Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1837-03-01
ency in a political and legal view.

4
legal penalties of perjury, would answer all
the legitimate purposes of an oath, because
1t would subject the witness to all the pun
ishment which can be inflicted by the court
Suppose that the required oath should
bind the witness to utter the truth; under
penalty of whole life of remorse, of the
stings Of conscience by day, and the visions
of disturbed soul by night; or under the
multiplied curses of papal bull of excom-
munication, curses, affecting him in all
the members and functions of his body, in
all the acts and imaginations of his mind,
and in all the relations and connexions Of
his life Who would not consider such an
oath both profane and ridiculous? Who
would not perceive, that in its administra-
ton, our courts prcfaneiy usurped the pow
ers of the Deity? Yet more profane is the
common practice, by which the veil of eter-
nifty is drawn aside, and its mysteries laid
bare, by judicial impiety; when "fools rush
in where angels fear to tread"
1t is no wonder, that thousands of respect
able men cherish conscientious scruples up
on the question of taking oaths. Yet the
old law compelled the witness to swear
compelled him to anticipate the possible
sentence Of the day Of judgment, by damn
ing himself, if he sinned, and thus solemn
! ly to abandon and renounce all the benefits
Of subsequent repentance.
Our law does not compel men to take
oaths upon themselves, but it goes far to-
wards it Gin Massachusetts, by refusing to
believe the unsupported declaration of a
witness, that he has such scruples.
If man can prove, that he considers ii
wrong to swear, he is allowed to affirm
Now if an affirmation is as efficacious as an
oath, in any case, why not adopt it unver-
: sally? An affirmation is a solemn promise
made under the pains and penalties of per-
jury, without any appeal to the Deity. This
F promise is found to be as certain method
OF binding witness, as any other 1t.
adoption shows, that the old and exception
able practice, to which many object, and b!
which many are banished from courts. is
not essential to the due administration O
justice, and may, therefore, be safely aban
doned.
An affirmation comes fully and wholly
within the compass of human possibility
Its penalties can be enforced by the court
1t does not usurp alien authority. But oaths
while they can do nothing more than this
pretend to carry the precepts and power of
the court into another world, and audacious-
ly attempt to trample on the holy ground Of
heavenly jurisdiction.
The manner in which our courts apply
their rule to varions denominations of Chris
tians, furnishes full proof, that an affirma-
ton would, even on their own principles, be
f sufficient obligation upon witness Both
UnirersdliSts, who believe, that sin is pun
ished only in this life, and Restorationists
who suppose, that the souls of the damned
instead of being sent into everlasting pun:
ishment, are
"confine1 too fast in fires,
Till the foul crimes, done in their days Of nature,
: Are burned and Purged away
both are admitted to testify under oath 8
thus substituting temporal for eternal pen
, alties for, Of these denominations, the
first reject futurity, and the second exclude
eternity from their notions of punishment
so that the penalties of their oaths are moth
{ ing more, in extent and effect, than those o.
an affirmation.
Cd. These observations lead US to the dis
covery of another great error in the IegaI
principle spoken Of, to wit, in assuming
that ritnesses are most strongly impelIed
by nsotires dra~n from the spiritual 1oorld
In vast majority of cases this is MOI
true. From the day Of those unbelievine
Jews, who demanded of Christ "a sign,"-
f sensible proof Of his authority, nay, from
all antiquity, down to the present hour, man
kind have been vastly more governed by the
: objects Of tn cir senses and the motives de-
rived therefrom, than by any thing else.-
Short-sighted, unimaginative, unspiritual
they have fixed their thoughts upon cores.
ponding objects; they have been "of the
, earth, earthy,,' and, though intended to wor
! ship the Creator,
"Celumque tuer,
Erectosque ad sidera ,olere vultus,'
they have grovelled and loved to grove
eVerlastingly.
AS it is generally, so is it, also, in the
: particular matter of speaking truth upon a
d public examination. There are, indeed
= men, whose conscienees are deeply impress.
ed with the snleInnitv of an oath and who