ought to have a care that that which is intended for his glory be not turned to his dishonour as 't is a most wicked impiety when Men swear falsely by God's Name so 't is a sinful compliance and unpardonable neglect for those whose duty 't is to punish such crimes not to do it for God is deprived of his Nature and of his Truth when he is made or suffered to be made an Wittnes to and approver of a lie whereby his glorious Name is most abominably prophaned Perjury and False Swearing which as it was the occasion so 't is the chief subject of the present discourse is of so high a concernment that of the Ten Commandements it takes up no less then two for as in the Third we are forbidden to take the Name of God in vain so in the Ninth we are prohibited to bear False Wittness against our Neighbour See how both these God's Honour and our Neighbour's Safety are twisted together for as thereby such men sin against God so they extreamly wrong their Neighbour which is contrary to that rule of Justice contained in our Saviours Sermon upon the Mount all (q) Mat. 7.12 things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you do ye even so to them for this is the Law and the Prophets Now certainly no Man would have another to Swear him falsely out of his good Name Liberty Fortune and Life therefore they should not do so to others But this People care neither for the Law nor the Prophets nor for Jesus Christ or God himself if False Swearing against and wronging our Neighbour in private be forbidden much more in publick in a Solemn way under notion of Justice and in Courts of Judicature whereby every thing a Man hath is laid at Stake Poor (r) 1 Kings 21.10 13. Naboth by two False Wittnesses who are well and properly called Sons of Belial was Sworn not only out of his Vineyard but also out of his Life for indeed one who is a False Wittness to Swear another out of his Estate will make no difficulty to Swear him out of his Life If there had been no False Wittness the High Priest Scribes and Pharisees had wanted a pretence to accuse our Blessed Saviour which to compass (Å¿) Mat. 26.59 they sought for false Wittnesses and therein found an occasion to put him to death according to the Prophecy long before [t] Psal 35.11 False Wittnesses did rise up they laid to my charge things that I knew not as David had also said before [u] Psal 27.12 False witnesses are risen up against me This generation of Men were of all Ages as old as the Devil their Father who from the beginning was a Liar and is the [w] Job 1.6 7. Rev. 12.10 slanderer and false accuser of God's People as we see it in the case of Job Certainly God will avenge himself and Men for that wherein they are so abominably wronged in every thing belonging to them even in the Mind and Judgment of some who thorough false swearing are imposed upon for the perjured Man doth cheat and deceive seduce and impose upon Reason it self both to the Ruin of private men and overthrowing of whole Nations for not only some privave men but also the publick doth suffer Some Jews do write how when upon Mount Sinai the Tables were given as soon as the Law against Perjury was pronounced the whole World was shaken as if this had been the most important of all If Men would but read and consult Scriptures thereby to be guided and make God's Word their rule there would not be so much cause in the World to complain as there is about this matter They might read how positive how clear and how full it is thereupon They might find therein grounds enough to be disswaded from it the hainousness of the Sin that ends in blasphemy its Character of those who commit it namely God's Enemies [x] Psal 139.20 Thine Enemies take thy Name in vain the Curse they undergo the punishment they must expect and so many more such Circumstances which attend that sin How many in the World that make no Conscience at all to swallow down an Oath who know not mind not and care not for the bitter Consequences thereof a hundred to one are such for there are more wicked then good and honest Men and this thing our Juries should seriously consider of and weigh more then number Evidences Though there be some in the World who like the unrighteous Judge fear neither God nor Man or if they do rather Man then God yet these few things I shall lay before those who happen to read these lines and may be concerned in what I say we have to do with a just and true God who seeth heareth and remembereth all and will call us all to an account for what we think speak and do for after Death follows Judgment we all must certainly die the time when we know not for we have no certain lease of our lives all our days are in God's hand So a Forsworn Man may happen to go out of this World with a False Oath in his mouth and thus appear before God to receive his private Judgment and then O fool though thorough