deserve thy frequent cogitations and prayers and tears to consider and bewail it thoroughly crying out with him in the Gospel Lord I believe help my unbelief And never think it helped till thou findest it reforming thy affections and lusts not led and ruled by them till thou perceivest it working powerfully in all the thoughts of thy heart and actions of thy hands and the whole course of thy life For this is the true test and tryal and to these marks our Saviour himself sends thee to make full proof of it These are the signs saith he that shall follow them that believe In my name shall they cast out devils they shall speak with new tongues they shall take up serpents and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them and when they lay their hands on the sâ—â—k they shall be healed If those signs follow not thy Faith it is vain and thou art yet in thy sins But thou wilt say the time of Miracles is past and these days require them not Neither do I require them as then neither then and in those times were they common unto all Believers But the saying of our Saviour is universal and in the spiritual sence is ever true that these signs follow them and all them that unâ—â—ignedly believe For every Man naturally hath Devils enough within him to be thrown forth and unless thy Faith have power and virtue enough to dispossess and cast out the impure spirits of luxury and avarice of envy wrath malice and hypocrisie and the like foul Fiends wherewith our nature is full unless it be able to give thee a new tongue and a new language and cleansing thy mouth of all oaths and blasphemies of slanders and reproaches of deceit and scurrility can teach thee to speak the words of sobriety and sanctity and of truth every Man unto his Neighbour unless it can embolden thee to take up Serpents to receive and lovingly embrace thy mortal enemies and make treacle of them too drinking up all the deadly venome which their poysoned stomachs can disgorge against thee not only without hurt but even as thy physick that so lifting up pure and innocent hands upon them with prayers and benedictions though they revile and curse they may yet at length be won from it and cured of the malice wherewith they were sick and others also by thy example of their several diseases who seeing thy good works may glorify thy Father which is in Heaven Until I say thy Faith hath power to work these things unless our Saviours signs be false it is never current and effectual If you say these things are too high and hard for us we cannot attain unto them you do withal say and confess that you do not truly believe For true Faith is not dead or droâ—zy but powerful and operative working even wonders unto flesh and blood which St. Paul proves by a full cloud of witnesses in the 11. to the Hebâ— producing a whole Catalogue of the antient Wâ—â—thies who all through Faith aspiring to the promises were mighty and marvellous in their actions overthrowing Kingdoms working righteousness and doing such great things as we cannot consider without admiration And whence all this but because their Faith was stirring and active not lazy and languishing like ours which is only a Carkass of belief without any soul of life and vigor in it otherwise we should soon find in our selves what the same Author elsewhere affirms that nothing is available like Faith when it is working working by love which is ever impatient and restless till it attains what it desires Who then or what power is able to resist it not the power of the whole world this is it that overcometh the world even your faith John v. 3. no nor the power of any thing else credenti omnia sunt possibilia to him that believes all things are possible saith our Saviour And therefore if ever these things be impossible to thee if thy Faâ—th be so weak that it cannot dispossess thee of thy wicked spirits and work those spiritual miracles on thy Soul it is a greater miracle if ever it save thy Soul For true Faith purifies the heart and cleanseth the very reins and is assuredly dead if it do not work powerful effects within us If of unclean and covetous of malitious envious and deceitful persons it doth not make us pure and temperate mild and merciful upright and just in our actions it is unprofitable and shall never justify with God In whose account whatsoever you think none are taken for believers any farther than they are practisers of his word He that says he knows God and hateth his brother is a lyer saith St. John and sure he that says he believes in God and yet forsaketh not his sins lyes as loudly and doth but abuse his own Soul vainly dreaming of Faith when he hath but the shadow of it without truth or substance and will be found at last but in that poor Mans case who dreamt all night of treasure and in the morning when he awoke was not worth a farthing With that Church in the Revelation they have a name that they live and conceit they are rich whenas there it is said they are blind and poor and naked and miserable and shall so understand themselves in the end for however now we please our selves for a while with the vain opinion of our imaginary Faith yet when we have slept our sleep and dreamt our dreams in the morning when we shall all awake from our graves and come unto Judgment it will be found far otherwise than we conceived When the son of man cometh saith our Saviour himself shall he sind faith upon the earth surely yes such as ours for the most part is Faith enough such a speculative fancy that floats only in the brain never affecting the heart such a presumptuous confidence that can seize on mercies neglecting commands lay hold on the passion and death of a Saviour but neither obey his precepts nor imitate his life of such Faith we doubt the Christian world will be then and now is full as it can hold he shall every where find it But of that true and real Faith rooting out sinful affections of that high and mighty Faith inthroned in the very heart of the Soul and from thence commanding all the powers and faculties which it hath of that prevalent and victorious Faith conquering Sin and Satan and treading under foot the glory and vanity of the whole world of this solid and substantial Faith which only deserveth the name of Faith and he only looks for of this he shall then find but little in the world as indeed there is very little now Some scattered sparks of it only there are in a few of our bosoms but raked up in a great deal of embers and if we take not heed like enough to be stifled ere we are aware O preserve and collect them carefully blow upon them with thy
