will not pardon thy old ones not passe by thy former transgressions Secondly compare thy great unthankfulness with thy Makers bounty and goodness this may beget in thee a detestation or loathing of thy former sins and lewdnesse whereby thou didst reject Gods commands who if thou servest Him will save thee and obeyedst the Devils suggestions who will for thy service everlastingly torment thee When thou hast attain'd to this the first and best ingredient of Repentance a Detestation of thy former impieties as Cursing Swearing Lying and the like then draw near to the Throne of Grace meekly upon thy bended knees with teares in thine eyes and sorrow in thy heart saying with blind Bartimaeus in the Gospel Mark 10.48 Jesu thou Son of David have mercy on me forgive me all my sins past whereby thy holy name has been dishonour'd thy word ill spoken of and my Neighbour injur'd When thou hast thus made thy approach to God with hearty sorrow for thy sins doubt not but that he will draw near to thee with mercy and forgiveness Jam. 4.8 doubt not of a pardon since Truth itself has made the promise Ezek. 18.27 28. Ezek. 18. When the wicked turneth away from his wickednesse c. Because he considereth and turneth away from all his wickednesse which he hath committed he shall surely live he shall not dye he meanes the death of the Soul which is an eternal separation of it from God the fountain of joy and happiness which in the Word are implyed under the name of life He shall surely live he shall not dye a sweet and gracious promise distrust not Gods performance of it if thou truly repentest Daturus est non fallet quia veritas promisit ask and thou shalt receive Aug. for he that is most true will perform what he has promised because he will not he cannot deceive nor be deceived And thus relying upon his gracious promise of hearing and granting our devout Prayers and Petitions our humble requests for his pardoning and purifying grace in the third place beg earnestly of him the assistance of the same grace which is likewise preventing and strengthning to keep thy tongue from all profanenesse cry with holy David Psal 141 3. Set a watch O Lord before my mouth and keep the door of my lips From which humble request of the Prophet we may collect this that as our lips in that they open and shut are the Souls gate through which our inward thoughts break forth apparel'd in the dresse of outward words so as a gate is for the most part shut our lips should never open but to the glory of God and our Neighbours good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naz. This by the way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is a learned Rabbies glosse on the Text. Now if you demand what kind of watch it is which David desires God to set before his lips the acute Eusebius Emissenus shall answer this Quaere Euseb Homil cont diversa vitia p. 138. and clear this doubt Si cordi statueris adhibere custodiam ori non laborâris imponere disciplinam i.e. set a watch to guard thy heart and there will be no need to fence thy mouth Illud siquidem voce depromitur quod prius in officinâ cordis formatur The heart is as it were the Master of the Mint which first sets a stamp upon thy words which are current if they bear Gods image if they carry in their sound the note or mark of Piety and goodness if otherwise i.e. if they be profane and impious they are not allowed of by God being condemned in the holy Scriptures The Tongue is the Hearts servant Mat. 12.36 37. which like that Centurion saies to the Tongue by a kind of command Speak this and it speaks it Run in the Praises of God and it runneth Swear and it sweareth Say nothing and it is silent The Tongue is but as the hammer in the Clock which strikes not of it self but keeps time and moves according to the motion of the wheels within The VI. Gen. part The method which is to be used in the Cure To cure then the unbridled motion of the Tongue begin with the Heart the which if it be as Davids was fixed upon God Psal 108.1 the tongue will cease to lash out into Cursing and Swearing but will as it followes there in the same verse sing and give praise to God for his manifold mercies and blessings which we have received By the heart as hath been explain'd is to be understood the whole Soul which is fixed and setled upon God when it seriously considers his Almighty wonder-working Power and Greatness who created out of nothing this great Universe consisting of Heaven and Earth by his powerful word and sustaines all things in being by his providence This Meditation is an act of the Intellect and may beget in us an awfull fear of his Majesty which ought to be feared The will is fixed upon God when considering and weighing his many and great benefits we devote our selves wholy to his service submitting our wills to him in all things loving him without wavering praise him without ceasing for his mercy goodness And lastly the Affections are fixed upon God when they wander not through loose desires of fading earthly vanities but are chiefly taken up and possessed with an holy delight in God and his Saints on Earth and fed with a firme hope of enjoying Gods presence of seeing Him one day face to face in his Celestial Paradise This Hope is not a barren grace but begets in a man a religious Care not to offend God and to abstain from any the least Sin to which his