Affections as well as to the Members of the Body opposes nothing but what the Pharisees indulged In like manner in dealing with the third Commandment Christ forbids not what the Law which he himself being the Word of God did give unto Moses and by his hand unto the People did Command and Establish but that sinful swearing in ordinary communication which being grown customary peradventure with the Leaders as well as the following people these Masters in Israel connived at who sought their own Glory and Profit and never seriously considered the honour of God which Christ sought to advance in all that he did and taught And now I hope I have evinced that Christ did not set up a new and more perfect rule of Righteousness than what of old was given by God and that he hath cleared it from the corruption and restored it to its integrity from the defalcation of the Scribes and Pharisees without addition or detraction and without crossing or abolishing his own Law concerning reverent swearing by the Name of God I do not think it needful to take notice now of the fond and senseless Traditions of the Pharisees concerning the binding force of Oaths which varied with them according to the several forms of them as they were expressive either of the Name of God the Creator or of the Creatures and in the names of several Creatures they deferred more Virtue to some than to others though the preference be ridiculous because unreasonable Mal. 23.16.22 as our Saviour hath related and censured them Our Saviour in this Prohibition of Swearing now under debate appears clearly to have had a reflexive Eye upon some of their frivolous niceties But these are besides the lines of the main matter in question and may without prejudice to the Cause be past over without any further handling It is high time now to conclude this Section SECTION IV. Concerning the Nature of an Oath AN Oath being the subject Matter of the Controversy the right understanding of it will conduce much to the stating clearing and determining the Question concerning the consistency thereof with Christianity I shall therefore explain the nature of an Oath by a more resplendent Light than that of the Natural Conscience which yet is a Divine Light and spark of Piety which God in his Wife and Holy Providence kept alive in the World for the preservation of Humane Society from our Universal Confusion The Holy Scripture informs us abundantly of the nature and use of Swearing which is common to God the Creator and the Creatures that bear the Image of God both Angels and Men. By the way hence we may collect the absurdity of all them who deny deliberate Swearing upon weighty motives as an Imperfection whereas indeed to swear in due manner upon just grounds Mat. 5. â—8 is to be perfect in Truth Sincerity and Constancy as our Heavenly Father is Perfect and to make Christians even before the Resurrection in some measure equal to Angels Now though there be a great difference between the Oath of the Creator Heb. 6. â—3 Jer. 22. â—â— Deut. 32. â—0 41. Jer. 51. â—4 Psal 89. â—5 Amos. 4. â—â— Heb. 6. â—7 who because he hath none Superior or Greater than himself swears by Himself by his Life hy his Holiness that is his incommunicable Majesty and the Oath of the Creature who swears by God in the way of an Appeal to a Sovereign Lord who is both a sharp-sighted witness of Truth and a severe avenger of falshood yet there is somewhat common to both for which in propriety of speech Swearing is by the Holy Ghost attributed to both I do therefore describe an Oath in general to be the binding ones self immutably to speak and act according to Truth and Faithfulness St. Paul leads me to this description by saying that God willing to shew more abundantly the unchangeableness of his Counsel to the Heirs of the Promise confirmed it by the interposition of an Oath Numb â—0 2 c. All swearing as Moses teaches us is binding the person with a Bond to be constant and true to his word that goes out of his mouth Now God is above the power of being bound by others but yet may and doth bind himself by himself and to himself primarily and secondarily by a gracious condescention to his Creatures But Man who is subject to the power of others may not onely bind himself of his own accord by an Oath but may also and sometimes ought to suffer this sacred Bond to be imposed on him and to put it on himself For persons under the Authority of Magistrates Parents Masters are bound by the express Law of God to take such Oaths which upon just grounds are exacted of them and those of equal quality may by God's Warrant bind themselves each to other by interchangeable Oaths It is superfluous now to recite at large all the examples of these obligations recorded in Scripture which frequently occur to the Reader and are set up by God as Pillars for the direction of Travellers Psal 1.105 or to use David's words are designed to be a Light to our Feet and a Lantern to our Paths But the Swearer whether by his own motion or at the command or intreaty of another ought to bind himself to nothing but what is agreeable to Goodness and Justice God the Fountain and Measure of Goodness and Justice can do no other And Man made at first in the likeness of God ought to do no other Therefore the two celebrated Axiomes of Divines which depend one on the other are true and fixed Rules of Conscience 1. An Oath ought not to be made the Bond of Iniquity 2. An Oath taken to that purpose binds to nothing but Repentance Now that by which a person binds himself in swearing is suitable to his own nature or quality and condition God who is an independent Being as his Name by which he revealed himself to Moses imports I am that I am or more concisely Exod. 14. I am binds himself by the very mention of and reflexion upon his own indeficient and invariable Life and Holiness Tit. 1. Heb. 6.18 2 Tim. 13. Mal. 3 6. Jam. 1 17. who can equally neither Lye nor Dye who is one and changes not and is incapable of variation and ingages himself by his immutability to constancy in his word But Man who is a Creature dependent and obnoxions to God his Sovereign Lord Lawgiver and Judge binds himself over to the vengeance of God if he fail in the Truth and Sincerity of his Swearing by an open or at least an imperfect invocation of God to be first a witness to his Assertion or Ingagement and then to be the Judge and Avenger if he fail of Truth and Honesty in either Furthermore it is necessary for us to the right understanding of God's Swearing to observe what very many do not take notice of or do not enough consider and therefore set up their rest
