performed without the knowledge of the nature and attributes of God and I have before said that what is prerequired to any thing enjoined is to be supposed to be enjoined by the same Commandment therefore before I proceed to shew what respect is due unto him I must shew 1. What the nature and attributes of God are 2. How the knowledge thereof is to be attained and 3. And lastly the necessity thereof 1. I begin with the last of these because the first in order to be known even the necessity of our knowledge of God which will appear from what was before intimated concerning the impossibility of our giving him that honour which is due without it For all honour being founded in the apprehension of those excellencies which we behold in another if the excellencies of the divine nature be either not at all or but superficially known our honour of it must be accordingly and consequently no way suitable to the Divine Majesty And hence Joh. 17.3 the knowledge of God and Christ is set to denote all that which is necessary to eternal life For this saith that Evangelist is life eternal to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent Not that this alone is sufficient to qualifie us for Heaven for Faith and Love and all other Graces of the Spirit are necessary to the attaining of it but that this is the basis and foundation of all the rest neither can we either love or trust in him or adore him if we have not a due knowledg of him 2. The necessity of the knowledge of God being thus evinced pass we in the second place to the means whereby that knowledge is to be attained which is either 1. the light of Reason and Nature or 2. of Revelation and Scripture That God may be known by the former of these ways S. Paul evidently declares Rom. 1.19 20. For that saith he which may be known of God is manifest in them for God hath shewed it unto them for the invisible things of him from the Creation of the World are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and Godhead It is true indeed what through the present weakness of humane nature and Gods just desertion of it because of our many provocations we cannot so easily or so perfectly attain to the knowledge of him by the light of reason and nature But as this hinders not but that God may be knowable by it because the eyes of our understandings are become less apt to discern it so he that shall seriously set himself to contemplate the works of nature will find no contemptible footsteps of the Deity upon them But because I have * Explication of the Apostles Creed elsewhere given a specimen of what is knowable by this light in my discourse upon that Article of the Creed concerning God the Father and because it is most certain that whatever may be knowable by it the best of us find it difficult enough to deduce the nature of God from it therefore consider we in the second place that more certain one even the light of Revelation and Scripture For as no one can be supposed to give us a more perfect account of the nature of God than he himself can and consequently that which comes immediately from him must be preferred before all other ways of knowing him so cannot that account but be thought the most easy and intelligible because added in consideration of our inability to discern it by the help of our own reason For after that * 1 Cor. 1.21 in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe Besides when that which may be known of God from the works of the Creation cannot be deduced but by a long train of consequences the Scriptures give us direct and manifest notices of it they present him to us not as in a glass that is to say by reflexion and obscurely but as I may so speak face to face And therefore being now to set before you the nature and attributes of God so far forth as shall be necessary to let us know what regard we ought to have for him I will borrow my description of it from the Scripture which is more exact and intelligible rather than from the light of nature which is both more imperfect and obscure This only would be premised as well to set bounds to our own enquiries as to enhance that respect which we ought to have for the Divine Majesty that being infinite in his nature and attributes according as hath been elsewhere * Explication of the Apostles Creed shewn and shall be farther in the conclusion of this discourse whatsoever knowledge we or any other creature may have of him yet we cannot hope to comprehend him in which sense some have with great probability understood that of S. Paul that he dwelleth in that light to which no man can approach and that no man either hath seen him or can 1 Tim. 6.16 Now if it should be demanded which ought to be the end of all our enquiries in this matter what this incomprehensibility of God exacts of us and by what means we may own him as such I answer by an humble and silent admiration of this his unintelligible perfection For as that Painter who drew a veil over the face of a sad Mother did thereby better express the passion he was to represent than he could have done by the saddest aspect he could have delineated because that veil which he drew over it did tacitly insinuate that the grief was not capable of being expressed so cannot we give a greater evidence of our owning the immensity of the Divine Nature than by our silent admiration of it For this shews the Divine Nature to be such as we can never hope to conceive and much less be able to express 3. Having premised thus much as a limit to our own enquiries and as a supplement to those imperfect discoveries we shall be able to make of the Divine Majesty proceed we according to our proposed method to the observation of so much as is knowable from the Scriptures concerning the Nature and Attributes of God And 1. First of all for the Nature of God the Scripture is express that it is spiritual for so our Saviour Joh. 4.24 God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth that is to say for this is the best description we can give of a spirutal nature he is such a substance as is exempt from the Laws and affections of bodies he is not capable of being divided or circumscribed Neither doth it make ought against this assertion that we find God frequently described with Eyes and Ears and Hands and other the parts of a body For as he who would explain any thing to a child or other weak person must
Worship so there is not any just fear of falling into that Will-worship which St. Paul cautioneth his Colossians against For beside that he cannot in any Propriety of Speech be said to add to the Worship of God who represents not what he so adds in the same condition with it but onely as subservient to it so which shews it yet farther to be no Will-worship he doth what he doth by vertue of the Divine Command even of that and other such like which prescribe That in the Worship of God all things be done decently and in order If therefore what is so added be grounded upon a Divine Command it is no longer the result of the Wills of Men at least as distinct from that of God but a just compliance with his which is a Will-worship which I hope none of us but will think our selves obliged to perform Having thus shewn at large not onely that our Worship ought to be suited to the Nature of God but also agreeable to his Commands it remains onely for the compleating of our Design that we instance in one or two Commandments by which our Worship is especially to be regulated Whereof the first that I shall assign and let that pass for 3. My third Rule is The Worshipping of God in Christ For that so we are to do God hath expresly declared by that Son of his in whom he hath commanded us to adore him Is Faith or Trust a part of Divine Worship Our Saviour's Merits are to be the ground of it there being no other Name as the Apostle speaks whereby we can be saved Is Hope a part of Divine Worship The same Jesus is to be the ground of that also as by whom alone we are obliged to expect the Object of it Is Prayer a part of Divine Worship That also is to pass by him as being to ask what we do in his name and for his sake Is Thanksgiving a part of Divine Worship We are to give thanks unto God and the Father by him Col. 3.17 In fine Whatsoever we do in relation to God or even our selves is to be done with reference to him as God's Instrument both in Governing and Redeeming us For wherefore else should God no less than twice declare from Heaven That he was the Person in whom he was well pleased and once of that twice moreover oblige his Disciples upon that account to hear him but to let us know as St. Paul speaks that whatsoever we do in word or deed we should do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus That we should do what we do in obedience to his Commands and with respect to that Authority which God vested in him That we should do what we do with respect to his Example and have an eye to his most holy Life as well as most excellent Precepts That we should do what we do with respect to the great Obligations he hath laid upon us by humbling himself to the death even the death of the cross for us That we should do what we do in confidence of his Assistance and not relie upon the strength of Nature or any Moral Acquisitions lastly That we should do what we do in confidence of Acceptance in and through the Merits of his Passion For as each of these is sometime or other the meaning of acting in his Name and therefore not lightly to be excluded so we have great reason to believe them all included in that fore-mentioned Text because all tending to his Honour and elsewhere expresly requir'd of us to make our Worship acceptable 4. That to Worship after a due manner we are to worship him in Christ hath been already declar'd together with the full Importance of such a Worship The next and indeed onely thing that I shall need to subjoyn is That we worship him in Spirit and in Truth according as was before insinuated For the evidencing whereof though it might suffice to tell you That this if any is the Affirmative part of the Precept because the Negative strikes at the worshipping of him by a corporeal and sensible Representation yet because it is a matter of importance and indeed one of the great Duties of the Gospel I shall allot it a more full Probation In order whereunto I shall lay for my Ground-work that known Saying of our Saviour which establisheth such a Worship with the proper Ground of it God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth Joh. 4.24 Now there are two Senses wherein those Words are to be consider'd and which therefore are to be distinctly handled 1. A Natural or