A Christian Exhortation Unto Customable Swearers

Unto the reader.

G Race and increase of knowledge from God the father / through owre Lord Jesus Christ / be with the Cristen reader / and with all other 〈◊〉 • untremen that love the Lord vn • aynedlye. In the Lord's byneyarde / (dear frynde) I se men in this age busylye occupied to root out •• wedes of inveterate vices and old can •• ed customs. Some hath preached against superstitions. Some hath wryten against Purgatorye and Pardons. Some hath inueyed against Pylgrimage • & sects. Some hath beatten down Monasteries and Shrynes / Idolles & their altars▪ Some seaketh yet to this day to de •• roy • Popyshe decrees / to abolyshe vain Ceremonyes / to restore necessary rites / and to bring again all things to Cristes first inst ••• cion. All these things are Godlye / I deny it not / and men vertuouslye exercised in so doing. But these for the more parte hath parteyned / and yet still doth par • eyne / to the monstrous kingdom of Antecrist or disgysed church of hypocrites. Which hath evermore had a great show or glytterynge pretence of godliness / though they have (after S. Paul) denied the power thereof. But the abho •• nable custom of swearing or daily blaspheming of the blessed name of god (which is of the de • ylles kingdom right owt / without any colors to the contrary) hath very few or none re • uked / specially in there writings. Wherefore I have cōceyued it a thing most necessary to setforth somewhat concerning the rebuke thereof / to put me • in remembrance of them selves / least they should through custom forgett God. So hath this execrable abusyon increased among the people / that rather it hath been co • nted a virtue than a vice / ••• ynge the open door unto damnation. yea so depelye hath this pestilent poison infected the wits of men / that nothing seameth pleasant unto them / fresh / or worthy to be lawghed at / unless it be joined with the blasphemy of gods holy name. The tale shall lack his dew circumstance / unless it be myred with oaths. As with blood / wounds / death / and sydes / with cursinges and bannynges / as poxe / pestil • ce / fowl evil / shame / vengeance / & myfchef / to bad to be uttered among the devils in hell. Oh merciful God / how can they think themselves worthy of the name of cristianes / vsinge such deuyllishnes? how can they hope to be saved in Christ / vtteringe out of all cristen order such owtragio • s blasphemy? much more godly should the cristyan be / than either Jew or pagane / yet is he a thousand times worse in his conversation and life. Amonge all vices whereunto the corrupt nature of owre nation is given (for the more parte) is blasphemy & whoredom / though the first of them be dyrectelye against the thread commandment of God in the first table / and the other against the thread in the second table (which is the seventh in number) yet are they in daily custom / God not feared / nor yet there danger considered. And why? They that should be the salt of the earth / are become vnsaverye / and where as they ought to give us the light of good living / they offer us darkness. Neither is the corrupciō of execrable swearing taken from us by the seasonable doctrine of owre prelates / & priests / nor yet by there shyninge examples away left us to forsake stinking whoredom. Rather do thei show us a plain pathe unto them both. For no where shall yow find more oaths / nor of more diverse kinds / than in bishops houses. And as for comō whores / yow shall have so many / not far from some of there houses / as are able to serve the filthy flock of an whole contree. Ther eyes are so spiritual / that they cannot see the • blots. These sauers can they not smell though they go by them every day. So small fear have they to God / and so little good will bear they / • o the honorable state of matrimonye. But if a pore man beginneth to favor the verite of the lord / they cane smelle him owt though he be .xl. mile of. But with these things will they not meadle. And why? they are both necessary for a common wealth. By good hansome swearing men appere valeaunte / and no faint hearted cowerdes. The stews ar permitted / as an wholesome polytique ordinance / to auoyed a greatter inconvenience. For elles (say they) honest men's wyfes should not live in rest. Oh beastly bely gods / may you by your polytique ordinances (contrary saint Paul's doctrine) s • ffer an evil thing that good may come thereof? Faythful wyfes will continue in there honest / whan you / and all whorehūters shall go to the devil. It giveth rather an occasion to wyfes / and maid̄s to be nowght. For when the wife is disposed to be an whore / she knoweth where to be received. Manye a maid likewise / when a wanton fellow hath gotten vpehure bealye she must straight way to the stews. If hure master or maystres see any wanton touch with hure • and than (as it becometh them) tell hure of it / she set the less by them / and all because of the stews. And it is a common saying / ware there no receyuer there should be no thief. So ware there no stews / there should not so many honest mennis daughters rune away from there fathers and play the whores as doth. Oh •• testable hypocrites / what honest man can think the breaking of gods commandments to further a Christian lande? why are princes / magistrates / & judges / put in aucthorite but only to se them observed? why are you made bishops / but only to persuade them to the same? Never bring you an owtragious blasphemer / nor a common aduowtere • to open shame before the world / at Paul's cross / though there be never so many. Never labor you to the king and his counsel for a refourmacion to be hadd of these most execrable vices / though you know them to be most hurtefull / to a Christian comō wealth. you can wy • he at such greauous euylles / & suffer thē to be taken as no sins. It was not without a cause that Christ called yow a blasphemous / & an aduouterous generation. It is not for nowght / that the scripture giveth you so many odyous names. As strangers / beasts / adversaries / dreamers / colubers / belyals / dome dogs / ra • onynge wolves / serpentes / le • athans / bastards / traitors / destroyers / thieves / idols / men of sin / sons of perdition / unshamefast liars / wicked doers / enemies to the truth uncle • ne fowls / devils incarnate blind leaders of the blind / hypocrites / hy •• linges / false prophettes / ill seed / with an .C. more. you will make gods commandments of no effect / to auoyed greatter inconvenience. Oh detestable enemies to the truth / what inconvenience can be greatter / than to neglect the laws of god doth he not thretten to them that break his commandments all thes fearful plages? As derth / barennesse / scarsenes / need / hunger / thurst / • o • ertie / penurye / the plages and sycknesses of Egypt / pestilence / poxe / botch / fevers / collycke / heat / em • odes / scalle / mange / meselles / madness / loss of goods / winds / blasts / waters wythering / wastyng / burning / drought / rain oppressyon / robberye / thieves / rape / ill fortune / captyuite / e • ile / wrechednes / subieccion / danger / prison / syckenes / strypes / shame / cowardnes / blindness / error / dasynge of heart / desperacion / thou • ht / vnquyetnes / toil / bondage / war / fire / sword / battle / fear / tremelynge / sorowgh / schorte • life / & sodene death both of body & sowle. And all this you weye not at all. you are so vnmarcyfull / that you care not to se them drop headelinges in to hell. So that you have the flees / you pass not what become neither of body nor sowle. Well is that people / whom God hath delivered from such vnpitefull g • ydes. Therefore we pore wreches / owght to give most hartye thankes unto the lord / (seeing the salt is become so vnsauerye) which hath geu • e us such a prince / such a feythfull Iosyas / & godly • ynister / that hath restored again the pure word of God / & hath granted us all free passage unto it / wherein we may learn to a voyed these vices / with all other. This word of God / is the mother perle / that we owght with all diligēs to seek / the pappe that we ought to suck / and the table that we should eat upon. From thence should we fetch the sustenance of health / the bread of life / the wy • e of gladness / the refresshing waters / the feadinge of the spirit / the light of the sowle / yea it is the very towche stone that trieth all things. And this afore time / was hidden from us / by the frye of the the serpent / the satellytes of antichriste / the sorcerers of Egypt / with there mynysters. Geue thanks therefore yet ones again unto God • which hath in these latter days so marcyfullye vysyted us from above / and hath set owre feet in the pathwayes of his peace. So be it.

