# The Catechism of the Council of Trent/Part 3: The Second Commandment

THE SECOND COMMANDMENT.
" THOU SHALT NOT TAKE THE NAME OF THE LORD THY GOD IN VAIN."
THIS precept is necessarily comprised in the former, which commands us to worship God in piety and holiness: He who is to be honoured must also be spoken of with reverence and must forbid the contrary, according to these words of Malachy: "The son honoureth the father, and the servant his master: if then I be a father, where is my honour?" Yet, on account of the importance of the obligation which it imposes, God would make this law, which commands his name to be honoured, a distinct precept; and this he does in the clearest and simplest terms. This observation must have much influence in convincing the pastor, that on this point it is not enough to speak in general terms: that its importance is such as to require to be dwelt upon at considerable length, and to be explained to the faithful in all its bearings with distinctness, clearness, and accuracy.
This assiduity on the part of the pastor cannot be deemed superfluous: there are not wanting those who are so blinded by the darkness of error as not to dread to blaspheme his name, whom the angels glorify; and who are not deterred by the divine commandment from shamefully and daringly outraging his divine majesty every day, or rather every hour and moment of ​the day. "W ho is ignorant that every assertion is accompanied with an oath? that every conversation teems with curses and imprecations? To such lengths has this impiety been carried, that one scarcely buys, or sells, or transacts ordinary business of any sort, without interposing the solemn pledge of an oath, and even in matters the most unimportant and trivial, thousands of times rashly appealing to the most holy name of God! It therefore becomes more imperative on the pastor, not to neglect, carefully and frequently, to admonish the faithful of the grievousness and horror of this detestable crime.
But in the exposition of this commandment, the pastor will show, that, besides a negative, it also contains a positive precept commanding the performance of a duty, and will give to each a separate exposition. In the first place, to facilitate the explanation of these matters, it is necessary to know what the precept commands, and what it prohibits. It commands us to honour the name of God, and when solemnly appealing to him by an oath, to do so with due reverence: it prohibits us to contemn the divine name, to take it in vain, or swear by it falsely, unnecessarily, or rashly. When therefore we are commanded to honour the name of God, the command, as the pastor will show, is not directed to the letters or syllables of which that name is composed, or in any respect to the mere name; but to the import of a word used to express the Omnipotent and Eternal Majesty of the Godhead, Trinity in unity. Hence we at once perceive the superstition of those amongst the Jews who, whilst they hesitated not to write, dared not to pronounce the name of God, as if the divine power consisted in the letters of which it is composed, and not in their signification.
In the annunciation of the divine precept, the word " name," although occurring in the singular number, " Thou shalt not take the name of God," is not to be understood to refer to any one name in particular: it extends to every name by which God is generally designated. He is called by many names, such as "the Lord," " the Almighty," "the Lord of Hosts," " the King of Kings," "the Strong," and by others of similar import, which we meet in Scripture; all of which are entitled to the same veneration.
The pastor will also teach how the name of God is to be honoured. Christians, whose tongues should every day celebrate the divine praises, are not to be ignorant of a matter so important, indeed so necessary to salvation. The name of God may be honoured in a variety of ways; but all seem to be included under the following heads. His name is honoured, when we openly and confidently confess him to be our Lord and our God; and not only acknowledge but proclaim Christ to be the author of our salvation. It is also honoured when we pay a religious attention to his Word, which announces to us his sovereign will; make it the subject of our daily meditation; and by reading or hearing it, study, according to our respective capacities and conditions of life, to become acquainted with its ​saving truths. Again, we honour and venerate the name of God when from a sense of religious duty we celebrate his praises, and under all circumstances, whether prosperous or adverse, return him unbounded thanks; saying in the language of the prophet: " Bless the Lord, O my soul, and never forget all he hath done for thee." Amongst the Psalms of David we have many, in which, animated with singular piety towards God, the Psalmist chants in sweetest strains the divine praises. We have also the admirable example of Job, who, when visited with the heaviest and most appalling calamities, never ceased, with lofty and unconquered soul, to give praise to God. When, therefore, we labour under affliction of mind or body; when oppressed by misery and misfortune; let us instantly direct all our thoughts, and all the powers of our souls, to the praises of God, saying with Job: " Blessed be the name of the Lord." The name of God is not less honoured when we confidently invoke his assistance, either to relieve us from our afflictions, or to give us constancy and strength to endure them with fortitude. This is in accordance with his own wishes: " Call