Moral Sense And 2. An Evangelical one The former because grounded upon a Natural and Eternal Reason The latter because as I shall afterwards shew the Precept of Worshipping God in Spirit is oppos'd to that Worship which was in use under the Law 1. To begin with the former Sense even that which I call the Natural because grounded upon a Natural Reason where again I shall consider the Reason upon which it stands and then the due Importance of it For the Reason upon which it stands it will cost us little pains to evidence it to be a just Foundation of such a Worship For inasmuch as all things naturally are most affected with such Things and Operations as come nearest to their own Nature it must needs be that if God be a Spirit they who would serve him acceptably must present him with such a Worship as approacheth nearest to his own spiritual Nature The onely thing worthy our inquiry is What the Importance of such a Worship is which therefore I come now to resolve In order whereunto the first thing that I shall offer is That it is not meant to exclude wholly the Service of the Body For beside that That is God's by right of Creation and Preservation yea by all other ways by which the Soul is and consequently to pay God an Acknowledgment of its own Subjection and Obedience it is the distinct Affirmation of St. Paul That we are to glorifie God with our Bodies and with our Spirits that are his I observe secondly That as the Worshipping God in Spirit is not to be understood to exclude wholly the Worshipping him with our Bodies so neither to exclude all Worshipping him by Rites and Ceremonies For as the Christian Religion it self is not without such Rites even of God's own appointment witness the Sacrament of our Initiation into it and that other of our Continuance in it so it is much more evident that under the Law a great part of the Worship of God consisted in such Rites and Ceremonies But so it could not have done had a spiritual Worship excluded all worshipping him by Rites and Ceremonies because God was no less a Spirit under the Law than under the Gospel and therefore no less so to be ador'd It remaineth therefore That by worshipping God in Spirit we understand first of all the worshipping him with our
Spirits and that too in an especial manner For as it is but requisite that he who is a Spirit should have the worship of ours because most agreeable to his own Nature so also that we should for that reason intend that Worship especially and make it the chief of our Study and Design And accordingly though under the Law for the grosness of the Jews God appointed them a Worship which consisted much in Rites and Ceremonies yet he gave them sufficiently to understand that the spiritual Worship or the Worship of the Soul was that which he principally requir'd Witness one for all that of the Prophet David Psal 51.16 17. For thou desirest not Sacrifice else would I give it thee thou delightest not in burnt-offering The Sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart O God thou shalt not despise The result of the Premises is this That to worship God in Spirit and consequently to worship him after a due manner is especially to intend the worshipping him with ours that is to say by entertaining honourable thoughts of him by endeavouring to conform our Wills to his most holy one and lastly by suiting our Affections to his several Attributes by fearing and loving and trusting in him But beside the Worshipping of God with our Spirits and that too in a more especial manner to worship God in Spirit doth also imply the worshipping him without an Image or any Corporeal Representation For beside that this is the very thing here forbidden and therefore in reason to be suppos'd to be excluded by worshipping God in spirit and in truth to worship God by an Image is so far from being consistent with a spiritual Worship that it is but a dishonouring of him because resembling him to things to which he is no way like and which indeed are infinitely below the Excellencies of his Nature 2. Of the Natural or Moral Sense of Worshipping God in Spirit I have spoken hitherto and shewn both the Ground and Importance of it Let us now consider the Evangelical one according as was before insinuated For that such a one was also intended is evident from that Story to which this Passage is subjoyn'd If you please to consult the Verse preceding that which I have chosen for the Ground-work of this Argument you will there find a Woman of Samaria demanding of our Saviour whether Mount Gerizim by Sichem where the Samaritans sacrific'd or Jerusalem were the true Place of Worship In answer to which after our Saviour had told her That that Question was not now of much moment because ere long they should neither worship in the one or the other for a farther proof of that his Assertion he adds that the time was coming and even then was Mr. Mede on Joh. 4.23 that the true worshippers should worship the Father in spirit and in truth Which being compar'd with the foregoing Words and the State of the Controversie to which they do relate will shew that by worshipping in spirit and in truth is meant no other than the worshipping of God with a spiritual Worship as that is oppos'd to the Sacrifices and Ceremonies of the Law For the Question being not whether Mount Gerizim or Jerusalem were the place of Publick Prayer because both Jews and Samaritans had particular Places for them but which of the two was the proper Place to send their Sacrifices to and our Saviour making answer That in a little time neither of them should be because the Father sought such to worship him as should worship him in spirit and in truth he thereby plainly shews his meaning to be That to worship God in spirit and in truth was not to worship him with Sacrifices and other such Figures but in spiritual and substantial Worship such as are the Sacrifices of Prayer and Praise with other the like Natural Expressions of our Devotion But from hence it will follow not onely that we are to worship God without those Legal Rites wherewith it was before sufficiently clogg'd but also that we are not to clog it with other Rites than Decency and Order shall require For our Saviour not onely excluding the Rites and Sacrifices of the Law but affirming the Worship which his Father sought to be a spiritual one he doth thereby cut off the affixing of all other Rites as being alike contrary thereto save what Decency and Order shall require But so the Church of England hath declar'd it self to understand the Worshipping of God in spirit and in truth telling us in one of its Prefaces to our Liturgy That Christ's Gospel is not a Ceremonial Law as much of Moses Law was but it is a Religion to serve God not in bondage of the Figure or Shadow but in the freedom of the Spirit contenting it self onely with those Ceremonies which do serve to a decent Order and comely Discipline and such as be apt to stir up the dull mind of Man to the remembrance of his Duty to God by some notable and special signification whereby he might be edified In conformity whereto as she her self hath proceeded injoyning neither many nor trifling ones so what she hath done is sufficiently warranted not onely by that Solemnity which Experience shews Things of that nature to add to all Matters of Importance but which is of more avail from the Institution of our Saviour and the Practice of the Church in the Apostles days For if all Rites are to be excluded what shall become of the Sacraments themselves But how shall we any way excuse the Apostolical Church for that holy Kiss wherewith they were wont to conclude their Prayers the laying on of hands in admitting Ministers to the Church or shaking off the dust of their feet against those that should not receive them in testimony of their rejection of them For that all those things were then in use even with the allowance of the Apostles themselves the Scripture is our Witness to which therefore if Men will exclude all things of that nature they must first oppose themselves Such is the Practice of that Church to which we relate such the Grounds upon which she proceeds but as farther than that she neither goes nor pretends to do so if she did there is no doubt she would offend against that Precept which requires the worshipping of God in spirit and in truth For how can they be said to do so whose Devotion spends it self in outward Ceremonies Which as they are of no value in themselves so have this ill property of the Ivy that where they are suffer'd to grow too luxuriant they eat out the Heart of that Religion about which they twine PART II. A Transition to the Negative part of the Precept and therein first to that part of it which forbids the making any Graven Image or other Corporeal Representation That all Images are not forbidden but such onely as are made with a design to represent the Divine Majesty or to bow down to and
them to put away their wives for a lesser cause Mat. 19.8 In fine the Jews were then but in the state of children as S. Paul tells us Gal. 4.2 they had the weakness and peevishness of children and being such God as was but requisite dealt with them as with children keeping them as that Apostle goes on under the elements of the world and permitting them to think and speak and act as such But now that the world is grown man now that our Blessed Saviour hath brought abundance of Grace and Truth into it giving men more wise and understanding heads more pliant hearts or at least more grace to make them so as it was but reasonable he should raise the standards of obedience and fulfil both the Law and the Prophets so it will be but necessary for us to make our piety answer them and fulfil that Law and the Prophets over again in our conversation DISC. V. Of the measures by which we are to proceed in the interpretation of the Decalogue or Ten Commandments That the Ten Commandments comprehend more in them than is expressed and how we may come to investigate the full importance of them Several rules laid down to direct us in that affair What tyes we have upon us to yield obedience to them above what the Jews to whom they were first given had A comparison between the Israelites deliverance out of Egypt by which their obedience is enforced and our far better deliverance from the bondage of the Ceremonial Law and Sin and Death HAving by way of preparation to our main design entreated of the nature and obligations of the Laws of God and particularly of that Law which we are now about to explain shewing the authority by which it stands the means whereby it comes to oblige us and the pitch to which