A Christian exhortation

I N one natural being hath the lord from the beginning constitute all men to this ende / that they should naturallye love / help▪ / and counforte one an nother. And to the performance of that his pleasure / added he this natural law / that they should cōsydre within them selves what they would have done to there own bodies / children / goods / or cattle / and upon that ground to conceive a rewle how to use all o • her particular persons. If they would not that men should oppress them / ill report them / shame them before the world / hire there houses over there heads / sell them ill wares / begyle them by false wayght & measure / with such like / that thei should in any wise beware / least they do the same unto the. This natural law was unto Adam / Seth / Enoch / Noah / Abrahā / Moses / and other godly men / a grounded precept of living / whō they evermore followed in there outward occupyenges.

Another sort there ware which minded nothing less / and they contrary wise / for want of that rewle / fell in to all manner of abhominable sins. As Ca •• in to the unnatural murder of his brother. The gyauntes in to filthy desires of the flesh. Nimroth in to cruel oppressyon and tyranny. Cham in to a scornful dysdayne of his father. Ishmael into a stubborn wickedness against all men. Esau into a mortal hate of Jacob his brother. And such like. So that daily more and more for decay of that law (which god hade inwardlye writē in the hearts of men) great myschefes increased. And as Oseas the prophet cōplayneth / there was no faythfulnesse / no brotherlye love / no truth among men / but bytternesse / lying / manslawghter / theft / and aduowterye hath gotten the ouerhande. In there daily occupyenge was much falsehed used / and that was thought well won good / that was got̄ by deceyte. Uerye seldom in there bargaynes ware promises performed / and more seldom a great deal / was faithful honest regarded. In process of time therefore / were very few or none believed / unless they toke God to witness that there matter was true / where vppō first of all came vpe the swearing of oaths among men to confirm there sayings with.

An oath is no ill matter / godly used and done in love / though the f • eshe from the beginning hath abused it. For what is there in the world be it never so clean and good / but men's corrupt nature doth most abhominablye de • yle.

An oath is away or mean whereby controuersyes are ended / and promises performed / by the calling upon the name of God. For it is wryten in the law / if a mā deliver unto his neyboure / ox / asse / or sheep / to pasture / and it die / or be hurt / or driven away (no man seeing it) than shall an oath of the lord go between them / and he shall swear whether he hath put any hand to the taking away of his neybours good or not / and the owner of the good shall receive the oath / & if he / by the oath that he hath taken saith / that he hath put no hand to it / than shall he not make it good &c. And this must be done before the gods / that is to say before the judges or magistrates. Here is the controuersye ended between neyboure and neyboure / through an oath. It is also a mean whereby promises ar performed. As we find in Genesis the .21. chapter / the words of Abimelech unto Abraham / that he should neither hurt him / nor his posterite / unto whom Abrahā said / I will swear. And the text saith / that thei sware both. And Abraham ded not only swear / but also performed it indeed. This is called a right or lawful oath / and none elles. This oath is a certain kind of religion / wherewith god is not only honored / but also / well contented and pleased. This is a sure anchore / whereunto judges may lawfully stycke / whan there wyttes can go no further. For who knoweth what is in man / but God only? This right and lawful oath was commanded of god for the comfort / help / and secoure of our neyboure. And it is called the oath of the lord / not only because he commanded it / but also whan he made his mighty promise unto Abrahā he swear him self / to cause him to believe it / not to be impossyble / at the time appointed. Whan a matter is in strife before a judge / necessary it is to swear / if i • be re • red / to brīge it to a cōclusiō. And in like case is it with demandinge of an oath / as with stryking with the sword. Lawfull is it not for every private person at his own lust to slee. But to the magistrates / whan they se just cause / it is not only lawful / but also an office of dewtye belongynge unto them under pain of gods high displeasure.

Hely was ponnished of God / for not correctinge his childrē / & so was king Saul for sparinge the people of a Malech. The princes of regions have the sword given them by gods aucthorite / not to revenge there own private quarrel / but the just. quarrel of God and his people. In like condition is it with swearing. If the cause be not thers but there neybours / they may lawfullye receive an oath / and the other required / may likewise swear in trial of the truth and not sin. yet ought it non otherwise to be done than in the name and fere of the lord / least we should ascribe the verite to enye other than to him. And they iustelye swear by his name & without reprove / which myndinge neither frawde nor deceyte / witnesseth only the truth / which seaketh no percyalite / but the right / not them selves / but the glory of god / the profytt of there neyboure / and the comō wealth of gods people.

Lawful it is also for the magistrates / whan they put enye man in office / to take an oath of him / that he shall be true / diligent / and feythfull therein / as Jacob / for the cōmodite and profytt of his posterite / toke an oath of Laban the idolatrer. Lykewyse Judas Machabe • s / of the Romans / for the same purposse. And this is because there hath been / & yet are daily fownde so many vnfeythful. Of there subjects and comons may princes demand an oath of allegyaunce / for the sauegard of there lands & people. And that should not need / ware there no false traitors abroad. yet is it dyscretlye to be cōsydered in all such publyque oaths / whether they have the .iii. aforenamed things or not. To swear to do ill / as to slee / to rauishe / or to rob / is damnable without fail / and to perform such an oath / or to do those wyckednesses in deed is a dowble damnation / both to him that so sweareth / & also to the judge that causeth him to swear. Suche a one was the cursed oath / that king Herod made / unto the dowghter of Herodyas his harlott / for the head of holy John baptist / whom Christ calleth a vylye fox for his crafty con •• yaunce. A color was this oath / of his cruel tyranny / and a cloke to his most spyghtfull murder. For through that means was John done unto dethe. Neither was an oath ordained (after the mind of saint Agustine) to bind to the performance of manslawghter / robberye / idolatrye / or other sins. Rather hade David breke his oath / then to fulfyl it with blood shedīg.

A saying there is among men / that the word / promise or oath / of a king should stand. We grant the same / in case it be true / lawful / and expedient. Elles were it much better / to be broken than kept. Better were a king to eat his word an .C. times / or to call it home again / than ones to be dampened for the performance of it / if it be wicked. For a king or rewler is not ordained to do his own lust / but to judge according to right and equite. As open is hell for him / as for a pore mane / if he rewle not his people godly. David made a solempne oath / to slee Nabal / & to distroye all that pertained unto him / but he never ded perform that oath / and yet he was a king. He put up his sword again (saith Bede) & never reap̄ted him of any fawte done. Home. 45. Othes are to be observed / whē there ende is nor evil / nor vn o • the hynderaunce of souls health. In wicked promises (saith Is • dorus) lett faythfulnes have no place. In a filthy vow / change thy decreed purposse. Do not the thing in effec • e / that thou hast without consyderacion sworn unto. For the promise is evermore wicked / that cannot be {per}fourmed without sin. Therfor if the judges or rewlers should enforce the inferioure subjects to swear to that thing that ware against souls health or gods honor as to w • rchipe an idolle or to an innocētes vndoynge / thei ought rather to die / than to obey it. As ded for an example the discrete man / and honorable father Eleazarus / with the .vii. feythfull brethren & there mother in the Maccabees. For much better is it in such case to obey God than man / as witnesseth Peter & the other apostles.