in both and how short we have been of that due Reverence and regard those Sacred Mysteries require Shall I ask you then for so he must do that will examine what time you have taken from your earthly affairs to bestow on this holy imployment nay ask but your own hearts and they will quickly answer you for have you afforded your selves I say not a month or a week but a day or two or some hours of them to call your Souls to a strict account to strip your hearts of worldly cares and vanities and recal your wandering thoughts to those severe and serious cogitations as may become your own sanctification and the high and holy institution of your Saviour Consider well whether with David you have entred into the Chambers of your own bosoms and faithfully communed with your own Souls whether you have tryed out your hearts and reins and your spirit hath made diligent search as he both did and requires Observe heedfully whether casting off all masks and visors of Hypocrisy all Fig-leaves of diminution and excuse how thou hast exposed thy self and thy Soul naked unto the view of thy searching Conscience whether thy mortified heart beginning to thaw with remorse hath freely opened her pleits and folds wherein she hid her iniquity and presented thee with her sins in their true shape that thou mightest as truly detest and abhor them If it be so it is well if not take heed labour and strive weep cry pray do not cease be not satisfied till it be so for then it will never be right thy preparation will lack of his due and thy examination will be lame But I examine this examination no farther It is a secret act known only to their own reins and the searcher of them to whom therefore I remit it and pass on to the qualities and vertues wherewith you are to prepare and wherein I may more freely examine and evict your Souls as having outward and sensible effects whereby they may be judged And the first of these to omit knowledge whereof we have spoken sufficiently already is Faith but here examination thou thinkest altogether needless for thou art most sure and certain thou believest Yet what if one should tell thee thou didst not believe like enough thou wouldst tell him againâ— thou dost not believe him in that for thou wilt still say thou knowest nothing better than that thou believest why and I know it too and know more that the very Devils believe and tremble which is something farther and their Faith peradventure something better than thine who believest and dost not tremble which yet thou well mightest didst thou understand thy self or believe in God aright and as thou oughtest But the truth is most mens Faith as we shewed but now of the understanding follows their affections believing little more than what they desire Should a Man preach and maintain that the goods of this world ought not to be ingrossed into private and particular hands but that all things as it was in the primitive Church amongst Christians should be common who think you would believe this soonest the Rich or the Poor The Poor indeed would quickly embrace it because beneficient to them but the Rich that should be losers by it would hardly or never assent In like manner should we urge that precept under the Law that money should be lent freely to our brethren that want and not be put out to interest or inforce that Divine Precept of the Gospel to lend and look for nothing again Matth. vi the poor Creditor you may be sure will entertain this for his relief but the griping â—surer is deaf on that side and can easily find out shifts and distinctions to avoid his own inconvenience Search now and examine thy self narrowly and see if thy Faith doth not deal thus with God in the chief Articles of it scarce ever believing any thing but what it likes The object of Divine Faith is the word of God wherein besides Histories the chief things it proposeth to believe are but three Precepts Comminations and Promises Precepts of duty Comminations of punishments and Promises of reward to the observers or neglecters of them And all those equally to be assented unto because delivered by the word of the same God otherwise thy Faith is defective and maimed See then and consider truly whether thou dost adhere unto the one as to the other whether thy Faith doth not rest only upon the promises neglecting the duties and yet slighting the threatnings against those that neglect them The promises of Mercy indeed are sweet and comfortable who doth not willingly and gladly believe them but comminations and duties are terrible and troublesome and few will give them faithful entertainment That Christ suffered on the Cross and shed his blood for the sins of the whole world and every mans in particular is a pleasant and grateful Doctrine how doth our Faith hug and embrace it as if there were nothing else to be believed But should we once thunder out that of St. Paul That notwithstanding this blood no Lyer no