A saint or a brute the certain necessity and excellency of holiness, &c. ...…

Having thus interposed an Answer to their Objection, that say, Religion hath brought forth Rebellions (which I confess that Religion which teacheth Rebellion hath done; but the Christian Religion which condemneth it, and engageth men against it as aforesaid, doth not) I now proceed to some other proofs, that Godliness is the greatest security and establishment to Kingdoms and all Societies.

12. Godliness above all things engageth men to be true to their Covenants; to keep all their Oaths and Promises of Obedience to Kings and to other superiors; and to be faithful and trusty in all their duties to one another: So horrid is the sin of Perjury and Covenant-breaking, that God hath condemned it, not only in the holy Scriptures, but also in the Law of Nature. He will not bear with it in the Greatest Princes; how then shall Perfidious subjects scape? What fair excuses had Saul for his breaking the Vow and Covenant with the Gibeonites? He might have said, 1. They procured it from Joshua by a mere cheat. And therefore no benefit belonged to them from their own sin and fraud. 2. That Joshua not knowing who they were, ignordutis non est consensus. 3. That God had forbid to spare any of those Nations. 4. That it was not Saul that made this Oath and Covenant, but Joshua. 5. That Saul did it in zeal for the people of Israel. Yet for all this in Davids days there was a famine in the land, for this sin of Saul, which was not expiated till seven of his sons (or posterity) were hanged at the Gibeonites request: And though David might well see that he might be censured as contriving all this himself for the extirpation of the sine of Saul, yet would be not forbear the execution, 2 Chron. 21. And when the people murmured at Joshua and the Heads of Israel for sparing them at ⟨p. 175⟩first, they are answered with the Obligation of the inviolable Oath, Josh. 9.