3. Again, there is a due ariseth by voluntary promise. We make ourselves debtors, and it is part of justice to make good our promise, though it be to our own hurt and loss : Ps. sv. 4, ' He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.' All promises must be kept but those that are evil, and those are void in making. Why ? Because they are bonds of iniquity ; so they must be broken, and not kept ; and again, because they are contrary to the former promise we have made to God to obey his laws. It is evil to make a sinful promise, and it is a greater sin to keep it.
Second rule. Do injury to no man : Jer. xxii. 3, ' Do no wrong, do no violence.' Do no wrong to their persons, their names, or their goods.
1. Not to their persons ; that will not suit with the mildness of re- ligion. The apostle saith, Phil. ii. 15, ' Be blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke.' Man by nature is fierce, ' hateful, and hating one another,' Titus iii. 3 ; that is his disposition ; but now the children of God their nature is changed ; the Spirit of God is in all his members. Now Christ went about doing good ; he did no harm, neither was guile found in his mouth ; and if you would be the children of God, you must be like him, be harmless. That we may be mindful of this, the Lord hath given us an emblem of it almost in all things, among the birds, the beasts, the plants, the worms. Among the birds, natural men are compared to the eagle and the kite, birds that are ravenous ; and a christian to the dove : Mat. x. 16, ' Be harmless as doves.' Among the beasts, natural men are compared to the wolf and the lion, and a christian to the lamb. Among the plants, natural men are compared to briers and pricking thorns that cannot be touched. Saith the Spirit of God, ' The sons of Belial shall be as thorns thrust away, because they cannot be taken with hands,' 2 Sam. xxiii. 6. And the children of God are compared to the lily. And then among the worms ; wicked men are compared to vipers, Mat. iii. 7, ' 0 gene- ration of vipers ! ' And the children of God to an innocent worm apt
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to be trod upon, to receive injury, and do none : Ps. xxii. 6, ' I am a worm, and no man.' Usually in a well-ordered kingdom the fierceness of men is restrained by the severity of laws ; but yet it is bewrayed, and breaks out in fury against those that fall under the displeasure of tho magistrate, especially for matters of religion, out of blind zeal ; there civil men are fierce and cruel. And therefore it is notable that Paul, when he makes an acknowledgment of his natural condition, saith, 1 Tim. i. 13, ' I was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and injurious,' That Paul was a blasphemer of God and a persecutor of the saints is clear ; but how doth he say he was injurious, since elsewhere he said he * walked in all good conscience to this day ? ' I suppose it relates to the violence of his persecution, to his haling and dragging the saints out of their houses, having a commission from the rulers, Acts viii. 3, and that he calls injury. Thus it falls out, men are transported by irregu- larity, heats, and violence, and forget humanity. Now in such cases, though the cause be right, yet this violent dragging and insulting over those that are in their power is but natural rage let loose ; and this Paul confesseth to be his injur lousness, and a crime that kept the same pace with his blasphemy and persecution. True zeal is manifested by pity and compassion. The heights and fervours of zeal are only neces- sary when evil men are countenanced, and when it is dangerous to appear against them, not when they fall under our power ; then there is some pity due to their humanity.
2. Do no wrong to their names ; next to their persons this is to be valued. A slanderer is worse than a thief ; the one is publicly odious, but the other robs us of our better treasure : Prov. xxii. 1, ' A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches/ and more conducible to our usefulness for God than wealth. A wrong done to the estate is sooner repaired than a wrong done to the name of others, for a reproach divulged is hardly recalled ; when the wound is cured, yet the scar remains ; and therefore this is a very great evil to do wrong to their names ; especially when you reproach the godly, and do wrong to them, because their discredit lights upon religion. God is much concerned in the credit and honour of his servants. You hinder their service, and lay them open to the rage of the world. A blemished instrument is of little use. Num. xii. 8, saith God, 'AVere ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses ? ' To speak against persons eminent and useful for God in their age is to render them suspected to the world ; and who would drink of a suspected fountain ? You hinder their use and serviceableness. And the wrong is greater when one christian blemisheth another, for one scholar to speak against another, and one lawyer against another ; so for one christian to speak against another, it aggravates the injury. Therefore, when there is cause to speak against a man, it should be with grief.