our Saviour hath raised it it remains only that we enquire what measures we are to proceed by in giving the full importance of the several precepts of it For as when Solomon's Temple was to be built all things were so fitted and prepared before-hand that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the building of it so in every methodical discourse care ought to be taken that the materials be first squared and fitted before we proceed to the rearing of it lest the deferring it till then do not only prove a retarding of it but the noises of axes and hammers disturb and confound us in it Now there are two things within the explication of which the resolution of this question will be comprehended 1. Whether the Ten Commandments comprehend no more in them than is expressed And 2. If they do what those things are which they comprehend I. It is commonly supposed both by Jewish and Christian writers that the Decalogue or Ten Commandments is a summary or abstract of the whole Duty of Man I will not at the first either take so much for granted or attempt the probation of it whatsoever is to be said concerning this particular being best to be learned by a leisurely and gradual procedure It shall suffice now in the entrance of my discourse to affirm that more is comprehended in the Decalogue or Ten Commandments than is expressed in the letter of it For first all that must be supposed to be comprehended in it which is either implyed in it or necessarily deducible from it Thus though the letter of the first Commandment doth directly import no more than the rejecting of false Gods yet inasmuch as God prefaces this prohibition with I am the Lord thy God and the prohibition it self manifestly implies the having of him for our God it is evident that when God saves Thou shalt have no other Gods before me his meaning is as well that we should have him for our God as that we should not have any other God besides Again when the having of any one for our God implies the fearing and loving and honouring him that is so according to his several attributes at the same time he commands us to have him and no other for our God he must be supposed to command also that we should fear and love and honour him and him alone though neither of these be expressed in it But then if the Law be considered not only as proposed by Moses but as illustrated and enlarged by our Saviour in the Sermon on the Mount in which capacity there is no doubt we ought to look upon it because as such a part of the Christian Law so there is no doubt but many things are comprehended in it which are not expressed in the letter of it But because when I shew what things are comprehended in the Ten Commandments beside what is expressed in the letter I shall at the same time shew that something else is therefore superseding any farther proof of that as altogether unnecessary I will proceed to the resolution of the other II. It is commonly supposed and not without reason though that reason be not often made appear that when our Saviour reduceth the Law to those two great Commandments Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self he means that principally of the Law of Moses contained in the Ten Commandments Which if true it will follow 1. That the negative in every Commandment doth include the affirmative and that when God saith Thou shalt not kill thou shalt not steal and the like his meaning is not only that we should do no injury to our neighbours person or estate but that we should love and do him good in both Now that our Saviour intended those great Commandments Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and Thy neighbour as thy self as an abstract of the Ten Commandments and consequently that what is contained in them is also comprised in the Ten Commandments will appear from Rom. 13.8 9. where S. Paul doth not only affirm love to be the fulfilling of the Law according as his Master had done but particularly of the Ten Commandments For this saith he Thou shalt not commit adultery thou shalt not kill Thou shalt not steal thou shalt not bear false witness thou shalt not covet and if there be any other Commandment it is * Verba sunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 briefly comprehended in this saying namely Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self Now forasmuch as Love is the fulfilling of this Law forasmuch as the several Precepts of it are comprehended in it as in a recapitulation * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Significat propriè variarum sum marum in unam collectionem per translationem antè dictorum repetitionem per capita Hammond in Eph. 1.10 or summary that Law of which it is a summary must comprehend love in it and consequently not only forbid the doing of any injury to our neighbour but the doing him all good offices and services There is but one thing of
God supposing that other to be self-sufficient as he who desires and expects it against the will of God that he is able to controul Him Neither will it avail to say which yet is commonly pretended That all who make use of such Arts have not any intention or suspicion of making any Application to the Devil For though I am willing enough to believe that many of them have not and cannot therefore but acquit them from the purpose of it yet it is past either my skill or theirs to acquit them from the thing it self or from being look'd upon as chargeable with it Men being justly chargeable with making Applications to the Devil who make use of such Means for the attaining of their Purpose the Success whereof cannot rationally be expected from any other especially when God himself hath caution'd Men against the use of them and represented them as detestable and abominable yea to such a Degree as to occasion the casting out those Nations who possess'd the Land of Canaan before the Israelites Which how they should be thought to do if they were rather vain Curiosities than secret or open Transactions with the Devil will I think be very difficult to determine And indeed as some of those Persons have the Title of Dealers with Familiar Spirits and all of them are represented under the same Guilt and obnoxious to the same Penalties so it is strange to observe that some Men should be so highly unreasonable as to question that Diabolical Commerce after so many Authentick Stories which have been publish'd to the World concerning it the free Confession of the accused Parties and the Sentences of grave and sober Judges but especially after what the Scriptures of the New Testament have declar'd concerning the Devil and his Angels They representing the Devil and his Ministers as encompassing the earth to procure mischief as the God of this world and ruling in the children of disobedience as entring through the Divine Permission into men and speaking in and by them in fine for so we read Acts 16.16 divining as well as using other Speeches by them and suggesting those Soothsayings for which such kind of Persons are resorted to After all which to question either the possibility or truth of a Diabolical Commerce is not onely to be unreasonably scrupulous but to be impudently unbelieving because contradicting the general Sense and Experience of the World and the clear Declarations of the Scriptures I will conclude this Affair with a Passage in Leviticus * Chap. 20.6 because both expressing God's detestation of all Magical Practises and his accounting of them as Idolatry or the giving of his Glory unto another And the Soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits and after wizards to go a whoring after them I will even set my face against that man and will cut him off from among his people For representing such Addresses under the term of going a whoring which in the Language of the Old Testament is no other than the espousing of other Deities he thereby giveth us to understand that they are in effect an Abrenunciation of himself and an espousing of other Deities in stead of him THE SECOND COMMANDMENT THE SECOND COMMANDMENT Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven image nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above or in the earth beneath or in the water under the earth Thou shalt not bow down to them nor Worship * or serve them For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God and visit the sins †or iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me and shew mercy unto thousands in them that love me and keep my commandments PART I. The Contents That what we reckon as the Second Commandment is really such and not an Appendix of the First This evidenc'd by several Reasons as also that it respects the Manner and not the Object of our Worship The Commandment divided into a Precept and a Sanction as that again into an Affirmative and Negative one The Affirmative That we worship God after a due manner which also is there specified and particularly That we worship God in Spirit and Truth the purport whereof is at large declar'd Among other things the Questions concerning Will-worship and worshipping God with Ceremonies discussed and stated I Am now arriv'd at the Second Commandment for so I hope I may have leave to call it after the Travels of our Divines upon that Argument For though the Papists represent it as an Appendix onely to the First and which is much worse have upon that pretence raz'd it quite out of their Catechisms yet is there so little reason for their way of Reckoning and so much for ours that I doubt not all impartial Men will cast it on their sides who look upon it as distinct from the former Precept For beside that all Antiquity * Joseph Antiqu. Judaic lib. 3. cap. 4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sulpit. Sever. Sacrae hist li. 1. Non erunt tibi dei alieni praeter me Non facies tibi Idolum Non sumes nomen Dei tui in vanum c. See more upon this Head in D. Taylor 's Duct Dubit Book 2. Chap. 2. Rule 6. generally have so accounted of it or at least have united it to the First upon different grounds beside that it seem'd but requisite that provision should be made for the manner of our Worship as well as for the Object of it beside lastly that the worshipping of the True God by an Image is elsewhere as expresly forbidden as the substituting of False Gods in his room beside all these things I say which yet are very material Considerations the very words of the Commandment to a diligent Observer shew the Manner of our Worship to be the thing aimed at in them For forbidding to make or worship the likeness of any thing either in the upper or lower World he thereby plainly declared his meaning to be not to caution them against an undue Object but against that kind of Adoration he who worshippeth the likeness of any thing making not that his God before which he so falls down but that which it was designed to represent Which is so true that the Papists themselves are forc'd to alledge it in behalf of their own Idololatrical Worship Neither will it suffice to say as I find it is by them That what we call the Second Commandment did therefore descend to instance in Images because those were the chief Gods among the Heathen For as the generality of the Heathen were undoubtedly too wise to terminate their Worship there the very Name of an Image directing Men to that of which it is so an Image so it is not easie to conceive save of the very Beasts of the People that they should believe a Stone or a piece of Wood to be a God From our own Account pass we to that of our
