SERMON IV.
THE SECOND COMMANDMENT: NOT TO TAKE GOD'S NAME IN VAIN.
"Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain."—Exodus xx. 7.
"By taking God's name in vain," says the Doctrine of the New Church, "is meant, in the natural or literal sense, the abuse of the name itself, in common discourse, especially in the support of falsehoods and lies, also in oaths without cause, or with a view to exculpate one's self from the charge of evil designs, or in the practice of tricks and incantations. But to swear by God and his holiness, or by the Word and Gospel, in the case of admission to any office, as at the coronation of a king, at inaugurations into the priesthood, or inductions into places of trust, is not to take the name of God in vain, unless he who takes the oaths afterwards disregards his engagements. The name of God, which is holiness itself, is moreover constantly to be used in the holy services of the church, as in prayers, psalms, and in all worship, and also in preaching, and in writings on religious subjects. The reason is, that God is in all things of religion, and, when properly invoked, he is present by means of his name, and hears. In such a use of it, God's name is hallowed."[1]
From this passage we learn, what is important to be known, that the conscientious scruples of the Quakers and others in regard to taking an oath on solemn and official occasions, are groundless, and that to swear on such occasions is not to take God's name in vain. It is satisfactory to have all such questions as this settled, as they are in the New Church, by the teachings of revealed Truth.
But we also here learn the sinfulness of ordinary swearing, or uttering a profane oath. The use of such language, whether the speaker is aware of it or not, is incited from those horrid hells where the spirit of blasphemy reigns; and the practice of it must tend to keep the mind in connection and communion with that class of infernals. Whoever, therefore, does not wish to keep his spirit conjoined and bound to the hells, must refrain from such a practice as a sin.
The use, moreover, in common discourse, of terms opposite to those of God, as "the devil," or " hell," "damnation," or any similar expressions, flows doubtless from a similar source. The infernals breathe into the angry mind or the loose mind the thought of themselves, and prove their presence in the speaker's heart, by inciting the utterance of their own wicked names from his lips. All bad language, in a word, proceeds from a bad source, and will be scrupulously avoided by him who desires to keep his spirit in a state of innocence, and in communion with the angels of heaven.
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."[2]
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 Lord is invoked and worshiped. All these things, taken together, are the name of God; wherefore, by taking the name of God in vain, in this sense, is meant to introduce such things in frivolous conversation, or in uttering falsehoods, or in execrations, or in tricks and incantations. That the Word and all things of the church thence derived, and thus all worship, are the name of God, is plain from Scripture. Thus in Malachi:[3] 'Ye profane my name when ye say, The table of the Lord is polluted; and ye snuff at it when ye bring for sacrifice what is torn and lame and diseased.' 'Jesus said, Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them;'"[4] where, by being gathered together in his name, is meant united in genuine worship. "Thus, by the name of God is meant the Divine which proceeds from God, and by which he is worshiped."[5]
The reason that name has this signification, is because name in the spiritual sense signifies quality or character; for all names, originally, were intended to describe the quality or character of the person named. Hence most of the names mentioned in the Divine Word are significative, as, for instance, Emmanuel, that is, "God with us," Jesus, "Savior." "That by the name of any one," says the New Church Doctrine, "is not meant his name only, is manifest from names in the spiritual world, where no one retains the name which he received at baptism, and from his father or ancestors in the world, but every one there is named according to his quality, and the angels are named according to their moral and spiritual life. Thus 'Gabriel' and 'Michael' are not the names of any two persons in heaven, but by those names are meant all in heaven who are in wisdom concerning the Lord and worship Him."[6]
By the name of God, then, is meant the quality of God,—all that constitutes his Divine quality, character, or nature. "By the name of God is meant all the quality by which God is worshiped, for God is in his own quality, and is his own quality. His essence is Divine love, and his quality is Divine Truth thence derived, united with Divine good; thus with us on earth it is the Word; wherefore also it is said in John, 'the "Word was with God, and the Word was God;' and hence also his quality is the doctrine of genuine truth and good derived from the Word, for according thereto is worship. Hence by profaning the name of God is meant not merely to profane the name itself, but his quality; and the quality of God or the Lord is all that is derived from Him, and by which he is worshiped. Hence it is, that in hell, inasmuch as not any Divine quality of the Lord is there acknowledged, he cannot be named, nor can his name be pronounced by any one in the spiritual world otherwise than as his Divine is acknowledged."[7]
We thus perceive that the Lord's name signifies his quality; and his quality, as perceived by our minds, is that from which we worship him. Essentially, love and wisdom is his name; hence, also goodness and truth; and moreover the Word, which is goodness and truth united; also, all doctrine in the church derived from the Word: and in general, all sacred and holy things are his name. To profane God's name, then, or to take his name in vain, is to ridicule or treat with contempt or with levity sacred and holy things, as the things of religion and of the Church.