Drunkard no Adulterer no covetous or unclean Person shall enter into the Kingdom of God here our Faith is at a stand and will be sure either not to believe it or never to acknowledge that themselves are such Again blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth no sin saith David yea marry blessed be that tongue for ever I believe it with all my heart nay read a little farther and in whose spirit there is no guile how now why dost thou stagger pish 't is impossible this seems to have crept into the Text no body knows how St. Paul when he cited it left it out and weare not bound to believe it or any thing else we cannot away with There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus saith St. Paul a gracious promise and aâ—very cordial to the Soul every Man is ready to lay hold of it before it be out of his mouth but to whom doth it appertain To them as it follows which walk not after the flesh but after the spirit This is a severe duty on our part and a very corrosive to the flesh which will hardly be brought in subjection to the law of God and therefore will not easily believe it should or possibly may be Thus thy fruitless and preposterous Faith is ever strong to lay hold on the promises though weak and of no power to work obedience to the commands or believe the judgments denounced against disobeyers For didst thou so truly thy belief would teach thee to tremble for which cause I told thee thy Faith which in this case is only a carnal confidence falls short of that which the Scripture tells us is found in Devils that believe and tremble Nay if we search and examine a little farther we shall find thy Faith failing even in the very promises For though in spiritual promises that concern mercy and remission of
sins now or the Kingdom of Heaven hereafter thou art more than faithful even foolishly presumptuous yet in the promises which pertain unto this life we are all for the most part though Christians in profession yet in truth and practice gross and palpable Infidels Thou beginnest thy Creed with I believe in God the Father Almighty wherein thou dost acknowledge him thy Father and therefore willing Almighty and therefore able to relieve and succour thee in all thy wants and distresses but from the teeth outwards for let want or distress approach though but afar off how art thou presently perplexed what anxious and heart-breaking care doth instantly vex and discâ—ciate thy very Soul how are thy thoughts lost and distracted this way and that and every way searching and bending thy will upon all humane helps and succours that may be imagined with such fear and distrust as if there were no God in Heaven or providence of his upon earth Tell him how of his Father Almighty that knows whereof he shall need and will not fail if he first seek his kingdom and the righteousness thereof to add and supply all other things that are necessary and you shall give him as much comfort as if you had cast water in his Shooes He is clear out of his belief now and Pater noster too when if you shew him the plain Text in Mat. Take no care that is no anxious and solicitous care what you shall eat or wherewith you shall be cloathed or in David do good and verily thou shalt be fed he will sooner laugh at their promises than believe them Nay which is strange a Man whom God hath well blest that hath 〈◊〉 want within ken nor likely to have any yet scrapes and scratches on every side as if poverty were coming on him like an armed Man as Solomon speaks who if urged to relieve the necessities of his poor Brother without a small piece of Silver though the King intreat and the King of Heaven command and his Ministers perswade yet it may not be wrâ—ng from him He can presently cast doubts who knows whether himself or his Children may not live to want Shew him the promises of God in the Scripture assuring the contrary that it shall be a means to prosper and multiply the rest tell him that of the Wiseman Cast thy bread upon the waters and after many days thou shalt find it or that of another be that giveth to the poor lendeth unto the Lord yet nothing can move him which manifestly argues either he doth not believe God when he says it or at least not believe he is a good paymaster yet this Man thinks he hath Faith nay many of them are so far from relieving as they can find in their hearts to oppress and grind those that are poor enough already and as if they conceived that honest courses and Gods blessing on them were too weak means to provide sufficiently for themselves and Children they can shift and shark project and undermine screw themselves into testaments and deceive trusts buy over their Brothers head that imploys them for himself and use all their wits and fraudulent devices to compass an estate and root their possession in it for ever madly supposing to establish their Generations by those ways for which God never fails as he every where threatens to weed them or their posterity out of the Inheritance so purchased it being his glory ever to destroy the wisdom of the wise and to ruine the house built in fraud or on the ruines of others For the hope of the wicked saith Job is as the spiders web cunningly spun out with a great deal of labour all night and suddenly swept away in the morning What Faith then is there in this or indeed what is it else but a wild branch of meer Gentilism and infidelity if not absolute Atheism For did he truly believe God or his comminations it were not possible one that loves his Children so well could run so direct a course to destroy them But assuredly he doth not believe and whatsoever we pretend yet for the most part we secretly say in our hearts with that Fool in the Psalm if not there is no God yet at least there is no