according to the custom of the empire; they erected statues to their honour, and transcribed a history, and sometimes a precept, into a table, by figures making more lasting impressions than by words and sentences. While the church stood within these limits, she had natural reason for her warrant, and the custom of the several countries, and no precept of Christ to countermand it; they who went farther were unreasonable, and, according to the degree of that excess, were superstitious. 17. The duties of this commandment are learned by the intents of it for it was directed against the false religion of the nations who believed the images of their gods to be filled with the Deity; and it was also a caution, to prevent our low imaginations of God, lest we should come to think God to be like man9. And thus far there was indispensable and eternal reason in the precept: and this was never lessened in any thing by the holy Jesus, and obliges us Christians to make our addresses and worshippings to no God but the God of the Christians, that is, of all the world; and not to do this in or before an image of Him, because He cannot be represented. For the images of Christ and His saints, they come not into either of the two considerations; and we are to understand our duty by the proportions of our reverence to God, expressed in the great commandment. Our fathers in Christianity, as I observed now, made no scruple of using the images and pictures of their princes and learned men; which the Jews understood to be forbidden to them in the commandment. Then they admitted, even in the utensils of the church, some celatures and engravings; such was that Tertullian' speaks of, "the good shepherd in the chalice." Afterwards they admitted pictures; but not before the time of Constantine, for in the council of Eliberis" they were forbidden. And in succession of time the scruples lessened with the danger, and all the way they signified their belief to be, that this commandment was only so far retained by Christ as it relied upon natural reason, or was a particular instance of the great commandment; that is, images were forbidden where they did dishonour God, or lessen His reputation, or estrange our duties, or became idols, or the direct matter of superstitious observances, charms, or senseless confidences; but they were permitted to represent the humanity of Christ, to remember saints and martyrs, to 4 Τὸν αὔρατον εἰκονογραφεῖν ἢ διαπλάσσew oux bolov.-—Philo de Legatione. [p. 1032 E, ed. fol. Lutet. 1640.] Prioribus clxx. annis templa quidem ædificabant [Romani], simulacrum vero nullum effigiatum faciebant; perinde atque nefas esset meliora per deteriorum similitudines exprimere.-Plutarch. Numa.-[cap. 8. tom. i. p. 258.] Εἴη γὰρ ἐν τοῦτο μόνος θεὸς τὸ περιέχον ἡμᾶς ἅπαντας καὶ γῆν καὶ θάλατταν, δ καλοῦμεν οὐρανὸν, καὶ κόσμον, καὶ τὴν τῶν ὄντων φύσιν. τούτου δὴ τίς ἂν εἰκόνα πλάτο τειν θαῤῥήσειε νοῦν ἔχων ὁμοίαν τινὰ τῶν παρ' ἡμῖν; ἀλλ ̓ ἐᾷν δεῖ πᾶσαν ξοανοποΐαν, τέμενος ἀφορίσαντας, καὶ σηκὸν ἀξιόλογον τιμὴν εἴδους χωρίς.—Strab., lib. xvi. [p. 1082.] Οφθαλμοῖς οὐχ ὁρᾶται, οὐδένι ἔοικεν· [De pudicit. § 7. p. 559 B.] recount a story, to imprint a memory, to do honour and reputation to absent persons, and to be the instruments of a relative civility and esteem. But in this particular infinite care is to be taken of scandal and danger, of a forward and zealous ignorance, or of a mistaken and peevish confidence; and where a society hath such persons in it, the little good of images must not be violently retained, with the greater danger and certain offence of such persons of whom consideration is to be had in the cure of souls. I only add this, that the first Christians made no scruple of saluting the statues of their princes, and were confident it made no entrenchment upon the natural prohibition contained in this commandment; because they had observed that exterior inclinations and addresses of the body, though in the lowest manner, were not proper to God, but in scripture found also to be communicated to creatures, to kings, to prophets, to parents, to religious persons: and because they found it to be death to do affront to the pictures and statues of their emperors, they concluded in reason (which they also saw verified by the practice and opinion of all the world) that the respect they did at the emperor's statue was accepted as a veneration to his person. But these things are but sparingly to be drawn into religion, because the customs of this world are altered, and their opinions new; and many who have not weak understandings, have weak consciences; and the necessity for the entertainment of them is not so great as the offence is or may be. The third commandment. 18. "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain":" this our blessed Saviour repeating, expresses it thus, "It hath been said to them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself;" to which Christ adds, out of Numb. xxx. 2, "but thou shalt perform thy oaths unto the Lord." The meaning of the one we are taught by the other. We must not invocate the name of God in any promise in vain, that is, with a lie which happens either out of levity, that we change our purpose which at first we really intended; or when our intention at that instant was fallacious, and contradictory to the undertaking. This is "to take the name of God," that is, to use it, to take it into our mouths, "for vanity;" that is, according Gen. xxiii. 