-10 Chapter 10. Of an Oath.

2-10 Chapter 10. Of an Oath.

1. There are two manners of petition to be used on occasion, which were brought in by reason of man’s infirmity: an Oath, and a Lot [chap. 11].
2. But because these two manners are brought in on such occasions, they must not be frequently used, but only where human necessity requires, and a weighty and just cause is in hand.
3. An OATH is a requesting of God’s Testimony to confirm the truth of our testimony. Hebrews 6:13; Hebrews 6:16, Men swear by him who is the greater: and an Oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.
4. An Oath became necessary after the fall of man, because by sin man had lost both that credit which ought to be given to his simple testimony, and also that credit which he should have given to the testimony of others.
5. That infirmity of man in giving credit to the testimony of others, is so great that it was in a manner necessary for God himself to also demean himself to confirm his testimonies by the form of an Oath, Hebrews 6:13, Hebrews 6:17.918 This was more than what was needed in respect to God’s faithfulness, but not in respect to human infirmity.
6. Yet, seeing that God has no greater or superior Judge, Hebrews 6:13, he cannot properly swear; this is prescribed to him only metaphorically: because all that perfection of confirmation which is found in the Oaths of men, most perfectly corresponds to those testimonies of God.
7. But God’s Testimony is worthily called upon to confirm truth, because he is the highest truth, who can neither deceive nor be deceived. Hebrews 6:18, It cannot be that God should lie.
8. Hence in an Oath, the worship of religion is given to God as he is both acknowledged to be the Author of truth, and also conscious of all our thoughts — to his eyes those things are naked and open which are most secret to all Creatures; he is the rewarder of truth and falsehood, and as the living God, he provides for all things by an admirable providence. Deuteronomy 6:13, Fear the Lord your God, and worship him, and swear by his name.
9. Hence we may not swear by any Creature, but by God alone: he alone is omniscient; the only law-giver, and rewarder of those things which pertain to conscience; and finally, he alone is to be religiously worshipped, Matthew 5:34-35; Matthew 23:21-22; James 5:12.919
10. Yet everything considered in an Oath is not properly the worship of God, because it does not directly tend to give honour to God, but to confirm the truth. Yet that request which is made in an Oath, is worship; and in that respect, sometimes in Scripture, to swear by the true God sets forth true worship, Deuteronomy 6:13; Isaiah 48:1.920 And an Oath itself is customarily called worship.921
11. In this requesting of the testimony of God, the one who swears makes himself subject to God’s vengeance and curse if he gives false testimony; that is, if he wittingly deceives. Hence in every Oath there is implicitly or expressly contained an imprecation or curse: Nehemiah 10:29, Entered into a curse and an Oath; 2 Corinthians 1:23, I call God to witness against my soul.
12. From this comes that form of swearing which is frequent in the Old Testament, “God do so to me, and more also.”922 In these words, there is a general or indefinite curse contained, that the way of inflicting the evil may be committed to God.
13. Therefore, there is such great religion in an Oath, that it may allow for no equivocation or mental reservation; these things may have their place in play or lighter Jesting, but they cannot be used in the worship of God without great impiety. For this is nothing else than to mock God’s Judgment.
14. Hence also, there can be no release, properly so-called, no commuting or dispensation, and no absolution from an Oath, that comes from a man — though some oaths which were either unlawful from the beginning, or became unlawful afterward, may be pronounced void by men.
15. Because an oath is a testimony about a thing already done, or about a thing to be done, an Oath that confirms a testimony is distinguished into an assertory,923 and a promissory Oath.
16. An ASSERTORY Oath is about a thing past or present, 2 Corinthians 1:23.924 A PROMISSORY Oath, under which a comminatory925 is contained, is about a thing to come, 1 Samuel 20:12-54.926
17. An assertory Oath, because it is about a thing already done, does not bind someone to do anything, but only confirms the truth of the thing that is done.
18. But this assertion immediately respects the judgment of the one that swears, being grounded on those arguments which are usually called infallible. So that an Oath that agrees with such a judgment is to be accounted as true, even though it differs from the thing itself: because it does not respect the thing itself, but the means by which such a judgment is made. This is why the Romans used that most considered wording, I think, when being sworn in: they spoke “those things which they were sure of.”
19. A PROMISSORY Oath has in it the force of an assertory Oath, as it testifies to a present firm intention of the mind; but it moreover binds us to do what we declared was intended.
20. But it binds only so far as one can bind himself; that is, to that which both De facto and de jure, in deed and in right, he may perform; and so it must always be lawful, and possible.
