perfon, prelate, ftate, or potentate, hath, or ought to have, pre-eminence or authority, ecclefiaftical or fpiritual, within this realm. So help me God." The oath of abjuration is after the following manner:

"I do truly and fincerely acknowledge, profefs, teftify, and declare, in my confcience, before God and the world, that our fovereign lord King George is lawful and rightful king of this realm, and all other his majesty's dominions thereunto belonging. And I do folemnly and fincerely declare, that I do believe, in my confcience, that not any of the defcendants of the person who pretended to be Prince of Wales during the life of the late King James the Second, and fince his decease pretended to be, and took upon himself the ftile and title of King of England, by the name of King James the Third; or of Scotland, by the name of James the Eighth; or the ftile and title of King of Great Britain; hath any right or title whatsoever to the crown of this realm, or any other of the dominions thereunto belonging. And I do renounce, refuse, and abjure, any allegiance or obedience to any of them. And I do fwear, that I will bear faith and true allegiance to his majesty King George, and him I will defend, to the utmost of my power, against all traitorous confpiracies and attempts whatfoever, which fhall be made against his perfon,. crown, and dignity. And I will do my utmost endeavour to difclofe and make known to his majefty,

and his fucceffors, all treafons and traitorous confpiracies which I fhall know to be against him, or any of them. And do faithfully promise, to the utmost of my power, to fupport, maintain, and defend, the fucceffion of the crown against the defcendants of the faid James, and against all other perfons whatsoever; which fucceffion, by an act, entitled, An Act for the further Limitation of the Crown, and better fecuring the Rights and Liberties of the Subject;' is, and ftands, limited to the Princefs Sophia, Electorefs and Duchefs Dowager of Hanover, and the heirs of her body, being Proteftants. And all these things I plainly and fincerely acknowledge and fwear, according to thefe express words by me fpoken, and according to the plain and common fenfe and understanding of the fame words; without any equivocation, mental evafions, or fecret refervation whatsoever. And I do make this recognition, acknowledgment, abjuration, renunciation, and promife, heartily, willingly, and truly, upon the true faith of a Chriftian. So help me God."

How many great men in high office and places of truft; how many officers in the army and navy; how many ministers in the churches and meetings; how many parish officers and officers of excife how many foldiers and failors, &c. &c. in the prefent hour of temptation, and according to the fpirit that is at this time gone forth in the world, lie involved

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involved in this guilt of perjury, and detained,in the chains of their fins, as rebels against the throne of heaven.

But what is an oath? Many make very light of it, and tell you they take a glafs afterward, and fwallow it down: that is eafily done, because of the affiftance of Satan, who is always prefent at the taking of a falfe oath, as he is with a self murderer, to lend a hand; and the reafon of Satan's prefence is, because God is not in all their thoughts. But although an oath is eafily fwallowed down, it is not fo eafily purged off. An oath was a light thing with Efau, he fold his birthright for a mefs of pottage, and swore by God at the fale of it. Parting with his birthright was defpifing regeneration and God's predeftination to the adoption of fons; and when he found that the birthright and the bleffing were infeparable, he changed his mind, and would have willingly been perjured, if God, who was called in as a witnefs at the fale, would but have connived at his fin, and proved falfe to the purchafer: but he found no place of repentance in the immutability, faithfulness, and truth of God; no, nor yet in the bowels of his long-fuffering mercy, nor in his eternal love in the Meffiah--and there is no other place where real repentance can work, flow out, or be drawn forth, but in thefe.

There must be something very dreadful in a falfe oath, or God would never have dealt fo hardly with Zedekiah, who fwore falfely to the king of Babylon.

He was of the royal houfe of David, and king over the people of God, and tried to the utmost to efcape the vengeance of the Chaldeans; he fled by the way of the plain, and many of his body guards ftuck to him, till the Chaldeans purfued him; they took and brought him to Riblah; all his wives, concubines, princeffes, and ladies of honour, were brought forth to the king of Babylon's princes; all his children were fin before his face, and afterward his own eyes were put out, and he was bound in chains, and carried to Babylon, where he died; and all this was no more than what was foretold him by God, who spoke by his prophet Jeremiah.

In cath is for confirmation, and to put an end to all Bife; for by it a man appeals to the high court of heaven, and calls upon the faithful and true Witnefs to bear teftimony to the truth and integrity of his heart; and the other party, or parties, are to be contented with this, knowing that if he fwears truly, his righteoufnefs, which he vindicates in this his appeal, fhall be brought forth as the light, and his juft dealings as the noon day; but if falfely, that his fentence fhall be more juft, and the execution of it more dreadful, than can be pronounced or executed by all the courts of nations, because it will be inflicted on the foul as well as the body. An oath is going the fartheft ftep that a man can go in affuring another of the truth and fincerity of his heart. It is a laying one's own foul,

and

and the falvation of it, as a pledge to a friend before God, and in his name affirming the truth we advance, at the expence of it.

Holding the Bible in our hand, implies that we hold the truth therein contained as our rule of faith and practice; kiffing the book, fignifies our cordial embracing the things therein revealed; and calling upon God to help, is imploring his strength in our behalf, to enable us ftill to hold faft and embrace the things that make for our peace, and that we will forfeit all right and all claim upon God, his word, his providence, and his grace, his mercies, and his bleffings, which are contained in his word, if we call upon his facred name to bear witness to a known and wilful lie.

He that takes the oath of allegiance to a prince, muft yield obedience to him; I counfel thee to keep the king's commandment, and that in regard of the oath Some talk of a Some talk of a compulsive

of God. Eccl. viii. 2.

oath-no man can compel me to challenge the perfections of God, either to cover a lie or to defy him to avenge it. It is faid of the king of Judah, that the king of Babylon made him fwear; but God, who is not mocked, gave him up to hardness of heart as foon as he had violated his oath. Zedekiab was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned eleven years in Jerufalem. And he did that which was evil in the fight of the Lord his God, and bumbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of the Lord. And be alfo rebelled

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against