NOW the Truth which we may be required by this means to Confirm may relate either to what is Past or Present As when we Affirm a thing to Be or not to Be To have been Done or not Done In such a Manner and with such Circumstances Or Otherwise Or it may relate to somewhat yet to come As when we Oblige our selves to Do such a thing or Not to Do it and that under such certain Conditions or without them as the Nature of our Engagement shall Chance to be The Former of these is usually called an Assertory the Latter a Promissory Oath And because a Man may divers ways Forswear Himself in Each of These if he has not a due Care to prevent it It will be necessary for me distinctly to Consider what are the general Ways by which we may be most likely to Contract such a Guilt in Either of Them 3. FIRST then In the Case of an Assertory Oath He Forswears Himself who Swears to the Truth of any Fact which at the same time He either Certainly knows to be False or does not know to be True As for Example That such or such a Thing was Done by such or such a Person which at the same time He either Knows that Person did not Do or has no sufficient Evidence to move him to believe that he Did Do. For this being a down-right Lie in the Assertion must needs become a Perjury by the Addition of an Oath to it 4. AND here it matters not whether a Man certainly knows what he Swears to be False It is enough that he does not know it to be True Nay or should it happen to be True yet if he thought it to have been Otherwise and yet Swore to the Truth of it He Forswore Himself Nor will his Mistake at all Contribute to the Excusing of his Perjury before God 5. AGAIN A Man may Forswear Himself not only by Swearing that which is Altogether Vntrue but by Prevaricating in any the least Circumstance of what he delivers and confirms with an Oath As for Instance * If He Swears to a Matter as Certain of which He has only a Probable Assurance * If he Affirm that upon his Own Knowledge which He has received only upon the Credit of some Other * If He Adds any thing to what He Relates Or willingly Conceals any thing that may give light or weight to or in any other Circumstance notably Affect the Point to which He Swears In All these and the like Cases He who knowingly and designedly Prevaricates or otherwise departs but in the least Tittle from the Truth of what He delivers Forswears Himself tho' what He says should in the main be never so True 6. IN short He who will Swear with a Good Conscience in any Oath of this kind must first duly Consider what he is about to say and then must proceed according to the strictest Measures of Truth and Fidelity in it He must neither Add to nor Diminish from what he knows to be the Truth Must deliver what is Certain as Certain What is Doubtful as Doubtful What he knows Himself as upon his Own Knowledge What he has Received from Others as Received from Them And in so doing he may be sure that he shall not forswear himself 7. AS for the Other kind of Oaths Secondly Those which relate to somewhat yet to come he is to be accounted in the first place to forswear himself who promises upon his Oath to do that which at the same time he resolves not to perform As for example That he will meet a Man in a certain place where yet he intends not to meet him Or that he will do him such a kindness which he resolves all the while not to do for him 8. AND because no one can be supposed really to intend to do that which he knows before-hand he Cannot do therefore Secondly He who Swears to do any thing which is apparently beyond his Ability and which he cannot but be sensible is so must be reckon'd to fall under the same guilt and to forswear himself as effectually as if he had directly intended not to perform what he obliged himself to do 9. THUS if a Trader who is not worth a Hundred Pounds in the World nor knows which way to find credit to raise such a Sum shall yet to over-reach another who is a stranger to his Concerns and to gain some present advantage to himself by it Swear upon a certain day to pay him Five Hundred and fail of fulfilling it He must be look'd upon to have been forsworn not only after such his failure but from the very first Minute that he swore to do that which he knew it was not in his power to perform Nay tho' by some lucky accident which he did not fore-see he should be enabled to make good his Promise and accordingly fulfil it yet would not this clear him of having sworn falsly at the time that he made his Oath Because at that time he had no prospect that he should be able nor could by consequence really intend to be as good as his word 10. AND for the same reason it will follow farther Thirdly That if a Man swear to do any thing which he knows it is not Lawful for him to do he forswears himself tho' at that time he should intend to fulfil it Because by so doing he obliges himself to do that which he knows he Ought not to do nor if he means to behave himself like a good Man must presume to perform 11. INDEED as to these two last Instances If the Promise so sworn to as I have supposed had neither any known Impossibility in it nor was Vnlawful to be fulfill'd at the time when the Oath was made but by some following Accident became either Impossible or Vnlawful before the time in which it ought to have been accomplish'd In this Case the Person who