A09376:1547
A cloud of faithful witnesses, leading to the heavenly Canaan, or, A commentary upon…A cloud of faithfull witnesses, leading to the heauenly Canaan, or, A commentarie vpon…
A cloud of faithful witnesses, leading to the heavenly Canaan, or, A commentary upon the 11 chapter to the Hebrews preached in Cambridge by that godly, and judicious divine, M. William Perkins ; long expected and desired, and therefore published at the request of his executors, by Will. Crashawe and Tho. Pierson, preachers of Gods Word, who heard him preach it, and wrote it from his mouth.A cloud of faithfull witnesses, leading to the heauenly Canaan, or, A commentarie vpon the 11 chapter to the Hebrewes preached in Cambridge by that godly, and iudicious divine, M. William Perkins ; long expected and desired, and therefore published at the request of his executours, by Will. Crashawe and Tho. Pierson, preachers of Gods Word, who heard him preach it, and wrote it from his mouth.
London: printed by Humphrey Lownes for Leo. Greene, 1607London: printed by Humfrey Lownes for Leo. Greene, 1607
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Quest. 3. What if a man be urged by fear to take an oath, must he afterward keep it? As for example: a man is taken of thieves; now, wanting money, they charge him on pain of death, to fetch them money, and they bind him hereto by an oath: what must be done in this case, considering there must such great care be had in keeping of an oath? Answ. So long as the thing which he is bound by oath to do, respecteth his private damage only, he must keep his oath; yet so, as he declare his case to the Magistrate, because their course is against the common good: now the Magistrate hearing of it, is according to equity, to provide for his defence, & for the safety of his goods.
Quest. 3. What if a man be vrged by feare to take an oath, must hee afterward keepe it? As for example: a man is taken of theeues; now, wanting money, they charge him on paine of death, to fetch them money, and they binde him hereto by an oath: what must bee done in this case, considering there must such great care bee had in keeping of an oath? Answ. So long as the thing which hee is bound by oath to doe, respecteth his priuate dammage onely, he must keep his oath; yet so, as he declare his case to the Magistrate, because their course is against the common good: now the Magistrate hearing of it, is according to equity, to prouide for his defence, & for the safety of his goods.
A second point to be considered, in Rahabs preservation, is this; Rahab escaped a common danger (but not without all means) only staying her self on the bare promise of the Spies: but, as she believed in the true God, so she used means, whereby she might be sure of her preservation, and that is this; She binds the Spies by an oath, to save her life, and to spare her household:1 also, she keeps within, and ties the cord of red thread in her window ▪ according to their mutual covenant. Thus she useth means for her temporal safety: and so have other of GODs children done in like case. When King Hezekiah (2. Kings 20.6