knowledge in the most high or else with those wicked ones in Job tush God careth not circa cardines coeli perambulat his walk is about the hinges of Heaven he doth not trouble himself to behold or regard the things upon Earth Do not suppose I wrong you search your own Consciences truly and I believe the best of you all will find even this infidelity lurking in them For wert thou absolutely assured in thy Soul of the omniscience and omnipresence of the Lord didst thou faithfully believe that he is every where and beholdeth every action and operation of thine though never so secret that he is about thy path and about thy bed and spyeth out all thy wayes and seeth thy thoughts more clearly than thou thy self how were it possible for thee in his presence and under those eyes so often and deeply to dissemble with thy Brother with thine own heart and with God himself Couldst thou imagine a window in thy bosome and thy Neighbour permitted now and then when thou dreamest not of it to look in upon thy impure and fraudulent thoughts and see how thy cogitations are busied how would thy Soul shame and blush to be taken tardy in such base and unworthy imployments which yet thou canst freely exercise and continue without any trouble or interruption at all though God himself and his pure eyes behold them whereunto thy breast is transparent as glass and more open than the air what doth this shew but that thou believest it not for to believe his presence truly and so much contemn it is meerly impossible It is beyond imagination to conceive were thy Faith firm in this point how it possibly can be that the sight of God and his holy Angels should not deter thee not only from thinking but from acting those secret works of darkness which the coming in but of a little child can utterly interrupt and hinder Of necessity thou must be driven to confess either that thy Faith is asleep and thou dost not believe it or thy reverence utterly dead that thou esteemest of a child more than thy Maker Assuredly could we fortify our perswasions but in this one Article of Faith and strongly apprehend the truth of it nothing could be of greater power to purge our hearts and our hands too from all evil and uncleanness Thus if thou carefully examine thy faith by the effects and judge of it as thou shouldst by thine actions for the tree is known by her fruit thou wilt easily find notwithstanding thy former conceipt of thy self how full of infidelity thy false heart is and how little thou believest either threats or precepts or promises or providence or any thing else sincerely and as thou shouldest Well therefore it would
as thy soul liveth so frequent amongst the holy men under the Law is to be received for they sware not by the soul alone but by that God whose image and likness it is for so it is to be understood As thy soul liveth by the power and providence of him that first made it to his likeness and doth still preseve it by his mercy The Third and last is when a man names a Creature in an Oath not as swearing by it but as exposing it by way of imprecation unto the judgment of that God who is the true witness of his speech which is the execratory Oath touched in the beginning so when a man swears by his own Soul it is not meant as if that were called to the record of that he speaks but as pledging and pawning unto God the welfare and Salvation of it upon the truth of his speech And therefore he that swears by his Soul doth in abbrevation say no other than what St. Paul did in plain and full terms I call God to record upon my Soul for that is the meaning of it and both the meaning and example are strong proofs that it cannot be simply understood Now that other of Joseph by the life of Pharaoh may be understood both these ways for either he calls that God to witness whose judgment by the ministry of Pharaoh was executed upon Earth or else by way of imprecation he doth upon the truth of the speech appignorate unto God the health and safety of Pharaoh as a thing of all other most dear unto him The Master of the Sentences is for the first and others for the latter both may be good but this in the Text the more probable So then there may be divers forms wherein the Creature is named and yet the Oath made only by the Creator for he doth still swear by him that swears by any excellent work or mercy of his with reference to him in which sort he that says as thy Soul liveth doth at the same time and in the same words swear as my Text requires At the Lord liveth for the full sense and meaning is as the Lord liveth by whom thy Soul hath life And though peradventure it may be better when just occasion doth require an Oath to make it clearly and expressly in the Name of the Lord yet the interpretation of our Saviour and the examples of so many holy men do forbid us utterly to condemn all such as do but implicitely call him to record under his Creatures And sure if they want not other necessary conditions of an Oath they will hardly be believed for this the form will free it self if they want not the right manner and matter if they be performed in truth judgment and righteousness the qualities and inseparable companions of a lawful Oath which now come to be considered in their order and first of the first Jurabis in Veritate Thou shalt swear The Lord liveth in Truth From the Form we come unto the Matter and having seen in whose Name an Oath is to be made we are now to consider with what Conditions it is to be qualified And they are but three in all whereof Truth hath the first place and most deservedly since nothing is so opposite to the very nature and essence of an Oath as falshood for the Person whose name in an Oath is assumed is the God of truth the end for which an Oath it self was ordained