upon me," says he, " in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me;" and we have illustrious examples of such supplications in the sixteenth, forty-third, and one hundred and eighteenth Psalms, and also in many other parts of Scripture. Finally, we honour the name of God, when we solemnly call upon him to witness the truth of what we assert; and this solemn appeal differs much from the means of honouring the divine name already enumerated. Those means are in their own nature so good, so desirable, that our lives, day and night, could not be more happily or more holily spent than in such practices of piety: " I will bless the Lord." says David, " at all times, his praise shall be always in my mouth:" but with regard to oaths, although in themselves lawful, they should seldom be used. The reason of this difference is, that oaths are constituted as remedies to human frailty, and a necessary means of establishing the truth of what we advance. As it is inexpedient to have recourse to medicine, unless when it becomes necessary, and as its frequent use is most pernicious; so, with regard to oaths, we should never recur to them, unless when there is weighty and just cause; and a frequent recurrence to them, far from being advantageous, is on the contrary highly prejudicial. Hence the excellent observation of St. Chrysostom: " Oaths were introduced amongst men, not at the be ginning of the world, but long after; when vice had overspread the earth; when the moral world was convulsed to its centre, and universal confusion reigned throughout; when, to complete the picture of human depravity, man debased the dignity of his nature by prostrating himself in degrading servitude to idols: then it was that God was appealed to as a witness of the truth, when, considering to what a height perfidy and wickedness had ​risen, it was with difficulty that man could be induced to credit the assertion of his fellow-man."
But as in explaining this part of the commandment our chief object is, to teach the faithful the conditions necessary to render an oath reverential and holy, it is first to be observed, that to swear, whatever the form of the oath may. be, is nothing else than to call God to witness: to say " God is my witness," and to swear by his holy name, are exactly the same. To swear by creatures, in order to gain credit for what we say, is an oath: to swear by the holy -Gospels, by the cross, by the names or relics of the saints, and all such solemn attestations, are also oaths. Of themselves, it is true, such objects give no weight or authority to an oath: its derives its obligation from God, whose divine majesty shines forth in them: and hence to swear by the Gospel is to swear by God himself, whose revealed word it is. This holds equally true with regard to those who swear by the saints, who are the temples of God, who believed the truth of his Gospel, were faithful to its dictates, and diffused its doctrines amongst the remotest nations of the earth. This is also true of oaths uttered by way of execration, such as that of St. Paul: " I call G6d to witness upon my soul:" by this form of oath we subject ourselves to God as the avenger of
falsehood. We do not, however, deny that some of these forms may be used without constituting an oath; but even in such cases it will be found useful to observe what has been said with regard to an oath, and to direct and regulate such forms by the same rule and standard.
Oaths are of two kinds, affirmatory and promissory: an oath is affirmatory when, under its solemn sanction, we affirm any thing, past, present, or to come; such as the affirmation of the Apostle in his Epistle to the Galatians: " Behold! before God, I lie not." An oath is promissory when we promise the certain performance of any thing; such as that of David, who swore to Bethsabee his wife, by the Lord his God, that Solomon should be heir to his kingdom arid successor to his throne; and this class of oaths also includes comminations.
But although to constitute an oath it is sufficient to call God to witness, yet to constitute a holy and just oath many other conditions are required; and these it is the duty of the pastor carefully to explain. The other conditions, as St. Jerome observes, are briefly enumerated in these words of the prophet Jeremiah: "Thou shalt swear: as the Lord liveth, in truth and in judgment, and in justice;" words which briefly sum up all the conditions, which constitute the perfection of an oath truth, judgment, justice.
Truth, then, holds the first place in an oath: what we swear must be true; that is, he who swears must believe what he swears to be true, founding his conviction not upon rash grounds ​or vain conjecture, but upon motives of undoubted credibility Truth is a condition not less necessary, as is obvious, in a promissory than in an affirmatory oath: he who promises must be disposed to perform and fulfil his promise at the appointed time. As no conscientious man will promise to do what he considers to be a violation of the commandments, and in opposition to the will of God; so, having promised and sworn to do what is lawful, he will adhere with fidelity to the sacred and solemn engagement; unless, perhaps, change of circumstances should so alter the complexion of the case, that he could not stand to his promise without incurring the displeasure and enmity of God. That truth is necessary to a lawful oath David also declares, when, having asked who is worthy to sit in the tabernacle of the Most High, he answers: " He that sweareth to his neighbour, and deceiveth not."
