The habit of swearing is condemned by all sensible persons. It has been called “the most gratuitous of all sins,” because no one gains by it; it is “not only sinful, but useless.” An old writer said that when the accusing angel, who records men’s words, flies up to heaven with an oath, he blushes as he hands it in. When a man blasphemes, he shows an utter contempt for God. I was in the army during the war, and heard men cursing and swearing. Some godly woman would pass along the ranks looking for her wounded son, and not an oath would be heard. They would not swear before their mothers, or their wives, or their sisters; they had more respect for them than they had for God! Isn’t it a terrible condemnation that swearing held its own until it came to be recognized as a vulgar thing, a sin against society? Men dropped it then, who never thought of its being a sin against God. There will be no swearing men in the kingdom of God. They will have to drop that sin, and repent of it, before they see the kingdom of God. |