given as due Do they not dissolve or weaken those bonds of civil societies which Christ by his Gospel hath tied streighter than the Law of Nature did Do they not violate Christian Charity by Damning all that are not of their combination To say nothing of their reviling all Ministers of the Gospel Hath this Precept of not Swearing swallowed up the whole Body of their Christian Religion Or shall the observance of it pass current for universal and uniform obedience to the compleat Law of Liberty Jam. 1.25 Is not then something else in the bottome besides the tenderness of the Reputation of Christianity Let this be well thought on But another thing is yet more remarkable Who would not think but that these hot Zealots for Christs Doctrine of the Gospel who suffer such hard things rather than break Christs Commandment did make the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament which Christ and his Apostles have by practice and precept commended to our study for the confirming of our Faith and the regulating our Lives and those of the New Testament superadded to them joyntly to be the Foundation on which we are built up to be that Temple Eph. 2.19 whereof Jesus Christ is the chief corner stone or the compleat Rule of Faith and Manners For indeed without the Scriptures now who can assuredly know what is the good and acceptable and perfect Will of God And how came these Men to be acquainted with this very Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles but by the Scriptures But after all this you will find your self much mistaken if you imagine that these Men make the written Oracles of God their principle of Religion or Rule of Life For the heads of them in several Books set up the Light of God within them for the only infallible Rule and they disparage the Holy Scriptures which they allow to be at the best but a shadow of Gods will Again their dissimulation of what they dare not deny to be the Word and Will of God concerning Swearing together with their impious despising of the same Holy Word is apparently visible in their Sophistical conclusion thus exprest with all the subtilty that the old Serpent could inspire into them So though it viz. Swearing was allowed in the Law viz. of Moses which is opposed by them in the precedent sentence and here to the Gospel Christ and his Apostles forbid it in his Gospel Here is a double fallacy in the first Member of the conclusion They would induce a conceit that as Divorce was by God and Moses permitted to the Jews to pass unpunished Mat. 19.8 Mal. 2.16 for the hardness of their hearts which yet was not approved by God as good in it self and therefore it is regulated by a Law for the security of the Woman which Law doth but permit the divorce but enjoyn the giving a Bill so Swearing was but allowed barely with prescription of forms for Solemnity and not commanded Deut. 6.13 10.12.20 Whereas Swearing by the Name of God was commanded which is devoted by the Fear of God in Scripture as a solemn part of his Holy Worship whereby Man gives God the Glory of his Sovereignity Providence Omnipresence Omniscience Omnipotence Veracity Justice and Equity The Prophets also who reached to the depth of the Law which was * Rom. 7.14 Jer. 4.2 12.16 Spiritual commanded Swearing under the Old Testament and * Esa 19.18 45.23 65.16 foretold in their Evangelical Sermons that way of serving God and Christ under the dispensation of the New Covenant when the Gentiles turn to the Lord mark the words of Esaiah which according to the Hebrew run thus He that blesseth himself in the Earth shall bless himself in God Amen as we render it not amiss but not to the full importance of the word Esa 11.9 the God of Truth and he that Sweareth in the Earth when it shall be full of the Knowledge of the Lord as the Waters cover the Sea in the new state of the Church when God calls his Servants by another Name Esa 65 16 17. And what is that new and blessed name but Christians Shall Swear by God Amen Christ himself expounds the word when in his Heavenly Epistle to the Church of Laodicea Apoc. 3.14 he takes to himself that glorious Title Amen The true and faithful witness who is invoked as a Witness and Judge of the Heart in every Oath made by his Name It is not to be omitted that the Oaths which God commanded to be used in judicial proceedings are enjoyned as fit means in their own nature for the discovery of truth Heb. 6.6 and decision of controversies which benefit and effect is common to all Nations in all Ages who are imbrued with an apprehension and fear of God as Judge of the World It is therefore an Imposture of these Wolves in Sheep-skins to attempt the persuasion that Swearing was only allowed and not as expresly commanded in the Law as these Dreamers Dream it to be forbidden in the Gospel Their second piece of juggling is this that by their taking no notice of the practice of all Nations not debauched into direct Atheisme and of the constant practice of Gods best servants who used Oaths for firm binding themselves and others in publick Confederacies and private transactions which were made between Gods servants on both sides and also between the people of Gado on one side and Idolatrous people on the other part of which proceedings the Sacred History of the World before the Law given by Moses Rom. 15.4 2 Tim. 3.15 1 Cor. 10.11 Heb. 10.1 Col. 2.17 yields a full Harvest of Precedents they divert us from looking after those things which as St. Paul says were before written for the instruction conviction reformation teaching and admonition of us upon whom the ends of the World are come Therefore though Jesus Christ brought that Grace and Truth whereof Moses in the Ceremonial Law by Gods wise contrivance gave the Jews a Shadow and that Shadow vanished when the Body of the Son of Righteousness appeared above the Horizon of the Church yet Christ in his Gospel did not diminish any thing of that natural Religion the seeds whereof God had once sown in the Hearts of all Mankind for the keeping up the Faith of his Providence and the fear of his Judgment which are the two Pillars of Justice without which no civil society can firmly subsist I now proceed to animadvert the false Doctrine either insinuated secretly by supposition or expressed openly by profession First It is falsly supposed that the Law of Moses doth not in any part of it concern or oblige us Christians I shall hereafter shew that Christs prohibition of Swearing in familiar Discourse and St. James's restraint of the Tongues outrage in passionate heates is no forbidding of what the Law commands But if the Law of Swearing oblige Christians or be but a precedent to direct them we must observe
it or at least may warrantably imitate it The Ceremonial part of the Law which concerned the Typical Service and Sacrifices of the Temple ceased as to the design and Virtue of it when Christ by his Gospel published the accomplishment of our Redemption wrought by his Death and Resurrection The Political Law of Moses which was peculiarly accommodated in many particulars to the seed of Jacob called Israel as they were by Covenant made God's Tenants of Canaan ceased when they ceased to be the Politick People of God Both were openly abrogated as to their exercise and practice by the utter devastation of the Holy City with the Temple it self by the dissolution of the Policy by the ejectment of the Nation out of their Land and dispersion over the face of the Earth in which state of exile Hos 3.4 accompanied with bondage they yet remain without King Prince Sacrifice Image Ephod and Teraphim that is without any setled Form of Government and without any means to serve or to consult God as formerly they had done But for the Law of Moses so far as it prescribes Offices and exercises of Piety Charity Justice Humanity and Prudence it obliges Christians not upon the same account it did the Jews to wit as it was a part of the Covenant made in Horeb but as it is a clear explication and improvement of the Law of Nature by deduction of particular Precepts from general Principals of Religion and Righteousness Therefore St. Rom. 13.8 Eph. 6.1.2 Paul charges Christians with obedience to the Law the second Table whereof he ingrafts into the Gospel And which is yet more considerable to manifest our concernment in the Law he establishes the liberal maintenance of the Ministers not only upon the Ordinance of