IV. An oath is to be taken in the plain and common sense

of the words, without equivocation or mental reservation ^, It cannot oblige to sin ;. bvit in any thing not sinful, being ta- ken, it binds to performance, although to a man's own hurt ' ;
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to follow me unto this land : must I needs bring thy son again uiito the land from whence thou earnest ? Ver. 6. And Abraham said unto him, Beware thou, that thou brii.g not my son thither again. Ver. 8. And if the woman will not be will- ing to follow thee, then thou shalt he clear from this my oath : only bring not my son tlxither again. Ver. 9. And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and sware to him con- cerning that matter.
i Numb. V. 1 9. And the priest shall charge her by an oath, and say unto the woman. If no man have lain with thee, and if thou hast not gone aside to uncleanness with ano- ther instead of thy husband, be thou free from this bitter water that causeth the curse. Ver, 21. Then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing ; and the priest shall say unto the woman, The I^ord make thee a curse and an oath ajnong thy people, when the Lord doth make thy thigh to rot, and thy belly to swell. Neh.