uncommon to find levity and trifles mingled with the most fearful oaths: the holy name of God fills up every vacant interval of idle conversation: He is invoked to witness vices, and follies, and drunken brawls, and profligate excesses: He is called upon to guarantee assertions, and denials, and vows, with all the flippancy of impious asseveration. And the man who has thus sworn without a thought, never stops to inquire if he is perjured. And he who has thus vowed, never dreams of the guilt of Herod, who, for his oath's sake, and them that sat at meat with him, called for the head of John the Baptist. And he who is thus flippant and profane with all that should be revered and worshipped, never heeds the warning, that at the last tremendous day, the God of whom he babbles so irreverently, will judge him for every idle word.

Some indeed by a sort of refinement contrive to avoid mention of the name of God, and to swear only by the creatures

of his hand. This is but to alter the complexion of the sin, and not the sin itself. It is to attribute to the creature that which belongs only to the Creator; the power to discern the sincerity with which we swear; the power to determine its truth and to inflict the penalty of falsehood. It has been well said, that an honest man's word is as good as his oath: and, if we cannot obtain credit for the one, there is little hope of doing so by the common and profane use of the other. And so our Lord himself enjoins: "Swear not at all: neither by heaven; for it is God's throne: nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for 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: But let your communication" (your ordinary discourse that is) "be yea, yea; nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil." 1

1 Matt. v. 34.

Akin to common swearing is the cursing which generally accompanies it. Men are found, who consign others to the most frightful judgments, upon the slightest provocation, or upon none at all. Or they invoke the most fearful penalties on themselves, as if there were no such judgments and penalties in reality. Thus God, and his laws, and the awful sanctions of them grow into familiarity and contempt. All serious regard of them is eradicated from the mind. And the saying of the Psalmist is again fulfilled: "His delight was in cursing, and it shall happen unto him he loved not blessing, therefore it shall be far from him."1

A third form of the same irreverence consists in idle, reproachful, and contemptuous expressions applied to the nature, attributes, or commands of God. The flippant in his thoughtless humour jests upon subjects of eternal moment. The scoffer ridicules, or misrepresents, or in

1 Psalm cix. 17.

veighs against the holiest articles of faith. The scurrilous thrusts himself into the very sanctuary, to advance charges against ministers and people, against worship and discipline, against ordinances divine and human. The stolen taunts of unblushing impiety frighten the weak, or ensnare the ignorant and unwary. Assurance, and ingenuity, the wanton affirmation, the biting sarcasm, the impertinent lampoon, the frivolous jest, or indecent merriment, strike at the best, sometimes, alas! the only refuge and consolation amid the distresses and afflictions of the world. The poor and humble, whom such men often affect to pity, are robbed of their only inheritance, their hope beyond the grave: an inheritance they more need than the rich and prosperous, who have other comforts to render life delightful. The young and inexperienced above all, impatient of ridicule, and dazzled by novelty, are obnoxious to the snare: and pretended talent, or sparkling presumption, lures into its toils the generous and single

hearted, whose caution has not been schooled by adversity, or discernment quickened by opposition. How many a one, to whose nurture in the Lord a father has devoted all his care; on whose gradually developed graces and acquirements rested the fondest hopes of parents, brethren, and acquaintance;-nay! to whose maturer excellence instructors looked for credit, and even a whole nation for counsel and defence-how many a one of such promise has been seduced by the mock pretensions of impious ribaldry, to blight the cherished expectations of a favouring people; to convert the esteem of good men into disgust, their support into censure, disregard, or hostility; to become his own, and his country's worst enemy, instead of their most trusty friend; to array himself against every Christian principle, and every religious service that men can offer to that Supreme Being, of whom he is become the insulting foe. Yet what cares the scoffer for the parent's disappointment? for the degradation of