Imprimatur Liber cui titulus A Discourse concerning Prophane Swearing and Cursing Narcissus Dublin August 2. 1697. A DISCOURSE CONCERNING Prophane SWEARING AND CURSING Wherein I. Those Vices are describ'd and reprov'd II. Both Magistrates and Private Persons are excited to their Duty in order to the Suppressing e'm by the Execution of the late Act of Parliament against e'm III. And the Objections commonly rais'd against the present practice of Private Informations are modestly consider'd DVBLIN Printed by Jo Ray at the 3 Nags Heads in Essex-street for Matthew Gunne at the Bible and Crown at Essex-Gate 1697. A DISCOURSE CONCERNING Prophane SWEARING and CURSING I Hope I need not make any long apology for a Discourse on this subject Where an Epidemical Distemper reigns no man can be blam'd for his regular endeavours either to cure the Infected Persons themselves or to stop the spreading of the fatal Contagion to others And I fear as to these Vices the Infection is too general and the Disease too deeply rooted to render any attempts unnecessary that are truly conducive to attain the proposed end And for the method insisted on in this Discourse I shall only suggest That I thought it needful first to lay open the Nature of these detestable Sins as the late Act of Parliament justly calls them Partly That if possible Men's Conviction concerning the absurdity and folly of e'm may happily prevent the occasion of penal severities which how gentle soever are never any farther desirable then they are absolutely necessary Partly To satisfy all unprejudic't persons that those concern'd in promoting the Execution of this Law are acted by no other principles then their regular Zeal for the honour of Almighty God and their sincere Charity to the Offendors themselves the generality of whom 't is to be seared are too stupid and hardned in their wretched practice to be reason'd out of it and seem only capable of this last and harshest method of Cure I shall therefore in prosecution of my present Design treat on these 3 general Heads I. I shall briefly represent the hainous Nature of those two common Vices of the Age Profane Swearing and Cursing in order to dissuade men from the practice of them II. I shall offer something to excite both Magistrates and private persons to their duty in order to the suppressing these Vices by the Execution of the Law lately made against them III I shall modestly examine what ground there is for the loud Complaints lately made against Clandestine Informations I. I shall briefly represent the hainousness of those two common Vices of the Age Profane Sweraing and Cursing in order to dissuade men from the practice of them And to prepare my way for this It will be requisite to premise some account of the nature of these Sins by stating the true notions of them And First For the Sin of Profane Swearing We shall the more clearly apprehend what it is if we first consider the nature of an Oath in general Now an Oath has been defin'd by the Masters of Heathen Morality A Religious affirmation or A calling the Deity to witness in a controverted matter And it has been defin'd by the generality of Christian Writers to the same purpose An appeal to some supernatural Power as the witness of the truth of what we affirm or promise and the avanger of our falshood and perfidiousness if we lye And indeed all do agree that such an Appeal is an Oath in the most strict and proper sense But this account of an Oath seems only to agree to those wherein we swear by some real or supposed Deity or at least some Inhabitant of the visible World that cannot be produc't as a witness here on Earth Whereas men may swear by inanimate and insensible Creatures themselves who are not capable of giving any Testimony at all to the truth of what they say Thus the Heathens were wont to swear by the Heavens or the Earth by the Sun or the Stars c. The Jews by Jerusalem the Temple or the Altar c. And therefore those who place the nature of an Oath in such an Appeal to a higher witness that is not producible in human Courts of Judicature do suppose that such expressions as by the Heavens by the Earth c. are only Oaths in an improper sense or rather the abuse of an Oath being senseless appeals to those things as the witnesses of the truth of what we speak that are not capable of giving any such Testimony But on the other hand since such expressions were accounted Oaths in the common judgment of mankind and our Saviour himself mentions them as proper Instances of Swearing See 5. Matth. 