Christ but also upon two Laws of Moses 1 Cor 9.8.14 according to the Spiritual meaning of the one and the Reason and Analogy of the other And when we hear him speak thus ver 9. Doth not also the Law say these things We must remember that as St. Paul says elsewhere Rom. 3.19 We know whatsoever things the Law speaks either for conviction or for direction It speaks unto them that are under the Law We therefore who have and hear by God's bounty Moses and the Prophets as well as the Apostles are under the Law Luk 16.29 not as a Covenant of Righteousness and Life by Works for in this respect We are not under the Law Rom. 6.14 but under the grace of the Gospel but as an obligatory Rule of obedience to the Will of God declared therein therefore St. James calls the Law recorded by Moses a Perfect Law of Liberty the doing whereof must be added to the hearing if we desire to be happy St. James also calls it The Royal Law one Commandement whereof being broken the whole Golden Chain is broken by which we must order our lives Jam. 1.25 2.8.12 and shall be judged Now St. James knew that the third Commandment running in the Negative Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain did include the Affirmative Precept of Swearing reverently and keeping legitimate Oaths which were Duties known well by the light of Nature but reinforced upon the Jews by the Law Now is it imaginable that St. James the Apostle of the Circumcision writing to the Jews should so far forget himself as after this high commendation of their Law expresly prohibit what the Law enjoyned and by a total abolition of swearing cancel the Third Commandment as a thing that hath no further any place or use under the Gospel This intolerable inconvenience is easily avoided if according to the scope of the Apostles discourse easily gathered from the Context and considering that impatience is the Parent of rash Oaths we say that St. James did very wisely joyn his inhibition of Swearing in heat and haste upon the Sallies of Passion to his exhortation unto patience Jam. 5.8.12 and yet he did not abolish the Third Commandment nor banish Oaths out of Christendom I confess I have unawares transgressed mine own limits and expounded St. James before the method I prescribed to my self did require it but I shall have the less to say hereafter Indeed being ingaged to shew how St. James and indeed all the Apostles do oblige Christians to their observance of and obedience to the Law in those Precepts which concern all Nations who are by Christ set at liberty from the Judaical Yoke of Ceremonies and carnal Ordinances amongst which none was so mad yet as to rank an Oath I could not but observe the incongruity of the Apostles prohibition as it is over-stretched by the Quakers with his own honouring of the Law and to prevent any scruple which might arise through misunderstanding of the Apostles restraint of us from swearing by this distinction of imprudent and passionate Oaths belched out in rage from deliberate swearing upon weighty Causes either arbitrarily or out of obedience to Authority but always with due reverence to God I have open'd a way to reconcile St. James to himself and the Law to the Gospel And now I proceed Secondly To refute the dangerous errors of the Quakers which they lay for a foundation of their abstinence from swearing They affirm the Righteousness of the Gospel exceeds that of the Law This Affertion they maintain by the example of one Walter Brute who as Mr. Fox relates in his Martyrology defended his refusal of an Oath because his Master Christ taught Christian Men that in affirmation of a Truth they should pass the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees of the Old Testament or else he excludes them out of Heaven Matth. 5.20 To the words recited out of Matth. 5.33.37 Walter Brute subjoyned Therefore as the perfection of the antient Men of the Old Testament was not to forswear themselves so the perfection of Christian Men is not to swear at all because they are so commanded of Christ But though Walter Brute was mistaken in the sense of Christs Commandment yet his words mount not to such an height of Error as this position of the Quakers For W. B. doth well note that our Saviour says our Righteousness must exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees but not that of the Law of Moses And to the right understanding of Christs Sermon in the Mount we must take notice that Christ doth not unfold to his novice Disciples the Mysteries of the Gospel but first corrects the Jewish vulgar error of Happiness consisting in the full enjoyment of the Temporal Blessings promised in the Law and prepares them for the Cross to be suffered for Righteousness and that they might not be deceived by a counterfeit or defective Righteousness he establishes the Law and the Prophets to be the Rule of Righteousness and then proceeds to clear and vindicate the Law of Moses from the corrupt Glosses of the Scribes and Pharisees whose new Model of Righteousness was so defective
receive and submit unto the Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures manifest that this pretended Light within them which is directly opposite to the Light which hitherto hath enlightened all the World which did not extinguish it by Atheism or wink against it with wilful folly is of God we cannot but conclude that the use of Oaths is still as warrantable from the very Nature and benefit of them as ever it was And as the superstitions which though contrary to the common Notions of a God and to the natural principles of Piety yet by Satans malicious subtilty and the vanity of Mans mind are ingrafted upon the stock of natural Religion do not extirpate the root of natural Religion which will maintain true Piety to Gods Glory when by good husbandry the corrupt grafts are cut off and the root and branch are cultivated aright for the service of the true God so the various abuses of Oaths frequent in all Ages with prophane despisers of God and by vicious custom too general with Professors of Religion do not in themselves directly and should not by consequence eliminate the religious practice of Swearing For the banishment of a Sacrament as the Latines call an Oath out of humane Society is a step to supersede all Worship of God and to remove an Oath out of all procedures of Judicature is no little artifice to extinguish the fear of God in the World SECT V. Concerning the summe and end of the Gospel THat we may yet draw nearer to an end and hit our Mark close and deep it will be fit to consider the intimate and peculiar quality of the Gospel to which these pretenders to Evangelical perfection say that an Oath is irreconcileable The Gospel as it stands in opposition to the Law of Works Rom. 3. â— 28 â— 5 â— whereby Man was to seek Righteousness and Life by his own perfect obedience is called by St. Paul the Law of Faith whereby Man being by the general corruption of humane nature and by his singular sinfulness obnoxious to Gods wrath which is the Messenger of Death obtains Righteousness Luk. 1. â—9 〈◊〉 Cor. 5. â—8 19 〈…〉 3.9 and Life by Faith on Christs Blood The Gospel then is a way of peace a word of reconciliation a ministery of Righteousness Peace and Life which are purchased by the Death of Christ and by the Blood of his Cross The primary ends of the Gospel are these two inseparable benefits which our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ hath compassed by his Death and works by the power of the Gospel upon