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Arms, defpife not the Business of a Soldier, left thou perish miserably. Maximilian re

ply'd, I fhall not perish, and if I leave this World, my Soul will live with Chrift my Lord. • Dion then faid, ftrike his Name out; and when it was done, Dion faid, because with a Rebelli<ous Mind thou haft refus'd to bear Arms, thou fhalt be punifh'd according to thy Deserts, for an Example to others: And then he read his • Sentence. Maximilian, because thou hast with a • Rebellious Mind refus❜d to bear Arms, thou art to die by the Sword. Maximilian reply'd, Thanks be to God. He was Twenty Years, three • Months and seventeen Days old. And when he was led to the Place of Execution, he spake thus: My dear Brethren, endeavour with all your Might, that it may be your Lot to fee the Lord, and that he may give you fuch a Crown, • and then with a pleasant Countenance he said to his Father, give the Executioner the Soldier's • Coat thou had'ft got for me, and when I fhall

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' receive

of Chrift; but what Sort of Chriftians those were that Dion fpoke of that could fight, we can only guess at; They might indeed bear the Name of Chriftians as Multitudes do now a-days, but certainly they were not fo well convinced, or at least not fuch ftrict Followers of Chrift's Doctrine, as this Maximilian and some others whofe Names are upon Record, who chose rather to die than to bear Arms and fight for this World, which they could not do, without tranfgrefing the Precept and Command of Chrift. Matt. v. 44. Love. your Enemies, bless them that curfe you, do good to them that bate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and perfecute you. That ye may be the Children of your Father which is in Heaven, for he maketh his Sun to rife on the Evil and on the Good, and Jendeth Rain on the Fuft and on the Unjuft. And of the Apoftle, 1 Thefs. v. 15. See that none render Evil for Evil unto any Man: but ever follow that which is good, both among your felves, and to all Men.

• receive thee in the Company of the bleffed Martyrs, we may alfo rejoice together with the • Lord, and thus he fuffer'd. His Mother Pom•peiana obtain'd his Body of the Judge, and carried it to Carthage, and buried it near the Place where the Body of Cyprian the Martyr lay; and thirteen Days after the Mother dy'd, and was bury'd in the fame Place: And Victor his Father return'd to his Habitation rejoicing, ⚫ and praifing God, that he had fent before fuch a Gift unto the Lord, himself expecting to follow • after.

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THE Reader has now a Testimony against bearing Arms and Fighting, remarkable both for its Antiquity, and the Tokens it bears of the Courage and Fortitude fo confpicuous in the Primitive Christians; we shall therefore leave Him to decide which were the true Servants and Disciples of Chrift, who faid to Pilate, My Kingdom is not of Joh.18.36 this World, if my Kingdom were of this World, then would my Servants fight, whether fuch Chriftians as this Maximilian was, or fuch as Dion faid, were of Diocletian's Guard and did fight. And let the Church of Rome, which boafts fo much of her Faith and Tradition, fee whether fhe has continu'd in the Faith and Practice of the holy Ancients and Martyrs of Christ.

O F

O F

SWEARING.

TH

HE Opinion or Principle of the Quakers that all Oaths are forbidden by Chrift, is grounded on these Words of Scripture, SwEAR NOT AT ALL, but let your Commuuication be Yea, Yea, Nay, Nay, for whatsoever is more than thefe cometh of Evil. Mat. v. 34. And James v. 12. But above all Things my Brethren fwear not, neither by Heaven, neither by the Earth, neither by ANY OTHER OATH; but let your Yea be Yea, and your Nay, Nay, left ye fall into Condemnation.

* Bishop Burnet in his Expofition of the 39 Articles. Arti, 39. Says It must be confe'd that thefe Words feem to be fo exprefs and pofitive, that great Regard is to be bad to a Scru ple that is founded on an Authority that feems to be fo full.

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And the learned Huetius Bishop of Avranches in France, fays, It is well known by that Precept of Chrift, Mat. V. 34. • That Swearing is to be intirely avoided, and the fame is repeated in the Epistle of Fames Ch. v. 12. And Fofephus fhews that the Effenes look'd upon an Oath to be worse than Perjury, because he feem'd to be already condemn'd, who could not be believ'd unless he attefted the Name of God. And when Maimonides would prove the fame Thing, • he makes use of the very Words of Chrift. But let us re⚫ turn to Pythagoras, whofe Precept about Swearing was obferv'd fo ftrictly by his Difciples, that one of them would let a Fine of three Talents be fet upon him, rather than ⚫ affirm the Truth by Swearing. He is call'd Syllus by Fam lichus, but Clinias by Bafil. The whole Nation of the Phrygians were very much againft Oaths, they neither requir❜d others to take them, nor did they take them themselves. Amongst the Adages or Proverbs of the Arabs this is a celebrated one, Never Swear, but let thy

