6. To speak nothing but what is Necessary to be spoken Profitable to be heard 7. To bridle our Passions chiefly that of Anger the cause of as many other sins so especially that of Swearing 8. To avoid Drunkenness and to be lovers of Temperance 9. To shun the Company and Society of those that are given to Swearing 10. To consider the manifold and great miseries such blasphemers bring upon the Kingdom Places and Families wherein they live 8. A Diet for the Tongue being cured consisting in these three things 1. To be slow to speak 2. To be circumspect in speaking 3. To use few words when we speak 9. The benefit that will redound to us by observing this Religious Diet which is two-fold If we respect First our bodily Estate we procure to our selves hereby reputation and peace Secondly if we respect our Souls health hereby we shall free it from the guilt of many a sin 10. The Conclusion of all comprising an exhortation to this duty of not Swearing in regard that we are Gods Saints elected His Sons adopted His Servants redeemed by the blood of his Son Christ Jesus Therefore in all and for all God is to be glorified by us which is chiefly done by Invocation and Thanksgiving the two parts of Prayer and the Christians best Sacrifice A Prayer To be used by one that is addicted to the Sin of Swearing O Eternal Omnipotent Lord God who in thy self art the fulness and perfection of Glory and Happiness who needest no Tongue to praise thee no Pen to express thee and no Work to magnifie thy Greatness before whose glorious Name that is * Vid. Psal 20.1 Rom. 10.13 thy self an infinitely Great and Glorious God Angels and Arch-Angels bow with an humble lowly dejected reverence to which thy blessed Spirits and Saints of thy Triumphant Church sing perpetual Hallelujahs Rev. 19.1 so that Heaven rings and resounds with their Hymns Praises I a poor sprig of disobedient Adam who am as vile as sin can make me and deserve what curse thy wrath can lay upon me do here presume to take thy holy Name into my defiled lips that Name which I have dishonoured in my words disparaged in my thoughts and profaned in my actions yet knowing that thou art a jealous God and a consuming fire burning with love to a poor humble sinner and believing that as thou art fearful in thy Judgments so faithful in thy promises I fly upon the wings of this Faith from mount Ebal to mount Gerizim Deut. 11.29 from the dreadful Name Jehovah which I have abused to that gracious Name of Jesus wherein thou art well pleased In that most sweet and soul-refreshing Name O God I present my supplications unto thee beseeching thee not to remember what I have said or done but what my Saviour hath suffered for me in his Agony and bitter Passion O let his bloody sweat anoint my bleeding wounds and accept of his death as a full satisfaction to thy Justice for my sins Cleanse thou my heart O God from the stain of this bosom-darling-sin whose custom begun with a wanton imitation and being continued with an habitual presumption had almost taken out of my guilty Soul a sense of it and of thy displeasure against it O my God now that I have begun to have a taste and sight of the foulness and danger of my crying sin afford me I beseech thee that measure of thy Grace which may work in my heart a fear of thy displeasure and beget in me an awful reverence of thy Name Let all my communication be ordered as in thy presence let thy Holy Spirit govern the words of my mouth and so sanctifie my thoughts with the continual meditation of thy Commandments and of those fearful plagues which thy word denounceth against Swearers that I may be ever hereafter of the number of those thy servants who sanctifie the Lord in their Hearts 1 Pet. 5.15 who love and fear thee above all things in Heaven and Earth who delight with trust and affiance in thee above all worldly stayes and comforts and praise thee evermore with joyful lips Lord I desire to praise thee O heighten these desires I resolve by thy assistance no more to blaspheme thee O strengthen this good resolution for the time to come and avert those judgments from me which thy word hath threatned and my sin my black and filthy sin hath deserved And mortifie all those unruly passions which provoke me to offend thy Goodness especially that of Anger which if immoderate and carried on with precipitate rashness benights the Soul darkens Reason and hurries a man to the acting of those things that displease thee Therefore dear God kill this Fury in me and leave only so much life in it as to be zealous for thy Glory Quicken my Soul with faith in thy promises inflame my affections with love of thee for thy mercies fill my mouth with prayers to thee and praises and crown my weak desires of praising thee with the all-sufficient power and strength of thy Grace that glorifying thy Name with my Tongue and by an holy conversation I may escape that vengeance which thy Justice threatens against my sin here and obtain that happiness which thy