Sermons on Evil-Speaking by Isaac Barrow
page 40 of 130 (30%)
page 40 of 130 (30%)
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allowing us to cite Him for a witness, to have recourse to His bar,
to engage His justice and power, whenever the case deserveth and requireth it, or when we cannot by other means well assure the sincerity of our meaning, or secure the constancy of our resolutions. Yea, in such exigencies He doth exact this practice from us, as an instance of our religious confidence in Him, and as a service conducible to His glory. For it is a precept in His law, of moral nature, and eternal obligation, "Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God; Him shalt thou serve, and to Him shalt thou cleave, and shalt swear by His name." It is the character of a religious man to swear with due reverence and upright conscience. For, "The king," saith the psalmist, "shall rejoice in God; every one that sweareth by Him shall glory: but the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped." It is a distinctive mark of God's people, according to that of the prophet Jeremy, "And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name . . . then shall they be built in the midst of my people." It is predicted concerning the evangelical times, "Unto Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear:" and, "That he who blesseth himself in the earth, shall bless himself by the God of Truth; and he that sweareth in the earth, shall swear by the God of Truth." As therefore all other acts of devotion, wherein immediate application is made to the Divine Majesty, should never be performed without most hearty intention, most serious consideration, most lowly reverence; so neither should this grand one, wherein God is so nearly touched, and His chief attributes so much concerned: the which indeed doth involve both prayer and praise, doth require the |
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