Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n
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A54038
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The great question concerning the lawfulnes or unlawfulnes of swearing under the gospel stated and considered of for the satisfaction of such as desire to scan the thing in the weight of God's spirit and to see the true and clear determination of it in his un-erring light / by Isaac Penington the younger.
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Penington, Isaac, 1616-1679.
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1661
(1661)
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Wing P1171; ESTC R24053
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8,575
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18
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also more true ground of satisfaction in it to other Christians at least than a Jews or Heathens swearing yea and if the Men of the World would but freely speak their hearts it would be acknowledged to be of more weight with them also Who of those who have observed and known our Conversation and upright speaking and behaviour for these many years both towards the various Rulers and Authorities of the 〈…〉 also towards all men of all sorts would not prefer our Yea and Nay before the Oaths of others Object But though a Christian may not swear in relation to himself yet why may he not swear in relation to the satisfaction of others seeing God himself sware in that respect who was as much in the Power and Virtue of that Life which binds from Swearing as a Christian can be Answ 1. God being not bound Himself by the Laws wherewith He binds the Creature may either Himself or by an Instrument in his immediate Life and Power do that which the Creature hath not liberty from Him to do but that is no warrant in general but the Disciple is particularly to eye the Rule from his Master CHRIST JESUS who is Lord over the Houshold of Faith and who was as faithful in all His House as a Lord as Moses the servant was in his House by whom the same God who once allowed Oaths to the Jems hath now wholly forbidden Swearing And let the Disciple diligently and faithfully eye the Laws of the New Covenant which are written by and received from the ingrafted Word of Faith in the heart he shall find Oaths excluded there as a part of the Old Covenant even as a literal and shadowy Confirmation of Truth among the Jews under Moses his Dispensation for the time of the Law but the Grace and Truth it self is the substance and the Faith received is the seal of Truth under the Gospel both towards God and man Answ 2. A Christian may not swear in relation to the satisfaction of others Because he is to hold forth his Light his Life his Principle in the eye of the world He is to testifie to the Worth and Excellency of it that it is a greater and firmer Bond to him both towards God and man than any Oaths either of the Heathen or of the Jews can be Now his entring into their way of Confirmation of things which is short of his own is an undervaluing and disparagement of the worth and weight of that Principle of Truth which God hath given him and raised up in him It is indeed a denying of it for entring into the Law-bond is a laying of the Gospel-bond by and an offering of that as a Bond which indeed once was so but is now excluded by the Law of Faith from being a Bond any longer and hath lost its vertue And if men would but open their eyes they might easily see how little Oaths bind and how unprofitable they are to the end and use for which they are intended but the Yea and Amen in Christ the Principle of Life cannot be broken but he that abides in Him must perform the Yea and Amen which is firm in Him Answ 3. A Christian or Disciple may not swear under the Gospel Because Christ hath brought in Confession or Affirmation of the Truth from the Principle of his Life instead of Oaths which is made good not only by the Apostle Paul's rendring of Swearing in the Law-time Confessing in the fulfilling of it under the Gospel but also by Christ's bringing in the Yea Yea and Nay Nay instead of the Law 's Swearing In the Jew the Oath was the Seal or Confirmation under the Law in the Disciple who is in the Life and hath learned the Truth of Christ the Life the Yea Yea the Nay Nay is appointed him by Christ instead of the Oath And though the subtilty and fleshly widom strive hard to wrest that place out of the hands of the Simplicity yet they shall never be able to do it but he that looks on it with a single eye in the Light of that Spirit wherein it was wrote shall plainly see Christ's drift to be to take away the shadow even to abolish that use of Swearing which was proper and allowed to the Jews under the Law and to bring the Confession or Denial of the Thing the Yea Yea and Nay Nay from the Gospel-spirit and Principle in the Disciple in the stead of it Which to make more manifest to the honest simple and naked heart which is willing to take up the Will and Truth of God in every thing with all