SWEARING by James Sawyer

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 17, 1869

SWEARING.

By James Sawyer

“Because of swearing the land mourneth, the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up.” Jer. xxiii, 10.

“Every one that sweareth shall be cut off.” Zech. v, 3.

“The Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.” Ex. xx.

In one of the above quotations we have a vivid description of a time when the people are in a terrible state of apostasy from God. Sad was the heart of the prophet as he looked down through the vista of time, and beheld some land given up to this sin. Why swearing is singled out and made to appear as the cause of a famine in the land to the exclusion of other great sins; why it was a sin so heinous in the sight of God, is not here given. We are, however, well aware that the words of our mouth are an index to our character; and it is character that God considers in the time of Judgment. A heart from whose volition there come curses and swearing, is filled with other dark and horrible conjectures which only need time and opportunity to develop and become known. A man who rails out in blasphemy toward a brute, though it be the lowest creature unto which God has given life, warns me that either my life or my character would be in jeopardy in his hands. A man that takes his Maker’s name carelessly, vainly, or rudely, upon his lips, exemplifies a debased mind, and, under some circumstances, is capable of any meanness.

The governing power is gone when a man does not fear God. He is like a ship without a rudder, when his animal propensities govern. When he fears God who made the heavens and the earth, he has the first conception of duty. When he does not fear God, he becomes a fool. So says the wisest man who ever lived.

It matters not whether it is for fashion’s sake, or from ignorance; either places the swearer in a dangerous condition, and because the teachers (called prophets, priests, and pastors, in the Bible) are dumb, and do not cry out, and expose this bold and defiant sin, they have become guilty of the same crime, or fault, and God declares that he will visit with famine that nation so given up to such bold and barefaced sin as blasphemy. “Because of swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places in the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil.”

The language of the prophet denotes that it is characteristic of the people of whom it is spoken—they are largely given to it. Now for the facts: swearing is very common among the children of this land. It can be heard in the street of every city and hamlet. Many, of both old and young, qualify their words in the common business of life with profaneness; and ribald jests and horrid oaths stream out in profusion from the lips of those given to the use of strong drinks. Saloons and public houses are rife with it. We often hear it in the stage coach and on the cars, and even in family circles. Once profanity was vulgar in the presence of females; now it does not sound so harshly to their ears.

I do not write this, thinking that famine is to visit us readily, for there is now the prospect of an abundant harvest. But swearing is a great evil; it is getting quite prevalent, and unless we are guarded against such evils, they become a cause of scourge unto the nation.

If this prophecy of Jeremiah is to be located in the past, it is just as certain for the future, to any nation that has a similar character to the one above described; for the words are the foundation of a fixed principle in God’s moral government. “Because of swearing the land mourneth.” That God who weighs nations in the balances of justice, regards iniquity in the same light to-day as he did in Jeremiah’s time. If we sin as did Sodom and Gomorrah, we have to answer to a like account with them in the day of Judgment; only it will be more tolerable for them than for us.

But the prospect of the swearer is bad; it is gloomy; it is fatal. “Every one that sweareth shall be cut off.” This would seem to locate the worst state of this sin in the future. “Then said he unto me [Zech. v, 3], This is the curse that goeth forth over the whole earth, for every one that sweareth shall be cut off.” No hope for the swearer then. Jesus will have offered the last act of mediation for the swearer. The Lord cannot hold him guiltless who taketh his name in vain, and the person of profane lips must perish. He shall be cut off. In the land of the living he is not to be allowed a place after God has inflicted his sore judgments upon the ungodly.

In Heaven he cannot dwell. Love is the basis of existence there. A man given to profanity cannot love. He may profess attachment to, but he cannot love, his fellow-being. Love is too good a quality for a swearer to profess. He can hate, he can profess, he may kiss and caress, but it is out of the question for a blasphemer to have a disinterested and pure love for his fellow-being. His aspirations are too low. His thoughts have been too groveling. He would fail in the time of severe test.

My countrymen are very inconsiderate if they will not heed the warning and forsake this dreadful sin. The Lord can not hold them guiltless who take his name in vain, and, because of swearing, the land mourneth. Oh! why will men rush heedlessly along in the common current, sting their own souls, poison their associates, dishonor the great God, and call down the judgments of Heaven! Their way is hard—the end is ruin.

If men would but love God with their might, mind, and strength, they would be ornaments to the world, and invoke the blessing of God. Let this be worthy of their attention, then, that men forsake the poisonous bowl, and every other charm that excites the lower passions of mind. Let them forsake the company of those who are pleased with the ribald jest or profane speech, and learn to fear that God who keeps a strict account of every word; it will be the beginning of a course of life that produces that wisdom whose “price is above rubies.” “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” It will add more value to their real worth than the stock of the millionaire, or the wealth of kings.

JAMES SAWYER.