THE duty AND DANGER OF SWEARING: Opened in a Sermon preached at YORK February 3. 1655. the day of Swearing the Lord Maior.  
By Edward Bowles M: A. Preacher of the gospel there.  Zach. 5. 4. And I will bring forth the Curse, saith the Lord of Hosts, and it shall enter into the House of the Thief, and into the House of him that sweareth falsely by my Name: and it shall remain in the midst of his House, and shall consume it, with the Timber thereof, and the Stones thereof. 
Printed and sold in York by Tho: Broad. 1655.   

To the Honourable Stephen Watson Lord Maior, the Aldermen and the Common counsel of the ancient city of York.  
Honoured and beloved,  
IT hath pleased the Lord of the Harvest in his wise and good Providence, to allot my Work and Service (if it be worth the name of Service) to that city which God hath made not only your habitation, but also your charge; I am pleased with my lot, not only as it is from the Lord, but as it is among you: I must acknowledge (and hereby do) that I have found that affection and respect from you as becomes a Minister of Christ; and I have endeavoured to give you a testimony, that I have not sought my own profit, but the profit of many, that they might be saved, (if I may use the words of so great an Apostle concerning myself) I have been induced partly by way of acknowledgement and respect, but especially by the sense of my duty, as a Minister, to offer to your reading and consideration the substance of a Sermon lately preached among you, which I hope (through Divine blessing) may be useful to you. You who are awakened cannot but be sensible how easily, and how quickly the Word spoken slips from you. It is soon gone from us who study it, and write it, and speak it; you have less advantage to retain it, who hear it but once, unless the peculiar Promise and Blessing made to the Word Preached, do befriend you. I am jealous over you (I hope) with a godly jealousy, lest through inadvertency of mind, unsuitableness and unpreparedness of heart, earthliness of affection, seconded with Satan's depths and devices, this counsel given you concerning oaths may be forgotten. I know you have almost daily need to consider of this subject, being frequently called to actions relating thereunto, and it is now in your power daily, or at least frequently, to peruse it: If you walk in the violation of the oaths of God that are upon you, it will not be charged upon me, I have delivered my own soul, and endeavoured to deliver yours. I have but two words further to speak unto you at this present; First, that you would more frequently and diligently attend the preaching of the Word, The Power of God unto salvation. It pleaseth God out of his bounty and good will to you, to afford you besides the public Ordinances on the Lord's day, a weekly Lecture, which I apprehend to be very much neglected, and I have often heard the paucity of hearers laid as a reproach upon the city, by well disposed strangers. I pray consider yourselves and those that are sorrowful for the solewn assembly to whom the reproach of it is a burden▪ Zeph. 3. 18. You may plead our unworthiness whe● preach unto you, but that Plea I doubt will not be admitted at the great bar; there is not the meanest o● the Ministers of Christ by whose labours you migh● not profit, if the defect were not in your own hearts▪ Remember that Divine Institution and Blessing are the main advantages in hearing the Word, not the Gifts of the Speakers, or the capacity of the Hearers. God is pleased most frequently to concur with the plainest, (I had almost said the meanest) gift, in the conversion of men, that the glory might be of God, and not of men. I am sure you cannot plead want of leisure, through multitude of trading & worldly employment, I wish it were more; and truly I think there is no better way to help it, then to deal liberally with God in public Duties. First, he hath secured you that you shall be no losers, by that promise made to the Israel of God, Neither shall any man desire thy Land (that is, thou shalt sustain no damage, 
Exod 34. 24.  the Lord is thy security) when thou goest up to appear before the Lord thy God. Nay, I think you may safely apply that passage of the Lord to his people, Hagg. 2. 18. Consider the day that the foundation of the Temple was laid, consider it, from this day will I bless you. try the Lord, or rather trust the Lord. You complain of great decays, and they are visible; You Sow much, and bring in little, &c. Consider your ways; 
Hagg. 1. 6, 7.  whether you be not defective in that which concerns the House of God. The second is this, that you would study by all means to preserve peace and unity among yourselves, by delivering up unto perpetual oblivion all inveterate envies and enmities; to that end that Magistrates would equally and gently (as to Brethren) administer justice, (I mean only such a gentleness as to execute the Law with a gospel spirit) that the people would submit themselves in the fear of God, & not wear out the spirits of their Rulers by their cumbrance and strife; but turn some of their complaints into prayers, to which they are obliged by the sacred Rule 
* 1 Tim 2. 1, 2 . It is easier to blame then understand the work and weight of Magistracy and ministry, especially when they have to deal with a people that are poor & foolish, and know not the way the Lord, nor the judgement of their God, Jer. 5. 4. And lastly, it will tend much to unity, that you be very careful what Ministers are planted among you, such as give some evidence of the Spirit of God dwelling in them, whose fruits are love and peace; such as are desirous of Reformation, lest superstition, vanity and strife proceed from them who should be the greatest promoters of Knowledge Truth and Peace. I will detain you no longer, if I have erred in what I have written to you, impute it to the largeness of my affection to the city, which may possibly have entrenched upon my understanding in what I have said. 
2 Cor. 13. 11.  Finally, brethren, farewell: Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love und peace shall be with you.  
York, March, 15. 1655. Your affectionate servant in the Lord's work, Edw: Bowles.   
Matth. 5. 33, 34. Again ye have heard it hath been said by them of old time, thou shalt not for swear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths; But I say unto you, swear not at all, &c. 
I Have often had it in my thoughts to speak something concerning oaths, a subject which (Duly considered) would administer matter of humiliation and reformation to us and many more: and having this opportunity put into my hands, I shall deliver myself, taking the words of our Saviour which have been read unto you for my groundwork, which, whosoever would understand, must diligently consider the scope of the place, and the persons he had to deal with, viz. the Jews, leavened with pharisaical glosses, and corrupt traditions.  
