A help to holy walking, or, A guide to glory containing directions how to worship God, and to walk with him in the whole course of our lives / by Edward Bury.

3. Direct. Having shewed you who may swear, and by whom; I shall, in the next place, speak of the Matter of an Oath, and here also many Offend. An Oath, for the Matter, must be about Lawful things, and possible, or else it cannot be a Lawful Oath: If we swear to do an unlawful thing, we must not perform it, for 'tis a double Transgres∣sion; if to do an impossible thing, we cannot do it; a rash Oath is better broken than kept: VVhat a Snare then do Men run into, and

how do they put themselves upon a Necessity of sinning, that swear in their Rage to do what God forbids them to do? Swear to do that which they must not perform: See this in David, when he had rashly sworn the death of Nabal, and all his Houshold, many of them, no doubt, Innocent Persons, yet af∣ter was pacified by wise Abigail, and blesseth God for the preventing the shedding of Inno∣cent Blood, 1 Sam. 25.32,33. The like Oath we read of Saul, who swore the Death of In∣nocent Jonathan, but was prevented by the People. When Herod performed his rash Oath to Herodias's Daughter, and cut off John Baptists Head. But a Lawful Oath is a∣greeable to the mind and will of God, about things Honest, Just, Good, Possible, and Weigty, and in thy Power: If it be impos∣sible, then thou canst not do it, and therefore thou shouldest make no such promisory Oath. Now, a thing may be impossible several ways, as in Nature; as for a Man to flye, or a Fish to speak: Some things, though possible in Nature, yet impossible in regard of Time, or other-like Circumstances; 'tis possible to go to Lon∣don, and to Rome, but 'tis impossible to be at both places the same day: And some things may be possible in Nature, yet impossible by Accident; as for a Man to swear to come to s ch a place, by such a time, and he be taken Captive by the Enemy, or fall dangerously Sick, &c. in such a Case 'tis well to put in such a Caution, If God permit; the bond of

such an Oath is loosed, as it was in Abraham's Servant, in case the Maid would not come with him. Again, we ought not to swear to perform unlawful things, any thing which is the breach of God's Law; as to kill a Man, to Steal, or to Commit Adultery, &c. What∣soever is against Piety towards God, or Cha∣rity towards Man: Whatsoever is against the good of the Church, or the Glory of God, and the Common-wealth thou Livest in: what∣soever hath any evil in it, ought not to be the Matter of an Oath; for an Oath ought not to be Vinculun Iniquitatis, a band of Iniquity. No Man is, or can be tyed to break God's Law; or if such an Oath be taken, it ought not to be kept: Hence Herod sins both in Swearing, and also in performing his Oath. But some will say, if he had not performed it he had been perjured: I Answer, when a Man swears to break a Command of God, he is perjured as soon as he hath sworn, because he took an unlawful Oath; and if he perform it he adds sin to sin, as Herod did Murther to Perjury; and such a Man must Repent of his rash Oath, and not add sin to sin, in persisting in his rashness, to the further breaking of Gods Commands. The Holy Ghost gives us a Rule for swearing, Jer. 4.2. Thou shalt swear the Lord Liveth, in Truth, in Judgment, and in Righteousness. In Truth, for otherwise thou wilt forswear thy self; for thou must not take an Oath against thy Conscience, nor of doubt∣ful things, which thou knowest not to be true.

Now, there is a double Truth, one of the Tongue, and another of the Mind; that of the Tongue is when a thing is really so, as 'tis attested; that of the Mind, when a Man thinks in his Conscience he speaks nothing but the Truth; In Judgment not rash, or ven∣trously, but with due Consideration of the Nature of the thing, to be worthy the weight of an Oath, the Nature of God, whom we call to witness, and under whose Divine Judg∣ment we set our selves, in Case we speak false; and in Righteousness, that the thing we swear be Lawful, and possible, and like to bring Glory to God, and good to our selves, or others.