New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-07-24

perpetrated upona woman while in state OF
mesmeric trance, or suspension of the will,
which he had produced He was brought
! before magistrate, the woman and her
/ husband being the witnesses against him.
! Il appeared, however. that neither of the
two believed in the being of God, and ac
/ cordingly the prisoner was discharged from
the accusation and allowed to 20 unpun-
I shed. II was not proved in evidence, As
we understand, that the witnesses were ha-
| bitual liars, whose testimony could in no
case be relied on; nothing was done to i'm
peach their veracitv, or cast doubt on the
fact that such an outrage had been commit
ted as they alleged The sole ground for
pronouncing them unworthy of credence,
and for declaring the legal innocence of the
miscreant, was that they did not believe in
existence of Supreme Being.
We have in our time known many per-
sons whose misfortune 1t was TO have 4 sim
liar want of conviction as to this universal
article of faith but we have never found
them. as class, less reliable, less honest,
less true. than other respectable members
of the community. 4 few have been bad.
and many exceedingly disagreeable. but
some of the most estimable persons we have
ever met with, men of great kindness and
courtesy. and of the highest sense of honor,
have called themselves atheists. Undoubt-
edlv they were sincere In so doing and the
fact, as far as they, and the consistency and
vgor of their minds were concerned, was
lamentable But to say that they would lie
or steal moro readily than other men, that
they were worse fathers. friends. citizens,
would be a great mistake. Indeed, there
have been such men whose word their
neighbors would confide in with more read
mess than in that of others who called
themselves Christians.
Why, then, should such persons not be
allowed to testify before the Courts ! Why
should Justice be baked, because a good
and an honest man, whom nobody would In
private suspect of giving false witness, can
not profess to believe in fundamental doe
trine of religion
The meaning of an oath, in which God IS |
called to attest the truth of the witnesses |
allegation, is this If swear falsely may |
God punish me by damnation. The Su-
preme Being is invoked to note the words
of the witness and condemn him if they are
not true The penalty is punishment eter-
nal For, when the oath was first used |
such punishment was as common an |
And vet there are now many who do |
not hold it, not only protested Unlyer- |
salists, but of other religious denOmina-
tons. But they are not excluded from the |
wtness-box in consequence. Were the
rule strictly applied, they must also be re-
iected, since the man who does not believe
God will punish him for lie, is just as like
" to tell one as the man who does not be-
leye there is God at all. For neither has
1t appears to us that the invocation of the
Divine Being as pledge of truth, might as
wisely and safely be omitted from the form
alities of justice as from the ordinary inter-
course of men. 1t is not necessary for the
purposes of daily life and business, and why
should it be where one stands up to testify |
in matter concerning the honor or life of
his fellow Let all proper forrnalities be
observed guard such evidence with sufi.
cient legal penalties for falsehood receive
all he testimony affecting the veracity OF
witness but do not let the law prescribe
tina. a man who would be implicitly believed
everywhere else, shall not even be heard in
a Court because he differs from other men
on doctrine of theology, no matter how
great the Importance of that doctrine IN the
view of others.
The truth is, that the practice of making |
religious belief test of judicial credibility,
is 4 relic of these barbarous days when
women were drowned to prove that they !
were not witches, or required to walk UNI I
scorched on burning Goals 10 show that they |!
had not violated commandment. Then
character in every respeco was tested by or
thodoxy, and he who dared affirm that he
held not every point of the general belief,
was regarded as worse shan heather and
a publican But now Is is Universally ad |
mitted that 4 man is not necessarily bad even |
because he may happen to be an infect,
but that he may still he upright and estina
IL, Ia n,.nru cnracitr The truth l. nrncfi-