A SERMON Preached at a VISITATION Held at Lin in Norfolk, June the 24th Anno 1633  
Being an Admonition to the Clergy to remember and keep those several Oaths, Promises, and Subscriptions, which they solemnly have made at the taking of their Degrees, their Ordinations, and Institutions to their Benefices.  
By WILLIAM STRODE D. D.  
LONDON, Printed by W. Wilson for Samuel Brown, living in Well-yard in Little St. bartholomew's, near the lame-hospital. 1660.   

A VISITATION SERMON, Preached at Lin in Norfolk, June 24. Anno 1633  Psal. 76. vers. 11. Promise to the Lord, and keep it, all ye that be round about him. 
FOR my present Argument, of Promise and Oath; What Place more fit than This, where some private Innovators have lately conspired against our sworn form of Religion? And what Time more seasonable, than the time of this Meeting, called to give an account of sundry public Promises, ecclesiastic and sacerdotal, freely made by deliberate choice, confirmed by Oath and Subscription? And what Persons more apposite Hearers than yourselves, especially bound to make and to perform them, by your high Office, your near attendance on the Lord your God? Place, Time, and Persons so well agreeing, harken to the charge of my Text: You emphatically, whom it so closely concerns, you of all men. Promise to the Lord, and keep it, all ye that be round about him.  
The Parts are three: 1. A counsel commended, Promise. 2. An Obligation thereof begotten, Keep it. 3. The Parties betwixt whom it passes, You, and the Lord. Which may be reduced to three Propositions.  

1. Holy Promises are laudably made.  
2. Being once made, they must be necessarily kept.  
3. Especially kept between such Parties. The Bond is straightened because assigned to the Lord, assigned by them that be round about him.   
First, Holy Promises are laudably made: else Baptism itself is blameable, whose covenant binds us to forsake the World, the Flesh, and the devil. I need not over-urge this truth, if only I forbear the name of a Vow, which carries an odious sound of some Jewish or Popish relic. As in manners, we may safely equivocate, but not lie; falsely accuse, but not slander; take away, not rob nor steal: So in Religion, promise we may, so we do not vow; protest, not swear. Nay, Religion is grown so verbal, that many Earnest Points, consisting in mere words, have quite thrust out all consideration of much pious matter. Because we will not hear of Justification but only by Faith (for Faith is the radical virtue) we abhor the concomitant works of Charity as mortal sins, scarce to be named, never committed amongst us. Because Confirmation hath been ranked amongst Sacraments, (for, as Baptism is our birth in Christ, so Confirmation is our growth, and fits us for man's estate in the Eucharist;) it is now scarce thought a godly Ordinance. Because Confession hath sometimes given a name to the Rood, (for Confession is the reading of faults) away with the Apostle's Precept, we may not confess our sins one to another. Because Pennance, thereafter enjoined, hath been held another Sacrament, (for it is a holy and cleansing Discipline) it is now scarce allowed for an honest chastisement. Because the Liturgy and Communion hath sometimes been called mass, (for there is Christus missus) the only service of God i● now to hear him serve us: we come to as little of Prayers, as without danger of losing Sermon precisely we can, and seldom Receive without compulsion. Because the Table hath sometimes been called the Altar, (though Christ and St. Paul have called it so too, that's all one) yet, for the word's sake, 'tis humbled to a lower place, to another posture, to filth and rottenness, till it be scarce known for a Table. Because the Minister hath been called Priest, (for Christ is our highpriest) therefore he is now throughly beministred, made our Minister, not God's, and must pipe what we bid him. Because some Churches have harboured Superstition, (though Superstition be ill reformed with sacrilege; selling of Doves, with plucking down of Walls) yet the word Superstition being given, they, and many a Parish Church besides, at once fell to ground, and the word Congregation is built in their steed. Ju●● so, because some Vows were made superstitiously to the blessed Virgin, in hope of Mediation; or presumptuously to Christ, with opinion of Merit; therefore all Vows must be rejected, all censured unlawful in themselves. Brethren, you may remember, that the covetous fury of Church-Reformation, like that which was wrought on Benjamin, did almost proceed to the ruin of a Tribe, the rooting out of the Clergy: that as Israel was driven to repair the loss, by granting them wives of rapine; so this Land, by admitting ignorant Priests, snatched from their Shops and Trades. How taught they their Hearers in public? but as their Hearers taught them in private. And what Doctrine could prove the spoil of the Church lawful, but the unlawfulness of Vows? And what could totally discountenance the thing, but reprobation of the near common Name, including Superstition together with Devotion. Words are deputed for Things; and change of words made the business of Reformation to seem more numerous and weighty, as indeed it ought to seem. For as the Church had great need to be reformed, so the Spoilers had much more need to reform her, and their heirs have still the same need. Wherefore if you dedicate yourselves or any thing else unto God, remove it further from the special name, and favour it with a style more general; call it a Promise, no Vow; no Vow, I beseech you.  
If I spoke to unlettered people, I would forbear; but before you that can well discern substance from shadow, I dare present the truth naked. The Greek and Latin Translations are, {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, Vovete, Vow unto the Lord. The Acts which I shall inculcate are properly Vows; and therefore I plainly pronounce, That Vows are also laudable.  
