son into the world, saith God, let all the Angels in Heaven wor ship him, who saith swear not at all; and the judge said often, he would not dispute; and so then I spoke much to the jury, how that it was for Christ's sake, that which I did; and therefore none of them to act contrary to that of God in their consciences, for before his judgment-seat they must all be brought; and for all those things contained in the oath, as plots, and persecuting about religion, and the Pope's power, &c. I denied them in my heart, and I am a christian, and shall shew forth christianity this day, and it is for Christ's sake that I stand, for it is Lotish shabim de Col dabor; and they all gazed, and there was a great calm, and they took me away; but there were many more words, both to the jury and to them.

Then, in the afternoon, we was called again, where I stood among the thieves a pretty while, with my hat on, at the last the gaoler took it off; and when I was called to the bar, the jury brought in guilty for the king, and the judge asked me, What I could say for myself; I bid them read the indictment, I would not answer to that I did not hear; and, as they read, the judge bid them take heed it was not false again; and they read it so amazedly, that, when they spoke to me, I did scarcely understand what they said, and the judge asked me, What I would plead? I told them, I desired to have a copy of that indictment, and to have some time to answer to it, for the last I had but lately, and never heard it read but once, and then in the court, and so the judge asked me, What time I would have? And I said till the next assizes, and the judge said I should: Then he asked again, What I would plead? I told him I was not guilty at all of denying swearing, swearing obstinately and wilfully, and those things contained in the oath, as jesuitical plots, and foreign powers, &c. I utterly denied them; and he said, I said well in that: And the judge said, the king was sworn, the parliament was sworn, and the justices and he was sworn, and the law was upheld by oaths: I told them, they had sufficient experience of men's swearing; had not the justices and jury forsworn themselves? And had they not read the Book of Martyrs, how many of the martyrs suffered, because they could not swear, both in the ten persecutions, and in Bonner's days? And the judge said, I would the laws were otherwise: Then I said, our yea is yea, and our nay nay, all along; and if we transgress our yea and nay, let us suffer as they do that break an oath, and so to deny swearing is not a new thing in obedience to Christ's command; and I said this we had sent to the king, who said it was reasonable: And so, after several more words, I was had away to my chamber, being, as I was before, to answer to the indictment; and so the truth and power of the Lord God was glorious over all, and many spirits was crost grievously in their envy and malice.

There was many things spoken both to judge, jury, and people, which were too large to mention.

And so the judge told Margaret Fell her sentence, and I lie upon a new indictment.

G. F.

Something in answer to Bishop Lancelot Andrews's Sermon concerning Swearing, being one of his Sermons upon the Third Commandment; the place that he treats upon is in Jer. the ivth, the words are these: And thou shalt swear, The Lord liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness.

AND further, to prove the lawfulness of swearing, he brings Deut. vi. 13. Isa. xlv. 23.-Psal. Ixiii. and last ver. and how Abraham sware, Gen. xxi. 24. and Isaac sware, Gen. xxvi. 31. and Jacob sware xxxi. 33. and Abraham's servant sware, Gen. xxi. 24. and Gen. xxiv. 3. and Numb. xxx. 3. Which, saith he, an oath is to the lifting up of a burthen, as to the entering of a bond.

First, He saith an oath is to be used in solemn matters, and he brings these scriptures following out of the Old Testament to prove it, Psal. cxliv. 8. Numb. xxx. 3. Psal. cxix. 106. Psal. xv. 4. 2 Chron. Xxxvi. 13. Ezek. xvii. 12. Psal. cx. 4. Psal. lxxxix. 35. I Kings xxii. 16. Lev. v. 1. 1 Chron. xv. 15. Gen. xxiv. 3. and xlvii. 29.

Secondly, For the nature of an oath, he quotes cxix. Psal. 9. ver. and Numb. x. and last ver.

Thirdly, He speaks of the manner of an oath, and produceth for confirmation these scriptures following, Deut. xii. 8. Numb. v. 18. Dan. xii. 7. Rev. x. 5. 1 Kings viii. 31. Exod. xxii. 8.— Neh. v. 12. Numb. v. 19. Prov. xxix. 24. Judg. xvii. 2. Lev. v. 1. 1 Sam. iii. 27. 1 Kings xxii. 16. Gen. xxv. 33. 1 Kings

1. 13. Jer. xviii. 8.