Our Saviour was now in the exercise of his prophetical Office, and preaching the gospel of the Kingdom, and finding the Sect and opinion of the Pharisees to be most opposite and prejudicial to his intention, he sets himself in this Sermon to pull down the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, that so he might bring in the righteousness which is of God by faith; and therefore tells them plainly, that except their righteousness did exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, they should in no case enter into the Kingdom of God, Verse 20. Now because the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees was in better credit among the people then to be blasted with a bare assertion, Christ shows the vanity and defectiveness of it, in that it fell exceeding short of its pretence, which was, to fulfil the Law of Moses, which instead of fulfilling they destroyed. For as it is the common practice of erroneous persons when they cannot bring their opinions to the Scripture, they will wrest the Scripture to their opinions, as the Father speaks of some who did pertrahere Evangelium ad sententiae suae praecipitium; so the Pharisees seeing they could not raise their righteousness to the line of the Law, they brought down the Law to the level of their own righteousness; in particular, they restrained the Commamdements which in themselves are spiritual and exceeding broad (reaching the thoughts and intents of the heart, all kinds and degrees of evil) to some outward actions, which in the strength of moral principles they might forbear, whose right Heirs are the Papists, who, resolved to establish a righteousness of works, and possibility of fulfilling the Law, will by no means grant that concupiscence is sin, lest thereby their legal righteousness should be tainted.  
But to return to the Pharisees with whom Christ had to deal▪ they restrained the seventh commandment to the act of Adultery, Christ extends it to the wanderings of the eye and heart: they limited the sixt Commandment to actual murder, whereas Christ extends it to inordinate passion and ill language: so dealt they in this particular whereof we treat. They confined the third commandment to perjury, whereas Christ extends it to the prohibition of rash vain swearing by the Creatures. And so I come to the words, only I must first endeavour the determination of one Question, whether Christ in this discourse intend an abrogation of the Law, an addition to it, or only an interpretation of it? Certainly not an abrogation of the moral Law, which he professes he came not to destroy, but to fulfil, Verse 17. Some would have it to be an addition, which opinion indeed hath the countenance of some of the Fathers; but the Socinians are most earnest in this conception, upon this ground, they will not admit of the satisfaction of Christ, o● justification by his death; and for the wrong they do to his Priestly Office, they pretend to make amends in his prophetical, and say that he came to improve and raise the Precepts of the old Testament, and give a more exact Law then was given by Moses, in the observation whereof our gospel righteousness should consist. But we believe that our Lord Jesus only intended a restauration of the Law from the corrupt glosses and traditions of the Elders, with whom he deals in this discourse, not with Moses, who was faithful in the House of God: for he professes that he came not to destroy the Law, which upon the matter he had done, if he had showed it to be a short or crooked rule, but to fulfil it, or (as the word will bear) to fill it up, 
{non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}.  by true and full interpretations. Christ fulfilled the Law both practically in obeying it, and doctrinally in making up those gaps which the pharisaical glosses and traditions had made in it.  
You have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, or as some would have it, to them of old time: It may be here inquired what times and persons Christ hath reference to in this passage; some may think that he hath respect unto Moses and the people of Israel to whom he spoke things to this purpose: Lev. 19: 12, Ye shall not swear by my Name falsely, &c. But I believe that an antiquity of a much later date is meant by this expression, even of those Elders mentioned, Mat. 15. 2. whose traditions the Pharsees complained were broken by Christ's Disciples; for the word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, signifies sometimes that which is not long past, as Act. 15. 7. And here take notice that after the Law and the Prophets there rose up a generation of men who were not content with the written word, but added the supplement of traditions, which though in the esteem of the Pharisees, 
Act. 22. 3.  were ancient, yet very far short of true antiquity which was Moses and the Prophets; the counterpart of this dealing we find in the Church of Rome; who besides the verbum {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, will have a verbum {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, a traditional word which they make equal to the Scripture in authority and esteem; thus the council of Trent, Traditiones ipsas tum ad fidem tum ad mores pertinentes pari pietatis affectu ac Scripturas suscipit & veneratur Ecclesia Romana. And they will pretend much of antiquity for their practices, but it is a modern antiquity, (if I may so speak) the true antiquity of Christ and his Apostles they have no mind to deal with, not yet that of the first three hundred years after Christ, unless it be some pieces which they may justly call theirs, because they have either forged or corrupted them: although we must acknowledge, that some of their corruptions began early in the Church, of which we have an intimation, 2 Thessalonians 2. 7. 1 John 2. 18.  
What is it that was said by them of old time? Thou shalt not forswear thyself, &c. was it not well said? yes doubtless it was the truth, but not all the truth; take the words in themselves and it was well said, but take them with respect to the third commandment, which thereby they intended to interpret, it was a miss; for they contain not the sum and substance of that commandment, which reaches not only to forswearing, but to vain swearing, swearing by the Creatures, and other abuses of the name of God, then frequent among the Jews, who (provided they did not swear by the name of God) thought themselves excusable if they swore frequently in ordinary communication, and that by the Creatures; and that some of their oaths by the Creatures were not obliging, as we find Matth. 23. 16. where the Gold and the Gift were by their covetousness advanced to be more sacred than the Temple or Altar.  
