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t may be allowed , for the information of that gentleman , and your otfoer readers , to communicate a few particulars respecting that very valuable work . The history of it is simplv this : about the years 1794 or 1796 ' it was written , not as H . T . surmises by Mr . Law , but by a gentleman belonging to
the Established Church , who is still living in this country . It was printed , and nearly ready for publication , when an act passed the Legislature , requir « - ing every printer , under severe penalty , to attach his name and place of residence to every work which he should in future print ; and as this
work < " The Spirit of Despotism" ) had been printed by a printer connected with the then existing government , it was suppressed by him , as he did not think it prudent to attach his name to a work which would make everv
despot " grin horribly a ghastly smile /' At the end of the year 1819 , I first saw " The Spirit of Despotism , " and it was soon after advertised for publication by a bookseller in the Borough , but for some reasons , with which I am not exactly acquainted , it did not
appear at that time . I wish I felt myself at liberty to say more—* I could like to write the author ' s name $ but here I must desist . Suffice it to say at present , that his writings are well
known—that his talents , as " The Spirit of Despotism ^ ' abundantly proves , are of the first rate . He has pleaded , and that powerfully , the cause of liberty , the cause of truth , the cause of God and man . And here let me
sa y * , that I understand , and I believe I am well informed , that he has almost uniformly written for the benefit of the public , without any personal emolument . AN ENEMY TO DESPOTISM .
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GLEANINGS ; OR , SELECTIONS AND REFLECTIONS MADE IN A -COURSE OF GENERAL READING . No . CCCLXXIV . Legal Form of Oaths . [ From Phillip *' * " Law of Evidences " see alsoj Peajie * on Evidence . ' !} With regard to the ceremony or forni of administering an oath , that form is obviously the best which most
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conveys the meaning of the oath , and most forcibly impresses its obligation . And since this is not an essential part of the oath , but entirely of human institution , and has varied in different times and countries , though the substance of the oath must be the same
in all , it is obviously necessary to allow men to swear according to the peculiar ceremony of their religion , that is , in the manner which they consider most binding on their conscience . " Possibl y * " says Lord Hale , " they may
not think themselves under any obligation if sworn according to the usual style in the courts of England /? Jews have , therefore , been sworn in our courts * from the earliest times , on the Pentateuch ; and no distinction appears ever to have been taken between their
swearing in -a civil or m a criminal case . In an old case , where a witness refused to be sworn in the usual form , by laying his right hand on the book and kissing it afterwards , Glin , C . J ., ruled , that he might be sworn by having the book laid open before him , and his holding up his right hand : " In my opinion /* said the
Chief-Justice , " he has taken as strong an oath as any other witness . " On the trial of some of the rebels at Carlisle , in the year 1745 ^ a witness being sworn in the same manner by holding up his
hand , the point was referred to the Judges for their opinion , and they all agreed in thinking the witness legally sworn-. There is at this day a sect in Scotland , who holds it to be idolatry to kiss the book : but their own form
of swearing is much more solemn . Common sense requires that witnesses should be allowed to swear in that particular form which they think most binding . A Quaker affirms the truth of what he states . A Jew swears on
the Pentateuch , with his head covered . A Gentoo touches with his hand the foot of a Bramin . Mahometans are sworn on the Koran ; and upon the same principle all persons ought to be
sworn according to the ceremonies of their peculiar religion . Whatever be the form , the meaning of the oath is the sanie . It is an appeal to heaven , calling upon God to witness what we say , and invoking his vengeance if what we say be false .
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Gleanings . 165
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1821, page 165, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2498/page/37/
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