A Sermon, PREACHED AT ST. JAMES'S, WESTMINSTER, ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 8TH, 1850. BY THOMAS BEAMES, M.A. PREACHER AND ASSISTANT. PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. LONDON: SKEFFINGTON AND SOUTHWELL, 192 PICCADILLY. ABUSE OF OATHS. EXODUS, XX. 7. "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." THE custom of confirming testimony by oath seems to have been common to the Jew and the Gentile. Men affirmed that which they believed to be true, and called upon the High and Holy One to bear witness to their sincerity. He knew the heart; He could in a moment call the perjurer to judgment. With the idea of God is connected all that is most solemn and awful, and they who are dead to every other impression, owning no other bond, would here, at least, be awed into truth. Soon, however, the custom was extended, which at first was reserved for the tribunals of their country. Men thus in ordinary conversation affirmed with an oath, and thence very early grew up the want of this commandment; and as oaths became common, so they lost their influence; the Jews began to perjure themselves, used adjurations to sanction falsehood, rather than to guard truth. Against perjury first, and then against any abuse of God's holy name, was this commandment directed. Thus, in our Lord's time, there were many forms of adjuration. They swore by heaven, by the earth, by the temple, by Jerusalem, even by the name of God; and this they did, not only on solemn occasions, but for the most trivial causes and thus the title which the Most High has given himself was dishonoured, though guarded by this special commandment. Our Lord expands, or, rather, applies these words of our text, when He says, "I say unto you, Swear not at all: neither by heaven; for it is God's throne: neither 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 |