcaron which is their Bible or of their Prayers the Priest pronounced the name of Mahomet they all bowed themselves very low but when he pronounced the name of God they fell flat upon their Faces to the Ground And he says that they are exceeding careful to preserve Paper from any filth or Defilement and that if they chance to see any lie scattered on the ground they presently take it up wipe it and put it into some safe place and the reason they give for it is this that for ought they know the name of God hath been or is written upon it And if any one doth tread or sit upon the Alcaron they esteem it an unpardonable Crime Because they look upon it as a contempt cast upon that Book in which the Name of God is so often written And shall Ignorance and Superstition make them more tender of the name of God and more fearful to abuse it then true Religion makes Us Certainly the same Light of nature and
of the vilest sinners of the profanest Wretches and will be sure to punish him with the greatest and utmost severity Which passage in Deuteronomy I say I made choice of to illustrate this matter by not only because these words The Lord will not hold him guiltless and these The Lord will not spare are the very same figure and Phrase of the very same Import and Signification But also and that chiefly because the whole Character that is there given of a most vile and wicked man of one who was arrived to the highest pitch of wickedness and who was hardned in his sin and Impenitence doth more exactly agree to one that is a customary Swearer then to any other sort of Sinners For where shall we find a root that beareth Gall and Wormwood but in that heart out of which continually proceed abominable Oaths and Curses Who is there that is a greater contemner of the Curses which God hath denounced against obstinate Sinners then the profane Swearer Who more apt to say in his heart I shall have peace tho' he walk in the Imagination of his own wicked heart than he Who more ready to add drunkenness to thirst then such an one for tho' perhaps there have been many drunkards who have not been customary Swearers yet I believe there was seldom or never a common Swearer but he was a common drunkard too And therefore certainly of all such we may say that the Lord will not Spare them but the Anger of the Lord and his jealousie shall smoak against them and all the curses and threatnings that are written in the Book of God shall light upon them And therefore we may well apply all those passages in which Swearing is forbidden indefinitely and where the persons guilty are threatned not only to perjur'd persons but to rash and vain Swearers as Hosea 4.2 By Swearing and Lying and Killing and Stealing and committing Adultery they break out and blood toucheth blood In which place Swearing is not only joyned with the greatest sins but placed as the Captain and Leader of them And Jer. says Chap. 23.10 because of Swearing the Land Mourneth and Zechariah says Chap. 5.3 That the Swearer shall be cut off by the Curse And the Son of Sirach saith Eccles 23.11 that a man that useth much Swearing shall be filled with Iniquity and the Plague shall never depart from his house if he offend his sins shall be upon him And if he acknowledg not his sin he maketh a double Offence and if he Swear in vain he shall not be Innocent but his house shall be full of Calamities and v. 12. he saith there is a word that is Clothed with Death God grant it be not found in the Heritage of Jacob for all such things shall be far from the Godly and they shall not wallow in their sins By the word clothed with death and which Godly men dread and abhor he means intemperate Swearing as is evident from what follows v. 13. use not thy mouth to intemperate Swearing for therein is the World of sin So that we may say of Swearing as the Psalmist did of Cursing which is the nearest of kin to it for there are few Oaths especially such as proceed from rash Anger and passion which may not be said to be at least virtually and implicitly Curses likewise viz. That it shall prove the greatest plague and mischief to the person himself that is guilty of it Psal 109.17 As he loved Cursing so let it come unto him As he delighted not in Blessing so let it be far from him As he clothed himself with Cursing like as with a Garment so let it come into his Bowels like Water and like Oyl into his Bones let it be unto him as the Garment that Covereth him and for a Girdle wherewith he is girded continually For as God hath declar'd that he is jealous of the honour of his name and that he will not hold him guiltless that taketh it in vain i. e. will look him as highly guilty as a most vile and abominable Sinner So he will not fail to punish him accordingly without sincere repentance and deep Humiliation For as he has revealed his Wrath from Heaven against all such profaneness and Impiety so the time will come when he will pour forth Indignation and Wrath Tribulation and Anguish upon all such as are guilty of it And tho' the Swearer may not draw down divine vengeance upon his head in this World in which all things happen to all alike and there is one Event to the righteous and to the wicked to the good and to the sinner to him that Sweareth and to him that feareth an Oath as Solomon says Eccles 9.2 yet he shall not without great repentance escape that most Tremendous curse which God will pronounce against all impenitent sinners Go ye Cursed into Everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Where they may perhaps curse and swear in the Anguish of their Souls and bitterness of their Spirits but it shall not in the least Mitigate or Asswage their Torments The Application Having thus shown unto you the sinfulness and danger of this sin of vain and rash Swearing I shall press and enforce the Apostle's Dehortation by way of Application Above all things my Brethren swear not Among all the gifts that God hath bestowed upon Men there is hardly one more useful or wonderful than Speech by which Men communicate their minds to each other and discover the greatest secrets and without which Mankind would have no more society or commerce than the Beasts of the Earth or the Fowls of the Air. The gift of Speech is a most divine thing and full of wonder and therefore ought to be used for the praise and honour of him that made it and 't is the height of folly and ingratitude to dishonour and abuse him by it The Tongue was designed to be an Instrument to set forth and celebrate the praise and glory of God Therefore says David Psal 34.11 I will bless the Lord at all times his praise shall be continually in my mouth and Psal 51.15 O Lord open thou my lips and my mouth shall show forth thy praise and Psal 71.8 Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thy honour all the day long And therefore it must needs be a wicked and heinous thing for Men to dishonour God by that most useful Instrument the Tongue which was created on purpose to set forth and celebrate his honour Thus St. James having asserted cap. 3.6 That the Tongue i. e. a wicked loose filthy unbridled Tongue is a fire a world of iniquity that defileth the whole body and that 't is an unruly evil full of deadly poison gives this reason for it that it is oftentimes made an Instrument of cursing when it was designed only for blessing v. 9. therewithal we bless God even the Father and therewith curse we men which are made after the similitude of God out of