KISSING THE BIBLE by The Independent

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Apr 16, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 24.

KISSING THE BIBLE.

By The Independent

Most people have seen a tree growing between two separated fragments of a huge rock, the contours and cleavage of which show plainly that it was the ceaseless, silent, subtle increments added to the tiny sprout that constituted the tree at first, which has caused this sundering of the rugged bowlder. Something quite akin to this has happened to one of England's ancient and most cherished customs, by the infinitesimal microbe since he took his majestic way among the affairs of men. The custom obtains in all grades of society, from the sovereign who says to the archbishop administering the coronation oath, "The things which I have here before promised I will perform and keep; so help me God," and then kisses the book, down to the poorest witness who testifies to the guilt or innocence of the most insignificant prisoner holding up his hand and swearing that he will tell "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth," and then kisses the book.

Already, through the earnest efforts of enlightened men, who realize that a real danger lurks in applying the lips to a book that has been kissed by generations of prisoners as well as witnesses, an act was passed in 1886 allowing persons to swear, holding up the right hand; yet so wedded is an Englishman to a custom, because it is a custom, and an article is so venerated because it has been used a long time, that sanitarians and medical societies are making efforts to awaken such an interest in the matter as will eradicate the practice, which still continues in full force in many courts.

An oath ratified by contact with a "sacred object" was formerly held to be far more binding than one merely written or spoken; sometimes the swearer laid his hand on an altar, a cross, a bishop's crosier, or a relic. The English word signifying the sacred object is "halidome," but to duly impress her cosmopolitan population, England allows the native and hereditary citizen to be sworn by kissing the New Testament, the Jew the Old Testament, the Mohammedan the Koran, and the Hindu the Veda, these being, respectively, the "sacred objects" most reverently regarded. It is hoped that the microbe saturated tome will be banished, and that the hide-bound English peasant will learn that just as substantial justice is obtained in Scotland, where the oath has been accompanied by the upraised right hand alone for a long time.—The Independent.