Exodus 20:7 You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that takes his name in vain. I remember, some time since, hearing of a rich man who had a large plantation. He was the most terribly profane man that had ever been known in the neighbourhood. He could hardly speak a word on any subject without mingling it with oaths. It was perfectly shocking to hear him speak. At length he was seized with a stroke of something like paralysis. This left him in good health, only he had lost the use of his limbs. And the remarkable thing about it was, that the power of speech was taken away from him, except that he could still swear. Profane words were all that he could utter. He used to be carried about his plantation by his servants in a sort of hand-carriage, and the only words that ever felt from his lips were dreadful oaths and curses. How awful this must have been! What a terrible illustration it affords of that passage of Scripture in which God says that because the wicked "love cursing it shall come into their bones like oil, and they shall clothe themselves with cursing like a garment!" (Psalm 109:17-19) Surely this man was so clothed. A dreadful garment it must have been to wear! Parallel Verses KJV: Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. |
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