is the confirmation of truth and the perjurer by dishonouring that and frustrating this abuseth both oftentimes to the hurt and damage of his Neighbour but ever unto the great prejudice of his Creator And therefore the Egyptians saith Diodorus Siculus did ever punish the perjurer with death whereof they esteemed him twice worthy ut qui pietatem in deos violaret fidem inter homines tolleret maximum Societatis vinculum as one that did both violate his piety to God and his faith to men the greatest bond of Society But to omit these injurious effects of a false Oath unto man as depriving him sometimes of his Credit good name and reputation and sometimes even of his Goods and Life too do but only see and consider how impious it is against God and how infinitely he sins that shall call him who is not only true but truth it self to testify his falshoods and so as far as in him is make him a Lyar like himself for as Estius says in lib. 2. sent dist 39. 5 6. Qui falsum jurat quantum in se est Deum facit vel mendacem vel ignorantem he that swears falsly as much as in him lies makes God either ignorant or a liar Falshood is ever vile and odious in it self but when it is fastened upon God when we teach our own Inventions those spurious brats and bastards of our own Brain to call him Father it must needs be detestable For we cloath him with the Attribute of the Devil who is properly a liar and the Father of lies Job viii And therefore even we our selves though we be all liars yet we cannot endure to hear it and when we do nothing can satisfie but his blood that tells us so though never so truly How then may we think and with what indignation will God receive it when they are so unjustly pinned and stuck upon him who hates a lie more than we can love our selves And with what severity may we imagin he will revenge it what reward will he give unto such a false Tongue but sharp Arrows and hot burning Coles at the least even those Arrows in Job the Arrows of Gods wrath the venom whereof drink up the spirits of him in whom they stick and those Coles or rather Flames of St. John for all liars saith he shall have their part in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone Rev. xxi 8. And if all Liars have a part then how great a portion will be assigned to the Perjurers for if God will not hold him guiltless that useth his holy Name but vainly how shall his guilt multiply and his Sin become exceeding sinful that doth abuse it falsly and if he will destroy those that do but speak out their lies as it is in the v. Psalm Thou shalt destroy those that speak Leasing how great shall their destruction be that fear not to swear them out and uphold them by the holiness of his name Certainly so great as I think the depth and bottom of Hell doth not know any greater for I assure my self that neither the Idolatrous Gentile nor the unbelieving A theist shall lie lower in that Pit of everlasting horror than the contemptuous Perjurer for the one doth worship no God the other a false God but this makes a false witness of the true God his Sin is Infidelity the others Idolatry but this man's is not without blasphemy which is worse than either for it may worthily be esteemed a less Crime to acknowledge any thing for God
would not have him fall instantly into such a fit of hideous Oaths as if with Jobs Wife they were resolved presently to curse God and die If the former were profanations these sure are direct blasphemies when men enraged with their trifling misfortunes pour forth floods of direful Oaths as the desire to wreak their anger upon that God whose providence they know doth guide them and because they cannot reach unto his Essence they will at least this way avenge themselves on his Name For you shall see such Tear-Gods sometimes swear a whole Catologue of Oaths over and over still swear them and still say nothing else as having no other end in their swearing but to swear for they swear not to affirm a truth or confirm a promise yet they swear and to no other purpose but to offend God by swearing Their Tongue as the Psalmist speaks walketh through the Earth and they set their mouth against heaven and yet as if neither Heaven nor Earth could afford them Oaths enow to swear by they set their invention on work for strange uncouth and unheard of blasphemies which not without rancor of mind they dart at God himself and spit with more than Epicurean Liberty in the very face of the Almighty The Tongue saith St. James is but a little member yet it hath in it a world of wickedness it sets the world on fire and its self is set on fire of Hell Which though it were spoken of the malicious and slanderous Tongue yet it may be no less true also of the blasphemous for this if any is certainly set on fire of Hell and flames with a sin hot enough and likely enough to set fire on the whole world in the last day when for that world of wickedness it shall find a world of sorrow and torment and as it was fired from Hell before so it shall now be fired in Hell where like Moses bush it shall ever burn and never be consumed for this later fire none shall ever escape but such as with a River of penitent Tears do quench the former before they come there But omitting such high and horrid blasphemies the hellish impiety whereof every one must needs perceive and none that have any goodness remaining can choose but abhor We will a little insist only on those lesser Prophanations in the vain and frequent Oaths of common speech which though men can be content to account a sin yet they would willingly esteem it such as may easily be excused It is only a Custom that is grown upon me I like it not but I cannot leave it the plea of the world as common as the swearing and if it might stand for an excuse