Chapter 22. Of Lawful Oaths and Vows

Chapter 22. Of Lawful Oaths and Vows

I. A lawful oath is a part of religious worship,⁴⁶³ wherein, upon just occasion, the person swearing solemnly calleth God to witness what he asserteth or promiseth; and to judge him according to the truth or falsehood of what he sweareth.⁴⁶⁴

II. The name of God only is that

by which, men ought to swear, and therein it is to be used with all holy fear and reverence;⁴⁶⁵ therefore to swear vainly or rashly by that glorious and dreadful name, or to swear at all by any other thing, is sinful, and to be abhorred.⁴⁶⁶ Yet as, in matters of weight and moment, an oath is warranted by the Word of God, under the New Testament, as well as under the Old,⁴⁶⁷ so a lawful oath, being imposed by lawful authority, in such matters ought to be taken.⁴⁶⁸

III. Whosoever taketh an oath ought duly to consider the weightiness of so solemn an act, and therein to avouch nothing but what he is fully persuaded is the truth.⁴⁶⁹ Neither may any man bind himself by oath to any thing but what is good and just, and what he believeth so to be, and what he is able and resolved to perform.⁴⁷⁰ Yet it is a sin to refuse an oath touching any thing that is good and just, being imposed by lawful authority.⁴⁷¹

IV. An oath is to be taken in the plain and common sense of

the words, without equivocation or mental reservation.⁴⁷² It can not oblige to sin; but in any thing not sinful, being taken, it binds to performance, although to a man's own hurt:⁴⁷³ nor is it to be violated, although made to heretics or infidels.⁴⁷⁴

V. A vow is of the like nature with a promissory oath, and ought to be made with the like religious care, and to be performed with the like faithfulness.⁴⁷⁵

VI. It is not to be made to any creature, but to God alone:⁴⁷⁶ and that it may be accepted, it is to be made voluntarily, out of faith and conscience of duty, in way of thankfulness for mercy received, or for the⁴⁷⁷ obtaining of what we want; whereby we more strictly bind ourselves to necessary duties, or to other things, so far and so long as they may fitly conduce thereunto.⁴⁷⁸

VII. No man may vow to do any thing forbidden in the Word of God, or what would hinder any duty therein commanded, or which is not in his own power, and for the performance whereof he hath no promise

or ability from God.⁴⁷⁹ In which respect,⁴⁸⁰ popish monastical vows of perpetual single life, professed poverty, and regular obedience, are so far from being degrees of higher perfection, that they are superstitions and sinful snares, in which no Christian may entangle himself.⁴⁸¹