swore will have done nothing amiss nor be otherwise Obliged by his Oath for the present than to perform what he promised as far as he is yet Able and it may be Lawful for him to do it But if in process of time these Impediments should be removed and the Obligation of his Oath still continue in force Then he will from thenceforth become engaged to a compleat performance of his Promise and forswear himself if he shall neglect or refuse the fulfilling of it 12. BY consequence Fourthly He who Swears to do any thing contrary to what he had before sworn to do his former Oath still continuing to oblige must swear falsly and put himself under an absolute necessity of being forsworn Because in this Case either he must keep his latter Oath and then he will be guilty of Perjury by the breach of his former Obligation Or he must stand to his first Engagement and by so doing act contrary to his second Oath 13. AND this I say supposing the former Oath still to continue to oblige For otherwise If the Oath
first made were either in it self unlawful and as such from the beginning of no force Or if the Obligation of it were founded upon such Circumstances as render'd it valid only for a certain Time and under some certain Conditions and either that Time is pass'd or those Circumstances are altered and so the Reason and Foundation of the Oath Ceasing the Obligation of it Ceases together with them In all these Cases the latter Oath will be never the less lawful to be taken for its being contrary to the Tenour of a former which either never did oblige at all or the Obligation of which was evidently expired before the taking of the other 14. BUT Fifthly Tho' a Man should promise nothing but what he is both Able to perform and may Lawfully fulfil and should truly Intend when he swears to it to Act according to his Oath Yet if he shall afterwards change his Mind Or by any culpable neglect omit to make good his Promise or render himself uncapable of doing it In all these Cases he will become perjured by such his omission Not indeed from the time that he took the Oath but from the time that he should and but for his own fault might have perform'd it 15. AND this I say supposing that the Oath was neither obtain'd by any such force or fraud as render'd it void from the beginning and that the Person to whom it was made and who was alone concern'd in the advantage of it does expect and insist upon the performance of it For otherwise if either the Oath were void from the beginning and did never oblige at all or if he to whom it was made and for whose security it was taken shall think fit to release it In this Case the Person who took the Oath will become clear of all obligation by it and not be forsworn tho' he should neglect to fulfil what he had promised to do 16. IT will I presume be needless for me to add Sixthly That he who will keep himself from swearing falsly must deal clearly and openly in all that he swears unto * Must intend to be understood according to the common and natural import of the words in which he swears * Must use no Equivocation no Mental-Reservation whereby to impose upon those to whom he swears But must account himself obliged to do according as his Words and Actions declare And not think to escape with his Pretence who swore with his Tongue but kept his Mind free from being obliged by it Because all these are in truth such manifest Prevarications so opposite to the Fairness and Ingenuity of an Honest Man that a Man must be desperately deluded indeed before he can think that he may escape the guilt of Perjury by such means 17. I WILL rather observe this one thing farther and which indifferently respects both the kinds of Oaths I have now mentioned That as in all these Cases he who neglects to acquit himself according to the true meaning of what he swears forswears himself so if he shall by any means knowingly and purposely seduce perswade affright or otherwise tamper with any other person to forswear himself he will by his so doing become partaker in the Perjury and render himself even more guilty than he who by his encouragement or instigation forswears himself 18. NAY farther He who exacts an Oath of another whereby he either certainly knows or may reasonably suppose that the Person of whom he requires it will forswear himself does by that means if not involve himself in an equal guilt yet render himself not much less criminal than he who commits the Perjury And must expect to render an Account not only for the Dishonour which thereby is done to God but also for his Vncharitableness towards his Neighbour's Soul 19. FROM what has been said it may appear What it is for a Man to Forswear himself And how many Ways he may be liable so to do I proceed 2dly To offer some Reflections to shew Wherein the Peculiar Malignity of this Sin does consist 20. NOW that will appear from this one plain Observation and which no one who understands what an Oath is can make any doubt of Namely That he who Forswears himself does thereby not only in a most desperate manner * Affront the Majesty of God and * Wound his own Soul but does moreover * Render himself criminal towards his Neigbour also and as much as in him lies * Declare himself a Common Enemy to Mankind 21. FOR 1st As to what concerns the Majesty of God What can strike more directly at that than this Sin of