But I say unto you, Swear not at all. These words seem to be a direct prohibition of all oaths, and hence the Anabaptists have concluded the unlawfulness of swearing in any case, and it hath deceived some of the Ancients: Jerome himself saith upon this place, that Evangelica veritas non recipit juramentum: But I hope we shall without much difficulty evince, that it is not the intention of the Holy Ghost to forbid swearing in all cases by this expression, but that particula omnino non ad substantiam sed ad formam referenda, as Rivet well observes: For we must know this in general, that universal terms in Scripture are sometimes to be taken with restriction, 
1 Cor. 9: 22.  as in that passage of Paul, I became all things to all men, that is, all lawful things; and so I conceive must that place Rom. ●. 18. be interpreted, By the righteousness of one (that is, Christ) the free gift came upon all men to justification of life; that is, upon all that have relation to the second Adam, as mankind had to the first, viz. to be of his Seed. So that this expression [swear not at all] may be limited, notwithstanding its seeming universality, and must be expounded by the temper of those times in which it was spoken, and those persons to whom it was spoken; for where the Scripture speaks ad hominem, as it doth much in this place, their disposition and opinion must be considered, which was to swear ordinarily in their communicaon, when bare affirmations or negations would have sufficed: and because they had not only a religious but a superstitious apprehension of the name of God, and would not use it when they might, they swore by the Creatures, and thought they were not much bound by such oaths; so that all our Saviour intends, is this, Swear not as you are wont to do, or, as you think you may do; swear not at all by the Creatures: for the general word [not at all] must be interpreted by the particulars enumerated, which if they had been omitted, or, if the name of God had been put among them, it must have been construed as a general prohibition, which now it cannot be. And whereas this not mentioning of the name of God may seem to be supplied in that of Iam. 5. 12. where to the enumeration of some particulars this general clause is added, [Neither by any other oath] it must be restrained to oaths of that kind; for it were strange that the name of God should be intended and not mentioned in either of these Scriptures, which ought especially to be vindicated from profanation. If this Question need any further clearing, I shall mention another place, where under the single expression of swearing, not all swearing, but falls, vain, and rash swearing is discountenanced, viz. Eccles. 9 2. He that sweareth, and he that feareth an Oath are opposed; where he that sweareth, signifies, a profane swearer, and he that feareth an Oath; one that reverenceth, not one that refuseth it in all cases, So that you see it is agreeable to the scope and circumstances of this place, as also to other Scriptures, that this universal clause [Swear not at all] be interpreted with restriction to the vain, unnecessary customary abuse of swearing among the Jews.  
The words thus explained, offer to our observation these two Propositions;  
Propos. I. It is not utterly unlawful to swear.  
II. It is utterly abominable to forswear.  
The later of these Propositions was never under question, the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees which reached not heaven, yet reached thus far, Thou shalt not forswear thyself. The former hath endured some dispute, and therefore I shall endeavour to confirm it by some arguments.  
1. The first taken from the consideration of the third commandment, to which swearing is generally reduced, and indeed seems to be the main intent of it; it is there said, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: thou shalt not use it nee frustra, nee falso, for the word [vain] in Scripture signifies both. But it is not said, Thou shalt not use it, or lift it up, (as the word signifies) in any case; but the forbidding of the abuse doth imply, or rather enjoin a lawful use of the name of God in swearing, which is the affirmative part of the Precept. And if the moral Law (of which this is a special part) be of general and perpetual obligation to all men in all ages, (a● without doubt it is) we yet remain not only under the liberty but in just cases under the duty of swearing.  
2. It is a part of Divine worship, not a ceremonial or mutable part, there is no shadow of a shadow or Type in it, as one well observes, and therefore not out of date in the new Testament. It is so considerable a part of worship, that all worship is sometimes expressed by it, 
Psal. 63. 12.  as at other times by calling upon the name of God. 
Ierem. 10. 25.  And the Apostle to the Hebrews, though his work be to show the diasnulling of all carnal and temporary ordinances among the Jews, is so far from putting swaying among them, that he seems to establish it as a standing Ordinance in that place, Heb. 6. 16. where it is said, That an Oa●● for confirmation is (not was) the end of all strife. And indeed it i● an action which (Duly and reverently managed) doth give a great deal of honour to God, which is the proper end of worship; it gives him the honour of his sovereignty, Omniscience Justice and Truth; it gives him the last appeal in all differenrences, which is a great Trust, and consequently a great honour; and, Inquisitio post juramentum Deo irrogat injuriam, It reflects upon God himself, when men will not rest in an Oath which was appointed for the end of strife.  
3. The ground and occasion of oaths yet remains, and the Law must remain till the foundation of it be removed. An Oath was appointed in remedium defectus, and these defects which swearing was appointed as a remedy for, yet continue such as the deceit, falsehood, incredulity of men, the ground of assertory oaths; the instability and changeableness of men, the ground of promissory oaths. There are controversies yet to be decided, and will be, and so an usefulness of oaths for the ending of them. Human Societies cannot subsist without evidences of truth, and mutual belief among men, which sometimes must be established by an Oath; and therefore Julian the Apostate taking it for grant, that the Christian Religion did forbid all oaths, insulted upon it as false and ridiculous, because it did Tollere praecipuum humanae societatis vinculum.  
