Sicear not, neither hij heaven, nor hy earth, nor b// any other oath. — For the opening of this passage, it may be incpiired : —
1. Whether all oaths be forbidden? Divers have been of this judgment. The Essenes thought all oaths as bad as perjury, as Josephus witnesseth, ' De Pello Judaico,' lib. ii. cap. 7. Jerome chargeth the Pelagians with the same opinion ; it hath been also objected against the Waldonses, how truly I know not. The Ana- baptists have been uncertain in this point ; sometimes they have pro- fessed against all oaths, at other times expressed themselves as deny- ing only rash oaths, as in the conference at Franckendale ; and those of that sect amongst us seem to have recanted the ancient rigour herein. I\Iany modern writers of great note seem to incline to the absolute prohibition of oaths, as unbeseeming that faith and simplicity which .should l)e among Christians. Certainly there hath been a great abuse of them in our civil courts, even to the disgrace of our holy profession, as being administered upon every trifling occasion, for a shilling matter, and in businesses of a low concernment. ]iut, however, oaths in themselves are lawful, if taken ' in truth, righteousness, and judgment,' Jer. iv. 2— that is, without fraud, in a lawful matter, and upon a weighty occasion — the apostle saith, an oath is Trepa?
^ * Quare ante omuia ? Jiiraro pejus est quani furari ? Jurarc pejus est quam adul- terarc ? Jurarc pejus est, (juaiu lioiuincm occidero? Absit ; quare ergo ante omnia? Ne 8urrei)at vobis consuotudo jurandi ; ut te adversus consuetudinem iufensiBsimura red- deret.' — A uy. ficrm. 28, dc Ytrbia Ajyosloli.
JaS. V. 12.] LTON THE El'lSTLK OF JAMES. 437
uvTLXojia'j, * an end of strife,' Heb. vi. 17. In the Old Testament, in any doubtful case which could not be otherwise determined, they were ' to accept the oath of the Lord,' Exod. xxii. 11, 12. The command- ment itself alloweth a liberty : ' Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain,' which iniplieth a lawful use of God's name. In the New Testament, the apostle Paul in weighty matters often sweareth and calleth God to witness , see Eom. i. 9, and ix. 1 ; 2 Cor. i. 23 ; ' God is my record,' Phil. i. 8.
2. What oaths are condemned ? Answer — Our Saviour and the apostle James do only meet with that wicked custom introduced by the Pharisees, that a man might swear by the creatures, if there were no mention of the name of God, or tlungs offered to God ; as appeareth by considering Mat. v. and Mat. xxiii. The nation of the Jews were guilty of three things — (1.) Frequent swearing; (2.) Swearing by the creatures ; (3.) Breaking these oaths as not binding and valid ; and these sins being rife in the apostle's days, the prohibi- tion of the text must be chiefly applied to them ; so that ' swear not, neither by heaven nor earth,' must be meant of their usual and accustomed forms, which they had invented to evade the law ; for the Jews, so they did omit the great oath of Chi EloaJi, thought the) were safe. So Philo saith,^ that it ' was a sin and a vanity, i-rrl rov Traripa KOI 7roc7]Ti]u 6\(ou dvaTpe-^^eiv, presently to run to God, or the maker of all things, and to swear by him ; but that it was lawful to swear by our parents, by heaven and the stars.' So it is observed of some of the ancient Greeks, that they did not TrpoTrerco? 6/jbvveiv irepl rcjv Oewv, aXka Kara tmv eTTiTvyxavGvrwv, that they did not easily swear by the gods, but by the creatures and things before thfir eyes, and then that there was no harm, and no solemn obligation in these oaths; vain pre- tences, and excuses ; for though the name of God was not interposed, yet it is implied, Mat. xxiii. 20-22 ; Mat. v. 34, 35, the creature being God's creature, and in an oath made by them implicitly called upon to be God's instrument of vengeance in case of perjury. That other clause, nor hy any other oath, is meant of other oaths of that kind, so that the note out of the whole is : —
Ohs. That swearing by the creatures is unlawful ; swearing is an act of worship, and therefore it must be only done in weighty cases, by the name of God : Deut. vi. 13, * Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and swear by his name.' So the prophet reproveth those that ' swear by the sin of Samaria,' meaning the idol, Amos viii. 14. In such oaths the creature is made use of instead of God, whether it be by way of assertion, as when we say, as sure as there is heaven, or there is light in heaven; or by way of execration, as let heaven blast me, earth swallow me, or devil take me, &c. In all these rude speeches there is a double evil — a rash oath, and an oath made by the creature instead of God ; and yet what more common than such forms amongst ITS ? I might instance in many : the Popish oath by the Virgin Mary, and our common word, Yes, marry ; so also those sottish vulgar forms, by my head, by this light, by this candle, this bread, by my faith, &c.