Neither ought a judge by the law / to compel a man to swear against himself / least he enforce him wickedly to sin in for swearing himself / and so to despair of the mercy of God. But whan he taketh an oath of a pore simple sowle / or of a crafty subtyll fellow / he out to consydre all circumstances re • syte. And all such as swear oaths / ought likewise to be circumspecte and ware. And to see always that this cla • se be added unto them. If my lord God will or if I have no lawful imped •••• to the contrary. And than shall we make o • r promises perfect. If I should chance to appoint with the magistrates to come before them at •• che an hour / and in the mean time be letted by terrible sycknesse / I should thus break no just promise made with the / if I come not. Neither should I break conuenaūte (as saith saint Agustine) If I promised a payment at a day / & were •• bed of my money by the way / comy •• e thyder ward. With such other like • Never am I for sworn nor unjust of my promise / so longe as my heart m •• death no deceyte. Many other such doubts and perplex cases there be / but thes I supposse for this time sufficient. By thes may all other be perceived & christianlye ordered. Thus do we not deny / all manner of swearing / though we would non oaths to be used betwyne neyboure & neyboure / nor yet in owre private communicacions and daily busynesses. As hereafter we shall declare more at large. I would have wryten much more of this right and lawful oath / which is commanded of God for the wealth and health of men / if other christiane learned men had not wryten suffycientlye thereof afore. Agayne for so much as the matter of it self belongeth rather unto the office of rewlers and judges / then to such private persons as I here write unto yet lett both the judges / and 〈◊〉 subjects / mar •• & observe thes lessons following.

First a judge / owght never to demand / or require an oath of enye man / withca •• e great heuynes of conscyens / for 〈◊〉 at the partye re • red to swear / should for swear him self. Suche love and pyte ought there to be in judges / that the loss of there neyboures sowle / should be esteemed equalle with the detriment of there own souls. Therfor before they bring them unto an oath / they out to seek all ways & means how to try the truth without an oath / & not immediatlye and in all the hast to cause them to swear.

Secondly. The judge may demand an oath / and the inferioure subject likewise swear / whan it is either to the glory of god / the profit of our neyboure / or for the common wealth.

Thirdly / though men be fully persuaded to have lawful and just occasions to swear / as for the glory of god the profit of owre neighbor / and the common wealth / yet may they not be i • dges in their own causes / nor take ought here in hand / by their own aucthorite / but let the ma • ter come before their judges for no law suffereth the here to do after thine own pleasure / & what thou thlnkest best. After this sort did Christ • judges use them selves in requiringe of an oath / and likewise faithful subjects with a glade heart in renderinge their oath demanded of them.

