The Covenanters Plea Against Absolvers, Discourse · Chapter 1
CHAP. I.
The ancient and juſt Reverence of Oathes evinced, from the Light of Nature, the Revelation of Scripture. The contempt of Perjury arguing Atheiſm worſe than that of Pagans.
§. 1. WHen we conſider the ſuperlative Religion, of thoſe who knew not God, for Fidelity, which was ſo ſacred amongſt the Sabines, that they made it an Idol; in which ſuperſtition, the Romans did not only comply with them, but aſſigned her a place in their Capitol next to Jupiter himſelf; teaching their Orator to cry, Colunto illa propter quae datur homini aſcenſus in Coelum, Mentem, Virtutem, Cic. de Leg.Pietatem, Fidem; Let them worſhip the Stairs by which men aſcend unto heaven, Vertue, Piety and Fidelity: Inſomuch that Auguſtine in his Book de Civitate Dei, is put to the charge of a Chapter, to dethrone this noble Vertue a little, by removing it from the Seat of God. When we find ſo much honeſty in Livy, as to determine,Livii Hist. l. 1. That faith and Oathes were ſufficient to rule a City, though there were no Laws nor Magiſtrates; and Tully concluding,Cicero de Offic lib. 3. that Faith ſhould be kept with the worſt of men, ne quaeratur latebra perjurio, that there might be no Sanctuary for perjury in the world: We cannot but fear leſt the men of Tyre and Sidon ſhould riſe up againſt this generation and condemn it, in which not only the Godly men ſeem to be ceaſed, Pſal. 12.1.but the faithfull alſo ſeem to be failed from amongst the children of men. They ſpeak vanity every man with his neighbour; with flattering lips, and a double heart do they ſpeak.
§. 2. But when we further read that the Heathens did not only hallow the name of their Idol Fides or Fideus, and authorize it to be invoked in ſwearing, but affirm alſo Quod affirmatè quaſi Deo teſte promiſeris, id tenendum eſt jam enim non ad iram Deorum— Sed ad fidem & juſtitiam pertinet: That whatſoever men promiſed to do before God, as a witneſs, that they ſhould do, not for fear of the Gods anger, but out of reverence to Faith and Juſtice. When we remember the pretty ſtories of Jupiters Fountain of Tyana, the waters in Sardinia and Bithynia, and the Acadine Well, mentioned by Aristotle; all which had their ſeveral malignant Influences (as they fabled) upon ſuch odious tranſgreſſors as had broken their Faith once ſealed by the conteſtation of an Idol; we are ready to cry out ſit anima noſtracum Philoſophis: Let our ſoules portion rather be with thoſe old Philoſophers, than with thoſe quibus (as Baldwin ſaith) nec ara, nec fides, nec ulla pactio firma est, to whom indeed nothing is firm, nothing poſſible to be ſealed. Hear oh Heavens! and be aſtoniſhed oh Earth: Have any people under heaven been ſo vile proſtitutors of the Faith of men, or ſo irreverent to an acknowledged Deity, that having ſworn by thoſe, who were no Gods, they would go back, and deſpiſe their Obligation? Yet in theſe dayes, men think it nothing, and that in Oaths taken by the dreadful name of the true and living God, to mock, and play with their Sacred Bands, and (as Lyſander in Plutarch) to juſtifie it as lawful as to cheat Boyes with falſe Dice. And were this done by the unhallowed rabble of men, it would not be ſuch an aſtoniſhment to us, as to ſee it done by Rabbies in our Iſrael, ſtraining their wits upon the Tainters of carnal Sophiſtry, beyond all due ſtaples of reaſon, inventing vain diſtinctions, and aſſerting unheard of Atheological Poſitions, and all to cheat ſilly ſoules into the higheſt preſumptions of wickedneſs almoſt imaginable, and to publiſh theſe things in the face of the Sun; ſhining too in the Noon-day of Goſpel-light.
