It should be added, that the use of the name of God in a light way,—even though not in what is called "an oath"—a sin such expressions as "God knows," "God bless me," and in all similar phrases, is to be avoided, as tending to lessen the feeling of reverence which should be ever entertained for the Divine name—a name which should never be uttered but with solemnity and reverence. "That the name of Jehovah God," says the New Church Doctrine, "is in itself holy, is evident from the fact that from the earliest times the Jews did not dare, nor do they now dare, to utter the name Jehovah, and that, on that account, neither would the Evangelists nor the Apostles: wherefore, instead of Jehovah, they said Lord, as is evident from various passages transcribed from the Old Testament into the New, in which, in the place of Jehovah, the term Lord is used. That the name Jesus is in like manner holy, is known from the declaration of the Apostles, that at that name every knee should bow in heaven and earth, and that it cannot be uttered by any one in hell." It is added, "The names of God, which are not to be taken in vain, are many; as Jehovah, Jehovah God, Jehovah of hosts, the Holy One of Israel, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit."[1]
Thus much in explanation of the literal sense. But now, in the second place, we are to consider the spiritual sense of this Commandment. "By the name of God, in the spiritual sense, is meant all that the Church teaches from the Word, and by which the
- ↑ T. C. R., 297.
