We ere apt to misinterpret the commandment because we know so little about its historical background. In order that we may correctly understand all that is implied in it is necessary for us to get clearly into ts} Our minds that in Old Testament times and, indeed, until comparatively recent years, a name meant something. It was not as it is with us merely a distinguishing mark—a sign Or label to distinguish one person from another. You remember the angel announcing the Nativity said. "Thou shalt call His name Jesus for He shall save His people from their sing". Jesus—Saviour. So all through the Bible names meant something. They represented some lofty ambition, some moral quality, some great work, or physical pecularity. Thus we are told that the son of Abraham and Sarah was named Ioac to perpetuate the memory of he glad surprise of the parents at the birth of the chili, Jacob's name was changed io Israel the prince or warrior of God, because he had struggled for a night with the engel of God at the brook Jabbok. One warrior may have been called Gideon because he was maimed, and another man may have been called Nabal because he was something of a fool. James and John were called "Boanerges", or "sons of thunder" because of their hot tempers, and there was Simon, the undependable, whose name was changed to Peter, the rock, In exactly the same way the name given to God by the Hebrews was more than a name. It did more than distinguish the God of Israel from the gods of other nations. It defined Him, it summed up, as it were, the secrets of His revelation of Himself to Israel. The name of God stands for what God is, what He has revealed Himself in history to be. He is the Creator of the ends of the punished and rightly punished with such severity in modern life. Indeed it is not difficult to see that fidelity to the plighted word is an indispensable condition of good government and sound commerce. One hardly reeds to illustrate this today. For business men to regard their legal obligations as things that can be lightly regarded. or for politicians to regard their promises to the people as mere spring-boards to power, or for Governments to make and break their treaties at will can only lead to anarchy. To break one's oath after it has been deliberately made and with a knowledge of the consequences, to regard lying as 2 matter of small importance, is to cut away the foundations of civilization itself.
What the Commandment Condemns But the implications of the Commandment go: still further. We have not exhausted its interpretation when we have considered its interpretation as concerns blasphemy and false swearing. It condemns all insincere ity. We break the commandment when we pretend to be what we are not. I need not illustrate this as it concerns our everyday life in the world and our relations one with another. We do well to realise, however, that insincerity is a sin—a sin that will be most certainly punished.
And then it condemns jesting at holy things. Nothing is more easy than to create a laugh by a grotes-gue association of some frivolity with the grave and solemn words of Holy Scripture, but surely this is profane ity, of the worst kind. By this Book the religious life of men is quickened and sustained. This Book contains the highest revelations of Himseli which Had has made to man. Listening to its words millions of men have heard the very voice of God. It is associated with the most sacred things of many generations of saints. Such a Book cannot be a fit material for the manufacture of jests.
And then the commandment con-Gemns that attitude so common in the world about us today which treats lightly, and even as a matter of amusement, ahd the object of coarse jokes the most sacred things of life. Personal religion, marriage relationships, parental responsibility and the purity of the home. In this connection, it condemns the habit of scoffing at the faults and failures and the weaknesses of professing Christians. Just as it would be cruel to make a jest of the weaknesses and sufferings of patients in the hospital, so it should be considered the poorest teste, and a breach of the commandment, to sneer at the imperfections of Christians. They are aware of their own imperfections, and your jests do not help, but make their efforts even less likely of achieving success. The real effect of your scoffing is to dishonour religious faith itself and bring God and the service of God into contempt.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.