SECT. V.
Several Testimonies shewing that Conscience ought to be free, and not to be imposed upon, and no person be compelled to ac∣cuse himself, or purge himself by Oath, &c.
ACcusare se nemo tenetur, saith Vasquius, nisi coram de••: secundum illud Chrysostomi non tibi dico ut teprodas:* 1.1
No man is bound to accuse himself but before God, according to that of Chrisostome, I do not say that thou shouldst betray thy self.
Quis sibi utrumque audeat assumere ut unquam sit ipse & accusator & Judex?* 1.2 Who dares assume to himself to be both an Accuser and a Judge, saith Austin?
That famous Lawyer Cooke saith,
Juramentum in propria est inventio Diaboli ad detrudendum anim as miserorum in infernum. The Oath Ex officio; saith he, is an invention of the Devil, to cast the Souls of mi∣serable people into Hell.
Let the Judges, saith Tindall, judge and condemn the Trespasses under lawful Witnesses,* 1.3 and not break up into the Consciences of men after the Example of Antichrists Disciples, and compel them ei∣ther to forswear themselves, or to testifie against themselves, which abomination, saith he, our Prelates learned of Caiphas, Matth. 26. say∣ing to Christ, I adjure, or charge thee in the name of the Living God, that thou tell us whether thou be Christ the Son of the Living God.