§. 3. Is it not the true and living God (whom we ſerve) who hath ſaid,Lev. 19.12. You ſhall not ſwear by my Name falſly, neither ſhalt thou prophane the Name of thy God, I am the Lord. Is it not he who curſeth, and no man bleſſeth: Mal. 3.who hath ſaid he will be a ſwift witneſs againſt him that ſweareth falſly. And again, The curſe ſhall come into the houſe of him that ſweareth falſly, by the Lords name, Zech. 5.4.and conſume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof. Do not we ſerve the ſame God, who ſo ſeverely revenged the violation of the Oath to the Gibeonites (into which Joſhuah and the Iſraelites were cheated) upon all Iſrael, and then upon the Family of Saul? who ſo ſeverely declared himſelf againſt Zedekiah for the violation of an Oath impoſed upon him by a forreign Prince, who had conquered his Brother,Ezek. 16.17. though the Oath tended to enſlave the people of God, to an Idolatrous Prince? When we think of theſe things, trembling takes hold upon us, and we are ready to ſay concerning ſuch as diſcourſe for the nullity and violation of Oaths, as be did; Aut hoc non eſt Evangelium, &c. Either we are miſtaken in that ſacred Book, which we have hitherto called the Word of God, and owned as the Rule of our Faith and Life, or theſe men are not the Servants of this God, ſuch as make this Word a light to their feet, and a lanthorn to their paths.
§. 4. What can it argue leſs than Atheiſm, or an high contempt of God, lightly to eſteem his ſacred Name? for men to be of the prophane temper condemned by the Poet;
Nil metuunt jurare, nihil promittere parcunt,
Sed ſimulac cupidae mentis ſatiata libido eſt
Dicta nihil metuunt: nihil perjuria curant.
The truth and fidelity of a man was by the Heathen accounted ſo noble a piece of the demeſne and patrimony of a rational and vertuous ſoul, that if at any time, a Regulus, or any other had pawned it to an enemy, they thought it worth the redeeming at the price of their head. But if an Idol-god had been called to witneſs the Obligation, they thought ſcarce any puniſhment ſevere enough for him that preſumed to violate it, as having broken the ſtrongeſt Ligament of humane ſociety (nullum enim vinculum ad astringendam fidem jurejurando majores arctius eſſe voluerunt, ſaith Tully) and denied that God who ruleth the world. Juvenal could ſet it upon no other foot.
Sunt qui in fortunae caſibus nunc omnia ponunt
Et nullo credunt mundum Rectore moveri
Naturâ volvente Vices, & lucis & Anni
At que ideo intrepidi quaecun que Altaeria tangunt.
§. 5. Can we therefore hold our peace at the reading of divers late Pamphlets tending to Abſolve men from the Sacred Oath, firſt taken, by the Lords and Commons Legally aſſembled in Parliament, Anno 1643. then by the generality of the people of England, (at their command) with the higheſt ſolemnity imaginable; after this by his Sacred Majeſty (that now is)*If printed Books and Narrations be true. Anno 1649, or 1650. who was pleaſed likewiſe by his Declaration (then emitted) to approve it in every Branch thereof, and to ratifie his Subjects taking of it, in his other Dominions. After which, for any to put us upon an enquiry, whether our Souls be bound with that Bond, muſt certainly be that Snare to our Souls, againſt which Solomon of old gave us a Caution, and to tempt men to the higheſt contempt and profanation of the Sacred Name of God.
§. 6. But the preſumption is yet aggravated in our apprehenſions, when we conſider that this is done in a day, when a Righteous God is taking exemplary vengeance upon them, who after they had taken that Sacred Oath themſelves, and been Inſtruments rigorouſly to preſs it upon others, could ſatisfie their Conſciences, in deſtroying the Perſon of the King, whom they (in it) had ſworn to preſerve, and rooting out his Authority, which it obliged them to maintain: We ſay, for men in this day, to bid others go and do likewiſe, appears to us, like the cutting of a Purſe in the face of a Judge, and an open proclaiming, that we have no degree of the fear of God before our eyes.
§. 7. Eſpecially when we conſider that the thing wherein ſome of this Generation, would have that Sacred-Oath violated and contemned, appeareth to us, the main buſineſs of that Sacred Oath, viz. the Reformation of the Church, and Preſervation of the Purity of Religion and Worſhip, to which moſt other things in the Covenant, ſeem to us (according to the phraſe of it) to be ſubordinated.
§. 8. This certainly ſhould engage every true Engliſh-man, who thinks himſelf concerned in the honour of his Nation, and every righteous Lot more eſpecially, who muſt be grieved at the evil converſation of his Neighbours, to cry out, I pray you Brethren do not ſo wickedly: And the heighth of the wickedreſs, will be more evident, if we conſider that Sacred Engagement, either in its own nature, or under its more than ordinary circumſtances,