34 35 c. compared with 5. James 12. others have rather chosen as proper Instances of Swearing and therefore define an Oath to be The pawning some supposed undoubted being as a pledg of the truth of what we say with an implicit imprecation of some penalty on our selves in case we lye Thus an when men swear by God they pawn his Being perfections for the truth of what they declare and in effect wish if they lye to be dealt with as those that deny them so when they swear by the Heavens or the Earth by the Sun or Stars c. The meaning of the Oath is as sure as there is a Heaven and Earth a Sun or Stars so true is what I speak and if I lye let me be esteem'd and dealt with as if I had impudently deny'd the existence of these things So when men swear by their Faith or Conscience or hope of Salvation they do in effect pawn these for the truth of their assertions or promises and in effect wish if the lye to be treated as persons that have renounc't all pretentions to Faith to Conscience or to the Hope of Salvation So when Men swear by their Head they make that a kind of pledg of the truth of what they speak and vertually imprecate some mischief on it in case they lye So that this latter description of an Oath seems at first somewhat different from the former and more comprehensive and indeed if what is call'd swearing by Creatures be in the strict and proper sense an Oath this seems the more clear and accurate account of it But yet we may in a great measure reconcile these two descriptions of an Oath and make 'em of equal extent if we take what our Saviour suggests in reference to swearing by Creatures in its utmost latitude viz. That on the account of that relation they all some way or other bear to God there is in all swearing by Creatures tho not an express yet an implicit Invocation of God and appeal to him Thus he charges those that swore by the Heavens or the Earth as vertually and by just construction swearing by that God whose Throne the one and whose Footstool the other was Nay he supposes those that swore by their Head implicitly to swear by that God whose
workmanship it was since we our selves cou'd not make one Hair of it black or white Matth. 5.34 35 36. compar'd with Matth. 23.21 22. For he speaks this as Dr. Petit in his various Lections well observes in opposition to the Jewish Doctors who did not think swearing by Creatures to be properly Oaths nor to have any obligatory vertue For they thought no Oaths binding but those in which they swore by the name of God excepting their Oath by the Gold of the Temple and Corban See Matth. 23. And therefore our Lord on the contrary intimates to them That God himself was interessed whenever they swore by any of his Creatures For since they cou'd bear no proper testimony to the truth of their Assertions or Promises The Appeal was implicitly and by just interpretation made to him and he was concern'd to punish the false Appellant So that whoever by such Swearing pawns any of Gods Creatures for the Truth of his Words do's vertually call their Maker to be his Witness and engage him to avenge the Indignity offer'd to his own works when they are abused to countenance our lying and falshood It is not therefore of any great moment as to our practice whether of these two notions of an Oath we prefer and follow Having thus stated the general Notion of an Oath we may more easily determine what profane Swearing is There is some Swearing in it self sinful and profane and can never be lawfully used on any occasion As the swearing by a false God because such an Oath attributes the perfections of the only true God to a contemptible Idol which is a high degree of Blasphemy But on the other hand our Swearing by the true God is either lawful and good or sinful and profane according to the circumstances wherein that action is used To swear by the Blessed God is so far from being in its own nature an evil or impious action that on the contrary when used on just and necessary occasions 't is an action highly conductive to the honour of God and to the publick Good 'T is an action highly conducive to the honour of God whose glorious perfections are openly acknowledged in those solemn regular Appeals we make to him in such important cases wherein there is no other way left to confirm the truth of what we speak And in such cases the Jews were by the Law of Moses not only permitted but requir'd to swear by the Name of God Deut. 6.13 That being one Branch of the Religious Worship due to him Nay 't is an action no less conducive to the publick good It being one of the most proper and effectual means to end strifes and controversies among Men by confirming the truth of what they speak Heb. 6.13 For since in so manifold cases we must depend on human Testimonies for finding out Truth we can have no greater assurance that men speak truly then when they solemnly appeal to God as the Witness of it and their dreadful Avenger if they lye For 't is reasonably supposed that if any thing can oblige Men to a strict regard to Truth in what they deliberately affirm this awful Bond will And Charity prompts us to hope that there are but few whose Consciences are so sear'd as to have no reverence for an Oath and no dread of God's terrible Vengeance against those by Perjury abuse his sacred Name to the support of known falshood And accordingly the Holy Scriptures abound with the Examples of good men's swearing on such solemn occasions The instances in the Old Testament are numerous Nay even the New Testament contains frequent Examples of this kind even after the strict general prohibition of our Saviour Swear not at all For learned Criticks have made it evident That our Saviour himself did thus swear when adjur'd by the High Priest Matth. 