Perjury thou shouldest gain the whole World what profit is it for thee if it be with the loss of thy Soul (y) Deut. 5.24 Chap. 9.3 Heb. 12.24 For the Lord our God is a consuming fire and a jealous God of his Name of his Honour and of his Truth naked such as it is without painting or disguising how beautiful is it in it self unstained 't is an Attribute so Essential and so acceptable to God as belongs to the Nature and to the Three Persons the God of Truth Christ the Truth the Spirit of Truth and that excellent Truth so much commended by St John in his 2d and 3d. Epistles The Law (z) Tim. 1.9 10. saith Scripture is made for liars for perjured persons and the worst sort of Men so according to this Law they shall be judged in the mean time God in his word doth not simply forbid the crimes of Lying and perjury but thunders Threatnings against those who commit them 't is said (a) Mat. 5.33 Exod 20.7 Levit. 19.12 Deut. 15.21 Thou shalt not forswear thy self and ye shall not swear by my Name falsely and among other grievous things for which God calls people in question this is one (b) Jer. 7.9 Will ye swear falsely and if to convince those that are such you want Evidences I will help you to some without exception for (c) Mal. 3.5 I will come near to you to Judgment and I will be a swift Wittness against false Swearers and he will himself Judge not only false Wittnesses but also corrupt Judges and Juries Take notice of a Temporal judgment upon this account (d) Zech. 5.3 4. I will bring forth saith the Lord of hosts a Curse into the
shall enter into the Kingdom of God In another place he is as Positive as can be upon 't and no doubt to be made of it (p) Ephes 5.5 For this you know that no Whore-monger nor Vnclean Person c. hath any Inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God 'T is as certain as it is that the Spirit of God who saith it by the Apostle is the God of Truth this is the unavoidable Doom of all that are such except they be (q) 1 Cor. 6.11 v. 15 16 18 19 20. Washed Sanctified and Justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God With how much Abhorrency this Holy Man speaks of that filthy Sin in the same place we read v 15 Know ye not that your Bodies are the Members of Christ Shall I then take the Members of Christ and make them the members of an Harlot God forbid And to shew how great a Concernment this matter is of he again comes upon 't v 18. Flee Fornication every sin that a man doth is without the body but he that committeth Fornication sinneth against his own body And to press it the more in the next Verse he saith in a Chiding and Wondering way What know ye not that your body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you which ye have of God and ye are not your own Therefore you may not dispose of your Body but ye are to glorify God in your body Here is not one word without a great Emphasis That Sin must be an Infections Disease and a great Plague seeing we thereupon are forbidden to have any Society with the nearest Friends and Relations for in the foregoing Chapter he saith (r) 1 Cor. 5.11 But now I have written unto you not to keep Company if any man that is called a Brother be a Fornicator c. with such an one no not to eat That holy Apostle is so set against that filthy Sin that he fotbids any thing that is an Inticement to or a Fruit of it and would have us to be Chaste in Lives and Tongue (s) Ephes 4.29 cha 5.3 4. Let no corrupt Communication proceed out of your mouth and in the next Chapt. he explaineth his meaning but Fornication and all Vncleanness or Covetousness let it not be once named among you as becometh Saints neither Filthiness nor Foolish Talking nor Jesting which are not convenient but rather giving of Thanks He will not suffer any thing that is or may happen to be Accessory unto that filthy Sin and in another place among other things which he advises to this is one (t) Coloss 3.3 〈◊〉 To put off filthy Communication out of your mouth The Reason he giveth elsewhere (u) Thess 4.3 4 5. For this is the Will of God even your Sanctification that ye should abstain from Fornication that every one of you should know how to possess his Vessel in Sanctification and Honour Hitherto I have spoken of Fornication and Adulteâ—â— together but as this last carrieth with it great Aggravations and is more Hainous than the other I must speak of it by it self for so doth Scripture in several places and indeed Adultery doth imply Fornication which is a lower Degree than the other God having done speaking with his Saints turns to the Wicked and One of the Articles of the Charge is this (w) Psal 50.16 18. Thou hast been partaker with Adulterers Thy Portion was with them and thô this deserved Punishment because I presently Executed it not upon thee Thou â—houghtest that I was altogether such a one as thy self but â—hou