In strict Language, Vows are holy Promises of a more special kind. We may sometimes promise a matter necessary, as Jacob his tithe, Naaman his sole Worship of God; such an Act is barely a Promise. And sometimes a matter Voluntary, as David his provision for a Temple, Hanna her son for a Priest; such an Act is both a Promise and a Vow. As he that denies all promises, condemns Baptism; so he that denies all vows, condemns all ecclesiastical Offices, and chiefly the Order of Priesthood: which Order is ever freely taken; but when it is taken, draws with it these inseparable vows, Attendance over the Flock, many rare Virtues, practic Obedience to the form of Liturgy, to the Book of Articles, to ecclesiastical Canons, to the Injunctions of the Diocesan.  
Examine, Compare a true Vow and the office of Priesthood: Is the one, by its nature, a voluntary Promise made unto God? so is the other. Are these the Conditions of the one, Deliberation of mind, Purpose of will, Pronunciation of mouth? the same are Ingredients in the other. No man is surprised ignorantly, or forced unwillingly, or admitted silently: not without Age and trial, not without humble suit, not without solemn protestation made to several proposals, irrevocably uttered, and openly testified before God, whom we fear; before men, whom we reverence; his own Ears pressing to his Conscience what his Mouth hath spoken. And what's the matter of a Vow? Some over passing good, placed within our Power. Why good? not indifferent, lest, instead of a Promise, we seem to offer a threat. Why overpassing? lest for a singular present, we offer a new Bond of an old vulgar debt. Why within our Power? lest we offer the Sacrifice of fools, which vanishes with their breath. Such it must be, some Excellent piece of Virtue, without God's precept, but within His counsel; without the common path, but within some private reach; not binding our necessary and absolute duty by an epidemical Command, but inclining our free respective Devotion, through personal grounds. Is not the business of Priesthood the very same? Good, no doubt, for it is God's Ordinance; and evidently surmounting man's common duty, else all the Sheep are bound to be shepherds, yet surely manageable by some particular Abilities, raised by the Spirit of God, and singled out by his attractive Motion: for some must needs bear the heat of the Day; and, whether ye be the men or no, whether inwardly called, is the Bishop's question, when he outwardly ordains. Lastly, what's the end of a Vow, or what of Priesthood? the same of both. For whether we dedicate our Goods, our Bodies, our Souls, or our Service, still we aim at a nearer Union of the Creatures with God, whereby the Glory of the one is exalted, the happiness of the other increased. And now, what think you? you have seen a severe search, you find a perfect agreement in their Nature, Conditions, Matter, End.  
I may seem to decoy your favourable Opinion, towards vows by this engagement of your Office; but I hope to excite a reciprocal zeal towards your Office, by the Commendation of vows. There are two Grounds, whereon all possible vows are safely built. The one is Baptism, in which a general promise to forsake the World, the Flesh, and the devil; all Negative vows of Mortification, and Abstinence, are super-induced on this Foundation, and raised by particular Motives of the Person vowing, able at a farther distance to chase away these deceivers. The second Ground is that general Precept, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy Heart; all positive vows of free Devotion, or alms, spring from this Root. Where God hath placed an Extraordinary gift, serviceable for eminent Acts and Offices, he loves not his Lord with all his heart, who refuses to take a burden answerable to his shoulders.  
When St. Paul commends Virginity, he doth not commend it to all, he doth not impose it on any: True; yet whatsoever is not necessary for all, is not therefore unlawful for some; but rather laudable, for such as can and will. Betwixt Must and must not, there is May and may not: As a contingent may be truly affirmed or denied; so it may be honestly done, or not done, as Occasion or Circumstance shall sway the Subject; be the matter Virginity, or any other unusual Abstinence, or work of Excellence. So it stands: God could have multiplied his Law into so many particular branches, as might have expressly determined all variety of persons to their several duties; but, out of his great bounty, he hath left us an occasion to be bountiful towards Him; he hath not in plain terms challenged all our just debt, that we by a Voluntary Offer might more ingratiate ourselves into his Favour; he hath left his Rule under a seeming imperfection, that we might appear before him the more perfect, and receive the reward of diligent servants, apt to understand his silent intimation, and doing things reducible to his Command, though not commanded. Under the Law, where he exercised the place of a Judge, the vow which he would not directly enjoin, he plainly supposed, and punctually prescribed set forms unto it: Under the gospel where he personates a Gracious Father, he leaves it more to the Love of his Children. Though the form be now antiquated with the ceremonial Law, the moral substance doth yet remain: instead of a sacrifice, we may vow our goods; instead of a carcase, we may offer ourselves, a reasonable and living sacrifice, with willingness, and cleanness of heart, out-passing all former Ceremony. And we find in the 18 of the Acts, that St. Paul, an exemplary Minister of the gospel, yoked himself under a vow; though what it was, I leave to Conjecture.  
Sorry I am, that any Extraordinary virtue is as odious here, as Extraordinary Vice; as dangerous now as in the days of Aristides, and must forthwith be banished the Land. To man, we may be as good as we list, not to God by any means; we must be sure to keep him ever short in our service, for him we cannot serve sufficiently; we must beware of Liberality to Him, for He gives us all things. O the logic of a corrupted Christian! should we not so much the rather stretch our weakness to make up in Will what is wanting in Power, and at least, strain our Poverty to a show of thankfulness?  
Many ways a Man may vow to man; his Goods by Reversion, his Body by Wedlock, his Service by Indenture, and there is good Law for this: Is there no gospel to secure a Conveyance to God, to encourage the spiritual wedlock of vowed Chastity, to countenance the vow of our Ministry, and show that God is a Master fit to be dealt with? We may all vow one to another, no man excepted; and behold, God himself hath freely vowed himself to us all. He sent his only begotten Son to pay the vows which he often made to Abraham, and to his Seed, and to all Nations; shall only a reciprocal relation of man to God, be totally defective in all? When his turn comes, shall we pretend an utter disability of performing any promise? Let not a Neighbour hear us, none then will take our words for a Groat.  
