and his fucceffors, all treafon and traitorous confpiracies which I fhall know to be against him, or any of them. And do faithfully promife, to the utmost of my power, to fupport, maintain, and defend, the fucceffion of the crown against the defcendants of the faid James, and against all other perfons whatsoever; which fucceffion, by an act, entitled, An A&t for the further Limitation of the Crown, and better fecuring the Rights and Liberties of the Subject;' is, and stands, limited to the Princefs Sophia, Electorefs and Duchefs Dowager of Hanover, and the heirs of her body, being Proteftants. And all these things I plainly and fincerely acknowledge and fwear, according to thefe exprefs words by me fpoken, and according to the plain and common fenfe and understanding of the fame words; without any equivocation, mental evafions, or fecret refervation whatfoever. And I do make this recognition, acknowledgment, abjuration, renunciation, and promife, heartily, willingly, and truly, upon the true faith of a Chriftian. So help me God."

How many great men in high office and places of truft; how many officers in the army and navy; how many minifters in the churches and meetings; how many parifh officers and officers of excife; how many foldiers and failors, &c. &c. in the prefent hour of temptation, and according to the fpirit that is at this time gone forth in the world, lie

involved

involved in this guilt of perjury, and detained in the chains of their fins, as rebels against the throne of heaven.

But what is an oath? Many make very light of it, and tell you they take a glafs afterward, and fwallow it down: that is easily done, because of the affistance of Satan, who is always prefent at the taking of a falfe oath, as he is with a felf murderer, to lend a hand; and the reafon of Satan's prefence is, because God is not in all their thoughts. But although an oath is eafily fwallowed down, it is not fo eafily purged off. An oath was a light thing with Efau; he fold his birthright for a mefs of pottage, and fwore by God at the fale of it. Parting with his birthright was defpifing regeneration and God's predeftination to the adoption of fons; and when he found that the birthright and the bleffing were inseparable, he changed his mind, and would have willingly been perjured, if God, who was called in as a witnefs at the fale, would but have connived at his fin, and proved false to the purchafer: but he found no place of repentance in the immutability, faithfulness, and truth of God; no, nor yet in the bowels of his long-suffering mercy, nor in his eternal love in the Meffiah-and there is no other place where real repentance can work, flow out, or be drawn forth, but in these.

There must be something very dreadful in a falfe oath, or God would never have dealt fo hardly with Zedekiah, who swore falfely to the king of Babylon.

He was of the royal houfe of David, and king over the people of God, and tried to the utmost to escape the vengeance of the Chaldeans; he fled by the way of the plain, and many of his body guards ftuck to him, till the Chaldeans purfued him; they took and brought him to Riblah; all his wives, concubines, princeffes, and ladies of honour, were brought forth to the king of Babylon's princes; all his children were flain before his face, and afterward his own eyes were put out, and he was bound in chains, and carried to Babylon, where he died; and all this was no more than what was foretold him by God, who fpoke by his prophet Jeremiah.

An oath is for confirmation, and to put an end to all Strife; for by it a man appeals to the high court of heaven, and calls upon the faithful and true Witnefs to bear teftimony to the truth and integrity of his heart; and the other party, or parties, are to be contented with this, knowing that if he fwears truly, his righteoufnefs, which he vindicates in this his appeal, fhall be brought forth as the light, and his juft dealings as the noon day; but if falfely, that his fentence fhall be more juft, and the execution of it more dreadful, than can be pronounced or executed by all the courts of nations, because it will be inflicted on the foul as well as the body.

An oath is going the fartheft ftep that a man can go in affuring another of the truth and fincerity of his heart. It is a laying one's own foul,

and

and the falvation of it, as a pledge to a friend before God, and in his name affirming the truth we advance, at the expence of it.

Holding the Bible in our hand, implies that we hold the truth therein contained as our rule of faith and practice; kifling the book, fignifies our cordial embracing the things therein revealed; and calling upon God to help, is imploring his ftrength in our behalf, to enable us ftill to hold fast and embrace the things that make for our peace, and that we will forfeit all right and all claim upon God, his word, his providence, and his grace, his mercies, and his bleffings, which are contained in his word, if we call upon his facred name to bear witnefs to a known and wilful lie.

He that takes the oath of allegiance to a prince, muft yield obedience to him; 1 counfel thee to keep the king's commandment, and that in regard of the oath of God. Eccl. viii. 2. Some talk of a compulfive oath no man can compel me to challenge the perfections of God, either to cover a lie or to defy him to avenge it. It is faid of the king of Judah, that the king of Babylon made him swear; but God, who is not mocked, gave him up to hardness of heart as foon as he had violated his oath. Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned eleven years in Jerufalem. And he did that which was evil in the fight of the Lord his God, and bumbled not bimfelf before Jeremiah the prophet fpeaking from the mouth of the Lord. And he also rebelled

against the king of Babylon, who had made him fwear by God: but he ftiffened his neck, and hardened his beart from turning to the Lord God of Ifrael. 2 Chron. xxxvi. 11-13.

Perjury and rebellion against the higher powers are the two principal fnares and traps of Satan, in which he catches and entangles thoufands. In this bour of temptation these are the fins which the tempter lays at poor finners doors; and when either of these are admitted in, they pave the way for Satan himfelf to come into the heart. The devil was the first murderer; and when he takes poffeffion, he keeps revenge, malice, blood, and flaughter, boiling up in the heart, as he did in the heart of Cain: and fure I am, that no power under heaven can caft this spirit out, but that of God himfelf. Tom Paine was involved in the guilt of perjury before he wrote, for he had been an officer in the excife; and when he had broke through his oath, he foon breathed forth. his rebellion againft the higher powers; and fince that against God himself.

But in the fear of the Lord is ftrong confidence; and his children fbal have a place of refuge. The obedient Jews found God a little fanctuary in Babylon. The nations at large, who obeyed the voice of God, kept their own lands, and were under the protection of Providence, when thousands of the others perifhed: and though fome few of the Jews might gain fettlements in Babylon and elfewhere, and being not fuffered to return with the reft of the Jews at their

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