Matt. V. 33 — 37. Again, ye have heard that it hath been said hy them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, hut shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths : hut I say unto you,
1306.1 SWEARING FORBIDDEN. 14o
Swear not at all ; neither hy heaven; for it is God's throne: nor hy the earth ; for it is his footstool : neither hy Jerusalem ; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shall thou swear hy thy head, hecause thou canst not make one hair white or hlack. But let your communication he, Yea, yea ; Nay, nay : for ivhatsoever is more than these, covieth of evil.
AMONGST persons unaccustomed to hear the pecuhar doctrines of the Gospel, a khid of jealousy is often excited by the very recital of the text ; espe- cially if the preacher be known to be zealous for those doctrines, and the passage which he has selected evidently inculcates them. This feeling is manifestly wrong ; and every one who loves the Gospel sees in a moment the evil of indulging it. But is this feeling peculiar to those who are ignorant of the Gospel ? No ; by no means : for religious people themselves are too apt to yield to it, when any text is announced which leads only to the discussion of some moral sub- ject. But if this feeling be wrong in the unenlightened part of mankind, it is a thousand times more so in those who profess to be enlightened, and who ought on that very account to love every portion of the sacred volume, and gladly to hear every truth insisted on in its season.
The subject of swearing does not seem to promise much edification to an audience conversant with the sublimer mysteries of our religion : but, if our blessed Lord saw fit to speak of it so fully in his Sermon on the Mount, we may be sure that our time cannot be misspent in investigating, as we purpose to do,
I. The nature and extent of the prohibition before us — You must be aware that there is a very respectable body of people in this kingdom, who not only deny the lawfulness of oaths altogether, but make the ab- staining from them an essential part of their religion; insomuch that the legislature, which exacts an oath of all others, allows them to give their evidence in a way of simple assertion. Now these people under- stand the prohibition in ourtext as unlimited: whereas we consider it as limited.