Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1888-04-18

| pdtc yOu lEOm bu6b LrOuUl6s OAu upO
him day and night that you may be delive
ed from this crime. Remember also in th
cure of this habit that it arouses Gods il
} dignation. The Bible reiterates from cbaI
ter to chapter, and verse after verse, th
fact that it is aecursed for this life and ths
it makes a man miserable for eternity
There is not a sin in all the catalogue tina
is SO often peremptorily and suddenly pun
ished in this world as the sin of profanity
There is not city or village but can Civ
an illustration of a man struck down at th
moment of imprecation. A couple of year
ago, briefly referring to this in sermon,
gave some instances in which God hat
struck swearers dead at the moment O
their profanity. That sermon brought II
me from many parts of this land and othe
lands statements of similar cases of instan
taneous visitation from God upon bias
phemers. My opinion is that euch casel
occur somewhere every day, but for vari
GUS reasons they are not reported.
In Scotland 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 sue.
ceeded was to be president of the club.
The competition went on. A man uttered
an oath which confounded all his comrades,
and he was made president Of the club.
His tongue began to swell, and it protrud-
ed from the mouth, and he could not draw
it in, and he died, and the physicians 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." I understand it. He cursed God and
died.
At Catskill, N. Y, group of men stood
in a blacksmith's shop during a violent
thunder storm. There came crash ol
thunder and some of the men trembled.
One man said: "Why, don't see what you
are afraid of. l am not afraid to go out in
front of the shop and defy the Almighty.
am not afraid of lightning" And he laid
wager on the subject, and he went out,
and he shook his fist at the heavens, cry
ing: "Strike, if you darep and instantly,
he fell under bolt. What destroyed him?
Any mystery about it? Oh, no. He cursed
God aud died.
Oh, my brother, God will not allow this
sin to go unpunished. There are styles of
writing with manifold sheets, so that a man
writing on one leaf writes clear through
ten, fifteen or twenty sheets, and 80 every
profanity we utter goes right down through
the leaves of the book of Gods remem-
brance. 1t is no exceptional sin. Do you
suppose you could count the profanities of
last week-the profanities of Office, store,
shop, factory? They cursed God, they ours
ed His word, they cursed His only begotten
Son.
One morning, on Fulton street, as l was
passing along, heard man swear by the
name of Jesus. My hair lifted. My blood
ran cold. My breath caught; My foot
halted. Do you not suppose that God is
aggravated Do you not suppose that God
knows about it? Dionysius used to have a
cave in which his culprits were incarcerat-
ed, and he listened at the top of that cave,
and he could hear every groau, he could
hear every sigh, aud he could hear every
whisper of those who were imprisoned. He
was Q tyrant. God is not tyrant; but He
bends over this world and He hears every
thing-every voice of praise, every voice of
impression. He hears it all. The oaths
seem to die on the air. but they have eter-
nal echo. They come back from the ages to
come.
Listen! Lstenl CAN blasphemers shall
have their place in the lake which burneth
with fire and birthstone, which is the second
death" And if, according to the theory of
some, a man commits in the next world the
sins which he committed in this world-if
unpardoned, unregenerated-thin Of a
mans going ON cursing in the name of God
to all eternity!
The habit grows. You start with small
oath, you will come to the large oath. l
saw a man die with an oath between his
teeth. Voltaire only gradually came to his
tremendous 1mprecation; but the habit
grew on him until in the last moment, sup
posing Christ stood at the bed, he exclaim-
ed: o"Crush that wretch! Crush that
wretchp' Oh, my brother, you begin to
swear and there is nothing impossible for
you in the wrong direction.
Who is this God whose name you are
using in swearing? Who is He? Is He a
tyrant? Has he pursued you all your life
longP Has He starved pou, frozen you,
tyrannised over you9 No. He has loved
YOU, He has sheltered you. He watched
YOU last night; He will watch you to night.
He wants to love you, wants to help you,
wants to save you, wants to comfort you.
He was your fathers tod and your moth
er's God. He has housed th0m from the
blast, and He wants 10 shelter you. WIZ
YOU spit in his face by an imprecation?
Will YOU ever thrust Him back by an oath:
Who ia this Jesus whose name | heard in
the imprecation? Has He pursued you all
YOUR life long? What vile thing has He
doae to you that you should 80 dishonor
His name? Why, He was the Lamp whose
blood simmered in the fires OF sacrifice for
YOU. He is the brother that took off His
crown that you might put it on. He has
pursued you all your lifelong with mercy.
He wants you to love Him, wants you to
serve Him. He comes with streaming eyes
and broken heart and blstered feet to save
Won. On the craft of our doomed human
ity he pushed out into the sea to take you oti
the wreck. =, 49,,
Where is the hand that will ever be lifted
in imprecation again? Let that hand, now
blood tipped. be lifted that l may see it.
Not one. Where is the voice that will ever
be uttered in dishonoring the name OF that
Christ? Let it speak now. Not one.
Not one. Oh, | am glad to know that all
these vices of the community, and these
going to be bettered. The world by the
bower of Christ's Gospel is going to be saw
ed. and this crime, this iniquity, and all the
other iniuuities will vanish before the rising
of the Sun of Righteousness upon the ma
tion.
There was one day in New England men,
orable for storm and darkness. 1 hardly
ever saw such an evening. The clouds
which had been gathering all day unlimbsr-
ed their batteries. The Housatonic, which
flows quietly, save as the paddles Of pleas
ure parties rattle the oar locks, was lashed
into foam, and the waves hardly knew
where to lay themselves.
Oh! what a time it was! The hills jail
red under the rumbling of Gods chariots.
Binding sheets of rain drove the cattle to
the bars, or beat against the window pane
as though to dash it in. The grain fields
threw their crowns of gold at the feet of the
storm king. When night came in it was a
double night. Its mantle was torn with the
lightnings, and into its locks were twisted
the leaves of uprooted oaks and the shreds
of canvas torn from the masts Of the beach,
ed shipping. It was such night as'makes
you thank God for shelter, and open the
door to let in the spaniel bowling outside
with terror.
We went to sleep under the full blast of
heavens great orchestra, the forests with
uplifted voices, in chorus that filed the
mountains, praising the Lord. We woke
not until the fingers Of the sunny morn
touched our eyelids. We looked out the
window and the Housatonic slept as quiet
as an infants dream. Pillars of clouds set
against the sky looked like the castles of the
blest built for heavenly hierarchs on the
beach of the azure sea, All the trees