PHI LOS 0 P H Y . - Classic Works of Apologetics Online

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the vote is given; the wages of prostitution; the re··
ward of any crime, after the crime is committed,
ought, if promised, to be paid. For the sin and mischief,
by this supposition, are oyer, and will be neither
more nor less for the performance of the promise.
In like manner ,a promise does net lose its obliga­
• OD, merely bec:mse it proceeded from an unlouful
tIL'Jti'Ve. A certain person, in the lifetime of 11is wife,
who was then sick, h2d pa;d his addresses, and promised
marriage to another woman; the wife died, and
the woman demands p~rformallce of tIle prolnise.
The man, who, it seems, had changed his mind, ei.
ther felt or pretended doubts concerning the obligation
of such a promise, and referred his case to Bishop
SANDERSQN, the most eminent in this kind of
knowledge., of his time. Bishop SANDERSON, after
'''riring a di~sertaticn upon the question, adjudged the ·
promise to be vo~d. In \vhich, however, upon our
principles, he was wrong ; for, however criminal
the affection might be, \vhich induced the promise,
the performance, when it was demanded, was la~.
ful; whi~h_ is the only lawfulness required.
i A promise. cannot be deemed ~nlawful, where it
produces, when performed, no effect, beyond what
would have taken place, had the promise never been
lllade. And this is the single ca~e, in which the ob­
~ig~tion pf a promise will justify a conduct, which,
) unless it had been promised, would be unjust. A
captive may lawfully recover his liberty, by a prom­
Ise of ne~ltrality; for his conqueror takes nothing
by the promise, which he might not have secured by
his death 01:" confinement: and neutrality would be
i~nocent in ~lim, although criminal in another. It
i~ roanifest, however, that promises which come into
~e pl~ce of coercion, can extend no farther than to
passive compliances; for coercion itself could compel
no ~ore. Upon the sam·:· :"ciplc, promises of secrecy
ought not to be violated, although the public
Iwould derive advantage from the discovery. Such
promises contain no unlawfulness in them, to destroy