The second condition is judgment: an oath is not to be taken rashly and inconsiderately, but after mature deliberation and calm reflection. When about to take an oath, therefore, we should first consider whether it be or be not necessary, and whether the case, if well weighed in all its circumstances, be of sufficient importance to demand an oath. Many other circumstances of time, place, &c. are also to be taken into consideration; and in taking an oath we should never be influenced by love or hatred, or any other passion, but by the nature and necessity of the case. Without this calm and dispassionate consideration, an oath must be rash and hasty; and of this character are the irreligious affirmations of those, who, on the most unimportant and trifling occasions, swear from the influence of bad habit alone. This criminal abuse is but too prevalent amongst buyers and sellers, of whom the latter, to sell at the highest price, the former to purchase at the cheapest rate, make no scruple to strengthen with an oath, their praise or dispraise of the goods in question. Judgment and prudence therefore are necessary, and hence Pope Gelasius, a pontiff of eminent piety, decreed that an oath should not be administered to children before their fourteenth year, because before that period their tender age is in competent to perceive so acutely, and to balance so accurately, the nice distinctions of things.
The third and last condition of an oath is justice; a condition which in promissory oaths demands particular attention. Hence, if a person swear to do what is unjust or unlawful, he sins by taking the oath, and adds sin to sin by executing his promise. Of this the Gospel supplies an example. Herod bound himself by oath to grant the request of Herodias, as a reward for the pleasure which she afforded him by dancing: she demanded the head of John the baptist; and Herod criminally adhered to the rash oath which he had sworn. Such was also the oath taken by the Jews, who, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles, bound themselves by oath not to eat, until they had shed the blood of Paul. ​An oath therefore accompanied, and guarded as it were by these conditions, is no doubt lawful, a position which is easily and satisfactorily established. The law of God, the purity and sanctity of which will not be questioned, not only permits but commands such an oath to be taken: " Thou's halt fear the Lord thy God," says Moses, " and shalt serve him only, and thou shalt swear by his name:" "All they," says David, " shall be praised that swear by him." The inspired Volume also informs us, that the Apostles, whose bright example it can not be unlawful for Christians to follow, sometimes made use of oaths: they are recorded in the Epistles of St. Paul. Even the angels have sometimes sworn: " The angel," says St. John in his Apocalypse, " swore by him who lives for ever." In fine, God himself, the Lord of angels, has sworn, and, as we read in many passages of the Old Testament, has confirmed his promises with an oath. This he did to Abraham and to David; and of the oath sworn by the Almighty David says: " The Lord hath sworn, and he will not repent: thou art a priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedech."
To him who considers the matter attentively and in all its bearings, its origin and its end, it can be no difficult matter to explain the reasons why the taking of an oath is not only lawful but even laudable. An oath has its origin in faith, by which we believe God to be the author of all truth, who cannot deceive or be deceived, " to whose eyes all things are naked and open," who, in fine, superintends in an admirable manner all human affairs, whose providence governs the world: imbued with this faith we appeal to God as a witness of the truth, to whom it were wicked and impious not to yield implicit belief. With regard to the end of an oath, its scope and intent is to establish the justice and innocence of man, and to terminate disputes and contests: this is the doctrine of St. Paul in his Epistle to the Hebrews. Nor does this doctrine at all clash with these words of the Redeemer, recorded in St. Matthew: " You have heard that it was said of old; thou shalt not commit perjury, but thou shalt perform thy oaths to the Lord: but I say to you not to swear at all; neither by heaven, because it is the throne of God; neither by the earth, because it is the footstool of his feet; neither by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great king: neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. Let your talk be yea, yea; no, no; and that which is over and above these is of evil." It cannot be asserted that these words condemn oaths universally Its solution, and under all circumstances: we have already seen that the Apostles and even our Lord himself swore frequently: the object of the Redeemer was rather to reprove the perverse opinion of the Jews, which taught them to think that to justify the ​taking of an oath, its truth alone was sufficient. Hence even on the most trivial occasions they did not hesitate to make frequent use of oaths, and to exact them from others. This practice the Redeemer condemns and reprobates; teaching that an oath is never to be taken, unless necessity require so solemn a pledge. Oaths have been instituted as remedies for human frailty; and bespeaking, as it does, the inconstancy of him who takes, or the contumacy of him who exacts it, and who refuses to yield his assent without it, an oath has its source in the corruption of our nature, and can therefore be justified by necessity alone.
