The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1893-10-12
SAY, ARE YOU GUILTY?
MIR WHITAKER'S SPLENDID AD-
DRESS AT THEY. NJ. CA
shall 1 Indulge in SANDER. Profane
or Obscene Talk?"-W hat the
People Saw

or Obscene Talk?"-W hat the
People Say
Mr.. J. B. Whitaker, Jr., gave an in
teresting talk on live subject at the
Y. NJ. @. a. Sunday afternoon.
His subject was ''Shall l Indulge in
SANDER, Profane or Obscene Talk
He had a word for three classes of
people Here is what he said:
In the interest of both the temper
al and spiritual welfare of humanity,
there can be but one answer to this
question and that answer is, No! 1t is
a sad thought. however, that the
practice of these evils is sufficiently
frequent in civilized community to
render it necessary to emphasize our
negative answer.
The first evil mentioned in our sub
ject is SANDER. What an ocean of
treachcry and poison is embodied in
this word. SANDER! Sneaking lies
calculated to blot a fair reputation.
Thousands of men have fallen under
its deadly shaft. Thousands of Wo-
men, too-WomeD, the purest and best
of all Gods earthly creatureS-WOmen
as chaSte as the beautiful flower
shine of Heayen-yea, women who are
devoted followers of the Lord Jesus,
have been placed under cloud by the
biting. witerhing, aSSaSSin-like aim
of SANDER. which had its origin, per-
haps. with foolish dudes as revenge for
fancied Sights. Man may retrieve a
lost reputation, but woman rarely, or
never. And whatever the cause, he
who casts an imputation upon the
oh S.f mn deserves
be scorned and ought to be kicked
out of decent society ard made to
stay out until he learns how to be a
gentleman.
SANDER is not confined to dudes and
sinners Unfortunately, some church
members seem to roll it as a sweet
morsel under their tongues. I'm
talking about the fellow that is lift
ing his hands in horror at the miSdO-
preacher to turn this one and the 9TH
ca one out of tue church, while he
sneaks around and commits a more
grieyous sin than his erring brother,
by Slanderng his neighbOr. Down
with such hyporicy, When the work
of unchurching begins let the slaE der
er head the procession.
There are different degrees of SLAM
der as there are of murder. l COM
body, the other kills the reputation.
| have been speaking of SANDER in the
first degree-the wilful, premeditated
kind
Then there is SANDER that may be
Jermed careless CT unintentiOnal
SANDER, arising from repeating SLAM
ferrous report, from speaking without
knowledge, from hasty and angry ut
5erances. This species is more gener
lily practiced. perhaps, than the 9TH
er and. its effects are equally hurtful |
20 the innocent victims. ''They say"
IS the oft quoted authority for this |
degree of SANDER.
A merchant struggles against unto |
ward circumstances and finally IS
forced to make an assignment and |
forthwith ''they say" he has busted |
with Il pocket full of money. A young |
man or young lady takes lessons in |
eIocution and they say" he or she is |
for the stage. A number |
of young ladies participate in a del
Sarte exercise and Straightway they |
say it was a skirt dance and it is |
used to illustrate talk on the evils |
of the dance.
Perhaps all of us have at some time, |
in some degree, been guilty of unin |
territorial SANDER = nave reported
stories without so much as |
taking the pains to find out whether |
or not there is a Scintilla Of truth in |
them, or have spoken hasty and angry |
words that were damaging to our fell
low man. Let US pray God to help us
overcome these practices. Character |
is one of the most valuable of human
possessions. Shakespeare says:
''Who steals my purse steals trash;
tbs something, nothing.
Twas mine, It's his, and has been a
slave 20 thousands.
But he that filches from me my
good name
Robs me of that which not enriches
Rim
And leaves me poor indeed"
And Solomon said: ga good name
IS rather to be chosen than great
riches" 1t takes years of toll to
build character, and yet, oftentimes,
JhiS priceless treasure is suddenly |
shattered by an arrow from Calum-
1y's CULVER. If you have been gull
~ of Islander in any form for Gods |
sake, for humanity's sake, for your
)wn sake, stop it, stop it, stop 10!
We come now to consider the second |
vice in our subject-profanity This
smbOdies irreverence towards what is
sacred. [ shall confine myself to that
phase of it which manifeStS itself in
swearing and curSing -profaning the
name of God. Sometimes one is |
found so desperately wicked as to pro-
lOunce curses upon his fellow man,
but swearing is largely matter of
habit and very senseless habit it is.
If those who indulge in it would con.
slider that they are profaning the |
them and who loves them tenderly, it |
does seem that common gratitude |
would prompt them to desist. And if |
they would think little deeper and |
see that every oath is step further |
away from Heaven, oh, does it not |
seem that they would abandon forever |
this useless, foolish habit and beg for
giveness for the great sin they have |
SO often committed against the Holy |
one? Long ago was given the COM |
mand, Thou shalt not take the name |
of the Lord thy God in vain," coupled |
with the warning, ''for the Lord will [
not hold him guiItless that taketh his |
name in vain" That command and
that warning have never been revoked.
They stand today, they will stand for
all time and they will confront with !
terrible earnestness the profane soul
at the eternal bar of justice.
The next and last vice we are to
consider is obscenity-the use of in
decent, vulgar language. How COM
mon is this practice! 1t is heard on
the streets, it is heard in places of
business, it is heard here and there,
and, alas now and then it is heard
from the pulpit-tLe throne of the
messenger Of the gospel. AS coated
tongue Indicates disordered physical
system, so does vulgar language indi-
cate an unclean heart. Impure water
flows from an impure stream. Don't
indulge in this habit yourself and use
your example and influence to dis
courage it in others. Many boys