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III.

Whosoever taketh an oath warranted by the word of God, ought duly to consider the weightiness of so solemn an act, and therein to avouch nothing but what he is fully persu ded is the truth; neither may any man bind himself by an oath to any thing but what is good and just, and what he believeth so to be, and what he is able and resolved to perform: h yet it is a sin to refuse an oath touching any thing that is good and just being I wfolly imposed by authority. ¿

g Exod. xx. 7. Jer. iv, 2. h Gen. xxiv, 1, 2, 3.5.6 89. i Num. v, 19, 21. Neh. v, 12. Exod. xxii, 11.

IV.

An oath is to be taken in the pl in and common sense of the words without equivocation or men, tal reservation. It cannot oblige to sin, but in any thing not sinful being taken it binds to performance, although to man's own hurt ; ? nor is it to be violated, although made to hereticks orrnfidels. m

k Jer. iv, 2. Psal. xxiv, 4. 31, 33. 34. Psal. xv. 4.

71 Sam. xxv, 22, Ezek. xvii, 16, 18,

19. Josh. ix, 18, 19, with II Sam. xxi, l.

V.

A vow, which is not to be made to any creature but to God alone, is of the like nature with a promissory oath and ought to be made

with the like religious care, and to be performed with the like faithfulness. n

n Psalms, lxxvi, 11. Jer. xliv, 25, 26. Psal. 1, 14, and lxv, 1. Isa. xix, 21. Eccl. v, 4, 5, 6. Psal. Ixi, 8, and Ixvi, 13, 14.

VI.

Popish monastical vows of perpetual single life, professed poverty, and regular obedience, are so far from being degrees of higher perfection that they are superstitious and sinful snares in which no christian may entangle himself. o

o Mat. xix, 11, 12. I Cor. vii, 2, 9. Eph. iv, 28. I Pet. iv, 2. I Cor. vii, 23.

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CHAP. XXIV.

Of the Civil Magistrate.

OD the supreme lord and king of all the world, hath ordained civil magistrates to be under him, over the people for his own glory and the publick good; and to this end hath armed them with the power of the sword, for the defence and encouragement of them that do good, and for the punishment of evil doers: e a Rom. xiii, 1, to 4. I Pet. ii, 13, 14.

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tion of Christ, was the last day of the week, and from the resurrection of Christ was changed into the first day of the week, i which in scripture is called the Lord's day, k and is to be continued to the end of the world as the christian Sabbath, the observation of the last day of the week being abolished. m

h Exod. xx, 8 to 11. Isa. lvi, 2, to 7. i Gen. ii, 2, 3. I Cor. vi, 1, 2. Acts, xx, 7. k Rev. i, 10. / Exod. xx, 8, 10, with Mat. v, 17, 18. 2 Col. ii, 16, 17. Heb. iv, 9, 10.

VIII.

This Sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord when men after a due preparing of their hearts and ordering their common affairs beforehand, do not only observe an holy rest all the day from their own works, words and thoughts, about their wordly employments and recreations, n but also are taken up the whole time in the publick and private exercises of his worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy. o

n Exod. xx, 8, and xvi, 23, to 30, and xiii, 12, to 18. Isa. Iviii, 13. Neh. xiii, 15, to 23. o Isa. Iviii, 13. Mat. xii, 1, to 14.

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CHAP. XXIII.

Of Lawful Oaths and Vows.

lawful oath is a part of religious worship, a wherein the person swearing in truth, righteousness and judgment solemnly calleth, God to witness what he asserteth, or promiseth, and to judge him according to the truth or falsehood of what he sweareth. b

a Deut. x. 20. b Jer. iv, 2. Exod. xx, 7. Lev. xix, 12. II Cor. i, 23. II Chron. vi, 22, 23.

II.

The name of God only is that by which men ought to swear, and therein it is to be used with all holy fear and reverence : c Therefore to

swear vainly or rashly by that glorious and dreadful name or to swear at all by any other thing is sinful and to be abhorred: d yet as in matters of weight and moment an oath is warranted by the word of God under the new testament as well as under the old, e so a lawful oath being imposed by lawful authority in sucli matters ought to be taken.f

c Deut. vi, 13. d Exod. xx, 7. Jer. v, 7. Mat. v, 34, 35, 36. James, v, 12. e Heb. vi, 16. II Cor. i, 23. Isa. lxv, 16. fl Kings, viii, 31. Ezra, x, 5.

Neh. xiii, 25.

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11.

It is lawful for chri tans to accept and exe cute the office of a magistrate when called thereunto: 6 in the management whereof as they ought especially to maintain piety, justice and peace, according to the wholesome laws of each commonwealth; c so for that end they my lawfully now under the new testament wage war upon just and necessary occasion, d b Prov. vii, 15, 16. Rom. xiii, 1, 2, 4. Psal. 11, 10, to 12. 1 Tim. 3. Psal. xxxii, 3, 4. II Sam. xxiii, 3. 1 Pet. i, 13. d Luke, iii, 14. Rom. xii, 4. Mat. vii, 9, 10. Acts, x, i,

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They who upon pretence of christian liberty shall oppose any lawful power, or the lawful exercise of it, resist the ordinance of God, and for their publishing of such opinions, or maintaining of such practices as are contrary to the light of nature, or to the known principles of christianity, whether concerning faith, worship or conversation, or to the power of godliness, or such erroneous opinions or practices, as either in their own nature, or in the manner of publishing or maintaining them are destructive to the external peace or order which Christ hath established in the church, they misy lawfully be called to an account, and proceeded against by the censures of the church, and by the

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