violated, viz., by perjury, and by profane cursing words, as it is in the third commandment. Notand swearing. These are crimes of the very black-withstanding the strong warnings, and dread est and deepest dye, which, while they bring a threatenings of the Almighty against this sin, it very foul stain upon the character, are peculiarly is truly awful to think how prevalent it is. Turn obnoxious to God, and injurious to man. The former, that of perjury, needs but to be mentioned to show its abominable nature. Indeed I cannot conceive anything that bespeaks such daring and atrocious impiety as this sin. For what is it? It is a calling on God, the God of veracity, and holiness, and justice, with all the solemnities of a coming judgment placed before the mind, to bear witness to the truth of what we assert, and the sincerity of the promise which we make, although we know at the moment that what we assert is false, and what we promise we neither can nor intend to fulfil. Every one who thus swears invokes the omniscient God to notice and record what takes place, and calls upon the righteous Judge of all the earth to bring him to account. This is the idea that is implied in an oath. Now what a gross insult is thus given to the great God! It is a direct attack upon every divine perfection. To call on the God of truth to witness a lie, implies that he who does so either supposes that God does not know what he does, and therefore it is an attack upon his omniscience; or that God is not displeased with falsehood, and so it is a denial of his holiness; or that he is not able to avenge the indignity, and thus it derogates from his power. I conceive perjury, when deliberately committed, to be near akin to atheism. It is actual practical atheism. to what hand we will, we hear men opening their mouths against the heavens, and our ears are assailed with the most horrid oaths and imprecations. In the perpetration of this crime it may be justly said, that men go astray as soon as they be born, for profane swearing appears as familiar to the young as to the old; the very child is taught to lisp an oath. This desecration manifests itself in various ways. Sometimes the name of God is profaned by the thoughtless sinner as a mere expletive in conversation; sometimes it is used in the company of the ungodly to give zest to their language, and to promote amusement; sometimes it is employed to express more strongly the vehemence of their rage; sometimes it is used to heighten the denunciations of revenge, and very often it is employed by unhallowed lips in imprecations of evil on their fellow-men. Drunkenness, anger, disappointment, mere merriment, give rise to the violation of this divine commandment. I do conceive that of all the innumerable and varied sins by which men are characterized and degraded, this sin is, so to speak, the most gratuitous, and betokens more than any, man's low and sunk condition, and the deep-rooted enmity of the human heart to God. For almost every one sin that can be mentioned you discover some motive; it is indulged in for some fancied advantage, or gratification; but no one can see why a profane person opens his mouth in imprecations, why he blasphemes the name of the great God, but solely from the love of blasphemy, the love of sinning in this particular way. No acquisition in any one way was ever made or expected to be made by profanity, and but for this fearful enmity of the carnal mind to God, one wonders how it is committed at all. O that the profane person would consider that whatever recommendation his blasphemy may be of him to the And while this sin is immediately directed against God, the consequences on society are most pernicious. The interests of individuals are not merely involved in it, but the peace and wellbeing of mankind at large are subverted by it; for what security is there for any man's life, or character, or property, if these may be sworn away by the miscreant who sports with falsehood, and dreads not the fearful solemnity of an oath? Says Solomon, ‘a false witness against his neigh-profane like himself, he exposes himself to the bour is a maul, and a sword, and a sharp arrow; is as much to be dreaded as the most fatal weapon, nothing can be mentioned that is more dangerous or destructive. O what a picture does such a sinner give of the deep depravity of the human heart! It is to be feared that the frequency of these solemn appeals to heaven, and allowed on occasions comparatively trivial, have had a powerful tendency to weaken the obligation, and lessen the reverence due to an oath. Bat the sin of profane swearing, and that in ordinary conversation, is also denounced in these abhorrence of the religious and the virtuous, yea, even the sober-minded. A swearer is generally avoided, you dread to come in contact with him. His language is the language of hell. He is one whom the young are admonished to dread, and to avoid; he is branded as a nuisance to