it were easily excused indeed But consider it well and you will find it such an excuse as only seems to make the sin more inexcusable since that very reason which they give to lessen the Crime is the principal thing that augments the offence for sin never becomes above measure sinful until it grow into Custom that heaps it up infinitely and so makes it immensurable until it rule and reign in our mortal bodies which alone can stile us not only sinful but the slaves and vassals of sin and then we are sinners indeed There is no man not the best of us without sin yet all are not sinners it is not the falling into sin but the habit and serving of sin that gives the denomination A man may sin and be the servant of God for what servant of Gods doth not sometimes sin but to serve sin and be the servant of God is impossible And therefore of all things else the habit and custome of sin especially mortal and presumptuous sin is most dangerous as being incompatible with the state of Grace and reconciliation with God who never gives remission of the sin unless we abhor and utterly renounce the custom for which cause the Swearer and no man hath the name of a swearer but from the habit of swearing is set down in the same Catalogue with the Adulterer the Drunkard and other heinous sinners which St. Paul tells us shall never enter into the kingdom of God And therefore let no man flatter himself and deceive his own Soul it is a custom that we must leave one time or other or God will eternally leave us The which that we may be the better induced to do I beseech you do but consider besides the greatness of the sin already shewn to how little or rather no purpose it is committed and with what severity it will be punished both here and hereafter for so highly to offend God and no way in the world to pleasure our selves is the utmost of folly and treads on the very heels of madness Why he that burns in Hell for his Mistris had once yet some delight for that torment he shall ever suffer All other sins have their strong provocations in our corrupt nature whereunto they give some content but this idle and wanton sin is without all instigation of the depraved flesh and can give satisfaction to no one appetite of our frail condition unless death and everlasting sorrow dwell in our desires And as it can give no pleasure and delight because it hath no affection in nature to fulfil and content so neither that you may perceive it to be utterly vain can it plead any other benefit there being no just pretence or reason or end for it why it is used And if neither pleasure nor profit be in it the malice of the Devil is in it if to gain nothing here we will run headlong into eternal destruction hereafter If there be any end of it in the world or benefit that we may reap by it it can be no other than the gaining of credit to our speech and to be believed of others when we speak which is indeed the true and proper end of an Oath but an end which the trivial and customary swearer of Oaths in reason cannot expect and if he deal with rational and wise men shall never obtain though they urge it often and think it their best plea to stop the mouth of reproof for this sin Why they would not believe me whereby notwithstanding instead of excusing they do but condemn themselves and yet gain not their purpose with others For first if they mark it what doth it argue but that they do not usually speak truth that cannot be believed without an Oath Qui jurat suspectus est de perfidia The very use of swearing is a manifest sign that he is suspected of perfidy saith Philo. And therefore rightly St. Basil Turpe omnino stultum c. he doth no less basely than foolishly accuse himself as unworthy of credit and belief that perpetually flies unto the safeguard and sanctuary of an Oath for which cause the Esseni saith Josephus did avoid and abhor swearing no less than perjury as conceiving that he was before-hand condemned for lying that could not be credited without
swearing And as they condemn themselves so they obtain by this custom as little credit from others For that which doth breed a suspicion in their persons cannot well beget an assurance of their Oaths And indeed what trust or confidence may be reposed in an usual and ordinary swearer whom the very custom of swearing doth condemn of persidy how can he choose but suspected of perjury Since he that cares not how often he swears it is likely will sometimes care as little what he swears So that as the word of a faithful and honest Man is as good as his Oath so the Oath of a false and perfidious Man is no better than his word And therefore he only gains thus much by swearing that the more often he swears the less he is to be believed since the best way of gaining credit is to accustom our selves not to swearing but not to swear for he that lives justly and uprightly and speaks the truth calmly shall be believed upon his word when the other's Oaths shall not that swears frequently though he swear never so earnestly I have often heard it pleaded with Chrysostome hom 26. Unless I swear he will not believe true nor when thou swearest neither but thou saith he art the cause of this unbelief that dost so lightly and easily swear for if thou didst not so and it were manifestly known that thou wert no swearer believe me that only say it Quod iis qui mille devorant juramenta majorem ipse fidem solo nutu invenires Thy only beck and nod should find more esteem and credit than a thousand Oaths poured forth by another And in like manner I have beheld saith Philo the learned Jew the impiety of some with such intolerable impudence heaping and hudling up the religious names of God not to be heard without horror as if they thought by the number and multitude of their impious Oaths to evince and even extort belief from the hearer Fatuiâ—qui non intelligunt consuetudinem crebrò jurandi argumentum esse perfidiae non fidei Fools saith he that do not understand that the custom of often swearing is an argument not of fidelity but perfidiousness And therefore though they swear until they burst they shall never the sooner gain any credit only this they gain that by their often swearing they have bereaved themselves of all means of gaining belief firm and assured belief even when they swear the truth for it is not multitudes and millions of Oaths but the truth and sincerity of a mans behaviour that shall win him reputation and credit Non juramentum sed vitae testimonium It is not our Oaths saith Chrysostome Homil. 