Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]

of the innocent, or punishment of the guilty; and we must take care that we swear not in a wrong case, though it were our own, and we should reap ever so great a benefit in carrying our point. Hence

From these three necessary conditions of swearing in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness, we may observe, that an oath is an act of religious worship, worship, a part of that glory which we are to give to God; being an open acknowledgment of his justice and truth; and that he is everywhere present, and knows and sees all things, and will avenge himself upon the ungodly, particularly upon those who break this precept of his law. Wherefore it is not possible for men to lay a more sacred and solemn obligation upon their consciences, than by the religion of an oath, which is binding our souls with a bond; because he that sweareth lays the strongest obligations upon himself, and puts hist soul in pawn for the truth of what he swears to. So that this obligation of an oath can never be violated, but at the utmost peril of God's judgment and vengeance. And,

VI. This will lead us to a true sense of that dishonour done to God by the sin of PERJURY, which is a solemn calling of God to witness the truth of that which we either know to be false, or do not know to be true. Such an oath implies a curse upon ourselves; and is a crime of so high a nature, that no man can possibly be guilty of it, who has any sense at all of religion remaining upon his mind: for he who knowingly and deliberately calls God to witness a falsehood, in order to deceive or wrong his neighbour, does openly disclaim the mercies of God, and challenges the Almighty to show him no favour. Therefore

Observe, when a man asserts upon oath what he knows to be otherwise, or promises what he does not intend to. perform, his oath becomes perjury. In like manner, when a man promises upon oath to do that which is unlawful for him to do, because this oath is contrary to a former obligation, it is perjury. Again, when a man is uncertain in what he swears to be true, his oath is perjury, in the act, though not of the same degree of guilt with the former; because it is not so fully and directly against his consci

ence and knowledge. Men ought not to swear at a venture, but to be certain of the truth of what they assert upon oath: consequently, no man ought positively to swear to the truth of any thing, but what he himself hath learnt, or seen, or heard; which is the highest assurance men are capable of in this life. So also he is guilty of perjury in the same degree, who promises upon oath what he is not morally and reasonably certain he shall be able to do. Men are likewise guilty of perjury, who answer equivocally and doubtfully, or with reservation of something in their minds, thinking thereby to salve the truth of what they say; for oaths should be attended with calmness and simplicity: the use of oaths being to assure the persons to whom they are made, they must be taken in the sense of those that impose them. So there can be no greater affront to God, than to use his name to deceive our neighbour. Nor can any thing more directly overthrow the great end and use of oaths, which are for confirmation, and to put an end to strife among men; because equivocation and reservation leave the thing in debate in the same uncertainty it was before. Let not men, therefore, think by this device to save themselves harmless from the guilt of so great a sin; for they do really increase it, by adding to their iniquity the imputed folly of mocking God, and deceiving their own souls. Men are also guilty of perjury after the act, who having a real intention, when they swear, to perform what they promised, yet afterward neglect to perform their oath; not for want of power (for so long as that continues the obligation ceases) but want of will, and due regard to the oath they have sworn.

Seeing therefore that deliberate perjury is acting directly against a man's knowledge, which is one of the greatest aggravations of any crime; I must add, that it is equally a sin against both tables, the highest affront to God, and of the most injurious consequence to our neighbour: .by which the name of God is horribly abused, his judgment contemned, and his vengeance insolently held at defiance: by which also not only this or that particular person suffers wrong, but human society is injured thereby; the founda

tions of public peace and justice, and the private security of every man's life and fortune, are at once overthrown; and the best and last way that the wisdom of men could devise for the decision of doubtful matters, is hereby defeated. Where it should be observed, that, as there is no threatening added to any other commandment but to this and the second, it intimates to us, that next to idolatry and the worship of a false God, perjury is one of the greatest affronts that can be offered to our Creator; and may, without aggravation, be accounted one of those sins, that cry so loud to heaven, and quicken the pace of God's judgment upon the obstinate sinner, who will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. And also,

VII. From this we learn the great sin of that indecent as well as wicked custom of rash SWEARING in common conversation. Of which sin the first aggravation is, that they who are guilty of it are in perpetual danger of the crime of perjury: for he who uses himself to swear frequently and habitually, will never attend carefully, that what he swears be true. Nay, it is too just an observation, that they who are accustomed to this vice at all, are then apt to be most guilty of it, when they are most provoked, and most suspicious that what they affirm is not credible. To call upon God perpetually as a witness to mean and trivial matters is a manifest want of reverence, and of a just sense of God and religion.

