ren. They want to show how
they despise God's law.

A great many men think there is nothing in swearing. Bear in mind that
God sees something wrong in it, and He says He will not hold men
guiltless, even though society does.

I met a man sometime ago who told me he had never sinned in his life.
He was the first perfect man I had ever met. I thought I would
question him, and began to measure him by the law. I asked him: "Do
you ever get angry?" "Well," he said, "sometimes I do; but I have a
right to do so. It is righteous indignation." "Do you swear when you
get angry?" He admitted he did sometimes. "Then," I asked, "are you
ready to meet God?" "Yes," he replied, "because I never mean anything
when I swear."

Suppose I steal a man's watch and he comes after me.

"Yes," I say, "I stole your watch and pawned it, but _I did not mean
anything by it_. I pawned it and spent the money, but _I did not mean
anything by it_."

You would smile at and deride such a statement.

Ah, friends! You cannot trifle with God in that way. Even if you swear
without meaning it, it is forbidden by God. Christ said: "Every idle
word that men shall speak, they shall give an account thereof in the
day of judgment; for by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy
words thou shalt be condemned." You will be held accountable whether
your words are _idle_ or _blasphemous_.

A SENSELESS HABIT.

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.

HOW TO KEEP FROM SWEARING.