d of "_lying_ vanities," and again, "trusting in vanity
and speaking _lies_" (Psalm xxxi. 6; Isa. lix. 4).

In favour of the rendering "falsely" it is urged that our Lord quotes it
as "said to them of old time 'Thou shalt not forswear thyself'" (Matt.
v. 33). But it is by no means clear that He quotes this text: the
citation is closer to the phraseology of Lev. xix. 12, and it is found
in a section of the Sermon which does not confine its citations to the
Decalogue (cf. ver. 38).

The Authorised rendering seems the more natural when we remember that
civic duty had not yet come upon the stage. When we have learned to
honour only one God, and not to degrade nor materialise our conception
of Him, the next step is to inculcate, not yet veracity toward men when
God has been invoked, but reverence, in treating the sacred name.

We have already seen the miserable superstitions by which the Jews
endeavoured to satisfy the letter while outraging the spirit of this
precept. In modern times some have conceived that all invocation of the
Divine Name is unlawful, although St. Paul called God for a witness upon
his soul, and the strong angel shall yet swear "by Him Who liveth for
ever and ever" (2 Cor. i. 23; Rev. x. 6).

As it is not a temple but a desert which no foot ever treads, so the
sacred name is not honoured by being unspoken, but by being spoken
aright.

Swearing is indeed forbidden, where it has actually disappeared, namely,
in the mutual intercourse of Christian people, whose affirmation should
suffice their brethren, while the need of stronger sanctions "cometh of
evil," even of the consciousness of a tendency to untruthfulness, which
requires the stronger barrier of an oath. But our Lord Himself, when
adjured by the living God, responded to the solemn authority of that
adjuration, although His death was the result.

The name of God is not taken in vain when men who are conscious of His
nearness, and act with habitual reference to His will, mention Him more
frequently and familiarly than formalists approve. It is abused when the
insincere and hollow professor joins in the most solemn act of worship,
honours Him with the lips while the heart is far from Him--nay, when one
strives to curb Satan, and reclaim his fellow-sinner, by the use of good
and holy phrases, in which his own belief is merely theoretical; and
fares like the sons of Sceva, who repeated an orthodox adjuration, but
fled away overpowered and wounded.