If thou be capcio • s thou wilt parauēture find cauilla • ion of contrariete in the scripture? And say / that Moses here seemeth to speak contrary unto that Christ hath spoken in Matthew / the .v. Chap. Because it is said here / if any man giveth to keep / asse / ox / or sheep &c. than the oath of the Lord shall go between them / and there thou shalt in no case swear. this was first the error of the Manacheis / whose followers ar now the Anabaptists. And all this cometh because they understand not the sentence of Christ in the .v. of Matthew. This word / iurare / hath another manner of signification / than they do perceive / and is otherwise taken in the said .v. of Matthew / than they do teache. for this is to be believed of all men / that God the father commanded nothing that should be prejudicial or contrary his son / nor yet that the son taught anything contrary his father. therefore there is a swearing which is lawful approved and commanded of God / of the which we have made mention before / called in Latin ius • urandum. Ther is also a swearing which is not lawful discommended / and clearly forbyden of Christ / which is called / deiurium / that is temerously to swear in owre private communication / be it true or false. And whā Christ saith / thou shalt not swear at all / he meaneth nothing less / than by it / to destroy all manner of lawful swearing before a judge / but that we should never in our private communicacion swear. and as all manner of oaths ware not disallowed of Christ / no more ware all oaths allowed of God the father / but such only as had either the glory of God / the profit of owre neyboure / or the commō wealth upon their sydes. And that this is the very meaning of Christ's words / we shall well perceive / by the weynge of the text. yow have hard saith Christ / how it was said to thē of the old tymene deteres / Whereas owre translacion hath / non periurabis / thou shalt not for swear. And not all without cause / for as periurare can never be taken in a good sense / so is it not alway taken for the transgressinge or breakinge of a lawful oath made before a judge. But often times it is taken for deierare / which is to take God • d witness / to lie / or to deceive. And periurate / is likewise to abuse the name of God / which is the truth and righteousness / to lie / and deceive. And what so ever he be / that either require his neyboure to swear / or swear lightly him self / it is a sufficient prove / that he is a pariure / ill / light / and one that little regardeth God's truth. now whan Christ saith / it is said to them of the old time / non periurabis / thou shalt not forswear yow shall never find in the Hebrew nor in the Greketerte that word / but so shall you find in Moses Thou shake not take the name of thy Lord God temerously / where as owre interpreter hath so. Thou shalt not take his name in vain. • n another place also you have after this sort. Thou shalt not swear in my name to lie. Which the Greeks interpretat after this faciō. thou shalt not swear fall • y in my name And the La • ynes hath / non periurabis / Thou shalt not forswear in my name. Here you may se how saint Jerome use this word / to forswear / for deterare / which is to swear false. And not for the transgressinge of a right & lawful oath It was forbydden to them of the old time / (as you have partly hard) that they should in no case / temerouslye take the name of God to record / which is expounded in the said .xix. of Levite. that they should not swear in his name to lie. Wherout sprange this opinion among them / that if they did take the name of God to wirnesse in the truth / and that in their daily business between neighbor and neighbor) was no manner of sin. but in a false feigned matter they thought they ought in no case to swear / nor yet compel any other mā thereunto▪ And this is the thing that Christ speaketh here against / and utterly reproveth. that is to say / that neither in the truth nor otherwise / they ought to take the name of God to record in their familiar and daily communicacion. but to speak so truly / and to deal so faithfully one with another / that if he said / yea / then his neighbor should believe him to say truth / if he said / nay / likewise to believe it not to be truth. Here you se well / is no manner of mention made of a right and lawful oath. for Christ saith / audistis / ye have hard how it was said unto them of the old time / non periurabis / thou shalt not forswear Where is this spoken? even there whereas is nothing spoken at all / of the trāsgressinge or breakinge of a lawful oath made before a judge. as it shall appear • more playnlye to him that will serche the places. Therefore it is manifest that Christ spake of such oaths / whereby we bind our selves temerously / to do or perform any manner of thing. It followeth in the terte / I say unto you / swear not at all, mark now of what swearing he speaketh / even of such swearing as was (for their weakness sake) permitted unto them of the old time / by the law. for as the Jews were suffered by the law (for their weakness sake) to be deuorced from their wives (gyuinge them a testimonial in their hands) to avoid a further inconvenience / that was lest whan they were moved or angry with them / they should either have poysonned or killed them. So was it likewise permitted to thē of the old time / to swear (but not by all manner of creatures / but only in the name of god) least they dwellinge among the heythen / and accustominge their oaths / should by contynuan̄ce of time fall unto the filthy worshiping of their Idols / forgettinge him. swear by his name (saith Moses) and se that you walk not after stran̄ge gods of the nations that you remain among. S • that you neither make mention (saith Joshua) nor yet swear by the names of their gods. Thus in the old time were they suffered to swear in an ernest just or wayghtye cause. but now cometh Christ and saith / that neither in a t • ewe matter / be it never so great ernest and wayghtye / we shall not of our own selves / nor by our own aucthorite and private power / swear or promise any manner of thing. Whereas yet no manner of mention is made of a demanded oath by publyque aucthorite. And the words that follow make the matter more p •• yne. neither by heavē (saith Christ) for it is the throne of God / neither by earth &c. Where rede you that at any time the Hebrwes did use to swear by any of these things? And contrarywyse who nowadays doth not for every tryfle swear by them all. one promise a gift by Christ's Cross / another by heaven / the third by the earth. All this doth Christ clearly forbid / and this is the sum of all his communicacion. And where as the Anabaptists expound this to be spoken of periurye / which is taken for the transgression or breakinge of that oath / which is made before a judge: they are greatly deceived. for there is no mention made / neither of the place / of the judicial seat / nor yet of any magistrate or iuge. he spake therefore of the oaths / which we use one with another in our familiar communicacion and language. And he that will serche the aforesaid places of Exodi and Leuitici / both in Hebrew Greke / and Latin / shall find it true that here is wryten. other reasons and arguments they have / to take from the congregation / this lawful oath / which at another time shall be answered unto. The Pharisee is also had blinded & corrupted this commandment. for like as to hate in the heart / or cover another mans wife / was no sin with them / no more was it to think one thing in the heart and to speak another with the mouth. Althoughe Moses said lie not: nor deceive any man his neighbor. They did interpretate it but for good council / and that it did bind no man / under pain of dānation. so by that means were there none believed / unless they toke god to witness. whan false / sotel and crafty merchauntes ones perceived that for taking of God's name to record / they were believed / whatsoever their cause was. To bring their matter to pass they little cared to forswear them selves. under that color cloaked they all manner of dissimulacion / falshede / and ungodliness. so that the name of God (which ought to have ben had in most reverence) was commonly than used / for a coueringe of all their myschefes. in so much the Prophet complained and said / how they cowed say the Lord liveth / yet did they swear to deceive. Christ cometh / and bringeth salt and light unto the commandments / restoringe them again to their own natural meaning / and right understanding / and as his father would have them kept / of every Christian man. for as God is but one / so hath his word or commandments but one right and true meaning / how so ever we turmoyle or handle them. And where as they had taught to hate in heart / to cover another man's wife / & to deceive his neighboure with a lie / was not forbidden of God / under pain of damnation but only the outward act. But Christ saith / he that is angry with his brother / is in danger of judgment. He that seeth a womā and lusteth after. her / shall taste the punyshment that belongeth to a horemonger: he that thinketh one thing / and speaketh another / deceiveth his neighboure with a lie / or promise / shall have the punishment of a periurer. therefore I say unto you / that ye swear not at all / but let your communicacion be / yea / yea / nay / nay. he saith twyes yea / and twyes nay / that is yea in heart / and yea in mouth / nay in heart and nay in mouthe. And if men / whan that you mean truly will not believe you by your yea and nay / let them take hede (saith Basyle) for they shall taste the pain that belongeth to the unbelievers. therefore it is both folysh and damnable / whan a man cannot be believed by yea and nay / without an oath / because he would be believed to swear. The gospel (saith saint Jerome) permitteth no manner of private oath / because the hole language of a Christian / should be so faithful / true and perfyt / that every sentence thereof should be able to stand for an oath. very vnseminge is it to Christ's sworn souldyoure / more to regard the darkness than the light. for the love that thou bearest to a worldly vanite (which thou oughtest not somoch to esteem) thou wilt take thy Lord God to witness. And so dost thou throw thyself into double danger / offending also in another commandment / for so canst thou not do / unless thou vaynely covet.

And the law saith / thou shalt not covet. Dost thou not covet whan thou inforcest thyself to swear for a worldly thing? and for a vile creature takest God to witness? yes trewly doest thou / and for it forsakest thy master with Judas. oh to ouermoche vanice is all the world given. Besydes that is said / for this consyderacion doth Christ inhibit the all manner of private swearing / because thou canst not do it / without some dishonoure to his heavenly father. mark the nature of thine oath / whan thou doth swear / & thou shalt well perceive it. In tsy communicacion parauenture thou sayst / by God it is true that I have said / or by the Lord that made me it is so / Here cowplest thou thy Lord God / with thy wickedness / and thy heavenly maker with thy sin / without all reverence / to shyfte the matter between thē. se now how worshiply thou hast married him. Besydes all this / intaking god to witness / thou makeste him judge of the thing to auēge it of the if it be false but in the least pointe: Thou braggest also after this sort / by my faith I will perform / that I have promised / or by Jesus Christ I will do this thing or that thing. markewel this short sentence of mine. God will not gyne power to any man to do or perform that thing which is not done after his word / and here by an oath contrary gods commandment dost thou bind thyself / to do that thing which is not in thy power to do / neither hast thou God upon thy side to give the strength to do it / because it is not done (although it were never so true) before a judge / which God's word requireth. And so doest thou lose thy salvation / and freedom in Christ. with his name sealest thou an obligacion / to do that thing / whereby thou art defeated of all thine inheritance. Is this thinkeste thou a pleasant thing unto him? All this set a parte / if it should chance that some worldly truth were not in thy words / (besides conscience) thou shuldest utterly bleamishe the opinion of thy faith / and to shame thy Lord Jesus / whom thou hast taken to witness with the / for thy truth and honest. In this also doest thou testify / that thou believest him to be no righteous God / nor yet a judge that will ones before all the world condemn thy suttel trade of falshed and hypocrisy.

