(_For the Mirror_.)
Since lately we have had a great deal of prevarication in our courts
of justice about receiving the oaths of deists, &c., I have thought it
meet to furnish the MIRROR with an account of the first usage of the
words, "So help me God." The word oath is a corruption of the Saxon
_eoth_. An oath is called corporal, because the person making an
affidavit lays his hand upon a part of the scriptures.
At the conclusion of the oath the above words are used, which may
perhaps have originated in the very ancient manner of trial by battle
in this country, when the appellee, laying his right hand on the book,
takes the appellant by the right hand with his left, and maketh oath
as follows:--"Hear this, thou who callest thyself _John_ by the name
of baptism, whom I hold by thy hand, that falsely upon me thou hast
lied; and for this thou liest, that I who call myself _Thomas_ by the
name of baptism, did not feloniously murder thy father, _W._ by name,
_so help me God_." (Here he kisses the book, and concludes,)--"And
this I will defend against thee by my body, as this court shall
award." And the appellant is thus sworn also.
Here, it may be observed also, the true foundation of the word _lie_,
being esteemed still so great an affront above all others, as whenever
it is pronounced to cause "an immediate affray and bloodshed."
I have seen people sworn in poetry; and certain it is, that in many
countries in Europe the making of oaths differs. I have some curious
specimens of ancient oaths, some in Latin prose, others in poetry.
Lord Chief Justice Coke was so strict with regard to the receiving of
oaths, that when at Cambridge Summer Assizes, upon a trial of felony,
he said, "in case of trespass, although it be only to the value of
_twopence_, no evidence shall be given to the jury _but upon oath_,
much less where _the life of a man is in question_." An action may be
brought on the case upon a man calling another a _perjured_ man,
because it shall be intended to be contrary to his oath in a judicial
proceeding.