and every right principle and feeling is shocked by the frequency and levity of the appeals which are made to him before whom angels veil their faces. It is alleged, in defence of the practice, that writers must delineate characters as they actually are, must put into their mouths the language they are in the habit of using. Well, it is to be hoped that many people swear less than they are represented as doing by certain of our novelists. As authors have the choice of the subjects they treat and the persons they describe, right principle and even good taste would dictate a different selection from that often made. There can be no question that the influence thus exerted is bad, and the effect deeply injurious. Young persons, and indeed others as well, get accustomed to such liberties, they lose the awe with which they naturally regard the great God, and cease to be wounded by the grossest profanity. It is a perilous thing thus to tamper with the instinctive and dutiful reverence of the heart, and to breed disregard of the dread Majesty of heaven.

Then many follow in the footsteps of the Jews, and imagine that they avoid the sin forbidden in the third commandment, by excluding the literal name of God, the actual term from the oaths they utter. They interlard their discourse with them; but they substitute for the infinite One perhaps some heathen deity. Thus an eminent writer, lately deceased, makes one of his characters, after coming out of a great affliction and undergoing a great change, swear by Jupiter; and he explains his doing so by remarking that he can no longer use the truly Divine name in this manner. Or they employ abstract terms, as goodness, mercy, which have no meaning, but as they refer to him, who alone possesses and exercises the qualities they express. Or, as in the instance before us, his works are appealed to, the heavens and the soul being inost generally dragged in after this fashion. These and such like expressions are of

frequent occurrence in conversation, and are largely sanctioned by numbers who would shrink from what is known as profane swearing with horror. But they are open to the charge which Christ brought against similar ones among the Jews; they really, though not verbally, bring in Jehovah, and are essentially a taking of his thrice holy name in vain. This may not be intended, but the fact remains, and careful consideration will justify the Saviour's view of the Hence the language of James in the verse we are now expounding.

matter.

The offence is

It is presump

“But,”—marking the contrast between the spirit he had been recommending, and that he was about to warn them against," above all things"-all things I have written on this subject, or rather all things to which you may be tempted in certain circumstances. Feel and say what you may, utter no oath. While abstaining fron evil of every kind, be specially careful in this respect. not a trifling one; it is great, heinous. tuous, irrational in its nature, and hardening in its effect. It savours of profanity; it serves no good purpose whatever; and it exercises a most baneful influence on those who indulge in the practice. "My brethren "--the appeal here made is to Christians. They are called, in a peculiar way, to avoid everything of the sort,-to keep at the utmost distance from all cursing. "Swear not"-swear not as a habit, nor in passion; swear not except in those cases and for those ends which have Divine sanction. "Neither by heaven, neither by the earth,"-then apparently common. forms of adjuration-"neither by any other oath," that is similar to those now mentioned. However harmless they may seem to be, by reason of God's name not being introduced, they really, though indirectly, appeal to him, and constitute a violation of the third commandment. "But let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay”—that is, satisfy yourselves with a simple affirmation or denial, as the case

may require. Let your bare word suffice. Seek not to strengthen it by any such means. The habit of doing so involves want of due reverence for God, and due regard to truth. While this is what is directly intended, we may understand the apostle as saying, let your yea be a real yea, and your nay a real nay; that is, let alike the one and the other be expressive of your exact meaning, and let them be verified in your course of action. Let them not disguise, but declare your genuine thoughts and feelings. And this is enforced by the consideration, "lest ye fall into condemnation"-the condemnation which the law threatens so emphatically. "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain." He may escape punishment on earth, but he is sure to be overtaken by the vengeance of heaven. Judgment cannot but follow,—— judgment at the hands of him who can recompense evildoers, even to the extent of casting both soul and body into hell-fire. Well may the thought of him restrain from all such liberties with his name, express or implied, direct or disguised.

Brethren, let us have the fear of God deeply rooted in our spirits. Let us realize his glorious majesty, his awful holiness, his inflexible justice, his almighty power, his constant presence, and, crowning all, his infinite goodness. Let us remember with what mingled love and reverence he should be regarded; how sacred, inviolable to us should be every thing pertaining to him, his distinctive titles, perfections, and operations. This will keep us from taking liberties with him, from the most distant approach to a profane or light use of his great and holy name. We will then tremble to appeal to him under any form, in any respect, except on weighty occasions and with awe-struck feelings. O how abhorrent to such as have seen his glory, and tasted that he

1 Ex. xx. 7.

is gracious, all those oaths, whether great or small, open or minced, direct or indirect, which many utter with thoughtless levity! They grate painfully on the ear, they wound the spirit. Let us put away everything of the kind, and shew that we both understand and mean what we say when we pray, "Hallowed be thy name."

This fear, too, will ever constrain us to speak the simple, naked truth, without the aid of any such sanction. Having God always before us, our yea will be yea, our nay, nay; our bare assertion good, trustworthy,-more so even than that of those who are constantly appealing to heaven, and backing up their statements by all sorts of asseverations. Here and everywhere let us receive and obey the word of the great Master. Any other course is fitted to lead us grievously astray, and land us in condemnation. Let us dread that, for heavy as man's judgment often is, it is not to be compared with God's. May his displeasure ever be to us more than death, and his favour better than life! By faith in Jesus we can escape the one and obtain the other. We must first receive him as a Saviour, then obey him as Lord, if we would be taken out of, and kept from falling into, condemnation.

XXIX.

THE AFFLICTED, THE MERRY, AND THE SICK EXHORTED.

Is any

"Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. merry? let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him."-JAMES v. 13, 14.

IN the preceding verses the apostle warns those addressed against swearing, not swearing of a

judicial and sacred kind, but that which is light, common, profane,-not oaths taken on special occasions, and for important purposes, but oaths uttered in conversation from levity or passion. The condition of Christians was then one of great trial. They were subjected to many temptations, dangers, and sufferings; and in these circumstances they might be apt to grow impatient, to yield to irritation of feeling, and, under provocation, speak unadvisedly with their lips, going even the length of that apostle who, at a critical juncture, "began to curse and to swear." Every approach to this was to be carefully avoided. Neither in anger nor in fear were they to be betrayed into anything so impious. impious. The Jews, led by their teachers, made certain casuistical distinctions, which reconciled them to the practice in question. They imagined that, if they excluded the Divine name, the mere term God, from their oaths, they thereby escaped from the guilt of violating the third commandment, and might utter them with impunity,