of the Commandment were not to forbid the taking of God's Name unto a lie In the mean time though I affirm the Swearing falsely to be the principal thing struck at my meaning is not to deny but that vain Oaths may also be condemned with them partly because that is the prime importance of the Word shave and partly because I have before laid it for a Ground That under the greater Sins the less also of the same species are forbid But then thirdly if we look upon the Commandment as all Christians ought to do as either explain'd or enlarg'd by our Saviour so no doubt can remain of the unlawfulness of other Oaths beside false ones our Saviour's Words after his rehearsal of the Doctrine of the Law being But I say unto you Swear not at all For the elucidation of which Doctrine and together therewith of our own Obligation from this Commandment I will proceed in this method 1. I shall inquire what Oaths are simply and absolutely forbidden 2. Whether it be lawful in any case to swear by a Creature 3. Whether the Magistrate hath power to exact an Oath 4. Whether and how far he may exact one of the Accused Party 5. What is the Obligation of Oaths 6. And lastly because that is of kin to them and therefore in reason to have a place here entreat of the Nature and Obligation of Vows I. There are a sort of Men who minding more the Letter than the meaning of the Scripture have profess'd to believe themselves and endeavour'd to perswade others that all Oaths are now forbidden What the ground of their Scrupulosity is shall by and by be declar'd This onely would be observ'd in passing That they who in this matter are so tenacious of the Letter are in other things as regardless both of the Letter and the Sense For what hath more the astipulation both of the one and the other than Obedience to Magistrates which yet these scrupulous Persons do as irreligiously cast off But because it matters not much what the Persons are that propugn the Opinion if it have any Foundation in Scripture leaving the Persons of the Objectors we will descend to the Texts on which they relie which are especially that of our Saviour and of St. James The purport of the former whereof is That they should not swear at all but that their communication should be yea yea nay nay the latter That they should not swear neither by heaven nor earth nor any other Oath but simply affirm or deny whatsoever fell into discourse For the clearing of which Texts or rather of the former thereof for every body may see that that of St. James is borrowed from the other I shall first of all propose the contrary Example of St. Paul in those Scriptures which God handed to the Church by him For who can think it our Saviour's intention to forbid all Swearing whatsoever when we find such a one as St. Paul doing so in those Writings wherein he was Divinely inspir'd Now for the Practice of St. Paul in this particular we have several Instances in those Epistles that bear his Name Thus Rom. 1.9 we find him vouching God for a Witness which is the very Formality of an Oath that he did without ceasing make mention of them always in his prayers For God saith he is my witness whom I serve with my spirit in the Gospel of his Son that without ceasing I make mention of you in my prayers as in like manner Gal. 1.20 where he gives an account of his Conversion and calling to be an Apostle Now the things which I write unto you behold before God I lie not Lastly Where he speaks of the several Persecutions and Troubles which he suffer'd for the Gospels sake he doth appeal to the same God for the truth of what he said For the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ saith he which is blessed for evermore knoweth that I lie not 2 Cor. 11.31 Which Texts are plain and evident Proofs of St. Paul's swearing and consequently that our Blessed Saviour hath not universally forbidden it Let it remain therefore for a certain truth That all Swearing whatsoever is not forbidden by our Saviour which is the first thing proposed to be proved But as on the one side we are not to think all Oaths whatsoever forbidden so neither onely such which may perhaps be the Refuge of some Men that are made rather by Creatures than by God the opposition in that fore-alledged place being not between swearing by a Creature and by God but between Swearing and a naked Affirmation and Denial For I say unto you saith our Saviour swear not at all neither by heaven for it is God's throne nor by the earth for it is his footstool c. But let your communication be yea yea nay nay for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil And accordingly as St. James where he enforceth the same Prohibition to the mention of swearing neither by heaven nor by earth adds neither by any other Oath so it is easie to assign a Reason of our Saviour's instancing in such kind of Oaths without restraining the Prohibition to them even because such kind of Asseverations were less scrupled by the Jews as may appear from a Tract * Lib. de specialibus legibus of Philo Where dehorting Men from swearing at all he yet adds That in case they did they should not swear by the Name of God but by the Health or Memory of their Parents the Sun the Earth and the like these being in his Opinion much more excusable than swearing by the Name of God Whatsoever therefore is the meaning of those Words Swear not at all something more is meant than that we should not swear by the Creatures which what that is I come now more directly to shew 1. And here in the first place I shall not doubt to reckon because the thing principally forbidden all Oaths in our common Conversation For what less can we think meant thereby unless we would have our Saviour's Words signifie just nothing Especially when he himself adds by way of explication Let your communication be yea yea nay nay for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil And here give me leave to take up a Lamentation especially in an Age which seems to bid defiance to our Saviour's Precept and that August Name which it would preserve inviolate For as if I do not say Christ had given no Command concerning it but our lips were our own and we had no Superior to controul us every Man almost from the oldest to the youngest calls God to witness in the most trivial and impertinent Affairs at a Game at Tables at a Deal of Cards when a Health is passing about and it may be Intemperance together with it For let the least question be made of any thing that is then acting and an Oath shall presently be brought to confirm it and God be call'd to witness that we
threw twice Six or that we have been as intemperate as any that have kept the Round Nay to so great an intemperance are the Tongues of Men now come that God must be call'd to witness even where there is no question at all made of any thing nor it may be likely to be unless it be whether the Party be a brave resolute Sinner and have as little fear of God as Man For what other Interpretation can any Man make of such Mens swearing but that they are afraid of being thought Religious or rather of not being thought to have bid defiance to it But as all Oaths in common Converse are forbidden to us Christians and Yea or Nay substituted in their room so if the wisest of the Heathen or Christians may be credited 2. All Oaths whatsoever for which there is not a great necessity And accordingly we find the Fathers * Tertul. de Idol c. 11 23. of the Church condemning Swearing as a thing generally unlawful and the Ecclesiastical Stories ‖ Euseb Eccl. Hist l 6. c. 5. Loquitur de Basilide Martyre in Alexandria telling us of one of whom when his Fellow-soldier demanded an Oath his Answer was That it was not lawful for him to swear because he was a Christian But which is admirable to observe some of the Heathen sweetly consenting with them and with him whose Religion they propugned For thus Epictetus †Enchit c. 44. in particular adviseth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say to avoid swearing if it were possible wholly but if not at least as far as they might And Hierocles * Hierocles in illam clausulam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon the Golden Verses of Pythagoras That the best way to preserve the Reverence due to an Oath was not to use it frequently or upon trifling occasions to fill up the vacuities of our Discourse or procure credit to a Tale but as far as they might to use it onely in things necessary and when there was no other way to secure them but by the help of an Oath And to the shame of us Christians be it spoken for this Divinity was not onely in their Books but in their Practice there is mention of one Clinias ‖ Vid. Grot. in Mat. 5.34 a Pythagorean who when he might have avoided a Mulct of three Talents by onely taking an Oath yet chose rather to suffer the loss of those than take the other Such was the one and the others Opinion of the Sacredness of an Oath and of the unlawfulness of making use of it unless where there was a great necessity Which that it was not without ground I shall shew immediately when I make those the matter of my Inquiry In the mean time it is evident that all Oaths in common Converse are unlawful to Christians and much more the intermingling of Oaths with every Sentence we utter which is so frequent both with the Base and Honourable And God grant that as the Land hath mourn'd because of them so it may mourn for them and we propitiate that Name by our Humiliation and Reverence which others and our selves hitherto have onely dishonour'd and blasphem'd To go on now to shew the Grounds of the Prohibition of unnecessary Oaths and to establish it by Reason as well as by Authority Where first I shall alledge the providing that every Man