The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-03-13
OUR sUEDAy COLUMN.
Prepared by Mark--The Sin of
Profanity Continued.

On one occasion man said to dread.
ful swearer, who was cursing himself
in an awful manner: Friend, do YOU
know what Amen meansp" "To be
sure do said he, sit means, So BIO it. -
"Then," said he. show angry you would
be If any ono should say Anon to tho
curses you have pronounced against
your poor eyes and precious limbs. If
God should happen to say Amen, what
will become of you?" 1t is said that
this rebuke led to his conversion. John
Bunyan's profanity was so dreadful that
his oaths shocked an abandoned woman,
and she rebuked him. telling him that
no person in the neighborhood used such
vile, profane language as himself. 1t
set BuDyan to thinking. 'If my Ian
guage is so vile," said he. "as to CRATE
upon the ears of such woman, what
must it be in the hearing of God?"
He was convinced of the enor.
nifty of the sin of profanity
and was ultimately led to revere
and adore, in thought and speech and
life, the Name that he had SO long des-
pissed, profaned and blasphemed. Pro-
family is one of the grossest forms of
vice, for which there cannot be- the least
apology or excuse. 1t is not only per.
version of language, but direct viola.
ton OF Gods special command that
nothing can justify. 1t be comes habit.
usually in youth, among those who think
i manly to be wicked, and is practiced
by many who have NO command OF ele-
giant language and who suppose that to
be earnest or emphatic thoy must be
: nrOfanR. In tho nf nnnA nd
good women the most disgusting man in
Roanoke is the man who, on every triy.
ial occasion, with or without provCca-
ton, takes the name OF God in vain by
using profane language. 1 pray God
that the swearer's prayer may not DO
answered.
How distorted the moral sense land
every other kind of sense) OF the man
who presumes to think that 1T is funny,
or smart, or manly, or brave, to be pro-
fame. The man who is profane and adj
vertises his vice as something to be
proud of, looks at himself through an
inverted vision. If his oaths are pleas-
ant to his ears, he hears with tho ears
OF hell; for only in perdition among
the blasphemers of the lost is profanity
the chosen speech of doomed spirits.
| regret to say some men encourage
the swearer by laughing at his profan-
lty, and really seem to enjoy hearing a
man curse his Maker and damn his soul.
Such remind me of the men and women
who go to hear Ingersoll, and pay fifty
cents to hear God abused and bias
phemed. and Christianity ridiculed.
They can eat peanuts and choke on tn @
shells while they applaud the funny
jokes about heaven and bias.
phemy against God. People who
NIT 81 L.
of the infdel are abnormal growths.
Young man, are you profane? Docs
your sweetheart know it? Whenever
hear profanity from young man, or
see young man coming out Of q saloon,
licking his chops, ask the question.
"What young lady does he go with?"
Is she pure? Has she any influence
over the young man? Does she know
his wicked habits and ccnnivo at his
vices? If so, she is just about as un-
worthy of him as he is of her. Can it
be that real gentieman or lady will do
that which is contrary TO the law of
God and the usages of good society?
The most worthless and vile, the pro-
fame OF mankind, the drunkard and the
vagrant swear. Profanity never did
richer, wiser, happier or more esteemed
for it, Profanity helps no mans educa-
ton or manners. 1t commends no one
to good society. 1t is disgusting to man
and insulting to God. Profanity is
prayer to God to damn the
soul Men can refrain from pro-
family when their own temporal in
terests are at stake. When Sir Christie
pher Wren was building St. Paul's
Cathedral he caused the following no.
tice to be affixed to several parts of the
structure: Whereas, among laborers
and others, that ungodly custom of
swearing is SO frequently heard, to the
dishonor Of God and contempt of His
authority, and to the end that such i'm
piety may be utterly banished from
these works, which are intended for the
service OF God and the honor of religion,
it is ordered that profane swearing shall
be sufficient crime to dismiss any la
borer that comes to the call; and the
clerk of the works, upon sufficient
proof, shall dismiss him accordiI gly;
and that IL any master, working by task,
shall rot, upon admonition, reform the
proclamation among his apprentices. ser.
wants and laborers, it shall be cons trued
his fault and he shall be liable to be
censured by the commissioners"
This moral notice had the desired
effect. Ii men could refrain from profan-
Ivy Wnen their temporal interests were
at stake -when their Job on the build
ing depended upon their reverence for
the Name of the Jehovah, why cannot
men refrain when their eternal inter.
ests are at stake? God pity the pro-
fame swearer.
The subject of the International Sun
day school lesson for this day is: 1.-The
Promise Of New Heart"
The golden text for to-day is: IA
new heart I will give you, and new
spirit will | put within Won: and [ will