VOL. III. I i
498 COMMENTARY ON
mourn for it ; because wlicrc the magistrates cease to do their office, God will do his ofticc. "Where sin is punished, God will not punish. Where the magistrate spares, God will not spare. He will punish. There- fore this sin where it is not censured and punished, the land shall mourn for it.
If the care of the kingdom will not move them, yet the care of their owb houses and iiimilies should. In Zech. v. 1, the prophet speaks of a flying book of judgments that should come upon the house of the swearer, and consume the posts of his house. And the wise man saith in Ecclesiasticus (though it bo apocryphal), ' The plague shall not depart from the house o the swearer,' iii. 11.* God's vengeance accompanies even the very family and house of the swearer.
And, for avoiding of this, I would there were more conscience made of those oaths that border upon gross oaths. I will not dispute the matter. Take it for granted they be no oaths, but asseverations, as to call their truth in question, and their confidence in matters of religon ; who will lay a thousand pound to pawn for a matter of sixpence ? Who, if he be discreet and considerate, will lay his faith and religion to pawn for every trifle in common talk ? Faith is the most precious thing in the world : for a man to lay a great matter for a twopenny or sixpenny debt, it is odious among men. Certainly, it is idle at the best among men, to lay asseverations of religion without ground, upon every trifle. He that will avoid danger must not come near it ; he must avoid all that borders upon it. I would there- fore more care were had, even of these.
I will only add one thing more. Whereas he calls God ' for a record upon his soul,' that those that are overmuch given to rash calling upon the name of God, to rash swearing, let them know this, as I said, that there is an imprecation implied in every oath : they do as it were curse themselves. If the thing be not true, their damnation is sealed under a cm'se : they call God to record upon theii* souls against themselves.
Let us so live that our life may be a kind of oath : the life of a Christian should be so. An oath is a calling God to witness, a calling God to curse if it be not so. A Christian should live so, as he may call God to witness for every action he doth ; to bring himself to an oath, under a curse oft-, times, as it is in Ezra, and oft in Scripture, ' If I do not so and so,' vii. 23, &c. Because our nature is unstable, it startsf from holy duties, we should bring ourselves to duties with an oath, under a curse.
It is an excellent thing when we can live as in God's presence ; to do all we do in the presence of God. God is a witness whether we call him or no. Therefore we should so carry ourselves, that we might call God to witness the sincerity of our aims, and whatsoever we do. He is a witness, and he will be our judge : therefore, whether we formally in the manner of an oath call him or no, that is not the matter, but let us know and think that he is, and will be so.
I beseech you consider the sweet comfort that will arise out of it, that he that will live and think and afiect,| and speak in the presence of God, that he may call God to record of the sincerity of his intentions, of all that he speaks, and thinks, and doth ; how comfortably shall he live, and give, his account to God, that hath hved as in the presence of God all his days ! He that hath presented to his soul, as it were, the bar of Christ in his life- time, that hath lived as one that could give an account and reckoning,
* Cf. footnote, vol. II. page 351. — G. J That is, ' choose, love.'— G.
t That is, ' turns aside.' — G.
2 CORINTHIANS CHAP. I, VER. 24. 499
when he comes to the point that he must p,[ve np his account, how joyfully and comfortably will he do it ! So much for that verse. I come now to the last verse of the chapter.
VERSE 24.
* Not that u-e have dominion over your faith, hut are helpers of your joy ; for by faith ye stand.'' St Paul is yet in his clearing, he is yet in his apo- fogy. ' Not that we have dominion over your faith,' &c. I do not tell you, I came not yet to ' spare you,' as if I meant to domineer over your faith when I came. Because those words, ' I came not yet, to spai'e you,' might seem to carry some highness, some lordliness with them, as if the apostle would have taken much upon him ; therefore he corrects those words in this verse, ' Not that we have dominion over your faith,' &c. So that in these words he removes a suspicion of spiritual tyranny over them. Because he had said before, ' he came not, to spare them,' they might think. What would he have done if he had come '? would he have enforced us ? Oh no ! Indeed your reformation hath spared me a labour, and you a chiding ; but if I had reproved you sharply, it should have been for your good.