the man possessed with the
devil in the gospel, whom no chains could keep fast. When we enter into
covenant with God, we take the oath of supremacy, and swear unto Him,
that He should be our chief lord and governor, and that we will admit of
no sovereign power or jurisdiction, but that God shall be all in all. We
likewise take the oath of allegiance, to be His servants and vassals,
and that He shall be our supreme in spirituals and temporals. Now, for a
Christian that believes there is a God, to break both these oaths of
allegiance and supremacy, it is cursed treason against the God of
heaven, which surely God will be avenged of. Amongst the Romans, when
any soldier was pressed, he took an oath to serve the captain
faithfully, and not to forsake him, and he was called _miles per
sacramentum_. Sometimes one took an oath for all the rest, and the
others only said, the same oath that A.B. took, the same do I. And these
were called _milites per conjurationem_. And when any soldier forsook
his captain, he had the martial law executed upon him. Thus it is with
every Christian: he is a professed soldier of Christ, he hath taken
press-money, he hath sworn and taken the sacrament upon it to become the
Lord's, he is _miles per sacramentum_, and _miles per conjurationem_:
and if he forsake his captain and break covenant, the great Lord of
Hosts will be avenged of him, as it is written, "Cursed be the man that
obeyeth not the words of the covenant." To break covenant is a sin of
perjury, which is a sin of an high nature; and if for oaths the land
mourneth, much more for breach of oaths. To break covenant is a sin of
spiritual adultery; for by covenanting with God, we do as it were,
"join ourselves in marriage to God," as the Hebrew word signifieth. Now,
to break the marriage knot is a sin for which God may justly give a bill
of divorce to a nation. To break covenant is a sin of injustice; for by
our covenant we do enter, as it were, into bond to God, and engage
ourselves as a creditor to his debtor; now the sin of injustice is a
land-destroying sin.

The Fourth reason why God must needs be avenged on those that are
covenant-breakers, is, It is an act of the highest sacrilege that can be
committed. For, by virtue of the covenant, the Lord lays claim to us as
His peculiar inheritance. "I sware unto thee, and entered into covenant
with thee, and thou becamest Mine." "I will be their God, and they shall
be My people." It is a worthy o