Having spoken to the vindication of oaths, it is not unnecessary to add something concerning the regulation of them, & because I must not exceed the limits of a Sermon, I shall only open that known place Ier. 4. 2. Thou shalt swear the Lord liveth, in truth, in righteousness, and in judgement: where we have the form and qualifications of a lawful Oath; the form, The Lord liveth. In every Oath there ought to be an interposing of the Name of God; Deut. 6. 13. Thou shalt swear by his Name. To swear is to confess a deity, as appears by comparing those two places, Isa. 45. 23. To me shall every knee bow, and every tongue swear; with Phil. 2. 11. That every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. And because we find this expression frequent in Scripture, The Lord liveth, it deserves a little opening; to which purpose we may take notice of that passage in Hebrews, 6. 16. Men verily swear by the greater. And when the Lord sweareth, 
Deut. 32. 40.  he doth it by that in himself which is the greatest, 
Psal. 89. 35.  his Life, and his holiness, which are more than single Attributes: His Life is his fundamental excellency, and his holiness is more than an Attribute, for it is that complexion which runs thorough all his Attributes, and makes them beautiful. And this is the usual form in Scripture which Men and Angels have made use of. Revel. 10. 6. because of the peculiar accommodation of the life of God unto an Oath, for it imports that he sees and knows our appeal, that he abides ready to confirm the truth, or avenge the falsehood of him that swears. And I see not how swearing by any Creature can be exempted from Idoltary, if swearing be (as it hath been proved) a part of Worship. God complains that the Children of Israel swore by them that were no gods, Ierem. 5. 7. and to swear by Creatures, turns them into Idols, if they were not so before: to worship an Image and swear by a Creature, may be ranked together. And though some would excuse that expression of Joseph, [By the life of Pharaoh] and tell us that the primitive Christians did sometimes swear per salutem Imperatoris, yet the former language seems fitter for Egypt then for Canaan, and the later savours more of Courtship than Christianity. There is indeed a passage of our Saviour, Matth. 23. 21, 22. where he seems to make it all one to swear by some Creatures, as to swear by God himself; for he saith, that he that sweareth by the Temple, sweareth by him that dwelleth therein; and he that sweareth by Heaven the Throne of God, sweareth by him that sitteth thereon: but the scope of our Saviour must be attended, who reproves the vain conceit of the Pharisees, who thought God was not concerned in those Oaths where his Name was not expressly mentioned; and tells them, that because those Oaths were reducible unto God, who accounted himself interessed in every Oath, they could not be excused from perjury in the breach of them. Pareus expresses it briefly and well, that those Oaths were formaliter vitiosa, sed finaliter obligatoria: So that our Saviour doth not countenance those forms of swearing, but discountenance their great vanity and folly in the construction of them; for an Oath taken by that which is no god, if he that swears, puts it in the room of God, it will be found to oblige. Thus much for the Form of an Oath, from which howsoever it hath pleased men to vary, yet it is good to have recourse to the first and purest use of oaths, which was, to mention the Name of the Lord with lifting up the hand to Heaven; so Abraham (as fit for our pattern as any man else) Genes. 14. 22. I have lift up my hand to the Lord, the Possessor of Heaven and Earth, that I will not, &c.  
Thus much concerning the Form, the Qualifications follow, In truth, in righteousness, and in judgement. Jerome gives this brief and clear interpretation of these words, There must be veritas in re, justitia in causa, juditium in modo jucandi. First, he that swears must have a principal eye to Truth, for the end of an essertory oath is to evidence truth, and of a promissory oath to engage truth: veritas entis must be looked to in the former, veritas mentis in the latter, and no room is left for equivocation, which crosses the very end of an Oath. It is certainly a most horrid impiety to call God to witness an untruth, who delights to be styled The God of truth; it is an affront we should be ashamed to offer a Person of Honour, to make him a partner in our iniquity. In brief, he that swears a falsehood, doth insinuate, that God doth either not know the truth, or not regard it; but his eyes are on the truth, Ierem. 5 2, 3. Let those that swear falsely well consider it, lest a curse enter into their houses, as the Lord threatneth, Zech. 5. 3, 4.  
2. He that sweareth must do it in righteousness, in a lawful and just matter; if the oath be promissory, the thing sworn must be lawful and good; not such an oath as David swore against Nabal and his house, 1 Sam. 25. 22. or Herod to Herodias, Matth. 14. 7. If the oath be assertory, let it be with righteous and just intentions, to the furtherance of justice and charity, and upon no other account.  
3. In judgement, that is, wisely discerning the occasion and ordering the circumstances of his oath; for instance, he that swears in judgement will not swear in a trivial or slight business; the Name of the Lord is great, wonderful, and holy, and not to be made use of but in solemn and serious things. An honest man will not swear in a false matter, nor a wise man in a frivolous. Oaths and Lots are of like nature in this particular, both seriously to be used, and in cases of necessity. Temere jurat qui aliter potest proximo consulere, is a sober speech, and to be regarded; If by any other means we can provide for our neighbours good and safety, it is rashness to swear on his behalf. To swear in judgement, is to do it with deliberation, and actual consideration of the importance of an oath; the Majesty, Truth, and Justice of him by whom, or unto whom we swear.  
Having thus confirmed and illustrated the Proposition, a word of application will be needful.  
First, by way of consutation to those who utterly deny the lawfulness of oaths in the times of the gospel, and that under the countenance of this Scripture which I am insisting on, together with that of the Apostle James, 
Iam. 5. 12.  already mentioned, which I hope are sufficiently vindicated from any such meaning, in the judgement of the considerate Reader: If men will run away with the sound of words, instead of the sense of them, and single out an expression of Scripture, and urge it against the evidence of several plain places, speaking the contrary, it argues an heretical disposition, more addicted to opinion than to truth. Calvin takes notice of such a temper, in his Commentary upon this place, his words are these, una cum rixandi libidine crassam inscitiam produnt Anabaptistae dum, vocem unam morose urgendo, totum sermonis tenorem clausis oculis praetereunt: The Anabaptists by occasion of this Scripture discover (together with their perverseness) gross ignorance, while they frowardly urge one word, neglecting the whole frame of the discourse. It is said our Anabaptists (if they will admit of that name, which they must rather than we to gratify them with the name of the baptised Churches, deny our own baptism) allow of oaths: It is well if it proceed from a soundness, and not from a latitude of Principles: But by denying the use of them God loses honour, and men come short (many times) of truth and justice. It is true, if men were as they ought, yea and nay might suffice instead of oaths. Omnis fidelis sermo pro juramento est, saith Jerome; but we must take men as they are, with their defects of faith, truth, and knowledge, and the remedy of those defects, which is an Oath, must still continue.  
