The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-04-25
Why. my friends, the English language Is

give YOU ten thousand words with which to
express your exhilaration. Are YOU rlsHt'
eousiv indignantl There are whole armies
in the vocabulary, righteous vocaoulalS
whole armies OF denunclation, anI
scorn, and sarcasm. and irony, and carr
cature, and wrath You express your
self against some meanness or hypocrisy
in all the oaths that ever smoked up iron
the pit, and will come right on after you
and give q thousandfold more emphasis OF
! denunciation to the same meanness ana Tue
same hypocrisy in words across whica ~ he
! slime has ever trailed, and into when tnt
! fires of hell have never shot their toTkeo
tonpues-the pure. the innocent, God hon
| ored Anglo Saxon in which Milton sang ana
John Bunyan dreamed and Shakespeare
dramatized.
There is no excuse for profanity when we
have such magnificent language-such a
! flow of good words, potent words, mi8htg
words, words lust to suit every CRISIS anu
every case. Whatever be the cause or IL,
profanity is on the increase, and if you do
not know it, it is because your ears nave
been hardened by the din Of imprecations so
that YOU are not stirred and moved as you
! ought to be by profanities in these cities
which are enough to bring hurricane o.
! fire like that which consumed Sodom. :,
Do you know that this trivial use OF Gods
name results in periuryl Do you know that
|
iips in recklessness and thoughtlessness are
fostering the crime of periurys Make the
name of God football in the community,
and it has no power when in court room anu
in legislative assembly it is employed IN
solemn adjuration! See the way sometimes
they administer the oath: ''S'help you God
kiss the bookr' Smuggling, which is always
q yioIation of the oath, becomes in some
circles a grand Joke. You say to man:
chow is it possible for you to sell these goods
so very cheap: can't understand II" An"
he replies, with twinkle in the eyes, the
custom house tariff of these goods isn't as
much as it might be-" An oath does not
mean as much as it would were the name OF
God used in reverence and in solemnlty.
Why is it that so often jurors render unac-
countable yerdicts and judges give unac..
countable charges, and useless railroad
schemes pass in our State capitals, and there
are most un Just charges made In tarilts-
tariff lifted from one thing and put upon
another!
What is an oath! Anything solemn' Any
thing that calls upon the Almighty: ANY,
thing that marks an event in man S history!
Oh. no, 1t is kissing the book! There is no
habit, tell you plainly-and / talk to hun,
dreds and thousands OF men to-day who Will
thank me for. my uttcrance-I tell you, my
brother-I talk to you not professionally but
lust as one brother talks to another on some
very important theme-I tell you there is no
habit that SO depleres mans nature as the
habit of profanity. You might as we'll try
to raise VINEYARDS and orchards on the sides
of Lelchng Stromboli as to raise anything
good on a heart from which there pours out
the scoria of profanity. You may swear
yourself down: you cannot swear yourSelt
IN. When the Mohsmmedan finds piece OF
paper he cannot read, he puts it aside very
cautiously for fear the name OF God may be
on it. That is one extreme. We 60 the
other. Now what is the cure OF this
habit. 1t is a mighty habit. Men have
struggled for years to get over 1t. There are
men in this house of God who would give
half their fortune to get rid Of it. An aged
man was in the delirium Of fever. lie had
for many years lived most upright life and
was honored in all the community, but when
he came into the delirium of this fever ne
was full of imprecaton and profanity, and
they could not understand it. After he came
to his right reason he explained it. He said:
tWhen [ was a young man was very pro-
fame. I conquered the habit, but had to
struggle all through life. You haven't for
forty years heard me say an improper word,
but it has been an awful struggle. The tiger
is chained, but he is alive yet"
If you would get rid of this habit, 1 warn
you, my friends, to dwell upon the useless
ness of it. Did volley of oaths ever starta
heavy load! Did they ever extirpate mean
ness from customer! Did they ever collect
a bad debt! Did they ever cure toothache!
Did they ever stop the twinge OF the rheu.
matisln? Did they ever help you forward
one step in the right direction? Come now,
tell ME, We who have had the most expert
ence in this habit, how much have you made
out of its Five thousand dollars in all your
dreds No. One dollar. No. One cent! !
No. If the ha bit be so utterly useless, away
with it.
But you say: II have struggled to over
come the habit long while, and have not
been successful" You struggled in your
own strength. my brother. II ever man
wants God, it is in such crisis of his history.
God alone by His grace can emancipate you
from trouble. Call upon Him day and
crime. Remember also in the cure of this
habit that it arouSes Gods Indignation. The
Bible reiterates from chapter to chapter, and
verse after verse, that it is accursed for this
life and that it makes man miserable for
eternity. There is not sin in all the cata-
logue that is so often peremptorily and
suddenly punished in this world as the sin OF
profanity. There is not city or village
but can give an illustration of man struck
down at the moment OF imprecation. A
couple of years ago, briefly referring to this
in q sermon, 1 gave some instances in which
God had struck swearers dead at the moment
of their profanity. That sermon brought to
me from many parts of this land and other
lands statements Of similar cases Of instan-
1aneous visitation from God upon bias
phemers. My opinion is that such cases
occur somewhere every day. but for various
reasons they are not reported.
In ScotlaSd club assembled every week
for purposes Of wickedneSs, and there was a
competition as to which could use the most
horrid oath, and the man who succeeded was
to be President of the club. The competition
wenton A man uttered an oath which con.
founded all the comrades, and he was made
Presi dent Of the club. His tongue began to
swell, and it protruded from his mouth, and
he could not draw it in, and he died, and the
physician said: "This is the strangest thing
we ever saw; we never saw any account IN
the books like unto it; we can't understand
it." l understand it. He cursed God and
died.
At Catskill, N Y. group Of men stood
der storm. There came crash OF thunder,
and some of the men trembled. One man
said: "Why, don't see what you are afraid
of. / am not afraid to go out in front OF
tho shop and defy the Almighty. l am not
afraid Of lightning" And he laid a wager
on the subject, aud he went out, and ne
shook his fist at the heavens, crying: Strike
if you dare!" And instantly he fell under e
bolt. What destroyed him! Any mystery
about it! Oh, no. He cursed God and died.
Oh, my brother, God will not allow this
sin to 90 UNPUBLISHED. There are styles OF
writing with manifold sheets, so that man
writing on one leaf writes clear through ten,
| fifteen or twenty sheets, and so every pro-
family we utter goes right down through the
leaves of the bool; OF Gods remembrance. 1t
is no exceptional sin. Do you suppose you
could count the profanites Of last week-the
profanities Of Office. store, shop, factory!
They cursed God. they cursed His word, they
cursed His only begotton Son.