the Consciences of Believers Reconciliation and Reformation of Man who was in a state of enmity with God both active and passive by his Sin Rom. 5. â—0 Col. 1. â—1 22 〈◊〉 Pet. 3. â—8 2. â—3 Tit. 2.11 â—2 In one word this is the Reduction of the lost sheep or the fugitive servant unto God in the way of Peace and Holiness The saving Grace therefore of the Gospel teaches all mankind which is enlightened with its beams to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and piously in this present World We are moreover to observe that from the first foundation of a Church which immediately was after Mans Sin and Sentence began to be built upon the promised Messiah who is the Rock of Salvation common to all Ages God did set up a way of Worship which had relation to Christ the Lamb of God 〈◊〉 Pet. 1. â—9 20. fore-designed by God and manifested in Gods own season This instituted Religion in several shadows drawn out by Gods hand in such proportions as he thought fit conteined the Salvation by Christ and the Doctrine of Faith and Repentance of which the Law given to Man in his state of integrity made no words and gave no hopes of Salvation that way The Gospel therefore first in the cloudy Pillar which was the guide of Patriarchs and Prophets and then in the brightness of its Revelation by Christ since all is accomplished and preached to the Nations superadds to the Law Rom. â—â— 17 the Righteousness of God from Faith to Faith but it pares off nothing of the Religion and Righteousness which Man owes to God and to his Neighbour by that natural dependence upon God and that order to his neighbour Act. â—â— 26 which God established by Creation of Mankind after his own Image and of one blood to bind them together This indeed is that which we call the Law of Nature which God unfolded and taught the Patriarchs the first Fathers of Families and founders of humane Society And the grace of the Gospel is so far from loosening the Bond of this Law that on the contrary by addition of the inestimable benefit of Redemption to our deep engagement by Creation it ties more strictly the Redeemed of the Lord who are enlarged from the bondage under Sin and made the Servants of Righteousness to yield up all their Members once abused to the service of uncleanness and iniquity Rom â—â— 19 to become now the servants and instruments of Righteousness unto sanctification This then being the end and efficacy of the Gospel to clear the light of the Law of Nature and to strengthen the holy bonds of Love to God and Man how is it imaginable that the Tongue is restrained now by the Gospel from being still made an instrument of Religion and Righteousness Since the Evangelical Prayer of our Saviours framing for our use is that Gods name should be hallowed in all the World can we think that silence and total abstinence from taking up the name of God in an Oath with reverence upon just occasions sanctifies or magnifies the Name of God Mal. â—â— 11 Or is it consonant to that enlargement of Gods honour which is the effect of the Gospel in regard of persons and to the maintenance of it by all acts of Piety which our Saviour professes to have been his work and care that Heathens and Infidels should still by the Law of Nature be bound to acknowledge and honour the Name of God by Swearing in a due manner and Christians should have their hands tied from lifting up to Heaven 2 Cor 14. and their Tongues from calling upon his Name and giving him the Glory due unto it Indeed the Apostle says what participation is there between righteousness and the transgression of the Law what communion of Light with Darkness or what agreement of Christ with Belial Let it therefore first be proved that an Oath is the transgression of the Law Maâ—â— 33 before it be cast out of the Kingdom of God as inconsistent with the Righteousness thereof â—â—h 5. â— which Christ commands us to seek Let an Oath which is indeed a Light according to the Apostles sentence because it doth discover and manifest somtime Truth and somtime many shameful things which are done in secret be proved to be an unprofitable deed of Darkness or else let
this light shine still in a Christian state Let it first be proved that the Man who suffers the Lords anointed to rule over him and submits to authority in Swearing is a Child of Belial that is of the Devil who is so called for his impatience of a yoke and therefore the refractory people who would not submit to Saul â—am â—â— 27. annointed by God are stiled Children of Belial is a work of the Devil which Christ hath destroyed by his Gospel or else there will be a good harmony still between Christs Gospel and a Reverend Oath SECT VI. The Conclusive Arguments to warrant the reverent use of Oaths among Christians THese things being premised not to preoccupate but to expedite the decision of the Question concerning the consistency of Swearing with the glorious Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ I shall now make their agreement evident by all the Light of Nature Law and Gospel united in one body To this purpose I will first prove the Divine Right and Power of the Magistrate to exact an Oath and with the same labour open a wide door for Christians to come into a Court without pinching their Consciences and bring them in with Christs Authority â—â—m â—7 And for private Oaths they may have Christs good leave to use them as well as Jonathan and David had Gods This Case of the Quakers is an Axe laid to the root of Magistracy which fells down all Christian Magistrates as Anti-Christian Tyrants who contrary to Christs command bind themselves and their subjects by Oaths and persecute all them who out of pure Conscience of Christs command and for the honour of Christianity refuse to renounce their Christian Faith which they say cannot be avoided if they take the Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy or any other legitimate Oath 〈…〉 49. Indeed these seemingly tame people are a brood of Vipers like the Adder in Jacobs Prophetick character of Dan which bites the heels of the Horse and makes him throw his Rider I spare the application because it is obvious But I will break the Cockatrices Egg Esa 59.5 I mean this Aphorisme of Anarchy Christians ought not to Swear by the force of Christs prohibition And to make the way plain for proceeding in my Method I shall first inquire to whom the Sermon of our Saviour was Preached and how it reached the present and future Auditors This Sermon was not spoken to Magistrates whether Soveraign or Subordinate but to the Multitude of the people neither is there any part of it which relates to the Magistrates special duty except that severe threatning Mat. 5.19 Whosoever breaks one of the least Commandements of Moses and the Prophets and certainly Thou shalt Swear by the Lord is one of them and not the least he shall be called i. e. esteemed and taken for the least in the Kingdom of Heaven be thought applicable to the Magistrate as well as to the Minister Those precepts therefore of not resisting evil and not judging which if they were given to Magistrates in their politick capacity Mat. 5.37 7.1 do overthrow Tribunals and either disarm the powers ordained of God or tye up the Sword both Civil and Martial in the scabbard concern not Magistrates further than as they are considered in an estate common with them to private persons and are subject to the same duties This is to be taken notice of the rather because some pious Doctors of the ancient Church who lived under