Perjury When a Man shall not only presume to Lie and Cheat and Abuse his Neighbour but the better to accomplish all this Wickedness shall dare even to Appeal to God for his Integrity And by so doing endeavour to intitule him who is Truth its self to a part in his Sin as if he would approve of his Villany and become in some measure Confederate with him in his Impiety 22. THIS is the true Meaning of every Wilful Perjury And then I need not say what a Complication of Guilt and Impudence there must needs be in it 23. IF we consider the Nature of this Sin with respect to Men the least that can be said of it is this That it is a wilful deliberate Imposition upon the Candor and Sincerity of him to whom we swear Which sure must be one of the basest and most dis-ingenuous Practices in the World 24. AND as for the Design of it that is usually not at all less sinful than the Means that are made use of for the accomplishment of it Whilst the Person to whom we swear is not only to be deceived but by vertue of that deceit is to be injured in his Estate his Reputation nay or it may be to the loss of his very Life it self 25. AND this God knows were bad enough were the Sin to end here But that it does not It proceeds still farther Whilst for the accomplishment of this vile purpose the false swearer does not only not tremble at the thought of the Divine Justice but flies in the very face of it and recurrs to God both for the countenance of his Treachery and for the confirmation of the Lie by which it is to be brought about 26. NOW he who can be so hardy as to do this must either not believe that there is any God at all or he must disclaim his knowledge of and concern for what is done here below Or if he confesses both these he must then be concluded to defie his Vengeance For I cannot suppose any one to be capable of so far mistaking the Divine Nature as to think that a God of Truth will either endure to be made a Party to what is false or not avenge himself on that Man who shall presume so to do 27. SUCH therefore is the Malignity of this Sin as it relates to God Nor is it 2dly
times we our selves lay our Hand on the Holy Scriptures and having first conceived the Substance of the Oath conclude with this Form So help me God and the Contents of this Book We as really Swear by God Alone as if we had altogether stopp'd in the former part of our Appeal or only said with the Apostle God is my Witness 50. IN all these Cases it is enough that we make it plain that we refer to God and to him Only for the Truth of what we speak And then howsoever our Words may run the Oath will still be understood to terminate in him Alone 51. I SAY to God ONLY Because otherwise tho' we should Swear expresly by God yet if we shall joyn any Other together with him as the Jews did sometimes heretofore and as those of the Church of Rome do notoriously at this day In such a Case our Oath will again be faulty and we shall in the very Manner of our Swearing be guilty of a Sin but little less criminal than that of Perjury its self 52. AND thus have I offer'd to you such Considerations as seem'd necessary to shew what that Swearing is which our Saviour has truly Forbidden under the Gospel I shall conclude this Point with those Words of the Son of Sirach Ecclus. xxiii 9 Accustome not thy Mouth to Swearing neither Vse thy self to the Naming of the Holy One. For as a Servant that is Continually Beaten shall not be without a Blew-Mark so he that Sweareth and Nameth God Continually shall not be Faultless He that useth much Swearing shall be filled with Iniquity and the Plague shall never depart from his House CHAP. IV. Of the several Ways of Confirming what is Spoken or Promised under the Degree of an Oath How far They may be made Use of in Mens Private Conversation And for what Reason it was not fitting That Men should have been Allow'd to Go any Farther 1. HAVING now shewn from the Words of our Blessed Saviour how careful a Good Christian ought to be not only Not to Forswear Himself but as far as he is able Not to Swear at All It remains for the final clearing of this Subject that we go on upon the same Principles to enquire How we are to behave our selves in our Common Discourse with One Another And here the Rule proposed to us is this Let your Communication be Yea yea Nay nay And this Reason given why we ought to confine our selves within the bounds of it For says our Saviour Whatsoever is more than this cometh of Evil. I shall distinctly consider each part of it And endeavour First To shew you What our Duty with relation to this Matter is And then Secondly To convince you of the Reasonableness of that Motive which our blessed Saviour has here made use of to oblige us to walk according thereunto 2. And First For what concerns the Rule here laid down It was the Opinion of a very learned Man in his Remarks upon this Passage That these Words of our Saviour Let your Communication be Yea yea Nay nay are to be expounded by those of St. James to the same purpose Jam. v. 12 Let your Yea be Yea and your Nay Nay And the account he gives of Both of them is this That our Actions should be agreeable to our Expressions and that whensoever we promise any thing we should be sure to take especial care that our performance be accordingly 3. THO' this be no doubt the Duty and should be the Care of every good