Letter 85

85. That oaths must not be imposed.

We do not cease, at every synod, to protest, and privately in our meetings to discourse upon the same things — namely, that oaths over the public payments should not be imposed by the collectors upon the country people. It remained also, by letter, to bear witness about the same things before God and men: that it is right for you to cease bringing death upon the souls of men, and to devise some other means of collecting the dues, while allowing men to keep their souls unwounded. We write this to you, not as though you needed exhortation from words — for you have within yourself the grounds for fearing the Lord — but that through you all who give heed to you may be taught not to provoke the Holy One to wrath, nor to drag down a forbidden thing, through evil custom, into a matter of indifference. For these oaths are of no use to the collectors in respect of the dues, while they take upon their souls an admitted evil. For when men have once practised perjury, they no longer press themselves toward payment, but suppose that in the oath they have found a weapon of deceit and an occasion of delay.

Whether, then, the Lord brings swift retribution upon those who have sworn falsely — in which case they will have none left to obey, since those who are liable have been consumed by the punishment — or whether the Master bears with them in long-suffering (which, as I said before, is just why those who have experienced the Lord's forbearance despise His kindness) — let them not transgress to no purpose, nor provoke God against themselves.

We have said what falls to us; those who are disobedient will see to the rest.