It is
written, “You cannot serve two masters,” … he has been more obedient to human
authority than to God. … Be that as it may, he will not be able to escape and
avoid God as his judge. … God cannot be mocked, nor deceived, nor deluded by
any deceptive cunning. Yes, he sins even more, who, thinking that God is like
man, believes that he evades the penalty of his crime if he has not openly
admitted his crime. Christ says in His precepts, “Whosoever shall be ashamed of
Me, of him the Son of man will be ashamed.” And does he think that he is a
Christian who is either ashamed or afraid to be a Christian? How can he be one
with Christ, who either blushes or fears to belong to Christ? …
In Solomon:
“A man that swears much shall be filled with iniquity, and the plague shall not
depart from his house; and if he swears vainly, he shall not be justified.” Of
this same matter, according to Matthew: “Again, you have heard that it was said
to them of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform unto the Lord
your oaths.’ But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, because
it is God’s throne, nor by the earth, because it is His footstool, nor by
Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King. Neither shall you swear by
your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your yes be
yes; and your no be no. For whatever is beyond these is of evil.” Of this same
thing in Exodus: “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.”
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