Selected quad for the lemma: judgement_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
judgement_n	according_a	great_a	lord_n	1,960	5	3.5757	3	true

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

light he that was known to have been drunk was forced to keep private and was ashamed to show his face But now 't is grown so common and usual that many hardly think it a sin at most a very small one But what then doth the commonness of a sin extenuate it and make it less No certainly 't is rather an aggravation of it shews the great decrease of Piety and Godliness and the great encrease of wickedness profaneness and debauchery 'T is the commonness of a sin that makes it cry so loud for vengeance Had there been but ten Righteous Persons in Sodom God would have spared it and had there been but ten guilty of those great sins 't is probable he would not have destroyed it 'T was because those great sins were grown so common that God said that they were very grievous and the cry of them was come up before him Gen. 18.20 When great and notorious sins do universally and generally prevail in a Nation And little or no notice is taken of them and few are concerned about them 't is a sign that the measure of it's sins are full and that 't is ripe for vengeance As when all flesh had corrupted it's ways and the earth was filled with violence 't was time for the Floud to come and sweep them away Gen. 6.11 Thus when dolatry and Lewdness was grown so rife among the Canaanites as that there was hardly one to be found among them that was not guilty their Land was no longer able to bear the burthen of their wickedness but was forced them to spue out And God charges the Israelites that they should take heed that they should not tolerate any of them such as Idolatry uncleanness or the like lest if they should become customary the same land should cast them out too Levit. 18.28 Was Lying the smaller a sin or the more excusable in the Cretans because 't was universal no rather 't was much the greater for which cause St. Paul strictly charges Titus that he should rebuke them sharply Tit. 1.13 We ought not therefore to follow a multitude to do evil Exod. 22.3 for 't were easy to demonstrate that the more common a sin is the greater and more heinous it is in the sight of God Again to make Swearing a mark and token of Gentility is the greatest abuse and highest affront can be put upon the Gentry Gentility was designed as the reward of virtue and all Civilized Nations did ever justly expect that the gentry should raise themselves to an higher pitch then the commonalty and signalize themselves by worthy and virtuous actions If Swearing be a Gentile accomplishment Gentility will soon become ridiculous and contemptible in the eyes of all sober men And such Gentlemen how much soever they may be fear'd will never be loved or esteemed by any yea they are the very scorn and contempt of the Rabble And if to be able to mouth an Oath gracefully as some speak shall be thought a gentile qualification to swear like a Gentleman will soon become as common and scandalous a Proverb as to be as drunk as a Begger How rhetorically such graceful Oaths may sound in some mens ears or what tropes or figures they may fancy in them I know not sure I am that Swearing is none of that Salt with which ●t Paul would have us season our speech to make it savoury and pleasing to sober and good men Solomon tells us Pro. 14.9 fools make a mook at sin but what egregious fools are they that think it a Grace and Ornament What Grace what Ornament can that be in which the meanest Beggar and the veryest fool that is able to speak can come up equal with them In brief As Swearers are the most nonsensical among men so all the excuses they can make for it are idle silly and impertinent it being a sin by which no man can gain any thing besides everlasting damnation which brings me to speak of the reason of the prohibition why Christians should above all things abstain from Swearing viz. Lest they should fall into condemnation The reason why the Scribes and Pharisees looked upon the Obligation of the Law to be chiefly external and consequently why they were very careful to avoid the outward acts of Murther Adultery Theft and false Witness but made little or nothing of Anger Envy or Malice especially towards Enemies or of Lust or Covetousness was because they observed that there were no punishments appointed for these latter by the Judicial Law They accounted the Tenth Commandment to be a Guard or Fence of the Laws of the Second Table by way of advice or counsel rather than properly any part of it and therefore they thought that if a person did keep himself from doing actually any hurt or injury to his Neighbour he did not violate that Law tho' he were guilty of the sins of Malice Lust and Covetousness in his heart and desires or if they were sins they esteemed them too small and inconsiderable to deserve punishment because God had not expresly threatned any punishment to them And so in like manner here they observing that tho' there were the severest punishments denounced in the Law and by the Prophets against Perjury or false Swearing yet there were none against rash vain Swearing they thought it but a small and inconsiderable sin or rather no sin at all especially when they swore by the Creatures Indeed they pretended to have that awful veneration of the Name of God that they very seldom swore by it but in the matters of weight and concern And as a solemn confirmation of some great and important truth according to that Jer. 4.2 Thou shalt swear the Lord Liveth in Truth in Judgment and Righteousness Yea 't is very evident from Eccles. 23.9 that the wise and devout among the Jews did very much condemn rash and vain swearing or taking God's Name in vain as very dangerous and inconvenient if not absolutely sinful and wicked in and of it's self Where the Son of Sirach adviseth thus Accustom not thy self to Swearing neither use thy self to the naming of the holy one For as a Servant that is continually beaten shall not be without the blue mark so he that Sweareth and nameth God continually shall not be faultless Yea so distastful and odious was common Swearing to the wise and religious that the same person says Chap. 27.14 the discourse of fools is irksome and their speech is the wantonness of sin The talk of him that Sweareth much maketh their hair stand upright and their braules make one stop his ears As it is a sin therefore displeasing to God so 't was odious to good men ' tho it doth not appear there was any bodily punishment or Pecuniary Mulct annext to it by the Judicial Law But as our Saviour shows Mat. 5.20 that not only Murther but rash Anger and approbrious words and whatever else proceeded from Malice or envy was prohibited by God's Law and ' tho

