Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1888-05-12
aying II only swear once in a great while

which may be perfectly harmless to impre-
cation and profanity is not a very large
Transition. Il is my stars and mercy on
me" and good gracious" and by George
and "by Jovei' and YOU 60 on with that a
( little while, and then you swear. These
words. perfectly harmless in Themselves, are
next door to imprecation and blasphemy 4
p~rofuse use Of by worde always ends N pro
family. The habit is. creeping up into the
highest styles Of society. Women have no
ratience with fat AMI unvarnishei profanity.
They VIII order a man ont Of the parlor IN
digging IN blasphenv, and Vet Won will some
times find them with fairy fan TO the lip,
and urr'er chandelIers which bring no blush
to thor Cheek, taking on their lips the hottest
u nam ; IN utter trlrialltT.
Why, my friends. the English language is
comprehensive and capable Of expressing all
shades Of feeling and every degree Of en-
ergy. Are YOU happy Noah Webster Will
give YOU ten thousand words with which to
express Your exhilaration. Are YOU right
eouslv indignant. There are whole armies
IN the vocabulary, righteous vocabulary
whole armies Of denunciation, and
scorn. and sarcasm. and irony. and Carl
self against some meanness or hypocrisy
IN all the oaths that ever smoked up from
the pit, and will come right on after you
and give a thousandfold more emphasis OF
denlnciation to the same meanness and the
same hypocrisy in words across which no
slime has ever trailed. and into which the
fires OF he'll have neyer shot their forke1
tongues tba pure. the innocent, God hon
ored Anglo Saxon in which Milton sang AMI
John Bnnvan dreamed and Shakespeare
dramatIZed.
There is no excus. for profanity when we
have such a magnificent language-such a
flow Of good words. potent words, mighty
words, words lust to suit every crisis and
every case. Whatever be the cause of it.
profanity Is on the increase, and if you do
not know 1t, It IS because your ears nave
been hardenei 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 a hurricane o.
fire like that which consumed Sodom.
DO YOU know that this trivial use of Sod
name results in perjury. Do YOU know that
Ieopl" who take the name of God on their
i! Sin recklnssness and thOughtbssness are
fostering IN" crime of per urv, Make the
name of God a football in the community.
and 1t has no power when in court room and
in legislative assembly it is employed in
solemn adluration, See the way sometimes
they administer the oath .Shelp YOU God
kiss tn" book Smuggling. which l. always
. violation Of the oath, becomes in some
circles a grand JOKE. You say to a man:
How is it possible for you to sell these goods
50 very cheap. I cant understand - All
he replies, with a twinkle in the ewes, 1.-The
"ustom house tariff If these goods isn't as
much as 1t might he. An oath does not
mean a much a it would were the name of
tod used IN reverence and in sOlemnity''
" by IS 1t that so often jurors render unac-
colntabie verdict, and Judge, give unac-
nnntable charges, and useless railroad
srher2es pass in our State capitals, and there
are most unjust ,harges made in tariffs
tariff lifted from .one thing and put upon
another
What is an oath ANYTHING solemn, ANY
thing that calls upon the A%lmightv3 Any
thing that marks an event IN a man S history.
m no 1t is kissing the book There is no
Iatlt, | tell You piarniv-anj | talk TO hun
dreds and thou sands of men 20 day who will
thank me for my utterance-1 tell you, my
brother talk to YOU not professionally but
lust as one brother talks to another on some
very important theme-I tell YOU there is nc
habit that SO depletes a mans nature as the
habit of profanity. You might as well trv
to raise vineyards and orchards on the sides
Of belchlng 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 yourself
up. W hen the Nohammeda finds a 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 go the
other. Now what is the cure of this
habit. Il is a mighty habit. Men have
; struggled for years to get over it There are
men IN this house of col who would give
!, half their fortune to get ril of it. An agef
man was in the delirllm of a fever. He hac
! for MANY years lived a most upright life anc
was onored in all the community. but wher
i, he came INTO the dellrium of this fever h.
, was full of impre atom and profanity, ant
: they could not understand it. After he cam
to his right reason he explained it. He said
when was a young man was very pre-
/ fame. | conquered the habit, but l had t
! struggle all through life. You haven't 70
forty years heard me say an improper word
hut It has been an awful struggle. The tige
: IS chained. but he Is alive vet.
If YOU would get ria of this habit. | war
: YOU. my friends, to dwell upon the useles.
ness of IT. Did a Wiley of oaths ever start
II heavy load. bud they ever extirpate near
!, ness from a customer Did they ever collie
a bad debt. bld they ever cure a toothache
!, Did they ever stop the twinge of the rheu
! one step III the right direction: Come now
tell me, We who have had the most expert
~ cncc III this habit, how much have YOU mad
q ont Of IT. FIVE thousand dollars in all YOU
K hfe 10. One thousand No. One hun
dr"i No one dollar. No. One cen,
y 10. II the la bit be 50 utterly useless. ava
- with II.
But Won say. i have struggled to owe
come the habit a long while. and | have ne
been successful You struggled in ,or
own strength. nv brother If ever a ma
i, wants cod. 1T in such a crisis Of his hlstor,
a. tod alone hy His grace can emancipate vo
ar from trouble. tall upon Him dav ar
:, night that YOU may ht delivered from tn
= crime l{enefnler also IN the cure of tn
:, habit that 1t arou,es Gods ~inilgnatioa Til
=. Bible relterdto> from chapter to chapter. an
s. verse alter ver>h. that It Is acCIrse1 for III
IN HE ana That II makes a man miserable {,
i, eternity There IS not n sin IN all the cat
~ io-ue that IS - often peremptorilv ar
h. Suddenly punished III this world as the sin
~ profanity There Is not a city or a villa;
:, but can give an illustration of a man stru(
- down at the moment If lmprecation.
- couple OF years ago, briefly referring 10 tn
in sermon, | gave some instances in whlt
;, I@1 had struck swearerS dead at the MONEY
II their profanity That sermon brought
!. ~" from many parts OF this land and 9th
~ lands statements of similar cases of insta
n. taneous visitation from God upon hls
II phener>. Nv opinion Is that >leh cas-
occur somewhere every day. but for varIo
= reasons they are not reported
mn In Scotland a cub assembled every We,
j, for purposes OF wlckedness, and there was
r.. competition rs to which colfa use the me-
III hp:rii oath. and the man Who suceeAiei w
OH t. ta President II the cluh. The omtetiti
ny "euton \ man uttered an oath which er