2. But because where there is one too scrupulous, there are many too profuse in the matter of oaths, a severe reprehension belongs to those who observe no rule in swearing; such are they who swear by the Creatures, light, bread, or any thing that comes next hand, whereby a man first abuses his own reason; for what ridiculous folly is it to call inanimate Creatures to attest any thing? what madness to curse ourselves by our blessings? Secondly, he abuses the Name of God, which ought to be interposed in an oath, by substituting any other thing in his room, which there is nothing in Heaven or Earth fit to supply. And thirdly, he abuses the Creature itself, by employing it to an end dishonourable to its Creator, an use to which it never was appointed; and this may well be part of that burden under which the Creature groaneth and traveleth in pain, as the Apostle speaks Rom. 1. 22. and of that vanity of sin and trouble which it is subjected to. To swear by Creatures below ourselves, is to undervalue ourselves: For men verily swear by the greater, Hebr. 6. 16. To swear by Creatures above ourselves, (as glorified Saints and Angels) is to overvalue them, for what or who are they that they should be to us in the room of God? They also who regard not truth, judgement, and righteousness in their oaths, what reproof is sharp enough for them? To swear falsely by the Name of the God of truth, how great a provocation is it? Those that swear falsely, that is, either that which they know to be false, or that which they know not to be truly, are highly guilty of offence against the God of truth, whose eyes are upon the truth, Ierem. 5. 3. and also against human society, which is knit together by the bands of truth and justice. The Egyptians had so reverent an esteem of their Idols, which were but vanity, and a lie, that if any were found to swear falsely by them, they were adjudged worthy of death; and shall we make light of abusing the name of the living and true God? There is no person of honour and honesty but would look upon it with highest indignation to be called to attest an untruth; what shall we then think of the God of truth, will he not be very jealous for his honour, in such a case? It is sad to see and consider how often men are produced to swear contradictions, where one must needs be guilty of falsehood in swearing, unless, both parts of a contradiction can be found true, which is impossible. And that which adds to the mischief, is, that unrighteousness is bound up with untruth in the most false oaths, and so both Tables are broken at once. Sometimes men swear falsely, out of malice, and revenge, but it is a strange revenge, to destroy a man's reputation, to wound his conscience, to hazard his salvation, that he may require another. Oh what folly and madness is in the hearts of the sons of men while they live, and after they go to the dead, as the wise man complains, Eccles. 9 3. Others swear falsely out of a covetous principle, loving the wages of unrighteousness, as Balaam did; but what profit is it to win the world and lose a man's own soul, saith Christ, who knew well enough what the worth of both was, Matth. 16. 26. such a man is like to come to Judas his reckoning, who dearly earned the reward of iniquity, Act. 1. 18. Others who think it base to forswear themselves for money, will yet do it out of respect to a superior, or kindness to a friend; but for a man to pawn his soul in courtesy, is madness and not kindness, and most desperate folly for one to lay down his own conscience or comfort as a Bridge to make passage for another to his worldly advantages. But I shut up this admonition with that of the Lord by the Prophet Zechariab, 8. 17. Let nme of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour, and love no false Oath, for these things I hate, saith the Lord. Odium terminatur ad non esse. Destruction is the fruit of hatred.  
And lastly, the number of them that swear but not in judgement, is exceeding great; alas, how few are there that understand an Oath, and fewer that consider it! Those that swear in common conversation, certainly swear not in judgement, they do it so frequently, so slightly, that their understanding cannot exercise any deliberate act about it; they take so little notice of it that they will hardly be brought to acknowledge they have sworn; if they confess it they will tell you it was before they were aware, and so are found witnesses against themselves, that they swear not in judgement: but if every idle word is to be accounted for, as our Saviour tells us Matth. 12. 36. what shall we think of idle oaths, which signify nothing but a profane and vain spirit, will not they inflame the reckoning exceedingly? The sons of men (especially great and noble persons) cannot endure to have their Names tossed up and down among vain men, or used upon slight occasions: and will no the God of heaven take it in greater indignation that his Name [which is great, wonderful, holy] should be made trivial or common, by the frequent usurpations of ignorant and wicked men certainly he will not hold them guiltless that thus take hi● Name in vain: It is not the plea of custom that will excuse no● yet extenuate the sin. It is true, some places are so profane, the swearing is become the very dialect of the Town or Family where they dwell, and shall they escape by the commonness of their iniquity, no surely neither nature nor custom which is the second nature are tolerable excuses for any evil, but rather aggravations of it. Sin is not the less but rather the more to be bewailed, because of the deep root it hath in our corrupt natures. In this glass it was that David and Paul saw their sins to be above measure sinful, Psal. 51. and Rom. 7. And the like may be said of custom, alteranatura; it is so little capable of being pleaded by way of mitigation of the sin of swearing, or any other iniquity, that it renders it the more mischievous and dangerous. The Lord by the Prophet Jeremy gives an account of the state of Judah, Chap. 13. 23. Can the Aethiopian change his skin, or the Leopard his spots? then may ye also do good who are accustomed to do evil. But was this any advantage to them, that they were so accustomed to evil, that they could not leave it? No, for it follows vers. 24. Therefore will I scatter them as the stubble that passeth away by the wind of the wilderness. This is thy lot, the portion of thy measures from me, saith the Lord. Let men take heed of customary sins. If men will be wont to sin, God is wont to punish.  
