risen, it was with difficulty that man could be induced to credit the assertion of his fellow-man." [1]
But as in explaining this part of the commandment our chief object is, to teach the faithful the conditions necessary to render an oath reverential and holy, it is first to be observed, that to swear, whatever the form of the oath may. be, is nothing else than to call God to witness: to say " God is my witness," and to swear by his holy name, are exactly the same. To swear by creatures, in order to gain credit for what we say, is an oath: to swear by the holy -Gospels, by the cross, by the names or relics of the saints, and all such solemn attestations, are also oaths. Of themselves, it is true, such objects give no weight or authority to an oath: its derives its obligation from God, whose divine majesty shines forth in them: and hence to swear by the Gospel is to swear by God himself, whose revealed word it is. This holds equally true with regard to those who swear by the saints, who are the temples of God, who believed the truth of his Gospel, were faithful to its dictates, and diffused its doctrines amongst the remotest nations of the earth. This is also true of oaths uttered by way of execration, such as that of St. Paul: " I call G6d to witness upon my soul:" [2] by this form of oath we subject ourselves to God as the avenger of falsehood. We do not, however, deny that some of these forms may be used without constituting an oath; but even in such cases it will be found useful to observe what has been said with regard to an oath, and to direct and regulate such forms by the same rule and standard.
Oaths are of two kinds, affirmatory and promissory: an oath is affirmatory when, under its solemn sanction, we affirm any thing, past, present, or to come; such as the affirmation of the Apostle in his Epistle to the Galatians: " Behold! before God, I lie not." [3] An oath is promissory when we promise the certain performance of any thing; such as that of David, who swore to Bethsabee his wife, by the Lord his God, that Solomon should be heir to his kingdom arid successor to his throne; [4] and this class of oaths also includes comminations.
But although to constitute an oath it is sufficient to call God to witness, yet to constitute a holy and just oath many other conditions are required; and these it is the duty of the pastor carefully to explain. The other conditions, as St. Jerome observes, [5] are briefly enumerated in these words of the prophet Jeremiah: "Thou shalt swear: as the Lord liveth, in truth and in judgment, and in justice;" [6] words which briefly sum up all the conditions, which constitute the perfection of an oath truth, judgment, justice.
Truth, then, holds the first place in an oath: what we swear must be true; that is, he who swears must believe what he swears to be true, founding his conviction not upon rash grounds