Finally thou makest as though God were well contented with thy dissimulacion / and as though he had a great sport at the matter / to se thy crafty conueyaunce and legerdemayne in compassinge thy Christian brother or neighbor to deceive him with an oath / for whom Christ spared not to give his life / and to bestow his most precious blood. And thus where so ever thou becomest / these .iv. discommodites goth with the The holy name of God is dishonored / his Gospel of salvation is contempned his sweet promises ar not believed / nor yet his sharp threētninges feared. Whereas thou art in place / these ungentle fruits doest thou ministre and none other / to do thy master the deuy •• 〈◊〉 pleasure with. such a true servant art thou unto him / that where as thou accompaniest / Christ shall have but dishonoure. Consequently whan thou swearest upon the Bybel or Gospel conteyninge the scriptures and words of God / thou comparest the truth of thy matter / to the truth of them / and wouldest have it so allowed. than if thou be a liar / thou heartily desirest him / not to accomplyshe unto thy behoove his promises of mercy therein contained. But contrary unto it / to bring upon the / the hole vengeance / curses and plages therein threttened / to all ill doers. whā thou swearest by the body of Christ / thou greatly dishonorest his glorified nature / includinge thy hole health / justification / redemption / & attonemente in God. And thou doest as moche as in the lieth (like as the holy doctors confess) to pluck him out of heaven with violence / & to crucify him again a fresh. Whan thou swearest also by the Sacrament of God (as it is a common oath with the) both the sweet fruits of thy Baptyme / and of the holy soupper of the Lord doest thou handle so vnreuerentlye / as thou ware at defy • unce with them both.

In like case whan thou swearest by any creature / as by this son / by this air / by this light / or by this good day / thou doest not only break the commandment of 〈◊〉 Lord God / but also thou doest bind those creatures which he hath mouyded to serve thy neades / to serve thy wicked vanite / rendering him no thanks but blasphemy for his gifts. Whan thou swearest by other creatures of God / as by this bread / drink / meat / or salt / with such like. Dost thou any other than blaspheme the gyuer of them? my surely. And besides that thou destreste him to avenge them of the / if thou lie. Perauēture thou wilt yet ask me this question / may I than swear no manner of oath for my pastyme? yes / and if thou wilt in thy pastymee give thy self hole unto the devil. But Christ hath given the a straight commandment to the contrary / that thou shalt not swear at all / and shown the that if thou he his servant / thy communicatiō shall be none other / but yea yea / & nay nay. All other (saith he) is of evil.

Now if thou think thy wit better than his / or that he is no wholesome teacher for the / thou mayest do it for thy pleasure and go to the devil for it: who can let the. not thus contented / hapely thou wilt yet reason further / and say. For so moche as I know swearing is a blasphemy / I will for my pleasure swear by the deuylt / or by an Idolle / to spyght them with it. I am glad thou haste ones granted me that swearing is a spytefull blasphemy: let it not than defile thy Christian lips / neither spyght thy lord God with it from henceforthe / nor yet his holy saints and creatures / consydre first that it is thy Christian dewtye to be no blasphemare. And next unto this / that God by his express commandment hath utterly forbidden the that kind of swearing. you shall nor swear (saith your living God) by the names of strange God's / neither let any mā hear thē proceed out of your mouths. Neither make mention (saith Joshua) nor yet swear by the names of their God's &c. God will refuse them for his children (saith Hieremye) yea and utterly forsake them / which swear by thē that are no God's. I will destroy all them (saith God by his Prophet Sophonye) that swear in Melchon &ce. Think thā it is lawful for the to swear by no manner of thing / for thy pleasure / neither by heaven nor earth devil / nor Idolle. for all that is more than yea and nay is plainly of wickedness. Our words are the outward testimonies of our inward hearts. And therefore they ought to be so substantial / as to be worthy a believe without an oath. So single and pure ought our love to be towards our neighboure in our daily occupyenge / that no manner of craft should be found therein. Damnable it ware to deceive our brother with alye / and moche more damnable to seal it with a false oath. They of the old time thought it no faute to swear in a matter of truth / but we have now a new scole master / and ought by his own doctrine / to be no longer babes / but to be moche more perfect then they ware. Now ought such brotherly love to reign among us / that one should have no stomach / heart / nor desire / to hyndre / hurt / or displease another. The eye should seek the profit of the hand / and the hand the commodite of the foot / as members of one body in Christ / the one being careful for the other. The one should be so faithful to the other / that neither should he need to swear / nor the other need to put him to an oath. And suerlye there is none oath made between neyboure and neyboure / but one of them / or both offendeth dedly. And it is he that heareth the truth and will not believe him without an oath / and so compelleth him to swear / or elles the other that without all occasyō / enforceth him self lyghtlye to swear / or both for company sake.

Customable swearing is very dangerous / though we ded not lie at all / for so moche as it doth deprive the name of the lord of his dew reverence and fear. And so much vanite of words is in our daily commoninge & occupienge that we have one with another / that we cannot chose but lie in many things. Which to confirm with an oth / though we intend no fraud / is to take the holy name of God in vain / and unreverantly to use it against the second commandment. If it be dampuable of it self to lie of purposse to deceive / howe moche m •• e damnable is it than blasphemous •• e to color it with with the name of God / besides the calling unto him for swyfte vengeance upon our own selves for so doing. truly we little know what we do ī such customable swearing. Therefore account we it necessary to admonysh you yet farther as concerning your private swearing. For according unto that is said afore / willed us Jesus the son of Sirach (which wrote the book of Ecclesiasticus) that we should in no case accustom our selves in swearing / least we fall into more depe inconuenientes / and so taste the plages belonging thereunto. For of custemable swearing cometh the damnable vice of peruicy.

If a man shall use commonly to swear / he cannot chose but many times dānably forswear him self. As he that customablye •• nyteth / sometime he shall smyre unto dea • he. That a man hath in custom he shall do at all times / but he shall not at all times refrain it. What the fearful sentence of God is against swearers / the scriptures plentuously showeth. The Lord (saith Moses) will not hold him giltlesse that taketh his name in vain. The man that useth moche swearing (saith Jesus Sirach) shall be full of iniquire / and never shall the plage depart from his house. All thieves and swearers are under one curse of God after zacharie. Stoned was he by the law / that blasphemed the name of the Lord / in Israel. If the plage goeth never from them which are continual swearers / how can it go from them that are continual periures?

Tell unto me my frynde (saith Iohā Chrysostom) what doest thou profit by thy swearing? If thine adversary should think the to swear aright / he would never compel the to it. But because he thinketh the thereby to become a periure therefore enforceth he the to an oath. Seldom hath the private oath a good conclusion. But haply thou wilt say. I cannot sell my wares / unless I do swear / or my detter believeth me not / onless I make him an oath. Whervnto I answer, Rather be contented to have thy wares vnsolde and to lose thy money / than thy salvation in Christ. Reason faithfully with thy conscience / and let thy sowle be more dere unto the / thā thy corruptible substance. For though thou lose part of thy substance / yet mayst thou line / but if thou lose God thou canst not live. A greater reward shalt thou have for losinge of it in the fear of God / than if thou haddest given it in alms. For that is done with pain for the love of the Lord requireth a more worthy crown than that is done without pain.

Moreover I council the as my frinde (saith Chrysostom) if thou be a true Christian / that thou never compel any other man to swear. For whether he sweareth right or wrong / thou art not without danger afore God / cōsydering that Christ (whose • eruaunt thou oughtest to be) hath given the here a sore commandment to the contrary. Besydes that / though his othewere true / yet is not thy conscience clear from peruiry for so moche as the matter being doubtful unto the / thou puttest him to the dan̄ger thereof. And if it were false / thā hast thou enforced him to perjury / and so for lack of Christian charity lost both his sowle and thine own / for whom Christ suffered his death. Worse is he (saith S. Austyn) than an homicide / that compelleth a man to swear / whō he knoweth to forswear him self. For the homicide sleeth but the body / whereas he sleeth the sowle / yea two souls rather. That is to say / his sowle whom he compelled to swear / and his own sowle for so cōpellinge him.

