MODERN POLICY. 281 



punishment equal to their sin. Hear how so- 

 berly Plato mentions (out of the noble com- 

 mentator upon Philostratus), ' It is wisely or- 

 dained, that the names of the Gods should not 

 be used upon trifling occasions, for fear of pol- 

 luting them; for the majesty of the Gods should 

 not be employed, but in holy and venerable 

 purity.'* See what real honour they gave to 

 their counterfeit Gods ; let us have a care, that 

 we ascribe not counterfeit honour to the true 

 God. 



Our God hates every false oath : it appears 

 in his severity to Zedekiah, for breaking cove- 

 nant with the Babylonian monarchy, though a 

 tyrant of the first magnitude. f 



Were all subjects duly solicitous about the 

 weight of this bond, we should be less prone to 

 take, and more studious to observe it; I re- 

 member the scholiast upon Aristophanes, de- 

 rives ooao^, TTOc^oi TO fi^yw, to SuyxAfjw, o0f^ Jt«i to 



£^xo?5 ort f*^i/ft Tov o^K8fxfj/o^. * It hcdgcs in, and 

 shuts up a man, and ties his hands behind him.' 

 I know not how some conquerors may cut this 

 knot with the sword, or how some Sampsons 



* En toutes manieres c'est un fort belle ordinance et insti- 

 tution^ de n' user point du nom des Dieux legerement, de peur 

 de les contaminer : car la majeste des Dieux ne se doit im- 

 ployer, qu' en un saincte et venerable purete. 



t Casaubon exercitat. 202. 