First, As for all the above-mentioned scriptures which he hath quoted in the time of the law, and before the law, and the Angels swearing in the Revelations, do not prove that christians may swear; and we do grant ye the time before the law men did swear, and also the Angel swore, But Christ is come, the first begotten, whom God hath brought forth into the world, and saith, Let all the Angels worship him: And this is my beloved Son, hear ye him, saith God. And Christ saith, how that, in the old time, men was to perform their oaths to the Lord; these were their true oaths, which they were to perform, and they were not to swear falsely, but to perform their oath to the Lord: So here Christ, in his doctrines, lets them see the false oaths and the true oaths in the old time; and that was the true oath to swear by the Lord, and to swear, The Lord liveth; and every tongue should swear; and Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and Joseph, and the Prophets sware; but Christ is the end of the Prophets, and doth fulfil the law, and reigns over the house of Jacob and Joseph; and, Before Abraham was, I am, saith Christ. And so, though they sware before the law, and under the law, and the Angel in the Revelations sware, and the Angel that sware by the Lord, as the oath was in the time of the law, and before the law; and this was the oath that Christ minds them on in his doctrine here, that they were

to perform to the Lord; yet now mark his doctrine, which he himself lays down and commands: But I say unto you now, Swear not at all,' &c. Matth. v. 34. In the Hebrew language it But let your communication be yea, yea, nay, nay; whatsoever is more than these, cometh of evil' In the

לא תשכען דכל דבר,,is

זהיה רבדכם כן כן אין אין וכל אשר יותר מאלח מדעהוא:,Hebrew it is

And, for further proof, see how James lived in the same doctrine and practice, and held it forth to the twelve tribes, which was the Jews, who had the oath of God, and was to swear in the time of the law; see his general epistle, in the fifth chapter, and also speaking, in the second chapter, of such as drove them before the judgment-seat; but, in the fifth chapter, this is his command: Above all things, my brethren, swear not at all, neither by heaven, nor by the earth.' In the Greek it is, Πρὸ πάλων δὲ, αδελφοί με, μὴ ὀμπελς, μήτε τὸν ερανὸν, μητε τὴν γῆν. This you may call creatures, or made things; but mark, James goes further, and saith, μητε άλλον τινα ὅρκον, nor by any other oath; but let your yea be yea, and your may be nay, lest you fall into condemnation;' δὲ ὑμῶν τὸ ναὶ, καὶ, καὶ τὸ δ, ε· ἵνα μὴ ὑπὸ κρίσιν πέσηλε.

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Mark the danger now, and whether we have not ground enough, in the fear of the Lord God, to obey Christ's commands, and the Apostle's doctrine, lest we fall into condemnation and evil.' We have set some words done in the Greek tongue, that those, it most concerns, may see the original; but the spirit is our's, and the commands of Christ, and the Apostle's doctrine, to be obeyed, in what tongue soever it be written in. But we would query the thing with any, Whether the Apostle James, who wrote to Jews, and not to Gentiles, did not write in the Hebrew tongue, and not in Greek? And, if so, then his words to them, in this particular,

זעל כל דברים אהי אל-תשבעו לא בשמים זלא בארץ זלא באלה,are אחרת זיהי דברכם כן כן זאין אין פן תפלן במשפט

The pricks, points, and accents, and the plain and naked interpretation of the Hebrew words we have left for them, it most concerns, to add.

Secondly, As for all the scriptures, he brings against rash swearing and false swearing, it would rejoice our hearts to have the priests do that, and the magistrates punish it; for a couple of railing priests came the other day, and sware before our faces lightly and vainly, and justified it, when they had done. It would become magistrates, and them, better, if they did not suffer an oath to be heard in the towns, or markets, or alehouses, or streets, you that have power not to suffer those things; for you would have work enough to restrain such things, and such persons, and not to fall upon the innocent, which, in obedience to Christ's commands, and the Apostle's doctrine, cannot swear, for conscience sake. For imprisoning such emboldens people to swear; and, Would it not be better for people, and would ye not shew forth more christianity, to keep to yea and to nay, in all their com. munications, according to Christ's commands, and the Apostle's doctrine?

Thirdly, There was bond, in the old time, by oath; but

Christ, he looses from the bonds, and brings to peace and liberty, and makes free, and saith, Swear not at all;' and so. though we be in outward bonds, it is for Christ Jesus sake, and the word of God is not bound.

Fourthly, And though Moses sware in the time of the law, and Abraham's servants sware, yet Christ, the Son, saith, Swear not at all,' and we are to hear him in all things, the great Prophet. Fifthly, And as for the ceremonies of the oaths, Christ is the substance of all ceremonies, that saith, Swear not at all.'

Sixthly, And, though David sware, he, that David called Lord, saith, Swear not at all,' and he is upon his throne.

