Edmund Gibson

“ Consider how Men fall at first into the Custom of Swearing; that it is never taken up (as all wife Designs are) with Consideration, or upon a Foresight of any Benefit that is like to arise from it; but is usually owing to profane Company, and suffered to grow into a Habit through a supine careless Humour, for want of thinking what is right or wrong, lawful or unlawful, wise or foolish. And no Practice can be more unreasonable, than that which is owing purely to the Want of Thought, and which Men never could fall into if they would think ”

“ The Tongue is a nimble Member which moves swiftly, and, if ill employed, multiplies Sin a-pace: And as the noblest Work that belongs to it, is, to set forth the Praises of God on Earth, as the Saints and Angels do in Heaven; so he who accustoms it to Oaths and Curses, is daily preparing it for the Language of Hell. And the Time is coming, (if he repent not) when he will have Cause to wish a Thousand Times over, that he had been born as dumb as the Beasts that perish, or, since he was not, that he had perished like them. ”

“ But what Gracefulness can there be in a Language, which none use but the wild, unthinking, profligate Part of Mankind; and which gives great Offence and Uneasiness to every sober and good Man; and I may add, a Language which is no where so common as among the meaner Sort, and in the most unpolished Conversation. ”

“ It is true, Rage and Fury are the usual Fore-runners of Violence, and these force Obedience for the Time; but as Violence makes him inwardly hated by his Servants, so Swearing makes him pitied and despised by them, and both together make him accounted little better than a Madman by all about him. The only true Way to be sure of Duty and Respect from Inferiors, is Calmness and Decency in the Commands and Admonitions of the Superiors. And while Men fancy they shew the greater Courage and Bravery, the more frequent and horrible their Oaths are ”

“ Accordingly, we see this Sin reigns most when Men are least themselves, in Times of Rage and Passion, and Drunkenness; when their Reason is gone, and they are indeed no longer Men. Nay, some are never guilty of Swearing, but in those short Seasons of Madness; being able at all other Times to see the Folly of it, and to comply with their Judgment and Conscience in abstaining from it. Which should make the Common Swearer ashamed, to see that he is doing that all Day long, which others (and they none of the most Innocent) never will do but in a Fit of Madness. ”

“ I shall put you in Mind, by and by, how expresly our Saviour forbids Christians to swear by the Creatures, because of the Relation they bear to their Creator, and because as they are the Creatures of God, to swear by them is in Effect to swear by God; and then it must be a Sin of a much higher Nature, for Men in their common Conversation to swear directly by God himself.
The Name of God is pronounced in Scripture, to be holy, and glorious, and reverend; and it is one Part of the Prayer, which our Saviour taught us, that God’s Name may be hallowed ”

“ But where Swearing is grown into a Habit, it breaks out equally upon any Occasion, or no Occasion: and in Cases where there is most Occasion; that is, when they cannot easily make themselves believed, it stands them in no Stead; because none will believe him the more for Swearing, who is known to have lost all Reverence for an Oath. The bare Word of a sober serious Man has far more Weight than a thousand Oaths of the common Swearer. ”

“ When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die, and thou givest him not Warning, nor speakest not to warn the Wicked from his wicked Way to save his Life; the same wicked Man shall die in his Iniquity, but his Blood will I require at thy Hand. ”

“ Attone for what is past, by a hearty Sorrow and Repentance, and satisfy yourself, that your Repentance is sincere, by entring into the firmest Resolution, that from henceforth your Conversation shall be such as becomes the Gospel of Christ. ”

“ The profaneing of Things by common Use, which are sanctified to a Religious Use; and which, as they immediately relate to the great Business of another Life, do require our most serious Thoughts and Meditations, and ought never to be uttered in an idle or trifling Way. ”

“ And these last do so far well, to abstain from it at all other Times; but their Fault is, that at those Times they are apt to excuse it, and scarce allow it to be a Sin, because (they say) they are not themselves. Whereas, if they would reason truly, and like Christians, it must be thus; That since Rage and Passion, and Drunkenness, are very sinful, and to be avoided by every Christian, though they be single and alone; they in whom they are generally accompanied with Swearing, are bound to double Diligence in avoiding them, because they know they usually bring with them a double Guilt ”

“ Next to the profane Use of such Names as signify Beings that are Divine, is a like profane Use of Words which signify Things of a Divine and Holy Nature, such as are proper only to Religion, and the Concern of our Souls and another World ”