speak truth with his Neighbour and be punctual in the performance of their Words and Promises For as our Saviour is thought to intimate by those Words of his Whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil the use of Oaths had undoubtedly its original from Mens falseness and perfidiousness in their Words and Promises neither would any Man be desirous of an Oath if he thought the Party he address'd himself to would speak truth without And accordingly our Law doth not generally exact an Oath of those of the Nobler sort because supposing their Birth and Education to set them above any untruth and persidiousness and the Word of an honest Man as Philo * De spec leg speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say It hath among those who deem him so the nature of an Oath it is free from the suspicion of any falsity or change Whilst he who is put to an Oath as the same Philo ‖ De Decalog speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lies under the suspicion of unfaithfulness Now forasmuch as it was manifestly our Saviour's Design to implant Faithfulness and Truth in the World at least in that part of it which embrac'd his Religion and the use of Oaths as hath been already shewn is a sign of the want of that and onely occasion'd by it it is easie to suppose that the recovery of Truth and Faithfulness was the Reason of his forbidding them in common Converse yea that he meant to forbid all that were not strictly necessary all Oaths that are not such being a sign of want of Truth in them of whom they are exacted The second Reason which I suppose induc'd our Saviour to forbid Swearing generally was to keep Men from swearing falsely it being an hard matter for a Man to allow himself in the one and not be guilty of the other We learn thus much from the forementioned Philo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for from much swearing saith he ariseth perjury and impiety But much more clearly from Hierocles * Loco prius citato whose Words I shall now subjoyn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Now the words Reverence an Oath do not onely enjoyn swearing truly but the avoiding of swearing as much as may be for so shall we best observe the Precept of swearing truly if we seldom allow our selves to swear at all For by swearing frequently and lightly a Man may easily fall into Perjury whereas he that swears seldom never For either such an one will not swear at all or if he doth he will swear truly and neither through an evil Custom suffer his Tongue to run before his Vnderstanding nor his Vnderstanding to be hurried away by the intemperance of his Passions And truly what else can be expected from a common Swearer than that he should sometime swear falsely and as well violate as profane the Oaths of God For beside that such Mens frequent swearing is a certain Argument that they do not esteem an Oath as Sacred for then certainly they would reserve them for Matters of importance and where as the Poet speaketh there is a knot worthy God's untying beside that I say the heat of Passion or Inconsiderateness may make such Persons ere they are aware set an Oath to that of the falseness whereof they themselves are convinc'd which is to call the God of Truth to witness to a Lie which of all other things he professeth to abhor And if this be the consequent of customary swearing no wonder if our Saviour have generally forbidden it and enjoyn'd Men as much as may be not to swear at all
design of Christianity to establish Natural Religion and oblige us to be pious and just and temperate which are the general Heads of it whatsoever is a part of Natural Religion is eo nomine to be look'd upon as a part of the Christian one though it be not expresly commanded The confirmation of Natural Religion inferring the confirmation of all those Duties which are clear and undoubted Portions of it The same is yet more evident from the confirmation of those Grounds upon which the Publick Worship of God is founded such as are the making our Piety to shine before others and the need each of us stand in of one anothers help in Prayer For our Saviour in express Terms injoyning the observation of the former and St. Paul giving testimony to the truth of the latter where he affirms us to be members of each other they do thereby consequently establish the necessity of Publick Worship because as was before shewn naturally arising from them But because what hath been hitherto alledg'd from Christianity is rather constructive of the Morality of the Publick Worship of God than any immediate or direct proof of its own enjoyning it for the fuller declaration of our Duty in this Affair I will proceed to more immediate Proofs and such as are properly Christian. 1. Now the first that I shall alledge shall be taken from those Spiritual Gifts which God bestow'd upon his Church and particularly the Word of Wisdom the Word of Knowledge Prophesieing Interpretation of Tongues and Praying by the Spirit or Immediate Inspiration For these being given to those that had them to * 1 Cor. 12.7 profit withal or as the same St. Paul elsewhere ‖ Ephes 4.12 more expresly declares for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the Body of Christ suppose the meeting of that Body to receive profit by them and consequently because that is the End of those Gifts for Publick Instruction and Prayer 2. My second Argument for the necessity of the Publick Worship of God shall be taken from the Rules St. Paul often gives for the right management of Christian Assemblies such as are That no man should speak in an unknown tongue if there were not one by to interpret That when they spake they should do it by two or at the most by three and in fine That all things should be done decently and in order For what need were there of all this stir about the management of Christian Assemblies if the Author of our Religion had not at all enjoyn'd them but left Men to their own Private Worship Neither will it avail to reply as possibly it may be That the Rules laid down for the management of Assemblies do rather suppose them useful than necessary to be held For as what is so hugely useful cannot be suppos'd to be other than necessary if we consider the many Precepts that enjoyn us the edifying of one another so he that shall consider St. Paul's Accuracy in laying down Rules concerning Christian Assemblies will not doubt of their being necessary to be held it being not to be thought that he who is so careful elsewhere to distinguish between his own * 1 Cor. 7.8 c. Advices and the Commands of the Lord would take so much pains in prescribing Rules for the management of Christian Assemblies without so much as taking notice that those Assemblies concerning which he gave Rules were no other than Advices of his own Add hereunto 3. The perpetual Practice of the Church and that too at such times when those Assemblies were perillous to those that held them For that shews plainly that the holding of Assemblies had some higher Original than onely the usefulness thereof It being not to be thought that the Christians of all Times and even of the most dangerous ones would have held such Assemblies if they had not look'd upon themselves as straitly obliged to them 4. But to come up yet more closely to the Ground of holding Assemblies which I think I may not without cause establish in that of our Blessed Saviour Mat. 18.20 to wit That where two or three were gathered together in his Name he would be in the midst of them For as those Words of his are an assurance to those who should be so gathered that Christ would be in the midst of them that is to say as the foregoing Words import to grant them the Petitions they should ask and more particularly such as were of Publick concern * For he speaks before of Men that neglect to hear the Church and of God's confirmation of the Churches Censure of them so the same Words do imply that he would not be so present to those who should not so assemble together Otherwise the Reason wherewith he recommends the Assembling in his Name would be weak and null because so it might be affirm'd that they might have Christ present to them without Now forasmuch as Christ not onely promises that he would be in the midst of those who should so assemble but insinuates also and that clearly enough that he would not be so present to those that did not he thereby lays a necessity upon Christians of so meeting in his Name for the welfare of the Church and particularly for the imploring of such Blessings as are necessary for it I will conclude this Particular with that of the Author to the Hebrews chap. 10.23 Where having exhorted in the foregoing Verses that they should hold fast the profession of the faith themselves and provoke others to the same love and good works which are undoubted Precepts of the Gospel he adds in the same breath and by way of explication not forsaking the assembling of your selves together as the manner of some then was but exhorting one another and so much the more as they saw the day approaching Which Words as they are a manifest condemnation of the neglect of Assemblies and consequently an establishment of the necessity of Worshipping God in them so such a condemnation of the forsaking of them as to make it in effect not onely a breach of Charity but a renouncing the Profession of our Faith However it be most certain it is that Apostle manifestly condemns the forsaking the assembling of our selves together and if so we may be sure the serving God in the Solemn Assemblies is a part of a Christians Duty and therefore the Fourth Commandment wherein it is enjoyn'd so far obligatory 3. I am now arriv'd at the third of those Things which I said before to appertain to the Substance of this Commandment and that is The setting apart some portion of our Time for the more solemn performance of Gods Worship this being so much of the Substance of the Commandment that it is the onely thing clearly express'd in it and may seem at first sight not onely to be the Main but the Whole Now that this also is Moral will appear if we consider it with respect to the Worship of