society; he is marked as a blot in the creation of God. Some do pretend to excuse this vice under the plea and pretence that it is a habit with them, and because they have been so much inured to it, therefore they cannot get quit of it; it has become second-nature to them. Alas, alas! what is this Thou shalt swear the Lord liveth in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness.' but an aggravation of their guilt. They have very form and terms of the oath are prescribed, familiarized their minds so much to sin that they cannot live without it; they cannot speak without profaning God's name; the habit is so strong Although there is no express injunction respectthat their consciences have become seared; the ing oaths under the Christian dispensation, yet, turpitude of the crime terrifies them not, and while there is nothing against the practice, there they have brought themselves to that state that is much to confirm it. This appears both from they can call 'good evil, and evil good.' And shall the language of the prophets in reference to gosthe Lord hold such persons guiltless? No, no, pel days, and also from different declarations in He will not hold them guiltless, the curse is writ- the New Testament Scriptures. Thus saith the ten over them. He will bring them to judgment. Lord, by the mouth of Isaiah, I have sworn by Jehovah in this interdict thus speaks, 'I am the myself, that unto me every knee shall bow, every Lord. In casting your eye over this chapter, tongue shall swear.' The apostle Paul solemnly you will observe how frequently this memento is appeals to the Almighty, as to the truth of his given, to remind men that he is a jealous, a sin-affirmation, and the sincerity of his affection: "God avenging God, 'I am the Lord,' the holy One is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in who changeth not-my views of this sin do not the gospel of his Son,' Rom. i. 9. And in his alter-mine ear is not heavy that it cannot hear epistle to the Hebrews, he tells us, that among their impiety—my arm is not shortened that men, an oath for confirmation is to them an end it cannot punish their profanity. O let us plead of all strife.' In the book of Revelation, the with the Almighty that he would check this angel is represented as lifting up his hand to heaabounding iniquity, that he would pour out a ven, and swearing by him who liveth for ever spirit of grace and godliness upon usthat his and ever. name may be hallowed in our hearts, and extolled by our lips, and glorified in our lives. TWENTY-FOURTH DAY.-EVENING. 'But I say unto you, Swear not at all: neither by heaven; for it is God's throne: nor by the earth; for it is his footstool,' &c., Mat. v. 34 -37. THESE words of our Lord have been regarded by some as an absolute prohibition of oaths in any circumstances, and on any occasion whatever. This judgment has been formed without duly considering the object Christ had in view, and without taking to account the character of the persons addressed. It cannot be doubted that oaths have been resorted to in every period of man's history. They were in use among the patriarchs long before the promulgation of the law; thus Abraham sware to Abimelech; and Jacob sware to Laban; and it is more than probable that such solemn appeals to heaven did not originate in human suggestion, but were expressly commanded by God. It is evident that such appeals were not merely admissible, but were enjoined under the Jewish dispensation. The very prohibition of false swearing implies the lawfulness of it in certain circumstances, and for certain ends; but Jehovah expressly commands it, Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and shalt swear by his name;' and the Still our Lord's words stand on record, Swear not at all.' Does he hereby oppose the positive law of God? does he condemn the patriarchs who solemnly invoked Jehovah's name? does he set aside this mean suggested by the apostle for establishing truth, healing divisions, and settling strife? By no means. The prohibition of the Saviour, had it referred to any thing but rash, irreverent, and unnecessary swearing, would be contrary to the light of reason, the appointment. of God, and the good of human society. It may be observed, that it is no unusual thing in scripture to express that in absolute terms which yet is to be understood in a limited sense, and to be explained in reference to the persons and circumstances to which it referred: and if in one place swearing is forbidden in scripture, and in another place it is allowed, the two cases must be different, and the nature and character of each must be discovered by the special circumstances. What our Lord had in view in the whole of his sermon on the mount, of which this warning forms a part, was to unfold the extent and spirituality of the divine law, and expose the gross corruption of the law by the traditions of the elders; and he sets his own authoritative, I say, over