Heathen and persecuting Emperors and making no prospect into the latter times wherein Kings according to several Prophesies should kise the Son of God and serve him with their Authority Psal 2.11.12 72.11 138.4 Esa 43.23 60.3 prove the Guardians of both Tables of the Law Defenders of the Faith and Patrons of the Church did think Magistracy it self and the use of the Sword inconsistent with the Christian Faith and it is no marvail if some of latter times were tender of Swearing who mistook the Subject and scope of our Saviours discourse But we must know that our Saviour who was born a King but of such a Kingdome as is not of this World Mat. â— 2 was very sollicitous to decline any thing that favoured of Worldly power and was an cautious in his Sermons of reflecting upon Princes Joh. 18 36 Luc. 12.13.14 Joh. 8.3 11. and very careful to secure the Authority of the Magistrate in his whole conversation and also in his Gospel For his design being the Salvation of all sorts of Men of all Nations indifferently by the Preaching of the Gospel he did insert nothing into it which might rationally obstruct the entertainment of it and especially nothing prejudicial to the power of Princes whereof they are jealously tender that they might have a just aversion from the Faith The Antient Church therefore sung this true and good Anthem unto the Honour of Christ Qui regna das caelestia non eripis terrestria Thou that givest the Heavenly Crown Castest not Earthly Kingdomes down Indeed Christ took the World as he found it and altered nothing in the secular estate of Kings or Subjects but by vertue of his Heavenly power in a spiritual way by his word and spirit established light instead of darkness knowledge and the fear of the true God instead of ignorance and impiety faith in himself instead of Paganism and holiness of heart and life instead of vitiousness in his new erected Kingdom the subjects whereof continued in the same outward estate See 1 Cor. 7.21.22 wherein they were called whether bond or free Subjects or Governors As the grace which came by Jesus Christ entituled no Man to Wealth or Power to which a believer had no right and title before by the Law of Nations and of his own Government under which he lived so it * Pauls Heavenly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. 3.20 whereby he was a Citizen of Jerusalem that is above the City of the Living God Heb. 12.22 did not extinguish his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his being a Citizen of Rome which was his Birth-right and that a precious Priviledge neither did the former hinder the Apostle from claiming the benefit of it and making advantage of it See Act. 22 25-29 Act. 16.37.38.39 devested not nor disinherited any of honour or estate nor abridged any secular liberty nor retrenched any publick Authority which the Ministers of Gods Providence were entrusted with for the publick good If it did let that Scripture of the New Testament be produced But none such ever was or can be alleadged Yea many indeed too many to be repeated now are obvious in the Apostolical Writings which manifest the contrary Furthermore as the truth of the Gospel crost no truth See Rom. 13. 1-7 Tit. 3.1 1 Pet. 2 13-18 Eph. 6 1-9 Col. 2.20 c. 4 1. either evident by the light of Natural Reason or revealed by the word of God written so the Grace of
exacted by a lawful Superior is a good Work done in the Name of the Lord as I have abundantly proved already Therefore some Swearing is not only consistent with Christianity but also required by the Gospel It remains only for me to show for the direction and satisfaction of Christians in several cases of a more private concernment that Oaths taken or given without the interposition of the Magistrates Authority either upon a single persons own Motion of Spirit impelled thereto by weighty considerations or out of compliance with a Neighbour are not repugnant but agreeable to the Rules of the Gospel Here I shall for brevities sake produce but one argument which hath Light and Strength enough to prove my conclusion and may lead the Reader to frame more by proportion out of the Gospel if he please for the fuller Conviction of the Adversary to stop his Mouth with number if weight will not bear down his reason The Gospel doth always allow 1 Cor. 10.21 1 Pet. 4.11 Rom. 15.2.3 1 Cor. 10.24 Phil. 2.4 and as the importance of the matter requires commands Christians to do whatsoever doth directly and by the nature of the act it self tend to the Glory of God which ought to be the aim which we intend in all our deliberate actions and in like manner to perform freely whatsoever really conduces to the good peace and welfare of our Neighbor whom we are bound to love as our selves by the Law and Gospel But the due Swearing in many things that concern our selves or for the satisfaction of our Brother or for a mutual engagement to do what is agreeable to Piety Justice and Charity doth bring Glory to the Name of God and procures the good of our selves and others And therefore is not by the Gospel wholly banished out of the conversation of Christians The Assumption is manifestly true For it is apparent to sence and reason that when a Christian calls God to witness regard judge and revenge falshood upon the Head and Soul of perjur'd persons he sets forth the Glory of God as much as Jacob and Laban or Jonathan and David or any of the former days before or under the Law did And common experience teaches us what satisfaction and benefit we mutually give and receive by an Oath reverently taken The conclusion therefore naturally flows from the premises and abides firm as built upon a Rock that Christianity hath not made the Third Commandment a mere insignificant or useless Cypher to us by forbidding Oaths which leaves no place for the honouring of Gods Name that way and stops up the passage against Piety and Impiety both together I confess that a great measure of Christian Prudence is requisite in the private use of Oaths above what is needful in Oaths administred by authority For our submission to the wisdom of the State enjoyned us by God absolves us from much of the trouble and care about the sufficient weight in the ground of the Oath whereas now the whole burden of the Oath with all the circumstances to qualifie and legitimate the same lies upon the discretion of the private Christian who ought to have a full assurance in his own Mind Rom. 14. â—5 of the warrantableness of the action Therefore the sparing use of private Oaths is safe commendable and comfortable For according to St. 1 Cor. 6.12 10.23 Pauls golden rule All things that are lawful for us are not always expedient neither do they always edifie And Christs precept of abstinence from Swearing in ordinary discourse doth in a manner restrain his Warrant concerning Oaths to matters not only serious but also weighty which need such an inforcement of belief or engagement Being now arrived at this conclusion I will imitate my Adversaries a little and quote the Testimony of a Heathen who was beholden to the Gospel for his refined Morality but a profest Enemy to Christ Hierocles one of the †By the way we may observe that it was a cunning Stratagem of Satan in that age that he might yet support his sinking Kingdom to revive and set up the Pythagorcan and Platonick Philosophy the Morality whereof they improved not without borrowing Light from the Christian Religion But the Devils design was by Philosophy to baffle Faith and to discountenance