O indiscreet person / what so ever thou art that compellest another man to swear. Lytel knowest thou what thou doest thereby. Moche more is it to his profit than to thine. For that periurye is to his lucre / and to thy loss. For he hath the money / nothing remaining unto the but thy part in the per • urye / with the curse and plage thereof. He that careth not to lie / regardeth as little to forswear him self. And like as he that lieth offendeth sore the verite / so doeth he that is perjured forsake both God and all godliness. Thus are the commaundmentes neglected / and neither God nor our neighbor regarded. No marvel therefore though the Lord knowing our infirmite / and how swyst we are to cast away our souls / did first inhibit us perjury / and than all manner of swearing. He hath forbydden swearing (saith Saint Gregory) that we should the more easily avoid all manner of occasion to periurye. He that feareth God / without an oath confesseth the verite. He that feareth him not / will not with an oth confess it.

He therefore that doubteth not to break God's commandment in swearing / doubteth not to forswear him self for a vauntage. Take hede also (saith Chris • stome) you that will be rekened for spiritual men. Uery swyft ye are to offer the sacred Gospel unto thē that sweat / where as ye ought to reach the contrary. If a man may not (saith Origen) in every light matter swear / no more may they that have aucthorite for every light matter compel a man to swear. Howe can you be clear from perjury / that ministre the occasiō? Maye he that beareth fire to the burninge of an house be free from the burning of it? Or he from the slaughter of a man that bringeth the weapon wherewith he is slain? Nay surely. But he that giveth occasion to perjury / must needs be a partener in the same. Withdrawe the fire / and there shall be no burninge. Cōuaye away the sword / and there shall be no murder committed. Seqnestor swearing / and there shall be no periurye. Oft swearing (saith Iūdorus) bringeth man to an use. And that use leadeth to a custom which bringeth in periurye. No need hath the verite of an oth / where the promise is faithful and sure.

All this is spoken for thē that swear by the Lord temerously. Moche more erectable is the wickedness of them that swear by the creatures / and more grievous the offense / than of them that swear by him only. For heaven / earth / the elements / and creatures hath he made to serve him in man's occupienge / and not that men should swear by thē. In the law is it also straightlye commanded / that non should be takē to witness in the truth but God the auctor of all truth. He therefore that sweareth by heavē / by earth / or by any other thing else / he maketh it equal to the verite / & so alloweth it for his god. For of no less value may that thing be that is taken to witness / than is the verite yt self which standeth in trial. A shame full idolatour therefore becometh he / that taketh any other thing than God to witness in the verite yea / though it be never so true that he sweareth.

For he perfourmeth not unto the lord his oath / but unto the elements & creatures / and so sinneth double. First he offendeth in breakinge the commandment / secondlye in that he maketh a god of that he sweareth by. This caused S. Jerome to say in his cōmentarye vpō saint Matthews Gospel / that our savior ded not inhybitt swearing by god / before a judge so that it were in a faithful cause / but by heaven and earth by Jerusalem and our head / with such like. For it was granted to the people in Moses law for a rule / that like as they were commanded to offer there sacrifices unto God / because they should not offer them to idols / so were they permitted to swear by there lord God. Because it was thought better for them to geu • there faith (which is therein required) unto God than unto devils. For the Jews upon a corrupt custom / were in • che given to swearing by the elements.

Consydre therefore that it was not for naught that Christ commanded you neither to swear by heaven nor earth / cy • ye nor temple / nor yet by the hear of your own heads. Whereas the bishops & spiritual lawyers sytteth in consystorye / a small matter is it rekened to swear by the lord / and therefore compel they men to swear by the gospel as by an higher thing. As though the creature were above the creator. Not unlike to the pharisees / which esteemed the gold offered in the temple moche greatter than the temple that sanctified the gold / and the offering upon the altar moche better than the altar that sanctyfyed the offering. In this prove they themselves not only blind / but also blind leaders of the blind. Moche more passeth those beastly belly gods upon the feadinge of there wreached bodies than upon God which is the life of there souls. Ther masses and money sacrifyes are the cause why they esteem an oath made upon the gospel boke to be far. about that oath which is made upon the eternal God / and not the • eryte which the gospel containeth.

O wretched idiotes (saith Chrisostoine the scriptures are ordained for god / and not God for the scriptures. Greatter is the lord that sanctifieth the gospel / than the gospel that is of the lord sanctified. The Turks or Mahometanes (whom we reken to be a very execrable sect) hath the holy name of god in such reverence / that they never swear by it / unless they be by mos • urgēt necessyte compelled. Neither cōmitt they the administracion of there common wealths to any man whom they know to be a swearer / be he never so rich / valeaunt / wise / learned / courragyous / or of noble birth. How that matter passeth among us Christyanes / all the world knoweth yea / though we say nothing of the periurye which daily regneth among us to far and to broad. And surely this dare I be bold to say / that all we know it is contrary to the commandment / will / and pleasure of God. yet doth the most part of us commit it.

And they that do it not / are not ones moved with pyte (as it would become all christen men) to se there bretheren so perish / or to se a lawful and charitable redress for it. They also which hath the laws in governance / and unto whō the judgments are committed / seeketh not by hard correcciōs the amendemēt of it / but everywhere it regneth vnponnished. A very light matter is swearige accounted nowadays in every man's mouthe / high and low / rich and poor / ruler and comonner / pryst & clarke / woman and child / to the utter contempt of god. If they be in dallyannce / play / and sport / nothing seemeth unto them pleasant / fresh / nor any thing worth / no thing cheerful or fytt to be lawghed a • / unless the cōmunicaciō be mixed with the blasphemy of gods name. If a matter shall be reasoned or a storre rehearsed in a company / the tale shall want his due circumstance / unless it be garnished with oaths.

Amonge the ruffeling rutters and galauntes of the world is not he rekened for a man of noble blood / that cannot swear by heaven / by the elements / by the trone of God / by the won̄des / blood / cross / in every assembly / and in every place he cometh in. This is the common rhetoryck / the florishinge manner of speaking / the clean / fine / pure / and beautiful language of our baptized broad / of our holy christen commynnalte / both in lords houses and bishops houses / more like bedlem beasts than christianes / yea / more like denyls of hell than men of reason & grace. No faute fyndeth our prelates in this / nor break of christen religiō / no more than thei do in the daily hauntinge of the stews and other shameful abominations. But these they releace with there mass sayings for money. For them that rede the scriptures they can find out grenous ponnyshmentes / but not for these enormyous excesses. This presumptuose sacrilege / this wicked knauerye / this malignaunt mischief against God offendeth them nothing at all.

