Trollope on Article XXXIX: Of a Christian man's Oath

An Oath is a solemn appeal to the Supreme Being, declaratory of the truth of an assertion, or the obligation of a promise. It is made under the persuasion that God will punish, as a deliberate defiance of his wrath, the violation of a pledge thus given between man and man ; and it has consequently been always regarded as the most efficient means of securing justice, and preserving confidence, in the transactions of civil and social life.

8. By whom, and upon what grounds, have ob- jections been urged against the lawfubiess of oaths ?

The Anabaptitta of former times, and the Quakers of the present day, are the principal objectors to the lawfulness of oaths ; an<) their scruples have reference to the prohibition of our Saviour, repeated by St. James, to which this Article alludes.

3. To what description of Swearing do our Lord and his AposUes allude in these prohibitions ?

In our Saviour’s time, the Jews were much addicted to the use of pro&ne and unmeaning oaths, in which they swore by Heaven ^ by Earthy by Jervsalenif and b^ the h&a^, without attaching any obligation to asseverations thus supported. It is manifestly with reference to this practice of swearing in comnum eattversationj that our Lord says

• Let your communication,* i. e. your ordinary intercourse with each other, * be yea, yea ; nav, nay : for whatsoever is

• more than this oometh of evil* (Matt. v. 34.). The precept of St. James (v. 12.) is to the same purpose.

4. Shew that oaths upon occasions of peculiar

solemnity, and consequently judicial oaths, are not repugnant to the Word of God.

Under the Patriarchal dispensation, not only did Abra- ham pledgee his faith to Abimelech bv an oath (Gen. xxi. 23). but God himself sware unto Abraham (Gen. xzii. 16.) ; and * because he could sware by no greater, he sware by

• himself (Heb. vi. 13.). Under the Law, He directed the Jews to swear by his name (Deut. vi. 13.) ; and in conformity with this injunction, although profane swearing was for- bidden by the third commandment (Exod. xx. 7.), a power was vested in thH judges to examine persons upon oath (Levit. V. ].). It was by virtue of this law that the High-

Sriest adjured our Saviour in the name qf the livina Groa to eclare ’ whether he was the Christ, the Son of God’ (Matt. xxvi. 63.) ; whereupon he no longer hesitated to break the silence which he had hitherto maintained. St. Paul also frequently oalU God to witness the truth of his assertions (Rom. i. 9. ix. 1 . 2 Cor. i. 18. Gal. i. 20.) ; and, observing that * an oath for confirmation is an end of all controversy ’ (Heb. vi. 16.), sanctions beyond dispute the use of an oath in litigated questions.

5. What then is essential to render an oath lawful ?

It must be made ’ in a cause of truth and charity,* that is, for the establishment of mutual confidence, and the pro- motion of peace and good will among mankind; and, ’ according to the prophets’ teaching (Jerem. iv. 2.), in ‘Justices judgment, ana truth,* To tne same effect is the following admonition from the Homily oain Swearing and Perjury : — * There be three things necessary in a lawful ’ oath ; first, that it be made for the maintenance of the ’ truth ; secondly, that it be made with judgment, not rashly ‘or unadvisedly; thirdly, for the Zealand love of jus dee. ’ Therefore, whosoever maJceth any promise, binding himself ’ thereunto by an oath, let him foresee that the thin which ‘he promiseth be good and honest, and not against the ’ commandment of God, and that it be in his own power to

• perform it justly : and such good promises must all men

• Keep evermore assuredly. But if a man shall at any time, ‘either of ignorance or xnalice, promise or swear to do any ’ thin^ which is either against the law of Almighty God, or ’ not m his power to perrorm, let him take it for an unlaw- *Jul and ungodly oatn.’

180 QTJBSTIOnS AlKD AHfiWEBS.

6. Can you adduce any examples of unlawful and ungodly oaths ?

The Homily above cited remarks that as Herod, in the case of John the Baptist’s murder, ’ took a wicked oath, so

• he more wickedly performed the same ;’ and the Act qf Un\formity (a. D. I06I.) denounces the abjuration of the salemn League and Covenant as ’ an unlawful oath, and im- < posed on the subjects of this realm against the known laws ’ and liberties of the kingdom.’ Surely also the oath of the Romish prelates, taken on their consecration, and binding them, pro posse, to the persecution and extermination of heretics, is 00th unlawful and ui^odly^

7. Shew that the primitive Christians did not deem an oath unlawful on occasions of importance.

Clement of Alexandria (Strom, vii. 8.) says that ‘a ’ Christian religiously observes an oath, though he is seldom

• prevailed upon to swear at all* Jerome (on Jerem. iv. 2.) i^marks that unUss an abjuration is a^oeompanied by truth, judgment, an(2 justice, it is not an oath, but a peryury. And St. Augustine teaches (Epist. CLVii. 40.) that our Lord advises us to let our communication be yea, yea; nay, nay ; not because it is a sin to swear to what is true, but because it is a most grievous sin to smea/r falsdy^ which that man is most likely to commit, who is in the hamt qf swearing. See also Tertull. adv. Marc. ii. 26. Cyril. Alex, de Adorat vi. August. Epist. XLVii. 2.

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