shalt come to Judgment For I will reprove thee and set these things in Order before thine Eyes Adulterers shall not escape Punishment Adultery is such a Sin as makes God's true Servants such as Jeremiah wish (x) Jer. 9.2 Oh that I had in the Wilderness a Lodging place that I might leave my People Why so y c. 23.10.14 For they be all Adulterers And in another place he complains that the Land is full of Adulterers He is not the only Prophet that said so another speaks to the same purpose (z) Hos 7.4 They are all Adulterers Hence it appears how God takes a special Notice of that as an abominable Sin Hitherto we heard of none but Adulterers thô under that Name both Sexes be understood but the Apostle Names Men and Women (a) Jam. 4. Ye Adulterers and Adulteresses and calls them Enemies to God because Friends to the World Know ye not that the Friendship of the World is Enmity with God But what will become of God's Enemies b Matt. 8.12 They shall be bound Hand and Foot and cast into outer Darkness There shall be Weeping and Gnashing of Teeth Out of all this it clearly appears How Eternal Death and Damnation are prepared for Fornicators and Adulterers except God be pleased to give them true Repentance But because this Sin especially Adultery doth Highly Disturb humane Society and brings Confusion into Families therefore God in his Word hath appointed Temporal and Bodily Punishments for those that are Guilty of it and that 's no less than Death (c) Lev. 20.10 The Adulterer and Adulteress shall surely be put to Death Which is confirmed in (d) Deuter. 22.22 another place The Scribes and Pharisees said to Our Saviour how (e) John 8.3 5. by the Law of Moses the Woman taken in Adulterie that was brought to him should be Stoned This is a Precedent for all well-governed States to have Penal Laws to punish Offenders in this kind and to this very Day in Conformity to those Laws of the Jews in many places they are put to Death which they well Deserve Adultery imports a great Aggravation above Fornication for there is Perjury in as much as in the Presence of God and of Men a solemn Promise is made of being True and Faithful one to another And although in the sight of God the Guilt whether of Man or Woman be the same and that even Death was equally Inflicted upon both Yet in some Cases Moses had a greater regard for the Husband than for the Wife as in the matter of Jealousie no Remedy afforded for the Wife but there was an indulgent and miraculous way for the Man to satisfy himself when he wanted Proofs and this was the Water of Tryal and of Jealousie as we have it at large in the Book of (f) chapt 5. from 12. to 31. Numbers and if she were Guilty in an extraordinary way she was punished with Rotteness but if she were Innocent yet nothing was done against the Husband This Disparity appeareth also in another Case about the Bill of Divorce which upon slight Grounds (g) Deuter. 24.1 The man might give the wife and send her out of his House But the Woman was not allowed to do so with her Husband Therefore as I already said thô in the Husband and Wife in
an infinite difference between the Lord Jesus and all that were nam'd before But the better to see how the promise of the Keys was not made in particular to Peter but to the Colledge of the Disciples we must read the conclusion of that whole Conversation as 't is in ver 20. Then charged he his disciples not Peter alone that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ which implies that tho' Peter alone had said so yet thereby all his Disciples had owned him to be Christ the Son of the Living God and as their Confession concerning him was general so was his promise This on my way I thought fit to take notice of to shew how ill grounded is the Romish Church in her pretensions Now I return to Peter's pretended Infallibility as to his Person and say that if ever he was infallible it must be either before our Saviour's Death or after his Resurrection and after he had been restored to his Apostleship but neither of the two First not before the Lord's Death no Infallibility tied to his Person since Scripture mentions some gross failings of his as his Ignorance in the Transfiguration for when he spake of making three Tabernacles the Evangelist observes of him (Å¿) Luk. 9.33 Not knowing what he said A Man who knows not what he saith is not infallible nor he who wants Faith wherewith Christ upbraided him when he said to him (t) Mat. 14.31 O thou of little faith wherefore didst thou doubt Again certainly Peter was not infallible when in the forequoted Chap. Mat. 16. the Lord having foretold his Death Peter took him and began to rebuke him saying be it far from thee Lord this shall not be unto thee when for that same end he came unto the World and without it there had been no Salvation which drew upon him this sharp and unusual reproof