profanation, of which there is danger. I mean an abuse of the Divine Word, by quoting it lightly in conversation, or when speaking of trivial, still more of improper, subjects. Such a use of the Holy Scriptures is profanation. For as we must not take upon our lips the name of God except on serious occasions, so neither must we utter lightly anything from his Holy Word. Says the Doctrine of the New Church, "There are various kinds of profanation, some lighter and some more grievous. One kind of profanation is committed by those who jest from the Word, or concerning the Word, or from and concerning the Divine things of the Church. This is done by some persons from a bad habit, by taking names or forms of speech out of the Word, and introducing them into unseemly and sometimes filthy discourse. This cannot but be connected with some degree of contempt for the Word. Yet the Word, in the whole and in every particular, is Divine and holy; for every word therein contains something Divine, by which it has communication with heaven. This kind of profanation, however, is lighter or more grievous in proportion to the acknowledgment of the sanctity of the Word, and the indecency of the discourse into which it is introduced by those who make a jest of it."[1]
Against this species of profanation we need to be particularly on our guard; for it is not an uncommon thing to hear even good people quote phrases or passages from Scripture in light conversation.
But now there is a third kind of profanation, distinct
- ↑ Divine Providence, n. 231.
