need and it is demanded. So also when there is right teaching, and when
the name is invoked in trouble or praised and thanked in prosperity
etc.; all of which is comprehended summarily and commanded in the
passage Ps. 50, 15: Call upon Me in the days of trouble; I will deliver
thee, and thou shalt glorify Me. For all this is bringing 't into the
service of truth, and using it in a blessed way, and thus His name is
hallowed, as we pray in the Lord's Prayer.

Thus you have the sum of the entire commandment explained. And with
this understanding the question with which many teachers have troubled
themselves has been easily solved, to wit, why swearing is prohibited
in the Gospel, and yet Christ, St. Paul, and other saints often swore.
The explanation is briefly this: We are not to swear in support of
evil, that is, of falsehood, and where there is no need or use; but for
the support of good and the advantage of our neighbor we should swear.
For it is a truly good work, by which God is praised, truth and right
are established, falsehood is refuted, peace is made among men,
obedience is rendered, and quarrels are settled. For in this way God
Himself interposes and separates between right and wrong, good and
evil. If one part swears falsely, he has his sentence that he shall not
escape punishment, ad though it be deferred a long time, he shall not
succeed; that all that he may gain thereby will slip out of his hands,
and he will never enjoy it; as I have seen in the case of many who
perjured themselves in their marriage-vows, that they have never had a
happy hour or a healthful day, and thus perished miserably in body,
soul, and possessions.

Therefore I advise and exhort as before that by means of warning and
threatening, restraint and punishment, the children be trained betimes
to shun falsehood, and especially to avoid the use of God's name in its