mercy hath promised hereafter Lord grant these my requests for the merits of thy Son Christ Jesus in whose Name and Prayer sanctified with his sacred lips I beg these mercies and whatsoever else thou knowest requisite for me and for thy Church saying Our Father c. A Prayer For the whole Kingdom MOst glorious Lord God who delightest not in the death of one single sinner nor takest pleasure in the destruction of any Creature thou great and mighty God Jer. 32.18 whose name is the Lord of Hosts who rulest over all and governest all things in Heaven and Earth look down I humbly pray thee from the Throne of thy Glory and behold this sinful Kingdom wherein we live with an eye of mercy and pity Thy goodness and bounty O Lord have displayed themselves to us in many great and undeserved National mercies by restoring to us our most gracious King and Him to His Royal Dignities and redeeming thy Church from that Disorder and Confusion by means of proud and unquiet men whicn threatned our utter ruine and vastation for so great deliverances we are obliged to make returns unto thee of a thankful obedience by reforming our sinful lives and obeying thy commands But we as if we had forgot what thou hast done for us have done nothing for thee but rather much against thee by rebelling against thy word by resisting thy holy will by abusing thy Creatures through our wanton excess by profaning thy Sabbaths and blaspheming thy most sacred Name which ought to be ever hallowed and had in an awfull reverence by us These are our National personal crying sins which like so many infectious Vapours have mounted up to Heaven and being condens'd into a thick Cloud of
that is religious works in the soule these three effects First expulsionem peccati Hugâ— Secondly executionem boni Thirdly conservationem boni propositi i. e. It drives out of the soul and keeps out sin it stirs us up to the practice of piety and Godliness and lastly it causeth us to maintain and cherish our good purposes of serving God in holinesse and righteousnesse It is therefore call'd by Parisiensis Lib. de moribus c. 2. Janitor cordis the door-keeper of the heart Ipsum Infernum pro nodosâ clavâ vibrans holding ever as it were a ragged Staff in its hand to knock down and kill the very first motions of sin in the Soul and that Club or Staff is Hell or the frequent consideration and remembrance of those everlasting torments which are prepared for the Devil and his associates who combine with him in wickednesse for profane Rabshakehs and cursing Shimeies for Whoremongers for Adulterers for Lyars and common Swearers between whom and Hells everlasting torments there is but a small partition nothing but a weak and slender thred of a * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naz. brittle frail and momentanie life the which when God shall cut with the Sword of his incens'd Justice they shall drop into Topheth that bottomless pit of Hell where the everlasting wheel of their unsufferable torments shall run continually turning about without ceasing from ten thousand years to an hundred thousand after which shall succeed so many millions as there be sands upon the Sea-shore or have fallen drops of Rain since the beginning of the World after all which ten hundred thousand thousands of years expir'd the damn'd Souls in Hell would think themselves happy if they then might have a release from their paines and torments But there is an irrevocable sentence of Almighty God and a For ever and ever annexed to that Decree which shuts out all hopes of Ease and Comfort O I could wish that men would in time often meditate on the grievousness and everlasting continuance of those torments that so they might prevent them by their seasonable and unfeigned repentance To suffer pains and torments and that too everlastingly is a thing to humane nature which delights in ease and pleasure so horrible and grievous that if there were but one among all the Sons and Daughters of Adam that should suffer this-wise in Hell it were enough to make us all quake and tremble and to say within our selves as Christs Disciples did when he told them that one of them should betray Him Is it I Is it I And let me say to thee as Nathan said to David Mat. 26.22 2 Sam. 12.7 Thou art the man thou art he that shall suffer thus to all Eternity whoever thou art that persistest in any sin without remorse of Conscience without any sense or feeling of thy sins committed against so great and terrible a God whom the glorious Angels do worship with an awful Reverence chanting out evermore this joyful and triumphant Hymn Blessing Glory Wisdom Rev. 7.12 and Thanksgiving and Honour and Power and Might be unto our God for ever and ever And that thou mayest after death have a part or communion in this Celestial Angelical Quire and not howl and cry in the Devils Chappel beneath amidst that Infernal and black Chorus of dark Fiends and Reprobates labour betimes by an holy meditation of Gods infinite Power Majesty and Greatnesse together with his great Mercy and Goodnesse to settle the Fear of Him in thy Heart and Conscience 2 King 12. 