fenfe of the heinoufnefs of it, which fo great a Let me endeavour therefore, as I

fin deferves.

propofed, fecondly, to exhort you against it. And, in the firft place, it is no fmall aggravation of this fin, that we have no kind of temptation to commit it. That men thould cheat, that they should lie, that they fhould fteal, and that they fhould drink, is not fo much to be wondered at: we have here, at leaft, the temptations of a wicked, corrupt nature, to lead us aftray. All these vices, we fuppofe at least, procure us fome present pleasure, or fome worldly advantage; and though it is a wretched thing to give up our fouls for prefent pleasure, or a little worldly advantage, yet ftill the thing, I fay, is not fo furprizing. But that men fhould learn to curfe and to fwear, is beyond measure astonishing, because they can have no temptation to it: fwearing gratifies none of your paffions-it indulges none of your appetites-there is in nature no kind of foundation for it; fo that the common swearer feems to fin, merely and entirely for the fake of being wicked, without any kind of view to any kind of advantage.-What! have you not fins enough to answer for VOL. IV. K

in

in the fight of God, which you are led into by the natural depravity of your corrupt nature, that you need run unneceffarily into others? Need you tell God Almighty to his face, that you will disobey him, merely, and for no other reason, but because you will do it? If there is any thing that deferves the punishment of God more than this, I know not what it is. You will excuse yourself, perhaps, by faying you were in a paffion-you were provoked beyond bearance, and could not help swearing: it is a miftake-you might have helped it. You rarely, I believe, ever heard a man fwear, even in a passion, who had not in fome degree gotten the habit of it before. It is true, there are degrees in this vice, as there are in all others. Some men are fuch wicked, abandoned wretches, that they fwear at all times their whole converfation is made up of oaths and imprecations. Others, indeed, are not fo bad: they have gotten a cuftom indeed of fwearing; but in general they have fome decency, and feldom fwear but when their paffions are a little raised: but if they had never, at any time of their lives, addicted themfelves to this vice, depend upon it an oath would

not

not come fo glibly from their mouths, even in a paffion. But let me afk any of you, who may be fo ready to excufe fwearing, by your being in a paffion, Suppofe you were before any perfon whom you greatly refpected; or, fuppofe any person should offer you a fum of money for avoiding fwearing; or, fhould punish you feverely for every oath you fwore in your paffion; would you not, think you, avoid swearing, even when provoked to the higheft? I verily believe you would. There is fome other reafon then that prevents your avoiding fwearing, befides your being in a paffion. Shall I tell it you? It is plain you do not reverence God fo much as man; nor value his favour fo much as you do a fum of money; nor fear his wrath fo much as you do worldly punishment.-Do not say, then, you cannot avoid fwearing when you are in a paffion; but tell the truth plainly, that you think it not worth while to be at any pains to avoid it.

Let me endeavour then, if poffible, to prevail with you to leave off this abominable vice. It its ill upon every perfon. In general, indeed, it is a vice that feldom goes alone: it is commonly

X 2

monly the vice of profligate people-fuch as have no fear of God before their eyes; noify, brawling, hardened fellows, who terrify those beneath them, and are defpifed by every body elfe. You hardly, I fuppofe, know any of these curfing and swearing people, who are not bad men in other refpects: they are drunkards, or they are given up to a loose, disorderly life; or are, in fome way, a nuifance to their neighbourhood.. And if ever this vice is found in better people, where there is fome good, it is always thought a great injury and blemish to them; and their neighbours cry out, how forry they are to fee fo many virtues clouded by fuch a vice. And when you give the character of a good man, you commonly fay, as a high praife, he was never heard to fwear an oath in his life. Swearing therefore, I fay, fits ill upon all people; but if there are any that should particularly avoid this fhocking vice, it is thofe who are at the head of families-who have children and fervants to inftruct, and keep in order. What a fhocking thing is it to breed up your own children in vice!—to train them up in wickedness by your own example!to be the devil's worst agents in fitting

fitting your own offspring for deftruction! If you teach them no good, for God's fake teach' them no ill. Is it not enough, think you, to leave them to pick up vice as they can, but must you inftruct them in it?-muft you teach their infant tongues, by your example, till their lips begin glibly to form an oath? The cafe is the fame with regard to the fervants; it is the duty' of mafters to have an eye upon their behaviour -to keep them to their duty, and make them go regularly to church; but instead of that, if they teach them to fin by their example, I much fear that fuch masters will not only have their own fins, but, in a degree, the fins of others to anfwer for.

THUS I have endeavoured to deter you from the abominable practice of common fwearing.You will obferve, I am not calling you to any heights of religion-I am not calling you, in our Saviour's language, to pluck out an eye or cut off a hand; I am calling upon you only for one of the firft fteps of a chriftian life-that of not difhonouring your Maker's name. Let me then hope that all who are addicted to this