)
Deuteronomy xxviii. 15. It shall come to pass, if thou wilt not
hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his
commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that
all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee.
Many good people are pained by the Commination Service which we have
just heard read. They dislike to listen to it. They cannot say
'Amen' to its awful words. It seems to them to curse men; and their
conscience forbids them to join in curses. To imprecate evil on any
living being seems to them unchristian, barbarous, a relic of dark
ages and dark superstitions.
But does the Commination Service curse men? Are these good people
(who are certainly right in their horror of cursing) right in the
accusations which they bring against it? Or have they fallen into a
mistake as to the meaning of the service, owing, it may be supposed,
to that carelessness about the exact use of words, that want of
accurate and critical habits of mind, which is but too common among
religious people at the present day?
I cannot but think that they mistake, when they say that the
Commination Service curses men. For to curse a man, is to pray and
wish that God may become angry with him, and may vent his anger on
the man by punishing him.
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