Christian yet can I by no means think it a proper Account of our Saviour's Meaning in the Words before us In which it was certainly his Intention to direct us How to manage our selves in our Discourse or as we render it our Communication with one another and not how to conform our Performances to our Promises 4. THAT St. James had a regard to this Passage of our Saviour in that Exhortation which he gave to the same purpose I make no doubt Nor shall I deny but that they may possibly have Both of them meant the same thing But that either the One or the Other intended to restrain the Doctrine here delivered concerning Swearing to Promissory Oaths only or indeed aim'd at any thing more than to shew us How we should behave our selves in our Conversation with one another does not appear from either of their Expressions nor ought without Reason to be supposed by us 5. AND therefore 2dly and to come more closely to the Explication of the Words before us As it is plain from the whole Tenour of our Saviour's Discourse in this place that a good Christian may without all scruple Affirm what is True or Deny what is False so the least we can inferr from the Repetition here made of the Yea and Nay is this That if One Assertion or Denial of either should not be sufficient to satisfie the Person with whom we converse of the Truth of what we speak we may renew our Discourse and confirm it again and again to him And by that means move him the rather to believe us when he shall find us constantly to persevere in our Assertion or Denial of it 6. NOR indeed can any Question be reasonably made of the lawfulness of our doing thus much to satisfie the Jealousie of our Neighbour and to justifie our own Fidelity For if we may innocently declare what we know Once what harm can there be in doing it a second time And if it be requisite that we should do so to gain the better credit with our Brother and to convince him the more undoubtedly of the truth of what we say seeing both the End for which we do it is Innocent and there is nothing Vnlawful in the Act its self where can the harm of such a Repetition be 7. THIS therefore is the least we can suppose our Saviour hereby intended to allow us to do for the better Confirmation of what we Promise or Assert And I cannot tell but that his Words may fairly be extended a great deal farther and be understood 3dly To allow us if need be not only to re-iterate what we say and thereby to fix the belief of it the more firmly in the mind of him with whom we converse but that with some kind of Earnestness too in the Repetition With some such Vehemence of Expression as may serve to add a New Force to our Words and effectually shew that we have both duly consider'd and are very well assured of the Truth of what we Report Or of our Resolution to fulfil what we Promise in them 8. THIS was the Method which our Blessed Saviour himself commonly follow'd in his own Conversation And frequent Instances we meet with of it in all the parts of his Gospel So in this very Chapter Verse 18. Verily I say unto you And again Verse 26. Verily I say unto thee And that this may reasonably be presumed to have been allow'd
us in the present Passage we may conclude from hence not only that this is the least degree of Assurance we can give to the Truth of what we say above that of a simple delivery of it and neither cometh of Evil nor tendeth to it but that the very Expressions themselves which we render Yea and Nay do import not a bare Affirmation or Denial but that with some such Vehemence as this Insomuch that in the Holy Scriptures themselves we find the word which we render Yea made use of instead of an Asseveration and by our own Interpreters translated accordingly And even where it is not so yet the Discourse its self shews that there is somewhat more than a meer Affirmation designed by it as might easily be made appear in several Examples were it needful to insist upon it 9. LET us add to this that in the Stile of the Sacred Pen-men the Repetition of any Word generally Denotes somewhat of a Vehemence designed by it Hence it is that our Saviour does not only commonly make use of the Asseveration before mention'd but when he would imprint what he said in a more particular manner upon Mens minds and engage them to a more serious Consideration of it Doubles it too Verily Verily I say unto you And from all which put together we may I think very safely conclude That we also after the Example of our Blessed Master may not only with great plainness and earnestness Affirm the Truth of what we speak but may if need be add some such Asseveration to it as he was wont to do and even fairly Interpret the very Words before us to allow of it 10. FROM what has been said it appears Either that such Asseverations as those I have now been speaking of do expresly fall within the Design of the present Text and that some have thought to be the more probable Or most certainly are not repugnant to it But now 4thly and to advance yet one step higher What shall we say to another sort of Confirmation frequently made use of heretofore and not uncommon with us at this day whereby to convince Men of the Truth of what we say and that is by Pledging as it were somewhat which is very valuable to us for the certainty of it 11. THIS is that kind of Confirmation which as distinguished from