Nature is most prone because it may lead him into other sins and separate him from the love of God and at last procure his everlasting banishment from those joyes which he believes are unspeakable and hopes to enjoy in the glorious presence of the blessed Trinity together with the blessed Angels and company of the elect Saints to all eternity Which most happy and joyful Fellowship rather then he would lose a good Christian if he were put to his disposall would choose to suffer all the most exquisite torments that ever have been invented by the bloody wit of Tyrants nay he would rather sustain for many thousand yeares even Hells paines Let fire and wild beasts racks and strapadoes yea and all the torments of Hell seize upon me and torment me so I may win Christ it is the triumphant saying of Ignatius the martyr recorded by Eusebius This holy martyrs brest burnt with a love of God and a desire of Heavens happinesse That love caus'd him to feare nothing but Gods displeasure which followes upon our sins by means whereof he might be deprived of everlasting joyes and debarr'd from the enjoyment of Gods most glorious presence In a word the soul that hopes to attain Heaven and desires to reign there for ever with God will
hath been broken and the sinner converted Under the old Law he that blasphemed the name of the Lord was stoned to death Levit. 24.16 The severity of forraign Christian Kings and Princes against such Blasphemers is set down in the midst of my Treatise Some were burnt in their Lips with hot Irons some order'd to be drown'd others were beheaded and punish'd with the confiscation of their goods and loss of their lives thus dealt an Earl of Flanders by name Philip with profane Swearers To all which I must adde as a most exemplary piece of Justice which I wish were observed and practised in His Majesties Royal Family that famous Decree of that good King Henry the fifth the whip of France and the scourge of Vice in whom Piety and Valour did as they do in our renowned King meet together he decreed by a Special Order relating chiefly to his Court which might I suppose have an Influence upon the whole Kingdom That every Duke for each Oath should pay forty shillings a Baron twenty Knights and Esquires ten every Yeoman three shillings and four pence ordinary Servants two pence which was accounted a great mulct in those days the younger sort of Boyes and Pages were well whipt for this offence and this Law was so well executed that all the Nation over very few were heard to swear an Oath This I intimate wishing that the same or the like strictness of Severity might meet with the looseness of this Ages Impiety and hoping that persons of worth and preeminency whose reputations in the scale of Honour weigh down the rate or weight of punishment will reform without it and scorn to have their Nobility blotted and their mouths defiled with that unprofitable cursed crying sin which is the badge of debaucht Ruffians the cognisance of accursed miscreants who are branded by the Prophet David with this black mark of being Gods enemies Ps 139.20 and the continual practice of the Devils in Hell and damned Spirits who Curse Swear and Blaspheme God in the midst of their Torments This is the sole Language of those Infernal Inhabitants the which that it may no longer rest or nest in the Tongues of prophane Rabshakehs who are the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys worst of the worst Subjects the most pernicious enemies to the State and Church for that in a manner by their sharp Tongues they clip the wings of Mercy hindering it from flying to us with blessings and quicken the pace of Iustice to proceed in a speedy execution of curses and heavy judgments upon us that their mouths may be stopped and by execution of the Statutes which is their life this common sin of Swearing receive its deaths wound that there may be no more blaspheming in our Streets nor within our private Walls that this glorious Reformation may be throughly wrought and effected in our Land I shall to these my weak endeavours in Print add the assistance and strength of my Prayers to the great God of Heaven the Lord of Lords for a continuance and multiplication of blessings upon all your publick designs and godly undertakings that from your Honoured Persons who next to His Sacred Majesty who is the Upper are the Nether Springs of Iustice Amos 5.24 Iudgment may run down as waters and righteousness as a mighty stream to the bearing down of all profaneness whereby God is dishonoured and to the advance of Piety and Religion that his holy Name may be glorified by us This is and shall be ever a part of the daily Devotions of him who is a well-wisher to the Peace and flourishing happiness of this Kingdom and Your Honours most humble and devoted Servant in Christ Jesus R. BOREMAN Dec. 9. 