Christianity as being at the best but useless which could do no more to advance Vertue than Paganism it self This is evident by the Writings of Porphyrie Jamblichus Hierocles and the like Platonick School at Alexandria in his accurrate Coment on the Golden Verses of Phythagoras explicating that Precept 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Reverence an Oath discourses thus as I shall render his sence faithfully without transcribing the Greek He calls an humane Oath the Image of Gods Oath whereby God establisheth the immutable Law and order of the Vniverse the helper of humane affairs and Procurator of constancy and truth which reduces the versatile free will into order and affixedness both in words and deeds The Reverence of an Oath is the keeping of what is Sworn to as much as in us lies without violation which by a voluntary necessity trimmes them that reverence an Oath to the constancy and truth of a Divine Habit or Constitution None but they who are possest with political Virtues can swear aright * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word of the Law Maâ— 5.33 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naughtiness or vitiousness is the Mother of false or for-swearing How is it possible that a covetous voluptuous or cowardly person should ever do other then put off the reverence of an Oath and when ever he imagins that some advantage may be reaped by Perjury barter away Divine Goods for those which are mortal and fading Now the best course of care to preserve the reverence of an Oath is not to use it frequently nor at adventure nor upon light occurrents nor for the filling up of talk nor for the giving credit to a relation but as far as it is possible to reserve the use of it for things that are equally necessary and precious and them only when their Security appears not any other way to be procured but by the truth issuing from an Oath And then our Oaths will gain credit when our whole conversation bears harmony with it to show that in humane matters nothing is more precious with us than Truth whether we be unsworn or swear Now this precept charges us not onely to Swear aright but also to abstain from Oaths For so we shall alwayes swear aright if we do not * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mark that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 does not alwayâ— signifie the Abuse of a thing but sometimes the full use oâ— a thing to the utmost of ouâ— power and liberty So St. Pauâ— who never had thoughts of abusing his power in the Gospel resolved to deny himself bâ— not using his full power of lâ—ving upon the Gospel 1 Coâ— 9 18. And the transitoriness
o◠the World should move Christians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not t◠use it at full liberty but sparingly with self-denial 1 Co◠7.31 abuse Oathes or rather take our full liberty of Swearing For also in frequency of Swearing a Man shall readily fall into perjury But keeping of Oaths follows upon the sparing use of them For a Man will either not Swear or when he doth will Swear aright neither will his Tongue by custome out run his mind neither will his Mind be overthrown by the violence of his intemperate passions This the good Mans Vertue will correct and the customary abstinence from Swearing will cure the other But Swearing aright becomes the Honour of the Gods before given in Charge we must remember the Heathen Philosopher speaks of God in the plural number it being bred together and a companion of Piety Reverence an Oath by not over freely and hastily using it that you may be accustomed to swear aright to wit when there is a fit and just occasion by not accustoming your self to Swear For Swearing aright is no small part of Piety Thus the Philosopher hath secured the Reverence due to Oaths religiously taken by abstinence from rash light vain and customary Swearing without banishing an eminent piece of Piety and Honour due to God out of the Life of Men. This one Testimony of Hierocles I shall oppose to the many examples in the Quakers Case not for any esteem I have of the person but for the solidity of his reason which gives us a precedent to reconcile the Reverence of an Oath with abstinence from customary dangerous and prophane Swearing which is the taking of Gods Name in vain and as much forbidden by God in the Third Commandement as perjury which the Scribes and Pharisees accounted to be the only crime struck at by Moses And this is all that I have at present to say to the Question concerning the lawfulness of Oaths under Christianity I shall briefly recollect the summe of the whole discourse into these Corollaries 1. The Quakers may justly be suspected of a false pretence when they ascribe their disobedience to authority in refusal of Oathes to their consciencious regard of and to obedience to Christs Command because they do not with equal Zeal obey Christs Ordinances of Worship and Church Government 2. They do very ill consult for the reputation of Christian Religion Tim. 6. ◠Pet. 2. ◠when by their alledging Christianity it self for the ground of their disobedience they make the way of Truth to be evil spoken of 3. They blaspheme Christ and his Holy Gospel by fathering their pernicious Errors and Heresies upon the truth it self 4. They reproach the Footsteps of the Lords Anointed by charging him with persecution when he uses the Sword for the punishment of evil doers 5. The nature of an Oath justifies Swearing to be an act of Piety and an instrument of Justice 6. The Gospel of our Lord Jesus confirms the Magistrates power to exact an Oath of his Subjects 7. The same Doctrine binds all Subjects to obedience when an Oath is in due manner tendred to them 8. The Christian Liberty of Swearing upon some occasions is not taken away by Christ and his Apostles 9. Abstinence from Oaths in ordinary communication is commanded by the Gospel not as a special perfection of any order of Men but as a common Duty of all Christians who are obliged to bridle their Tongues and to endeavour to arrive at this perfection 10. The Religion of Quakers who refuse sober Oaths but their mouth is full of Cursing and Bitterness who incessantly spit forth the poyson of Aspes with unbridled Tongues is according to St. Jams's Sentence a vain Religion from which good Lord deliver us Amen AN APPENDIX Of an Useful Consideration THe course of my Building required a large discourse first for the digging up and clearing the Ground of the Rubbish of erroneous conceits and then for laying my Foundation deep and firm that it might be able to bear and strengthen the Superstructure Now this being finished I have thought fit for a Coronis to add one clear Evidence of their impertinencies who soever alleadge our Saviours and his Apostles prohibition Swear not at all to defend a refractory refusal of a Reverent Oath exacted by Authority Let this parallel be considered Mat. 7.1 Rom. 14.10.13 Our Blessed Saviour in the same Sermon gives another prohibition Judge not that ye be not Judged St. Paul seconds him and says Why judgest thou thy Brother For we shall all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ Therefore let us not judge another And St. James on the same ground re-enforces the restraint of judging Jam. 4.12 Gen. 18.25 There is one Law-giver and consequently one Judge who is able to save and to destroy to wit God the Soveraign Absolute and Almighty Judge of all the World who art thou that judgest another These words of Christ and his Apostles are in