The Brookhaven leader., 1888-04-19
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
A Homily on the PerniCi6us Habit of
PrOfane Speaking.
Rldsrhemy and Profanity and How II
Originated and How II Grows-Di-
vine PunIshments-How the Habit
May be Overcome.


lyn Tabernacle the habit Of cursing and
swearing. His text was:
So went Satan forth from the presence OF the
Lord, and smote Job with sore boIls from the
sole of his foot unto the crown. And he took
him pOtsherd to sCrape himself withal; and
he sat down gr7org the Bshes. Then said his
wife unto him: Dost thou still retain thine in
tegrity? Curse God and de.-Book Of Joti liz
7, 8 and
A story Oriental and marvellous. job was
the richest man in all the East He had
Camels and oxen and asses and sheep, and,
what would have made him rich without
any thing else, seven sons and three
daughters. IL was the habit OF these chill
dren to gather together for family reunion.
One day job is thinking of his children as
gathered together at u banquet et the
elder brothers house.
While the old man is seated at his tent
door ha sees slime one running, evidently,
fthrtt his mdnhtr; bringing bad news;
What is the III after now: oh says the
messenger "a foraging party Of Sabeans
have fallen upon the oxen and the asses
and destroyed them, and butchered all
the servants except myself"
Stand aside, Another messenger run
ming. Whhi is the matter now.
"Oh," says the man, 1.-The lightning has
struck the sheep and the shepherds, anu
all the shepherds are destroyed except
myself" Stand aside. Another messen-
ger running. What is the matter nowI
"Oh," be says, 1.-The Chaldeans have
captured the camels, and slain all the
camel drivers, except myself" Stand
aside. Another messenger running.
What Is the matter now?
I'Oh - he Ita hurricane sfTupk thp
four corners of the tent where your chill
dren were assembled at the banquet, and
they are all dead
But the chapter of calamity has not
Ended. foh was srritter With elephanti-
asis, or BLACK leprosy. TumOrs from head
TO foot forehead ridged with tubercles, eye
lashes fall out, nostrils excoriatcd, voice
DESTROYED, intOlerable exhalations from
the entire body, until, with none to dress
his sores, he sits down in the ashes with
nothing but pieces of pottery to use in the
surgery of his wounds. At this moment,
when he needed all encouragement, and
ali consolation, his wife comes IN, In a
trGt and rage; and says
This is intolerable. Our property gone
our children slain, and now you covered
up with this loathsome and disgusting dis
ease. Why don't you swear? Curse God,
aud !liC -
All, Job knew right we'll that swearing
would not cure one of the tumors of his
agonized body, would not bring back one
of his DESTROYED camclS, would not re-
store one Of his dead children. He knew
that profanity would only make the pain
more unbearable, and the poverty moro
distressing; ami the bereavement more
exctuciating. But, Judging from the pr"
family abroad in our day, you might come
10 the connlusior that there was some
great advantage to be reaped from pro-
family.
There are times when we must cry out
to the Lord by reason of our physical
agony or our mental distress, and that is
only throwing out our weak hand toward
the strong arm of father, 1t was no pro-
family when James A. Garfield, ibOt in the
Washington depot, cried out: "My God,
what does this mean" There is no pro-
family in calling out upon God in the day
Of troubles, in the day of darkness, in the
day of physical anguish, in the day Of be-
reavementi but am speaking now Of the
trivlality and of the fetklcsshess with
which the name of God is sometimes man;
aged. The whole land is cursed with it.
The habit grows in the community in the
fact that young people think it manly to
swear. Little children, hardly able to walk
straight on the street, yet have enough
distinctness of utterance to let you know
that they are damning their own souls, or
damning the souls OF others. 1t is an
awful thing the first time the little feet are
lifted TO have them set down on the burn
ing pavement of hell!
Between sixteen and twenty years OF
age there is apt to come time when Ii
young man Is as much ashamed of not
being able to swear gracefully as he is of
| the dizziness Of his first cigar. He has his
hat, his boot, and his coat of the right pat-
tern. and now, if he can only swear with
out awkwardness, and as we'll as his COM
rades, he believes he is in the fashion.
There are young men who walk in an at
mosphere of impre eCation-oathS on their
lips, under their tongues, nesting in their
shock Of hair. They abstain from it in
the elegant drawing-room, but the street
| and the club house ring with their profan-
| tiles. They have no regard for God, al
though they have great respect for the
| ladies' My young brother, there is no
| manliness in that. The most ungentle-
manly thing man can do is to swear.
Fathers foster this great crime. There
are parents who are very cautious not TO
swear in the presence of their children
in moment of sudden anger they look
around to see if the children are present
when they indulge in this habit. Do you
not know, o father, that your child is
aware of the fact that you swear? He
overheard you in the next room, or some
one has informed him of your habit. He
| is practicing now. In ten years he will
| Dfafbar
| be under the delusion that you may swear
and your son not know it. 1t is an awful
thing to start the habit in family-the
| father to be prOfane, and then to have the
echo of his example come back from other
generations, SO that generations after
| generations curse the Lord.
The crime is also fostered by master
mechanics, boss carpenters, those who
are at the head of men in hat factories,
and in dock yards, and at the head of
great business establishments. When you
go down to look at the work of the scaf-
| folding, and you find it is not done right,
what do you say? 1t is not praying, is it:
| The employer swears; his employe is
tempted to swear. The man says:
81 ecn't know why my employer, worth
| fifty thousand dollars or one hundred
thousand dollars, should have any luxury
should be denied, simply because l am
poor. Because am poor and dependent
on days wages, haven't as much right
to swear as he has, with his large in
Gomez"
Employers swear, and that makes SO
many employees swear.
The habit comes from infirmity of tenn q.
Ier. There sre good many people who,
wher they ere at peace, have righteous