Others there are more deliberate in this wickedness, and so more guilty; they think it a kind of a gallantry and gracefulness of speech to interlace it with oaths and Execrations; nay, some are become so exceeding vain and vile, that they will study new-fashioned oaths, as well as clothes, and so go down to destruction in the right mode: Concerning these persons I know not well what to say, but choose rather to stand and admire, first, the depth of wickedness and madness in the heart of man, which casteth up such mire and dirt; and than the infinite patience of the God of heaven, who is highly sensible of such affronts and provocations, and easily able to avenge himself, yet forbears to execute his just displeasure. But let them who like raging waves of the Sea thus foam out their own shame, and vent the superfluity of naughtiness that is in them, know, that though God be long suffering, yet he will not always suffer, his patience hath prefixed bounds; and though for some time there may be one event to the righteous and the sinner, to him that sweareth and him that feareth an oath, as saith the Preacher, Eccles. 9 2. yet there is a day of the revelation of the righteous judgement of God approaching, and then will the Lord put an everlasting difference betwixt the righteous and the wicked; betwixt him that serveth God, and him that serves him not, Malach. 3. ult. It may be such profane persons find not the Curse entered into their houses, according to the threatning Zach. 5. 3, 4. but it is entered into their hearts, which is of worse consequence, for by their hardness and impenitency they treasure up wrath against the day of wrath.  
And though the persons mentioned do most notoriously offend against this rule of swearing in judgement, for they have no judgement in their goings or doings, yet they are not the only offenders in this point; there are many who call others to swear, and are called lawfully thereunto; that rush upon oaths without due consideration: they consider not the weight of the matter, or the necessity of an Oath in the case. Every unnecessary Oath is a vain Oath, and litigious persons who occasion many oaths for the decision of their needless controversies, will find they have much to answer for; their sins against charity by contentions, against justice by vexations, and against the Name of God by calling men to swear about that which is hardly worthy a man's going over the threshold to prove. And though Erasmus was too strict in saying, Non est ingenui Christiani jur are pro rebus hujus seculi, pro praediis & nummis; yet the truth lies very near it, and that is, men should be very backward to swearing in such cases, and utterly averse if the difference may otherwise be determined. 
Exod. 22. 11.  An Oath is rather to be reckoned in necessariis quam in simpliciter bonis. The command to swear by the Name of God, Deuter. 6. 13. is not like that of calling upon his name, but the meaning is, If there be a just occasion of thy swearing, then let it be by the Name of God, and not by any Idol or Creature.  
Others consider not the solemnity of an Oath, the majesty and Dread of that Name which is in vocated thereby, but lightly, hastily, and irreverently use the Name of God, which is full of provocation. It is sad to see how in Courts of Justice, where Magistrates are tender enough of their own Honour and Power, the Name of God is profaned with rude and irreverent swearing: what huddling of oaths there is with very little sense or consideration of the weight and importance of them, which if administered with deliberation and solemnity, would conduce much to the Honour of God, and the right end of an Oath, which is the serious confirmation of a Truth in question. And it would be no small degree of reformation among us in civil proceedings, if the number of oaths were lessened, and those that must be taken were administered with more solemnity, as all the parts of God's Worship ought to be: Let me therefore put you my Lord Maior & the rest of the Magistrates in mind, that God hath entrusted you with a very great Treasure, which is The glorious and fearful name of the Lord your God, which he is very tender of, and expects you should be so also, and express your regard thereto, by punishing unlawful oaths, preventing unnecessary oaths, and duly regulating those which are lawful and necessary, in order to truth and peace. The day is hastening upon us when we shall have no other refuge but the Name of the Lord, which is a strong Power to the righteous, Proverbs 18. 10. and how sad will it be to find such a repulse as this, What have you to do take my Name in your mouths, which you have profaned and suffered to be profaned, for want of executing the Power and Trust committed to you by God and men? Is not every man's particular burden heavy enough for him to bear? Let us not then neither Magistrates nor Ministers (for we are most concerned) make ourselves partakers of other men's sins, by not discharging our duty to them. This shall suffice o have spoken of 〈…〉 wherein I have had more special respect to ass 〈…〉 I come now to the second, which will more directly c 〈…〉 oaths promissory, such as you have taken this day.  
Propos. II. It is utterly abominable to forswear, or not to perform our oaths unto the Lord. The righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees which came short of the Law, and short of Heaven (as I have already said) yet reach●d thus far, that oaths were to be performed; if Scripture were silent, the Law of Nature and Nations would speak plain and loud in this point, there being hardly any sin upon which they have set a fouler mark than that of perjury; I suppose because of the peculiar mischief and malignity that it carries with it to human Societies, which are preserved by truth and fidelity. Apud omnes populos & ab omni aevo circa pollicitationes et contractus maxima semper vis fui● jures jurandi. 
Grot. de jure belli & pacis.  I think it utterly superfluous to produce any thing by way of proof in so clear a point as this is, I only give this argument from the less to the greater, if it be generally looked upon as unworthy to break a man's word or promise (as indeed it is, for it renders a man inconstant, if not unfaithful) much more unworthy is it to recede from a promise strengthened and seconded with an Oath. It is worth the consideration that of Paul. 2 Cor. 1. 17. Where you find him exceeding solicitor to preserve his reputation from the stain of lightness; When therefore was thus minded did I use lightness? or the things that purpose do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should b● yea, yea, and nay, nay? But as God is true, our word toward you wa● not yea, and nay: And so it becomes every one that nameth the name of Christ, the faithful and true witness, to have a tende● respect to credit and conscience in the matter of oaths and promises which is one special branch of that blessed exercise o●keeping a good conscience void of offence toward God and toward men.  
