Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1866-03-06

PROFANITY IN HIGH PLACES.

Reading Matter on Each Page.
PROFANITY IN HIGH PLACES.
From the Round Table,
The vice Of commons swearing is undoubt-
edly less prevalent in our days than it was
half a century ago. Oaths have certainly
ceased TO form part Of fashionable CONVEX
sation among educated people, though they
may still too often be heard in barrooms, or
on the streets. But another sort of profanity
has become frequently vogue OF late years.
We refer to the application Of the most sa-
cred texts Of the Bible 10 the eommonest
secular topics, and even the employment Of
language which has been consecrated to the
commemoration OF the Savior Of mankind in
connection with some popular faVorite Of an
hour.
Some noticeable instances Of this sort Of
profanity may be remembered as having
occurred in Massachusetts, not many years
ago. When a certain Senator from that
State returned home, and was received with
enthusiastic demonstrations, after brutal
assault which had been made on him in
Washington, a distinguished clergyman is
said 10 have taken for his text: And very
great multitude spread their garments in the
way: others cut down branches from the
trees. and strewed them in the way" and
then 10 have instituted formal comparison
between the entry of Christ into Jerusalem,
before his crucifction, and the enty Of the
Senator into Boston.
Again, when Burns, the fugitive slave,
was the subject Of that long controversy be-
fore the Commissioner in Boston, which ter
minated in his being surrendered to his
master, another clergyman, Of a neighboring
city, we believe, preached an elaborate dis
course, in which the trial Of Burns was
likened 10 that Of Jesus, and the surrender
Of the fugitive negro madeof hardly inferior
importance TO the delivery Of the Savior TO
be crucifed
Ii might have been hoped that profanity
80 shocking would have cured itself, and
that we should have had no more of it in
our day, either from the pulpit, the forum,
or the platform. But similar spirit of ir-
reverence seems to have broken out afresh,
and examples hardly less gross than those
which we have cited have been recently ex-
hibited in unexpected quarters. 1t is some
what striking, and certainly much to be re-
GREETED, that at least two OF these examples
should have been witnessed on occasions of
the eulogies pronounced upon our martyr
President, Abraham Lincoln. How could
Mr.. Bancroft have been betrayed into apply
ing TO Mr.. Lincoln those words of the Apos-
tie, which were never before applied to any
one but Christ-"The just died for the un-
just? We hope il is not too late for him TO
revise the passage for the pamphlet edition
Of his eulogy, and to omit altogether a quo
tation which is so offensive 10 every religious
heart.
But Mr.. Summers eulogy on President
Lincoln was hardly less offensive i'm this re-
l., ,xrtn4oI Of that aftlo
we find in capital letters the words of one
of the prophets, which have always been in
terpreted as the prefguration Of the Savior
al will make a man more precious than
fine gold, even a man, than the golden wedge
of Ophir"-applied 10 that grand regenera-
ton Of the negro which Mr.. Sumner antici-
pates as the result of emancipation:
Nor is this the most recent instance of Mr..
Summers employment Of the most solemn
Scripture language to the enforcement and
illustration of his iavorite negro theories.
When was anything heard, either in high
places or low places, more revolving to
every Christian soul than the language of
this Senator, in pleading the cause of negro
suffrage, when he appealed 10 the Senate
+" not 70 copy the example Of Pontius Plate,
who surrendered the Savior of the world, in
whom he found no fault at all, 20 be scourged
and crucifed, while he set at large Barabbas,
of whom the gospel says, in simple words,
Now, Barabbas was a robberw Or take
the passage in the version of the Senator
from Maine, in his brilliant reply to Mr..
Sumner:
Did the House Of Representative e aidS
tessendenl m passing tins amendment rs charged
selves in the situation of Pontus PLATE, with the
negro for the sayisg Of the world, and the people
of the United States for BarabbasY Why, sir i
expected him 10 go further and in the next breath
20 say that what with the Constitution Of the
United States and the Constitution of the States.
the negro had been orncfed between tive thieves,
and that now. by this proposed amendment, the
stone had been rolled away from the door Of the
sepucher. and he had assembled 20 sit on the
throne Of the Almighty and judge the world. One
assertion would have been in as good taste as the
other"
IL necessary 10 repeat and amplify the bias
phemous allusion which he so Justly re-
buked. But perhaps il is as well that public
attention should be forcibly called TO such
profanity in high places, and that those who
indulge in il should be seasonably warned of
It's true character. Mr.. Fessonden's para
phrase may have answered this purpose, if
no other.
Meanwhile we trust this will be the last of
such violations Of propriety Mt the Capitol,
and that the language which has been APP
piled by prophets and apostles TO the Savior
Of the world, and to him alone, viii not
lightly be employed either TO prefgure the
future glory Of the negro, or even to illus
trate the services of a lamented chief magis-
trate. The great sacrifice Of redemption
which the Christian world are at this mo-
ment preparing, by the solemn services of
Lent 10 commemorate anew, stands alone
on the page of history. Ii must ever stand
alone. There is nothing similar or second
10 it-nothing within the whole range of
human observation or experience which can
be ever 80 distantly compared with il. The
simple story of that sacrifice, full of sublim-
ity and full of pathos, viii touch and thrill
every devout soul, 10 the end of time, andthe
language in which il has come down to us
from holy men of old is too sacred to be flip
PANTY quoted for any poor purpose of rhetor-
t,,l ,1.nllt ghra.nt gffoaf