the fore-going is usually called Obtestation And it differs from an Oath in this That an Oath has always a respect to God and either expresly or by construction denotes an Appeal to Him for the â—ruth of what we utter Whereas in the Way I am now speaking of we only interpose the Authority of somewhat which is either Evidently Certain or Apparently Dear to Us to bespeak our Sincerity in what we Deliver under the Caution of it 12. SUCH a Ratification as this is that which we meet with so commonly in the Old Testament As thy Soul liveth And it has been thought by some that Joseph really did no more than this when he seem'd to Swear to his Brethren by the Life of Pharaoh Gen. xlii 15 And as for the New Testament What if that Form of Speech made use of by St. Paul 1 Cor. xv 31 and which some as we have seen will have to be an Oath was indeed no more than an Obtestation I Protest By your Rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our LORD At least I cannot but think that Those Primitive Christians of whom Tertullian speaks meant no more who refused to Swear by the Fortune or Genius of their Emperours lest they should seem to Appeal to the Deities of the Heathen But yet freely gave Assurance of their Fidelity to them by their Health and Safety which as he expresses it was very dear to them and equal in their account with the greatest Oath 13. THAT such kind of Confirmations as these of the Truth of what we speak may upon occasion not only Innocently but Commendably be made use of for the better prevention of down-right Swearing is I think not to be doubted But yet I cannot tell whether they may be reckon'd to fall within the direct allowance of the present Text tho' they are certainly consistent with the design of it And therefore I do suppose that next to Formal-Swearing these kind of Obtestations ought the most rarely and with the greatest caution to be made use of by us 14. BUT if the Matter be weighty and if it be needful to do somewhat more than ordinary to convince the Person with whom we discourse of the Truth of what we speak And if such a lesser Ratification of it will prevent our recurring to the last and highest I mean that of an Oath I cannot see why we should not rather chuse to pledge our own Honesty or Truth Or to corroborate what we say by comparing the certainty of it with somewhat of which there can be no doubt such as our own or his Life with whom we converse rather than accustom our selves to Call God to Witness in any Case in which it may lie in our power to avoid it 15. AND thus have I done with the several kinds of Confirmation of what we affirm below the Degree of an Oath I cannot tell whether it may be needful for me to take notice of yet another Method which has but too much obtain'd in the World to the same purpose And that is 5thly When to Assert the Truth of what they speak Men flee to some Curse or Imprecation upon themselves if they Prevaricate in it But as every Oath does in its Nature imply an Appeal to the Justice of God as well as to his Knowledge and by consequence does inferr a Tacit Imprecation of his Vengeance upon us if we deal falsly with our Neighbour So thus much we may be sure of that were such Imprecations otherwise never so lawful in order to this end yet they ought not to be used at any time or upon any occasion in which we may not lawfully take an Oath And therefore that both out of Charity to our Selves and out of Reverence to God's Judgments we ought to lay aside the Practice of such Curses altogether Seeing they can neither be ever made without Horrour nor may be made in any Case wherein we may not give our Oath not only with an Equal Satisfaction to our Neighbour but with greater Decency and Conformity to the Principles of Christianity 16. AND now to lay together in short the several Rules by which we are to Govern our selves in our Communication with one another according as I have hitherto been more largely stating of them to you 17. IF what we say be a Matter of meer indifference so that it is of no great consequence either to our selves or any other whether we are believed or no In that Case it may suffice * barely to relate what we know of it without troubling our selves by any of the Ways I
Veracity in doubt may prove not only to his Disgrace but to his Damage also 7. NOW Interest and Reputation are Two of the Dearest Things in the World to most Men and the Love of which they can the most hardly overcome And therefore when these shall prompt a Man rather to confirm the truth of what he speaks with an Oath than to run the hazard of suffering in one or it may be in both of them there had need be a deep sense of Religion and a very awful dread of an Oath indeed rooted in a Man's Heart to keep him from so doing 8. LET us add to this 2dly That unreasonable Jealousie which abounds in Mankind towards each other and moves them upon the least appearance of Reason nay and often-times without any to suspect one another Hence it is that if a Matter be but of never so little importance if it be for a Man's advantage or disadvantage for his pleasure or trouble to be thoroughly convinced of it It is seldom known that they will be satisfied with the bare Word of him who reports it unto them or with any thing less than his Swearing to the Truth of what he says And if out of Conscience to his Duty