Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	life_n	live_v	soul_n	20,060	5	5.3995	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A36086	A Discourse concerning prophane swearing and cursing ...		1697 (1697)	Wing D1582; ESTC R12263	27,509	42

workmanship it was since we our selves cou'd not make one Hair of it black or white Matth. 5.34 35 36. compar'd with Matth. 23.21 22. For he speaks this as Dr. Petit in his various Lections well observes in opposition to the Jewish Doctors who did not think swearing by Creatures to be properly Oaths nor to have any obligatory vertue For they thought no Oaths binding but those in which they swore by the name of God excepting their Oath by the Gold of the Temple and Corban See Matth. 23. And therefore our Lord on the contrary intimates to them That God himself was interessed whenever they swore by any of his Creatures For since they cou'd bear no proper testimony to the truth of their Assertions or Promises The Appeal was implicitly and by just interpretation made to him and he was concern'd to punish the false Appellant So that whoever by such Swearing pawns any of Gods Creatures for the Truth of his Words do's vertually call their Maker to be his Witness and engage him to avenge the Indignity offer'd to his own works when they are abused to countenance our lying and falshood It is not therefore of any great moment as to our practice whether of these two notions of an Oath we prefer and follow Having thus stated the general Notion of an Oath we may more easily determine what profane Swearing is There is some Swearing in it self sinful and profane and can never be lawfully used on any occasion As the swearing by a false God because such an Oath attributes the perfections of the only true God to a contemptible Idol which is a high degree of Blasphemy But on the other hand our Swearing by the true God is either lawful and good or sinful and profane according to the circumstances wherein that action is used To swear by the Blessed God is so far from being in its own nature an evil or impious action that on the contrary when used on just and necessary occasions 't is an action highly conductive to the honour of God and to the publick Good 'T is an action highly conducive to the honour of God whose glorious perfections are openly acknowledged in those solemn regular Appeals we make to him in such important cases wherein there is no other way left to confirm the truth of what we speak And in such cases the Jews were by the Law of Moses not only permitted but requir'd to swear by the Name of God Deut. 6.13 That being one Branch of the Religious Worship due to him Nay 't is an action no less conducive to the publick good It being one of the most proper and effectual means to end strifes and controversies among Men by confirming the truth of what they speak Heb. 6.13 For since in so manifold cases we must depend on human Testimonies for finding out Truth we can have no greater assurance that men speak truly then when they solemnly appeal to God as the Witness of it and their dreadful Avenger if they lye For 't is reasonably supposed that if any thing can oblige Men to a strict regard to Truth in what they deliberately affirm this awful Bond will And Charity prompts us to hope that there are but few whose Consciences are so sear'd as to have no reverence for an Oath and no dread of God's terrible Vengeance against those by Perjury abuse his sacred Name to the support of known falshood And accordingly the Holy Scriptures abound with the Examples of good men's swearing on such solemn occasions The instances in the Old Testament are numerous Nay even the New Testament contains frequent Examples of this kind even after the strict general prohibition of our Saviour Swear not at all For learned Criticks have made it evident That our Saviour himself did thus swear when adjur'd by the High Priest Matth. 26.62 63 64. compar'd with Lev. 5.1 And there is no pretence to doubt of this being several times practised by the Apostle Paul in his Epistles See 2 Cor. 11.31 1 Rom 9. 1 Gal. 20. 2 Cor. 1.23 1 Thes 5.27 And as the Quakers are the only people that pretend to deny the lawfulness of swearing by interpreting our Saviours prohibition in the strictest sense so I do not see that they are herein consistent with themselves For they do themselves frequently make solemn Appeals to God for the Truth of what they say as Barclay himself tells us They are wont on solemn occasions to say We speak the Truth in the fear of God and before him who is our Witness and the searcher of our hearts * See his Works in Fol. p. 553. He dos indeed deny this to be an Oath as he dos the forementioned Expressions of the Apostle Paul but I take his denyal to be contrary to the common sense of mankind concerning the nature an import of an Oath So that 't is rather the name of an Oath and the circumstances of Swearing used among us that they seem to boggle at then the thing it self Nor is Swearing by Creatures on such occasions unlawful in it self when the Creature is only named in subordination to God so that the Appeal it self is evidently intended and directed to him Thus we read of Moses calling the Heaven and Earth to record against the Israelites that he had set before e'm life and death Deut. 30.19 12 28. So Hannah swears to Fly As thy Soul liveth my Lord I am the Woman that stood by thee here praying to the Lord. 1 Sam. 20.3 So Abigail 1 Sam. 20.26 So Vriah 2 Sam. 11.11 So in our common Form of Swearing we use these Words So help me God and the Contents of this Book So it has been usual with good men in order to their vindication from gross publick Calumnies to call God Angles and Men to attest the Truth of what they offer in their own defence Now that Swearing by God or his Creatures which is in its self lawful when used in a solemn manner on so important occasions degenerates into sinful or profane Swearing when 't is us'd in our ordinary Converse without any such due seriousness and solemnity or any just occasion that shou'd render it neeful to attain the forementioned ends For as sacred things are said to be profan'd when they are irreverently manag'd and prostituted to any mean or vile use so is an Oath profan'd when we treat this awful act of Religious Worship with so little respect as to prostitute it to common and mean purposes in attesting our ordinary Discourse whereas it shou'd never be us'd but where there is apparent need of it to confirm some doubted Truth that must be determin'd by human Testimony And the more expressly the Name of God himself is Invocated in such Oaths the profaneness of them is more evident and uncontestable For 't is a manifest Indignity to that High and Glorious Being that his Sacred Name shou'd be thus interpos'd and rash Appeals made to him upon every frivolous occasion meerly to