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Seventhly, And where he saith, Thou shalt swear by the Lord, and swear, The Lord liveth, they were not to swear by them that were no Gods, nor creatures, nor by the earth, nor by heaven, or by the hand, or by Jerusalem;' Now, what are the oaths that all Christendom swears, both papists and protestants? Whether it be the oath that was amongst the Jews, and whether or no they practise the oath that they do now, and whether or no is that ceremony now used? If not, When did God alter it? Where about in scripture, and in what place of scripture is it, that he sets this way and ceremony of swearing in Christendom, both amongst papists and protestants, which is to swear by the book, and by the Evangelists? Is this beyond the Jews swearing, by the city, or by the head, or by the temple, which Christ forbid, and not only those oaths, but the oath of God, which the Jews was to swear by? Answer these things.

Eighthly, And as for Zedekiah's oath to Nebuchadnezzar, and Joseph's oath to Pharaoh, this was in the time that oaths were to be performed amongst the Jews and Patriarchs; and what is this to Christ's doctrine which forbids oaths, which oaths were before Christ came?

Ninthly, And as for the oath of supremacy and the other, it is to acknowledge the king of England, and allegiance to him, which things hath been manifest and practised by us, but not by such as swore allegiance to the king's father, and swore the one way and the other way: And hast not thou, and many of you, taken the oath against him? And such as have sworn one while for him, and another while against him, How are they in allegiance to him that swears one way and another way? And cannot there be, in truth and faithfulness, allegiance to the king without swearing? For now, How should we stand in allegiance to Christ, if we did not obey his commands, the King of Kings abo? For he commands us not to swear, but keep to yea and nay; and one of his great ambassadors to nations, that went with his message to the twelve tribes, saith, Above all things, my brethren, swear not at all, lest you fall into condemnation.'

Tentbly, There were two states of oaths; the one was, that peo le was to perform to the Lord and swear; and the other was, that God sware by himself concerning his Son Christ Jesus, which, when he came who fulfilled God's oath, he ended the other oath,

and saith, "Swear not at all,' and calls the first oath the old time; he fulfilled the truth, and let them see how, in the time of the law, false oaths were forbidden in the old time, and heathenish oaths were forbidden in the time of the law, for they were not to swear by Baal, but they were to perform their oaths to the Lord, which Christ saith unto them, Swear not at all,' and so he ended that oath; so there are no oaths before the fall, and there are no oaths in the restoration again by Christ Jesus, but yea and nay, according to his doctrine; but amongst Moses and the Prophets, and in the old time before Moses and the Prophets, men did swear, as Abraham and Isaac, &c. But he, the great Prophet, is come, that is to be heard in all things, and he, the oath of God, Christ Jesus, stands and remains.

Eleventhly, The Apostles speaking to the Hebrews, swearing by a greater, which was an end of controversy and strife amongst them, he brought this as a similitude, not that the Hebrews should swear, for, if he had, he had contradicted James, which wrote to the twelve tribes his doctrine to them, which were Hebrews; but he brought it as a similitude, that the oath, which men sware by the greater, ended strife; but God, not finding a greater than himself, he sware concerning his Son, which is Christ, who ends the strife, who destroys the devil and his works, the author of strife; for the oath, in the time of the law, ended the strife; but we see oaths, now-a-days, begins it; and why? The matter is, because in Christ Jesus men do not live, who is the Peace and God's oath.

Twelfthly, Whereas the bishop saith, That they hold in Divinity, that to swear, of and by itself considered, is an act forbidden no less than to kill, &c.

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Answer, In the time of the law they killed and swore; but Christ saith, 'Swear not at all;' and also, he saith, Love enemies ;' And how do these agree to kill and to love enemies, and love one another: ' And if one strike thee on the one cheek, turn the other to him.'

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And this paralleling the magistrates executing justice upon malefactors; as,He that sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed again;' Is not a paralleling with Christ's doctrine, who saith, Swcar not at all,' for that may be done by witnesses without oath, as thou mayest read the scriptures in the old time, when oaths were denied in the primitive time amongst the primitive christians, who were in Christ's doctrine, thou mayest read how they did things by witnesses; as the Apostle speaks, in the mouth of two or three witnesses, &c. Which place he instances of what was done in the time of the law, which was a statute of judgment amongst the Jews, Whosoever killeth any person, the murtherer shall be put to death by the mouth of witnesses,' &c. But no oaths are mentioned here, Numb. xxxv. 30. with Heb. x. 28. read that throughout, and also Deut. xix. 15, and 1 Kings xxi. 10, &c. And many more scriptures might be alledged, which you, that have read scriptures, are not ignorant of.