Why are we only there tenacious, where it is greatest gain to be liberal? A promise past to thy Neighbour, tends to his good: When God receives a Promise, he is gracious to thee, not needy in himself; Qui non crescit ex redditis, sed in se crescere facit redditores, (saith St. Austin, Ep. 45.) who cannot grow by thy Addition, but will make thee grow by Diminution, adding and bettering thy Payments into thine own bosom; as he makes thy grass to flourish, by the vapour sent up to himward, and thence distilled back again. Thus he answers thee, not only at the time of Payment, but at the time of Promise. As Solomon was the richer for finishing the Temple, so was David the abler for promising: Wilt thou build a house for me (saith God)? behold, I have built thee a house for ever. A willing heart is blessed with a large hand; but coldness of will is also punished with shrinking of Power.  
May we not do liberally (will some reply) without promise? Not so well. A good Act engrafted into one or more virtues of higher strain, is much ennobled: moral Excellence, by respect to God, is turned to Religion; by Promise, to Devotion: 'tis now become both Obedience and Sacrifice. Fair Buildings, after Dedication, are much more reverend; so, much more holy are our Souls and Bodies, when they are vowed the Temples of the Holy Ghost.  
There is no such Discipline to train up a Christian in the way of Perfection, as that of Confession, (which is now also disused) and this other of Vowing; whereof the one makes us ashamed of doing amiss, the other prevents it, and further emboldens us to do good: That serves to mortify sin, and This not only so, but to quicken virtue: for the tying up the Soul from wonted looseness to some retired purpose, or holy work, both cuts off many occasions, many objects of sin, and sets the Votary to his course and task without interruption. 'Tis a great conquest which it brings unto us, of mastering ourselves: for hereby our hearts are fixed, our wi●ls confirmed, which adds as much perfection to virtue, as Obstinacy adds evil to Vice. 'Tis a gladsome hearing, when righteousness in her turn is drawn with cart-ropes; when the Treasure of Heaven is kept safe under many locks; good Intentions seconded with Vowing. But that which most commend it, is the near and absolute subjection of the Soul to God, wholly surrendered up unto his service, for he that subjects himself by promise unto him, yields up both his actions, and also the power of working; and (as Anselm compares it) he bequeathes the Fruit together with the Tree also; Fruit, leaves, branches, body, root, and All: a Condition, This, most like to that in Heaven, the very next step to true blessedness, which chiefly consists in a perfect union with God most blessed. So that the difference is but this, A Vow betrothes, and Heaven weds.  
Pardon me this commendation of Vows, because they are usually wronged by discommendation; and the cold frost of men's hearts is over-bound with chiller wind of dissuasion.  
But do I now entice you to Will-worship, to a human fancy, such as the Adoration of Angels? God forbid: if it be such, 'tis repugnant to God's will. But that which I preach, though not by him commanded, is by him commended; no Precept to all his Servants, and yet a counsel to certain friends; counsel that will make us men, not only according to his Word, but according to his Heart. Men like the Apostles, who left all to be followers of Christ. Again do I toll you on into needless danger, the danger of breaking an unmasterable Vow. That which thou canst not master, do not promise: for (as St. Austin instructs thee) Si non vovisses minor esses, non pejor: less thou Mayst be without Vowing, not worse; but less howsoever. Wouldst thou be great, and never expose thyself to hazardous difficulty? Danger is ever the Porter to greatness. He that considers the wind shall not sow, and he that fears rain shall not reap, Ecclus. 11. No proceeding in the way of Man, or of Christian, without peril. And for what should we ever venture, if not for a mass of Glory? Know also, that the danger lies not in the nature of a Vow, but in the weakness of the Vower: So excuse thine own weakness, that thou do not slander the strength of others Excellence; though thou want Power thyself, be not guilty of wanting Will by condemning others: if Power be present, be also an Actor, lest by resolving to stand unbound where thou mayst, thou stand more rigorously bound where thou must; and in no less danger of non-performance: For he that factiously denies to go farther than he needs must, shows, that he would not go so far; whereby he remains a debtor even of that which he pays, because he pays unwillingly. Whether thou vow, or vow not, God exacts nothing but true endeavour, which is more wanting to the wilful Refuser, than to the unwilling Breaker. Do I seek to abridge your liberty? No, rather to enlarge it. Are the Angels in Prison because they are confined to goodness? then is God the closest prisoner. No, no; the nearer our service to God, the more perfect our freedom. To range after the creature is to be turned loose to Slavery; to be tied up unto God, is to be bound to Liberty. In the one is all sadness, as in losing our way through a wilderness; in the other all content, as in passing a pleasant walk. Non te vovisse poeniteat, imo jam gaude jam tibi non licere quod cum tuo detrimento licuisset, (saith St. Austin;) He that hath bound himself to God by a Vow hath no more cause to be sad, than she that hath wedded herself to a man, whom deservedly she best loves.  
