Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 September 1883 — Various Oaths. [ARTICLE]

Various Oaths.

It was a customary thing in what we called the dark ages for a swearer to lay his hand on the crucifix as a sacred symbol, or touch tlie altar while he swore by the Gbd to whom it was dedicated. Soon he camo to swear by the crucifix itself or “by the rood.” Of kindred origin is the oath “by the mass,” “by ■ the wound,” lienee “swounds” and “zounds.” The sacted wafer is to the vulgar mind a part of God’s corporeal nature, hence “God’s bodikin,” a favorite oath of the Elizabethan age. The custom of placing the right hand upon some sacred object was considered of the utmost importance, and there was quite a difference in the degree of the solemnity of the oath according as the object sworn by was more or less sacred. When Harold, of England swore to William the Conqueror that he would not push his claim to the crown, he supposed that he was only swearing on a missal or prayer-book which was lying on a chest, and hence could do so with a mental reservation, but the oath was really the most binding possible, as was afterward disclosed, when William removed the cloth with which the chest was covered and disclosed the authentic relics of a sgint. It was claimed at one time in the Irish troubles, in James’ time, that the oath upon the eucliarist of an Irish Catholic priest could not relied upon in the court, unless the priest who consecrated it was in sympathy with the English Government. For it was said that the transubstantiation depended entirely upon the will of the priest, and if he did not wish the bread of the water to be changed into the body and blood it would be nothing but a bit. of baked dougb, whicli everybody could swear falsely upon without committing perjury. ~~ An Abyssinian chief, who had sworn an oath that he disliked, w?s seen to scrape it off his tongue with his knife and spit out. And in Germany, to this day, there are places where the witness, when he wants to tell a lie or swear falsely, crooks his finger, as it to indicate to his conscieiiy that his oath was crooked.—Cleveland Herald.