To exhibit it in its true light, I shall shew,
1. To what it does not extend —
[It does not extend then to oaths taken in a court of judi- cature. This is evident from their being absolutely enjoined
on many occasions by God himself =* Moreover, our
blessed Lord submitted to be examined upon oath ; and, on being adjured by the living God, gave a reply, which nothing else could extort from him^. And by his disciples also such an use of oaths is manifestly approved : it is said, that an oath for confirmation is an " end of all strife*'." Now then I ask, would such kind of oaths have been commanded of God, taken by Christ, and approved by the Apostles, if there had been any thing necessarily and inherently wrong in them ? We are well assured, that had they been in themselves morally evil, the use of them would never have been so sanctioned.
Nor does the prohibition absolutely extend to the use of them on any other solemn occasion. On some particular occa- sions they were imposed and taken by holy men of old. Abraham exacted an oath of his servant whom he sent to seek a wife for his son Isaac '^. Jacob took an oath of Joseph, as Joseph also did of the children of Israel, that they would carry up his bones to Canaan, and bury them in the promised land^. And Jonathan made David swear to him to exercise tenderness towards his posterity, after that he should be seated on the throne of IsraeF. Under the New Testament, the most distinguished of all the Apostles very frequently made an appeal to God, when the subject was such as needed a solemn confirmation, and could not be confirmed in any other way ^
Who that considers this statement can doubt for a moment the admissibility of oaths on such occasions as could not other- wise be satisfactoril}' determined?]
2. To what it does extend —
[The foregoing limitation is intimated even in the text: for though the words, " Swear not at all," appear to be inde- finite, yet it is plain that the prohibition was designed only to reach to such oaths as were used in common " conversation :" " Swear not; but let your conversation be Yea, yea, Nay, nay." Nevertheless the import of the prohibition is very exten- sive. It extends, first, to all irreverent appeals to God. The " taking of God's holy name in vain" is forbidden in the third
a Exod. xxii. 10, 11. Numb. v. 19—22. Deut. vi, 18. ^ Matt. xxvi. 63, 64. « Heb. vi. 16. ^ Gen. xxiv. 2, 3, 9. e Gen. xlvii. 29—31. and 1. 25. . ^ 1 Sam. xx. 14—17.
s Rom. i. 9. and ix. 1. 2 Cor. i. 18, 23. and xi. 31. Gal. i. 20. Phil. i. 8.