National Republican., 1888-04-09

Sodom.
Doyou know that this trivial use of Gods
name results In perjury DO you know that
people who take the name Of God ON their lips |
In recklcssness and thoughtlessneSs are fos.
Of % God ' foot % bail in the eonmnnity and md il has
no power when In court room and In lcgisa-
tive assembly II is employed insolemn adlura.
the oath-"Shelp you God; kiss the book" |
Smuggling, which Is always violation of the |
oath. becomes In some circles grand Joke. |
You say to a man, "lIow is II possible for you |
to sell these goods so very cheapg | can't un- |
derstand It," "Ah," he replies with u twinkle |
of the eye, "the custom house tariff Of these |
does not mean as much as II would We're the |
name of God used In reverence and solcmnity. |
Why is y that so often jurors render unac-
countablc verdicts, and Judges give unaccount- |
able charges, and useless railroad schemes |
pass In our state capitals and there are most |
unjust changes made in tariffs..,tariff lifted |
What Is an oathF Anything solemn Any
thing that calls upon the Almighty! Anything
no r' fs Il Is Eissns M the BOOK % There sI IS no habit
tell you plainly-and, talk to hundreds and
thousands of men to-day who will thank me
talk to You not professionally, but just as one
brother talks TO another on some very i'm.
nortant ,theme-l tell You there Is no habit
profanity. You might as well try to raise
vineyards and orchards on the sides of bclch
ing stromboli as TO raise anything good on a
of profanity. You may swear yourself down
you cannot swear yourself up. When the Mo
hammedan finds q piece Of paper he cannot
read he puts II aside very cautiously for fear
the name of God may be upon ". That Is one
extreme, We go the other. Now what Is the
ars SaTe 81 .s ao so 10 gy rnt oye ~ Tbern
are men in this house of God who would give
half their fortune TO get rid of II. An aged
for, many years lived a most upright life
and was honored in all the, community,
but, when he came into the delirlnm
profanity, and they could not understand it:
After he came to his right reason he explained
it. lie said. when was a young man ]
had TO struggle all through life. You
haven't for forty years heard me say an i'm
gle. The tiger Is chained, but he Is alive yet"
If you would get rid of this habit, want
you, my friends, to dwellupon the uscessncss
fiji. Did yolley of oaths ever start heavy
| loadS Did thoy ever extlrpatc meanness from
| customer Did they ever collect bad debit
Did they ever cure q toothachet Did they
eyer stop the 1wmSe OF Sne sn @ ha
| right direction. Come, now, tell me, ye
who have had the most experience IN
out out of i'i IT. five I'll thousand dollars in all Your
| lifey No. One thousandy No. One hundreds
No, one dollar, No. One cent? No. If the
| habit be so utterly useless, away with II.
But you say: II have struggled to over
| come the habit a long while, and have not
| been successful" You struggled in your
own. strength, my brother, If ever q man
wants God, II is in such crisis Of his history.
| God alone by His grace can emancipate you
from that trouble. Call upon Him day day and and
| crime. Remember also i'll the cure of this
habit that II arouses Gods Indignation. The
Bible reiterates from chapter to chapter and
| verse after verse, the fact that II Is accursed
for this life, and that IL makesa man miser-
able for eternity. There Is not a sin in all the
tt i Sc so en wGpS Sa yn a1d
profanity There is not a city or village
but can give an Illustration OF a man struck
GSTe at hs brev A tn this
In a sermon, gave some instances in which
God had struck swearers dead at the moment
me from many parts of this land and other
lands statements of similar cases of instanta.
neous visitations from God upon blasphemcrs.
My opinion is that such cases occur some
where every day, but for various reasons they
are not reported.
In Scotland q 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
went on A man uttered an oath which con
president of the club His tongue began to
swell and II protruded from tle mouth, and he
could not draw i inand he died, and the ply
ever saw; we never saw any account Il In th the
understand It.. lie cursed God and died.
blacksmith's shop during a violent thunder
storm. There came a crash of thunder and
some of the men ,trembled. One man said:
| why, don't see what you are AFRAID OF.
mot afraid to go out in front of the shop
and defy the Almighty; am not afraid Of
lightning" And he laid a. wager, OF. the sub.
iect, and he went out, and he shook his fist at
the heavens, crying: strike, IT. You dare!'
and instantly he fell under a bolt. What de-
stroyed HIM Any mystery about it' Oh no.
Oh, my brother, God will not allow this
sin to go pnpnnished There a are e., styles OF
writing with manifold sheets, & SO s that man mar
fifteen, or twenty sheets, and so. every pro
family we utter, goes right down through the
OF the So"R Of odS DO yo vo
,, could count the profanities oflast week k-tht
profanities Of office, store, shop, factory
cursed His only begottcn Son.
+ one morning, on Fulton street, as wa
/ passing. along. ! heard q man , swear "a, by M tn,
cold. My breath caught. My foot halted. d.
I You not suppose that God Is aggravated! Do
!. you not suppose. that God knows about about Il 1
Z culprits were incarcerated, and he listened a
Z the top of that cave, and he could hear ever!
r groan, he could hear every sigh, and he oonlt
\ rant, but lie bends over this world and he
hears a ~ H voice Gcorp of
|. oaths seem TO- die on the air. but they hav'
I eternal echo, They come back from the age
to come.
Listen! Listen, "All blasphemers shall have
a their place in the lake which burneth with fir,
f and birthstone, which ist the second death
Q And If, according TO the theory of some, MAJ
n s the oyS I9Ed ahe sns STe
Q regenerated- think of nlaIis going on ours
e ing in the name of God to all eternity
!. The habit grows. You start with smal
III | oath will To tlp large oath. say
= a man die with an oath between his teeth
t Noltaire only gradually came to his trt
}, him until in the last moment, suppoosing Chris
Q stood at the bed, he exclaimed: "Crush tina
/ wretchl Crush that wreteh!' oh my, brother
|. you begin oswear and there Is nothing im
}. possible for you In the wrong direction.
Q Who is this God whose name you are nsinl
k IN swearings who Is IieI Is lie a tyrqn
u He starved you, frozen you, tyrannized ove
Is your, No. lie has loved you lie has, she
1t tered, you, He watched you last night, He wi
!: wants to help you, wants to save you, want
i to comfort you He was your father iathers tSS Go
s viii viii You You spit in Ills face by an imprecatioI
!e VIII you eyer thrust Him back by on9Rth Rdn!d
os the imprecationS Has lie pursued ,yoga q
your life longr What vile thing has lie don
n toyou that you should dishonor His nam
o, Why, He was the Lamb whose blood sin
Of mered in the fires, of sacrifice for you; He
a. the brother that took off His crown that yc
~ life long with mercy He wants you to 10y
"a Him, wants you to serve Him, He com,
a with streaming, eyes and broken heart az
l our doomed humanity lie pushed ont into II
sea to take You of the wreck, -
so Where is the hand that Will ever be lift1
I'd in imp ecation againS Let that hand, no
a. blood tipped, be lifted that may see II. NJ
n one. Where Is the voice that will ever
~ uttered in dlshon9ring the name Of IN
I'd Christ? Let il speak now Not one, Not on