IT has pained us very much to learn that the sin of profanity is rearing its head with great boldness at the present time. The testimony has come from soldiers and civilians. If ever there was a period when God was calling upon us to acknowledge Him with awe, and to humble ourselves under His mighty hand, it is the present. And yet such is the depravity of human nature that, when men are left to themselves, they only wax worse and worse under afflictive dispensations. It appears very deplorable, for example, that young men who are being trained as defenders of the country in a critical time, should spend their days and nights uttering profane oaths and curses, obscene words, and such like, thus bringing awful guilt upon their own souls, and making the lives of others beside them miserable, who dislike such conduct. A few remarks on the general subject may not be without profit.
- Such profanity is in direct violation of an express command of the Most High. The Third Commandment of the Moral Law is, “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.” This precept plainly forbids all frivolous, irreverent, and blasphemous use of the divine name, and by implication enjoins the opposite—a holy and reverent use of that name and of everything pertaining to it. The Lord Jesus Christ is “God manifest in the flesh,” and His name is therefore to be regarded with a reverence equal to that due to the other Persons in the Godhead. A profane use of it is certainly a breach of this commandment. In fact, there seems to us something peculiarly sinful and blameworthy in this form of irreverence. The name of Christ ought to be particularly dear and sacred in our estimation, as that of the wonderful person through whom God has been glorified upon
earth and the redemption of sinners accomplished. There is, indeed, nothing more painful to the believing mind than to hear the name of the Divine Saviour made the subject of a coarse oath or jest.
We recognise that there is a lawful swearing by the name of the Most High, in connection with a solemn and serious assertion of truth, such as takes place in courts of law. This partakes of the nature of a religious act. But, apart from this, let us remember the words of Christ: “Swear not at all; neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; nor by the earth, for it is his footstool; neither by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; nay, nay; for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.” It is perfectly plain from these injunctions that all such expletives as “By Jove,” “By George,” and “By goodness,” are not lawful, and should not be employed.
- The sin of profanity is eminently displeasing to the Most High. He makes this clear in the commandment when He says, “for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.” It is a sin directly against the person of God Himself, and therefore it is bound to be specially provoking to His infinite majesty. Among men an individual will bear with comparative patience any disrespect shown to some piece of work he has done, but where contempt is cast upon his person he regards the offence as much more heinous. So in the higher case before us. It is further implied in the precept that the Lord will not hold the profane person guiltless, whatever men may judge or do. He supposes that men may pass very lightly over this form of sin—as indeed they generally do—but declares that He will not act after their manner, but will regard the person who takes His name “in vain” as sinning, and worthy of condign punishment.
The original laws of our country were largely framed according to God’s Word, and such evils as cursing and swearing and blasphemy were regarded as civil crimes and made punishable. We understand that these laws are still in force, but they are too frequently ignored. There is need that they would be vigorously revived at present. We are credibly informed, however, that the Army is exempted from some at any rate of these laws, and that this circumstance has become embodied in the saying, “Swearing is the soldier’s privilege.” Truly this is a very lamentable exemption, and should be described as the soldier’s loss or curse, and not his privilege. To our mind there are no classes of men who should walk more in the fear of God than soldiers and sailors. They are constantly facing serious danger and death. Eternity is in their immediate view, and the very thought that they may have at any moment to appear before their Maker and Judge should effectually deter them from every kind of profanity.
- The sin of profanity, as well as other sins, militates against
success in the War. There is too great a tendency at the present time to put confidence in the arm of flesh, which cannot save, and to conclude that we are bound to win in the conflict by the sheer force of bravery, skill, munitions, and numbers. The principal factors in the situation—the favour and the power of God—are largely overlooked and forgotten. By His favour we live, and if He frowns on us we cannot succeed. Without the exercise of His power, no means employed will be efficient to accomplish the desired end. All things in heaven and on earth are in His hands, and thus it has been often seen that “the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong.” Thus we also find the Psalmist saying, “In the name of our God we will set up our banners. . . . Some trust in chariots and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.”
It is, further, plain from the Bible that God is just in all His ways, and has threatened that if we walk contrary to Him, He will walk contrary to us. If people trample the Word of God under their feet, disobey His laws, and profane His name, they have no warrant to expect that He will show them favour and help them in the time of need. If soldiers and civilians combine to defy God to His face in this awful time, they are doing their utmost to procure defeat for their country. There needs be no doubt about that. He may, in His sovereign mercy and for the sake of His own name and servants, crown our efforts with success, but He will not do so on account of any favourable regard for wicked men. We may be quite sure indeed that profanity, drunkenness, infidelity, and other sins have procured for us the considerable degree of chastisement we have received already, and those who continue in their sins, when every voice in heaven and earth calls them to repentance, are adding more drops to the cup of wrath and preparing the way for dreadful strokes in the future. True it is that “if God be for us, who can be against us?” But the opposite is also true, that if God be against us, it matters not who is “for us.”
Should these lines, in providence, meet the eyes of any who have been living in profanity and other sins, we would affectionately warn them of their guilt and danger in view of eternity, and of the loss that is accruing to their country by their sinful manner of life. Every moral evil indulged is so much against us in God’s book. “The wages of sin is death.” The only men who are assets to the country, in the best sense, at this time are those who walk in the fear of God and the faith of Jesus Christ, hating that which is evil and loving that which is good. They are “the salt of the earth” and the shields of the nation. It would be an unspeakable blessing if some who have hitherto lived in the service of sin and Satan were brought to forsake their evil ways and live. Such newborn souls, enlisting under the banner of the King of kings as well as under the banner of the King of Great Britain, would, by the divine blessing, carry the flag to victory.