of our Saviour Get thee behind me Satan thou art an offence unto me for thou savourest not the things that be of God but those that be of men This passage by the Evangelist is related immediately after what had been discoursed between our Saviour and his Apostles concerning what he was v. 22.23 may be thereby to destroy all inferences that might afterwards happen to be drawn on Peter's behalf to the prejudice and exclusion of the rest of the Apostles for therein any pretended Primacy and Infallibility are overthrown and that circumstance of time makes it remarkable But if there was no other proof against his Infallibility but that sad Denial of his Lord and Master even with an Oath to confirm a Lie yea Cursing and Swearing and that thrice together it were too strong a proof against his Infallibility before our Saviour's Death But I say also he was not infallible after our Saviour's Ascension Witness St. Paul who in (u) Gal. 2.11 12 13. Antioch withstood him to the face because he was to be blamed and therein 't is expressed in what namely for his Dissimulation a thing so contrary to Faith Truth and Sincerity Besides that after his Conversion Peter was a Sinner still and no Sinner is infallible wherefore saith another Apostle speaking of himself as well as of others (x) Jam. 3.2 In many things we offend all and long before a great and a wise King had said (y) 1 King 8.46 There is no man that sinneth not And I suppose a thing which is not that one Man could be found who in his whole Life-time had committed but one Sin yet saith the same Apostle (z) Jam. 2.10 Whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point he is guilty of all So then Peter was not infallible in the state of Grace and after his Repentance Much less hath any such thing as Infalibility been entailed upon any that were to Succeed him granting that which is not the Popes to be his Successors for there is not the least step thereof in Scripture and Experience teaches with a Witness how Fallible were his pretended Successors Before Men can well Dispute about a thing the Question must be Stated so before we come to Discuss this Matter of Infallibility let them first agree among themselves where to Lodge it which hitherto they could not for some would have it to be in the Council others in the Pope and others in both Pope and Council together The Council of Constance which was held in 1414. Decreed the Council to be above the Pope which is also a Lash against his Supremacy but in Italy this is accounted an Heretical Doctrine But why to talk of Infallibility a thing not be found in the World To Lodge it in any Man is to make a Contradiction and Nonsense for no meer Man was ever Infallible Hence it is that Scripture mentions flaws and failings in the best and most Holy Men to begin from Adam whose Fall Mankind hath cause to Remember Noah Abraham Lot Isaac Joseph Moses Job David Solomon Jonah Elijah that zealous Servant of God of whom James saith he was subject to the like passions as we are Jeremiah Peter Paul Barnabas In few Words Human Nature is attended with such frailties as render any Man subject to error and mistakes How then can Peter or his pretended Successors even in Cathedra as they term it claim an Infallibility By Vertue of what Priviledge and whereupon grounded Now let there be a Council of Men and every one fallible how then can the Council be Infallible Can the number of Men alter Human Nature when sometimes as many Men as many Minds Doth not experience shew how grossly Councils have Erred We find them one set against another The first of Nice condemned the Arrian Heresy which that of Arimini approved of Yet tho' Men and Councils have Erred we own there is an Infallible Rule which if they follow they shall not Err but not the Persons but the Rule is Infallible because it is the Word of an Infallible God Now these immediate Inspirations of the Holy Ghost are not necessary ast hey were at first when the Gospel of Christ was Published by the Ministry of Men for then Men were to be convinced who it came from and was approved by Heaven but now it is setled and hath been confirmed by so many Signs Wonders and Miracles and by the effectual and immediate working of the Holy Ghost we need it no more to demonstrate that truth which hath so often been proved only we are to follow that Rule which Christ and his Apostles have left us wherein he himself speaks as from Heaven If then Councils be Fallible why shall not those Men whom they consist of be so too Which reason is by woful experience confirmed in the persons of Popes in whom others would Lodge the imaginary Infallibility of the Romish Church among whom their own Authors as Platina Baronius and others own to have been Sorcerers Blasphemers Whoremongers Incestuous Sodomites Profane Blood-thirsty and the most abominable Wretches