12; xxvii. 29; xlii. 6; and xlviii. 12; 1 Sam. xx. 41; 1 Kings i. 16. u Apud Romanos sancitum est, ut si per Deum jurans quis pejeraret, ad Deum ipsum plectendus remitteretur, quem satis esse idoneum suæ majestatis vindicem dicebant.-[Tac. Annal. i. 73.] L. Jurisjurandi, C. de Rebus credit. et Jurejur. [Digest., lib. xii. titt. 1, 2. tom. i. pp. 301-14.] Sin per genium principis : quis jurans pejerasset, castigabatur fustibus, cum hoc elogio, Temere ne jura.— 'Si duo patroni,' Sect. fin. de Jurejur. [Ibid. § 13. p. 310.] Lysander dixit homines uti posse pro suo commodo juramentis, sicut pueri astragalis. Plutarch. in Lysand. [cap. 8. tom. iii. p. 15.] Idem in Æmilio ait, Macedonas usos esse juramento uti moneta. to the perpetual style of scripture, for a lie. "Every one hath spoken vanity to his neighbour," that is, he hath lied unto him; for so it follows, "with flattering lips, and with a double heart:" and "swearing deceitfully" is by the Psalmist called "lifting up his soul unto vanity." And Philo the Jew, who well understood the law and the language of his nation, renders the sense of this commandment to be, "to call God to witness to a lie." And this is to be understood only in promises, for so Christ explains it, by the appendix out of the law, "Thou shalt perform thy oaths:" for lying in judgment, which is also with an oath, or taking God's name for witness, is forbidden in the ninth commandment. To this Christ added a farther restraint. For whereas by the natural law it was not unlawful to swear by any oath that implied not idolatry, or the belief of a false god; I say, any grave and prudent oath, when they spake a grave truth; and whereas it was lawful for the Jews in ordinary intercourse to swear by God, so they did not swear to a lie (to which also swearing to an impertinency might be reduced by a proportion of reason, and was so accounted of in the practice of the Jews), but else, and in other cases, they used to swear by God, or by a creature, respectively; for, "they that swear by Him shall be commended," saith the Psalmist; and "swearing to the Lord of hosts," is called "speaking the language of Canaana." Most of this was rescinded; Christ forbade "all swearing," not only swearing to a lie, but also swearing to a truth in common affairs; not only swearing commonly by the name of God, but swearing commonly "by heaven," and "by the earth," "by our head," or by any other oath: only let our speech be yea, or nay; that is, plainly affirming or denying. In these, I say, Christ corrected the licence and vanities of the Jews and gentiles. For as the Jews accounted it religion to name God, and therefore would not swear by Him but in the more solemn occasions of their life; but in trifles they would swear by their fathers, or the light of heaven, or the ground they trod on: so the Greeks were also careful not to swear by the gods lightly, much less fallaciously; but they would swear by any thing about them, or near them, upon an occasion as vain as their oath. But because these oaths are either indirectly to be referred to God (and Christ instances in divers), or else they are but a vain testimony, or else they give a divine honour v Psalm xii. 2. * Psalm xxiv. 4. [LXX.] Oùк λаßev ἐπὶ ματαίῳ τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ. • Μάρτυρα δὲ καλεῖν ἐπὶ ψεύδει θεὸν avoolóτaTov.-Philo. [In Decalog. p. 756. ed. fol. Lutet. 1640.] Psalm lxiii. 11. a 1 Sam. xx. 17; Isa. xix. 18. * Απλά γάρ ἐστι τῆς ἀληθείας ἔπη. Eschyl. ["Onλwv кpíσis. Stob. Fl. xi. 8.] c Ecce negas, jurasque mihi per templa tonantis ; id est, per Elohim Hebræorum.-Mart. [lib. xi. ep. 94.-Grot. ut infra.] Vide Harmenopulum [leg. Hermolaum] in Plin., lib. v. c. 27. [sig. 1. 8. b.] et Scalig. De emend. temp. in append. libror. [Prolegom. p. 40.] Μὴ προπετῶς κατὰ τῶν θεῶν ὀμνύειν, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τῶν προστυγχανόντων.-Interpr. in Hom. [notante Hug, Grotio, in Matt. v. 34.] to a creature by making it a judge of truth and discerner of spirits; therefore Christ seems to forbid all forms of swearing whatsoever. In pursuance of which law Basilides, being converted at the prayers of Potamiana a virgin martyr, and required by his fellow soldiers to swear upon some occasion then happening, answered, it was not lawful for him to swear, for he was a Christian; and many of the fathers have followed the words of Christ in so severe a sense, that their words seem to admit no exception. 