10 July 1810 4. Ins or Eitherside

Fallacies Ch | | Cause X Obstacle

2 Universities 1. Virtue

An oath /Oaths/, according to the nature of the proposition /for/ the truth of which it is employed to afford /find/ /ensure/ security is distinguished /are divided/ into assertory and promissory.

In strictness the distinction is not a perfectly correct one: since /forasmuch as/ by a /by the sort of oath called/ promissory oath all that is done all that can be done, is to convey /give/ intimation of the present existence of a matter of fact as having place at that moment in the mind of him who swears /speaks/ /whose discourse it is/, viz. an intention of maintaining the line of conduct so promised to be maintained Between the two species of oaths, the true /real/ distinction lies - not in this viz. that the one contains an assertion, the other not, but in the different modes of violation of which they are respectively susceptible. In the case of the simply assertory or assertive oath, there is but one way /mode/ in which the oath can be violated, perjury committed: viz. if of any part of the matter of fact represented by the swearer as believed by him to be true, there be any part in respect of which he belief /either fails of entertaining such persuasion/, or much more if he entertains the opposite belief if the opposite persuasion be that which he entertains.

The promissory oath on the other hand is understood to be violated in either of two cases: 1. if even at the very time of uttering the promise to maintain the line of conduct undertaken for /so promised/, the intention of maintaining it is in any part wanting, or if at any future point of time on the part of the person in question any point act opposite to or inconsistent with the line of conduct so undertaken for, comes

eventually

eventually /in the event/ knowingly and willingly to be performed.