But to explain the words of the Redeemer When our Lord says: " Let your speech be yea, yea; no, no," he evidently forbids the habit of swearing in familiar conversation and on trivial matters: he therefore admonishes us particularly against an habitual propensity to swearing; and this admonition the pastor will impress deeply and repeatedly on the minds of the faithful. That countless evils grow out of the unrestrained habit of swearing is a melancholy truth supported by the evidence of Scripture, and the testimony of the Holy Fathers. Thus we read in Ecclesiasticus: " Let not thy mouth be accustomed to swearing; for in it there are many falls;" and again: "A man that sweareth much shall be filled with iniquity, and a scourge shall not depart from his house." In the works of St. Basil, and also in the treatise of St. Augustine against lying, the pastor will find abundant matter on this subject.
Having hitherto explained the positive, we now come to explain the negative part of the commandment. By it we are forbidden to take the name of God in vain; and he who, not guided by prudent deliberation, but hurried on by rashness, dares to take an oath, is guilty of a grievous sin. This the very words of the commandment declare: " Thou shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain." In these words the Almighty would seem to assign the reason why a rash oath is so grievous a crime: It derogates from the majesty of him whom we profess to recognise as our Lord and our God. This commandment, therefore, forbids to swear falsely, because he who does not hesitate to appeal to God to witness falsehood, offers a grievous injury to the divine Majesty, charging him either with ignorance, as though the truth could be concealed from his all-seeing eye, or with injustice and depravity, as though the Eternal Truth could bear testimony to falsehood.
Amongst false swearers are to be numbered not only those who affirm as true what they know to be false, but also those who swear to what is really true, believing it to be false. The essence of a lie consists in speaking contrary to one's conviction; and such persons, therefore, as swear to what they be lieve to be false, are evidently guilty of a lie, and therefore of perjury. On the same principle, he who swears to that which ​he thinks to be true, but which, although he swears according to his conviction, is really false, also incurs the guilt of perjury; unless he has used moral diligence to arrive at the truth. He who binds himself by oath to the performance of any thing, not intending to fulfil his promise, or having had the intention neglects its performance, is also guilty of perjury; and this equally applies to those who, having bound themselves to God by vow, neglect its fulfilment.
This commandment is also violated, if justice, which is one of the three conditions of an oath, be wanting; and hence he who swears to commit a mortal sin, to perpetrate murder, for instance, violates this commandment, although he should have really intended to commit the crime, and his oath should have possessed what we before pointed out as a necessary condition of every oath, that is, truth. To these are to be added oaths sworn through a sort of contempt; such as an oath not.to ob serve the Evangelical counsels of celibacy and poverty. None, it is true, are obliged to embrace these counsels, but by swearing to their non-observance, they are contemned and violated. This commandment is also sinned against, and the second condition of an oath, which is "judgment," is violated by swearing on slight grounds and mere conjecture, although what is sworn be true, and believed to be so by him who swears; be cause, notwithstanding its truth, it still involves a sort of false hood; for he who swears with such indifference exposes him self to extreme danger of perjury. To swear by false gods is likewise to swear falsely: what more opposed to truth than to appeal to lying and false deities as to the true God?
But as the Scripture, when it prohibits perjury, adds: "Thou shalt not profane the name of thy God," a it therefore prohibits all irreverence not only to his name, but also to those things to which, in accordance with this commandment, reverence is due; such as the Word of God, the majesty of which has been recognised and revered not only by the pious, but also some times by the impious, as we read in Judges of Eglon, king of the Moabites. But he who, to support heresy and impiety, wrests the Sacred Scriptures from their genuine and true meaning, is guilty of the most flagrant irreverence towards the Divine Word; and of this we are admonished by these words of the prince of the Apostles: "There are some things hard to be understood, which the unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other Scriptures, to their own destruction." It is also a shameful irreverence of the .Scripture, to pervert the words and sentences which it contains, and which should be mentioned with due reverence, to some profane purpose, such as scurrility, fable, vanity, flattery, detraction, superstition, satire, and the like. Such profanation of the Divine Word the Council of Trent commands to be severely reprehended. In ​the next place, as they who under severe affliction implore the assistance of God, so they, who invoke not his aid, deny him due honour; and these David rebukes when he says: " They have not called upon the Lord, they trembled for fear where there was no fear." Still more enormous is the guilt of those who, with impure and impious lips, dare to curse or blaspheme the holy name of God, that name which is to be blessed and praised above measure by all his creatures, or even the names of the Saints who reign with him in glory. Shuddering, as it were, at its very mention, the Sacred Scriptures sometimes express the crime of which they are guilty, by the word " benediction."
