which, as solemn determinations, have an unquestionably good object in view, to be pursued by unexceptionable means ;-all rash and vain oaths, or calling upon God in common conversation;-superstitious and idolatrous oaths, invoking any false god, or swearing by any created or imaginary being;-pretended and fictitious oaths, or any such solemn mockery ;angry, revengeful, and malicious oaths, uttered either with or without an actual desire that they should be regarded and fulfilled;-all descriptions of false swearing, either by calling on God to witness that which is not true, or which is only true in part, or relating to which we have some mental reservation or secret construction,-by refusing or omitting to perform oaths and vows, when taken and made, unless they were unlawful;-taking lawful oaths without proper seriousness and consideration;-the denial of, or not confessing, the wonderful attributes of God, or the mention of them in a loose and irreve rent manner;―idle curiosity with regard to the incomprehensible nature and inscrutable counsels of the Almighty, and all endeavours to search into his will and operations further than the word of Revelation justifies ;-neglect and contempt of the works of nature and of grace ;-impatience under temporal dispensations, and cavils at the divine disposal of events ;-perversion or employment of the words of Holy Writ to secular or trivial purposes ;-profane jests and introduction of the sacred text into common conversation ;-abuse of Scripture to the fictions of astrology, pretended prediction of future events, or imaginary charms and spells ;-unworthy receiving, and unauthorized use, of the holy sacraments, either by coming to them unprepared and

with base motives, or by bestowing an idolatrous reverence on the elements, and attributing to them an efficacy, which belongs only to the grace that accompanies them,

§ 6. Implied in the prohibition of this Commandment are a false and hypocritical profession of religion, and a life inconsistent with the faith which we profess, by which means, more generally than by any other, occasion is given to gainsayers to calumniate and misrepresent the nature and influence of true religion, and the source from which it emanates; —and thus to cast reproach and dishonour upon that holy Name, whose glory all religious institutions and spiritual dispensations are intended ultimately to promote.

§ 7. The formal sanction annexed to the Third Commandment,-the forcible reason alleged against transgression of it,-is, that the Omniscient who knows and marks every dishonour done unto his Name, will not consider the violator of this Law as free from guilt, though he escape the cognizance of human statutes; or suffer him to go unpunished, who sets at defiance the august authority from which all laws derive their force and obligation.

From Scripture.

SECTION 1.

(See Exod. xx. 7.) Deut. v. 11. 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. Psal. xxix. 2. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name: worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Psal. Ixvi. 2. Sing forth the honour of his name; make his praise glorious. 1 Tim. i. 17. Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen. Lev. xviii. 21. And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Moloch, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the Lord. Lev. xxii. 31, 32, 33. Therefore shall ye keep my command. ments, and do them: I am the Lord. Neither shall ye profane my holy name, but I will be hallowed among the children of Israel: I am the Lord which hallow you, that brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the Lord. Matt. vi. 9. After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

SECTION II.

Prov. xxx. 9. Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain. Col. iv. 6. Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. Jam. i. 26. If any

man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. Eccles. v. 2. 6. Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God; for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few. Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the Angel that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands. Psal. lxxxiii. 18, That men may know that thou whose name is Jehovah, art the Most High over all the earth. Jer. xlvi. 18. As I live, saith the King, whose name is The Lord of hosts, surely as Tabor is among the mountains, and as Carmel by the sea, so shall he come. Rev. xix. 16. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords. Deut. xxviii. 58. 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. Psal. Ixviii. 4. Sing unto God, sing praises unto his name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name JAH, and rejoice before him. Psal. cxxxviii. 2. I will worship towards thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy loving kindness, and for thy truth : for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. Job xxxvi. 24. Men do therefore fear him : he respecteth not any that are wise in head. Psal. viii. 1. 3, 4. 9. O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers; the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained; what is man that thou art mindful of him? and the Son of man, that thou visitest him? O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! Eccles. v. 1. Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear than to offer the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil. 1 Cor. xi. 29. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. 1 Cor. iv. 1. Let a man

so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Ephes. v. 25, 26, 27. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word: that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

SECTION III.

Col. iii. 17. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. Mal. iii. 16. Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened, and heard it : and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. Psal. cv. 2. Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk ye of all his wondrous works. 1 Pet. iii. 15. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts ; and be ready always to give an answer to every one that asketh a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. Micah iv. 5. For all people will walk every one in the name of his God, and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever. I Cor. x. 31. Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatever ye do, do all to the glory of God. 1 Pet. ii. 12. Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that whereas they speak against you as evil doers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. Deut. vi. 13. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name. Jer. iv. 2. And thou shalt swear, The Lord liveth in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory. Isai. lxv. 16. That he who blesseth himself in the earth, shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth, shall swear by the God of truth.