7. but the testimony of our lives that can give assurance to our words And therefore excellently St. Austin de Serm. Dom. 64 Christianus verum loquatur neque jurationibus crebris sed morum probitate commendet veritatem Let a Christian only speak the truth and let not his Oaths but the probity of his manners commend or confirm the truth of his speech For the Christians are termed the faithful saith Josephus lib. 2. de Bello c. 7. though but half a Christian himself And therefore tanta Sanctitate ornata sit fides ut sine jurejurando facial fidem Their faith ought to be adorned with so much sanctity as it should be able without the assistance of Oaths to beget faith and credit in another which if the sincerity of their life cannot do the frequency of their Oaths will much less obtain whereby instead of gaining credit with others they do only further discredit themselves And therefore since it doth breed a just suspicion rather than any certain belief what end there is of this vain and ungodly custom what profit or colourable pretence it may have to shrowd it self under I cannot understand any unless peradventure some men esteem it as a mark of nobleness and gentry which they have little reason to do since the vilest Beggar wears the fashion as well as themselves and though he have not two pence a year Starling can swear after the Revenues of a great Lord that hath thousands Or it may be some take it as an ornament of speech or others an argument of valour and sure he is very hardy that fears neither God nor Hell which if it be valour let every good Man be a Coward and however unto ungracious hearts it may be thought a grace in their tongue yet unto a good mind that desires to worship God and think on him with reverence it is a sound that 's worse than the turning of Brass grates and horror to his ears if it be not the greatest torture and torment unto his righteous Soul And is it not now most strange that we should be so desperately wicked against God or so wretchedly careless of our selves as thus wantonly to offend him and prodigiously to spend our own Souls in a sin that hath neither pleasure nor profit no just end nor yet so much as a fair pretence to give it colour But the less colour and pretence a sin hath the greater still it is and with the greater punishment it shall ever be rewarded and this of all others shall be sure not to be forgotten for it is not for nought and to no purpose that in those brief precepts of the Law written with the very finger of God all other sins are barely inhibited Murder Adultery and the rest of our crimes meerly forbidden without any special mention of punishment unto the offenders only this sin as if it displeased him above all the rest is not without a peculiar commination of revenge annexed for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain Whether it be the vanity and needlesness of this wanton and presumptuous sin that hath neither pleasure nor profit nor pretence doth exceed all other or whether it be the extraordinary neglect of men in suffering this sin of all others to escape unpunished that moved the Lord more particularly to assure us that he will take it into his own hands and see it rewarded himself whether this or that or both or neither it is not certain neither is it much material to inquire since it is enough that this is certain that something there is in it odious above other sins otherwise he would never have been so careful above all others in particular to register the revenge of this And as this doth assure that it is a sin which shall certainly be punished so there want not other places to shew us what the punishment shall be St. Paul delivers it negatively by exclusion from the Kingdom of Heaven St. James affirmatively but indefinitely by condemnation lest ye fall into condemnation But St. John doth affirm and fully define whither and to what they are condemned even unto the inconceiveable sorrows of Hell They shall be cast into the lake that burns with fire and brimstone Apoc. And if you put all together you have all
and blind like those Pharisees out of pride or some other Lust will needs say and believe too that they see And then such guides and their blinder followers how suddenly are they both in the ditch plunged over head and ears in errour ere they are aware Ignorance therefore never causeth errour and dissention unless one Lust or other doth first cause the ignorance so St. Peter tells us somethings are hard to be understood in St. Pauls Epistles which yet hurts none but unlearned and unstable Men Men carried about it seems with diverse Lusts like empty Clouds with several winds who therefore pervert such difficult places to their own destruction and let it ever be their own blame not the Scriptures which are most unwillingly wrested to the adulterating of that very truth which themselves do deliver But the holy Scripture is not composed only of difficulies it hath shallows in it and Fords where the Lamb may wade as well as