To this may be added the consideration of the strictness o● God in this particular, how severe hath he been in reprehensions and punishments for the violation of promissory oaths, though some excuse might have been pleaded for the breach of them▪ When Saul broke the Oath made by Joshua and the Princes o● the Congregation to the Gibeonites, Joshua 9 15. he might have said it was made by his Predecessors, but not by himself; it was a surprise, a Covenant obtained by indirect and fallacious means, it seemed to clash with the injunction of God for destroying the Nations; & lastly, that he did it not out of revenge or self-interest, but in zeal to the people of God, the Children of Israel: but notwithstanding all these Pleas, the Lord took himself so much concerned in the breach, that he looked upon the House of Saul as a bloody House for this cause, and took a sharp recompense for his transgression, 2 Sam. 21. 1, 2, &c. Another instance may be that of the King and Princes of Judah, who being overcome by the King of Babylon, entered into an Oath and a Covenant with him, which afterward they violated, by sending ambassadors to Egypt for Auxiliaries, that they might get their neck from under the Yoke. Forth is also something might be pleaded, as That it was a forced Oath, drawn from them in extremity, that it was contrary to the promises made to Israel, that it should be high above all Nations, contrary to the honour and interest of the Church of God to be under the oppression of strangers: should Israel be a servant, a home-born slave, and not deliver himself at his first advantage? But notwithstanding all this the Lord tells them, that though the oath was made to the King of Babylon that was his enemy as well as theirs, yet it was the Lord's Oath: Theref●re thus saith the Lord, as I live surely mine Oath that he hath despised, and my Covenant that he hath broken, even it will I recompense upon his own head, and I will spread my Net upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare; seeing no Bands of men's making will hold him fast, I will make a snare for him in which he shall be surely held.  
But because notwithstanding the strictness of the obligation of promissory oaths, there will be sometimes a necessity of dispensation, some explicatory Rules must be added; as,  
1. An unlawful Oath or engagement, I mean, that which obliges to a sinful Act, a breach of any of God's commandments, must not be performed. 
juravit David temete sed non implevit jurationem majori pietate. August.  Juramentun non debet esse vinculum iniquitatis. Ames. and therefore David did much better in breaking his Oath made against Naball and his house by way of revenge, 1 Sam. 25. 22: 23. than Herod did by keeping that rash and sinful engagement made to Herodias, Matth. 14. 7, 8, 9 For though it may seem to reflect upon the obligation of an Oath, that in any case it should be remitted, yet it would be a greater dishonour to the nature of an Oath if it should be allowed to tie a man to the disobedience of God's commands, and so have influence into sin. And therefore if any be so unwarrantably engaged, they must repent of the first sin in making such an Oath, and not add a second in the keeping of it: for as we say of precepts, so we may of promises, 
Durand. lib. 2: dist. 39  Praeceptum inferioris non obligat contra potestatem superioris. Neither precepts nor promises made against the lawful power of our superior, (much less our supreme God himself) are binding. Natural light reaches thus far, 
lib. 6: Cap. 7.  for we find in Curtius that Nicomachus having rashly sworn secrecy to Dymnus, when he understood the business to be an intended murder against the King, he denied that he was obliged by a religious Bond to a wicked Act, and revealed the matter.  
2. An Oath binds not to impossibility, to swear that which is at the present impossible, is great rashness and folly; but a man sometimes finds it impossible to perform that which was possible when he engaged to it, but certainly with the possibility the obligation ceases, and it suffies that there be a willingness to perform, and a propensity to embrace an opportunity of fulfilling it when God shall render it possible and fit to be done; and here the Lord himself makes a dispensation by providence, as in the case of an unlawful Oath he doth by Precept.  
3. If the Oath be lawful and possible, though it be extremely prejudicial, and incovenient unto the person so engaged, he is not to dispense with the performance of it. This is made a character of a Citizen of Zion, that he sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not; and it sufficeth not for an excuse of the breach, to say, We did it rashly and upon mistakes, for so might Joshua and the Princes of Israel have said concerning their Oath to the Gibeonites, which was an Oath of disadvantage to Israel, as Saul thought, when in zeal to their good he broke it, and an Oath wherein they were surprised, yet they were obliged by it. And as for that dispensation which some allow in the case of prejudice to public good, although I would not wholly reject it, for a man may pass away his own right when he cannot do so with the public, yet it is to be admitted with very much caution and tenderness, because there is great danger lest it open a gap to unjust and unnecessary violations of this religious bond, and be made a cloak to private interests as frequently it is, and therefore let it be a clear and indisputable good, and judged so to be by others rather then him that is to dispense with his Oath about it. To keep an Oath with my own disadvantage is a demonstration how far I prefer the name of God, the honour of Religion unto my own concernments, and so an argument of sincerity toward God, or at least of honesty among men. Having gone as far as the limits of a Sermon will permit, I must refer to Treatises for that which is further desired concerning this subject, only I must close with a word of application.  
First, 
Application  to those who have the power of imposing promissory oaths upon others; that they would be exceeding tender, nay I will say, backward and averse unto such kind of obligations, some have thought them utterly unlawful and that our Saviour in this Text intends the prohibition of them, whom though we cannot agree to, yet we must acknowledge them to be exceeding dangerous; Assrrtory oaths are the end of all strife, but promissory oaths prove many times the beginnings and aggravations of strife, and if there ought to be so great care to avoid unnecessary oaths in case of assertion, certainly much more in case of obligation: to offend in the former is an act more transient, in the latter more permanent. Governors are ready to think it is their great security to establish themselves by oaths, Covenants, & engagements; the use of them is not absolutely denied, but the abuse and unprofitableness of them is evidently manifest; how easily men say even concerning these, Let us break their bonds in sunder, and cast away their cords from us. The policies of men have been pronounced vain in this case, and will be, so long as men purpose according to the flesh, (as Paul speaks 2 Cor. 1.) their words will be yea and nay; and especially to do it at such a time as this, a time of unsettledness and quick revolution, wherein it were too hard a task to bid a man lay hold of the Sails of a whirling Windmill, or stay the wheels of a running Chariot: the truth is, men will not be bound, much less will the Almighty by such Cords as these. Canst thou draw out Leviathan ●ith a Hook? Job 41. 1.  