CURSING also is another part of the profanation of the name of God; for when men in common conversation use curses and imprecations against their brethren or themselves, as the Jews did, when they answered Pilate, and said, let his [Christ's] blood be upon us and on our children, it is either with an intention and desire that mischief may befall them, which is both malicious toward men, and also irreligiously thinking light of the curse of God; or else it is without any such desire or intention, and then it is profanely supposing God to have no regard to their behaviour they should recollect that the vengeance of God will find them out, not only for the evil deeds they commit, but for the profane folly (so frequent among us) of

wishing that damnation to themselves, which they otherwise but too well deserve. They who thus add to the guilt of their sins the binding power of a curse, are doubly unpardonable; they consent to their punishment, as they before consented to their crime; and their damnation therefore is every way just. And these faults are the more inexcusable, because there cannot here be pretended, as in most other vices, any natural temptation. There is no sensual pleasure in them, because they are not found in the temper of the body: no man, I think, is born with a swearing or cursing constitution, though it may be a man shall be naturally prone to anger or lust. Besides, there is as little profit as pleasure in them; for the common and trivial use of oaths and curses makes them perfectly insignificant to their end, and is so far from giving credit to a man's word, that it rather weakens its credit: for common swearing and cursing always argue in a man a perpetual distrust of his own reputation, and is an acknowledgment that he thinks his bare word not worthy to be taken. Neither can they be said to adorn and fill a man's discourse; for it highly offends and grates upon all sober and considerate persons, who cannot be presumed with any manner of ease and patience to hear God so affronted upon every slight account. Moreover,

It is a crime for which men can plead no excuse. They who pretend to do it ignorantly, and not observing and knowing what they do, are inexcusable; because, certainly, it is no extenuation of a fault, that a man has got the habit of it so perfect, that he commits it when he does not think thereof. Neither is that any just excuse, wherewith many deceive themselves, when they swear by any other thing, and not by their Maker: for this very precaution shows, that they could as easily, if they were careful, avoid the sin wholly, as attend to a particular circumstance, in the manner of committing it. Which circumstance, nevertheless, does not at all hinder it from amounting in reality to the very same thing. For as, in common speech, that usual prayer, Heaven bless or reward a man, is evidently of the very same import, as if therein had been more expressly

mentioned God who dwelleth in heaven; so swearing by any creature does in truth amount to the same thing as swearing by the name of God whose creature it is, and who alone indeed can finally be supposed to be appealed to for the truth of the thing affirmed, and for the sincerity of the intention; a consideration which should make men oppose the beginning of this vice, lest it grow into a habit very hard to be overcome. It must be a great charity that can find out a way to reconcile a common custom of swearing with a serious belief of the christian religion.

VIII. The name of God is also profaned by careless and inconsiderate Vows: when the matter of them is either unjust, impossible, or unreasonable; or the thing avowed be unprofitable, and of no tendency to promote true religion; or the manner of making the vow be rash and irreligious. Therefore the best and only good rule in this matter is, that among christians there is no use, no benefit, no encouragement given to any such thing as making any vows at all; for why should men needlessly bring snares upon their own souls, or entangle themselves in difficulties, where there is no command? The vows mentioned in the Old Testament are all either parts of the Jewish ceremonial law, which is now wholly abolished; or else they signify only general resolutions of serving and obeying God, which can never too often or too seriously be renewed; as when Jacob vowed, that the Lord should be his God; that is, that he would always continue stedfast in the true religion. In the New Testament there is (I think) no one instance of any vow made by a christian: the vow of Aquila, and that of the four persons with whom St. Paul purified himself, being both of them vows that had been made before their conversion to christianity. Baptism indeed and the Lord's supper are solemn vows of obedience to God; but the matter of them is such as was our indispensable duty before; and such solemn renewing our holy resolutions of doing what is of absolute necessity to be done, is undoubtedly of great and perpetual use. But in other cases, vows are at best nothing but needless snares upon men; and generally they are of superstitious and unwarrantable practice. For what

« ZurückWeiter »