Pools and Pits where the Elephant may swim yea and drown too As there are exquisite rarities to depel satiety so is there solid food enough too to satisfy hunger And in these that are universally necessary unto life the Scriptures are so clear and free from difficulty as there is no room for ignorance did not Men look on them through the false Spectacles of their deceitful affections For if the Gospel be hid it is hid unto those that perish to those whole Eyes the God of this world hath blinded saith St. Paul plainly neither doth the God of this world otherwise blind them but by exhaling the vapours of worldly Lusts that darken and pervert the judgment Whether therefore we recur either to the difficulty of the Scripture or ignorance of Men we are still brought back in conclusion according to St. James here to the lusts of their members as the true and proper causes from whence such bitter contentions in the Church have been raised nourished and with such violence prosecuted for are they not hence And hence indeed they are so much the very demand doth import but 't is not enough to say so we must shew it too as well as say it And that may not well be done unless we condescend unto some particulars take a short view of these several Lusts and see a little what several errours they have begotten and with them what contentions in the Church Love and Hatred if misapplied are the two radical Lusts that both found and foster all others Those that proceed from Love the concupiscible part of the Soul are either from the immoderate Love of Pleasure or of Profit or Honour which the beloved Disciple terms the lusts of the flesh the lusts of the Eye and the pride of Life and these are all either worldly or sensual But those that issue from Hatred the irascible part whether from the hatred of peace or of truth are more directly Devilish And therefore our St. James a little before reduceth them all unto three heads But if there be bitter emulation and strife among you this wisdom descendeth not from above but is earthly sensual and devilish To begin the instance with that terrene and worldly affection of Pride and Vain-glory though this hath something of Devil in it too what a fruitful Mother hath it ever been of dissentions in Religion and how many ways hath she hatched and brought forth her deformed issue Sometimes by an itching desire of knowing all things which boldly searching into hidden secrets leaves nothing unransacked whereby it may appear more learned And then what such men conceive their profound speculations with much travel have drawn up out of the depth of night and darkness lest they should lose the price of their labour they obtrude upon others as necessary to be believed It was most rightly said Never Heretick yet that racked the bowels of the Church but his pretence was for truth and Men do usually fall so deeply in love with the conceited truth of their own invention as all their pains seems to be lost unless they may press it too upon the Conscience of every Man else And then when probable conceipts come to be published for necessary truths and speculations of fancy are once turned into Articles of Faith as we see it hath fallen out as in many others so in the new Platform of Presbyterial Purity at first conceived but for a convenient Regiment yet afterwards men becoming more enamour'd with their own conceptions came to be urged at length for the necessary discipline of Christ clearly commanded in Scripture as the Scepter upon Earth and very Kingdom of our Saviour no marvel then I say if contentions be not only raised but eagerly and obstinately pursued also which yet are rendred the more violent by a second elation of mind that can well away with no superiority And those that by other mundane desires are driven to endure it yet how Heavenly do they do it How do they mumur against the power of their Superintendents like Corah Dathan and Abiram Ye take too much upon you ye Sons of Aaron and much ado they have not to say so of Moses too Doubtless the cry in their hearts is but that Conspiracy in the Psalmist Let us break their bonds asunder and cast their cords from us Sometimes again by an higher degree of ambition that will admit of no equality that as the former would be subject unto none so this would have all subject unto himself Nec ferre potest Caesarve priorem Pompeiusve parem The one like Caesar the other like Pompey That can endure no Superiour nor This brook any Equal And on this ground it was that the Greek Church first brake with the Roman whose Bishop against right and reason the rule of Christ and decree of the Fathers as she justly taxed him did arrogate unto himself a plenitude of power And from the same fountain have issued those Waters of strife which do at this day overflow and almost drown all Christendom Lastly by an ambitious desire of Secular Rule and Empire For there are not wanting examples in story sacred and prophane of such as have brought in new Religions or fitted the old unto the Palate of the People by this means to retain their own or gain unto themselves the Territories and Dominions of others To this end Jeroboam first made an alteration in the Church of Israel setting up his Altars in Daâ— and Bethel lest the ten Tribes by going up yearly unto Jerusalem to sacrifice as they were commanded should chance to return in time unto the house of David from whence they were rent And I could with such secular and politick respects had no power among any of our selves I say not out of any fear lest the ten parts should return again unto the house of Levi or rather of God from whence they are rent it were pretty well if they could rest contented there but rather that such regards might not prevail with them in the