Theism Doctrinal and Practical, or, Didactic Religious Utterances. By Francis W. Newman |
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Oaths and Solemn Affirmations.
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Oaths and Solemn Affirmations.
An Oath consists not in any set form of words,
Nor in any deed or gesture, nor in the utterance of curses,
(As some have held it to require a conditional self-cursing,)
But it is a solemn statement made as under God's cognizance
By one reminded of his presence and avowing that he remembers it.
Atheists cannot avow this, yet they can make Solemn Affirmation.
And because many men are prone to be careless and light-minded,
Speaking without seriousness and without measuring their words,
Oftentimes it is hard to bind them to sober and strict truth,
Unless definite and solemn form be used, which admits of no mistake,
Pledging their conscience and their honour in utmost gravity.
Cruel and stupid have been many legal enactments,
Which overlook the substance of oaths and enforce their shadow,
And punish over-scrupulous Christians and refuse justice to Atheists:
Nor are all the injustices by any means yet removed.
Yet the whole controversy would vanish as an empty cloud,
Did not bigotry care more for the outside than for the reality.
Scarcely would one find the difference between Solemn Affirmation and Oath,
If the process were duly administered by a religious Judge,
Who should remind him who swears of a God listening to his words,
And after declaring the sin of treachery and its legal penalties,
Should call upon him, by whatever is sacred to him in earth or heaven,
To bear truthful witness or give truthful verdict.
Assuredly no Atheist would refuse this summons,
Nor would it have less solemnity than the kissing of a book,
Coupled with four glib monosyllables from a heartless voice:
Nor would Perjury be then less guilty, or its penalty be less,
Nor the bond of honour be slighter, nor yet the shame from its breach.
Nor in any deed or gesture, nor in the utterance of curses,
(As some have held it to require a conditional self-cursing,)
But it is a solemn statement made as under God's cognizance
By one reminded of his presence and avowing that he remembers it.
Atheists cannot avow this, yet they can make Solemn Affirmation.
And because many men are prone to be careless and light-minded,
Speaking without seriousness and without measuring their words,
Oftentimes it is hard to bind them to sober and strict truth,
Unless definite and solemn form be used, which admits of no mistake,
Pledging their conscience and their honour in utmost gravity.
Cruel and stupid have been many legal enactments,
Which overlook the substance of oaths and enforce their shadow,
And punish over-scrupulous Christians and refuse justice to Atheists:
Nor are all the injustices by any means yet removed.
Yet the whole controversy would vanish as an empty cloud,
Did not bigotry care more for the outside than for the reality.
Scarcely would one find the difference between Solemn Affirmation and Oath,
If the process were duly administered by a religious Judge,
Who should remind him who swears of a God listening to his words,
And after declaring the sin of treachery and its legal penalties,
Should call upon him, by whatever is sacred to him in earth or heaven,
To bear truthful witness or give truthful verdict.
Assuredly no Atheist would refuse this summons,
Nor would it have less solemnity than the kissing of a book,
Coupled with four glib monosyllables from a heartless voice:
Nor would Perjury be then less guilty, or its penalty be less,
Nor the bond of honour be slighter, nor yet the shame from its breach.
Oaths need to be extended, not to be abolished,
Since the State ought to be religious, and public duty sacred.
Oaths belong to the decision of all high and sacred right,
As between man and man, so yet more between nation and nation,
And to engagements of duty between magistrates and subjects.
Oaths of Allegiance, of Coronation or of magisterial Office,
Oaths of affidavit and of witness, as of forensic Jury,
Oaths of solemn Treaty, as likewise of military obedience,
Have been approved deliberately in all well-ordered States,
Christian or Mussulman, or of earlier ages, far and wide:
And herein a broad and fruitful principle is conceded.
If many men are such as to be biassed by party and by convenience,
And by loves and hatreds, and by selfishness, to the neglect of duty,
Unless tied down to a solemn and well-defined avowal,
Consecrated to Honour and to Conscience and to Religion;
But, when bound by these pledges, can better be trusted:
And if, by reason of this, the oaths above named are expedient;—
Then equally expedient are oaths in cases parallel to these:
As, not only when a jury has to award twenty or ten shillings,
But when a Cabinet or a Parliament has to pronounce on foreign rights:
Nor only in interpreting the words of some ancient Treaty,
But in pronouncing Sacred Right where no treaty may exist.
Vast indeed is the field, wherein the Just is now overruled,
Both at home and abroad, in favour of crooked policy,
Not so much because public men are consciously unprincipled,
As because no sacred formula awakens their conscience to duty.
Since the State ought to be religious, and public duty sacred.
Oaths belong to the decision of all high and sacred right,
As between man and man, so yet more between nation and nation,
And to engagements of duty between magistrates and subjects.
175
Oaths of affidavit and of witness, as of forensic Jury,
Oaths of solemn Treaty, as likewise of military obedience,
Have been approved deliberately in all well-ordered States,
Christian or Mussulman, or of earlier ages, far and wide:
And herein a broad and fruitful principle is conceded.
If many men are such as to be biassed by party and by convenience,
And by loves and hatreds, and by selfishness, to the neglect of duty,
Unless tied down to a solemn and well-defined avowal,
Consecrated to Honour and to Conscience and to Religion;
But, when bound by these pledges, can better be trusted:
And if, by reason of this, the oaths above named are expedient;—
Then equally expedient are oaths in cases parallel to these:
As, not only when a jury has to award twenty or ten shillings,
But when a Cabinet or a Parliament has to pronounce on foreign rights:
Nor only in interpreting the words of some ancient Treaty,
But in pronouncing Sacred Right where no treaty may exist.
Vast indeed is the field, wherein the Just is now overruled,
Both at home and abroad, in favour of crooked policy,
Not so much because public men are consciously unprincipled,
As because no sacred formula awakens their conscience to duty.
Every high public trust is committed with religious sanction,
And is duly guarded by the solemnity of an oath.
Then what reason can be pleaded, except love of malversation,
Why every one entrusted with “Patronage,” in State or Church,
Should not on each appointment solemnly avow that he selects
the Fittest Man he can find?
And is duly guarded by the solemnity of an oath.
Then what reason can be pleaded, except love of malversation,
Why every one entrusted with “Patronage,” in State or Church,
Should not on each appointment solemnly avow that he selects
the Fittest Man he can find?
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