(note: This node is 22nd in a series of 33 nodes. for the entire series, please see the metanode
Westminster Confession of Faith.)
CHAPTER 22 - Of Lawful Oaths and Vows
I. A lawful oath is a part of
religious worship, wherein upon just occasion, the person swearing solemnly calleth God to witness what he asserteth or promiseth; and to judge him according to the truth or falsehood of what he sweareth.
II. The name of God only is that by which men ought to swear, and therein it is to be used with all holy
fear and
reverence; therefore to swear vainly or rashly by that glorious and dreadful name, or to swear at all by any other thing, is sinful, and to be abhorred. Yet, as, in matters of weight and moment, an oath is warranted by the Word of God, under the
New Testament, as well as under the Old, so a lawful oath, being imposed by lawful authority, in such matters ought to be taken.
III. Whosoever taketh an oath ought duly to consider the weightiness of so solemn an act, and therein to avouch nothing but what he is fully persuaded is the truth. Neither may any man bind himself by
oath to any thing but what is good and just, and what he believeth so to be, and what he is able and resolved to perform. Yet it is a sin to refuse an oath touching any thing that is good and just, being imposed by lawful
authority.
IV. An oath is to be taken in the
plain and common sense of the words, without
equivocation or mental
reservation. It can not oblige to sin; but in any thing not sinful, being taken, it binds to
performance, although to a man's own hurt: nor is it to be violated, although made to
heretics or
infidels.
V. A vow is of the like nature with a promissory oath, and ought to be made with the like
religious care, and to be performed with the like faithfulness.
VI. It is not to be made to any creature, but to God alone: and that it may be accepted, it is to be made
voluntarily, out of faith and conscience of duty, in way of thankfulness for mercy received, or for obtaining of what we want; whereby we more strictly bind ourselves to necessary
duties, or to other things, so far and so long as they may fitly conduce thereunto.
VII. No man may vow to do any thing
forbidden in the Word of
God, or what would hinder any duty therein commanded, or which is not in his own power, and for the performance of which he hath no promise or ability from God. In which respects,
monastical vows of perpetual
single life, professed
poverty, and regular
obedience, are so far from being degrees of higher
perfection, that they are
superstitious and
sinful snares, in which no Christian may entangle himself.
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Westminster Confession of Faith - Chapter 21 | on to
Westminster Confession of Faith - Chapter 23