Oath

OATH. God has prohibited all false Lev. xix. 12. Exod. xx. 7. Deut. vi. 13. Jer. iv. 2. Exod. xxiii. 13.Oaths, and all useless and customary Swearing: But when Necessity and the Importance of the Matter requires it, he allows us to swear by his Name, but not in the Name of any false Gods, or in the Name of inanimate Things; whether on Earth, or in Heaven, or by the Stars, or by the Life of any Man whatever. Our Saviour, who came into the World not to destroy the Law, but to fulfil it, forbids all kinds of Oaths; and Matt. v. 33.the primitive Christians understood and observed this Command in a literal Sense, as O.may be seen from Tertullian, Eusebius, St. Chrysostom, St. Basil, St. Jerom, &c. However, it must be acknowledg’d, that neither the Apostles nor Fathers have absolutely condemn’d Swearing, or the Use of Oaths upon any Occasion, and all Subjects. There are Circumstances wherein we cannot morally be excus’d from it. But we never ought to swear but upon urgent Necessity, and to do some considerable Good by it. We ought to live with such Integrity and Veracity, as not to need to have Recourse to an Oath to confirm what we say, but that our Word may be look’d upon as good as an Oath: Nor must we ever swear but with a strict Regard to Justice and Truth. See St. Augstin, Ep. 157. n. 40 and the Commentators upon St. Matthew, v. 33, 34.

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