their sound universal or indefinite yet that they may be reconciled to the word of God elsewhere revealed their sence must be restrained by such distinctions as are grounded upon Scripture For if the Law did not limit we durst not It will not be lost labour to see this made out more fully There are several distinctions observable for the due limitation of this Interdict Judge not First the Persons both judging and judged are to be distinguished Persons are either of a Private quality and considered in that state which is general to all Men and indeed the most of Christs Auditors and of Christians in the days of the Apostles were private Men and were so considered by Christ and his Apostles according to their station in privacy in regard of the World Or else Men are of a Publick quality invested with Authority Now if we consider Christians in their Private quality every Man is by God made his own Judge and is bound to Judge himself by a certain Rule of Truth and Righteousness which God hath given him He is therefore bound to judge of his own Faith and of his own Duty In order to this he is to try the Spirits whether they be of God 1 Joh. 4.1 2 Cor. 11.13.14.15 Heb. 5.14 1 Thes 5.21 Rom. 6.13 2 Tim. 1.13 Eph. 2.20 1 Pet. 1.11.12 least he be deluded and seduced by false Teachers who may pretend to be Ministers of Righteousness and boast of Gods Spirit when they are indeed the actors for the Lying Spirit Christians therefore should have sences exercised by study of Gods Word to discern good and evil that they may prove all things and hold fast that which is good which is agreeable to the form of wholesom Doctrine which the Prophets and Apostles and Christ the inspirer of both have taught every Christian therefore for his own security must exercise a judgment of Discretion that he may discern the Wolves although clad in Sheeps cloathing from the good Shepheards of the Lords Flock And this is not a judgment
here that God when he takes an Oath deals with Men after the manner of Men out of a gracious condescention to Humane infirmity that complying with Men's weakness he may cure their infidelity with an Oath as an Antidote against Vnbelief and a cordial strengthener of Faith Now though there be Truth in this and I will not say that this Doctrine is unsound yet I will say and prove that it is too short or narrow an explication of the mystery of God's Swearing For the Scripture informs us that God hath sworn not only to us who are mere Men sometimes in Mercy as to Abraham and to his Seed for the confirmation of his promises and to David and others and sometimes in wrath as to the incredulous and murmuring Jews to shew the irreversibility of that sentence whereby they were excluded out of the promised Land â—â—l 95. â— Heb. 3. â— 18 â—â— because they had forfeited their Title to it by Infidelity But God the Father hath also sworn to God his own Son when he was designed to be made Man and being invested with our Flesh to be the Saviour of the World Now the Eternal Son of God being the brightness of his Fathers Glory Heb. 1. â—4 was more excellently Pure than the very Angels who although as Gregory Nazianz speaks they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Spotless mirrors of God's Holy Light in their original estate yet were as experience proved by the ruine of some capable of foul darkness and therefore Christ stood not in need of such means to preserve his fixed Purity as we do to restore and secure our health which depends upon our Faith on God's word Yet God for other reasons did swear unto Christ Thou art a Priest for ever â—â—l 110. after the Order of Melchisedeck It is impertinent to say that God swore only for our assurance and encouragement to rely upon the alsufficient atonement of this High Priest and for binding us to serve and obey this King of Peace and Righteousness For by that Oath as we do not swear Fealty and Allegiance to God or Christ so God doth not swear to us that Christ shall be a Faithful High Priest but the Holy Scripture reveals the transaction which past in the Court of Heaven for setling the Mediatorship upon Christ how the Father swore unto his Son â—â—b 7. â—â— 25. Thou art a Priest c. And the Apostle gives us some account of the matter for from this Oath of God in the constitution of the Messiah to be King and Priest joyntly he infers the Dignity of Jesus Christ's Priesthood above the Levitical because these Priests were ordained without an Oath to a temporary successive and at last a transitory and failing Priesthood whereas Christ by an Oath was consecrated to an unpassant and eternal Priesthood Here is no shadow of imperfection in this grand affair of State in the Kingdom of God nor any appearance of God's condescention to humane infirmity in the business but a manifestation of the Riches of God's wisdom and Mercy in the Divine Counsel concerning the salvation of miserable mankind by the Mediation Propitiation Intercession and Redemption of the Son of God incarnate who is our King and Priest and is by oath inaugurated into both If this be duely weighed we shall find that there is no reason to say that Christ took away swearing from Christians to advance them to a state of Perfection above the Jews But this proud affectation of Phanaticks to be above Oaths surmounts the pride of Lucifer in the Prophet Esay who said I will exalt my Throne above the Stars of God I will be like the most high Esa 14.12 13 14. Dan. 12.7 Apoc. 10.5 6. For not contented with excelling the Angels in Heaven who did swear by the living God nor satisfied with being like unto God they will be above swearing that their single testimonies shall pass for creditable This indeed if it were obtained would not be the perfection of Christian Religion which Christ hath adopted to the condition of all Mankind yet full of imperfections but of these singularists who would be above as they are cross to all the world and above God himself who is not above swearing and counts it no disparagement to the Glory of his Truth I will conclude this discourse with the Pious Meditation of Tertullian O nos faelices quorum causà jurat Deus sed miserrimos si Deo juranti non credimus O how happy are we for whose sake God himself doth swear but oh the wretched misery of us if we do not give credit to God when he swears to win our belief But because not Divine but Humane Oaths are at present in question their special nature is to be examined Now Man's Oath is plenarily described by a very Learned Divine to be an extraordinary part of Religious Worship wherein God is solemnly called in to be a witness with us of the Truth and Sincerity of our speaking upon the peril of his wrath to be inflicted on us if we deal not sincerely Cicero Offic. l. 3. says an Oath is Affirmatio Religiosa 1. It is a part or act of God's worship because it is not a bare naming of God or making use of his name as pious persons may often do who yet may live many years without swearing but it is an act of Religion wherein the name of God is taken up on purpose for his Honour in the acknowledgement of his Presidency over Humane affairs Thus it agrees with Adoration Deut. 32.40 Ex. 17.16 Numb 14.30 Deut. 6.13 and was of old accompanied with such Ceremonies as import an Adoration as lifting up the hand to Heaven or laying the hand on the Altar for which cause the lifting up of the hand to Heaven is ascribed to God who is a Spirit when his Swearing is intended to be exprest It is such an eminent act of Religious Worship that it is put sometimes for the whole service of God 2. 1 Thess 17. It is an extraordinary piece of Worship not of so frequent use as Prayer is which is enjoyned to be in a manner uncessant but restrained to certain weighty occasions so that it is more like Physick than Food And for this cause Christ forbids it in ordinary communication It is not the common language of a Christian nor the embellishment of familiar discourses but a Holy weapon to be taken up for the defence of Truth and Justice when the security of either doth require it 3. As to the special nature of this Religious Act an Oath is an Appeal to God with a Penalty It is first an invocation of God to bear witness with us And so we acknowledge God to be videntem veri one that sees and knows the truth of the thing doubted of for it is in vain to call in one for a witness who knows nothing of the matter and also a searcher of Secrets a tryer of the Hearts
