The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1889-08-07
THE swEARER's CONFESSIONS.

Margaret IL. Sangster, in s. 5. Times
THE SWEARER'S CONFESSIONS.
The Acknowledgements Involved in the
Taking of Gods Name in Vain-A Wicked
Habit That Carries With 1t Its Own Re-
Duke.
Profanity is an irreverent and unde-
vout use of any of the titles of the Su-
ureme Being. Such use of these titles,
while it marks man of low and vul-
gar habits, is sin against God, and at
the same time an offense against the
decencies of human life. One of the
precepts of the Decalogue is in these
words: 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" eek. Xxx,
~ This does not forbid the reverent
use of Gods name, as in prayer, or in
Christian conversation, or DISCOURSE;
but it does forbid all uses that come
within the terms specified. The
''name" of God is so identified with
Him, and He with it, that to take His
name lin vain, as is the fact in pro-
fame swearing. is to sin against Him,
and expose ourselves to His punitive
wrath.
Some men are so accustomed to pro-
family that they swear parrot-like,
without any special passion or purpose
at the time, and almost without think
ing of it. 1t is as much their habit to
swear as it is to walk, or to do any
thing else that they do by habit. Hun
dreds of prOfane oaths fall from their
lips in a single day, not one of which
is noticed at the time. Swearing is a
part of their acquired dialect, and is
with them fixed habit in ordinary
conversation, and that, too, to an ex-
tent of which they really have no idea
themselves.
Other men, not being such habitual
swearers, break out in profane Ian
guage only on special occasions; and
when they do this. it is generally for
the purpose of either invoking curse
upon others, or intensifying and en-
phasizing their own assertion. Nearly
all their profanity, if not the whole of
it, is the profanity of mdlcdiction or
emphasis.
What then are the confessions in
volved in profane swearingp The first
answer to this question is that the
existence of God is confessed by the
profane swearer, just as really as it is
confessed by one who devoutly says:
Our Father, which art in Heaven"
The swearer profanely uses one Of the
stiles of God, and generally the title
God, and virtually comedies that there
is a God whose name he takes upon
his lips. He may not have thought
much of this God, and certainly has
not; yet some idea of the great Being
to whom the title is usually applied
more or less exists in his own mind.
He does not confound that idea with
his idea of man, or of an angel, or OF
any thing else. All swearers mean
the same Being when they take the
name of God in vain. Some idea, how
ever imperfect, relating to this God is
common to them all; and this would
be found to be the fact if their mental
condition at the time were analysed.
A second confession of the swearer,
when the oath is naaledictive. is that
GOD has power to inflict curses on men
Sometimes malediction is the exact
form of the OATH God is in express
terms asked to curse the object of the
swearer's passions. He is angry with
somebody; and he vents his passion by
asking God to curse that somebody
thereby confessing both the existence
and the power of God. The ven
geance of the swearer profanely asks
for the vengeance Of God upon the OBJ
ject of thai vengeahce.
The third confession of the swearer
when the oath is used to intensity ant
emphasize assertion, is that God has
knowledge. Profanity in this form
comedies the existence and knowledge
of God, and appeals to the latter in
confirmation of what the swearer pro
fanely says, and by implication, and
sometimes in express language IN
vokes Gods curse upon himself /
what he says is not true. He sets tn,
seal of profanity to his own anguage
and assumes to add strength to the as
sertion by appealing to God. He put:
himself under oath, contrary to tn
teaching of the Saviour in His Sermon
on the Mount and calls God to witnes
to the truth of what he says. He doe
this as one Of his habits of talking
. when he wants to talk strongly, 81,
give emphasis to the language of hi
lips. This is the way in which som
men take the name of God sin vain.
they profanely use His name to cor
firm their own assertions. not becaus
they devoutly worship God or piousl
fear Him, but because they wish t
give intensity and positiveness to thei
own language.
The wonder, in view Of what swear
ers confess in the very act OF profaui