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

IS6
Ooths.
of CHAllLJ..C; the First, :;hould wiifuily suprress anT
ev;dence of t~at prince's de~potjc measures ant'! designs,
might be said to lie; for, by ~ntitling his book
a Histor! 0/ Engkr.nd, he engages to relate the whole
truth of the histor;, or, at least, all that h~ knO\\~S
of it.
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CHAPTER X\l.
OATIi5.
•
I. FORA1S of Oaths.
ll. Sign!ficatim.
III. LIY.LfulnesJ.
IV. Ch!igction.
v. What Oaths do twt hir;d.
VI. In what strJe Oaths IlrE ia be interpr, .. ted.
I. The forms of oaL'tS, like other religious cerE.
monies, have in all ages been various; but consisting,
for the most part, of some bodily action,· ana of a
prescnDed fcrm of words. Amongst the Jf"'"dJS, tb~
juror held up his right-hand towards heaven, whi-:h
explains a passage in the cxlivth PS31m-~' Whos('
mouth speaketh vanity ~ 2nd their right-hand ;1 11 right.
fa/seh~od." The same form i~ retained in Scal.
band of
/ond still.
Amongst the ~ame Jews, an oath of fidel.
ity was taken, by the servant's putting his hand un·
der the thigh of his lord, as Eleazer did to Ahraham,
Gen. xxiv. 2. from whence, with no great variation,
is derived perhaps the form of doing homage at this
day, by putting the hands between the knees, and
within the hands of the liege.
• It i, (omtw.)Dly :hought that oaths are denominated cDrpwII] oaths,from
th~ bodily actio:l wtd~Ja 3ccompwes thco, ofJaying It.e righi-hand u~n a
bilok: c(JDtaining the four Gos~J.. This opinion. however, 2)'~S 10 lir a
mistake; for the term i. boriowl'Ci from the ancient usage of touching, UP('"
thrte occasioDs "he UIT~,,"k, or cloth which covrrd I he com.ecr~ttd eJement!