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 LONDON Printed for Thomas Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns the lower End of Cheapside near Mercers-Chapel 1695. The PREFACE RASH and Vain Swearing is so Great and Heinous a Sin and God has so plainly and solemnly and in so dreadful a manner reveal'd his Wrath from Heaven against it that one would ●hink that none but such as are confirm'd and hardned a Atheism should dare to be guilty of it And yet it is 〈◊〉 very common and usual as if it were neither sinful nor ●angerous but an innocent and harmless thing If they were only the poor and ignorant who are ad●icted to this Sin we might say with the Prophet Je●emy ch 5. v. 4. Surely these are Poor these are ●oolish for they know not the Way of the Lord ●or the Judgment of their God I will get me to ●e Great Men and will speak unto them for ●●ey have known the way of the Lord and the ●●dgment of their God But we shall find our selves no less mistaken than he ●as if we think Oaths are in use only among the mean●● sort for even the Court it self yea the Church it self ●nd the Vniversities which should be Seminaries of ●iety as well as Learning are not free from them the ●obility and Gentry are as much accustom'd to them 〈◊〉 the meanest of the Commonalty and Mechanicks But should we go into the Fleet or Army we should ●ar such Vollies of Oaths and Curses as would even ●ake the Hair of a Sober and Modest Christian who ●areth an Oath to stand upright and we must conti●ally stop our Ears as Ulysses did those of his Men 〈◊〉 we would not hear them And is it not a most strange and unaccountable thing ●t Souldiers who carry their Lives almost continually 〈◊〉 their hands and between whom and death there is ●t a step as David said to Jonathan should have ●eir Mouths full of Oaths and Curses And that Ma●ers who as Seneca saith do Tenui fidere ligno Inter vitae mortisque vias Nimium gracili limite ducto Sen. Medea That such I say who are constantly expos'd to 〈◊〉 many dangers both from the Seas and Enemies and wh● consequently one would think should be always at the●● Prayers should Curse and Sear as if they would bi● open defiance to Heaven and even dare the Almight to consume and destroy them How it will please God to deal with us we know no● certainly there can be but small grounds to hope that Go● will give us Victory or Deliverance by the hands of suc● men the destroying of whom from off the Earth 〈◊〉 almost the only good that War doth And as if all this were not bad enough but that 〈◊〉 were afraid we shall want Swearers when these are gon● little Children are taught it as soon as they can spea● and in many places they are far more ready at it th●● at their Prayers and Catechisms and several Hous● even of the Nobility and Gentry seem to be but so ma● Nurseries and Seminaries of Swearers The serious consideration of these things first put 〈◊〉 upon composing the ensuing Discourse without the lea●● thoughts or design of making it more publick than 〈◊〉 must be by Preaching it But having some reason to hope that it has had so●● good effect upon some that heard it I confess I was t● more easily brought to consent to the Printing of it f●● which tho' I must expect to be censured or derided 〈◊〉 some yet if it shall please God to make it instrument for the reclaiming of any Customary Swearers tho' but few of them or preventing others from becoming suc●● I will say with the Psalmist Psal 115.1 Not un us O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name gi●● the Glory which Name will never be Prophaned 〈◊〉 rash Oaths and Curses but Hallowed and Reverenc● by all such as sincerely love and fear him The Swearer's Doom St. James 5.12 But above all things my Brethren swear not neither by Heaven neither by the Earth neither by any other Oath But let your yea be yea and your nay nay lest ye fall into condemnation THere are two things which chiefly and especially cause the Laws of Princes to be most diligently heeded and observed by their Subjects the solemn manner of publishing of them and the Sanction or Pe●alty threatned to such as shall transgress them If they solemnly and peremptorily require or forbid any thing all men will conclude that ●hey will be very much offended with such as ●o not regard such their Commands and Prohi●itions tho' there be no particular Punishment ●hreatned and who would willingly incur the sispleasure of such as have power over him if ●e could by any means avoid it But when there is also a severe Penalty an●ext to the breach of a Law every man that ●esires his own safety and welfare will be care●ul to observe that Law if for no other reason ●et upon this account only because he would ●ot be obnoxious to the said Penalty When God Almighty therefore did promulgate that Law from Heaven which he wrote with his own hand in Two Tables of Stone but which he long before had Engraven on the hearts of all Mankind that his People Israel might most heedfully attend to it and most religiously keep it He caused it to be published with the greatest Solemnity and confirmed its Authority by the greatest Sanctions As to the Solemnity of its Publication we have a full account of it in several places Mose● tells us Exod. 19.16 that on the Third day viz. after the people had notice given to prepare themselves there were Thundrings and Lightnings and a thick Cloud upon Moun● Sinai and the voice of the Trumpet exceeding loud and that all the people that was in the Camp trembled and v. 18 it 's said that th● Mount was altogether as a Smoke because the Lord descended upon it and the Smoke thereo● ascended as the Smoke of a great Furnace and the whole Mount quaked greatly after which God did most solemnly proclaim that Law And we find the Levites upon a solemn Fast Neh. 9.13 acknowledging this as a great aggravation of the sins of the Jews that they ha● so wickedly broken a Law that was so holy an● just and proclaimed by God himself in so remarkable a manner Thou camest down also upo● Mount Sinai and spakest with them from Heaven and gavest them right Judgments and true Law good Statutes and Commandments And tho' St. Paul calls the giving of that Law written and engraven in Stone the ministration of death 2 Cor. 3.7 and the ministration of condemnation v. 9 yet he tells us that it was glorious i.e. it was published with great solemnity that the Israelites might receive it with the greater veneration But the Author to the Hebrews cap. 12.18