The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-07-25
THE REV. SAM JONES.
Points on Profanity, the Sabbath, Gambling
Moral Irnpurity and Iptemperance.

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Moral Irnpurity and Iptemperance.
Sermon at plattsburg, Mo.
God help me to get close to you this evening
Let US talk to one another as men. Let US rea-
son on this point. Andif any of you here think
you cant stand the plain, naked truth. rubbed IN
a little harder. and quicker, and faster than you
ever had it done in your life, you had better get
out of here, because | am here for business. and
you needn't come blubbering around me, saying
that your feelings are hurt. l have a contempt
for that kind of men. Understand that. | never
take my feelings to church with me, or anywhere
else. When l leave home l 60 out in the back
yard and throw my feelings over the fence. [
didn't bring them here with me, and when I go
home Iship them away. Idon't want them when
| am there. Oh, l have got a contempt for these
impure men or women with their feelings to be
hurt. They look about like a porcupine, with
qull!s IN every direction, and if you go within
ten feet of them you hurt their feelings. Now,
L say to you, if you get mad at what [ say this
afternoon, 1t is because you are q rascal at heart;
but no good man at heart ever falls out with me.
When you find a man mad at me for what l say,
ask him whether he has been swearing, or steal
ing, or drinking, or how many wives he has, and
you will catch him somewhere along that line
before you get through. Laughter.
L am on Gods side on every issue. And if you
say L amt, you tell a lie from your head to your
heels, and if you are on the right side and on
Gods side, what are you and | quarreling about!
That's the question. In Missouri. in Georgia,
in Tennessee, in New York, everywhere | am on
Gods side, against the devil and against sin, and
if you are On Gods side, and you are on the
right side, and you are against sin and the devil,
what are you fussing with me for? Why, God
bless you, you should march out. shoulder to
shoulder with me, and let US fight together
instead of standing off there throwing rocks at
me and quarreling with me. Understand
that.
Profanity, the excuseless sin of profanity.
No character in it-no money in it-no nothing
that will make you a good citizen or help you in
Does it do you any good! Make anybody think
any more of you! Make any money by it!
Some fellow said once that when the devil
wanted to catch any other sort of sinner he put
bait on the hook and covered the point; but
when he wanted to catch a profane swearer he
Just used the naked hook, and the fool gobbled
it down and was pulled into hell. | have
seen it said of this sin that it not only makes a
rascal out of a fellow, but it makes a fool
out Of him. Oh, profanity, the SIN of pro-
family! l want to put the question before
you so that you will see that if you are a ~profane
man, whatever else you are, you lack that much
of being a gentleman. They have got so now
that they put on sleeping cars, and ladies' cars,
and smoking cars, and baggage cars, and mail
cars. and every sort Of car except one, and want
that put on very soon now. and that is a cursing
car sensation, and put every black mouthed
rascal in there who has broken this m
ment. You don't know him among decent
travelling people! Why, this man sitting up
here said to me, II have heard more cursing in
Missouri than [ ever heard in years before"
God keep you black mouthed wretches and re-
form you here upon this ground this evening.
The man that swears in the presence of his
wife and children is a brute. There isn't a hog
that roots in the pastures of Missouri that would
swear in the presence of it's young if it knew it
would corrupt them. God pity a man when he
gets below a hog. | had rather my boy would
run with a hog than you. By running with the
hogs he might get hoggish, but he would never
learn to curse, thank God! If you are going to
1nAn M rpanrsn xynyp aroScpn%~ 10 4-A -
some little island of the sea where nobody can
hear it, and spend your life like Robinson Cru
soc, among the goats; and you are fit for nothing
else in God Almighty's world only to be
butted by a goat, and l would hate to
be the goat that had the nasty job on hand.
You go into Piattsburg on Sunday morning
and evening. See that crowd gathered on the
street corner. There's a husband that has left a
pure wife and sweet children at home a Sunday
morning to gather down on a street corner. You
see that set down there. They gather OH the
street corners, and sit there afternoon and
morning and tell their smutty tales and spew out
their profanity; and there they sit, and | imagine
that when an old buzzard comes sweeping over
the heavens, and he gets within half a mile of
that crowd, he looks a moment, and then he
shifts them afar, and then he changes his
course. MN! They are too nasty for me-"
and away he goes. Laughter. Now. a fellow
has got pretty low when he gets so a buzzard
won't come within half a mile of him, and that's
about the way with some of you old c~arcasses
about here. Laughter.
Sometimes you hear people say: II don't like
these Sunday Christians" Well, there's a sense
in which they are the only sort l do like. You
show me a man that desecrates the Sabbath, and
Ill show you a man that will desecrate every
day in the week. l like these old blue stocking
Presbyterians for that. You have got so now
you are no better than the balance Of us, but
you used to be decent, and reverence the Sab
bath, and keep it holy. God forgive you for
departing from your strict old rules on the
Sabbath, and bring us all back to them again.
Solomon was travelling through a country once
when he came into a valley inhabited by monk
eys. He turned to the guide and said: What
are these things jumping around here and
thereF WELL" said the guide, these are a ma.
ton OF people that came out here and forgot the
Sabbath, and they have turned to these things"
And l think all wo lack of being a nation of
monkeys are tails and fur, and We will be fixed.
Amt l right That's my judgment. Don't any of
you get shocked while | am describing you, and
don't any of you good ladies get your condignity
and urbanity smashed. l tell you 1 married as
nice a woman as YOU are or will be, seventeen
years ago, and we have been happy all along,
and if my wife can put up with me for seventeen
years, you can put up with me this week, can't
you!
Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy"
How many men and women are here that can
stand up and say, Il have kept one Sabbath day
holy in my whole lifel' How many can stand Up.
For all these blessed Sabbaths given us, how
many can stand up and say, Il have kept one
Sabbath day holy. l have reverenced one Sab
bath day in my life" mot one rose. -" r
Brother, if anything is hurting America today,
it is this everlasting wanting to get 800 for 81
and 81 900 FOR 81, wanting to get gain by i'm
moral and unnatural means. God help us to be
satisfied with honest money. Let US live and die
honest. That is my doctrine. Now, sir, l will
go the poor house and | will lie there and starve
to death, aud be toted out of that house by
piece meal before | will ever try to support my
self or family by any means except honest and
fair means. AS to the other way. you will get
yourself into trouble, and maybe into Jail, before
you are done with it. Look-a here. All over
this country, every now and then, lone of the
incest boys in town has skipped" He was
cashier of the bank, and he has skipped to Can
ada. L don't know what Canada is gong to do,
but we are unloading on her pretty fast anyway.
/ expect the first thing that cashier ever done
was to buy cotton futures or q ticket in the