2 Chr. 24. ver 2. As Joash prospered so long as Jehoiada lived and was his Counseller in like manner so long as the Fear of God resides in thy trembling Soul thou shalt go on and prosper in the wayes of Godlinesse and be freed from the perpetration or committing of many foul enormous sins To conclude this particular love and delight in God as a most indulgent loving Father dread Him as a most just terrible Judge whose Power is irresistible and his Justice implacable against impenitent obdurate Malefactors If thy heart be thus sweetly temper'd and tun'd with Love and Fear there will be no unpleasant no jarring discord in thy Tongue but instead of profaning and blaspheming Gods most holy name it will ever be sounding forth his praises in Prayer and Thanksgiving This is the first and best remedy against Swearing A second may be collected out of the fore-cited words of St. Austine The II. Remeâ—y A firm purpose and resolution against it Legi timui sayes he luctatus sum contra consuetudinem meam in ipsâ luctatione invoâ—avi Dominum i. e. I wrastled or contended with my bad custom of Swearing and in my earnest contention and strife against it Gen. 32.24 I strove like Jacob with God in prayer I called upon the name of the Lord. Now what may we suppose to have been the matter or substance of his devout prayer but that which was the Prophet Davids Psal 116.4 O Lord I beseech thee deliver my soul from the power of sin and my imbred corruptions keep my soul O God from the guilt of presumption that I offend not wilfully with my tongue Renew my will and affections that I may hate and abhor this odious sin of swearing that I may delight wholly in what thou hast promised and love to do what thou commandest c. A man that can pray thus to God in Faith not doubting to be heard but believing that his Petitions shall be granted that man by Gods grace shall find a change in his heart the eye of his Vnderstanding shall be enlightned to apprehend fully the infinite and awfull Majesty of the Almighty his Will shall be inclined to that which is good and enflamed with a fervent desire to serve his God for whose onely service he was created Eph. 2.10 and for which he shall be most mercifully and richly rewarded This Velle this fervent desire of serving God is the Remedy which St. Chrysostom prescrib'd to his Auditors to subdue and beat down in them any Lording sin Hom. 11. in Act. Apost especially that of accustom'd Swearing There is sayes he no need of great cost for this main business there is not required much labour or great pains nor length of time If there be onely a willing mind an ardent desire to forsake this sin the work is well-nigh done Pars sanitatis est velle sanari sayes the Physician He is half cured that is willing and endeavours to be healed Erasm in Enchir. d. Magna pars Christianismi est velle fieri Christianum this is the language of the Divine He is almost a Christian or arrived to a good degree of Christianity that is willing and desirous to be inform'd in the knowledge of Gods Law which must be the Rule of our Christian profession Put on then a willing or strong resolution of forsaking thy habituated sin of Swearing so maist thou
Vengeance are ready to fall down once more and bring thy heavy judgments on us But O holy and most just God spare and deliver us from the guilt and power of our sins and in-bred corruptions Let not O let not thy Justice be magnified in our confusion but let thy Mercy be glorified in our Salvation and deliverance Remove thy judgments from us continue thy mercies to us increase thy graces in us that this whole Nation may with thankful lips and by the holiness of their reformed lives glorifie Thee our God who hast so wonderfully redeemed us from the hands of unmerciful bloudy men and rescued us out of all our wasting miseries And so rule and govern the Hearts and Tongues of all profane Swearers that they may as it becometh Christians who profess thy Name and Truth both by their words and works advance thy glory and publish thy praises These blessings O most gracious God with the preservation of our most Religious King and Queen with the rest of the Royal Family vouchsafe unto us for thy mercies sake and for the merits of our Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus Amen A Catalogue or List of Gods Judgments upon Blasphemers and others viz. Cursers and Perjured persons ALthough Gods Judgments are somtimes like the writing upon the wall Dan. 5.25 which was a Missive of his Anger upon Belshazzar and came upon an errand of Revenge which none could read and unriddle but a Prophet although they be many times wrapt up in a Cloud of obscurity and darkness in that he punisheth for ends and reasons oft unknown unto us However we must assert and say with St. Augustine Judicia Dei occulta sint sed semper justa Gods