Word,

143

WE think no Words could more pofitively prohibit Swearing and Oaths of any Kind whatever, than these Words of Chrift and the Apostle James. The Words of Christ, For whatsoever is more than thefe cometh of Evil, plainly denote that any Kind of Oath is contrary to Righteousness, and comes from Evil; and 'tis very plain and evident, that the Tendency of Chrift's Precepts deliver'd in that Sermon upon the Mount, is to remove and take away the very Grounds and Caufe of Evil; how then fhall we reconcile the Expofition which fome Divines, fo call'd, have given of the Words Swear not at all, who fay, That Chrift has by thofe Words only prohibited Voluntary Oaths and fwearing in common Conversation and Difcourfe?

DOES not fuch an Expofition debase the pure Doctrine of Chrift, even beneath the Morality of the Heathens, fome of whofe Philofophers taught, long before the Coming of Chrift, not only

Word be Yes or No. Which Cuftoin the Talaponi of Sim • obferve; manifeftly according to the Doctrine of Chrift.

Huet. de Concordiâ rationis & Fidei Lib. Cap. v. De fureMat. V.34. jurando. Scitum eft Chrifti, jurejurando abftinendumom. & feq.Fac. nino: quod & repetit Jacobus in Epiftola. Et perhibet V. 12. Jofephus Effenas perjurio pejus credidiffe juramentum; quod Fofeph. de is jam videretur effe condemnatus, cui fine Dei teftimonio Bell. Jud. fides non adhibeatur. Cumque idem ftatuere vellet MaiLib.2.c.12 monides, verba ipfa Chrifti ufurpavit. Sed redeamus ad Maimoni Pythagoram, cujus decreto tam conftanter fteterunt ipfius des Mifn. Difcipuli, ut quidam ex illis lite trium talentorum cadere maluerit, quam rem veram jurejurando affirmare. Syllus Fambl.vit. appellatur ab Jamblicho, Clinias a Bafilio. Tota Phrygum Pythag.cap. Gens abhorruit a juramentis, nec exigentes ab aliis, nec aliis 28. jpfi præftantes. Inter Adagia Arabum celebratur illud, Bafil. Hom Jurandum nunquam, Sermonem effe debere etiam, vel non. Quem morem fervant quoque Siamenies Talapoini: planè juxta doctrinam Chrifti.

lib. I.

24.

only that voluntary Oaths, and Swearing in common Converfation and Difcourfe, were to be avoided, but even Swearing before a Magistrate?

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Now to prove this, we have the Testimony of Bafil the Great fo call'd, an Ancient Chriftian, who has cited the Inftance of one Clinias a Pythagorean Philofopher, who chose rather to pay a Fine of Three Talents than to Swear. • What Clinias did, fays Bafil, who was of the Sect of Pythagoras, is fo agreeable to our Precepts, that 'tis hardly credible, and yet it was not • done in Imitation of our Precepts neither. *But what did he? When by Swearing he could have escap'd a Fine of Three Talents, he chose rather to pay the Money than to Swear, tho' he was to have fworn nothing but the Truth. It feems to me, as if he had heard of That Precept which forbids us to Swear.

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It is evident by this, that Bafil thought Swearing even before a Magiftrate, prohibited by that Precept of Christ.

BUT farther, to show that Swearing, on any Account whatsoever, was by the very Heathen thought an Evil, and no Ways becoming Men of Probity

L

* τί δὲ ἦν ὁ ἐποίησεν ἐκείνος; ἐξὶν δὲ ὅρκου τριῶν ταλάν των ζημίαν αποφυγεῖν, ὁ δὲ ἀπέτικε μᾶλλον ἢ ὤμοσε, κι ταῦτα εὐορκεῖν μέλλων. ακέσας, ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν, το προσάγματος, ἢ ὅρκον ἡμῖν ἀπαγορεύοντος. Quod de Clinia Pythagoræo dicit, ex Hierocle confirmatur, Comment. in 2 præcept. Aur. Carm. Bafil. de Legendis Græc. Libris. Oxon. Edit. cum Notis Johannis Potter. What Bafil bas faid of Clinias, Dr. Potter now Bishop of Oxford fays, is confirm'd by Hierocles, in bis Commentary on the fecond Precept of the golden Verses of Pythagoras. And another Autbor fays, this is likely to be done out of Love to Truth, and Respect he bore to his Master's Do&rine, who faid, Let no Man atteft God by an Oath, tho' in Courts of Judicature, but fe to fpe ak fuch Things as that he may be credited withoutan Oath. See Jamblicus de vita Pythago ræ, p. 120, and 126, Editio Amftelodami.

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