there is not the same reason where the thing commanded is not evidently against the Law of God but only doubted of whether it be so or no. For it being certainly a duty to obey the Magistrate in all things not forbidden and but uncertain whether the thing commanded by him be forbidden reason would that that which is the more certain should be preferr'd before that which is uncertain and consequently a clear and express Command before an uncertain scruple But as where the thing commanded by Princes is apparently against that of God there cannot be the least pretence of yeilding Obedience to it so other limits of our Obedience I know none saving those before-mentioned * Vid. Part 2. of the Explic. of this Commandment where we entreated of the Obedience due to Parents and which are no less appliable here unless it be where the Prince hath set bounds to his own Power by Laws or accepted of them when tendred by others In which case because the Princes Laws are the most Authentick declarations of his Will it is to be presum'd that he wills not my obedience in any thing which is contrary thereto and consequently that in those things it is no sin to refuse it Now though what hath been already said concerning the measure of our Obedience may suffice any reasonable man in civil matters yet because Princes do also challenge to themselves an Authority in Religious ones and we of this Nation in particular are oblig'd under an Oath to acknowledge it it will be necessary to enquire farther whether they have any such Authority and what obedience is due from us to it Now the Authority of Princes in Religious matters may be two-fold indirect or direct by the former whereof we are to understand that which pretends to have an oversight of them only in relation to the State by the latter that which pretends to have an Interest in Religious matters as such If the question be whether Princes are invested with such an Authority as pretends to an oversight of them in relation to the State so no doubt can be made by those who shall consider the influence Religious matters may have upon the State For inasmuch as on the one hand the powers of the world were before the Church and the Church it self is by the command of God oblig'd to revere them and on the other hand the things of Religion according as they are constituted may be profitable or hurtful to the State which is committed to their custody those Powers must of necessity be invested with such an Authority therein as may preserve the peace of the State entire But from hence it will follow That Princes have a power so far of calling or limiting Religious Assemblies of appointing who shall serve at the Altars in them or putting by those that are For inasmuch as the Peace of the State may be concern'd in all these particulars they are of necessity so far to fall under the cognizance of those to whom the Government of the State doth appertain And accordingly as all Princes of what perswasion soever in Religion have in Profession or Fact arrogated such an Authority to themselves so provided they do not entrench upon the Laws of Christianity they cannot in the least be faulted for the exercise thereof nor be disobey'd without a violation of the Ordinance of God that constitutes them Because what they do is no more than necessary for the preservation of that State which God hath committed to their charge Thus for instance inasmuch as by means of the Assemblies of discontented Persons there may arise great prejudice to the State no man in his right wits can deny but it may be lawful for a Prince to retrench the number or appoint the manner of the holding of them For though Christianity enjoin upon Christians the assembling of themselves for Religious Worship yet no Law of Christianity appoints that they should meet by Thousands but on the contrary assures them that where even two or three meet together in his name there Christ is in the midst of them From the indirect Authority of Princes in Religious matters pass we to that which we call direct which interests it self in Religious matters as such For the establishing whereof I shall desire you in the first place to reflect upon that of St. Paul to Timothy 1 Tim. 2. from Verse 1. to 4. I exhort therefore first of all that supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men For Kings and all that are in Authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth From which words as it is evident that it is acceptable to God that Kings become Christians this as will appear by comparing the first Verse and the fourth being the thing he instructs Timothy to beg of God for them so also that being made Christians they should by their Authority procure to other Christians a peaceable exercise of that Religion whereunto they are called The reason assign'd by the Apostle for praying for their Conversion being that under them and by their Arbitriment they might lead a quiet and peaceable Life in all godliness and honesty From the exhortation of St. Paul pass we to that of David which will both lend light to the former Exhortation and more clearly discover to us that Authority wich we seek Be wise now therefore O ye Kings be instructed ye Judges of the Earth serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling Kiss the Son lest he be angry and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little For herein as St. Augustine observes do Kings serve the Lord as Kings if in their Kingdom they command those things that are good and forbid evil and that not only such as appertain to Humane Society but such as appertain also to the Religion of God And elsewhere Wherein then doth Kings serve the Lord in fear but by forbidding and punishing with a Religious severity those things which are done against the commands of the Lord Jesus For one way doth a King serve the Lord as a man and another way as a King And a little after to the same purpose though yet more closely Herein therefore do Kings serve the Lord as Kings when they do those things to serve him which they could not do unless they were Kings Add hereunto that known Prophecy of Isa 49.23 where speaking of the times of the Church he affirms that Kings should be its nursing Fathers and Queens its nursing Mothers Which what other is it than that the Church should be taken care of by them and consequently that it should be committed to their trust But from hence we may collect what the Authority of Princes in Religious matters is and wherein
again before you those Evils and Calamities which the Stoicks made a just ground of a voluntary Departure because Christianity and Nature both oblige us to the bearing of them I will chuse rather to inquire whether there be any thing of truth in those other Grounds assign'd by them even the Profit of our Country or Friends * Vid. locum ante citatum ex Laertio de Dogmatibus Zenonis c. as also in what they little dream'd of the Instinct or Impulse of God's Spirit and the asserting of his Glory This onely would be premis'd because necessary so to be inasmuch as all the Instances to be alledg'd do not reach the killing of our selves in the strict and most obvious acception of the Words that when we speak concerning the killing of our selves we mean not onely that wherein we are the immediate Instruments of our own Execution but where we expose our selves also to such dangers from which nothing in all probability but Death is to be expected For though in strictness of speaking this is not to be accounted the killing of our selves yet it is interpretatively as much because putting our selves into such a Condition from which in all probability it will ensue Now that one or other of these ways a Man may not onely with the leave but also with the approbation of God procure his own death will appear if we resume the former Grounds and first of all the Advantage of a Friend It is a known Story and by all that I know of whether Christians or Heathens remembred with applause That there were two Pythagoreans of so fast a Friendship ‖ Damonem Pythiam Pythagoreos ferunt hoc animo inter se fuisse ut cum eorum alteri Dionysius tyrannus diem necis destinavisset is qui morti addictus esset paucos sibi dies commendandorum suorum causâ petivisset vas factus sit alter ejus sistendi ut si ille non revertisset ad diem morierdum esset ipsi c. Cicero de Offic 3. that when one of them had by Dionysius the Tyrant been condemn'd to die and begg'd onely a few days respite to dispose of his Affairs the other became Surety to the Tyrant for his Friend so that in case he should not return at the time appointed he himself would die for him What the Sequel of this Story is I will not now tell you because not pertinent to our purpose though it was both to the one and the others glory I demand onely whether he who thus offer'd himself to be the others Surety did that which was lawful and commendable If we say he did we have what we desire even an Instance wherein it may be lawful to make our selves a Prey to Death upon the account of Friendship For beside that the Person before-mentioned did expresly stipulate to die for him in case he did not return which without doubt he ought not to have done if it had not been lawful to lay down his Life for him he expos'd himself to such a hazard as was not common and from which there was more probability of Death than of the contrary Because what considence soever he might repose in his Friend's Justice and Kindness yet as it was not impossible some Accident might detain him beyond the time appointed so there are few Friendships so sacred as to oblige Men to prefer Death before it St. Paul having told us Rom. 5.7 that scarcely for a righteous man will any one die and but peradventure which must be also a great piece of Courage for one who is also good and benign Which Words as they are a manifest confirmation of the danger that Person run who made himself a Surety for a condemned Man so seem to me to declare such an Act to be in the Opinion of the Apostle an Heroical one and not onely not deserve to be condemn'd but to be applauded For however the Rarity of such a Love among Men might serve in some sort to commend the Love of Christ to us who as he had power to lay down his Life as well as take it up again so laid it down for those that were Enemies yet would it have been some diminution to its Commendation if it had not been lawful for one Man to lay down his Life for another because it might have been objected That the rarity of such an Accident proceeded not so much or at least not altogether from the impossibility of a Love strong enough to do it but from the unlawfulness thereof In the mean time if the foremention'd place will not be look'd upon as conclusive I see not in the least how that of St. John can be evaded 1 Joh. 3.16 where he tells us that as Christ laid down his life for us so there may be Instances wherein it may be our Duty to lay down our lives for one another For though as Grotius * Annot. in loc Joh. 10.11 interprets it nothing else should be there meant by laying down our lives for the brethren than