sanction and thirdly, an evil which seems to be a natural consequence resulting from these two, a recourse to that sanction in common conversation; -an appeal to heaven on trifles, and in every-day intercourse.

With regard to the first evil, we may observe that no principle is more generally established by reasoning and experience, than the common adage, "Familiarity breeds contempt." And I would confidently appeal to the experience of every one, whether by the administration of oaths, as at present witnessed in our Courts of Justice, or our Offices of Police, any religious reverence is promoted towards the Great Being whose name is used, or any sense cultivated of the awful resposibility by which a sworn man is bound. On the contrary, does not the respect with which we once contemplated an appeal to the Omniscient and Omnipotent One, gradually but rapidly diminish, as we become more familiar with the ceremony by its constant repetition? This effect may, undoubtedly, be owing in some measure to the manner in which the ceremony is conducted; and to this we shall refer hereafter: at present, we allude to the diminished reverence, as a consequence of its frequency*. And if this be the case even in a Court

*Since this chapter was first written, I have carefully read the treatise of Michaëlis to which we must again refer. His testimony, incidentally given to the point we are here

This, I am induced to believe, would scarcely be the case, were the population taught, as I am persuaded the Legislature might, by salutary regulations, gradually teach them,-to regard an oath as a solemn appeal to God, to be allowed only in cases of necessity, and to be made, if at all, only in causes requiring the solemnity of judicial investigation; and then to be taken with a solemnity corresponding to the awfulness of the majesty of HIM who is invoked to witness the truth.

2. The second mischief we mentioned arising from our present unhappy practice in the administration of oaths, was a proportionate undervaluing of the truth, when a bare affirmation is made without the additional sanction of such an immediate appeal to Heaven. This undervaluing of a simple declaration is seen in a twofold point of view,—in the person whose words purport to convey the truth, and in the person to whom they are addressed,—a sort of general disparagement of that "yea" and "nay" nay” of Christians, beyond which the great Legislator and Judge, from whom lieth no appeal, has pronounced every thing to originate in a poisoned well-spring. If the legislature of England, by its solemn enactments, pronounces and declares, that no credit is to be given to a man's word, however seriously pledged, unless it be confirmed by an oath, though the most trivial question of everyday life be the subject; if Justice, even when en

gaged in settling a point of less value than can be estimated by the lowest coin that is named among us, will not move her hand or tongue without first witnessing an appeal to heaven, what is the natural result? Can it be any other (especially among the least educated part of mankind), than on the one hand, a comparative carelessness, a heedlessness of his own words, when a man speaks unrestrained, uninfluenced by the religious bond of an oath; and on the other hand, a proportionate distrust of another man's bare, naked word,—an incredulity, when he merely affirms or denies under the general obligation to speak the truth. Thus does the multiplication of oaths throw simple truth into the background, and pave the way for the third evil we specified, the prevalence of rash and common swearing.

3. This evil, lamentably prevalent among us, I trace in part as one result of the multiplication of oaths administered by magistrates and in Courts of Justice, with somewhat of increased certainty, from the fact of the exact terms of our authorized form of oath being employed very generally among common swearers. Too often are our ears assailed in the streets by the very expressions used as well by a juror when swearing in his own person, as by the magistrate when administering an oath, accompanied (like the more solemn oaths in the corrupt ages of Christianity) by a volley of horrible im