and being unwilling to break in upon the Sacredness of an Oath he should chance to refuse so to do it is great odds but he shall be urged and provoked to it And hardly avoid the censure of speaking falsly from those who having no respect for an Oath themselves will not easily be perswaded that another should have any higher regard to it or refuse to Swear upon any other account than this that he is conscious to himself that what he says is false and therefore he dares not Swear to the Truth of it And many there are even among the better sort of Men who by this means are betray'd into an undue Usage of an Oath And chuse rather to Swear when otherwise they would not do it than to bear the Reproaches of those to whom they speak by a peremptory refusal of it 9. AGAIN 3dly To Men who have either no true sense at all of Religion upon their Minds or have not sufficiently consider'd the Nature of an Oath and convinced themselves thereby how much the Honour of God is concern'd in our using of it and how cautious we therefore ought to be upon what Occasions we do Swear The customary forwardness which we complain of in most Men to recur to this way of confirming what they say may be and I believe has been a great inducement to the over-easie practice of it 10. THERE are few Christians so ignorant as not to know that Perjury is a very hainous Sin and such as may not be committed without the Peril of Salvation But yet there may be many who are still to learn that to Swear upon a small occasion tho' a Man swears nothing but the truth is of its self criminal and as such forbidden in the Gospel Now such Persons as these being sensible how usual it is for Men to do this look no farther but follow on as they see others go before them nor feel any Remorse of Conscience for doing that which they never understood had any great harm in it 11. AND that which may possibly have contributed to confirm them in this practice is that they see themselves call'd upon to Swear so very often not only in their own Private Concerns but even by Publick Authority For since Charity as well as Duty obliges us to think that nothing is done by that but upon the most mature deliberation and we know how great a number of wise and good Men must concur to the making of a Law with us whose Wisdom we cannot and whose Piety we ought not to doubt of It is but reasonable to conclude that they had certainly a due Regard to the Honour of God in all their Constitutions and would never require us to Swear on any occasion in which they esteem'd it either unlawful or unseemly for us to do it 12. HOW far such Reasoning as this may have disposed some unwary Persons to Swear more frequently and upon lesser occasions than they ought to do I cannot tell But I think it may deserve to be consider'd Whether the Multitude of Cases wherein not our Laws only but those of all other Countries do oblige or at least allow Men to Swear may not have somewhat contributed to that forwardness of doing it which we see and complain of in them upon other occasions And have disposed them to be more ready than they ought to be to recur to an Oath in such Cases wherein there is neither any Command of Man nor any Excuse before God for their doing of it 13. I SHALL offer but one Account more of this Unwarrantable Readiness of Men to Swear And that is 4thly From the Refusal which some of late have made of All Swearing whatsoever And in opposition to whose Errour some may possibly have been so unwary as to run into the contrary Extreme and to have concluded that so far is it from being unlawful to Swear in any Case that rather there is none so small in which they may not freely do it 14. IT is the Infirmity of many of more Warmth than Judgment that they are always in Extremes And think the only way to secure themselves from Error is to fly as far from it as they can Not considering that there may be as little Reason in one Extreme as in another and that according to the old Remark Truth as well as Vertue is seldom found in either 15. THUS some out of an over-eager Opposition to Popery have cast off Episcopacy and for fear of Superstition would have all Decency thrown out of the Church And I verily believe we had not seen at this day so much Profaneness and Irreligion among us had not the detestation of some Mens Hypocritical Pretences to Godliness first prompted on others to fly out into a Loosness of Living and from thence into a Neglect of every thing that is Sacred And how far this Vice of Common-Swearing may have gotten Grounds by the same Means and have been improved too among the rest I shall leave it to those who have consider'd from what Time it has begun more especially to prevail among us to determine 16. SUCH therefore may I suppose have been the Causes of that Readiness which we find in Men to Swear even upon the most common and unjustifiable Occasions But now as for the other Sin proposed that of Perjury I can scarcely tell to what Cause to ascribe the little Concern which many shew of falling into that because indeed I can scarcely tell what Cause should be sufficient to harden their Consciences against it 17. THAT the Frequency of Swearing and the little Occasions on which Men sometimes allow themselves in the Practice of it may have very much taken off from their Reverence of an Oath I can easily believe and by