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all instructed by this grace to a conduct answerable to their high calling, and to the common relation they stand in to him who has loved them and washed them from their sins in his own blood. For the morality of the Gospel has a nobler spring, and a more extensive scope, than the ties of social life. Their sobriety and righteousness are not substituted in the place of vital godliness, but are the fruits derived from it. The grace of God teaches them to live godly, to delight in him, to obey him, to do every thing for his sake, as under his eye, and to be continually governed by a sense of his unspeakable love manifested in his Son, and "an expectation of the blessed hope set before us, "the glorious appearance of the great God, and our "Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that, "by his blood and Spirit, he might redeem us from all

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iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people "zealous of good works." Labour to show, that you are not only called by his name, but have sat at his feet, and drank of his spirit; and if, after all, unreasonable and wicked men will speak evil of you, and your good, be not moved at it, but pity and pray for them. When he shall return to vindicate your cause, and wipe away your reproach, then " every cloud shall "be removed, and the righteous shall shine forth as "the sun in the kingdom of their Father *.

* Matth. xiii. 43.

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SERMON XV.

THE EXTENT AND SANCTION OF THE THIRD

COMMANDMENT.

EXOD. 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 foundation of true religion is laid in a right knowledge of God and ourselves. How deficient we are in each of these, how far fallen from original righteousness, is strongly implied in this prohibition; which would be wholly unnecessary, if we were not wholly sunk in stupidity and wickedness. That such worms as we should be liable to trifle with the Divine Majesty, whose presence fills the heaven and the earth, before whom the angels hide their faces; that such frail dependent creatures have need to be cautioned, that we do not profane the name of the God in whom we live, and move, and have our being, is a striking proof of our depravity; and that we can dare to break through this caution, and slight the awful threatening with which it is closed, is a dreadful aggravation of our guilt.

These words, when first spoken to the Israelites, were delivered in flames and thunder. The mountain shook, the people trembled, and even Moses, who had been honoured with peculiar freedom of access to God, was constrained to cry," I exceedingly fear and “I

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quake*." Such a scene, or rather infinitely more dreadful, shall hereafter take place, "when the Lord himself "shall again descend from heaven with a shout, with "the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God; "when he shall be revealed in flaming fire, to take vengeance of all who know him not, and obey not "his Gospelt." "Then shall sinners be convinced "not only of their ungodly deeds, but of all their hard "speeches which they have spoken against him;" and they shall know the full meaning of that terrible exception which I have read, "that the Lord will not hold "him guiltless that taketh his name in vain."

The terms of my text require little explanation. The name of God is in every one's mouth, upon one occasion or other, in places where his revealed will is known. In a more eminent and peculiar sense his name is discovered to his believing people in Christ Jesus the Lord; those who know the name of God in Christ will put their trust in him; they dare not, they cannot blaspheme that holy name by which they are called. But I shall take it more extensively here; for though but few understand the name of God in an evangelical and saving sense, there is not a person in this assembly but knows and makes mention of his holy name, so far as to render them transgressors of this commandment. To take his name in vain, is to use it falsely or profanely, inconsiderately, without due reverence, or unprofitably, and without a suitable necessity. The sanction, "the Lord will not hold him guiltless," has indeed a meaning and emphasis beyond what is expressed. Similar forms of speaking are frequent in

*Heb. xii. 21,

Jude, 15.

† 1 Thess. iv. 16.; 2 Thess. i. 8. § Psal. ix. 10.

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Scripture, as, "the Lord will not spare that man*;" that is, he will punish him to the utmost; for it is immediately added, "all the curses of this book shall come upon him." Again, he spared not the angels;" that is, he showed them no mercy, as the following words declare: "he spared not the old world," he visited them with utter destruction, and swept them all away with a flood. So," he will "not hold him guiltless," implies two things: 1st, That the Lord God has appointed a day to call sinners to an account for their words, as well as their actions. 2dly, That whatever shall become of others, those who have presumed to take his name in vain, have their doom already determined. Whoever escapes, they shall surely be punished; whomever he acquits, he will certainly condemn them.

As the import of the expressions is not difficult, so likewise it will be far more easy than agreeable to point out some of the many ways in which this commandment is customarily and carelessly broken. The law in general, and each particular precept, is spiritualt, and perhaps this will be found of a more extensive signification than some of you are aware. The delightful theme of a minister of the Gospel is to preach Jesus Christ, and him crucified; to open the treasures of divine mercy, and to show the grace, freeness, and security of the promises; to raise up them that fall, to strengthen those that stand; "to support "the weak, to comfort the feeble-minded; to preach "deliverance to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound ‡." But these subjects

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* Deut. xxix. 20.; 2 Pet. ii. 4, 5.
I 1 Thess. v. 14.; Lukc, iv. 18.

† Rom. vii. 14.

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do not comprise the whole of our message; and, in general, we find, that the full soul loatheth the honeycomb*; and multitudes, through ignorance of the spirituality and purity of God's holy law, and a partial judgement of their own hearts, can neither see the beauty nor the necessity of the Gospel-salvation. We are therefore constrained frequently to insist on far less pleasing subjects, to lift up our voices like a trumpet†, to demand a general attention while we attempt to show our hearers their transgressions and their sins, that we may thereby make the doctrine of the cross of Christ welcome and desirable. It is painful to the patient, and, without doubt, unpleasing to the humane artist, to probe a deep and dangerous wound; but necessity commands, and, without it, a complete and lasting cure is not to be expected.

1. The first and most direct way in which the name of God is taken in vain, is by perjury; that is, when he is expressly appealed to in confirmation of what is false, or when engagements are made as in his name and presence, which are not strictly and literally complied with. I need not take up your time in proving, that this is a sin of a deep dye in itself, and attended with peculiar aggravations under the light of the Gospel; and I wish it was more difficult to prove the frequency of it in our land; but this likewise is as obvious as the light. I have sometimes met with a random assertion, that though we are wicked enough, we are not worse than other countrics. In other things I am content to wave the parallel; but with respect to the sin of perjury, I fear, we are much worse than any nation now

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