exposing our selves to danger for them though as he himself observes our Saviour who is propos'd for our Example must be confess'd to have done more than so yet even that would not prejudice the Conclusion I would commend nor hinder it from being reputed a kind of destroying of our selves He being in truth a Felo de se though no criminal one who shall for the sake of another object himself to a Danger from which in all probability his Death may ensue But let us instance if you please in a Case which is more clearly one of the Stoicks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and see whether it contains any thing dissonant either to Reason or Religion As suppose for example that after a Shipwrack a Man light upon a piece of a Plank which will suffice onely for the Security of one Person and suppose withal that seeing a dear Friend of his ready to perish he should quit his Plank to him and commit himself being moreover unable to swim to the mercy of the Sea Will any Man now say that such an Act is not properly enough a casting away of a Mans self or condemn him that doth so for it nay will he not rather look upon it as a noble Act of Virtue and Friendship especially if we also suppose the Friend for whom he does it to be of more use to the Publick than himself For though a Man may and perhaps ought caeteris paribus to prefer himself before any other yet nothing hinders him as I have before shewn to prefer a Publick Good before a Private and therefore also another Mans Welfare before his own if that other be in a greater capacity to promote it I will conclude this Particular with a Saying of Seneca ‖ Succurram perituro sed ut ipse non peream nisi si futurus ero magni hominis aut inagnae rei merces as I find it cited by Grotius in
which seems principally here intended even the prejudice it doth to that Person against whom it is alledg'd For inasmuch as necessity requires that they to whom the Power of Judging doth belong should proceed in their Sentence according to what hath been attested it cannot be but where the Witness is false the Judge should pass Sentence against the accused Party and deprive him of that whether Estate or Life which is call'd in question by the Accuser The former whereof is on the Witnesses part a Violation of the Eighth Commandment the latter a Violation of the Sixth For as it is by his Testimony that the Judge does what he does and therefore he and not the Judge chargeable with the Consequence of the Sentence so I know not whether I may not represent him as more chargeable with that Consequence than him by whom he is suborn'd Because though the latter give beginning to the Accusation yet it is his Testimony that gives occasion to the Sentence by which the Accusation becomes effectual Whence it was that if the falseness of a Witness hapned to be discovered he who forbad the bearing of false witness requir'd the retaliating upon him that did so that mischief whatsoever it was which he thought to do unto his Neighbour by it Deut. 19.18 19. 2. But beside the prejudice which a false Witness doth to the accused Party which alone would suffice to render his so doing Criminal it would also be considered which is not without a Crime that he lends his Assistance to the Injustice of the Accuser As because he so far interests himself in the Guilt of that Fact to which he becomes so assistant so because he encourageth him and other such like Persons to the perpetration of new Injustices He who prospers by his Villany being not likely to give it over where there is so ready a means to give success to it 3. I observe thirdly That as he who bears false witness gives assistance to the Injustice of the Accuser and promotes that Wickedness which he ought rather to discountenance so he hinders those from doing Justice who are otherwise dispos'd to do it yea makes them instrumental to the contrary Which however no way prejudicial to the eternal Welfare of the Judge because no Man can become Criminal but by his own consent yet is prejudicial to his Fame which by that means is often call'd in question to his Office which it renders useless yea pernicious but much more to Humane Society because corrupting those Judgments upon the right proceeding whereof the Safety of Mens Persons and Fortunes doth depend 4. Lastly Forasmuch as Men are not any where admitted to bear witness without adding the Oath of God to what they so bear witness he who bears any false witness adds Impiety to his Injustice and profanes the Name of God whom he doth so invoke as well as his who is his Vicegerent and whom he does by his false Testimony elude 2. Of the first thing forbidden in a Witness what hath been said may suffice where I have shewn what it is to bear false witness and wherein Criminal Proceed we now to shew the same concerning the concealing of any thing that is true the second thing affirm'd to be forbidden by the Commandment For the evidencing whereof though it might suffice as to our Courts of Judicature to alledge the Oath which the Witness takes to speak the whole Truth as well as nothing but the Truth because he who so promiseth makes himself a false Witness if he conceal any part of it yet I think it not amiss because that will add more force to the Admonition to evict it from the Commandment it self A thing which will be no way difficult for me or any Man to do who shall consider the End of the Commandment For the Design thereof being apparently to secure the Persons and Estates of Men from receiving any prejudice by the Testimony of Witnesses if Men may be prejudic'd by a partial Witness as well as by a false one there is no doubt that also ought to be looked upon as forbidden because equally contrary to its design Now that the Persons and Estates of Men may no less suffer by the concealing of a Truth than by giving attestation to a Falshood will appear if we consider how much the concealing of a circumstance may alter the nature of the thing in question Thus for Example Though it be criminal and so declared by our Laws to take away the life of our Neighbour yet it is not so nor ought to be so reputed to take away his life if it be only to defend our own he who shall depose the killing of the party but withal conceal that parties first invading him that slew him shall make a murtherer of him who is perfectly innocent and who ought rather to be defended than condemned In like manner he who shall depose the lending of such a sum of Money to the accused party as the Plaintiff demands but withal conceal what he well knows the paying of it back to him shall make him obnoxious to the penalty of the Law who ought rather to have the encouragement of it as having discharg'd that obligation which he had contracted And indeed as a bad cause may become specious and plausible by paring off those things which shew it to be monstrous and deformed for thus as Palavicino * Istoria del Concilio di Trento li. 1. c. 26. well resembles it out of a mishapen stone men frame a comely Statue not by adding to it but by taking away so there is as little doubt to be made but a fair and plausible Cause may become odious and detestable by paring off any part of it monstrosity arising no less from the defect of a necessary Limb than from the addition of a superfluous one But neither is this all which may be said against the concealing of a Truth though indeed it be the main and what ought more especially to be considered For as though the Letter of the Law forbid only the prejudicing of our neighbour by our testimony yet that love which is the spirit of it and to which the whole is reduced by our Saviour requires also the advantaging of him thereby so he who shall omit so to do as he who conceals any part of it may must be look'd upon as alike offending against the Commandment he who conceals any part of the Truth * Vterque enim reus est quî veritatem occultat qui mendacium dicit quia ille prodesse non vult iste nocere desidederat shewing as much unwillingness to profit as he who utters that which is false doth a desire to do harm I will conclude this particular when I have said that though when we affirm it to be criminal to conceal a Truth we mean only such Truths as are pertinent to the matter in debate yet men ought to be very well satisfied that what they do
But beside the Perjury which unnecessary Swearing doth naturally draw after it and for which cause therefore if there were no other it were in reason to be avoided it offers an affront both to God and to his Name which we do thus take in vain For can it be other than an affront to the Divine Majesty to call him to witness to every Trifle to interpose his Testimony in every slight and impertinent Affair That is to say in such wherein it would scarcely be decent to call in a Man of any Repute to witness Beside when we call God to witness to the truth of what we affirm our meaning is because there is no other way of witnessing it that he would either witness to the truth of what we say by some extraordinary Accident or to our falseness by some remarkable Judgment upon our selves Now can any Man think it other than an affront thus unnecessarily to call upon God to shew Miracles and alter the common Course of his Providence when even God himself makes not any such alteration but in Matters of importance and to evidence the truth of a Revelation or other such like Affair If a Heathen could affirm of his Deity That he was not at leisure to intend small matters we may very well think that the True will not be well pleas'd to be call'd to witness in Matters that are neither serious nor important It is true indeed where the Matter is weighty and important and the Glory of God some way concern'd in the clearing of it such as is the doing Right between Man and Man or the procuring Credit to that Doctrine which he himself hath commanded us to promulge in those I say and such like Cases especially when we have the Warrant both of his Word and Apostles Practice we may well presume it not unacceptable to God to call him to bear witness to them But to do it as is commonly done upon every slight and trifling occasion when the question is onely Whether we have thrown so much at Dice or which of the Bowls lie nearest to the Jack in such Cases I say to call in God to Umpire the Difference must argue a mean Opinion of him and may seem more proper for those Dice we sport withal and for those Reeds we are wont to measure the difference that is between the other But be it that there were nothing of all this in an Oath which yet is the very Formality of it yet is it not some affront to the Divine Majesty