the crosses that attend it let these few Lines following be uprightly considered of First That slight trivial and frequent Oaths were not allowed under the Law but forbidden by the Law as a taking of Gods Holy and Dreadful Name in vain Secondly That though vain Oaths were then forbidden yet solemn Oaths weighty Oaths such as were needful and useful to the thing intended were allowed under the Law So in all those cases before expressed Oaths were allowed and justifiable so that they were but careful to perform them and did not forswear themselves Thirdly Christ brings in an Exception against the use of this lawful Swearing under the Law as the word But doth plainly signifie and forbiddeth Swearing wholly altogether or at all The Law saith Thou shalt not forswear thy self that 's the substance of what the Law forbids it allows Swearing but forbids Forswearing But I say unto you Ye shall not only avoid Forswearing but Swearing also and that wholly or altogether But I say unto you Swear not at all Fourthly Christ brings in another thing instead of Swearing a thing far more sutable to the truth plainness and simplicity of the Gospel which is Confessing the thing or speaking the thing in truth just as it is either by way of Affirmation or Denyal But let your yea be yea and your nay nay And there is liberty enough left to a Disciple to satisfie any man concerning the truth of a thing by a Confession as much as by an Oath For is it not full as weighty under the Gospel to confess the Presence of God or that He is Witness or that we speak the thing in his Fear and in the feeling of his Life and Power as it was under the Law to swear by his Life by his Fear by his Power or the like Is not the Confessing of God by a Christian of more weight than the Swearing by Him from a Jew or Heathen O Nations and Powers of the Earth seek Truth seek Righteousness and do not set up a Form or Image of things in your own wills and according to your own wisdom and inventions above the Power of God And let it be duely considered whether the Powers of this Nation deal kindly with the Lord in exacting an Oath from his People who not in the least disaffection to them but only in fidelity of Conscience to Christ their Lord and Master cannot but refuse it The Question is concerning their Fidelity and Obedience to the King that is the thing which an Oath is required to ratifie and confirm Now the Swearing it self or formal taking of an Oath is of little value but to be obedient to be faithful is the thing of value The case then stands thus The Lord hath so formed them that they cannot but be faithful and obedient The Lord hath raised up that Principle in them which cannot hurt the King or any man nor cannot stand by and see him or any man hurt without endeavouring to prevent it Here is their strength of performing good and avoiding evil and their Yea and Nay from this Principle is the best Security which they can possibly give to any man and he who hath thus formed them in the pure Principle of his Life hath likewise forbidden them to swear But this cannot be accepted for want of the other Confirmation to wit of Swearing which came in by the Fall and was allowed among the shadows of the Law but is forbidden by the Gospel Now O King shall not God's People be faithful and obedient to the Lord as well as to thee shall they not be true to the Principle of Life wherein they are begotten and brought forth in the Love and Good-will to all and out of Enmity to any Hath God raised up in them a Principle which cannot deceive and will not the Yea and Nay of that serve after so much experience through so many changes but they must either break Christ's Command and hazard their Souls or else lose their Liberties and Estates O that men would wait on the Lord for his pure Fear to be written on their hearts by the finger of His Spirit that they might come out of the fleshly wisdom into the womb of the Eternal Wisdom from whence our Principle came that they might be able to see and justifie the Purity Righteousness Nobility and Worth of it and that they might feel its security from all that is out of the Good-will out of the Love out of the Life and out of the Peace that so there might be an end of all Strife Rebellion Heart-burnings Plots and all manner of Wickedness and Ungodliness which have no place in it but daily waste and wither where it is sown and grows even till they come to an end and till Righteousness and pure Innocency fill the room and place which they had both in the heart and mind within and in the life and conversation outwardly And let every one that nameth the Name of the Lord depart from Iniquity and look well to his goings for the darkness of the thick night of Apostacy is already past and the True Light now again shineth Blessed is the Eye which seeth it and the Heart which is established in it in the midst of those terrible and dreadful shakings and confusions which must not end here but go over all Nations O that this Nation could once bow to it that it might be happy and its Rents and Breaches healed for ever THE END