Though the Oath be conceived by a Creature, as at least the immediate object of it, and so sinfully made in that respect; yet, being made, it tieth from respect due to God, who shineth in his Creatures, Math. 23.19, 20, 21. 9. Though the thing become impossible, if that impossibility might have been prevented by our searching our selves as far as in us lay, we are not freed from the guilt of Perjury, though the thing Sworn do now by our own slothfulness become impossible; or if the thing Sworn might have been performed before any such impossibility came on; or if we might have prevented it by our suitable circumspection and diligence. 10. Though a sinful Oath, to wit, being made on a sinful promise, in it self, bind not; yet the sinful condition being fulfilled it bindeth; as in the case of Judah, his promising a Kid to Tamar, upon that wretched condition of prostituting her self to his sinful Lust, who did offer the performance of what he had engaged to, upon that most sinful condition now fulfilled; for the condition being fulfilled, the promise is absolute, and the sin was not in giving the Kid, but in the condition that was made, which is past. 11. Much less will it exempt any man from the guilt of Perjury, that in Swearing he had a meaning of the words of the Oath, contrary to what in common sense they bear, & in the construction of all indifferent persons, or to their ⟨p. 138⟩meaning sine juramento, or extra juramentum; or that he had any reservation in his own mind; the first is, Equivocation; the second is mental Reservation, that have no place in such an Oath which should be plain, single, and clear. Neither 1 •. will a dispensation from any other, as for instance, from the Pope, who hath no power to dispense in Oaths, nor from lawful Superiors, except it be in things wherein by our relation to such Superiors we are subjected to them, loose the obligation of our Oath, nor free us from the guilt of Perjury; if, I say, the matter of the Oath be in things to which their power over us doth not extend, in such things doubtless they cannot dispense. 13. The obligation of an Oath cannot be loosed, nor the guilt of Perjury evited by commutation of the thing sworn, for it must be according to what has proceeded out of our mouth, Numb. 30.2. Psal. 15.4. 14. Nor can it be loosed, and Perjury eschewed, by any posterior tie and Oath:
Though the Oath be conceived by a Creature, as at least the immediate object of it, and so sinfully made in that respect; yet, being made, it tyeth from respect due to God, who shineth in his Creatures, Math. 23.19, 20, 21. 9. Though the thing become impossible, if that impossibility might have been prevented by our searching our selves as far as in us lay, we are not freed from the guilt of Perjury, though the thing Sworn do now by our own sloathfulness become impossible; or if the thing Sworn might have been performed before any such impossibility came on; or if we might have prevented it by our sutable circumspection and diligence. 10. Though a sinful Oath, to wit, being made on a sinful promise, in it self, bind not; yet the sinful condition being fulfilled it bindeth; as in the case of Judah, his promising a Kid to Thamar, upon that wretched condition of prostituting her self to his sinful Lust, who did offer the performance of what he had engaged to, upon that most sinful condition now fulfilled; for the condition being fulfilled, the promise is absolute, and the sin was not in giving the Kid, but in the condition that was made, which is past. 11. Much less will it exempt any man from the guilt of Perjury, that in Swearing he had a meaning of the words of the Oath, contrary to what in common sense they bear, & in the construction of all indifferent persons, or to their ⟨p. 138⟩meaning sine juramento, or extra juramentum; or that he had any reservation in his own mind; the first is, Aequivocation; the second is mental Reservation, that have no place in such an Oath which should be plain, single, and clear. Neither 1 •. will a dispensation from any other, as for instance, from the Pope, who hath no power to dispense in Oaths, nor from lawful Superiours, except it be in things wherein by our relation to such Superiours we are subjected to them, loose the obligation of our Oath, nor free us from the guilt of Perjury; if, I say, the matter of the Oath be in things to which their power over us doth not extend, in such things doubtless they cannot dispense. 13. The obligation of an Oath cannot be loosed, nor the guilt of Perjury evited by commutation of the thing sworne, for it must be according to what has proceeded out of our mouth, Numb. 30.2. Psal. 15.4. 14. Nor can it be loosed, and Perjury eschewed, by any posteriour tye and Oath:
