— Eadie, Eccles. Cyclop.
Oath against Simony. Canon xl, in the Church of England, provides the following oath:
"I do swear that I have made no simoniacal payment, contract, or promise, directly or indirectlv, by mvself or by any other, to my kuowdedge or with niy consent, to any person or persons whatsoever, for or concerning the procuring or obtaining of this ecclesiastical place, pi-efer- meiit, olHce, or living, nor will at any time hereafter per- form or satisfy any such kind of pavment, contract, or promise made by any other without mv knowledge or consent. So help me God, through Jesus Christ." — Eadie, KccUs. C;/clop. s. v. See Simonv.
See O.^Tiis OF Ai.i.e-
Oath of Supremacy.
GIANCK AM) Si I'lMvMACV.
Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy. The
appointment of these oaths was a measure of defence against the pretensions and practices of Itomanism. 1, The Oat/t of A llt'f/iance (IGOG), or of submission to
the king as temporal sovereign, independently of any earthly jiower, took its rise from the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot. The Oath of Allegiance is as folio ^vs :
"I, A B, do sincerely promise and swear that I will be faithfnl, and bear true allegiance to her majesty queen Victoria. So help me God."
2. The Odtk of Siqn-emacy (1559) was connected with the Act of Supremacy, whicli was entitled " An Act for restoring to the crown the ancient jurisdiction over the state ecclesiastical, and abolishing all foreign power reiiugnant to the same." It was the same in ef- lect with au act passed in the reign of Henry VIII, but fell short of that in point of severity. The oath was enjoined to be taken by all ecclesiastics, on penalty of forfeiting their promotions, and of being incapable of holding any public office. The taking of this oath was enforced by a stringent act of Parliament in 15G3. The Oath of Supremacy is —
" I, A B, do swear that I do from my heart abhor, de- test, and abjure, as impious and heretical, that damnable doctrine and position that princes excimimunicated or deprived by the pope, or any authority of the see of Rome, may be deposed or murdered by their subjects or any other whatsoever. And I do declare that no foreign prince, person, prelate, state, or potentate, hath or ought to have any jurisdiction, power, pre-eminence, or auflior- ity, ecclesiastical or spiiitnal, within this realm. So help me God" (1 Will, and Mary, cap. S).
Dispensations for violating oaths form one of the most frightful features of popery. IMany theologians and canonists in that Church have inculcated tliis doc- trine. Quotations might be given to this effect from Bailly, Dens, Cajetan, Aquinas, Bernard, and the Jes- uits. One specimen may be taken from Dens, whose work is a standard of popery in Ireland. He says a confessor " should assert his ignorance of the truths which he knows onh' by sacramental confession, and confirm his assertion, if necessary, by oath. Such facts he is to conceal, though the life or safety of a man, or tlie destruction of the state, depended on the disclosure." The reason assigned is as extraordinary as the doctrine itself: "The confessor is questioned and answers as a man. This truth, however, he knows not as man, but as God." See Willett, Si/no2). Pap. (Index in vol. vii) ; Farrar. Eccles. Diet. s. v.
Obadi'ah (Heb. Obarh/afi', •l^'l'zi', servant of Je- hovah [1 Chron. iii, 21 ; vii, 3; viii, 38; ix, IG, 44; Ezra viii, 9 ; elsewhere the lengthened form, Ubadya'hu, ^iT'"l2"] ; Sept. variously, 'AfiSiag, 'Ajicidc, 'Ajictiac, 'AjSita, 'AjSaSia, 'Ojicia, '0(3cid ; v. r. 'A/3^f la'c, '0/3- ota'c), a frequent name among the Hebrews, correspond- ing to the Arabic Abdallah.
1. The second in order of the eleven lion-faced Gad- ites, captains of the host, who joined David's standard at Ziklag (1 Chron. xii, 9). B.C. 1054.
2. The father of Ishmaiah, which latter was chief of the tribe of Zebulon in David's reign (I Chron. xxvii, 19). B.C. ante 1014.
3. According to the received text, the third named of the live sons of Izrahiah, a descendant of Issachar, and a chief man of his tribe (1 Cliron. vii, 3). Four only, however, are mentioned, and the discrepancy is rectified in four of Kennicott's iNI.SS., which omit the words " and the sons of Izrahiah," thus making Izrahiah the brother, and not father, of Obadiah, and both sons of Uzzi. 'i'hc Syriac and Arabic versions follow tho received text, but read '■ four" instead of " five" (Smith). The latter is the less probable reading, as the other can be readily explained as an error of repetition. The five ".sons" are doubtless here descendants, of the time of David. B.C. cir. 1014.
4. The second named of dwc nobles {■' princes") whom king Jehiishaphat sent as itinerant teachers in the cities of Judah (2 Chron. xvii, 7). B.C. 909.
5. An officer of high rank in the court of Ahab, who is described as "over the house," that is, apparently, lord high chamberlain, or mayor of the palace (1 Kings
OBADIAH
267
OBADIAH
xviii, 3). B.C. cir. 904. His influence with the king must have been great to enable liim to retain his posi- tion, though a devout worshipper of Jehovah, during the fierce persecution of the prophets by Jezebel. At the peril of his life he concealed a hundred of them in caves, and fed them there with bread and water. But he himself does not seem to have been suspected (xviii, 4, 13). The occasion upon which Obadiah appears in the history shows the confidential nature of his office. In the third year of the terril)le famine with which Sa- maria was visited, when the fountains and streams were dried up in consequence of the long-continued drought, and horses and mules were perishing for lack of water, Ahab and Obadiah divided the land between them, and set forth, each unattended, to search for whatever rem- nants of herbage might still be left around the springs and in the fissures of the river-beds. Tlieir mission was of such importance that it could only be intrusted to the two principal persons in the kingdom. Obadiah was startled on his solitary journey by the abrupt ap- parition of Elijah, who had disappeared since the com- mencement of the famine, and now commanded him to announce to Ahab, "Behold Elijah!" He hesitated, apparent!}' afraid that his long-concealed attachment to the worship of Jehovah should thus be disclosed and his life fall a sacrifice. At the same time he was anxious that the prophet shoidd not doubt his sincerity, and ap- pealed to what he had done in the persecution by Jez- ebel. But Elijah only asserted the inore strongly his intention of encountering Ahab, and Obadiah had no choice but to obey (xviii, 7-10). The interview and its consequences belong to the history of Elijah (q. v.). According to the Jewish tradition preserved in Ephrem Syrus (Assemani, Bill. Or. Ckm. p. 70), Obadiah the chief otficer of Ahab was the same with Obadiah the prophet. He was of Shechem in the land of Ephraim, and a disciple of Elijah, and was the third captain of fifty who was sent by Ahaziah (2 Kings i, K!). After this he left the king's service, prophesied, died, and was buried. The "certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets" who came to Elisha (iv, 1) was, accord- ing to the tradition in Kashi, his widow. — Smith.