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Ecc_8:2 I [counsel thee] to keep the king’s commandment, and [that] in regard of the oath of God.
Ver. 2. To keep the king’s commandment.] Heb., Mouth - i.e., the express word of command. Go not here by guess or good intention, lest you speed as that Scotch captain did, who, not expecting orders from his superiors, took an advantage offered him of taking a fort of the enemy’s; for which good service he was knighted in the morning, but hanged in the afternoon of the same day for acting without orders. {a}
And that in regard of the oath of God.] Thine oath of allegiance to thy prince. This Papists make nothing of. Pascenius scoffs King James for the invention of it. They can swear with their mouths, and keep their hearts unsworn, as she in the comedy. {b} Mercatorum est stare iuramentis, say they at Rome. They can assoil men of their allegiance at pleasure, and slip their solemn oaths as easily as monkeys do their collars. And I would this were the sin of Papists only, and that there were not those found even amongst us that keep no oaths further than makes for their own turn, like as the Jews keep none, unless they swear upon their own Torah, brought out of their synagogues. {c}
{a} Speed, 688.
{b} H ãëùôô ùìïìï÷åí, öñçí áíùìïôïò ìåíåé .
{c} Weems.