The like may be said in some degree concerning the oaths taken by inferior Officers, by Tradesmen in Companies and Corporations; these oaths are too much used, and too little observed among them: I think it is possible to hold forth a more excellent way both in the former case and this latter; if ●agistrates would take fast hold of the people, and lay firm obligations upon them; it must not be by words, but actions; not ●y the people's Promises, but their own performances: ubi non 〈◊〉 sanctitas, pietas, fides, instabile regnum est, saith the Heathen Poet. ●onsciencious persons who lay to heart the things of God, ●●ould be obliged by nothing more than due liberty and order 〈◊〉 matters of Religion, which two howsoever they have been kept at distance, are not only possible but willing to be reconciled. Faith and Order are matter of rejoicing to an Apostle Col. 2. 5. And as those who are for heaven would be most engaged by such means; so they who are for the earth, by consulting their profit & their quiet, both the one and the other by public justice in which all are equally concerned. And as to the latter case, concerning the tying of Officers and others to their duties by the Bond of oaths, it is indeed in itself the most sacred and strong tye, but it is not so to the generality of men, who are more awed by Penalties then by oaths; and till the reverence of an Oath be restored to the world, that men shall regard their Consciences more than their Purses; it would be advantage to both Parties concerned in Promissory oaths, that penalties were many times imposed in the room of them.  
2. I shall add a word to those persons who are engaged in oaths promissory. First, that we should look back upon all the solemn obligations of this kind into which we have at any time entered, and seriously bewail before the Lord our great sin and folly concerning them; how rashly, slightly, implicitly and inconsiderately have we adventured upon oaths, scholars in the Universities, Tradesmen upon their admissions to freedom, Officers entering on public employments? and if we search our consciences it may be we shall find little of them remaining, but the guilt; let us humble ourselves and pray that it may be removed. And let us not think that sufficient, but account it our duty to revive them, and so far as it is lawful or possible, hold ourselves obliged to perform them, though we have been incautelously and unwisely surprised in them. Loose and libertine spirits are very forward to say, Let us break these Bonds in sunder, and cast away these Cords from us; let us look upon them as almanacs out of date; but let such take heed they reckon not without the Lord, whose account shall only stand in the day of our great account, and if that be found upon the File, which we thought had been canceled it will be a sad reckoning▪ And to invort that of the Roman senator: Si non Romiae tamen vestri miserescite. If you have no compassion of yourselves, yet pity a poor Nation that lies mourning under oaths, 
Jereniah 23. 10.  not only the rash vain oaths of profane and licentious men, but deliberate promissory oaths and Covenants so frequently and ●alsly violated. I would not extenuate any sin, much less that of swearing, but the ●ormer oaths are like man slaughter, when the latter are as murder. The Lord forgive our sin and heal our Land.  
And for the time to come let us as far as possibly we may avoid them, Falsa juratio mala est, omnis periculosa. But if there be a just and necessary occasion for a promissory Oath, as sometimes there may, let us be exceeding circumspect in the taking of it, well weighing what we do and with what intention, and being once engaged, not to study evasions but executions of trust and promise. What can I say more than the Lord hath said in his perpetual law: The Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his Name in vain. There is much said, but more intended then expressed, in these words; the Lord will deal with such a person as one who is deeply guilty of provocation.  
Give me leave to be particular and plain: You my Lord Major and Sheriffs are under the band of an Oath; That you will diligently execute the office you are called unto according to your skill, power and understanding. Hereby you are tacitly obliged to do your utmost to understand the duty of your places, and expressly bound to execute them to the utmost of your skill and power, which is a great word and hard to be performed.  
You the Aldermen, common-council, and four and twenty (as you are called) are sworn to assist the Mayor in his office, to come to council at all times, when you are sent for, unless you have a just excuse; take heed of hindering instead of assisting, take heed of absenting yourselves upon frivolous excuses, or things of less moment than that you are called unto; think not to be your own judges in the excuse, you will find another besides you, and above you, whose judgement is according to truth. Think not that if you have not taken the Oath this year, you are not obliged, a former Oath binds you as long as you continue in your Station. Give not heed to evasions, but in all doubtful things take the safer course. You also take an Oath of secrecy, in which there is a snare, be careful that you be not taken in it, but let prudence and conscience set a watch before the door of your lips.  
You that are Freemen of the city are also under this sacred Bond, for preserv●tion of the due rights and privileges of the city, and to be obedient to the just and good government of the same: Take you heed also, and be exceeding circumspect, dispense not with your obedience, where the laws of God, and the laws of the Land allow not a dispensation; think not it is left to your private determination, what is just and good government; you must take it as you find it, and do all things without murmurings and disputings, where the laws of your Superiors are not contrary to the Divine and Supreme Law. So shall you seek and procure the peace of the city, and of your own souls also.  
You are sometimes called as Jurors, and sworn to make true Inquisitions and Presentments; not to present for hatred or malice, not to forbear Presenting for favour or reward, truly to try Issues according to your evidence, not your priv●●e opinions and mistaken charity. Take the counsel given by Moses to Israel, Take head to yourselves, and keep your souls diligently. In all things that I have said unto you be circumspect. I add only this one consideration from the usual close of your oaths wherein you promise to do such and such things, so help you God; a most weighty and important expression. If the Lord help not, how sad is the condition of any of us▪ and shall we forfeit our Interest in it by breaking the oaths we enter into? and give the Lord occasion to say when we fly for help unto his Name, How can you expect help from me, remember the day when you said and swore, that as you expected help from me, you would do the things which you have not regarded. Thus have I according to my measure given in that counsel which I desire may be acceptable to you. The Lord by his blessed Spirit supply the defects of my words, and of all our hearts and ways.  
FINIS.