Judgments may be hid as to the reason of them to the dim eye of our narrow understanding yet they are ever grounded upon the foundation of Equity they are alwayes just Nch. 9.33 They are his forked arrows feathered with Zele of his glory and headed with his anger and love for when they are shot out of the Bow of his Justice by the hand of provoked Mercy that guides the string they are ever directed against the face of Sin either to prevent or cure it to work in us humility to make us go out of our selves and to rest in him the Centre of our felicity Mich. 6 9. Hear the rod c. They are his voice from Heaven whereby he speaks unto us in a visible word and we then understand well the meaning of it when every such like voice leads us to repentance and works in us a reformation of our lives Many men have been brought to Heaven by the gates of Hell and many have been scared from their sins when they beheld the hand of Gods incensed Justice fall heavy upon others stained with the guilt of the same impieties which Hand striking one has ever a Finger stretched forth and pointing at another This many in all Ages have beheld as it were and discern'd by the help of Gods enlightning Grace so that they have been raised to an holy life by other mens falls and gained by their losses being healed by the sight of their wounds and built up to Heaven by their ruines So powerful are Examples above Precepts These usually lightly affect the ear and by it seldom enter into the heart of the hearer the other by a more violent force and energie work upon it through the eye Judg. 4.21 and are like Jael with her hammer and nail as she by these killed Sisera in the head which they pierced so those strike sin at the very heart begetting in men an awful dread and fear of God by â—â—…om they behold others severely punished and hence conclude that as God himself is so his Justice is immutable and will not be bribed to spare them if they continue in those sins for which he hath inflicted some heavy Judgments on others That the fear of God with an amendment of their lives may be thus ingendred in mens hearts who are profane and loose in their manners I have thought it very convenient to adde to my foregoing Precepts in my Treatise more examples of Gods severe wrath against three sorts of heinous sinners viz. Perjured persons Cursers and Blasphemers 3. Examples of Judgments upon Perjur'd persons who have broken their Oaths by not keeping their promises which they have solemnly made to others 1. To omit the stories of perjured Kings in the Holy Scriptures and their heavy punishments of which I have given the Reader a short account in my Treatise I 'le begin with that famous story of Vladislaus King of Hungary who Vid. Bonâ—in Hist Hung. contrary to the Articles of Peace agreed upon and sworn to between him and Amurathes the Turk set upon the Turkish Army that was secure and misdoubted nothing upon which there grew a long and sharp Battel till Amurathes perceiving his side to decline and almost overcome pulled out of his bosom the aforesaid Articles of agreement and lifting up his eyes to Heaven uttered these words O Iesus Christ if thou beest a God as they say thou art revenge this injury which is done both to thee and me and punish those Truce-breaking Varlets who call themselves by thy name Christians He had scarce ended his speech but the Christians courage began to rebate the battel lost Vladislaus was himself slain by the Ianizaries his whole Army discomfited and all his Souldiers put to the sword A just and rigorous judgment of God for that vile Treachery and Perjury which was by that Hungarian King committed 2. We read in that noted Book called The Theatre of Gods Judgments which I wish were oft perused by wicked men next to the sacred Scriptures we find there p. 12â— a story of a lewd Fellow that hearing Pâ—â—jury condemned in a Pulpit by a learned Preacher and how it never escaped unpunished said in a bravery I have oft forsworn my self and yet my right hand is not a whit shorter then my left Which words he had scarce uttered when such an inflammation arose in that hand that he was constrained to go to the Chirurgion to cut it off lest it should infect his whole body And so his right hand became shorter then his left in recompence of his perjury of which he lightly esteemed 3. Gregorius Turonicus Bishop of Tours makes mention in his Book de gloriâ Confessorum of a wicked Villany in France among the people called Averni that forswearing himself in an unjust cause had his tongue so presently tyed by the hand of divine Justice that he could not speak a word but onely roaring make an hideous noise and so continued a long time till by the earnest prayers of devout men and after his hearty sorrow for his hainous sin the use of that unruly Member was restored to him again 3. Examples of Gods Judgements upon Cursers 1. Luther in his Colloquies reports of a young Courtier at Mansfelt whose customary asseveration or