There now remains to be considered the celestial sense of this Commandment. "By taking the name of God in vain, in the celestial sense, is meant that which the Lord said to the Pharisees, 'I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven.'"[8]
By blasphemy against the Spirit is meant blasphemy against the Divinity of the Lord's Humanity, and against the holiness of the Word. That, in the celestial or highest sense, by the name of God is meant the Divine Humanity of the Lord, is evident from these words; "Jesus said, Father, glorify thy name: then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again."[9] Here, by the Father's name, or God's name, is plainly signified the Humanity or Human Nature of the Lord Jesus Christ; for it was that which was glorified. To "glorify" means to make Divine. The Human Nature which Jehovah God assumed in the world, and by which he appeared to men in the form of Jesus Christ, He was continually glorifying or making Divine more and more,—just as the good man becomes regenerated more and more so long as he lives in the world. It was a gradual work; and hence the words "I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again;" that is, it was already glorified in part, and the process would be continued. And it was continued, till, after the Lord's Resurrection, the Human became one with the Divine, the Son one with the Father, and then Jesus ascended as united God and Man, altogether Divine, and now reigns the one God of heaven and earth.
Thus, then, in the celestial or supreme sense, by the name of God is meant the Lord's Humanity. And to take God's name in vain, is meant to deny the Divinity of that Humanity. The reason that this is a sin that cannot be forgiven, or the unpardonable sin, is because he who obstinately denies the Divine of the Lord's Humanity, thereby shuts his mind against heaven, and severs it from conjunction with the Lord. For there is no conjunction with God, or the infinite Divine, except through a medium; as Jesus said, No man cometh to the Father, but by me:[10] the term Me there signifies the Humanity or Human Nature which uttered those words, and the Father means the infinite invisible Divine. The finite mind cannot grasp the Infinite, and therefore cannot be conjoined with it in thought; but with that Infinite clothed with Humanity, as in Jesus Christ, it can be conjoined. Hence man must look to this Humanity glorified, or to Jesus Christ, and then it has a true object of worship; as Jesus said, "He that seeth me seeth the Father."[11] But now, if a man denies this Object of worship, denies that Jesus Christ is God, he has nothing to fix his love and thought upon (for the abstract Divine is, as before said, inaccessible), and consequently he worships nought but himself and the world, and thus remains in his evils, and perishes.
But it is now to be observed, that no one thus interiorly denies the Divine of the Lord, but one who is in evils of life. Many, through erroneous instruction, may not acknowledge that Divine in doctrine here; but if they are in the good of life, and in the effort to obey the Lord's commandments, they are interiorly associated with angels; and after death, when instructed aright, they will easily acknowledge this essential truth.
