Massachusetts spy and Worcester advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1823-1825, 1824-08-25

| t"O-AOAu ullIOulIs DuL Lh i IfOS TIC
provincial government seemed to be a.
reused to deep sense of the alarming
prevalence of this moral pestilence, and
in the preamble to a revising statute en-
titled =" an Act the more efectually to
prevent profane cursing and swearing
they adopted this bold and startling Ian
guage of denunciation, descriptive of
the crime ana its consequences. Foras-
much" says this preamble, "as the hor-
ri6le, impious, and erecrable Dices of pro-
fame cursing and szUeuring, so highly dis
pleasing to almighty God, and offensive
TO eUery Christian, are become so frequent
and notorious, that unless speedily and eff:
tect"ally punished, they may justly pro-
coke the diOine vengeance to increase the
many caldmaties the people now labour
under; and OChereas the la7s nou IN being
for Furnishing those crimes haze not an
sacred the good intentions for 1chich they
z0eTe designed" sc. the Governor, Coun-
Gil, and House ofRepresentatives enact
other and more severe forfeitures, and
make it the duty of all magistrates and
peace-officers to bring offenders to con-
viction and punishment. The Legisla-
ture of this Commonwealth under the
Constitution so recently as 1898, hal
their attention drawn to this heinous
sin; and in revising and repeating the
existing laws and making new enact
ments upon the subject, they recognized
the opinions OF former Legislatures, and
in terms of unusual force and solemnity,
pronounced the vice of profaue cursing
and swearing, "a horrible practice, IN
CONSTANT 7Oith the dignity and rational
cultiUation Of the human mind, z0;th
due reverence Of the Supreme Being and
has providence, and haO,ng natural ten
dency to 7reakea the solemnsty and obliga-
ton Of Oaths loufulIy take" IN the admin
istration Of justice, and to promote false
hood, peyuries, blasphemies, and disso-
!uteness o manners, and to loosen the bonds
Of civil society" 1t would seem that if
any thing could be effectual to the pre-
vention of this evil, it would be the uni
form endeavour Of the wisest and best
Of men in every period of our history
to repress it. The sentiments of our
ancestors, here repeated, are the most
admonitory lessons to US upon the SUBJ
ject. They speak the language of re-
proach TO their Posterity, who have so
heedlessly disregarded them. Your
Committee. can add nothing to the force
of mOtiue or authority, presented by this
review oftheir opinions and injunctions.
There can be no occasion for the enact
ment of additional laws; nor can more
solemn sanctions he gwen for their OBJ
serVance. The utmost which can be
done, is in efforts to give greater pub
licity to the laws which exist, and to in
spire just estimate of their object, as
we'll as dread of their penalties. The
Committee are of opinion, that instruc-
tive, persuasive, and lenient measures
will conduce most effectually to pro-
duce spirit of reformation, and that
they should be resorted to, in the first
instance, in the confident hope of sue
cess. They would gladly believe, that
much of the vice they are particularly
called to regard, proceeds in a great
degree from ignorance, OF thoughtless-
ness and reconsideration, and that suf-
ficient corrective may be found in the
reflection which each individual may be
induced to bestow upon its nature and
tendency, by an appeal to his under
standing, his love of social order, and
his sense of moral and personal accouu-
liability. And to this, end, they beg
leave TO report and recommend for a.
doption, the following Resolutions, and
their subsequent strict and universal OBJ
servance:-
RESOLVED, That, in the view of this
meeting, profane swearing, and Iewd
language, practised either by the young
or by the old, are evils of enormous
magnitude, as being themselves infringe
ments on good morals and Christian du-
ties, and as paving the way to vices and
crimes of almost every kind, by weak
ening that sense of obligation to obey
the commands Of God, and that regard
to decency, which are essential to the
best interests of the community.
Thatit is the duty of every citizen,
by example, by precept, and by couute-
nancing the faithful execution of the
laws on these subjects, to check these
great and growing cS,ls.
! That the inhabitants Of the Central
School District, in Worcester, here as
sembled, will, individually and collec-
4 lively, use their influence to suppress
these evils in their families, in the
Streets and elsewhere, and to support the
magistrates in making an example OF
obstinate offenders.
That it is highly important that the
wise and salutary provisions of law en-
acted to prevent the practice of profan-
ity should be made familiar to the knowl-
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