21. Such an Oath binds us to fulfill it, even though the Oath was unlawful in respect to the manner of it, or the thing promised would bring damage to the one who promised it, Joshua 9:19; Psalms 15:4.927
22. But if the Oath is against the Commandments of God, it does not bind, because an Oath should not be a bond of iniquity.
23. Yet an Oath made in some manner against the command of God sometimes does bind, as when the Jews to whom freedom was promised, swore to be subject to strangers into whose power they came.928
24. A promissory Oath, whereby something is promised to a man only for his sake, ceases to bind if the one to whom the promise is made, either remits or takes away the foundation on which it was grounded.
25. An Oath is lawful and honest for Christians, 1. Because it is of the Law of nature or moral Law, which is not abrogated. 2. Because an Oath pertains to God’s honour, and Charity pertains to our neighbour. 3. Because there are commendable examples of Oaths used even in the New Testament. 2 Corinthians 1:23; Revelation 10:6.929
26. Christ in the fifth chapter of Matthew does not condemn every Oath, but only those oaths which are rash, indirect, and made by the Creatures.930
27. James 5:12 condemns the same abuse of an Oath, and does not at all condemn swearing. By repeating the words of Christ to swear not at all,, he manifestly shows that those words make one sentence with those that follow, neither by Heaven, etc. And so they are to be understood as joined together, not separated.931
28. Amen, amen is not a form of swearing, but only of a grave asseveration.932 Those words in Hebrews 6:14, Surely blessing I will bless you, do not contain the form, but only the matter of that Oath which was made in Genesis 22:16-17.933 Nor does the word Amen appear there, either in the Greek or Hebrew, as some have rashly imagined.
29. The words of an Oath are to be interpreted in the Court of conscience, according to the meaning of the one who swore it, whether he dealt plainly and candidly. And if not, then according to his meaning as to whom he would deceive, or to whom he swore. But in the outward Court, the words of those who swear are to be taken as they are commonly understood.
30. A perjured man, properly speaking, is only one who either swears against his conscience, or wittingly and willingly departs from what he lawfully swore.
31. Faith that is confirmed by a lawful Oath, is to be kept, all circumstances remaining the same, even to enemies, thieves, and Pirates: for if respect to persons does not make the Oath unlawful, then it cannot make it of no force.
32. An Oath that is extorted by fear, does not cease to bind in that respect; this is because those acts which are said to be extorted from a man by fear, if they proceed from counsel, are plainly voluntary, even though they are not absolutely Spontaneous,934 or made out of good will.935
33. Those who lack reason, such that they cannot understand the nature of an Oath, are not capable of an Oath.936
34. To require an Oath of someone who swears by false gods, is not of itself a sin, Genesis 31:53.937
35. An Oath of a Christian man that is given concerning his own innocence, which cannot be reprehended938 by any certain arguments, ought to put an end to controversies pertaining to it, Exodus 22:11; Hebrews 6:16.939
36. A simple Oath made only in words, binds as much as the most solemn Oath.
37. That solemnity which is used in some places, in touching and kissing a book, is altogether of the same sort as lifting up or stretching forth the hand;940 that is, it signifies a consent to swear, and to the Oath itself.
38. Putting the hand under the thigh of the one who required an Oath, Genesis 24:2,941 was not done as any mystical signification of Christ, but as a sign of subjection.
39. Adjuring (properly speaking) is what someone does to draw another either to swear, as in Genesis 24:8, 942 or to that religion which an Oath contains, Numbers 5:21; Matthew 26:63; 1 Thessalonians 5:27.943
40. Therefore adjuring most properly pertains to those with power to require an Oath of others, 944 though in a certain proportion, it also extends to that religious obtestation945 which inferiors sometimes use towards their superiors, and those who are equals use among themselves.
41. To adjure the Devils, is to exercise command over them. And so it is not lawful for anyone to exercise adjuration toward them unless he received special power from God for that purpose.946
42. Those exorcisms which were used before Baptism, even in the time of the Fathers, were superstitious.
43. The adjurings or exorcisings of lifeless things, and consecrating them for supernatural operations and uses, such as the Papists use in their holy Water, Temples, Bells, and the like, are superstitious enchantments.
44. Adjuring a man to accuse himself for any crime that may be objected (which is used in that Oath which is called the Oath of Inquisition or Ex officio)947 has no ground in the Scriptures, and it is against the law of nature.
45. Nor is an indefinite948 adjuring — to answer to anything which will be demanded — to be allowed at all.