But there is another mode in which God's name may be taken in vain, namely, by, denying the holiness of the Word. "Inasmuch," says the Doctrine of the New Church, "as by the name of God is meant that which is from God, and this is called Divine truth, which with us is the Word,—this, being in itself Divine and most holy, is not to be profaned; and it is profaned when its holiness is denied, as is the case when it is contemned, rejected, and opprobriously treated. When this is the case, then heaven is shut, and man is left to hell; for the Word is the only medium of conjunction of heaven with the Church; wherefore, when it is rejected from the heart, that conjunction is dissolved, and then man, being left to hell, no longer acknowledges any truth of the Church. There are two things by which heaven is shut to the men of the Church; one is, the denial of the Divinity of the Lord, and the other is the denial of the holiness of the Word. The reason is, because the Lord's Divine is the all in all of heaven; and Divine truth, which is the Word in its spiritual sense, makes heaven. Hence it is evident, that he who denies either the one or the other, denies that which is the all of heaven, and from which heaven is and exists; and thereby he deprives himself of all communication and thence conjunction with heaven. To profane the Word is the same with blaspheming the Holy Spirit, which is a sin not remitted to any one, wherefore it is added to this Commandment, that he shall not be left unpunished who profanes the name of God "(or, as expressed in our translation, "God will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain").[12]
It may thus be seen that one of the most dangerous forms of taking God's name in vain, is to profane his Word. What will have become, then, of such men as Paine and Voltaire, who openly assaulted, contemned, and opprobriously treated that Divine Word which fills all heaven with its light, and which is the medium of conjunction with heaven? Though we are forbidden to pronounce upon any one's final state, yet we may presume that the effect must have been to shut heaven against them, and to cut them off from its communion. Let us beware, then, of any such practices.
Of that degree of profanation, indeed, we are not likely to be guilty. But there is a minor degree of 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."[13]
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 from both the others, and more grievous than either: it is that which is committed by one who believes Divine truth and acknowledges it, and yet lives an evil life in opposition to it. Says the Doctrine of the New Church, "By taking God's name in vain, is properly signified to turn truth into evil, that is, to believe that it is truth, and yet to live in evil; and also it is to turn good into the false, that is, to live a holy life, and yet not to believe: each is profanation. For to believe is of the understanding, and to live is of the will; wherefore with those who believe otherwise than as they live, the thought and will are divided. But whereas the will continually flows into the understanding, hence it is that where there is a diversity between a man's belief and his life, in this case truth and evil, or good and the false, are conjoined, thus the things which are of heaven with man are conjoined with those which are of hell. This conjunction cannot be loosened except by a distraction which carries along with it all spiritual life; wherefore such subjects are let into a hell the most grievous of all, where they are direfully tormented. This is what is meant by the Lord's words in Matthew, 'Every sin and blasphemy shall be remitted unto man, but the blasphemy of the Spirit shall not be remitted to him; if any one shall say a word against the Son of man, it shall be remitted to him; but he who shall speak against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be remitted to him, neither in this world, nor in the world to come.' The same is signified by these words in Luke: 'When the unclean spirit is gone out from a man, he wanders through dry places, seeking rest; and not finding it, he says, I will return into my house whence I came out; and coming, he finds it swept and garnished: then goeth he and taketh seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there. And the last state of that man is worse than the first.' By these words is described the profanation of truth. By the unclean spirit going forth is meant the acknowledgment and belief of truth; and by the house swept, is meant a life contrary to truth; by his return with seven other spirits, is meant a state of profanation. That such a state with man cannot be healed, is signified by the words that follow this Commandment, 'For the Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes his name in vain.'"[14]
This, my brethren, is a solemn warning to us to be careful to live according to the truths which we believe. To make a true member of the Church—to constitute an angel of heaven—belief and life must be conjoined: the understanding and the will must be made one. And this is effected in proportion as we do the Divine Commandments: "If ye know these things," said the Lord, "happy are ye if ye do them." This is, indeed, a trite truth; but, trite as it is, it must become a reality with us, or we shall never see heaven. It must be our earnest endeavor, as far as we learn what is right, to strive to do it, and bring it into life. And this the Lord will give us power to do, if we look to Him in daily prayer, and ask for it.
- ↑ True Christian Religion, n. 297.
- ↑ T. C. R., 297.
- ↑ i. 12, 13.
- ↑ Matt, xviii. 20.
- ↑ T. C. R., n. 298.
- ↑ T. C. R., n. 300.
- ↑ Ap. Ex., n. 959.
- ↑ Matt, xii 31.
- ↑ T. C. R., n. 299.
- ↑ John xiv. 6.
- ↑ John xiv. 9.
- ↑ Ap. Ex., n. 960.
- ↑ Divine Providence, n. 231.
- ↑ A. C, n. 8882.