The Jews tare there garments customablye whan they hard gods name blasphemed. But who among us showeth any manner of tokē that he is ones but discontented with it? where are those godly laws become that were wont to be head the blasphemer or else stone him unto death? where are the epytomes / pandectes / and institutes of Iustiniane the emprour that would suffer no such offenses remain vnponnyshed? where are the statutes ryall / that king Henry the fyft made also for swearers with in his own palace? that if he were a duke that ded swear he should forfett for every time .xl.s. to the aydinge of poor people. If he were a lord or barone xx.s. If he were a knight or a esquyre x.s. If he were a yemāne .xl.d. If he were a page a lackeye or a slave / to be scourged naked either with a rod or else a whyppe. All this is now forgotten and gone.

The old phylosophers abhorred the blasphemy of god / the poetes and oratours thought them worthy of greatt ponnyshementes / & we think no thing less. Cicero willed that neither swearing nor promise made by oath should be used for fear of periurye. Swear in no wise (saith Periander) if thou cannist by any means avoid it. If thou be wise (saith Phocylydes) thou shalt not swear with thy will / though the cause be never so good. If the matter lieth so (saith Pythagoras) that thou must needs swear / do it with greattreuerence. Periurye (saith Menander) can never be hid from God. Therfor rather lose thy matter than swear. For of hidden periurye (saith Tibullus) will a mischief follow either at one time or other. Se what a dangerous matter the profane phylosophers accounted swearing that never knew Christ / and we account i • nothing at all. They abhorred the wickedness of it / and we take it for a myrte pastyme.

Mene can seek out penaltees / and make new constitucions for them that labor to know God and to live after his laws / but for them that spyghtfullye abuse the name and glory of God / we can find non at all. And no marvel considering we are the right sworn children of periurye. Who hath so largely been perjured as prelates / priests / and religious? which at the receyiunge of there p • pishe degrees hath forsworn the verity of god / whom in baptym thei faithfully promised to stand by against all the de • yls in hell? yea / bring there laws / doctrynes / and doings unto the touche stone (which is gods word) & thou shalt find that they labor nothing else but the breakinge of that promise. How vnreuerentlye they have used there oath of allegeaūce to there princes and magistrates / I think the cronicles keepeth not in silence.

Whan paschal • s the bysshop of Rome had sworn to be true unto Henry the fort emproure / he gave him thereupon a wrytinge / which contained also the in • estiture of prelates. Not longe after that / whan he se his time / he called in Rome a general synod / where as he by counsel of his spiritual sorcerers breakinge both oath & privilege / ded excommunicate the good emproure / raised up his son against him / deposed him / empresoned him / & fynallye caused his body to be taken out of the ground at Leodium / and in a profane place to be beryed. yea / after his death / the son (whom he made to persecute the father) ded he also excommunicate and greuouslye vere. A like tragedy we have of Fredericus Barbarossa / whō pope Alexander the third made his fo • e stole at venys in the church of saint Mark / in the sight of the whole multitude to the rudiculous shame and rebuke of all the world. The next day after he made him to hold his styrope and like a page to wait upon his miile.

S ••• he the histories? also for those times in the which the holy bishops of Rome assoiled the people frō the obedience of there lawful kings. As zacharye the first / which assoiled the French men from there oath to king Hylderyck. Of Honorius the third and Johan the .xxii. assoylinge the Germans from there lawful emprours. Of Innocent the third assoylinge our English m • ne of there true allegeaūce frō there good king Johan / and such other to many to be reherced / and ye shall find wonders concerning that matter. Gyldos one of the most ancient writers of this nation / moche lamented the filthy behauer / swearing / and periurye of his cuntremenne the brytones. Kynge Iue / king Alfred / king Edward / and diverse other made laudable constituciōs of penaltees within this realm concerning the same.

Kynge Edmōde made this law that they which were proved ones falslye for sworn should forever be separated frō gods congregation. Donaldus the king of Scots made this act within his lande / that all periures and comō swearers should have there lips seated with a burnige hoote iron. Which law saint Lodowyck king of France put ones in execucion at Parys vpō a cytezen there for blasphemynge the name of Christ / to the example of other / & so caused it to be proclaimed through out his realm for a general ponnishment.

Philippeerle of Flanders / made this constituciō within his erldome in anno M.C.lxxviij. that he that ded forswere him self should lose his live & goods. Item Philippe the king of France / whom so ever he perceived / that either in taue • ne / or enye where elles / ye although he ware a grett man of dignyte / that ded blaspheme the name of god / he should be drowned. And caused a strong act to be made of it a little before his dethe / and left it unto his successors. Also Josephus council is this. That he which blasphemeth should be stoned / and then hanged up by the space of one day / and so taken down and buried without all manner of honor. Maximi lian{us} the emperor made also a decree / that what so ever he ware / that was a common swearer should for the first time lose a mark / and if he ware not content with that / should lose his head / which act he & the states of the empyre commanded to be published .iv. times in the yere at estern / whytsontyde / assumpcion of our lady and at cristemas.

In certain regions are yet to this day oaths so restrained / that what so ever he be that sweareth / he shall either lose a fyngar / an ear / or else his tongue. For periurye was the noble city of Troye lost / as witnesseth not only Uirgyle with other profane auctors / but also S. Austyn in his third boke and secōde chapter de cuntate Dei / and so hath many other cytees else. Tullius cicero hath in his first boke de officijs / that Marcus regulus a Ramane and a Pagan regarded so moche an oath that he ones made / that he had rather to throw himself into most miserable captivity and cruel death of his enemies thā to break it / and so to become a periure. Saint Aus • yn affyrming the same also in his first boke / and .xv. chapter de cuntate dei.

A wonderful narraciō hath S. Greg. in the • or • boke of his dyaloges / of a child of .v. years of age being in his fathers arms possessed of a denyll for swearing and blasphemynge the name of God. Besydes the terrible examples of the scripture / in Nemroth / Pharaoh / Hieroboam / Sennacherib / Benedab / Ahab / Nab • chodouosor Holofernes / Antiochus / Nicanor / Herod / and s • che like. The son of the Israelytishe widow was for blasphemynge of the name of God stoned unto death in the desert. For blasphemy of the servants of Sennacherib the king of the Assyrianes ded the angel of the lord 〈◊〉 h • ndred and .iv. score thousand of his hoos • e. The wicked queen Jezebel was for the same vice thrown out of a wyndowe / trodde upon with horses / and had her flesh deu • wred of dogs. Herodes antipas for be headinge Johan baptist to perform his wicked oath / was eryled into leons / and there departed in most miserable periurye. In swearing ded Peter both deny and forsake his lord and master Jesus Christ. Consydre by these and by other like examples / what the abomination of swearing is / and what vengeance of the lord hangeth over it.

The Seytheanes & Partheaues with other Heythen people had laws against lying & swearing / whom they would in no wise dysobeye. We have the great commandment of God with the gospel of Jesus Christ / which are laws far passying there laws. What devil of hell shall hold us back more than them / that we shall not regard them? If we have a lord God which create all at the beginning / and now gouer • eth all to our behoove. If we have a father which hath loved us / a Christ which hath redeemed us / and an holy ghost which daily conforteth us / where is the faithful obedyēce we owe them? If he be our god / why do we not fear him. If he be our heavenly lord / why do we not honor him? If he be our father / why do we not hartelye love him? If he be omnipotent / why do we not reverence him? If he be wise / why do we not learn of hī? If he be just of his promise / & true of his word / why do we not both hear him / believe him / and follow him?