Why then, how differ I from the Romanists? Take heed of that; there is more care of differing from Them, than to stand right in ourselves. Thus: I do not think that Vows for their own part are Meritorious, but in Us Serviceable, to God Acceptable, such as may rather find than earn a Reward; for though they surpass the general Precept, they do not exceed our personal Talents, and those we ought to employ with all our might. If any Might do lie in promising, we ought to engage our Hands with our Tongues, our Actions with Words. Besides, no extraordinary service in this or that point can quit our scores with God, or suffice to cross out those other Items of our manifold offences. Though some of God's servants be more willing, all come short; and should any come home, they would yet be unprofitable; to Him unprofitable, though not to Themselves. Now since there is no Preaching without Opposing, let me Oppose for the other part too, and so brandish on both sides. The Superstition of Papists is cried down with a worse crime of others, the Subterstition of antipapists. Vows are Meritorious, say they; Damnable, cry these; and thou shalt neither add nor detract, saith God: Add they so much as these detract? an unpleasing Circumstance add they; but these destroy the whole Substance. Nay, the Accuser is many times the worser Thief, more guilty of the selfsame crime; so is the unsatiable Reformer. The humble Votaries he accuses of superstition, even his own superstition is also greater; greater is this of not-vowing, than that of vowing, and produer thereof is he. They stood on points of deep-dejected Service, he on points of arrogant Adoption; they on much painful Praying, he on much easy Hearing: The retired monks he accuses of idleness, his idleness is far more scandalous; For they, though many, performed their frequent Orisons together, and fed their Neighbours; he on the same revenue contracted to one grasp, curses God, and grinds the face of the poor. The blindly devoted Pilgrims he accuses of Idolatry, his own Idolatry is far grosser: for they gave worship to blessed Saints, he to every creature, every Picture and Fancy which the Idolatry of covetousness hath set up in his heart. Rome he accuses for her swarm of Priests, and sundry kinds of Locusts; himself by taking away all distinction of holy Orders and Vows, would make far more, all in a like manner, one unholy Priesthood.  
And thus to make all men Priests, is to unmake those that are. But you, my fellow-servants, stand up for your Calling, and rejoice in the vow of your Profession, whereby ye are separate from the world to Christ; a Vow superlative, not only sanctifying your own Persons, but giving you in charge all the Vows of the People sanctified under you. Other mens' Vows admit them nearer into God's household, yours into his Closet. And next under you are the Church-Guardians, preferred on their holy Promises to be Stewards and Officers of God's House; you his Eyes, and they his Hands; you his Tongue, and they his two rows of Teeth; you to direct, and they to execute. All that are drawn and luged to these places, do not remember, that it was the ambition of the best King to be God's doorkeeper. My heart is on those who offer themselves willingly. When God cried out, Who is on my side? out stepped Levi, a whole Tribe at once; And God had no better reward for their good service, than to make them his Houshold-Chaplains and Servants.  
Now as none can be admitted into a Prince's Attendance without an Oath, so neither into an Office under the King of Heaven. The height of their Royalty requires the best assurance of our Loyalty. Duty is not so firm as Promise, nor Promise as an Oath; wherefore all sacred Contracts with God are tied with this knot: Baptism, Confirmation, Marriage, Consecration, are all celebrated in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the holy Ghost, a Clause equivalent with an Oath: But Ordination more expressly and solemnly, with a Head submitted to Imprecation, with a Mouth kissing and swearing, with a Hand subscribing, and a knee bowing. For Swearing, I could call a Jury of Examples, but let one stand for all: If God himself confirmed his Promise with an Oath when he made his Son a Priest, Shall thy word be taken before his? or wilt thou, that makest a scruple of all swearing, appear more holy than God? No. Thou shalt swear, The Lord liveth, in Truth, in judgement, in Righteousness, Jer. 4. 13. No doubt of the Oath, but be sure of the Adjuncts; of Truth, that thou know the matter fully, and deliver it unfeignedly; of judgement, that thou consider it deliberately with thyself, and deliver it judicially before the Magistrate; of righteousness, that thou weigh both the Possibility and Honesty. Wherefore thus Promise, Vow, Swear to the Lord; and when thy hands are so tied to the Plow, that thou canst not let them go, do not look back with thine eyes, as wishing to be loose; let these Bonds be thy Triumph.  
The Promissory Oath, leads me aside to the Assertory; and 'tis but a little aside. For, as the one obliges to a profession of future Offices, so the other to a confession of past Offences: the one freely taken by ourselves, the other judicially exacted, ex Officio Judicis, by the Officious inquiry of the ecclesiastical Judge. Some Innovators would fain purge the Consistory of this purging Oath: but how unworthily, you may easily see by the Matter, the Proceeding, the End. For in what Matter is this Oath administered? in such as may overtempt weak flesh to Perjury? The matter is indeed criminal, but not capital: Some, perchance for the present Life of the Body, may hazard the Life of the Soul; few (I hope) for inferior Motives: A little mere shame is an evil, not comparable to the double guilt of sin and perjury. For these are ever to be loaded with fear or punishment, the other quickly sets you free and vanishes: especially, being such as it is, a shame that maketh not to be ashamed; the Pillory may be objected, penance cannot, 'tis like a Cure without any sensible Scar. Think rightly of Deponents, and (as the Law doth) humanly and religiously, than is the clamorous doubt of Perjury sufficiently prevented. But how proceeds this Oath? Violently, as 'tis objected? with entrenching on God's hidden Prerogative, with forcing of Nature, with wresting of judicial Order? Nothing less: here's no tyrannical search of hearts, no breach into God's Peculiar secrets utterly concealed; but only a nearer inquiry into scandalous and infectious deeds, partly broken out all ready, and further suspected: nor is it true, that the Defendant is unnaturally forced to stand a party against himself; nor true, that the Judge is irregularly become a party against the Defendant: The Adversary which troubles all, and yet seems loath to be found, is the traitor Sin, a loud Inmate, whose foul clamour betrays the Entertainer. Though sin hide its Head, yet the footsteps, the Sent, and Cry is commonly left behind; Effects are the footsteps, Probabilities the Sent, Report the Cry: All which supply the place of open Accusers, and hunt out the Malefactors; they hunt them out, as Adam's flight pursued him at his back, as Cain's face accused him to his face, as sodom's cry called for a storm on their heads. Any of these tokens may startle a vigilant overseer, as well as an express Information, any hint may suffice to stir a Question, though not to clear the Decision. Wherefore, if sin lie cunningly concealed, Justice must be wisely Inquisitive: so long as the Thorn sticks in the sides of the Church, partly discerned, and partly hid; that which appears, must cause a search of that which appears not: whether it be the Matter, as Achan's theft; Person, as the unknown murderer; Circumstance, as the place in Susanna's slander; no proceeding till those be drawn forth, which sometimes cannot be without swearing the D●ponent, to discover the whole and simple Truth. Some kind of sin, being ever done in darkness, and in no other Court punishable, cannot else be punished: And no way more honourable for the party, then to be tried by his own word: And nothing more worthy of the judge's favour, than the party's own confession.  