1661. AN ANTIDOTE AGAINST SWEARING The ground or maine Ingredients whereof are those words of our Saviour MAT. 5.34 I say unto you Swear not at all I Remember a saying of Vincentius Lyrinensis Lib. de Haeres c. 37. Nullam esse ad fallendum faciliorem viam quà m ut ubi nefari◠erroris subinducitur fraudulenti◠ibi divinorum verborum praetendatur autoritas which as it meets with many bold practises in our times so it nearly concerns my present purpose Nullam esse ad fallendum faciliorem viam c. There is no way so easie sayes he to deceive a multitude or the common people who both love and are easie to be deceived and to invite them to sin as when we endeavour by fraudulent means to sow the seed of errour in their hearts to pretend the Divine Authority of Gods word It seems the Scribes and Pharisees like many in our dayes had learned this art of spreading and maintaining their false Doctrine by corrupting the Text. For whereas God commanding us to have in due Reverence his holy Name forbad the Jews and in them us to take the same in vain Exod. 20.7 i. e. to use it idly or to no purpose without any warrant from necessity and without respect to the advance of his Glory the Scribes expounding 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in vain by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 falsly i. e. To back and confirm a lie which word we find Levit. 19.12 Thou shalt not swear by my Name falsly they hereby confounded two distinct precepts For by the latter in Leviticus is forbidden perjury which is the confirmation of a lie by an Oath by the former precept in Exodus all vain Oaths which are so when they are commonly used to confirme or ratifie the Truth in our private negotiations contracts bargainings and discourse From this false glosse of the Scribes interpreting the third Commandement as if only perjury were by it forbid and this too onely in the abuse of Gods sacred Name from this corrupt Spring issued these three perverse Doctrines which in our Saviours time were settled in the minds and hearts of the deluded Jewes First to swear by the Creature and to forswear they affirmed to be no sin Secondly they counted it no breach of the third Commandement if they used in their ordinary discourse the Name of God so long as they did what they promised and affirmed what was true With the Scribes and Pharisees in this second opinion agree both Maldonat the Jesuit on Levit. 19. and Socinus Vid. Rivet in explicatione 3. Praecepti Decalogi In hác corruptelâ eadem cum Pharisaeis sentit impurus iste Socinus c with his followers who maintain that onely perjury is forbidden by that Commandement Thirdly and lastly from this latter stream issued another as corrupt and unsound viZ. That whatsoever they had bound themselves to by an Oath in the Name of God they maintained that they were bound to do it were the thing never so unjust and bad Our blessed Saviour as it became so wise a Teacher who came from God as Nicodemus witnessed of him John 3.2 endeavoured in his first Sermon Ad Populum on the mount to root out of the peoples minds this false Doctrine of the Scribes
105. Q. 2. Art The breach of that Commandement which relates to a greater person is more hainous then the breach of that which respects a less and the greater the offence is the sharper will be the punishment Vain and idle Swearing being then a breach of that Commandement which enjoyns us a reverential and awfull esteem of the Name of God never to use it but in our prayers and thanksgivings for mercies and then too with feare and an awfull reverence as it denotes an Incomprehensible Essence terrible in his Judgements and filling Heaven and Earth with his unbounded infinite presence I say the sin of swearing being so directly against and so injurious to so great a Majesty must needs be repai'd with punishment and that in the greatest and highest degree of vexing sorrow and tormenting paine For this the land mourns Hos 4.3 For this i. e. for swearing vainly and falsly as it is expressed v. 2. This sin as it is the leader in the Prophets muster of hainous sins there so it is I am perswaded the Captain the Chief sin of the inhabitants of this Island and the chief provoking cause of Gods heavy judgements of Warre and Sedition of Plague and Pestilence of Sickness and Diseases which have been and are still within our Walls and reign among us These calamities will stick close to and lie hard upon us until by our prayers and hearty repentance we have cast out this Devil I mean the Sin of Swearing out of our tongues and the contempt of God out of our hearts and instead of it settle in them a reverentiall feare of his divine Majesty which will so bridle the unrulinesse of our licentious loose tongues that we shall seldom or never profane his holy Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. For where the fear of the Lord is Naz. Ora. 3â— there is sayes Nazianzen a dutiful observance of his will and commands and in whom this observance is that man keeps his soul clean and pure from the pollutions of sin and from the corruptions of the Flesh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So that learned Father in his 39. Oration Secondly The second Reason as the sin of swearing is most injurious to God so it is most dangerous in respect of our selves The Jews have a saying which I find in Elias the This bite Transgressio trahit transgressionem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one sin draws on another Sin is of a spreading and fruitful nature the first begets a second this a third c. God in his punitive and permissive Justice so ordering and disposing of the wayes or actions of men that because they as the Apostle speaks knowing God to be omnipotent most just and good Rom. 1.21 glorifie him not as God but magnifie and exalt themselves above God therefore by themselves shall they be debas'd upon their own heads