a~dforme of SwEAR IN o. doeJo. Againll which oath, men are two wayes faulty. 1. If at the fwea~ ring;theypurpo[e not(asValJid faith,'P[a.t i 9.1o6.I hawfivorne and am utter" lypurpojed :) Such i~ the nature of an oath. 2. If.they then purpofe, but after,a dammage btmghkely to enfue,theydifappotnt tlmr former oath,Pfo. 15-J)· Touching Which, wee fee, that when lofiui and rhel(raelites had fworneto the men of Gibeon; though that oath coil them fouregrear and faire Cities, which fhould otherWife have Come to their poffefsion; they would not breake though. As concrariwife, ZedekiM having given his oath of Allegiance to the f\.ing of 13abylon ( 2 (hron. 36. 9.) when he regarded it not, but rofe againfl him notwithflanding, G ob fenderh him word, he fhallne'l!er profPerforfodoing,E;z,ek. 17.11. And to fay truth; there is nothing more forcible to move us herein,than to ~onfidet Go o's owne practice :Who having[worne for our benefit, P [al. 11 o.4- though by many our unkindneffes and hard ufages provoked, yet (as Himfe!fe faith) ~Pill not breake HuCownant, nor alter tl1e thing tl1at i$gone out of Hu lips,P[alm.89. 35'· Which is it that keepeth us all from perifhing; even the immutable truth of Go o·s Oatb, that'Wee the rather may rake it to imi~ tation. 43 In an oath of Proofe : the charge ought to bee, that wee fpeake no~ r of Pm[<, thing but that which is true in theN11me·of the Lord, I ~eg. 22. t6. That Rom. 9·I! 'll>ee fay the tmt/1 ·and !Je not, ouf confciences bearing M 1vitnejfe in the Holy Ghoft : which if wee doe not, beingcharge~ bya Judge, weebeare otlt, oume iniquitie, LelJitiw~. 5 .t. Againfl: which oath,men are two wayes faulty : r If either they f\vea[ to that, which they know tp befalfe; as if a man ftnde, anddenie itjw~a. ringfal(ly, LelJit. 6.3. z Or, if they prefume to fweare directly, in a mat. ter, wherein themfelves aredoubtfull, or have no fure ground of. As if a man fiveare,and tl1e thing be hid from him, LelJiticm5+ The breach of thefetwo forts of oathes, in re.gard of the trutl1,is ea[.' led perjurie; and both in old time and now, we greatly complaine of it in two places: t. The one, they call lurarnentaOfftcinamm : When men in their fhopps, fo they may utter to their gaine, care not how uncruly they abufe the J:Xame of G_o o. Men, which (as the Wife man faith) reckon our life M aMarket, wherein they mull bee getting on every fide, though it be byevill meanes. Sap. 15. 12. Or, as the.dpoftle faith> 1 Tim.6. 1). That doe in practice feeme to hold, thatgaine u godlinejfe; for all th~ world, as theprophane man in the Comedie, Juramentum, rei fervand.e non perdenJ.e conditu;n 1 that Uatl1es lPere made to tl1ri1Je by. Full little knew thofe men, that whatfoever is gotten by falfe fivearing, mull by Go o's Law, both berellored in the wholeSumme, and addeanolJerplm befide : Elfe no atonement can bee made forthem, Lel>iticM6.)· And if that atonement bee not made, that G o o byHu Prophet hath denoun– ced, that their gaine {hall not projper. For He will fend the fiyingbooke into their h~ufe, a (;ur[e appropriate to thofe that bo~h fwea~e andfteale, Ddddd 4 ~ha~
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