26.62 63 64. compar'd with Lev. 5.1 And there is no pretence to doubt of this being several times practised by the Apostle Paul in his Epistles See 2 Cor. 11.31 1 Rom 9. 1 Gal. 20. 2 Cor. 1.23 1 Thes 5.27 And as the Quakers are the only people that pretend to deny the lawfulness of swearing by interpreting our Saviours prohibition in the strictest sense so I do not see that they are herein consistent with themselves For they do themselves frequently make solemn Appeals to God for the Truth of what they say as Barclay himself tells us They are wont on solemn occasions to say We speak the Truth in the fear of God and before him who is our Witness and the searcher of our hearts * See his Works in Fol. p. 553. He dos indeed deny this to be an Oath as he dos the forementioned Expressions of the Apostle Paul but I take his denyal to be contrary to the common sense of mankind concerning the nature an import of an Oath So that 't is rather the name of an Oath and the circumstances of Swearing used among us that they seem to boggle at then the thing it self Nor is Swearing by Creatures on such occasions unlawful in it self when the Creature is only named in subordination to God so that the Appeal it self is evidently intended and directed to him Thus we read of Moses calling the Heaven and Earth to record against the Israelites that he had set before e'm life and death Deut. 30.19 12 28. So Hannah swears to Fly As thy Soul liveth my Lord I am the Woman that stood by thee here praying to the Lord. 1 Sam. 20.3 So Abigail 1 Sam. 20.26 So Vriah 2 Sam. 11.11 So in our common Form of Swearing we use these Words So help me God and the Contents of this Book So it has been usual with good men in order to their vindication from gross publick Calumnies to call God Angles and Men to attest the Truth of what they offer in their own defence Now that Swearing by God or his Creatures which is in its self lawful when used in a solemn manner on so important occasions degenerates into sinful or profane Swearing when 't is us'd in our ordinary Converse without any such due seriousness and solemnity or any just occasion that shou'd render it neeful to attain the forementioned ends For as sacred things are said to be profan'd when they are irreverently manag'd and prostituted to any mean or vile use so is an Oath profan'd when we treat this awful act of Religious Worship with so little respect as to prostitute it to common and mean purposes in attesting our ordinary Discourse whereas it shou'd never be us'd but where there is apparent need of it to confirm some doubted Truth that must be determin'd by human Testimony And the more expressly the Name of God himself is Invocated in such Oaths the profaneness of them is more evident and uncontestable For 't is a manifest Indignity to that High and Glorious Being that his Sacred Name shou'd be thus interpos'd and rash Appeals made to him upon every frivolous occasion meerly to
and hopes his Perjury may pass undiscover'd For what shou'd in this case restrain him from it If it be the Natural Reverence of an Oath and dread of the Justice of God as concern'd to avenge all Perjury sure if these principles were prevalent strong in him they wou'd restrain him from all rash Swearing For he cannot reasonably pretend to fear an Oath that ordinarily Swears at random Nor can he pretend to be much aw'd with the apprehensions of God's avenging Justice that so frequently makes such hasty inconsiderate Appeals to it It may be fear'd that he that scruples not the lesser guilt may venture on the greater since those principles are evidently weaken'd in him that shou'd preserve him from it And doubtless 'T is very much owing to this Vice of Common Swearing that Perjury it self has so greatly abounded among us A crime that at once tends utterly to destroy all Reverence of God and Faith among men So that if we wou'd not have this Wickedness which is both the highest scandal to Religion and the most pernicious Bane to civil Societys to grow upon us That Common-Swearing must be restrain'd which has so evident a tendency to prepare men for it by turning Solemn Oaths into customary Forms of speaking For the Sin of profane Cursing the malignant Nature and tendency of it will sufficiently appear in these two Instances 1. T is a Sin that implys a high degree of Vncharitableness towards men For if Cursers really mean as they speak and what opinion must we entertain of their truth and honesty if they do not They imprecate the greatest mischiefs imaginable to their fellow creatures as commonly no less then that the Devil may take them or God may damn them Now if they are in earnest what can we take them