Saviour. To quote any other paffages of fcripture would be needlefs, when our Saviour's own words in the text are fo exprefs to the point, and fhew fo plainly that it is a practice he entirely disapproves. This is fo ftrong an argument against it, that no christian fhould defire another-I say unto you, fwear not at all, is fo plain a command that it cannot be mistaken. In fome cafes a man may doubt whether he be in the right or not: the limits between good and bad may be so nice, that it is not every one who can diftinguish them. But the practice of common fwearing, my brethren, is fo directly for bidden by Chrift, that he who tranfgreffes, fins with his eyes wide open.-And here, let me add, that our Saviour not only forbids us to fwear by our Maker, but by every thing else: Swear not by heaven, fays he, for it is God's throne; neither by the earth, for it is his footstool; neither by Jerufalem, for it is the city of the great king: but let your communication (that is, your common converfation) be yea, yea; nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than thefe, cometh of evil.By thefe, expreffions our bleffed Lord intimates to us, that all rafh and irreverent fwearing in our common converfation, by any of the crea

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tures of God, is confidered as an equal affront to the majesty of God, as if we fwore by God him felf: for it must mean that, or it means nothing. In our common converfation therefore, our Saviour adds, we have nothing to do with fwearing at all: we have only to affert that a thing is fo, or is not fo. Let your communication be yea, yea, or nay, nay; if we go beyond that, and confirm what we fay by an oath, we are plainly told it is evil.

Under this head we may take notice of a practice, which many people indulge, of men. tioning the name of God in common converfa tion, in a light, irreverent manner: they cannot wander, for inftance, without crying out, Good God! This is certainly taking God's name in vain: his name should never be mentioned, but in the moft ferious manner.

SINCE then the wickedness of fwearing, my brethren, is evidently fo great-fince it tends to make oaths in a court of juftice lefs re fpected-fince it evidently tends to perjury, and fince in itself, and in its fimpleft form, it is abfolutely, and in the moft pofitive manner, forbidden by our bleffed Saviour, let us have that

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sense of the heinousness of it, which fo great a fin deferves. Let me endeavour therefore, as Id propofed, fecondly, to exhort you against it

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And, in the first place, it is finall aggra+1 vation of this fin, that we have no kind of tempt ation to commit it. That men fhould cheat, 1 that they should lie, that they should steal, and that they should drink, is not so much to be wondered at awe have here, at least, the tempte ations of a wicked, corrupt nature, to lead usi aftray. All these vices, we fuppofe at leaft, prou cure us fome present pleasure, or fome worldly. advantage; and though it is a wretched thing to! give up our fouls for prefent pleafure, 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 aftonifhe ing, becaufe they can have no temptation to it: fwearing gratifies none of your paffions it insi dulges none of your appetites there is in na-i ture no kind of foundation for it; fo that the common fwearer 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

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for 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 reafon, but because you will do it? If there is any thing that deferves the punifhment of God: more than this, I know not what it is. You will excuse yourself, perhaps, by saying you were in a paffion you were provoked beyond bears ance, and could not help fwearing it is a mif take-you might have helped it. You rarely, I believe, ever heard a man fwear, even invas paffion, who had not in fame 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 timese 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 them. selves to this vice, depend upon it an oath would

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hot 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, Suppose you were before any person whom you greatly refpected; or, suppose any perfon fhould offer you a fum of money for avoiding fwearing; or, should punish you severely for every oath you fwore in your paffion; would you not, think you, avoid fwearing, even when provoked to the higheft? I verily believe you would. There is fome other reason then that prevents your avoiding swearing, 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 so much as you do worldly punishment.-Do not fay, 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 fits ill upon every perfon. In general, indeed, it is a vice that feldom goes alone; it is com monly

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