19. But here a grain of salt must be taken, lest the letter destroy the spirit. First, it is certain the holy Jesus forbade a custom of swearing; it being great irreligion to despise and lessen the name of Gode, which is the instrument and conveyance of our adorations to Him, by making it common and applicable to trifles and ordinary accidents of our life. He that swears often, many times swears false, and, however, lays by that reverence which being due to God, the scripture determines it to be due at His name; His name "is to be loved and feared." And therefore Christ commands that our "communication be yea, yea," or "nay, nay;" that is, our ordinary discourses should be simply affirmative or negative. In order to this, Plutarch affirms out of Phavorinus, that the reason why the Greeks forbade children who were about to swear by Hercules, to swear within doors, was that by this delay and preparation they might be taught not to be hasty or quick in swearing, but all such invocations should be restrained and retarded by ceremony: and Hercules himself was observed never to have sworn in all his life-time but once. Secondly, not only customary swearing is forbidden, but all swearing upon a slight cause: St. Basil upbraids some Christians his contemporaries with the example of Clinias the Pythagorean, who rather than he would swear suffered a mulct of three talents: and all the followers of Pythagoras admitted no oath, unless the matter were grave, necessary, and charitable; and the wisest and gravest persons among the heathens were very severe in their counsels concerning oaths. Thirdly, but there are some cases in which the interests of kingdoms and bodies politic, peace and confederacies, require the sanction of promissory oaths; and they whom we are bound to obey, and who may kill us if we do not, require that their interests be secured by an oath : and that in this case, and all that are equal, our blessed Saviour did not forbid oaths, is certain not only by the example of Christians, but of all the world before and since this prohibition, understanding it to d Euseb. Hist., lib. vi. [cap. 5. p. 262.] e Vide Ecclus. xxiii. 9, 11, 13. Dominus et Jacobus ideo prohibuerunt jusjurandum, non ut illud prorsus e rebus humanis tollerent, sed quia caveremus a perjurio non facile jurando.-Vid. S. August. de verb. apost. [Serm. clxxx. § 3. tom. v. col. 860.] 1 Ῥωμαϊκὴ ἐπίσχεσίς ἐστι τῆς πρὸς τὸν ὅρκον εὐχερείας καὶ ταχύτητος τὸ γινόμε νον. ὡς Φαβωρίνος ἔλεγε· τὸ γὰρ ὥσπερ ἐκ παρασκευῆς μέλλησιν ἐμποιεῖ, καὶ βουλεύoaolai didwol.-[Quæst. Rom., tom. vii. p. 98.] [Serm. xiii. De patient., tom. iii. append. p. 549.] h [Jambl. in vit. Pythag., capp. ix. xxviii. pp. 35. 126. Diog. Laert. in vit. Pythag., lib. viii. cap. 1. § 22. tom. ii. p. 256.] k be of the nature of such natural bands and securities without which commonwealths in some cases are not easily combined, and therefore to be a thing necessary, and therefore not to be forbidden. Now what is by Christians to be esteemed a slight cause, we may determine by the account we take of other things. The glory of God is certainly no light matter; and therefore when that is evidently and certainly concerned, not fantastically, and by vain and imaginary consequences, but by prudent and true estimation, then we may lawfully swear. We have St. Paul's example, who well understood the precept of his Master, and is not to be supposed easily to have done any violence to it; but yet we find religious affirmations, and God invoked for "witness as a record upon his soul," in his epistles to the Romans, Galatians, and Corinthians'. But these oaths were only assertory. Tertullian affirmeth that Christians refused to swear by the genius of their prince, because it was a demon; but they sware by his health, and their solemn oath was by God, and Christ, and the holy Spirit, and the majesty of the emperor. The fathers of the Ephesine council made Nestorius and Victor swear; and the bishops at Chalcedon sware by the health of their princes. But as St. Paul did it extra-judicially, when the glory of God was concerned in it, and the interest of souls; so the Christians used to swear in a cause of piety and religion, in obedience, and upon public command, or for the ends of charity and justice, both with oaths promissory and assertory, as the matter required: with this only difference, that they never did swear in the causes of justice or charity, but when they were before a magistrate; but if it were in a cause of religion, and in matters of promise, they did indeed swear among themselves, but always to or in communities and societies, obliging themselves by oath not to commit wickedness, robberies, sacrilege, not to deceive their trust, not to detain the pledge; which rather was an act of direct intercourse with God, than a solemn or religious obligation to man. Which very thing Pliny' also reports of the Christians. 20. The sum is this m: Since the whole subject matter of this precept is oaths promissory, or vows; all promises with oaths are regularly forbidden to Christians, unless they be made to God or God's vicegerent, in a matter not trifling. For in the first case, a promise made to God, and a swearing by God to perform the promise, to Him is all one: for the name of God being the instrument and determination of all our addresses, we cannot be supposed to speak to God without using of His name explicitly, or by implication : and therefore he that promises to God makes a promise, and uses Rom. i. 9; 2 Cor. xi. 31; Gal. i. 20. k [Apolog., § 32. p. 28 A.] [Ep. lib. x. 97. tom. ii. p. 128.] m Τὸ ναὶ, καὶ τὸ οὔ, συλλαβαὶ δύο ἀλλ ̓ ὅμως τὸ κράτιστον τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἡ ἀλήθεια, καὶ ὁ ἔσχατος ὅρος τῆς πονηρίας τὸ ψεῦδος, τοῖς μικροῖς τούτοις ρήμασι πολλάκις ἐμ TEPLEXEтal.-S. Basil. de Spir. Sanct. [cap. 1. § 2. tom. iii. p. 2 E.] Necessitas, magnum humanæ imbecillitatis præsidium, quicquid cogit, excusat.-Sen. [vid. Controv. xxvii. tom. iii. p. 321.] |