SERMON XXXVII. FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST. ON THE VICE OF SWEARING. Whosoever shall say to his brother," Raca,' shall be in danger of the council; but whosoever shall say "thou fool," shall be in danger of hell fire. (Matt. v. 22.) OUR divine Redeemer, in the admirable discourse which he made to the multitude in the early part of his mission, and which forms an excellent epitome of Christian morality, not satisfied with forbidding to attempt the life of our fellow-creature, by the shocking crime of voluntary homicide, forbids us to indulge in the vice of anger, pronounces it criminal to make use even of injurious or contemptuous words, in regard of our neighbour, and assures us that whoever is guilty of intemperate, insulting, or degrading language towards his fellow man, will receive a sentence of condemnation, more or less rigorous, as the injury done to him may be more or less grievous. My brethren, you are sensible that these declarations of Jesus Christ, which will be verified to an iota, are but little attended to by mankind in general. On every side, and in every rank of life, amongst the higher as amongst the lower orders; amongst those who have received a liberal education, no less than amongst those who have been denied that singular felicity, every where are heard oaths, imprecations, and maledictions, either against fellow creatures, or against the animal part of the creation, or against inanimate beings, or against their own bodies and immortal souls, and this too, frequently without the smallest provocation or the slightest cause, from an impious habit, or wanton profaneness. To such an excess has this odious vice attained, that on the most trivial occasions, oaths and curses are employed, to the scandal and disgrace, if not of religion, which reprobates the practice, at least of those among the professors of religion, who seem to contemn the doctrines, and disregard the threats, which Christianity holds out against those who violate its sacred observances. Even reason and good sense are too frequently sacrificed to this absurd and wicked practice, so that in order to comprehend the language of some men, it is absolutely necessary to expunge, by a kind of mental obliteration, certain passages of every sentence that they utter, without which the whole would degenerate into downright nonsense, and profane jargon. I feel a pleasing confidence that this too prevalent habit has not been contracted by many of those entrusted to my care; yet if but one has been infected by the contagion, it would be a pleasing triumph to rescue him from destruction, and as the danger to which all are exposed is great and imminent, I shall be happy if I can influence you to detest and avoid this common, yet irreligious practice. Swearing may be understood in two different significations, either in its proper theological sense, as an appeal to God, by which he is invoked in testimony to the truth of what is asserted, or in the common acceptation, by which oaths, curses, imprecations, and every profane expression is understood. In the first sense, it is strictly and primarily forbidden by the second commandment, which declares it to be displeasing to God to swear by his holy name, in violation of truth, or justice, or judgement. As to the second acceptation, it is unnecessary to say more, than that it comprises every malediction against ourselves, our fellow creatures, or against any thing that exists in nature. To specify or detail the forms of expression accustomed to be employed, there can be no necessity, respect for this sacred place, and the horror which the pious Christian feels at the bare repetition, forbid me, while the perfect comprehension which you must have of them makes the mention of them superfluous. May I inspire you with a dread and detestation of all profaneness; may I prevent those who are at present guiltless of this crime, from contracting an odious habit, and prevail upon as many as may be any way addicted to it to forsake a practice so unbecoming and so criminal! Let me conjure you, my brethren, to consider what the nature is of those expressions, from which it is my wish to deter you, and which are so often in the mouths of Christians, at least by profession. It is an article of faith, expressly notified to us by the word of truth, that every unprofitable word will be arraigned at the tribunal of sovereign justice; that to address our brother, that is, our fellow creature, in a language expressive of contempt, or injurious to his honor, is to offend the common father of all, and to deserve punishment. Whosoever shall say, &c. Of every idle word we must give an account before our supreme judge, the God of all sanctity, and every idle and profane word will be punished with greater or less severity, in proportion to the malice with which it is fraught. What excuse, then, will you offer for words, which are not barely idle or unprofitable? for language that is not merely unnecessary and vain, but injurious-but contrary to charityinsulting to your neighbour, disrespectful to your God, often profane, and sometimes blasphemous? Pretend not that your expressions are not of the blackest enormity; that they are pronounced without the violence of outrageous fury and mad passion: you are convinced that they are displeasing to God, and is not that sufficient to make you avoid them? Can you consider it as a matter of small concern that the name of God's enemy, and of your own, is uttered on every occasion, not out of detestation for him, but perhaps with a wish that he would take yourself or your neighbour? Do you not know that by your engagements at the font of baptism, you renounced the devil and all his works, and all his pomps? Can you still say, even without meaning what you say, that you wish him to seize and carry away yourselves or your fellow creature? Our Redeemer says that from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh; (Matt. xii. 34.) and though you do not, on these occasions, stop to weigh the signification of the words you use, yet does it not happen to you, from the force of habit, that in the violence of your passion, you really wish, as far as your disturbed mind can command or direct a wish, that the vengeance which you call |