Then what's the end? crooked, as it is noised? that the Deponent may become a prey? No, that Truth may be gained. What? that by speaking Truth he may accuse himself? No, that either he may quit his Innocence, or confess his guilt; which Confession differs from accusing, as Tenting from Wounding. And what next? to be then punished with shame and ruin? No, to be amended by a fatherly and saving correction, such as in other Churches, the humble Soul will ingenuously seek by voluntary Confession; a practice rather smothered than ever condemned, even with us (Brethren) who live so Anti-popishly undisciplined,  
What strength have now those wonted Objections, which are still repeated, as if they had never been answered; Fear of Perjury in the matter questioned, violence in the Proceeding, ensnaring of Brethren touching the End? What fear of perjury, when shame is a lesser evil than that? What violence in the Judge, when the clamour of Sin will not let him rest? What ensnaring of Brethren, when their health is mainly intended? If every wholesome Ordinance, should be straightway rejected for the accidental evil, which some particulars from thence may gather, stop your Ears at the Word, fly the Sacrament; in the one ye may suck the savour of Death, in the other ye may eat your own Damnation. Yet, as none but a Judas will abhor the bread, lest a devil should enter into him; so none but the wicked-minded, such a one as may pass, pro Confesso & Convicto, will mutter against this Oath, lest it should turn to his poison. He that spites the Gallows, though it be the engine of Death, is, or would be, a Malefactor; but this Ordinance is a provision for Life, whose direct and proper consequents are, the opening of Truth, the rooting out of Exemplary sin, the Reformation and Peace of sinners: and, besides the good intended to the party sworn, it works also many public Ends, not dear even with the loss of some particular persons, scandal removed, Justice maintained, the Church Edified, God glorified.  
This policy of the Church, being never Thundered down by any plain prohibition of Scripture, is strongly buttressed up by its general precept of Obedience: as in the first of Saint Pet. ch. 2. v. 13. Submit yourselves to every Ordinance of man, even of man, for the Lord's sake; The Magistrate when he crosses not the supreme Master, doth ever bear his Person. Submit yourselves to Him, therefore, as to God, even with your souls; Let every soul be subject to higher Powers, for there is no Power but of God, Rom. 13. 1. Though an Oath be vinculum Animae, Num. 30. a chain laid on the Soul; yet ought it no more to be refused, than a chain laid on the Body, in like case of a suspected crime. The gospel being sent to all Nations, governed by different laws, hath prescribed no set form, but only Obedience to that, which is anywhere established. By which implied Warrant, each particular Church is authorised to constitute her national Orders; but in this Order, all church's consent, (a great sign that it is very natural:) and further, if God's peculiar Policy may bear any sway with your Imitation, know that in his judicial Ordinances over Jewry, himself did immediately, and expressly enjoin this form: and in matters, both capital and less criminal, in case of Theft, Exod. 22. 11. When goods entrusted miscarry, an Oath of the Lord shall be between them, that he hath not put his hands to his Neighbour's goods: in case of Adultery, Num. 5. 19 If the spirit of jealousy come upon a Man, the Priest shall charge the Woman with an Oath; in case of Murder, Deut. 21. v. 6. When a man is slain, all the Elders of the City, that is next unto the slain man, shall wash their hands over the heifer that is beheaded in the Valley; And they shall testify and say, Our hands have not shed this Blood, neither have our eyes seen it; Be merciful, O Lord. If in the weightiest Matters, surreption of Goods, desilement of Body, spoil of Life, an Oath might be exacted; and from persons, happily unblameable, an honest Man, a civil Woman, a whole City; and on slight grounds, power of the House or Field, jealousy of an ill Husband, Vicinity of place, and all to satisfy particular losses; why, not then an Oath with us, in less matters, from scandalous persons, on greater suspicions, for public good?  