who knows our thoughts and intentions and the conformity of our words to our Knowledge and Purposes And then there goes a curse upon our selves along with our Prayer to God There is always an imprecation of Vengeance added to the invocation of God's testimony in case we speak otherwise than we know or intend Herein we acknowledge God to be Vindicem falsi a just and powerful Revenger of Falshood Deceit and particularly of our abuse of him by drawing him down to countenance our lies and fraud These things are so cleer that I need not enlarge my Lecture upon the proof of them But these evident Truths I lay now as the premises out of which I shall anon draw my conclusion And that will the easier obtain credit if to the nature of an Oath we briefly recollect the Ends Vses and Benefits of an Oath which are indeed too many to be particularly recounted and unfolded at this time The main ends of swearing are two 1. The Glory of God which naturally results from Man's serious acknowledgements of God's Sovereignty and all those excellencies which are requisite to such a Witness and Judge as we make our Appeal to whensoever we swear in sobriety 2. The good of others or our selves which we are bound to procure and promote For it is designed as a means 1. To cleer the Truth and to preserve the Reputation of Men charged unjustly 2. To discover Crimes Heb. 6.16 that evil may be taken away from a society 3. To put an end to Controversies 4. For the firmer binding of Contracts In many cases all other means of giving satisfaction to Magistrates Friends c. may be ineffectual in matters of moment where the requiring and taking of an Oath may have a good effect to procure Quiet Peace and Justice I need say no more and what I have said is warranted by the Law of God and the good customs of the Nations which are not only recorded but approved by God in Scripture It is therefore perversly done by those Fanaticks whereof the Anabaptists are a part who do maintain in shew at least the Holy Scriptures to be a Rule of Faith and Life and defend their Authority against the Quakers to refuse deliberate Oaths which are so frequently commanded Psal 15.1 4. 63.11 and commended in Scriptures because Christ in one place restrains Men from rash light and vain Oaths which are very near a kin to perjury and because one Apostle forbids hasty Swearing in fits of impatience which make Men unfit even for Prayer much more for Swearing For that St. James meant no more 1 Tim. 2.8 it is manifest because another Apostle who was led by the same Holy Spirit of Truth and that Spirit never contradicts himself doth in his Divinely-inspired Epistles pretty froquently make use of an Oath upon several weighty occasions 2 Cor. 1.23 1 Cor. 15.31 Gal. 1.20 1 Thess 2 5 10. Rom. 9 1. whereof one was the vindication of his own reputation because the credit of his Apostleship and the success of his Ministry did in a good measure depend upon it And the same Apostle St. Paul charges others by Oath to perform their Duty or what he thought expedient for the publick benefit of the Churches See 1 Tim. 6.13 14. 1 Thess 5.27 This last instance wherein St. Paul adjures the Christians of Thessalonica is a paralel for Words and for the power of imposing of an Oath with the High Priest's adjuration of Christ himself before-mentioned Let now the Anabaptists find a more commodious way of reconciling the Apostles in this matter if they can than this which we offer saying The Gospel of our Lord Jesus preached by his Apostles forbids temerarious swearing in anger by Heaven or Earth or in any other form of an Oath unto which Men were then accustomed who were wont to express their Oath by a Creature concealing or sparing the name of God for this is the true meaning of the words Nor any other Oath which these Men vainly urge for their cause but at the same time the Gospel allows swearing by God or by the Lord upon grave and important occasions with judgement and also charging inferiors under an Oath to do their Duty But the Quakers are no less if not more irrational then the former for they do not deny the Scriptures which Jews for the Old Testament and Christians for the Old and New Testament acknowledge to be written by Divine Inspiration to be True but they fondly affirm that nothing is the Rule of Humane Life but the Light of God within us We deny not the Light of God within us to be the Director of us but acknowledge that God who commanded Light to shine out of Darkness hath enlightened his House the Church which was larger or lesser as he saw good to proportion the frame of it under several dispensations of Grace with his Word both outwardly published and inwardly applyed 2 Cor. 4 6. and by both ways doth shine in our Hearts And we further affirm That since God hath committed his living and lightsome Oracles to Writing and the Churches custody as a Standard whereby we may try the Spirits whether they are of God the Father of Lights or of the Prince of darkness who doth frequently transform himself into an Angel of Light 2 Cor. 11.14 that he may with false Light delude and secure Men into his Kingdom of Darkness nothing ought to be accepted attended and followed as the Light of God within us but what is agreeable to the Light of God without us and shines in the Candlestick that is the Church which Christ hath set up to bear the Light To come close then to the purpose is it not a perverseness and giddiness of Spirit in these Men to allow the Truth of the New Testament which commends the Holy Scriptures of the Old as directors of us in all those Duties to God and Man which concern all Nations whom God would have come to the knowledge of the Truth and yet to condemn them who direct their actions particularly in taking Oaths by this Rule Again since the Light of God within us is as they acknowledge an infallible Rule and we in Swearing deliberately do follow that Light of God which shined in the Hearts of all Nations as well as of the Patriarchs and of Gods Servants both before and after the separation of the Jews from the wide World to be Gods chosen and peculiar people and of the Prophets and of the Apostles and the practice of these Men agreeable to Gods revealed word and will shews that the Light of Conscience which directed and moved the Nations to Swear was no other than the Candle of the Lord is it not a prodigious obstinancy in this froward Generation not to entertain this light but to condemn all those that do receive it and walk by it Till then the Quakers can and do by some evidence as clear as that is for which we