we are absent one from another. If thou shalt afflict my daughters,
or if thou shalt take other wives beside my daughters, no man is
with us; see, God is witness between thee and me. The God of
Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge
betwixt us."

So did Jacob make Joseph swear that he would bury him in Canaan:
and Joseph caused the children of Israel to swear that they would
translate his bones. So did Jonathan cause his beloved friend David
to swear that he would show kindness to him and to his house for
ever. The prudence of which course the event showeth, the total
excision of Jonathan's family being thereby prevented; for "the
king," 'tis said, "spared Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, because
of the Lord's oath that was between them."

These instances declare that there is no security which men can
yield comparable to that of an oath; the obligation whereof no man
wilfully can infringe without renouncing the fear of God and any
pretence to His favour.

Wherefore human society will be extremely wronged and damnified by
the dissolving or slackening these most sacred bands of conscience;
and consequently by their common and careless use, which soon will
breed a contempt of them, and render them insignificant, either to
bind the swearers, or to ground a trust on their oaths.

As by the rare and reverent use of oaths their dignity is upheld and
their obligation kept fast, so by the frequent and negligent
application of them, by the prostituting them to every mean and
toyish purpose, their respect will be quite lost, their strength