_Oaths_ (Vol. viii., p. 364.).--Your correspondent assumes that the act of
kissing the Bible, or other book containing the Holy Gospels, by a judicial
witness, is a part of the oath itself. Is it such, or is it merely an act
of reverence to the book? In support of the latter supposition, I would
quote Archdeacon Paley, who says, that after repeating the oath,--
"The juror kisses the book; the kiss, however, seems rather an act of
reverence to the contents of the book, as in the Popish ritual the
priest kisses the gospel before he reads it, than any part of the
oath."--_Mor. and Pol. Ph._, p. 193., thirteenth edition.
In none of the instances given by C. S. G. does kissing the book appear to
be essential. Does not this rather favour Dr. Paley's explanation? which,
if it be correct, would, I think, afford grounds for concluding that the
practice of kissing the book accompanied the taking of ancient oaths, and
is not, as C. S. G. suggests, an addition of later times.
Again, may I bring forward the same authority in opposition to that quoted
by your correspondent with reference to the origin of the term corporal
oath:
"It is commonly thought that oaths are denominated corporal oaths from
the bodily action which accompanies them, of laying the right hand upon
a book containing the four gospels. This opinion, however, appears to
be a mistake, for the term is borrowed from the ancient usage of
touching upon these occasions the _corporale_, or cloth, which covered
the consecrated elements."--P. 191.