against their sinful explanations. He does not set aside a tittle of the divine command; but he expresses himself strongly against what was unlawful in itself, what was not commanded, and the practice of which no consideration, no traditional gloss, could justify. Although the Jews pretended to venerate the very letters of the name Jehovah, yet they had discovered a way by which they might | Oh! let the swearer bear in mind that he is guiltlessly swear in common conversation, and eminently a partaker of other men's sins; that might swear to a falsehood, and yet not perjure while he is a smoke in Jehovah's nostrils, he is themselves, and that was swearing by the hea- the pest of society; let him bear in mind that on vens, and the earth, and the temple. And that the great day of final reckoning, he must not only our Lord referred to that pernicious habit that pre- bear the burden of his own sins, but must appear vailed, and not to oaths righteously and solemnly before God as the guilty instrument of corruptadministered, and taken with awe and reverence, ing and leading others away from God, and bringand on suitable and becoming occasions, and for ing them to that misery which they, with himself, important purposes, appears from what he says must endure through eternity. May a reverenin verse 37, 'Let your communication be yea, tial awe of that great and glorious name, which yea, nay, nay;' for, adds he, whatever goes makes devils tremble, and fills heaven with joy, farther than this is evil; proceeds from the evil ever be cherished by us; and let that name be the one, from a sinful principle, from an evil habit, strong tower to which we run in our hour of and ought by all means to be suppressed. danger! TWENTY-FIFTH DAY.-MORNING. If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD; then the Lord will make thy plagues wonderful, Deut. xxviii. 58, 59. This prohibition of our Lord is doubtless a loud and solemn warning to swearers of every name, and in whatever way their profanity discovers itself. Many there are who trifle with God's attributes in common conversation. God's mercy, God's truth, God's curse, are utterances which frequently issue from their lips-and like the Jews of old, they swear by the heavens, by their souls, and in other forms. All these are detestable, all obnoxious to God, all subjected to the wrath and curse of God. Yes, such despisers plainly show that they are none of Christ's disci- FROM these words we learn that a conscienples; their shibboleth is not that of the Redeem-tious regard to all the commandments of God is er's followers; their spot is not the spot of God's children; they have neither lot nor part in the salvation of Christ: for while they violate the third commandment of the law, they disregard the authority of the Lord who bought them: they clearly manifest that neither the thunders of mount Sinai, nor the moving scenes of mount Calvary, influence and affect them. How then shall they escape! And while this sin of profaneness, however discovered, is of a most degrading and corrupting character personally, it has a most pernicious tendency to corrupt all that are brought within its influence. Profanity is a social sin. It cannot be committed but in company. No man was profane alone. He must have society, in order to indulge his impious propensity, and thus does this sin become peculiarly injurious. He scatters firebrands, arrows, and death, on all around. Persons of all ages and circumstances are exposed to his influence; and unless fortified by grace, will more or less feel its effects. Woe to the young who are brought into contact with the profane; they will be early inured to the language of hell, and lose their reverence for what is sacred; while the more aged, if they are not shocked, and turn away from the despiser, may suffer severely. As equivalent to the fear of this glorious name, the "The Lord' who made and preserves all things, whose power, wisdom, and bounty have made us what we are, and given us what we possess. The Lord who ruleth over all, guiding and controlling all, who holds the sceptre of universal sovereignty, and demands the obedience of all creation, giving or taking away, casting down or raising up, to whom none may say, 'What dost thou? The Lord, omnipotent, eternal, unchangeable, all-wise, all-holy, all-merciful, just, and good. The Lord God, who reigns with no delegated power, but in himself is to be feared and worshipped as the great I AM, who was, and is, and is to come; the Lord God who is to summon us into his presence, and judge us at the last day, and whose face is the only brightness of eternity. "The Lord our God, who has revealed himself to us, and by invitations, and exceeding great and precious promises, and by the gift of his | To all who would seek to have the polluted temown Son, and by the institutions of his word, and ple of their own hearts purified and renewed; to the pleading of his Spirit, has