As, however, the dread of punishment has often a powerful effect in checking the licentiousness of crime, the pastor, in order the more effectually to excite, and the more easily to induce to an observance of this commandment, will diligently explain the remaining words, which are, as it were, its appendix, and which run thus; " FOR THE LORD WILL NOT HOLD HIM GUILTLESS THAT SHALL TAKE THE NAME OF THE LORD HIS GOD IN VAIN."
In the first place the pastor will teach, that in the annexation of threats to the violation of this commandment reason discovers the wisest ends: it demonstrates at once the grievousness of sin and the goodness displayed in our regard by a beneficent God, who, far from desiring the death of the sinner, deters by these salutary threats from incurring his severity, doubtless in order that we may experience his kindness rather than his anger. The pastor will urge this consideration, a consideration to be dwelt on with indefatigable earnestness, in order that the faithful may be made sensible of the grievousness of the crime, may detest it still more, and may employ increased care and caution to avoid its commission.
He will also observe how prone Christians are to this sin, since God has not only issued a command for its prevention, but has also enforced this command by so severe a sanction. The advantages to be derived from this consideration are indeed incredible: as nothing is more injurious than a listless security, so the knowledge of our own weakness is attended with the most salutary consequences. He will next observe that the punishment, which awaits the violation of this commandment, is not fixed and determinate; the threat is general: it declares that he who is guilty of the violation shall not escape unpunished. The chastisements, therefore, with which we are every day visited, should impress upon our minds the enormity of this crime. They admonish us, in language the most intelligible, that the violation of this commandment cannot pass with impunity; that the heaviest punishments will overtake him who profanes the name of God; a consideration which it is hoped must excite to future vigilance.
​Deterred therefore by a holy and salutary dread, the faithful should use every exertion to avoid the violation of this commandment: if " for every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account on the day of judgment;" how severe the account which they shall have to render, whose crime involves the awful guilt of contemning the name of the Eternal God!
* ↑ Exod. xx. 7.
* ↑ Malach. i. 6
* ↑ De hoc prtecepto vid. D. Thorn. 2. 2. q. 122. art. 3. item et 1. 2. q. 100, an. 5.
* ↑ Ps. cii. 1.
* ↑ Job i. 21.
* ↑ Ps. xlix. 15.
* ↑ Pa. xixiii. 2.
* ↑ Ad. pop. Antioch. horn. 26.
* ↑ 2 Cor. i. 23.
* ↑ Gal. i. 20.
* ↑ 3 Kings i. 17.
* ↑ St. Hieron in hunc locum.
* ↑ Jerem. iv 2.
* ↑ Ps. xiv. 4.
* ↑ Matt. xiv. 7.
* ↑ Acts xxiii. 12.
* ↑ Ps. xviii. 8.
* ↑ Deut. vi. 13.
* ↑ Ps. lxii 12.
* ↑ 2 Cor. i. 23. Philem. i. 8. 1 Thess. ii. 10.
* ↑ Apoc. x. 6.
* ↑ Heb. vi. 17. Gen, xxii. 16. Exod. xxxjii. 1.
* ↑ Ps. cix. 4.
* ↑ Heb. iv. 13.
* ↑ Heb. vi 16.
* ↑ Matt. v. 31-37.
* ↑ Matt. v. 37.
* ↑ Eccl. xiii. 9.
* ↑ Eccl. xxiii. 12.
* ↑ Basil, in Psal. 14. ad heec verba: qui jurat proximo suo, et Aug. lib. de mendac c. 14. Vid. 12. q 2. c. primum est.
* ↑ Lev xix 12
* ↑ Vid. Aug. epist. 54.
* ↑ Judges iii. 20.
* ↑ 1 Pet. iii. 10.
* ↑ Sess. 4. in fine.
* ↑ Ps. xiii. 5. et liii. 26.
* ↑ 3 Kings xxi. 13. Job i. 11. et ii. 9.
* ↑ Exod. xx. 1.
* ↑ Matt. xii. 36.