shall they heap coales prove their own executioners in that being given over by God to reprobate minds they shall adde uncleanness to profaneness drawing Sin as it were with a Cart-rope encreasing daily in impiety Isa 5.18 and hereby aggravating their guilt and punishment Thus in David murder followed upon his Adultery 2 Sam. 11. and in his Son Solomon the excessive love of women brought forth Idolatry 1 Kings 11.3 4. his Wives turned away his heart after other Gods In like manner lying doth evermore accompany idle and rash Swearing The Prophet intimates as much Hos 4.2 where he couples these two foul and ugly Sins giving the precedency to Swearing By swearing and lying c. They met together in St. Peter Mat. 26.72 who affirmed with an oath that he knew not Christ his Master And he that accustoms his tongue to swearing will be bold with a lye a base sin which as it proceeds from a cowardly feare so it tends to cozening and fraud he that dares dishonour God will deceive his Neighbour We read of Almanzor that famous Turkish Emperour whose life is accurately penn'd by Sir W. Raleigh that as he himself was never known to make a lye Sir W. R. in his Hist of Mahomet p. 146. or speak an untruth so he term'd and accounted Lyars Disciples of the Devill the plagues of the world betrayers of the Truth Destroyers of civill and Christian conversation and the right hand of Satan No man that ever told a lye unto him escaped unpunished but received his punishment answerable to the quality or weight of his lye The least was publick disgrace but lies of an higher straine of a deeper stain which concern'd the Common-wealth he chastised with whipping cutting of tongues banishment disabling to be a witness and in some cases they were repaied with the losse of life which rigour begat terrour in wicked dispositions restrained false informations and gave a stop to unnecessary suits And when he was once sick in an Admonitorie letter to his Son he advised him that he should at no time make or bear with a lie for Lyars said he are Devills in flesh enemies to truth Subverters of Justice firebrands of Sedition Causers of Rebellion betrayâ—â—s of kingdomes and to themselves thus much harmfull and injurious that when they speak truth they are not believed nor credited If the practice of Almanzor and this Counsel to his Son were observed in our Christian Kingdome we should be more free from bloody strifes and Sedition As lying is a pernicious sin dangerous and hurtfull to the Common-wealth or State we live in so it is a base and infamous Sin The antient Germans used to say If a man loses his gold it is a great losse if his fame or good name a greater if his faith or credit the greatest of all And this loss a lyar sustains whom no man will trust though he ushers his assertions with a thousand Oaths Et saepe quo plus jurat minus fidem facit and it ofttimes so falls out that the more he sweareth the less he is believed As lying is a Sin branded with infamie among men so it is also to God most abominable and odious Prov. 12.21 Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord. And Prov. 6.17 A lying tongue is reckon'd amongst those six things which the Lord hateth and the reason of it is this Because as we commonly hate those things which are repugnant and contrary to our humour or dispositions so God hates a lie as most adverse and contrary to his revealed will as where it is said Thou shalt not bear false witnesse c. and likewise most opposite to his divine Nature which is most true God is not a man that he should lye Num. 23.19 Nay he is Truth it self and that three manner of waies First because he is most truly that which he sees himself and from everlasting knew himself to be and that is a most perfect Essence without any the least spot of errour or stain of sin wherefore he is most truly good truly omnipotent truly wise truly
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
with Swearers And Secondly * In hoc te non commaculat malus si non consentias si redarguas Aug. Partake not with them in their sins by a patient and silent forbearance when thou doest hear them profane Gods most holy and sacred Name but rebuke them friendly and lovingly with a gentle meekeness To do which is a precept of the Natural and Moral Law a general duty of Neighbour towards Neighbour and a special deed of Charity Lastly The X. Remedy To consider the heavy judgements of God on Blasphemers That this abominable and dangerous sin may fall into a final and total consumption that it may receive its deaths wound and be wholly abolished in thee Consider the fearful judgements which in all ages have fallen upon Swearers and withall the great and many mischiefs which such Blasphemers bring upon the State and Families where they live It is well observed by Hugo upon that of the Psalmist God spake once c. Hugo de Sancto Victore in Ps 62.11 That God speaks once to us in this life four manner of wayes Praecipiendo Prohibendo Promittendo Comminando by commanding by forbidding by promising by threatning And once more will he speak to us hereafter when he comes to judge the quick and the dead according to the works they have done in the flesh Every Judgement which he inflicts now upon particular sinners is a threatning warning-piece to affright and scare others from sinning And can the blaspheming Swearer who shares in