If he be a master / why do we not serve him? yea / why do we not ones amende / at his most fearful thretteninges? Is it in the gospel ernestlye spoken unto us Christyanes / or unto dead stones? Let your communicacion be yea / yea / & nay / nay. What so ever is more than that / 〈◊〉 cometh of the very devil. Not unto a rottē post / nor yet unto a dumb beast was it said. Thou shalt not usurp the name of the lord God in vain. For the lord will not hold him gyltlesse that blasphemeth his name. The plage shall not depart from the house of the swearer. But it was spoken unto us / to whom God hath given reason / discression / remembrance / understanding / wit / conscience / faith / and grace / if we will apply our selves to the occupyenge of them. A man that were in trauase of lande and should lose it unless he told his tale wysely / would take good hede unto his words rather than he would lose it. And we for losynge our souls / (which Christ to witness / are moche more precious (will take no hede at all / but through cure blasphemous language / & daily swearing suffer all to go unto naught.

We moche marvel many times that the lord doth ponnishe us with derthe / war / pestilence / and cruel ex •• ciōs of tyrants. But we ought moche more to marvel / that heaven reyneth not wyldefyre and brimstone upon us as upon Sodom & Gomorre / & that the earth openeth not upon us and swalowe us in with Chore / Dathan / and Abiron / for so vnreuerentlye vsynge the name of God with our outragynge tongues / as the filthy mire in the stretes that we spurn forth with our fe • e. Oh / how coude the lord suffer such injury / were he not eternally • merciful? how coude he pacientlye bear it / were he not gracious / pytefull / longe sufferinge / and rydye to pardon wickedness? Soche continual swearers may well be compared unto those spyghtfull tormētours that spailed in Christ's face / that mocked him with a rede / crowned with thorn / & saluted him with / Ave rābbi. Nor unlike also are they unto those pratlynge Jews and scornful hypocrites / priests and pharisees / that went up and down by the cross whā Christ hynge upon it beckynge with there heads and casting abroad there arms / thinkinge that he coude not do so moche as ones save himself.

Lord give them repentance with grace ones to detest that abhominable vice / and not with Pharaoh to have there hearts so hardened that they finally perish in the rede see? A familyar example have I red in a boke called preceptorium Ioannis beets. Whom I wish they had in daily remembrance / for one natural properte in it of the child towards his father. A certain man there was (saith he) that supposed by his wife to have had .iii. sons. Upon a day as they chanced to varye / she • est in his tethe that there was but one of them his own. And which was he / she would never tell him unto the very death. It chanced this man as his • yme was come / to depart frō the wor • de / bequeathinge unto this unknown son of his / all his lands and goods. As this matter came before the law / the judge anon had in remembrance the wise fact of Solomon concerning the two women which strove for a child / & thought to use with these .iii. yōge menne contendinge for the heretage a like polycye. First he caused there dead father to be tied up hard unto a post / & than commanded them to shote ernestlye at him. Promysing that he which most depelye perced into his flesh should have • endred unto him the patrimonye.

The first and the seconde ded shote. The third abhorrynge i • as a thing most unnatural / would in no case do it / but sore rebuked his bretheren for so doing. And said / he had moche rather to lose it / tha • to do so vncomlye an act. By this was he judged the natural son of that man / and so enjoyed the inheritaūce of his father. A like judgment is to be had of these new crucifiers of Christ / as the doctors doth call them. No natural children of God are they / regenerate of the spirit / but very bastards / borne of flesh & blood. Not the children of promise are they with Isaac / but the carnal children of bondage with Ishmael / to whom belongeth nō heretage in Christ. These be no natural points of a loving son to buffett & beat his father / or to tear the flesh fro his bones. To name him in his most angre and spyght / or to spytte him our of his mouthe with cruelty and vengeance. But they are the fruits of an unreasonable beast / of an outrageous wode dog / of a furious serpent / of an ympe of hell / and a very lymme of the denyll.

Cham ded no more but discover the prenye pa • res of his father / and become both accursed for it / & also of a • re child a bond seruanaūt forever / both in him self & also in his posterite. What think ye than remaineth unto them / which in there daily language grea • lie doth dishonoure / unreverantly scorn / and with most spyghtfull cruelnesse blasphemeth there lord God / whom they ought not to think upon without fear / nor yet ones to name without reverence and tremb • y • ge / his omnipotent mageste considered. Nothinge so moc • e doth our sins displease God (consyderinge we are sinners / of very nature) as doth one willful continuance and weltringe in them. Oure bold contumacye / and sturdye presumptuosnesse are the things that most discontenteth him. Whan he calleth us by his preachers / we repent not. Whan he graciouslye admonisheth us by his warninges / we amende not. But still multiplye our wickedness / estemynge sin as nothing / and lyninge as we had no god of ryghtuousnesse.

Oh / let us ones be admonished by the Apostles and Prophets / the vnsayned massengers of the lord / that we may with David / zacheus / Magdalene / & Peter ernestlye repent from the heart. Lett us leave one time or other this wanton course of contempt / this rash ronnyng at large / at there wholesome warnynges / least our own mischief / sword / snare / & pride / be our confusion / as they were the utter confusion of Cain / Saul / Judas / and the proud blasphemer Simon magus. Thou wilt parauenture say unto me / I know the vice of swearīg damnable / and glad I would be to leave yt. But very hard it is to go from that is bred by the bone. A sore matter is it to pluck away that hath been sucked out of yowthe / and that hath taken rote of so longe contynnaunce. Therfor show me some convenient remedyes. Take these poor counsels / if all other fail. Praye first feruentlye unto God.

Desyre him to take from the that hard stonye heart / and to give the an heart more meek and gentle. Intreate him to make the of a lyon a lamb / of a persecutor a disciple / of a cruel Saul a meek spreted Paul. Consequentlye submytt thy affeccions and appetytes unto reason / and se that thy reason be evermore obedient unto the rewles of faith / contained in the scriptures. Flee from excess and ryott. Shurne the company of them that be blasphemous & vycious. Carrye with the where so ever thou goest / a sure intent and purpose to leave that vice. Detest it greatly in all other menne. Consydre what felicite thou shalt lose / & what infelicite thou shalt wynne / if thou still use it. And evermore with draw those things that might occasion the unto it. Hyde thy purse / and thou shalt not be robbed. Laye a side thy sword / and thou shalt not slee. With draw excess / & thou shalt not be drōke. Break the of thine ill custom / & thou shalt no longer swear.

Hauynge these consyderacions with such like / thou mayst sone leave it if thou wilt. These remedyes have I shown the / and these godly admonyshmentes have I given the / as one so inteyrlye hongeryng thy souls profyght in my inward spirit as mine own. Cōsydre how thy merciful father hath planted in the his own image / and le •• in thy f • eale vessel his incomparable treasure. Rendre it not ageyn unto him deformed with vice / and defiled with fynne. But se •• to be found in the day of his coming without spot / that thou mayst receive the inestimable reward / provided for them that love him trewlye. Amen.

The manner of saying grace after the doctrine of holy scripture.

A short instruction to the world.