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most sacred rites of our holy religion in past ages, leads us to serious reflections on the inconsistent conduct of men, who profess to receive the Gospel of truth, and peace, and charity.

CHAPTER VI.

OF THE FORMS AND HISTORY OF OATHS AMONG CHRISTIANS IN PAST AGES.

WITHOUT repeating what we have already alleged under a previous branch of our inquiry, when we spoke of the lawfulness of Christian oaths, and the present state of them in our own country; we may observe, in tracing their history among professors of the Gospel, that the probability is very strong, that the primitive Christians habitually shrank from taking an oath. If they swore at all, it was on some very solemn and extraordinary occasion. Their general rule was not to swear at all. But (as Augustin*, in a passage already quoted, acquaints us, in terms of great regret and lamentation,) the ancient custom of swearing in process of time prevailed among Christians, as the fruit of a most corrupt state of moral principle and feeling. It was admitted however, "not in order to check the progress of wrong, but that perjury also might be added to our crimes."

Still the readiness with which Christians came at last to swear was, as it appears, the work of time, spreading gradually among them as they mingled more and more with their Pagan neighbours, and

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departed further from their original principles. For some time they only called, "The truth to witness," regarding that form as a solemn oath, the appeal being made to God, who is himself "The Truth." "Whatever we speak, as in the presence of God, says Athanasius, "we Christians consider as spoken under an oath*." But this practice of swearing, "By the truth," was, in after ages, perverted into a cloak for perjury, as we are expressly told in the laws of Charlemagne†. A translation of the whole section to which we refer will not, I hope, be unacceptable to my readers.

"All men are to be diligently admonished to avoid perjury, not only when the oath is sworn on the Holy Gospel, or the altar, or the relics of saints, but also in common conversation. For there are some who swear By love and by truth,' and avoid an oath on the name of God, ignorant that God is the same as love and truth; as the Apostle John says, God is love,' and also our Lord himself, in the Gospel says, 'I am the truth,' whoever, therefore, swears by love and truth, swears by God. Also must we take care not with pharisaical superstition to honour the gold more than the altar, lest the Lord should say to him [who does so], Thou fool, which is the greater, the gold, or the altar which sanctifieth the gold.' It seems, besides,

* Athan: ad Emp: Const: Apol:
Charlemagne, Capit. Lxiii.

right to us that he who has to swear by the saints, should swear fasting, with all honesty and in the fear of God; and let every one be assured that he will give an account to God, wherever it be, whether in the church or out of the church.”

It is moreover certain, notwithstanding the first reluctance of Christians to take an oath, that the practice of swearing upon the Gospels became, after no very long period, generally prevalent in Christendom. Ancient writers tell us that Christians borrowed this practice from the Jews, who were accustomed to swear laying their hand upon the book of the Law*, regarding that as the only binding oath. Even in as ancient a church historian as Sozomenus we read that, "Euagrius swore to the Emperor Theodosius, laying his hand on the holy Book of the Gospels+." The celebrated Pelagius, when charged with some evil designs against Vigilius, disclaimed them by an oath which he swore, holding the cross and the Gospel on his head. Even the very form which is now prevalent in our courts of justice, that of holding the book and kissing it, was of very early introduction into Christendom. Arsenius‡, an ancient bishop, records of Ingeltrude, wife of Boson, that she swore an oath to Pope Nicholas, in these words: "I, Ingeltrude, swear to my Lord Nicholas, the chief

* See Selden, II., 11.

Sozomenus de Euagrio.

Du Cange, 1607.

pontiff and universal pope, by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and these four Evangelists of Christ our God, which I hold in my own hands, and kiss with my mouth," &c.

The gospels were generally put upon the altar, and the juror's hand laid on them. Sometimes, though at a much later date, they swore upon the missal, or mass-book, at other times by the canon or rule of the church in which they were, sometimes by the relics. It would be endless to enumerate the different modes by which these appeals to heaven were made, but it may not be unprofitable or uninteresting to specify some of them*. A letter, in which those who have the good fortune of knowing him, see only the usual marks of the author's profound and various knowledge, but which otherwise might be cited as an instance of uncommon research, written by Sir Henry Ellis to the Earl of Aberdeen, as president of the Society of Antiquaries, "On the History of Bracelets," contains a passage of great interest in our present inquiry. "Arngrim Jonas, in his work on Iceland, speaking of the pagan rites which were used in the

* Attempts we find, were often made by authority, to check such oaths as were blasphemous, or savoured strongly of paganism. It was made a capital offence to swear "By the hair or the beard of God." "Ultimo supplicio subjiciatur." Ivon: xii. 32. By another decree, similar oaths were forbidden to a clergyman on pain of deposition, and to a layman on pain of incurring the anathema of the Church.

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