thâ— sin expect not to share with others in 〈◊〉 suffering See many the like examples in Mr. Perkins his small Treatise called The Government of the tongue Two Gentlemen of Kent whom I knew and forbear to name being too much addicted to this horrid sin of Swearing were strucken with Apoplexies so that for many years they lived which was but a dying life and continued Speechless In whom we cannot but magnifie Gods Justice in depriving them of the use of their Tongues which they only employed to vent Cursings and Oaths We read of some whose Tongues being before set on fire from Hell as Saint James speaks have been enflamed with a strange fire from Heaven Jam. 8.6 their mouths being scorched with a continual burning heat which is one of Gods fiery Judgements threatned against Swearers Deut. 28.22 which Chapter he that reads and feareth not an Oath Vid. v. 58 59 60. I may conclude that his heart is hardned Some have been struck dead with an oath in their mouths others have been bereaved of their senses and run mad the former wanting time the other reason and grace to repent they are now lamenting themselves and blaspheming in everlasting torments Et lerumque justo Dei judicio moriens obliviscitur sui qui dum vixerit fuerit oblitus Dei Viexmont lib. De Poenitent And oft-times it comes to pass by the just judgement of God that those men who forget God in their lives when they come to die are punished with a stupid kind of oblivion so that they forget themselves and for want of repentance or a deep sight and sense of their transgressions perish in their sinnes If the fore-named examples and many other which might be produced will not drive thee to Piety or Holiness from thy loose prophaneness and methinks they should for whatever did befall one may befall another then let the consideration of the State or Familie wherein thou dwellest invite or move thee to forsake thy Swearing by a timely care and speedy conversion When I read of the brave Spirits that rested in the ancient Roman brests Such were the Horatii Decii Curtius c. who frequently devoted themselves to death for the good of their Country and Common-weale I cannot but with pity wonder at the uncharitable thoughts and most unworthy acts of our common profane Swearers who do what they can in effect to undo a Kingdom wherein they were born and bred and withall procure an inevitable ruine and destruction to their own particular Families and Kindred For if it be most certainly true that because of Oaths the Land mourneth Jer. 23.10 as it oft hath done by reason of those two dreadfull Judgements the Sword and Pestilence then they who are the chief cause of the Lands mourning can be no good subjects because they sin against the whole Kingdom rob this Garden of its best Flower that is Peace and bring down upon it showres of Blood May we not then truly avouch that Swearers are the worst of Traitors They commit Treason not only against the K. of Heaven in that they abuse his most sacred Name and violate his Person but also against the King and State who may truly object to Swearers what Jacob said once to his two Sons Gen. 34. â—0 Simeon and Levi Ye have troubled me you are those for whose multiplied sins the whole Island is torn with Schisms and Divisions you are the men that have chiefly incensed Gods wrath against the Magistrates of this Land who should have drawn out the sword of Justice against your sins but because they connived at them and suffered them to go unpunished Vid. Wisd 6.4 5 6. which Texts I wish that all who are in Authority would oft ponder in their thoughts therefore they themselves were severely punished some banished others imprisoned and impoverished being devested of all their means and degraded from their Authority which they abused and did not use to Gods glory If then there be in you any bowels of pity to the Church Kingdom wherein you live any true loyalty to your most gracious King if you desire as all good men do that your Families and Posteritie after you be not blasted with a curse then cleanse your hearts from hypocrisie and wash your mouths clean from the filthy pollution of his defiling and State-murdering sinne Neither wilfully nor customarily not falsly nor vainly not deceitfully nor rashly but Reverently and never but when you are forced to it by necessity use Gods holy and most reverent Name And let your tongues be evermore the instruments of sounding and setting forth Gods praises by whom you were made and from whom all the blessings and good things you enjoy are derived so may you prevent future Judgments which do but sleep for the present and may be awakened by your sins so may the Sword which is now put into the scabbard rest and be still Ier. 47.6 and be no more drench'd or bath'd in the blood of this nation so may you likewise intail a blessing to your selves and posterity after this short life partake of a better which is everlasting with God and his holy Angels for ever in glory That the former prescribed Remedies may be the better observed and for as much as a recidivation or relapse into sin as into a disease is both easie and dangerous to prevent this danger I shall now prescribe a Diet for the Tongue when by Gods
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-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
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