Would you see the practice of this precept, how God's rule hath been followed by the example of Men? this form hath been anciently obeyed, when the Oath was dangerous to the Person sworn; So did Achan answer to Joshuah, Michaiah to Ahab, Jeremy to Zedekiah, all Israel to Esdras: so did Peter to the Jewish council, Stephen to the high Priest, Paul to the Captain: so did one Neighbour to another, as from Solomon's supposition you may gather, 2 Chro. 6. 22. Yea, so should every one confess his theft, only upon general Cursing, without a particular Inquiry, Pro. 29. v. 24. Much more his fault, being questioned, and on the public behalf, and before the Judge, and on his Oath. Before the Magistrate, who sustains God's Person, a mere Interrogatory is little less constringent than the Oath added; for as the perjured man, calls God a witness to a Lie, so the false answerer lies to God's face: so that from some persons, an answer may be, and is well taken without it; nevertheless, God in his wisdom hath abundantly provided against the dull inconsiderance of the vulgar people, by prescribing to the Jews, and everywhere by permitting an Oath. Good reason for it you ●ave seen, you have seen God's Law, and the Interpreter thereof, the Saints Practice; and how far, or in what cases, Obedience thereto hath been commanded and yielded: for proof whereof, I have turned my Bible in the Church; do not you at Home turn yours for Objections, lest unhappily the devil interpret; to some he hath done't already, as appears by their cunning malice against the Church in this particular. For though the same Oath be practised in temporal Courts, in the Chancery, Exchequer, Common-Pleas, and be there put to the Defendant, witness, or Jury; though the Body elsewhere be sometimes racked to draw out confession, they do not gainsay: only they grudge against this Rack of the Soul in the Examination of the Church; that which only troubles them, is the Power of the Church. All Courts of Judicature partake the same reason, the same ground of their power, for All derive it from Christ. Yet because the Church is less armed with external might to redress her wrongs, they first assay the weaker Fort, that when they find the same flaw in a stronger, their malignity may grow more confident, and successively batter down all Authority.  
But you, my Brethren, who have sworn to obey your Ordinary in all things lawful, have made this Assertory Oath a part of your Promissory; you have taken an Oath that you will take this Oath, which you cannot refuse nor disgrace without breaking the other. Concerning this and other Injunctions, since you have past a promise to God, it must be your necessary Care, and my next Argument, that you keep it. Promise to the Lord, and keep it.  
This is the Second main Proposition, Holy Promises once made must be necessarily kept. When thou abstainest from vowing, it shall be no sin unto thee, Deut. 23. 22. The not-doing may or may not be sin, according as the case stands; howsoever, the not-Vowing shall not be sin, for where no Law hath commanded the form of Obligation, there the omission can be no transgression. Less righteous thou mightst have been, not more sinful; but having once undertaken to shine, thou must continue a Star, or go out a Snuff; after thou hast once betrothed thy Liberty to God, a strong Necessity is laid upon thee; that which is gone out of thy lips, God will surely require at thy hand, not now as thine own, but as truly his; for Promise gives over to another the praepossession of Right, in earnest of future performance. And therefore, as to violate a betrothed Virgin is reckoned for Adultery, Deut. 25. 24. so the breach of holy Promise is no less than sacrilege.  
For prevention whereof, God, who hath given no Law that thou shouldest Promise, hath given a Law that thou shouldst Perform; and he hath very cautiously prescribed the manner. Be it done Entirely, Willingly, and Diligently. Entirely, Levit. 22. v. 23. A bullock or a sheep that hath a member superfluous or lacking, thou Mayst present for a Free-offering; but for a Vow it shall not be accepted. A free gift is not examined; but in payment of debt due upon Bond, the Seals are called for. The performance of that holy Office which thou hast vowed, as it may not be extravagant by adding new-fangled conceits of thine own; so it must not be one grain too light, by subtracting the least circumstance, not by omitting a Ring in Marriage, a cross in Baptism, a Knee in the Eucharist; not by leaving out or changing one Collect in the form of Liturgy. 'Tis not with Thee, as with those foreigners with whom thou tradest in Ware and Religion; those Alexanders, those Copper-smiths, who in every Port-Town may do us much harm, and by way of the Church may also mine a passage into the State: They are free, but thou hast sworn; thy performance is Monstrous, if not Entire. And Willing it must be too; thou shalt keep as thou hast-vowed it, Willingly unto the Lord, Deut. 23. 23. Thou that at once usest and confutest the Church Ceremonies, with froward signs, and unseemly tokens; with a screwed face, and a warped shoulder: dost thou think that thou hast performed thy Vow? No, not the Law. Thy Faith to God? No, not thy Obedience to Man. But, God requires more yet; Diligence in Performance; When thou vowest a vow to the Lord, thou shalt not be slack to pay it, Deut. 23. 21. He that searches not beforehand the rubric and Rules of the Church, to know his duty; he that afterward conforms in judgement only, not in Practice; or in Practice not yet, or not at all times, not without Omission and Intermission, not without Complaining and Citing, not without Suspension, Deprivation, Excommunication; doubtless he would not at all. Should thy covenant-servant thus serve thee, with wilful ignorance, neglect, and contempt; deliver thy cup without reverence, with Cain's face, and scarce so, but slowly and by fits; How wouldst thou serve him? and yet perchance thou hast need of his Attendance. God requires observance, not for his own, but for your want; He hath not need to receive, but you to pay; nor is he so exacting of his own dues, as careful for your discharge.  
Which that you may obtain, by making true payment in manner answerable, give me leave to join my Advice. First, Make trial of matters more easy, and those for a certain Time; that by habitual Discipline, you may prepare and harden yourselves for Vows more difficult: This is to reckon the cost before you build, and to make provision before you war. As it argues Diffidence to venture nothing on Grace and humble Endeavour; so to attempt the highest reach of Perfection at first leap, and to bind over yourselves wholly before you have gotten experienced masterdom in any part, this is a rash Undertaking. The way to keep a Vow, is to Vow that which we well hope to keep.  
