Evening star., 1901-07-30
FORMS or MAKING OATH
THREE KINGS. SWEAR TO SUPPORT
AN ESTABLISHED REIdGION.
Men May Amrm In America, England
and Australia-French Dep
utics Exempt.

From the New York Press.
An investigation caused by the trouble.
over King Edwards oath OF accession has
developed the fact that in only two other
countries does the royal oath OF Office make
any reference to religion. The King OF
Portugal swears to maintain the Catholic
religion and the King Of Greece to support
the Greek Church. The whole subject or
oaths Is interesting. They presuppose that
any man is liable to break his mere word
kings and emperors as well as anybody
else. Whether an oath makes the average
man more truthful or not Is a question.
The general opinion seems to be. and al
ways has been. that 1t does. In Germany.
however, oaths have been abolished alto
gether. and in America, England and Aus
tralia any one objecting to being sworn In
court on religious grounds Is allowed to
affirm. In France no oath ts required or
members Of the national legislature. and
1t cannot be held that German witnesses.
Quakers and members Of the French cham
ber Of deputies are more unreliable In courts
than other people. philosopher once said
that when the oath ceased to be binding no
country could exist for year.
An Ancient Practice.
The taking of an oath is a very ancient
practice, and has been common to all ma
tions civilized and savage. in all times. The
Medes and the Persians, the Egyptians and
the Assyrians swore. and the time proba-
bly, never will come when the oath will
have died out Of the world. There Is
great variety in the forms Of taking an
oath, but the object is the same-to cal
down upon oneself the vengeance Of God
as the penalty Of untruth. But there is a
concurrent and very lively sense OF the
vengeance OF the law as well. In England,
kn1x oyaA Aust Nto
taken on the Bible. The English always
kiss the book. In France, Belgium and
Scotland the oath Is taken with the right
hand raised over the head.
Parsees sometimes give rise to much per-
plexfty in law courts. They strongly object
to being sworn on the Bible, and claim the
right to make the oath as In their own
country-namely. by holding the tau OF 8
the eyes of the Parsee. he can commit no
sin while touching 1t. But there Is.
fortunately. an alternative. In the city OF
London courts some years ago. 1t being
took sacred relic out from his bosom
and, holding It aloft, swore impressively.
by God. and God Omniscent. and God
Omnipresent, and God Almighty.
Mohammedans are much opposed to
swearing. When they do swear 1t Is a sol
emn ceremony. and Is performed by hold
ing the Koran in the right hand, placing
the left on the forehead. and bringing the
seldom commits perjury. In India their
prejudice against swearing is so strong
that the government allows them to affirm.
How Burrhfsts Swear.
The Buddhist swears 'in the presence Of
Buddha," and says: III speak false, or
II by coloring the truth others are led
astray, Dhamma and Pro Sanga. together
with the Devotees Of the Twenty-Five Fir
maments. punish me and also my migrate
ry soul" The Hindoo law says: LET the
judge swear by his veracity, the soldier BY
his horse or weapons. the merchant by his
cattle, grain. gold or other possessions, and
the servile man by imprecating curses upon
his own head" When the Gentoo of India
swears he touches the foot Of Brahmin.
and when a Brahmin swears he touches
the hand Of another Of his caste.
In Mexico many people still adhere to an
earth with the II tip Of the finger and then
place the finger on the tongue, which sig
nifies: IF my tongue speak false, then
may be turned to dust" Until compara-
lively recently priest In France simply
affirmed ION the word OF q priest" The
Chinese have q great variety Of oaths,
many OF them curious in form. One is by
taking a saucer and breaking 1t while the
clerk says: You shall tell the truth and
the whole truth. The saucer Is cracked.
and If you do not tell the truth your soul
shall be cracked like the saucer This is
binding oath. for the Chinaman believes
that his soul can be smashed into frag
mentS.
By q Broken Saucer.
Chinese in this country and England are
sometimes sworn by the broken saucer.
More effective. however, In the eyes OF the
ceiestials Is the joss stick. The joss stick
is set alight and while it burns the Chinese
swearer wishes that his soul may be burn
ed like the stick II he gives false evidence.
The Chinese swear in many other ways. A
solemn oath Is made by writing certain
sa cred characters on q paper and burning
1t, praying at the same time that he be
burned II he does not speak the truth.
Sometimes he swears by burning piece
OF straw. But nothing Is so forcible in
drawing the truth from a Chinaman as
getting him to cut of a cocks head. This,
like the breaking of the saucer, has a re-
ligious foundation. The Chinese believe
that II their bodies are mutilated on earth
their souls will be similarly mutiiated in
heaven.