thus unnecessarily to make mention of the Name of God and to interlard every Sentence we speak with it For though his Name be not his Person yet as shall be elsewhere * On that Petition of the Lord's Prayer Hallowed be thy Name observ'd there is some Respect due to it for the relation it hath to him and accordingly not either slightly or regardlesly to be mentioned But because where I shall make this Observation I shall say enough to confirm it and the unlawfulness of unnecessary and trifling mention of the Divine Names in stead of prosecuting it or the matter of Swearing any further I will see if I can provoke your Emulation by what I find observ'd by Philo * De Decalog de specialibus legibus concerning some of the more sober Jews Which is That in case necessity prompted Men to it they should not presently have recourse to the First Cause and swear by the Name of God but rather by Heaven or Earth or some other Creature That in case they swore by God they should rather do it tacitely than expresly as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say By the leaving the Name of God by whom they swore to be understood That they should shew some kind of backwardness and aversation to it even where there seem'd to be some necessity for an Oath That they should consider well before they made Oath of any thing whether it were a matter of importance whether it were true and such as they had sufficient knowledge of whether they themselves were pure in Soul in Body and in Tongue it being a great Impiety to let any thing of filthiness pass through that mouth which made mention of the Name of God Lastly That they should take care not to swear in any profane and impure Places in which it seem'd hardly decent to make mention of our earthly Parents For is it possible after all this for Christians who have been so much more oblig'd and better instructed by God to have less regard to it nay to profane and blaspheme that holy Name to call him to witness to every Impertinence to vouch his Authority for a Throw or a Card If it be it is a sign we have as little of Emulation as Religion and are equally regardless of our own Honour and that of God Lastly which is a Consideration by no means to be forgotten because made use of by God himself to dehort us from it As there is little of Honour or Religion in thus taking the Name of God in vain so there is all the reason in the World to believe though we had not the Scripture to assure us that God will not hold him guilt less that doth it For who can think but that he who hath been so often summon'd to come down among us and witness to our Extravagances and Impertinencies will at length come down though to a quite different purpose and make us feel the dreadfulness of that Name which we do either trifle with or blaspheme PART II. Concerning false Oaths and the Impiety thereof which is evidenced from the affront they offer to the Divine Majesty and the prejudice they bring to Humane Society This last evidenced at large both in Assertory and Promissory Oaths Of Swearing by a Creature and whether or no and in what sense it may be lawful That it is unlawful to make a Creature the Term of our Oath or the Thing we swear by but not so to make mention of them in an Oath though in the common Form of one when intended onely as relating to the Divine Majesty or devoted unto him as Pledges of our Fidelity That it is lawful for the Magistrate to exact an Oath of his Subjects This evidenced in part from the nature of an Oath which becometh so much the more lawful for being extorted from the Practice of Holy Men in Scripture who have requir'd an Oath from their Children and Servants and in fine from the necessity there is oftentimes of it for the securing both the Magistrate and the Common-wealth 3. THAT all Oaths in common Converse are unlawful that all vain and unnecessary ones are so you have seen already Proceed we now to the consideration of False ones or such as are applied to a Lie For that these also are unlawful the Letter of the Commandment shews and may à fortiori be concluded from our Saviour's Prohibition of the other The former of these
I shall now take for granted as having sufficiently establish'd it in the foregoing Discourse It remains therefore that I evidence the truth of the latter which will not cost me much time or pains to manifest For if we are to have an Oath in such veneration as not to use it in common Converse nor indeed where there is not a great necessity how cautious ought we to be in setting it to a Lie which this very Decalogue hath forbidden and which beside that God doth elsewhere profess to have a great abhorrence of To all which if we add that of St. Paul to Timothy 1 Tim. 1.9 10. so there will not remain any the least doubt I do not say of the unlawfulness but of the great enormity of setting the Oath of God unto a Lie because not onely affirming the Law to have been made for perjur'd Persons but reckoning them among Parricides and other such Monsters in Nature as their Crime together with those of their Associates among the things that are contrary to sound doctrine Now though this might suffice at least amongst reasonable Men to evince the unlawfulness of setting the Oath of God unto a Lie yet because as was but now intimated it is a Crime of a very high nature and yet by many Men as little scrupled as vain and unnecessary ones I think it not amiss a little to explain the Nature of it and the fatal Consequences wherewith it is attended I have before shewn and shall therefore now take it for granted that an Oath is a Religious Affirmation wherein God is invok'd as a Witness and by consequence also as a Revenger if we be found to falsifie in it From whence it will follow That whosoever swears falsly calls God to witness to a Lie Now that no Man can do without believing God to have no regard at all to Humane Affairs or that he is false and a Patron of those that are so neither the one nor the other of which can be entertain'd into our thoughts without the highest Impiety in the World Not the former because not onely denying an Article of our Faith but striking at the Root of all Religion He that cometh unto God as the Author to the Hebrews * 11.6 instructs us being not onely to believe that he is but that he is a rewarder of such as diligently seek him which implies a more than ordinary Regard But let us suppose him that swears falsely to believe God to have a regard to Humane Affairs though I am sure he that doth so will in the end give us no thanks for the Supposition yet can it not be deny'd but that he must believe God to be such as himself even a Liar and a Patron of those that are so For will any Man call those to witness to a Lie of whom he hath not a strong presumption that they are false themselves Nay will he be so unmindful of his own Interest or rather take so much pains to ruine it For if the Party whom he invites to give Testimony be no false or deceitful Person he will undoubtedly give Testimony rather against than for him and discover his falshood to the World Now forasmuch as it cannot be suppos'd any Man will be so far an Enemy to himself as to seek a Testimony which shall onely make against him he who thus calls God to witness must be presum'd to believe that God will witness for him and consequently because a Lie is that he is call'd to witness to that God is false and a Patron of those that are so But what Impiety can be greater than such a Belief or more dishonourable to the Divine Majesty who hath every where represented himself as True and Faithful who hath in several places affirm'd Lying to be one of those things to which his Power though Almighty cannot reach lastly whose Veracity is the stay of all those that trust in him of all that come unto Christ by him For let God's Veracity be destroy'd and all Trust in him must perish with it and he be accounted as vain a Confidence as any which himself decries From the Affront which false swearing offers to the Divine Majesty pass we to the Consequences thereof and the harm it doth to Humane Society which will appear if we reflect upon the several sorts of Oaths which are either Assertory or Promissory For Assertory Oaths such I mean as are brought to witness the Truth of any thing that is past or present the Author to the Hebrews tells us and we may learn it from our own Experience that they are an end of strifes between Parties at variance this being that by which all Controversies are voided and without which it is impossible they should ever be For as it is not to be presum'd they who judge between Man and Man should have cognisance of their respective Interests but from the report of others so the bare Affirmations of Men are generally too fallacious to ground a sound Decision on there being nothing more usual even for those who make some conscience of speaking Truth than to stretch it beyond its bounds to serve the Necessity or Interest of their Friends Either therefore Differences must never have an end which Religion as well as the Interest of the World forbids or they must be ended by that which the Scripture hath represented as the proper way to terminate and which all the World hath made use of to compose them Now forasmuch as the Welfare of Mankind depends upon the Composure of Differences as that again upon the Religion of an Oath he must needs be a great Enemy to Humane Society who shall subvert this surest Prop of it and call God to witness to a Lie For what were this but to bring a scandal upon those so necessary means of deciding Controversies and consequently to leave Men either to differ without hopes of accord or what was sometime in use in our Forefathers days to decide their Differences by the Sword Which as it is in it self a very unequal Umpire of Differences so serves onely to create greater and precipitate Men into that confusion which they sought to avoid by it The like is to be said of Promissory Oaths such I mean as are brought to assure Men that they who make them will perform what they promise For let these once be vitiated and disgrac'd and there can be no assurance to any Man of any thing that is yet to come For if an Oath will not hold a Man much less will a bare promise because that contains a Promise in it and beside that an Appeal to the Judge of Heaven and Earth If it be said as it may That the Laws and the Punishments annex'd may make them perform their Oaths whom the Religion of an Oath cannot I answer first That there were such Oaths made must be confirm'd by another to those to whom the execution of the Laws is committed If therefore Oaths do once become