But, O the perjured condition of many an hasty Prophet, and outwardly demure Saint! who without any preparative consideration, having solemnly plighted his Faith, having done it with Mouth, Hand, and Knee, twice or thrice in academical Degrees, twice in Ordinations, and as oft in his Institutions as he can, doth presently go forth with resolution to break it; charges his wit to invent fallacy against his Duty, and to Preach against that Vow which enables him to Preach. Can there be any Atheism more hideously contemptuous! Hand and Seal given to man, will tie us to our Word, or to the jail; only God can have no fair dealing, no sufficient redress. In point of holy Promise, (God be merciful to us) we have lost all conscience, the conscience that is, runs clean contrary to our promise, whereby if we stand bound, we think ourselves bound to break it; the faster tied, the looser we play; and that which was Duty before it was vowed, is by vowing esteemed unlawful. If God make a Promise to Us, though it be but conditional, we claim it as Absolute; no disobedience of ours can set Him free, we allow not his Majesty so much Mutability, as on our change to be constant to Justice: But when ourselves have dedicated a Promise to him, whether by our governors, or also in our own persons, be it never so full and absolute, any or no condition shall suffice to cancel it; and we that deny ourselves the liberty of Vowing, will take an unmeasured liberty of Disannulling, or perchance feign a Necessity of Undoing what indeed we would not do. And to cure this evil, what remedy? For since all the Land hath out off God's inviolable Tenure, formerly confirmed by the whole Land; since all are involved in one common sacrilege, What man with effectual courage can do him right? or with what face control a Vow-breaker? Injusta vincula rumpat Justitia, ('tis, I confess, St. Austin's rule.) Bad Promises are well broken, for such are threatenings rather than Promises, and threatenings are recalled without Injury; whereas to second bad words with like performance, is double wrong. The misapplying of this Rule, when men are bent to transpose the name of Good and evil, is exceeding mischievous; for under this pretext, some have recanted or neglected their own duty, and some have nullified the piety of others. False Brethren that crept into the Church, by swearing Obedience, have basely betrayed her to her enemies for a piece of bread, absurdly supposing, that any Rites, in themselves indifferent, may as easily be made Antichristian by censure of private Rebellion, as they were made necessary by sworn Covenant under public Authority. Some disesteeming the Churchwardens Oath, as a mere formal Engine to get Fees, esteem it their Office not to discharge their Office at all, lest they be counted meddlers and busybodies; from whence ungodly Neglect grows into custom, and Sin prescribes against Duty. Here Churches drop down unspied, there Souls hang desperately ruinous; and all for want of 6d Reparation, or 12d Presentation in due season. Other ungracious children blasting the works of Charity with the name of Superstition, and colouring their rude sacrilege with the name of Zeal, make it their gainful godliness to raze out the yet-unrazed godliness of their Predecessors. The old Romans shall judge these novel Christians; they, after ten years' omission, paid the Vows of Camillus with their own jewels; these, after long possession of Consecration, would wring from God all the Vows of their Fathers into their own hands, and again rake over the poor gleanings which the Robbers have left. But let not sacrilege in the People hire the Priest to Disobedience and Treachery; let not a few crumbs bribe you from barking against the Thief, and guarding the House of the Lord; to which Care you especially are bound, by my third and last Proposition, directed to Those that be round about him.  
Promises made to God by them which be round about him, are in respect of the Parties most constringent: And first, because they are made to God. If a promise, past to our Neighbour, aught to be kept, though it be to our loss; much more to God, when it also tends to our good. Will not his goodness hold thee firm? let his Fear chain thee. That Name which begets Awe and Trust in Human Contracts, is much more awful in Religious Vows. There he is called only for a witness, here he is also a Party: thou swearest now both By Him, and To Him. Did men seriously consider to whom they stand engaged, they would be more heedful of their Observance. 'Tis the King to whom thou swearest Loyalty, though a Justice take thy Oath; 'tis God to whom thou makest thy Vow, though the Bishop receive it. His Receiver thou Mayst sometimes delude, Him thou canst not. Words and Thoughts are to him more legible, than Actions to us, for God is Light; whosoever seeks to rob Him doth less lie hid, than a Thief in a Candle.  
Again, as the Majesty of your Lord God obliges you, to more awful Reverence; so in respect of yourselves, doth the near dependence of your Office, to a greater fidelity. Persuasions and Arguments may be needfully urged to laymen; nothing to ecclesiastical Officers but promise: Others are only bound by order of their predecessors, you by personal dedication; they to naked Assent, you to Action; they by Obedience, you by voluntary and deliberate Oath. Say not before the Angel, (or thy Bishop) saith Ecclesiastes, that thy promise was out of Ignorance: Thou a seer, before thy eyes were open? thou blind, and presume to be a guide? thou a Messenger of Truth, and yet perjured? thou perjured, and yet so nearly tied to fidelity! Want of breeding, Ignorance, Blind zeal, Company, Profit, less Obligation may in some part excuse a layman; 'tis impossible for an unconformed Minister, to be tolerably dishonest. Nothing so much aggravates the Defection of Solomon, as his two Antecedent Visions and Dialogues with God: how frequent yours have been, you well know; how many public Vowings, so many Dialogues with the Most High. Through such nearness of Relation, we behold Treachery as through a multiplying glass, far greater than otherwise it would appear; and we do not only apprehend, but find it so indeed. To poison a King is not murder, but Treason; but for a Wife or Servant to do it, is double Treason: And breach of Vow to God, is not Treason, but sacrilege; in a Priest sacro-Sacrilegium, the most execrable kind of sacrilege, doubled by the condition of the Person: Which being considered, nothing can be more injurious to God, more dangerous to Himself, more exemplary and pernicious to Others.  
