Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1888-04-09

all through life. You haven't for forty
years heard me say an improper word, bat
it hiss been an awful struggle. The tiger
is chained, but he is alive yet"
If you would get rid of this habit ! want
You, my friends, to dwell upon the use
iessness of it Did volley Of oaths ever
start heavy load9 Did they ever extir-
pate meauness from q customer? Did
they ever collect a bad debt9 Did
they ever cure Q toothache ?
Did they ever stop the twinge
of the rheumatism Did they ever help
You forward one step in the right direc-
tion9 Come now, tell me, ye who have had
the most experience in this habit how
much have you made out of il? Five
thousand dollars in all your ifsp No.
One thousand? No. One hundred? No.
One dollar? No. One cent? No. II the
habit be 20 utterly useless away with It
In Scotland club assembled every week
for purposes Of wickedness, and there was
q competition as 10 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 be2nn 30 swell, and it pro-
truded from the mouth, and be could not
draw it in, and he died, and the ply ST.
clans said: "This is the strangest thing we
ever saw; we never saw any account in
the books like unto it; we can't under-
stand it." l understand it. He cursed
God and died.
At Catskill, N. Y, group of men stood
in a blacksmith's shop during q violent
thunder storm. There came q crash Of
thunder and some OF the men trembled.
One man said why, don't see what
you are afraid Of. am not afraid TO 20
out in front Of the shop and defy the Al
mighty. am not afraid Of lightning" "
And he laid wager on the subject, and
he went out, and be shook his fist at the
heavens, crying: Strike, If you dare''
and instantly, be fell under bolt. What
destroyed him? Any mystery about it9
Oh, no. He cursed God and died.
Oh, my brother, God will not allow this
sin to 20 unpunished. There are styles Of
writing with manifold sheets, so that o
man writing on one leaf writes clear
through ten, fifteen, or twenty sheets, and
so every profanity We utter goes right down
| through the leaves of the book of Gods re-
membrance. II is no exceptional sin. Do
you suppose you could count the profani-
ties of last week-the profanities OF office,
store, shop, factory They cursed God,
they cursed His word, they cursed His
only begotten Son.
The habit grows. You start with the
small oath, you will come to the large
oath. saw man die with an oath be.
tween his teeth. Voltaire only gradually
came 10 his tremendous imprecation; but
the habit grew on him until in the las,
moment, supposing Christ stood at the
bed, he exclaimed: Crush that wretch /!
Crash that wretch" " oh, my brother,
you begin to swear and there ia nothing
impossible for You in the wrong direction.
Who is this God whose name you are
using in swearing? Who is He2 Ia He n
tyrant? Has He pursued you all your life
long? Has He starved you, frozen you,
tyrrannized over you? 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 "a
help you, wants to save you, wants to
comfort you. He was your fathers God
and your mothers God. He has housed
them from the blast, and he wants to
shelter you. Will You spit in His face by
an imprecation? Will you thrust Him
back by an oath?
Who is this Jesus whose name heard in
the imprecstion? Has He pursued you all
your life long? What vile thing has Hs
done to you that yot should 80 dishonor
HIS namt? Why, He was the Lamb whose
blood simmered in the fires of sacrifice 70,
you He is the brother that took of His
crown that you might put it on. He has
pursued you all your lifs long with mercy.
He wants you to love Him, wants you tO
serve Him. He comes with streaming eyes
and broken heart and blistered feet 10 save
you. On The craft of our doomed humanity
He pushed out into the sea 10 take you of
the wreck.
Where is the hand that will ever he
lifted in imprecation again? Let that
hand, now blood tipped, be lifted that
may see it, Not one. Where IL the voice
that will ever be uttered in dishonorine
the name OF that Christi Let il speak
now. Not one. Not one. Oh, ! am glad
to know that all these vices of the com.
munity, and these crimes of our city will
be gone. Society is going TO be bettersd
The world by the power Of Christ's gospel
is going TO he saved, and this crime, thi,
iniquity, and all the other iniquities will
vanish before the rising of the Sun o
Righteousness upon the nation.
There was one day in New England
memorable for storm and darkness.
hardly ever saw such an evening. The
clouds which had been gathering all day
unlimbered their batteries The Housa.
tonic which flows quietly, save ss the pad
dies of pleasure parties rattle the oal
locks, was lsshed into foam, and the
waves hardly knew where to lay them.
selves. OH what q time IL was! The
hills Jared under the rumbling of God,
chariots Binding sheets of rain drove
the cattle to the bars, or best agains. th.
window pane "a though TO dssh IL in. tn.
grain fields threw their crowns of gold at
the feet Of the storm king. When nigh,
came in it was double night. Its mantle
was torn with the lightnings, and into il
locks were twisted the leaves OF uprooted
oaks and the shreds of canvas torn from
the masts Of the beached shipping. II wa,
such night as makes you thank God fol
shelter, and open the door to let in tn,
spaniel bowling outside with terror.
We went to sleep under the full blast o.
heavens great orchestra, the forests with
uplifted voices, in chorus that filed th.
mountains, praisipg the Lord. We wok,
not until the fingers Of the sunny morr
touched our eyelids. We looked out OF tn.
window and the Houstonic slept NJ quiet
as an infants dream. Pillars of clouds se,
sgainst the sky looked like the castles ol
the blest built for heavenly hierarchs on
the beach Of the azure sea. All the tree
sparkled a. though there had been some
great grief in heaven, and each leaf had
been God-appoiDtej TO catch an angel q
tear. IL seemed as IL cor Father had
looked upon the earth, His wayward
child, and stopped to her tear wet cheek
and kissed il. So will the darknss, of sin
and crime leave our world before the dawn
Of the morning. The light shall gild the
city spire and strike the forests of Maine
and the masts Of Mobile, and all between.
And one end resting on the Atlantic coss.
and the other resting on the Pacific beach.
God will spring a great rainbow arch cl
Z tNaana in fnEaa Of