for but Incarnate Devils that so passionately desire the eternal ruin and misery of others For if Devils cou'd speak with human voyce what language cou'd we expect from those envious Spirits more suitable to the poysonous malignity of their nature then this And what injury are any of our fellow creatures capable of doing to us that can any way justify the barbarous cruelty of such direful Imprecations Wou'd we indeed have all that cross our humour or Interest or offer us the least Indignity and affront doom'd for it to remediless Flames and to the vengeance of Eternal Fire This were not only to give way to the worst passion of human nature Revenge but to carry it beyond all bounds as if no less then the irreparable misery of an Immortal Soul cou'd compensate every petty injury we receive But if Cursers pretend that they do not mean so ill as they speak and that their real wishes are not so unmerciful as their verbal ones why then shou'd they affect to talk so like embodied Feinds Why shou'd they suffer their Tongues to be thus set on fire of Hell Why shou'd they thus habituate them to the proper dialect of the Infernal Regions And if it be so uncharitable a thing to curse others what stupid barbarity is it for a Man to curse and damn himself This is such an instance of wickedness as we can scarce think of without astonishment so that were Men supposed serious in such Imprecations we must conclude that they are passionately desirous of their own endless destruction and impatient for the execution of it So that did we not see the contrary we shou'd be strongly tempred to think such persons to be under the power of distraction and frenzy But alas we find by the use of their Reason in other matters 't is only a voluntary Frenzy a Madness that their atheistical Temper and their outragious Passions are the only causes of 2. Profane Cursing expresses a very insolent contempt of the great God I know indeed many use such Curses against others as words of course to express their passion by And therefore wou'd be ready to think we wrong e'm if we shou'd suppose their inward intentions as uncharitable as their expressions And perhaps it may be reasonably thought that few of those have arriv'd to such a height of diabolical malice who yet too commonly use this hellish language But what apology then can such persons make for their bold abuse of the vindictive justice of God when by their Curses they make such rash and senseless addresses to it to execute the dictates of their unruly passion rage As if the Vengeance of the universal Sovereign and Judg of the whole Earth were to be at our beck to accomplish every wicked Imprecation that our Anger or Malice prompts us to utter Can we imagin the Hearts of those to be possess'd with any deep veneration for that great and terrible Majesty who can find nothing else to trifle with or vent their hasty passion by but his tremendous vindictive Righteousness and his final sentence of eternal Damation For sure if we either consider'd or believ'd what these things mean we shou'd not dare to play with those edged Tools nor with that Fool mention'd Prov. 26.18 cast forth Firebrands Arrows and Death and then pretend we are but in sport or in passion This is plainly to affront that very Attribute of God which above all others claims our profoundest dread and shou'd rather strike us with Terror and Trembling And for the sin of Men's cursing themselves it argues an almost incredible contempt of the Divine Vengeance So that were not our Ears often grated with this language it cou'd scarce be thought that any cou'd arrive to such a pitch of desperate and daring Impiety For these Curses are such a bold and open defiance of the glorious Majesty of Heaven as we may well question whether Devils themselves are guilty of For they are said to believe and tremble Jam. 2.19 They are represented as beseeching our Saviour that he wou'd not torment e'm before the time Matth. 8. v. 29. Luk. 8. v. 28. Whereas the more insolent and fearless sinners of our Age do with an unheard of impudence challenge the Justice of God as if it were too slow in it's execution and call for their own damnation as if it were too long a coming What tho they pretend they do not wish it in good earnest Shou'd they give a righteous God so great provocation to take them at their word and fulfil their bold Imprecation Can they find nothing to trifle with and abuse but his tremendous Vengeance Nothing to sport with but Hell and Damnation Shou'd not such guilty Creatures rather tremble at the thoughts of the living God and dread to fall into his avenging hands Shou'd such dry stubble thus provoke or play with the Consuming Fire Hebr. 12. ult Is he the everlasting King and Judg at whose Wrath the Earth trembles and the Nations are not able to abide his Indignation and shall every despicable Criminal and Malefactor with a desperate madness thus dare his Almighty Power and challenge his Vindictive Arm thus stretch out