First, a Kissing Judas, a Thievish Treasurer, a Familiar devil, what more injurious to God? for besides, the unkind requital of much Infidelity, for much Love and Trust; the treacherous defailance brings with it a scandalous Repute on God's service, who will not be thought a good Master, so long as his nearest Servants Revolt from their Station. As in Heaven, there is most Joy for a Converted sinner, who comes from far; so there is most grief for a perverted Servant, who goes off so near.  
But secondly, The evil falls the heavier on himself; the more Immediate he was before, the less Mediation to reunite him: If the Man and Wife be two, who shall intercede? perchance some friend, as dear as a Wife, else none. But if God and the Priest be two, who shall there Officiate an Atonement? The fall of an angel, makes him devil; no space for him betwixt Heaven and Hell. The sin of a common Priest, cost as much Sacrifice as the sin of the whole people; but the sin of Eli, the High Priest was not to be purged away by any Sacrifice whatsoever. The nearer to God you are by Office, so much the farther off by neglect. What can wash Water, or season Salt, or sanctify the Priest! if these have lost their Purity, Savour, and holiness, what can do on them their Office? We may write up the forlorn Sentence of the Plague, Domine miserere, Lord have Mercy upon them! no physician but the God offended.  
Lastly, because the Priest is an angel, he seldom falls without a Train; the height of his dependence, enlarges the contagious Power of deriving his disorder: Well might his sin be rated equivalent to that of the whole people, for the defection which to day is His, to morrow will be Theirs: If he renounce the vows of a Priest, why not they the vows of Christians? Prone they are of themselves, to that form of Religion, which is most easy and less chargeable: if he by neglect of Duty and Ceremony, by encouragement of unyoaked Liberty, shall push forward this Inclination, great must the fall of the Church be. For churchwardens, the next Pillars, being men chosen out of the People, they also will alternately slacken their Office, and prove as careless of the material Temple, as the Priest of the spiritual. O what shall become of the Congregation, when their Guides come in or go out, the worst of men? what shall become of the Church, when Officers are chosen to look to its decay? An Officer more neglectful of Order, than the Common Laity, is much like his chancel; that Thetcht while the Body of the Church is Leaded: or like his Table; that foul and moth-eaten, while the pews are fair and garnished: or like his surplice; that course and ragged, while the womens' Aprons are fine and sound: Wherefore, He and his Church, just as they proceed, so they will end, both in a like ruin. Necessity will at length cause us to be all Brownists, left without Churches, and the stream of depraved Custom, carry us into Libertinism, from thence into fanatical madness, Misery, and Death: at length, God himself will add ruin, and call for Zim and Ohim to be his Priests: for so he hath done already to many dead carcassed, and wasted Churches. Those places which our Fathers vowed to God's perpetual Service, are impropriated by a degenerate Posterity, to their own abuses: the sacred wills of devout Testators, confirmed by general Parliament, awfully fenced with solemn Execrations of the Priest, strongly tied by God's express Inhibition, Lev. 27. 28. Whatsoever is consecrated to me, shall not be taken away, are now quite frustrated: the Holy Sanctuaries are reformed, from Dens of idleness, to Dens of Rapine; from Babel's of pride, to Sties of Luxury: where once God's Altar stood, there is the Glutton's Table, perchance the Bed of the Adulterer? the Sculls of Holy Fathers are dug up, to make spaciouss Cellarage for hogsheads and Drunkards; the very Chalices which held the Blood of Christ, are reformed into Bowls; and 'tis hoped, that by demolishing the Walls, all hand-writing like that against Belshazzar, is sufficiently prevented. But whence all this, the sound whereof makes both the ears of them that hear to Tingle? even from the defection of Priests, careless of their vows, short of their pretended holiness. No great evil hath ever befallen the Church, but by this way: by Persecution it ever prospered, and only decayed by the Treachery of her Officers. Israel fell to Idolatry, but who made the Calf? Aaron. The Ark was taken and profaned, but through whose fault? the Sons of Ely. Israel forsook the Divine Worship at Jerusalem, and built them high Places, but who served thereon? jereboams' Priests: How fell the Temple at Jerusalem so often, why so many of ours at once, and why are the rest yet-standing in so much danger? through the Default, the Corruption, the Tergiversation, and perjury of Priests, and Officers.  
And in this particular Place I cannot imagine, that simple Women (zealously, though blindly, affected) would so quickly reiterate their Rebellious Conventicles, contrary to Oath and Subscription, if some traitorous Guide did not secretly underbear and encourage them with pestilent Instructions. But know this, you of the Laity, that whensoever ye harken to such depravers of Form and Discipline, critically bent for Innovation, sacred pretenders of a most tender Conscience, and yet unsensible of solemn Oaths; you choose for your Leaders perjured Hirelings, wicked Vow-breakers; and what can you expect of the Building but ruin, when the first stone of the Foundation is Perjury? In all this I speak the Truth, I lie not: So help me God, through Jesus Christ our Lord; To Whom, &c. AMEN.  
Delivered at Lin, at a Visitation, June the 24. 1633  
FINIS.