chosen us as his | have the image of God which has been effaced people, and expressed his desire to be our covenant-God. The Lord our God, to whom we were dedicated in baptism; whom in after days we have chosen as our God, by fleeing to him for comfort in sorrow, by owning him in his sanctuary, and at his table, by laying hold of him as our hope when death seemed approaching, and by still desiring him as our portion beyond the grave, and through an endless eternity. How glorious then, yet how unutterably fearful is this name, when used by God himself as the sanction of his law. I am the Lord thy God,' offered to you, and accepted by you in this character. Fearful to man, even as it is glorious to God. Fearful to those who in wayward folly have outraged his laws. Fearful, peculiarly fearful to those who irreverently sport with this great and dread name-fearful to those who, conscious of guilt, have found no sacrifice for sin. Fearful, in some degree, even to those who though pardoned and striving to obey his commandments, yet feel the deceitfulness of their heart, and the pollution of the whole man. There is a fear that hath torment; this, however, is not the fear that God requires, or that we must seek to animate us. The fear which is desirable, and with which God seeks to occupy our hearts, is the fear that love begets, the fear which the glorious name of the Lord our God produces. And such also is the obedience that God claims, and that his children are desirous to give; an obedience that is cheerful, an obedience that is universal, an obedience flowing from love, an obedience that has respect to all the words of God's law.' Receiving the law at the hands of the Lord their God, as a revelation of his will, an exhibition of his nature, they say, like David, 'the law of the Lord is perfect.' Requiring all that purity of heart which will fit them for the divine presence, and the abodes of bliss, and refusing to allow of less, they say, 'the statutes of the Lord are right.' Little fear of God can be before his eyes, who leaves the written law for the duties of a voluntary humility of his own devising, and no less his who would relax the severity of the law of the Eternal; for while the purity of the law, and the extent of the law sufficeth, it is essential. But how shall man know the character of God? Whence can he learn the nature of that purity which shall enable him to breathe at ease, in the presence of Jehovah? Whence but from 'the words of this law that are written in this book.' restored, God saith, 'see that ye make all things according to the pattern shown thee on the mount, observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book?' Who then that truly fears the Lord will venture to relax one iota, or remit one tittle of its words? Who that has experienced the tearful cry of Paul, ‘O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?' is not filled with the deepest anxiety, lest he carry into eternity a fragment of the carnal heart, lest any root of bitterness remain te trouble his every joy, lest any lust left unmortified should shut him out from the New Jerusalem, into which entereth no unclean thing? He that feeleth in this way makes conscience of doing all the words of this law, not merely striving to do that which he knows to be the will of God, but observing, searching with anxious care the words of this book, lest he fail of the grace of God, lest he forget, mistake, or not learn the true mind of God. It is natural that they who do not fear this glorious name, nor feel their obligations to obey. this law, should discredit the divine threatenings, and persuade themselves of the improbability of God's wrath overtaking them. But if there be any thing implied in the glorious and fearful name that gives to the law its sanction—if there be any guilt in denying the sovereignty of the Lord our God-if there be any criminality in disowning his propriety in us, disregarding his unmerited mercies, and braving his threatened wrath, then it is plain that a holy God whose very nature is abhorrent to sin, must frown on the guilty. To manifest such a spirit of ingratitude, waywardness, and rebellion in the wilful violation of any of the known commandments of God, were justly to deserve the threatened penalty; 'thy plagues shall be wonderful.' But why speculate on the justice of the doom? Is it not sufficient that the Lord our God hath said it? Is it not enough that we behold its fulfilment in God's visitations on the Jews? Have we not evidence of it in those deaths and woes innumerable which render this world a Bochim? What a warning do God's chosen people against whom the denunciation was uttered, 'thy plagues shall be wonderful,' afford of the rectitude, the purity, the faithfulness of the sin-avenging, the glorious and fearful God. Consider this, all ye that forget God. TWENTY-FIFTH DAY.-EVENING. 