A20760:149
Four treatises tending to dissuade all Christians from four no less heinous then common…Foure treatises tending to disswade all Christians from foure no lesse hainous then common…
Four treatises tending to dissuade all Christians from four no less heinous then common sins; namely, the abuses of swearing, drunkenness, whoredom, and bribery. Wherein the greatness and odiousness of these vices is discovered; and the means and remedies, which may either preserve, or wean men from them, are propounded. Whereunto is annexed a treatise of anger. By John Downame Bachelor in Divinity, and preacher of Gods word.Foure treatises tending to disswade all Christians from foure no lesse hainous then common sinnes; namely, the abuses of swearing, drunkennesse, whoredome, and briberie. Wherein the greatnes and odiousnesse of these vices is discouered; and the meanes and remedies, which may either preserue, or weane men from them, are propounded. Whereunto is annexed a treatise of anger. By Iohn Dovvname Batcheler in Diuinitie, and preacher of Gods word.
London: printed by Felix Kyngston for William Welby, 1609
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.
In the tenth place it may be demanded,1 whether any man ⟨p. 65⟩hath just authority to dispense with a lawful oath? I answer,2 that howsoever the man of sin, the Antichrist of Rome herein matching himself as equal with God, arrogateth this authority to dispense with lawful oaths, and to free subjects from their sworn allegiance unto their lawful Sovereigns; yet the truth is, that no mortal man hath this power to dispense with an oath being lawful, because the Lord hath by his law bound us unto performance; for he hath charged us not to take his name in vain, and that we should not forswear our selves, and by our perjury pollute his holy name;3 and who can countermand that which the Lord hath commanded? and he hath conjoined our lawful promises with the performance of them by the religious bond of an oath; who therefore can loose that which God hath bound? who can separate and put asunder those things which by his word he hath joined together? Whereof it plainly followeth, that our Jesuits, Priests and other Papists, who having formerly taken the oath of allegiance, and sworn to the supremacy of their lawful Sovereign, and afterwards reconcile themselves to the Pope, maintain his supremacy, deny their allegiance to their King, and so violate their former oath, trusting to the Popes dispensation; are no better then perjured persons in the sight of God and of all his faithful servants. Yea, but if a promise be confirmed with an oath between man and man, may not he unto whom the promise is made, and whom it only concerneth, release the other of his promise, and so free him from his oath? I answer, that no man hath this authority; for in every lawful promissory oath, the swearer obligeth himself in a double bond, the one is from man to man, the other from man to God; now howsoever he to whom the promise is made, may free the swearer from all claim and challenge of the promise made unto him, so far forth as it lieth in his own power; yet he hath no authority to free him from his oath, because that is not only made unto him, but also unto God himself, and therefore he only can dispense with it. And hence it is that an oath made between man and man is called notwithstanding the oath of the Lord,