West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1888-04-19


eously indignant There are whole armies
I'm the vocabulary, righteous vocabulary
whole armies of denunciation. and
scorn, and sarcasm. and irony, and carl
cature, and wrath. You express your
self against some meanneSs or hypocrisy
I'm all the oaths that ever smoked up from
the pit, and will come right on after you
and give n thousandfold more emphasis OF
denunciation 10 the same meanness and the
same hypocrisy in words across which no
slime has ever trailed, and into which the
tires OF hell have never shot their forked
tongueS-the pure. the innocent God hon
pred Anglo Saxon in which Milton sang and
John Bunyan dreamed and Shakespeare
drnmatized
There is no excuse for profanity when we
have such a magnificent language-such a
now OF good words, potent words, mighty
words, words lust TO suit every crisis and
every case. Whatever be the cause OF IL,
profanity is on tho increase, and IL you do
not know 70, 10 is because your ears have
been hardened by the din OF imprecations so
that you are not stirred and moved rs Won
ought to be by profanites in these cities
which are enough to bring hurricane OF
IRE like that which consumed Sodom
DO you know that this trivial use OF Gods
name results in periuryl Do you know that
peopl" who take the name of God on their
lps IN recklessness and thoughtlessness are
fostering the crime of perjuryl Make the
name OF God football i'm the community
I'm legislative assembly IL Is employed in
solemn adjurationl See tho way sometimes
they administer the oath: "S'help you God
Kiss the booklp Smuggling, which Is always
a violation OF the oath, becomes in some
rircles grand joke. You say TO a man:
How is IL possible for you to sell these goods
go very cheapi can't understand H." Ahln
he replies, with twinkle i'm the eyes, 'the
custom house tariff Of these goods isn't as
much as IL might be- An oath does not
m a
sod used in reverence and in solemnity
Why is IL that so often Jurors render unac-
eountable verdicts and Judges give unac-
sountable charges, and useless railroad
scheNes pass in our State capitals, and there
are most unjust charges made i'm tariffs
.aritf lifted from one thing and put upon
lnotheri
What is an oathl Anything solemnl ANY.
thing that calls upon the Almightyl Any
hing that marks an event i'm n man q histor ' 2
Oh. mol IL is kissing the book There is no
iabit, tell you plainly-and / talk 10 hun.
ireds and thousands of men to-day who will
hank me for my utterance-I tell you, nv
Orother-l talk TO you not professionally but
iust as one brother talks TO another on some
very important theme-I tell you there is no
nabit that so depleUes mans nature as the
aabit OF profanity. You might as we'll try
20 raise vineyards and orchards on the sides
Of belching Stromboli as to raise anything
good on n heart from which there pours ont
yourself down; you cannot swear yourself
up. When the Mohammedan finds a piece of
paper he cannot read, he puts il 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
habiti 1t is mighty habit Men have
struggled for years TO get over It. 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 a fever He Ind
n M fohf 70 II
was honored in all the community, but when
he came into the delirium of this fever he
was full of imprecation and profanity, and
bay cOuit lot understand IT.. After W c--ne
10 his right reason Unexplained it, He said /;
when was young man l was very pro-
fame. / conquered the habit, but had to
struggle all through life. You haven't for
forty years heard me say an improper word
but 1t has been an awful struggle. The tiger
is chained, but he is alive yet"
If you would get rid of this habit | warn
you, my friends, 10 dwell upon the useless
ness of it, Did a volley OF oaths ever start
heavy loadi Did they ever extirpate mean.
ness from customer Did they ever collect
Did they ever stop the twinge of the rheu
matismi Did they ever help you forward
one step in the right directionl Come now
tell me, ye who have had the most expert
ence in this habit, how much have you made
out of IL. Five thousand dollars in all your
life! No. One thousands No. One hun.
dredl No. One dollarl No. One cent
No. If the habit be so utterly useless, away
with it,
But you say: 81 have struggled to over
come the habit long while, and have not
been successful" You struggled in your
own strength, my brother If ever man
wants God, it is in such a crisis OF his history
God alone by His grace can emancipate you
from trouble. Call upon Him day and
night that you may be delivered from this
crime. Remember also in the cure OF this
habit that it arouses Gods indignation. The
Bible reiterates from chapter TO cha pier and
verse after verse, that 10 is accursed for this
life and that 1t makes a 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 a village
but can give an illustration of a man struck
down at the moment OF imprecation. a
couple OF years ago, briefly referring to this
in a sermon, 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-
taneous visitation from God upon bias
phemers My opinion is that such casef
occur somewhere every day. but for various
reasons they are not reported
In Scotland a club assembled every week
for purposes Of wickedness and there was
competition rs to which could use tho most
horrld oath, and the man who succeeded was
TO b9 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 10 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 ! understand IT, He cursed God and
died.
At Catskill ~ Y. group Of men stood
IN blacksmth's shop during a violent thun-
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. lam not afraid to 90 out in front Of
the shop and defy the Almighty. / am not
afraid Of lightning And he laid a wager
on the subject, aud he went out, and ne
shook his fist az the heavens, crying: Strike
n you darei" And instantly he fell under a
bolt What destroyed himi Any mystery
about III oh, no He cursed God and died
On, my brother, God viii not allow this
sin 10 90 unpublished There are styHs Of
writing with manifold sheets, 80 that man
writing on one leaf writes clear throu gh ten,
hiteen or twenty sheets, and 50 every pro
tauity we utter goes right down through the
leaves Of the book Of Gods remembrance IL
is no exceptional sin DO you suppose you
could count the profanities Of last week-the
proiamties Of Office store, shop, factory
Ttcy Cursed Gc1. they cursed His word, they
cursed hig only begOttOn Son
Dne morning, OT Fulton street. as ] was
pas ing along. j heard n man swear by the
name Of Jesus Ny hair lifted. Ny blood
ran cold. My breath caught Ny foot
mated DO you not suppose that God is az
kih'atedf 10 you not suppose that God
knows ft1rf Tyfrrrrrtrf. r.-.H e.. 49,. o.