Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1888-04-09
THE SWEARING HABIT
DIR. TALNAGgS TABERNACLE SERMON
YESTERDAY.
The Custom Of PrOfanity-HOw an Evil Habit
Guws-ISPowG When Once Formed
aCurss God and Dis"-An Awful
Warning.

Curse Tod and De AWW
Warning.
BEooKLYS, April s.-Ons Of the
hymns sung at the Tabernacle this morn
ing, begins with the words:
$50 let our lips and lives express
The Holy Gospel we profess"
After reading appropriate passages of
Scripture, the Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage,
D D., preached on the habit Of cursing
and swearing. His text was from the Book
of Job, Chap 2, v. Z, 8 and 8: 80 went
Satan forth from the presence Of the Lord,
and smote Job from the sole of his foot
unto his crown. And he took him pots
herd to scrape himself withal; and he sat
down among the ashes. Then said his
wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine
integrity? Curse God, and die"
Blasphemy is all abroad. You hear II
in every direction. The drayman swear
ing at his cart, the sewing girl imprecating
the tangled skein, the accountant cursing
the long line of troublesome figures Swear
ing at the store, swearing in the loft, swear
ing in the cellar, swearing in the street,
swearing in the factory. Children swear.
Men swear. Women swear Swearing
from the rough calling on the Almighty ip
the low restaurant, clear up to the rcck:
less 30 Lord !" Of a glittering drawing
room; and the one is as much blasphemy
as the other.
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 daming 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 burning pavement Of hell!
Between sixteen and twenty years OF
age, there is apt to come time when n
young man is as much ashamed Of not
being able to swear gracefully rs he is OF
the dizziness of his first cigar. He has his
hat, his boot, and his coat Of the right
pattern, and now, if he can only swear
without awkwsrdness, and as well as his
comrades, he believes he is in the fasbin.
There are young men who walk in an at
mosphere OF imprecstion-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 clubhouse ring with their profanities.
, They have no regard for God, although
they have great respect for the ladies: My
young brother, there is no manliness in
that. The most ungentlemanly thing q
man can do is to swear.
Fathers foster this great crime. There
are parents who are very cautious not "a
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, Oh, father; that your child il
aware of the fact that you swear? He
overheard you in the next room, or some
/ one has informed him of your habit. lie
ia practiciDg now. In ten years he will
swear as we'll ~ you do. Do not, Oh,
! father, be under the delusion that you
may swear and your son not know it. II
is an awful thing TO at rt the habit in a
famiiy-the father TO be profane, and then
to have the echo Of his example come back
from other generations, 80 that generations
after generations curse the Lord.
The hnbit comes also from the profuse
use of hyworis. The transition from q
/ byword which may be perfectly harmless
to imprecation and profanity, is not very
large transition. 1t is "My stars!" and
Mercy on mer' and Good graciousn'
and by George" and "By Jovew and
you go on with that little while, and
then you swear. These words, perfectly
/ harmless in themselves, are next door IL
imprecation and blasphemy. A profust
use OF bywords always ends in profanity
The habit is creeping up into the highest
styles of society. Women have no patience
with fiat and unvarnished profanity. They
will order man ont of the parlor indulg
ing in blssphemy, and yet you will some
times find them with fairy fan to the lip,
and under chandeliers which bring nc
blush to their cheek, taking on their lipt
the holIest OF names in utter triviality.
Why, my friends, the English languag,
| is comprehensive and capable of expressing
all shapes of feeling and every degree ol
energy. Are you happy, Noah Webster
will give you ten thousand words with
which to express your exhilaratiou. ART
you righteonsly indignant, there are
whole armories in the vocabulary, right
eous vocabulary-whol armies Of denun
citation and scorD, and sarcasm. and irony,
and caricature, and wrath. You express
yourself against some meanness or hypoc
ricy, in all the oaths that ever smoked uE
from the pit, and ! will come right on
after you and give thousandfold NOR,
emphasis Of denunciation 10 the same
meanness and the same hypocrisy in word.
across which no slime has ever trailed and
/ into which the fires OF hell have never shot
their fOrked tOngues-the pure, the limo
cent, God-honored Apglo-Saxon iu which
Milton sang, and John Bunyan dreamed
and Sbskspere dramatized.
Do you know that this trivial use o.
Gods name results in perjury Do you
know that people who take the name o.
God on their lips in recklessness and
thoughtlessness are fostering the crime o.
perjuryP Make the name Of God foot
ball in the community, and il has no power
when in courtroom and in legislative a.
sembly it Is employed in solemn adjura
ton! See the way sometimes they admin.
lister the oath: "S'help you God-kiss the
bookW Smuggling, which ID always a
violation Of the oath, becomes in some cir.
cles grand Joke. You cay TO a man
'Ho. is il possible for you to sell these
goods 80 very cheap? / can't understand
it" All" he replies, with twinkle Of
the eye, ''the Custom House tariff of these
goods isn't as much as it might be-" An
oath does not mean asimuch "a it would
were the name Of God used in reverence
and in solemnity. Why is il that 50 often
jurors render nnaccountable verdicts, and
judges give unaccountable charges, and
useless railroad schemes pass in our State
capitals, and there are most unjust changes
made in tariffs-tariff lifted from one thing
and put upon another?
What is an oath? Anything solemn?
Anything that calls upon the Almighty
Anything that marks an event in mans
history? Oh, no! 1t is kissing the book!
There is no habit, tell you plainly-snd
I talk to hundreds and thousands Of men
to-day who will thank me for my utter
ance-I tell ypu, my brother-I talk to
you not professionally but Just as one
brother talks to another on some very i'm
portaut theme-I tell you there is no habit
that 30 depletss q mans nature es the habit
of profanity. You might as well try to raiee