'God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus should not perish, but have everlasting life. The Christ,' 1 Pet. i. 3. THIS is the name by which, above all others, the apostles loved to designate and describe the God whom they worshipped. By it they expressed, and in it they recognised, the attributes of God which most filled their souls with wonder, love, and praise. As the God of nature they blessed him all-wise, all-powerful, and kind. As the God of providence they adored him, the incomprehensible Being who preserves, and governs all his creatures and all their actions. As the Lord their God they bowed to him, confessing the authority and purity of him who commands. As the eternal God, they felt the glories of his name, and fell prostrate before him. But most of all did they bless, and adore, and magnify him as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And why? Because as such he was, and they knew him to be, the Father of mercies, the God of peace, the Author of salvation-a pardoning, an accepting, a reconciled God. Glorious and fearful then is his name as the Creator, the Preserver, the Ruler of the universe. Glorious, when in the brightness of his holiness he stood at the gate of Eden, a consuming fire. Glorious, when in unapproachable majesty he stood on the mount that might not be touched, proclaiming the law. But blessed, unutterably blessed, when by signs and wonders he declared himself the God and Father of him who came to preach the acceptable year of the Lord; and when, by a voice from heaven, he announced, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased; hear ye him.' O how blessed to the sin-distracted soul is the name which confirms the errand, the doctrines, the invitations, the promises of the gracious Saviour, the crucified Redeemer, the name that tells us, that in the peace-securing, the peace-offering Jesus we behold the character, the desires, the attitude of the unseen God, against whom we have so deeply sinned, whom we have so grievously offended. Infinitely adorable is God as thus made known to us, in the person, the character, and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. All his character is there disclosed in a brightness at once effulgent and lovely. His abhorrence of sin, his unbending justice, appear more dreadful far in the groans of Gethsemane, and the agonies of Calvary, than amid the thunders of Sinai and the desolations of the flood. God's love, too, ever witnessed and experienced in all his dealings, here spreads out into an ocean of easureable breadth and unfathomable depth. mind is overwhelmed. Reason staggers in the vain attempt to fathom that mystery of love. Intelligence higher than ours desires to look into this adorable mystery; and through eternity it will form the song of angels and cherubim, as well as redeemed and ransomed sinners. O! how adorable is that name in all that it reveals and makes known of the divine character-adorable in all the blessings it bespeaks and offers to us— for while it plucks us from everlasting burnings, it awakens hopes, and creates joys, which will rise in infinite succession, exhaustless through eternity. Most encouraging is it to the weary soul to know this name. Who that knows it need stand afar off, or sit down in despair? Be it the case, that under a sense of sin we feel our own just deservings to be wrath for ever. Let it be that stripped of every plea of self-righteousness, that denuded of every hope of earning and meriting pardon, we feel that we are undone and helpless, this name gives encouragement. This is the very state and character of those for whom he came into the world, and for whom he died. 'He came to seek and to save the lost.' To such his doctrine provides a balm of healing power. 'God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them.' Christ was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities,' and thus is the righteousness of God declared in the remission of sin-thus are we convinced that God can be a just God, and yet the Saviour of sinners. But while many are so far encouraged as to say, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean;' how many refuse to believe it possible that God will welcome them, how many, who deem it presumptuous in such as they, to expect such favour! But what dishonour is thus put upon God! When God freely sent his Son to die for us, and testified his approval of all that he taught, and did, and suffered, when as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ he invites all, and rejects none, can we doubt that he is willing to save, to save to the uttermost all that come to him through Christ. O what soul is so tempest-tossed as to find no encouragement in this gracious name! While this name is thus adorable to all; while it is encouraging to those that seek for life and salvation, it is peculiarly endearing to all who can call Christ theirs who can say, 'our Lord Jesus Christ,' who can worship God as the Father of their Lord.' One with Christ, all |