VOW

(Lat. voveo, / vow.) A promise made to God most of a thing which we believe to be agreeable to him, and which we are not on other grounds obliged to render to him. This is what the Theologians understand by it, the when they say a vow is " promi io de meliore bono." To book. promise God to do what he commands, or to avoid what he vol for bids, is not a vow, because we are under an obligation sevso to act. (Diet, de Theologie, Toulouse 1817.) The use in of vows is found in most religions. The Roman Catholics single adduce numerous pa ages from the Old Testament to It prove that vows are acceptable to God; the Protestants on of the the other hand reject the theory of vows as altogether untenable. con- [s. 1334]