Commentary on the Gospels and Acts, Commentary 1 · Chapter 5 · Verse 37
Verse 37. But let your communication be, Yea, Yea, Nay, Nay.]
…. Geminâ … & nega tione …, … Dei ….That is, as St Basil interpreteth it, Yea in speech, and Yea in …, Nay in speech, and Nay in heart: Or thus, let your common communication be plain, true and sincere, that your bare word may be taken, without any further asseveration. Not but that asseverations may be lawfully used, as Verily, Truly, Indeed, &c, Sed, parciùs ista tamen, not frequently or slightly, but advisedly and seriously, as our Saviour. If thou be a creditable person, and … made faith of thy fidelity, with Quod dixi, dixi, thy word will be taken. Or if it will not, that credit is dear bought, that is got by sin. Christ must be obeyed, though no man will beleeve us. ButNec …, nec …. a good mans oath is needlesse, a bad mans, bootlesse: for he thatFirmus … apud Augustin. feareth not an oath, neither will he scruple a lye, but credit will follow honesty: Whiles therefore the communication is ours (as Christ here …) that is, in our own power, and of our ownNon ideo negare …, ne periam, sed ideo mentiri nolo, nec peccem; dixit faemina quaedam in equuleo apud Hieron. accord, let … yea be yea, and nay, nay: and let it appear that ordinarily and in common conversation, our word is as … to be taken as our oath. But when, for the glory of God, and cleering of the truth, an oath is required of us, then it is not our communication, but anothers. And in this case, for the manifestation or confirmation of a needfull but doubtfull truth, an oath may be safely and boldly taken, for an end of controversies, and satisfaction of neighbours, Heb. 6. 16. yea we may lay it up among our best services, and expect a blessing upon it (if rightly taken according to Jer. 4. 2.) as well as upon hearing or reading, because it is an ordinance of God, Deut. 10. 20, Isa 65. 16 &c. Some of the Ancients, I …, as Hierom, Theophylact, …, were in the errour, that the Lord did only permit swearing in the old Testament (as he did divorcement that he approved …,) … that in this text our Saviour did quite take it away. But Christ came not to destroy the Law, but to fulfill it. Gods holy … is still to be …, by taking a … oath, upon just …, …. when … the Magistrate imposeth it, or when some … will … a … truth without an oath, and we cannot … demonstrate it. Thus Iacob sware to Laban, Boaz to …, Ionathan to David. And if it be lawfull in private betwixt two or more to admit God as a Judge, why may he not as well be called as a witnesse? provided ever, that this be done … and …, using it not as food, but as physick, toDan. Hist. contin. …, …. in 3d …. in …. help … in …. Our … Henry 6. was never heard to swear an …; … greatest … being, Forsooth, Forsooth, Verily, Verily. I my self have used (saith Latimer) in mine earnest matters, to say … by St Mary; which indeed is naught.foreign, …, the … the …: qui …, … foreign, malig. foreign.
For whatsoever is more, commeth of evil]
This is, of the devil. That which St Matthew calleth the wicked one, chap. 13. 38. (the self-same word with that in this text) St Marke calleth Satan, and St Luke, the …. Now can any good come out of such a Nazareth? Swearing is the devils drivel, and swearers the devils drudges, acted and agitated by that …: And though they be not … drunk … they …, yet are they not their own men. For … ye not, saith that great Apostle, that his servants … 8.ye are to whom ye obey? His work … do (as those Jews didforeign. in the Gospel) and his wages they shall receive, for they fall hereby… 5 12. into hypocrisie, as some copies have it, Iam. 5. 12. whiles theyforeign. daily pray, But deliver us from that evil one, and yet entertain him by this sin. Or rather, as other copies and our Translation have it, they fall into condemnation. And at the last day, when the master of the harvest shall gather out of his kingdom all such botches andforeign. scandals, he will say to the reapers, Gather ye first the tares, and Mat. 13. 41, 30.binde them in bundles (swearers with swearers, drunkards with drunkards, &c. sinners of a kinde with their fellow-sinners) and cast them into the fire, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Good therefore is the counsel of S. Iames. Above all things, my brethren, swear not, Whatever ye do, look to that: 'tis a … sinne, and that which maketh the tongue to become, not a City, not a Countrey, but a world of iniquity, Iam. 36 It is the devils hook without a bait, as having neither profit nor pleasure (many times) to draw to it; and that's no small aggravation. The … fell without a tempter, and are therefore left without a Saviour. Other sinners usually kill not till provoked, steal not till …, whore not till entised. But what hath God done to these monsti … men, that they should thus fly in his face, chop (as much as they may,) his heart in …, and upon … small occasion shoot such chain-shot, as if they would make the windows of … to shake and totter? … Naboth was said to have blasphemed, Iezabel proclaimed a fast. When our Saviour was accused of that sinne, the High-Priest rent his garments. When Rabshakeh had … it indeed, Hezekiah fell to his prayers, and humbled himself before God. Did these doe thus for others, and wilt not thou doe as much for thy self? God hath against thee, and is comming out armed with plagues and power. Oh meet him, upon the way, with entreaties of peace, as Abigail did David, as Iacob did Esau: quench his flames with flouds of tears. Learn of Shimei (when he … reproached David, and knew himself obnoxious) to be with God with the first, as he was with the King, 2 Sam. 19. 18, 19, 20. and as Iosephs brethren supplicated him for grace, whom they had … and misused, Gen. 50. 17. do you the like. This doe, or you are undone for ever. This doe and doe it seriously, and God must either forswear himself, or forgive thee thy swearing, if thou forgoe it.