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Show IRREVERENCE TOWARD GOD Significance of God's Name David's Prayer Its Spiritual Effects Oaths Defined A Religious Act Perjury Robs God of His Glory Requirements Sworn Testimony. (Written for The Intermouiitain Catholic.) j Iu our and country nothing is more deplor- I able and shocking than the irreverence and total dis- regard for the sac-redness and sanctity of the name I (,f (i'd i'"-1 His divine Son. The young, as well as ) 1n(l -'I'l without reverence or respect, continuously j invoke that holy name which the second command- ment ofthe decalogue tells "should never be taken in vain." and also teaches that thev who violate it ? "will not be held guiltless by the Lord." I , Holiness, power and majesty are inseparable J from ihe name of God, and its tirst invocation . should be in prayer by which he is honored. This reverence leads to adoration by faith that believes J him powerful to. assist, hope that confides in that !. J assistance, and charity that loves him for his mercy. . 'P Such was David's continual prayer. "Let his name be blessed forevermore, and in him all the tribes of j the earth shall be lessed. Blessed be the name of j his majesty for cwr. Blessed be the Lord who alone doth wonderful things." I 1 s' prayers bring blessings on all who make them, for praise to the name of the Lord'draws down his mercy and averts his indignation. It is strength j in temptation, solace in affliction and turns sorrow j into joy. It terrifies man's spiritual enemies, who ' strive to rob it of its glory by lessening man's rev- crenee for it. Reverence for that name is man's strength, and the demons' weakness, since it gives glory to God and confusion to them. The hearts : that love it and the lips that invoke it with venera- i turn keep the soul always beneath God's protecting hand, whither the demons dare not follow. The name of God invoked with fervor and love I brings before the demons that majesty they should I adore and that glory and happiness they once pos- !' sossM. It is like the light of the sun, before which fly all darkness. It is, in its last analysis. God himself, him-self, for he is present in his power and glory when called upon in prayer, not alone by his vivifying and sustaining presence, -which is shared by all ere-i ere-i at ion. but by a watchful presence, through which I bis all-seeing eye is fixed with special attention on J those who invoke his aid. Yet how often daily is "t that name taken in rain. So much so that it is ! almost a universal . habit to couple disrespectfullv I and irreverently the name of God. not only with I angry outpourings, but wiih most ordinary conver- sations. forgetting that if ho is present te bestow I blessings on those who honor him. his justice is I there also to avenge any irreverence or disrespect I to his name. "He will not hold Kim guiltless who I takes the name of the Lord bis God in vain. 1 OATHS. p An oath is defined to be a solemn declaration if made with an appeal to God for the truth of what p is affirmed. In every oath a solemn apjw-al is made , to God as a witness of the Iruth which is testified, i " There are lawful oaths that honor God where his I 1 name is introduced to testify 10 the truth of any j statement. Every oath i' essentially a religious act, ' because they who rake an r.;ith place themselves 1 A before the searcher of hearts from whose sight M. nothing is concealed, who sees ;md knows man's ' jjk most secret thought'. In an oath God, ihe infal-! infal-! lible truth, is called to witness the truth of what is said. Hence, in an oath that combines, as all lawful oaths must, truth, judgment and justice, there is an implicit act of adoration to God as the true, the wie and just, in whose sight a falsehood i an abomination, who can discern falsehood and punish it. who loves truth and will vindicate it. From the sneredness and sanctity of an oath may 1 b concluded how terrible a crime is its violation, or what is legally termed perjury, which means to bring the name of God to testify to a lie. It is a blasphemy that assails his highest attributes and would make him a participator in man's double dealings and prevarications. In the old law, it is recorded that God inflicted severe punishment on the perjunr who dared to couple his name with a lie. because it is an attempt to rob him of his glory and truthfulness, and a' mockery of his justice. Therefore, when one is called upon to swear, he should bear in mind that God is Truth itself, that lie is wise and just, and that there should be in his sworn testimony something to correspond with those attributes of him whose name is mentioned, thereby honoring that name. Testifying under oath there f-lruld be truth in all that is spoken, discretion and prudence, so that one may not rashly invoke the name of ' his Maker, thereby exposing himself to in's wrath. It is the mere mention of God's name that constitutes an oath, and as h is true and just, ! (i he who testifies under oath declares truth to be in ! y bis testimony. That is an oath. . . . M;. Belief in a Supreme Being proclaims the great- iV- l.oss and sanctity of his name. I lis command tr-ebes the reverence due and exacted. Then should 7 the frm believer be always prudent in invoking it. 1 4 and above all tnnhful. No consideration of gam ' or fear of consequences should induce one to asso-ciale'thnt asso-ciale'thnt name wiih an untruthful statement or in-f in-f v ,ke it in vain. When called upon 111 affliction, it j will change sorrow into joy: I "Here hrin your wounded hearts, here fell your j S ancr.i'-h x -u 1 Earth has no sorrow that Heaven cannot heal. For the bereaved there is no "lTone of that can assuage the anguished soul like the hope of f blissful immortality and sharing in Gods Pnc. I "The pf.fl, of sorrow and that path alone. ( leads' to the lands where sorrow is unknown. I Thev who pray in God's name will be herd; they who eonnde in it will hn I who Kavs rfVPrP it and cherish it m their hearts with love will be partakers of its power and strength j on earth, and sharers in its glory m heaven. All is of God. If He but wave His hand, Ihe mists collect, the rains fall thick and loud; lill, with a smile of light on sea and land, Lo! He looks back from the departing cloud. Angels of life and death alike are His; Without His leave they pass no threshold o'er; ho, then, would wish or dare, believing this, Against His messengers to shut the doori" I . F. D. |